Darkness Returns | Darkness #2

8.

We're 67 hours far and Camilla is still nowhere to be found.

I am losing my mind.

The desperation is growing thicker and thicker in my veins with every Camilla-less hour. My eyes are burning from the amount of tears I've spilled. My eyes pain me because there's no happy giggle to be heard.

I shiver at the thought of not finding her alive and stand up, trying to think of something else. Of course, Daisy senses it and calls me back. She's still seated on the couch, with her eyes concentrated on her laptop screen.

"Come here, Nicky, I'm scratching off al the places we have searched. Look. There's not much where she can be anymore. See? We've been here and here, which takes over half of the map. These three places are potential places."

I recognize my uncle's house, the house of a weed dealer and some ex-employee of ours. I tap his house on the map and shake my head. "He didn't do it. He's in China."

She shrugs and scratches his name off the list. "One place less to search then. So what do we have? This one and this one."

Easton walks in and nuzzles his face in Daisy's neck while he looks at what we're doing. I see the moment it dawns him that maybe our uncle does have my little princess. 

"What the fuck?"

Daisy looks up, confused. "What? Did I miss something?"

She doesn't know it's uncle's house. She's only seen him once, when we just started dating and the asshole just had to say hello to us in our club. I didn't want her to worry about him because he didn't matter.

Now, he does. The bastard took my daughter.

"I'm fucking going," I snap and take my coat off the kitchen table. Easton grabs my shirt, though, and yanks me back. I glare at him, silently wishing I haven't lost the ability to look intimidating to him.

He is unimpressed.

"What? Do you want another fist in your face?" I ask, grunting because this is all taking too long. For all I know, they could be torturing Camilla right now. Every second counts.

Asher walks in and this is just great. Now I'll never get there in time.

He sees Easton gripping onto me and immediately assists him. "Ho, ho, Dominic, where the fuck are you going? Dinner's ready in forty minutes," he says in what I think is a comforting voice.

I clench my teeth for a second. "Yeah, and if you let go of me, Camilla might be able to join us."

Unsure, he looks from em to our wife on the couch. "Um. Daisy? Help. I think he took some drugs or something, he's—"

"We know where Camilla is, asshole."

With wide eyes, he looks back at me. "Really? Where?" Easton sighs in return. "It might be uncle's house, but we're not entirely sure."

Ash winces. We're both thinking about how I wanted to go to uncle yesterday, but he said she surely wasn't there. It turns out she is there now. I should've listened to my intuition.

"B-but—Shouldn't we ask some back-up?" he tries to find an excuse, ignoring me and looking at Daisy and Easton. Easton hesitates, while I'm already rolling my eyes. "Back-up for what? He's an old guy. Last time we saw him he even had a beer belly. Believe me when I say I can just take him," I sarcastically say.

Daisy frowns. Oh no. She's believing Ash, isn't she?

"I think Dominic has a point," she slowly says. My heart beats faster in hope. Please let me go. I just want my princess. "Let Dominic go. How long should it take?"

I think about it for a second. The drive is ten minutes. Calculating how to get in should take a few considering minutes too. "Close to an hour?"

She nods, seeming thoughtful. "Okay. I give you an hour and a half to return with Camilla. If you don't, we're coming. The whole parade. Easton, Asher, Michael, Dante and Valentino. At least."

I frown. "But—"

She shakes her head, stubborn as always. "Nope. It's this or going with everyone from the start. I get that you want to do this alone, and I'm giving you that chance, but we need a safety net."

I sigh. I don't want to admit it, but she's right. God, Daisy's always right.

"Alright then," I give in. "This is a luck of trust, though." It's meant playful, but Daisy gives me a wobbly smile before standing up and reaching to hug me. 

I see she finds it difficult to let me go to the danger. So, even if I find this ridiculous because I'll be back in an hour, I give her a big hug back. My kitten deserves that for being as brave as she is.

"Stay safe, please," she whisper, eyes glossy with unshed tears. I squeeze her tighter. She sniffles. "Don't try to be the big hero. Your safety goes first. Without you, we can't save Camilla. We need you to be healthy and thinking well, okay? Even if you have to return and do it with the rest, I'll still think you're a hero just because of all the work you've done to find her."

Shit. She's making me tear up. I nod, swallowing past the growing lump in my throat. Finally, I croak, "Okay."

And I leave. I keep my calm while driving to our uncle's house. With a little bit of luck, he won't be home and Camilla will be playing with a toy she found. It'll all be fine.

I park my car on a public parking lot a street away from his house. Far enough to not be soon, but close enough to reach when I have to run. 

His house is silent. There are no guards and no car parked in the driveway. I know better than to just walk right in, though, and scan the building. There's an open window on the side, but it's not big enough for me to fit through.

Then there another, on the first floor. When another two minutes go by without any movements, I cross the streets and make quick work of climbing to the open window on the first floor. The trashcan makes a great help.

When I'm in, I duck behind a closet and listen. No one talks. No footsteps. The only thing I hear is a vague, young voice singing. My heart feels like it's stabbed with a burning knife.

Camilla.

Listening for another minute and hearing nothing but her song, I silently walk to the source of her voice. I'm going, baby, dad's getting you.

". . . and then Camilla comes down with her crown, while Aiden looks like a clown!" she singsongs, after which she giggles. The desperation I feel to have her in my arms again only grows, until I hear her clearly and I know behind what door she is.

"Princess?" I whisper, tapping the door. She stops singing to listen. I tap again. "Who's there? If you're mustache man again, I don't want your icky candies anymore!"

I flinch. What did she go through?

"It's Dada, sweetheart. Can you open the door for me? Is there a key somewhere?" She's silent, but I hear her footsteps through the room and some searching. 

"There no key, dada! I can't help!" she laughs again. I close my eyes and sigh, resting my head against the door. I'm this close. 

"We could help."

My eyes snap open in an instant. I'm startled to see my uncle, with ten men around him with weapons and someone who is wearing a mask. I curse underneath my breath. The house wasn't clear.

They come closer, and I'm trapped. If it were only uncle, with maybe three men, I could've handled this. But twelve people is too much to handle alone and suddenly, I wish I wasn't too stubborn to listen to my brothers.

Just when one pushes me on the ground and kicks my stomach, I catch a sight of the person behind the mask. It drops on the floor next to me, revealing a smug smirk. Whose?

Father's.