Eala Chapter 18

Chapter 18

EPOV

My head is foggy and I’m trying to figure out what the incessive banging is. Why is my phone going off incessantly? I roll over to nudge Bella, only to find her not in bed next to me. “What the fuck?”

I rub my face and look at the clock. My stomach turns when I read the numbers; six a.m. I stumble out of bed, grabbing my phone and seeing numerous missed calls from Emmett, Mama Es, and Jasper.

I whip open the bedroom door to hear Emmett yelling and banging on the new front door that was installed per request from Bella.

I quickly open it up to a panicked Emmett.

“We have to go to Eala!”

“What the fuck is going on?” I snap at him as I try to gather my shit that I flung around the apartment last night.

“Da is missing, and so is—” He stops, nervously wiping his hands on his pants, clearly not wanting to look at me.

I take slow, calculating steps toward him. “Emmett, who else?”

He finally meets my gaze. “Bella.”

I’m out the door and into the car before Emmett catches up.

“Tell me what you know, now,” I growl as he joins me.

“Ma called me around four asking me if I knew were Da was, and I said the pub with Bella.”

I nod my head for him to keep going.

“Then I got a call from Benjamin saying Angela called him in a panic. She went to check the deposit because Bella asked her to, but when she got there she found several bodies in the bar. The place looked wrecked, so she tried calling Bella first, but she didn’t answer, so she called Benjamin,” Emmett quickly explains to me on the drive.

“Did the cameras catch what went down?” I try to keep my voice in check.

“Yes.”

It isn’t long before I’m storming into Eala, where our clean up crew is finishing up. Jasper is standing with Benjamin, and Angela is in the office crying as she watches the screens. My feet take me to her where I watch, too. I watch Bella and my dad chatting, then Bella takes her gun out and goes over to my dad as men come swarming in.

Aro is in the middle.

My hands curl into fists.

Bella doesn’t even flinch as they come in and surround her and my da. He lowers his gun just a little bit; it appears as if they’re talking. I don’t know what words are exchanged, but all hell breaks loose and Bella begins shooting rapidly as they close in on her and Da.

There are so many, and my nerves are on edge as I watch Bella take them out one by one, and not just with a gun. But she stops cold when the gun is pointed at Da’s head. My heart drops; sweat is forming on my palms as I watch them smack Bella and tie her up, followed by Da, and walk them out of the club.

A sob breaks from Angela, and I can feel the water form in my eyes, but I can’t break down right now. I have to find my dad and my leanbh.

I hug Angela to my chest as she sobs. I call for Benjamin and he comes and takes over while I go back to the main room.

Everyone quiets down when they see me. I look around, picturing the fight my girl put up. Pride and anger swell equally inside me.

“Tell me what we know. Has Aro contacted us?” I’m still walking around the pub, looking at every little detail Bella put into this place.

She poured her very soul into Eala. And you can see it everywhere in the paint she used, the art she chose.

“He hasn’t contacted us. From what we’ve heard on the streets, Aro wants to know if we’ve gone to the Russians yet and how much we know,” Jasper answers me.

I stop and stare. “Do we have any leads to where they were taken?” I know by the look that Emmett and Jasper give me that the answer is no. “Where was Seth when all this went down?” I look around to everyone here, not seeing his face.

“He’s with our doctors; he was shot while patrolling around Eala,” Emmett answers me this time.

I looked around again, seeing who is here, and who is not. I see all my loyal soldiers. All those I’ve vetted myself. Then I see Eleazar standing in the doorway.

I stalk my way towards him. “Where is he?”

“Who?” His voice is hard with the accusation hanging in the air.

I wait just a heartbeat. “Marcus.”

His eyebrows knit together. “I haven’t seen or spoken to him since last night, when boss said he wouldn’t need us for a bit.”

I growl and start cursing in Gaelic.

~Eala~

It’s been two weeks. Two weeks of hell. Absolute hell.

We’ve continued to run business as usual, and I held the meeting with Viktor, who agreed to hold off on starting war until Bella and Da are found. He does want in when they’re found, though, and I assured him I was going to need him.

I rub my hand down my face as I look out the door to the main floor of Eala. I find myself here most often; I just want to be close to her.

I’m surprised at the new arrival in the pub. “Edward,” Mama Esme greets me with a hug.

I bring her into the office and shut the door. “What brings you down here, Ma?” I ask, taking a seat at the desk as she sits across from me.

She looks at me with red eyes. “Is there any news on where they are?”

I sigh and shake my head, hearing her sob quietly. I get up and take her into my arms, allowing her to cry against my chest.

“I am going to find them Ma, I promise,” I vow to her.  

After I reassure her, I have Nolan escort her home.

I find myself pouring a drink and thinking of everything we know. We now know that Marcus has a been a mole for Aro for the last ten years, at least. I had Benjamin hack into Marcus’s financials and found big withdrawals paid to another account that led to a school for mentally challenged teens and young adults. From there we found that Marcus had impregnated Jane, Aro’s only daughter, at the age of sixteen. This is when we think Aro had Marcus spy on us; Aro would surely have killed him otherwise. Marcus’s child was born with severe Down syndrome, hence the special school.

Because of this mess, I called in all the families to help me clean house from the shitstorm Marcus caused. When Da comes back, he’ll have to give up being don and then basically never show his face. His stupidity in trusting Marcus has gotten the family into a lot of shit. Marcus had a GPS chip on Da’s vehicle, so he knew where he was at all times. He had chips on almost all the vehicles but mine, because I’m known to do many bug sweeps. I’m assuming this, anyway.

I should have known something would go down; I shouldn’t have been drinking, knowing that Aro was out there and wanted Bella.

I tighten my grip on the glass as my chest tightens.

The idea of my Bella being tied up and having only God knows what being done to her causes me to throw the glass across the office, and finally my body shakes with the sobs I’ve been holding in for so long.

I feel arms wrap around me, but they don't calm me. Another week goes by, and I stay in my raged induce state as I stress over Bella, and we continue to have no information on where they are. Jasper runs the clubs for me, and most of the men stay out of my way as I tear through the town looking for her.

I’m sitting at Eala once again, and everything freezes when I see Caius walk in. Aro’s oldest son.

I don’t think I have ever been so fast at pulling my gun and pointing it at someone’s head.

He stays calm as Emmett, Jasper, Quinn, and Garrett surround him, all pointing their weapons at him.

“We don’t have long. I’m here to tell you where they are.”