Gina yelled out. “No one would dare!”
Alex didn’t waste any time before running out of the room. With Gina and Braylee right behind. Gina barked orders to her own staff. “Cecily Manchetti is missing. Find her!”
Braylee tried to make sense out of all of this. This night certainly felt as if it had been ripped from the pages of a horror novel. As she attempted to keep from panicking, she spoke. “The weather is ridiculous outside. She can’t be too far.”
Chapter 18
Alexandro, with Braylee and Gina following closely behind, went back to their room to triple check for Cecily. When it was clear that she wasn’t there, he went to pull a secured box out of his carry-on bag. After entering an electronic code, the box opened. Alex reached inside to pull out an 8 millimeter Glock.
This night just went from bad to worse. Braylee prayed he didn’t have to use it and that they would find Cecily safe and sound. Just as they were about to leave the room, Alex turned to Braylee. “Stay here and lock the door.”
“What? You’re kidding, right? I can’t just stay here!”
“Braylee, for once in your life, listen to me. Stay here! I can’t do what I need to do if I’m worried about you.”
“Alex…”
“I’m not having this conversation with you. Lock the damn door behind me!” He walked out along with Gina and three of his four bodyguards. He left one behind to stay with Braylee to keep any threat out but, more importantly, to keep her inside the room.
Braylee was pissed. What? Did he think Gina could handle herself and she couldn’t? This insecure Braylee was driving her nuts. Not to mention, she felt slightly guilty for even thinking about herself when Cecily was in real danger. Out of all the different possibilities of what could happen, Braylee never, for one second, thought Cecily could be the one to get hurt on this trip.
Gina’s staff and security as well as Alexandro’s turned her place upside down looking for Cecily. There was a state of frenetic commotion in the house. They met back in the foyer.
Gina was frantic. She touched her hand to her forehead. “We’ve looked everywhere. She’s not here.”
“Think Gina. Braylee was right. I can’t imagine anyone would be out in this weather. They’ve got to still be in this house. They probably had to be in the house already. You have camera’s everywhere. Someone had to have seen something.”
“Yes. Braylee is always right.” Gina sneered her name. A thought occurred to her. “Wait…I don’t have any camera’s in my safe room. That has got to be where they are because we’ve looked absolutely everywhere else.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s upstairs in my bedroom.”
“Let’s go! Wait we should make sure someone is stationed at all the entrances.” Gina gave the orders to her guys as several of them split off from the group.
There were still six of them remaining, and they made their way to the outside of Gina’s bedroom led by Alexandro. He put his hands out behind him to quiet everyone down and drew his weapon. Everyone except for Gina drew their guns, but that was only because she didn’t have one. He turned the knob gently as he pushed the door open then whispered, “Where’s the safe room?”
She whispered in return. “It’s in the bathroom through my walk-in closet on the left.”
They cautiously walked towards the bathroom and into her closet that was more like another entire room filled with clothes, shoes, and purses each having their own section. Their steps were silenced by the carpeted floor.
Gina walked around Alexandro to get to the security system on the wall. She halted before hitting the button, speaking in hushed tones that only he could hear. “Alex, are you sure you know how to handle that weapon? Maybe you should let one of my or your men in first.”
His eyes were hard. “Open…the door then get out of the way.”
After another moment of hesitation, Gina pushed the button and moved out of the way. The hidden door quickly slid open. No one was surprised to see Joseph Ling Xiou patiently waiting with a gun pointed at the head of a tear-stained Cecily Manchetti.
Alexandro was downright livid. He’d never had to use a gun outside of the range. His fingers itched to pull the trigger. Taking an innocent little girl and threatening her life because of the TNG2? Well, not just any little girl, but Cecily Manchetti. His family. Joseph had to pay for this in blood. But, not just yet. There was no way he could risk harming Cecily since he didn’t have a clean shot. None of the men who had their weapons drawn had a clear shot. Alex was calmer than he thought he would be. “Let her go, Joseph. This is a no-win situation for you.”
Joseph gave a cocky half smile. “Of course, that might be how it seems, but we both know you’ll sell your soul to get this little girl back.”
Gina yelled at him. “Joseph! What the hell are you doing? We had a deal. You were going to lay low and let me deal with my father.”
Alex growled at her without taking his eyes from Joseph. “This bastard killed my brother and almost killed Braylee. You made a deal with him?”
Joseph laughed. “Of course, she made a deal with me. You know Gina only looks out for herself. I’m looking out for my own
