Shattering my Over-used Heart

Coles chapter-Unsure what pain is worse

I stare blankly at Colton, fox and bandit. "What do you mean you don't know where he is?" I ask confused as shit, running my hand through my now cut hair, I shaved the sides again and went middle length on top. "He found that Castilian girl, whose now missing on the news-" Colton starts, with a shrug "Booked him tickets on her plane" Fox chimes in not looking up from his screen, I sigh and place my hands on my hips. "Then after he ran up some debts, Noelle said to freeze his bank" Bandit adds, I look over to him, they all look worried and the smell of emotion in this room is a putrid mix of frustration and restlessness. "debts?" I ask the only word that catches my attention. "He's thrown his money around, more than Noelle would like, so to protect what he has left, she asked us to freeze his account, but he withdraw from one of his savings account, so he's walking around with about five grand" Colton informs me and I shake my head a little. "and before you say anything, his phone was cut on day three" Fox calls from over his laptop, I huff putting my phone away "So he's unreachable, with no money, and he's not asking for help, that's for damn sure" I finally say looking down, when Wyatt enters the office, he looks glad to see me like I am to him, I stride over to the other end of this room. "Wyatt what the fuck is going on?" I ask, I feel like shit because I've been dealing with my half of things, shutting nearly 60 clubs on half this side of the world, being in battle after battle, and drinking to celebrate afterwards, if I knew tommy was missing for these couple of weeks, I would have gone and dragged his ass back myself, Wyatt looks tired, and I'm not surprised, while tommy is gone, Wyatt I guess looks after everything. "It's been ...hard" Wyatt scoffs, and I lean back on the side of the wall and cross my arms over my chest "Gideon, has taken over the dust trade, I couldn't handle it without ... muscle, but he's stopped trade with good paying customers which...hurt the Caligula's reputation, the casino without the dust trade isn't making as much money, because people aren't high or drunk to bet enough–" I side eye the room, and rub my jaw "isn't Casey supplying the alcohol?" I question "They are having separate problems and our clubs have been dry for a week, we've had to shut half of them until Gideon had to use a second hand supplier, and the booze is watered down, so profits–" Wyatt trails off and I mumble a fuck under my breath. "everything's gone to shit, then while tommy's been gone" I finish the sentence I already gathered, if everything on the back burner has gone to shit, then the next question I don't actually want to know the answer too but my curiosity gets the better of me "what about the search for-" I mention before Wyatt looks at me, his eyes don't even look at me , and I smell the disappointment roll off him. "We kept the couple off the boat in the cells underground, but, there's been absolutely nothing" Wyatt confesses and I hang my head.

Before I head to the station for the first time in a week, I ask bandit if he can hack the traffic cameras in the town tommy flew too to track him, then I enter my office surprised to see Gen at my desk, typing away like it's her office, well it pretty much is when I'm away, she runs this fucking place anyway, who am I kidding? I sit in the chair facing my desk, I watch her eyes dart from the screen to the keyboard to me. "Hey" she breaths out eventually, we sit in awkward silence before I hang my head "I'm sorry Cole-" Gen starts, I look down at my feet slowly tapping my wooden floor. "I know were at a dead end right now, and I've helped out as much as I can with Wyatt, I'm sorry about Thomas, but you guys are going through a silent battle right now–" before she can continue Scott walks in my office, and the relieve I feel is instant, his eyes go from gen at my desk to me sat like a perpetrator in front of it. "did I miss when you handed this station to the rightful owner?" Scott laughs, and I smile back at him then look towards Gen who's smiling too, Scott makes his way to the seat next to me, when he sits, I watch when he rubs his chest with a pained look on his face he tries to hide. "So, the stories of you and a band of undercover services are true?" Scott mentions over to me, and I just nod, my mind wonders over to tommy, is he in trouble? does he need help? and the fact everything our fathers built and we took over is crumbling in front of me, When we chat over nothing, adding to my feeling of floating in purgatory, I'm left alone in my office at the end, I write out a list, I phone Gideon who picks up on the second ring, he explains everything in his monotone voice, how he's weeding out the lesser clans, using the dust to see if anyone whose addicted will give up information on the Castilians or anyone they have worked with, after talking about finances, he makes me aware of an off shore account and nothing more is discussed, I phone Adrian to talk about renovating the hotels out of my own pocket, the ones near holiday destinations family friendly, and push to also change the menus to the restaurants, my next call is to Casey Who informs me of water sprites experiencing troubles in the nearby lake and river they use, it's under control but I offer my help anyway, its then my computer turns on and the screen I'm looking at is the Site I don't want to be familiar with, it's the black site lacey is on, I watch the mouse move onto her page, and when I end the call from Casey, my phone rings immediately, I stare at it a little weirded out but I slowly pick it up and put it to my ear. "They uploaded a new video, I thought you might want to know" I hear fox mutter on the other side, my mouth goes dry, I almost forgot about this part of everything, my mind occupied with the battles and fights we've been engaged in, I don't want to do this alone, but seen as tommy has taken the selfish route out. "Yeah" I whisper out, I'm not prepared for this at all, when the mouse skims over her page, I see she has a whole profile, weight, height, hair colour, eye colour, pictures of her working out, pictures of her sat in what I presume is her bedroom, reading on a sofa, and eating at a table, but my eyes quickly scan every inch every detail of each photo, then the video plays and I hear her sweet panting, my computer adjusts to the brightness, it's in fucking night mode or some shit, she's sweating visibly, her eyes look hooded, she's distressed. "Oh fuck-" I whisper into the phone, I hear fox breathing on the phone, then her crying starts. "What the fuck am I looking at?" I spill through clenched teeth, my jaw ticks, I feel the crack of the plastic on the phone I'm about to break. "Looks to all of us, some kind of torture, looks like she can't stand–" I hear fox mutter "she can't stretch out her legs" I hear bandit in the background, I feel my blood boil, then I watch the video speed up, like it jumps a whole 24 hours, I hear some sort of hiss and she flinches. "Oh fuck, the box, looks what it's made out off–" I hear the conversation between the hackers, but the camera changes angle, and I see the burn mark down her arm, I see her perfect skin damaged, my eyes flick off the video, but something inside me needs to watch it, so I can understand what she went through better, if anything I remember the talk Gen had with me about recovery and therapy, not just for her but for all of us, before I can stutter out anything else, my door opens to, Roman, Brann, Matty and Kieman talking about something before Roman spots my stature and facial expression, my eyes are glued to this screen, Brann kicks out a chair and sits down unaware but Roman comes around and crosses his arms, leaning on the window seal behind me staring at the screen like I am, Kieman is next, leaning over me to scan the screen. "Holy shit, old age torture" Kieman exhales and I turn my head but keep my eyes on the screen "what?" I hear Matty say coming around to see the screen with a slight gasp "From her height, she should be experiencing cramps" Matty Explains and I sit forward "The time jumps as well–" Her cries cut me off as we watch her pass out and hear the sizzle of her skin, she doesn't wake, but the sound is more than I can take, her body responds, her mouth twitches, her brows cause a deep, deep line, until she wakes up screaming, she recoils fast, but there's nowhere to go, her back hits the metal, her arms hit the next side, all the while her deep sobs rack through my ears. "I'm ... i- I'm sorry" she whispers out hoarsely, like she's been thirsty for a while, the phone falls from my grip and Kieman behind me catches it, my mouth slowly opens, the beads of water hang on my eye lashes and when I blink, the tears fall. "I'm guessing, this site and video is untraceable?" Kieman asks holding the phone with his shoulder to his ear "C- coop, cooper please, god I'm sorry I'm ... I-I'm so fucking sorry" Lacey continues to pled "She's been in there for four days" Matty points at the timer, then I see the bids, the numbers are going up in the thousands, stopping then raising every now and again. "I just ... I just want to go home" When that sentence leaves her lips, I bolt up and stand, moving away from the screen so I can pace my office, Kieman takes my seat almost immediately, he taps the keyboards while holding the phone "How protected?" He asks but I can't stop pacing, my cheeks burn, and my eyes sting with the tears, my mind races with how we could move pass this, how could she fucking move pass something like that? I stop and search the floor, I don't know if it's my head trying to distract me, but I see all the dents the chairs made in my floor, the scruffs everyone's shoes made until the thought I wish I never thought entered my head, she's going to be so damaged when we get her back.