The Heart That's Meant to Love You [COMPLETED]

Chapter 96: Sacrifice

His mother had kept her word. The order had been passed swiftly and efficiently. Kieran knew because of the half-dozen Irish delinquents trailing him down the street. That, and the swarm of lower-ranking laymen who had dispersed through the redevelopment area like ants fleeing their nest.

"This area is slated for redevelopment, but only about half of the residents have moved out." Terrence, the man in charge of the territory, offered the information in no uncertain terms. "That still leaves an awful lot of abandoned homes, apartments, and storefronts to check."

"You think I don't know that?" Kieran snapped at him, but under the circumstances anyone would have lost their temper.

Terrence didn't flinch. No doubt he had been scolded before, for many things. It wouldn't faze a man like him. "Is there any particular area you would like to start searching personally?"

"If I could narrow down the search by myself, I wouldn't have contacted you."

If it had been anyone except Naomi, Kieran wouldn't have asked his mother for help. He had spent years trying to stay out of her lifestyle, her family. To think that he had jumped head-first into the deep end just because of a woman... Kieran had never thought himself capable of that.

But this was Naomi they were talking about. And Annoying Oliver was unpredictable at best.

It had been hours. Anything could have happened.

One of the laymen came running down the street, as fast as his tacky dress shoes would allow. "We've got eyes on her!"

Relief cascaded through Kieran's body like the breaking of a dam. "Where?"

"There's an apartment building..." the man pointed his finger in the general direction. "It'll be easier to show you."

"Talk while we're moving."

Kieran doubled his pace, despite needing the man to direct him. The sooner he saw Naomi safe, the sooner he could ease his own worries.

"One of our men said he saw the girl you're asking about enter an abandoned apartment complex with a man earlier today. He didn't think much of it at the time. She didn't seem to be forced, but he said she kept looking around like she was plotting something."

That sounded like Naomi, always using her head and never her heart or conscience. For as intelligent as she was, her street smarts didn't exist.

"Was she injured?" Kieran asked.

The man shook his head. "It didn't appear that way."

She had better be unharmed, or Oliver wouldn't answer only to the police. He had already pulled quite the stunt, taking Naomi under the scrutiny of surveillance. No doubt he had lied to get his way, given what Kieran now knew about him.

Unfortunately, knowing that Oliver was mentally unstable made the whole ordeal more tense. Mentally unstable people could snap at the drop of a pin.

"This is the building," the man giving directions pointed out as they came to a stop at a pair of glass double doors.

Kieran stopped to put his thoughts together, to calm himself down. "Any idea what floor they're on?"

"No one followed them in. At the time we didn't know—"

"Fine. We'll do this the old-fashioned way." Kieran closed his eyes to ask himself what he would have done in Oliver's shoes.

They wouldn't be on the first floor. Or the second. Those would make for escape opportunities for Naomi. Oliver was smarter than that. They would be at least on floor three.