What Now

34. Consequences

I continued pacing on Sean's terrace. I was really starting to lose my mind. This was just too much to take. First, my psycho father gets released from prison. Then we find out he stalked my sister all the way to New York. Then she gets kidnapped by the damn psycho.

Just when we made progress and found out where Lydia was, Caffery had to walk in and mess it up. As soon as we realized Lydia and Maria had been taken, Sean sent a text to Anne to run his facial recognition software.

Yes, Sean is probably going to get in a lot of trouble for using this, but we both agreed to accept whatever consequences were going to come our way. Nothing mattered more than finding Maria and my sister and getting them home safely.

My mind had been racing with horrible possibilities of what was happening to them. The man known as my father by blood, is a known criminal. He's a predator and even capable of murder. After all, he nearly killed my mother.

Even though my mom messed up, and Alex and I ended up in foster care, she was still my mom. When I found out that she had died, I blamed Jonathan Preston. I know that she OD'd, and I know the life she lived. But I still hold him accountable for a lot of what she went through. Not all of that was on her.

Even though I know he hadn't called, I pulled out my cell phone. Yep. No missed calls from Alex. I didn't want to pressure him about reaching out to Lydia, and I knew how busy he was over in Afghanistan. But he needed to know what was going on. Our sister was in danger as long as she was with Jonathan. Anything could happen...

I dialed the phone number I had for him and waited while it rang and went to voicemail. I took a deep breath before I started my message: "Hey Alex, I hope you're staying safe out there. I know I told you I would wait to hear back from you, but something's happened. First let me explain that, I told you I reconnected with our sister, but there's more to it."

Our father assaulted Lydia when she was younger. More than once, I think. Even though it caused a lot of issues between us, he deserves to be in prison for the rest of his life. Me and Lydia have been trying to rebuild our relationship again. And we both want you involved as well. We don't want him to win and keep us estranged."

I ran my hand over my face before I continued, "The main reason I'm calling is that our father got out of prison on a compassionate release. Apparently he's dying. I'm not sure by what. But, he's here in New York City. He stalked Lydia and he's kidnapped both her and her birth mother. I know this is a lot of information and I'm sorry to dump it on you, but if anything happens to her...I love our sister. And you, Alex. I hope to hear from you soon."

Just as I hung up the phone, Sean and Caffrey stepped onto the terrace. By the look on both of their faces, the discussion they had didn't go well.

"Everything okay?" I asked them.

Sean opened his mouth to answer, but Caffrey beat him to it, "Einstein here was able to pick up Lydia on facial recognition at Maria's hotel. Now, we're under the impression that Jonathan is also staying there. We have to assume he knew Maria was staying there and it was intentional."

Well, that was good at least. If he hadn't taken them from the hotel, that meant they were still there. "What was the time stamp?" 

Sean answered this time. "It shows them arriving at the hotel about twenty minutes after we stormed the gallery. We're checking security footage, but it seems they haven't left. We already have units on the way to watch all the exits and possible ways they can leave the hotel." 

I looked from Sean to Caffrey. "And then? What do we do then?"

Caffrey crossed his arms over his chest. He had that same look on his face the last time he was pissed off at us. I didn't care. Not when my sister's life was at stake. "You two are going to stay put. Let's just call it temporary house arrest until this is all settled."

Sean turned to Caffrey with an angry expression. The man looked like he was going to lose it. I knew Sean pretty well to know that he was probably about to get himself in even more trouble than using that facial recognition software.

"Like hell," Sean sneered and pointed at me. "Michael and I are coming. That's his sister and the woman I love. We aren't staying behind."

Caffrey got in Sean's face. "You are in enough trouble. I'm going to do whatever I can help you when this is over; but you need to stay here."

Sean punched the wall in anger as Caffrey left the room. "This is fucked up!"

"I know," I replied. Everything seemed so so out of control. Our lives felt like they were falling apart around us and we couldn't stop it. "I called Alex," I said and Sean stopped examining the hand he just injured to look at me.

"What? You did? And?"

"No answer. But I left him a message. I briefly explained what my father had done to Lydia." Sean arched a brow and I explained, "He needed to know. I also told him what was going on right now. If anything happens, Sean, he needed to know."

"You're right," Sean breathed and sat down on a lounge chair. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes tight. "She's probably terrified."

"I don't think so," I said with confidence. Sean opened his eyes to look at me and I went to sit on the chair across from him. "Think about it. The first time you met her, she was different than she is now. She wasn't strong. She wasn't brave. She has changed so much since then." I gestured to Sean. "You met her at her darkest time. Look at her now. Of all people, you should be the one who sees the biggest change in her."

Sean nodded his head and smiled a little. "Yeah, she's pretty amazing. I'm just so worried about her. Why does this shit have to happen right when we're starting a real relationship? Right when were starting to live our lives?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Its the way it works, I guess. Caffrey is a good guy. He's going to do everything in his power to get both of them back." I lowered my voice before I continued. "How much trouble are you in for running that facial recognition software?"

Sean's eyes met mine and I knew the truth before he even told me. "Possible jail time. Caffrey's going to try to get me house arrest with no record considering the circumstances."

Like I said...our lives were falling apart. "Man, that's shitty. He has to report that?"

"Yeah. They let me get away with it once. Twice? No way in hell."

"Lydia is going to be pissed." When she finds out, she's probably going to rip Caffery a new one. Consequences be damned.

Sean shook his head. "I don't care. If using that software helps bring her home safe and alive, then I don't care."

When Caffrey stepped back onto the terrace, we both got to our feet. My heart sank when I saw his expression. "Let's go," he barked.

Sean and I looked at each other. "What?"

Caffrey waved his arm towards the door. "You wanted to come right? Let's go. We have to hurry."

"Why?" Sean asked suspiciously. We weren't idiots. Clearly something was really wrong. Especially if Caffrey allowed us to come.

Caffrey looked from me to Sean. "We just got a call. Shots fired from Maria's motel. They think two people are injured."