The remnants of Grace Brennan

7| Grace.

New Port, 25 August 2017

"What am I without her?" Victor asked no one in particular as he took a swig of the whiskey bottle he had in his hand, it was coming up to two months without Grace, two months of unending torment, every moment that passed he tried to convince himself that it was no different than before he met Grace but it was a lie, every day was different, every day a cold numbness set into his heart. He knew that she was the only thing in his life that brought him warmth. There was no pretending, he could not be without Grace. 

"Victor?" Vincent's voice called out from behind his office door 

"What?" Victor snapped annoyed before taking another sip of the amber liquor.

"You're going to drink yourself to death, that bottle was full this afternoon," Vincent said casually with his hands in his pocket as he entered Victor's office.

"Do you have a reason for being here or did you just come to annoy me?" Victor gruffed

"I was worried about you" Vincent admitted which was met by a dark humorless chuckle from Victor.

"If you want to spend your time worrying, I have a whole empire of worries that'll do the trick"

"Why are you so hellbent on being a pain in the ass Victor? I know you miss Grace but this is fucking ridiculous. How do you ever expect to find Demani if you're wasted every God damn second?" He snapped annoyed

"Watch your tone" Victor warned

"Or what?" Vincent snapped throwing his hands in the air "What are you going to do? Drown me in whiskey?" Vincent raised a brow "You've been up here drowning your sorrows ever since Grace left. Do you think she'll be happy to see you like this? Do you think Grace wants to see you like this?"

"Shut up!" Victor roared pulling out his gun and aiming it at Vincent "Don't fucking speak about her" He seethed, he looked like a mad man, his dress shirt stuck out of his pants, and his usual brushed-back hair was now a curly mess atop his head, a five o clock shadow lined his sculpted jaw. A fiery anger flashed in his dark eyes.

"Put your gun away, we both know you aren't going to shoot me" Vincent rolled his eyes "I did come here for a reason"

"Fucking finally" Victor grumbled putting his gun back into the holster around his waist. "What is it?"

"When I was in New York I got a lead on Demani's whereabouts, I was going to go check it out. Do you want to come with me?" He asked

"Yes," Victor said standing

"I'm driving" Vincent added as the brothers left the mansion.

The drive to the address Vincent got was an hour out of New Port and right on the border of New Haven, Victor remained quiet, staring out of the window as he had seen Grace do many times as they drove.

"Did you see her?" Victor asked softly

"Yes" Vincent answered "She misses you"

Victor didn't say anything, he missed Grace more than he had ever missed anything before, he would go through the worst kinds of torture to be able to hold her in his arms again. The rest of the drive was silent as Victor continued staring out of the window, replaying memories of Grace in his mind. He relived the night they met, their wedding night, their wedding day. God, she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever laid eyes on. Swallowing the memories with a lump in his throat as Vincent stopped the car. They were in front of a two-bedroom suburban home, all the lights were off and there were no cars in the driveway.

"Are you sure this is the correct address?" Victor asked as he got out of the car, loading his gun.

"Positive" Vincent answered doing the same.

"Okay, you take the back, I'll take the front" Victor shrugged before moving into the shadows, he checked his surroundings as Vincent disappeared around the house. Victor calmed himself setting his senses on alert as he climbed the squeaky porch steps, he kept his movements light as he got closer to the house. Peeking into the windows, from what he could tell there was no furniture.

"Victor, get in here" Vincent called. Assuming all was clear, Victor entered the house into an empty living room, a laptop stood on the floor, the screen blank with a note pasted on the top.
'Play me' the note read. The brothers looked at each other and shrugged as Vincent pulled the note off, pressing the enter button on the laptop, the screen came to life.

Victor's heart hammered loudly in his chest as the screen in front of him displayed Grace's perfect features sitting on a couch of the public library, reading a black book with a chess piece on the cover. Sergio had mentioned to Victor that he had been taking Grace to the library every day, at first Victor thought it was a good thing, a sign that she was doing better but now, he wasn't so sure.

"Take the laptop back home and have Christoff see if he can pull anything useful," Victor said his voice cold and demanding. Just as Vincent was about to close the screen a message appeared 'I've got eyes on your girl' The text read causing Victor to let out a low growl.

"We should go back to the house, and set up a plan," Vincent said quickly

Victor didn't answer, he just nodded his head as he walked out of the house with Vincent close behind him. His mind raced with a million worries about Grace's safety. The jig was up, Demani knew where she was and now she was in even more danger.

"Do you know what it means?" Victor asked as they drove.

"What?" Vincent asked confused

"Grace" Victor said softly "unmerited gift of divine favor in the salvation of sinners" He looked down at the silver wedding ring on his finger "She is my only salvation"

"You put too much faith in her." Vincent shook his head "She's not the only good thing about you."

"She's everything good." Victor said with more authority "She's the only light in all of this darkness. I won't survive without her"

"She's going to be fine. Sergio won't let anything happen to her." Vincent assured his brother.

"He better not" Victor sighed, the drive home was filled with more tension as both brothers now worried about what might come. When they arrived home, Victor called Christoff, Jacob, and Malcolm into his office along with Owen.

"Christoff, you search through that laptop, look for anything you can get on Demani, and when that video was taken." He instructed as the men gathered in his office.

"Vincent, you and Owen get to Italy, make sure Debbie and Gloria are safe" He instructed "Jacob, you and Malcolm take some men and go back to that house, search every square inch of the place"

"What about you Victor?" Vincent asked.

"I'm going to New York to get my wife back." He stated before exiting the room.