Never let her go

Chapter 46

Liam POV

48 hours.

48 hours of constant fear.

I'm afraid like I've never been before. I've been afraid so many times in my life. I've been afraid of so many things. I've felt fear before.

But not like this.

My mind is constantly attacked by the images of my little girl being abused. I keep picturing the way her ribs looked when we found her. I keep remembering how scared I was on the drive to the hospital.

But at least then she was in my arms...

She was safe.

Now I don't know what she is.

Now I don't know if she is even...

I swallowed the brown liquid in one sip, stopping that last thought. The liquor burned my throat, forcing my mind out of that scenario.

She will be okay. She will be home soon.

I looked at the rest of my family.

My grandfather was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. He was blaming himself, and we couldn't convince him otherwise.

It wasn't his fault. It was mine. I should have listened to Theo and Noah. I should have locked her inside this house until I knew for sure that the fuckers were gone.

Dylan, Carter, and my uncle had a glass of some kind of liquor in their hands. I didn't know what they were drinking. Each of us had our own poison. Mine was whiskey.

Matt was leaning against the wall, staring through the window.

Ezra was sitting on an armchair, his lower lip trembling. He was a mess, and it made my heart hurt.

Noah and Theo never left her room. Noah was talking, but he refused to do much more. We could barely get him to eat.

Theo had two moods. Angry and broken down. He was either screaming at us or sobbing on Noah's shoulder.

"So it was confirmed?" uncle Dan broke the silence. "They were doing drug runs for them?"

I nodded, pouring myself another glass of whiskey.

The police managed to catch one of Jerry's men. He told them that Jack and Brian came to them looking for a job. They gave them a job delivering drugs around the city. When it came to payment, the only thing they asked for was for them to help them kidnap Lucy. I didn't say this to Theo and Noah, but Jerry's guy told the police that Jack and Brian had said they would get a lot of money for her once they started selling her.

I almost broke down every piece of fucking furniture my office when Peter told me that. My family was of no help because they were doing the exact same thing. We were slowly running out of furniture to destroy.

Jerry jumped at the opportunity to get his revenge on me. My company bought the warehouses outside of Chicago. The same ones he was using for all the illegal shit he was doing. He started sending his men to destroy my property, but I've never told my grandfather or my uncle because I never thought it would escalate like this. He never threatened my family. He never sent a note saying he was going to hurt Lucy.

"Peter talked to Jerry's guy himself." Ezra said. "He repeated everything he said earlier."

Peter was a policeman and a very good friend of the family. He was around my uncle's age, and he has been a great asset to our business over the years. He's dealt with every threat we've received so far. I trusted him to find her.

"Did they find anything in the car?" grandpa asked, his voice trembling.

I shook my head. We were hoping to find her yesterday. The car was abandoned on the side of the road in an industrial neighborhood. There were a lot of empty warehouses and storage spaces, and we were sure they were keeping her there. But then again, they would be stupid to leave the car so close to their location.