Vengeance

Chapter 49

Ryan's POV

I was leaning forward on the desk as I stood beside Matteo, who was hacking into Hunt's laptop for the information we needed about the consignment that was supposed to be shipped to Indonesia. I had to admit, the boy had amazing skills when it came to hacking. He promised to build a firewall for our systems as well. 

Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I fished it out, and saw the caller Id. 

Ava? Why is she calling right now? 

I picked up immediately.
"Hey.." I heard her breathing hard and sniffling. 

"H-Hello? Ryan!" Her scared voice was enough to get my heart racing in my chest, "S-Someone broke in!" 

"WHAT?" I yelled gaining everyone's attention. 

"Are you okay? Are you still in at your place?" 

"Y-Yes, it's all destroyed. Th-they destroyed the photo frame, Ryan! I don't know what to do." She was crying a lot, making me feel an aching pain in my chest.

"Okay. Okay. Listen to me, you need to get out of there. Go across the street, sit in that café in front of your place. Just be in the public, okay? Don't stay in that house alone. Do you understand me?" I instructed her. 

"Yes." 

"Good. I'll be there soon. Don't worry. I'm coming. Okay?" 

"Okay." 

With that I hung up and turned around to face the worried people in my study.
"That was Ava." I told them.

"What happened?" Her brothers got up immediately. 

"Ryan!" Nik and Nessa were equally worried. 

"Someone broke into the penthouse. We need to go. Right now." 

Without wasting another second, all of us got our cars and drove to their place.

We went to the café first. Ava was sitting at the table on the extreme end with her head in the hands. She looked up as soon we entered and ran upto her brothers. Her eyes looked red with all the crying. Marco and Matteo held her tight.
They pulled apart and wiped the tears off her face.
"Enzo is going to kill us." Marco said as a matter of fact. 

"Stop, crying, Avy. We're here now." 

"They burned the photo frame." She said with so much pain in her eyes, even I felt it though I had no idea which photo frame they were talking about. 

"Nik, Nessa, take Ava to my place. And all the three of you stay there until you hear from me. Do not leave the house." 

They nodded and started pulling Ava away from her brothers.
I held her hand and gave a slight squeeze when she passed me. No one noticed the look of assurance that I exchanged with her before they left.
Once they were gone, Marco came up to me and said, "We have to tell Enzo. But first let's check the place."

We went to the penthouse and trust me when I say this. It was destroyed. Like someone had poured all their rage into the work for creating such a mess. Then we saw what Ava was talking about. The photo frame was on the floor shattered with majority of the picture burned to ashes. The remains of it made me realize it was of their parents. I felt my blood boil with rage. Parents were a sore topic for me, and whoever did this to My Ava, hit the wrong nerve.
The look on the faces of her twin brothers were no different than mine.
I took out my phone took pictures of the mess and especially the photo frame.
"I'm calling him." I told them.

Ring! Ring!

"Ryan?" I heard Lorenzo's gruff voice speak through the phone. 

"Someone broke into your place." 

"Ava? Where is she? Tell me she is alright and nothing happened or I swear to god-" 

"She's safe. They left before she returned home. The girls are with her right now at my place. Don't worry my men are stationed there 24/7." 

"Where are Marco and Matteo? I need to talk to them." He sounded pissed off. 

"It's not their fault. I'm sending some pictures. Take a look." 

"Alright. But tell them they are in a lot of trouble. I'm coming back to whip their sorry asses soon enough." 

"Sure thing." 

I sent him all the pictures I'd taken of the place.
"Fucking hell! Whoever did this is gonna pay for it." He cursed. 

"I'm on it. We'll find out."
We hung up.

"We are in trouble, aren't we?" Matteo looked pale. I chuckled at them. 

"Not if you find out who did this." 

They shook their heads.
"Romeo would probably beat us to pulp for leaving Ava alone at the first place." Marco gulped. 

"It's not your fault. I called you to help me. And now is not the time for all this. We need to find the person behind this." I explained. 

"We'll get some men to search the place, see of the person left anything behind which would help us catch him." 

They both nodded and then we left the place.

"Matteo, check the security cameras of the building, and the one across the street as well. I'm sure one of them must have caught the bastard." I ordered him as soon as we got to my place. 

"Marco, take the men with you back to your place and see if you find something unfamiliar." I told him as soon as he came back from checking up on Ava. 

"How is she?" Matteo asked his twin. 

Marco just shook his head with sadness.
Once they were back on the work I had given them I headed to the guest room. I had to see her myself.

I knocked on the door. Nik opened and glanced back at Ava who was sitting on the bed with her eye puffy and nose red, while Nessa was comforting her.
She nodded at me, allowing me to enter and the girls left us alone.
As soon the door shut behind us, Ava got off the bed and threw herself on to me, wrapping her hands around me. I hugged her back, tightly pressing her fragile body against mine.
She sniffled in my chest, as I held her in my arms.  

"Hey.. I'm here. You're safe. We gonna find the bastard. Don't worry." I cupped her face and made her look up to me.

"I've called Lorenzo. They'll be here soon. You've nothing to worry about as long you're here with me. I'll keep you safe, I promise." I kissed her top of her head. 

"Thank you." 

We stayed like that for some time, until she calmed down. She had stopped crying.
A knock at the door made us pull apart.

"Yes?"
It was Vanessa.
"Matteo found something." She informed me. 

I nodded at her and then, turned and held Ava's face once again in my hands.
"See? We're on it." Pushing her hair off her face I said, "Now why don't you go lie down for a bit. I'll send someone with food in an hour. Rest till then."
She nodded. And helped her get into the bed and kissed her forehead before leaving.

"What is it?" I asked them as soon as I entered the study. 

"Look." Matteo pushed the laptop towards me.
On it was a footage of the security camera just outside the main door of the penthouse. A man in black hoody and  face covered by black mask exits the elevator around the time when Ava leaves for college. He stands in front of the door where he types the passcode required for the entrance with his left hand. 

So he's lefty?
Wait no! He has bent his right arm. It looks like it's literally glued to his chest.
Handicapped?
Or a fracture maybe? 

The passcode shows green and the door opens.
He looks sideways to check he's alone and the enters.
"He knows the passcode." Stefen said. 

"Only we know the passcode. Our two families." Marco narrowed his eyes.
I exhaled deeply. And then glanced around looking at everyone suspiciously.
"This means..."

"We have a rat."