I bit my lip, fighting the horror that had become my life as my arms were wrenched behind my back and the cold lick of handcuffs settled around my wrists. Franco wasn’t cuffed, only barred by two large policemen, caging him in with black uniforms and unclipped guns.
“Come on,” a policeman grumbled. I trembled, fighting another wave of nausea. Once again—this was my fault. It was my br**sts strangers had seen. My little exposé that ended with us being marched away like heathens.
Then livid anger filled me. If these men turned out to be the reason Q died, I would hunt down every last one and murder them in their sleep.
I wouldn’t let them stop me from finding him. I’d become a wanted fugitive before I let that happen.
Franco looked over his shoulder. His emerald eyes looked like terrible glinting gems. “Ne dis rien. Tout est sous contrôle.”Don’t say a word. I have everything under control.
I wanted to trust him. I wanted to believe that whatever plan was in action it would save Q even while we rotted in some Italian cell. But pessimism was my new friend and the black void of grief tempted, called to me.
We were stuffed into the lift side by side. Franco bent his head to my ear. “He isn’t lost, Tess. He put a tracker in your engagement ring—did you not think he’d do the same precaution for himself? Especially when he knew he’d stirred up the attention of f**kwits who would try to kill him?”
I froze, his hot breath on my ear giving me much needed information.
I kept my voice low, aware of the six other men in the lift with us. “He’s got a tracker in a ring?” Q didn’t wear jewellery. And we weren’t married yet so he didn’t have a wedding ring.
Franco shook his head. “Not a ring. Deeper than that.” He tapped the underside of his wrist, raising an eyebrow. The puzzle slotted into place.
Oh, my God. Q wore a tracker.
Not in jewellery or clothing or something that could easily be removed. He’d gone further than that. He’d given himself the best chance at being found even if they stripped him na**d and threw away all his possessions.
He’d tagged himself like a pet—micro-chipped his body so his army of guards could follow his trail and bring him home.
He wasn’t lost.
It was just up to us to find him before it was too late.
Time had become my number one nemesis.
Four hours.
Four long, excruciating, teeth-clenching hours.
Every second drifted me further away from Q. Every minute built a wall I would have to clamber over to find him. Is this how he felt when searching for me? This crippling helplessness?
Tick…
Tock…
Franco had been rushed to surgery to reattach his thumb. He refused to allow them to put him under, settling instead with a local anaesthetic to endure the procedure.
His list of injuries curdled my stomach.
Mild concussion. Dislocated shoulder. Twisted kneecap. Missing thumb. Not including the multiple contusions, bruises, and scrapes from the ass**les who’d almost killed him in order to get to Q.
I lived an entire lifetime in those four hours. More than one. Multiple.
I went insane—hemmed in a private room, barricaded by two police officers waiting for Franco. At least they’d removed the handcuffs, but I was no less a prisoner.
My mind was my enemy, constantly flinging horror and torture of Q’s demise. I finally gritted my teeth, humming nonsense under my breath, just to keep my brain occupied and not conjuring such awfulness.
Three times the officers tried to question me. Three times I refused. I wouldn’t talk—not until I knew what Franco wanted me to say. I wasn’t privy to what was in motion outside our sad little group. I didn’t want to ruin Q’s chances any more than I already had by being so reckless in a foreign country and getting arrested.
I looked up as the white door swung open. Franco was wheeled into the room by an orderly. One arm was in a sling, leading to a thick bandage around his hand. Only the tips of his fingers showed.
His face was black and yellow as bruises painted him like a watercolour.
I shot off the bed where I’d been going mad with waiting. The door swung closed behind the man in scrubs. “Are you okay? Did it work?” I looked at the bandage, eyeing it for any sign of a thumb tip. My eyes widened. “But there’s no…”
“They tried, but the way the cocksuckers smashed the joint means it’s pretty much useless. Plus, this is a local hospital. They don’t have too many specialists on call unless I’m flown elsewhere.”
I was torn. Completely cleaved down the centre. I wanted to run after Q but I didn’t want Franco to live a thumbless life. Hell, that was the most important finger. I would be on my own. “Well, go. Tell me what the plan is and leave. I’ll do the rest.”
He shook his head. “I signed the paperwork already. Even if they did manage to attach it, I’d have to stay in for observation for a week. This way, I only have to pop in for a check-up in twenty-four hours.” His eyes flashed. “I refuse to sit on my broken ass. Not while he’s out there. A thumb can wait—we don’t know…” his voice trailed off, filling me with terror.
We don’t know what they’re doing to him.
The sentence was left unsaid but it might as well have been scrawled in permanent marker and left to drift around like a haunting banner. It was undeniable which made it all the more awful.
“As much as I’m grateful for your loyalty to him, you can’t throw away your thumb.”
He shrugged. “I’m a millionaire thanks to Q’s generosity. Plus, he’s f**king loaded. If I save his scrawny ass, I know he won’t mind forking out for some crazy expensive, new-fangled robot thumb.” Franco locked the wheelchair with his good arm, flipped up the footholds, and held out his hand. “Now help me up. We’re leaving.”
Going to the side, I grabbed his elbow. I did the best I could to hoist his bulk from the chair. The moment he stood, he limped to the wardrobe where the doctors had put his clothes and with no embarrassment whatsoever untied the backless hospital gown and let it fall.
I coughed, averting my eyes. But not before I got an eyeful. He was built bigger than Q. Stocky, hard-packed muscle that wasn’t as elegant as Q’s sleek sensual form. But what he lacked in sexual appeal he made up for in sheer power.
He hopped and cursed, wrangling his trousers up over the bandage around his knee to his hips. With his face scrunched in concentration, he zipped his fly one-handed. Once that part of him was covered, he turned, holding out his blood-stained shirt.