Game Of Love (Under Editing)

Chapter 40

*TRIGGER WARNING!! The following chapter contains scenes that might be upsetting to some people. Please proceed with caution.*

Kaiden-

I knew something was wrong the moment I left. My gut was telling me that I had made a grave mistake as soon as I pulled out of the garage. Luca was already waiting on me when I made it to the building as well as security and the police. "What's our damage like?" I asked as soon I got to the group wasting no time on pleasantries. 

"The entire executive floor has been trashed. From what I've seen, nothing was taken but from how bad the property damage is, this seemed personal." Luca said. We shared a look that said we were both thinking the same thing: Anthony Jackson was behind this somehow. 

"Do we have an ID on the security footage as to who is behind this?" I asked the security guard. 

"No that's the weird part. There is no footage of anyone up there at all. Someone tapped into the security feed and blocked the recording." The security guard said. 

"Fuck!" I spat out. That alone meant Jackson was behind this. And I knew exactly what his motives were.

"I gotta make a call." I said stepping away from the group as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I tried calling Melodi but her phone went to voicemail over and over again. I even tried to call Seth who was supposed to be her guard while I was away but I got the same treatment. The ball of dread that had been building in my stomach since I left expanded. I walked back over to Luca and the rest of the group, the former giving me an expectant look. I shook my head "Something's wrong. She's not answering her phone and neither is Seth." I told him as I started texting James and Camryn to see if they had heard from Melodi. When both of them answered back no, my panic level completely exploded. "Fuck no one has heard from her. I don't like this. I don't like this one bit. I gotta go." I told Luca, leaving him to explain to the confused officers what was going on as I sprinted to my car. 

I pulled out in record time and sped all the way home, praying the entire way there that my gut feeling was wrong, that Melodi was fine and was just taking a nap or watching a movie. Something other than paying attention to her phone. I barely stopped the car before I was out and into the elevator. I ran through the lobby not caring who I pushed over along the way.

I frantically hit the call button for the elevator going up to the condo's, still repeating the prayer that I was wrong and everything was fine over and over again in my head, despite knowing deep down that something was indeed very, very wrong. I punched in the code to get up to our floor and willed the car to move faster. It felt like it took ten lifetimes for the door to open and I went tearing down the hall to our front door, which was left wide open. The sounds of the TV floated out to me, playing whatever Melodi had left it on. 

The end table that sat next to the front door lay on its side, pieces of the key bowl that once sat on top were scattered across the entry way, her car keys and other little odds and ends she kept in the bowl. "Melodi! Bellissima is everything okay?" I called out as I tore into the house, making a point to check each room. It took me less than a minute to confirm my worse fear: Melodi was gone. I heard someone come into the house and call my name. 

"Kaiden is she here!?" Luca called from the living room. I stumbled out there in a daze and met his expecting gaze with a head shake and watched as his face fell. "She's gone. That bastard took her. He kidnapped my wife."

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Melodi-

"What happened Brianna? What plan? How long have you been here?" I asked her as the shock wore off. The woman I met months ago was not the same woman sitting in front of me right now. "He keeps her drugged up on one thing or another. Maybe a combination of things. This is the most lucid I've seen her since I've been here." Susan said softly. I took in her shaken and beaten appearance and felt my heart break for her. "She is the reason he hasn't touched me yet. He comes down here, shoots her up with dope and proceeds to rape and beat her senseless. She makes me hide in the bathroom when he comes down. I guess that's her way of protecting me, although we all know that door won't keep him from getting to me if he wanted to. He must not want to yet. How do you know her?" She continued, wiping a tear from her face. Brianna may have done some fucked up shit but no one deserves this. 

"Her name is Brianna Nicolai. She's Kaiden's ex-girlfriend. She's been missing for a few weeks now. No one, not her friends or her agent have heard from her. Her parents took out a missing persons report. They've been running the story on almost every major news outlet in the country." I told her as I wiped my own tears. 

Susan's eyes grew large as she took in what I said. "Brianna Nicolai? As in international super model Brianna Nicolai? Oh man Anthony is crazier than I took him for if he kidnapped someone so high profiled. Then again he's after the Andretti family." She said.

"He didn't kidnap me. I came with him willingly. At first anyway." She croaked out. 

"What do you mean?" 

"We dated for a while. I thought he was perfect for me. He didn't see Brianna Nicolai, international model. He saw the real Brianna. I thought I finally met a guy that would love me for me and all my faults. The whole thing about drugging Kaiden and pretending to sleep with him was just me being petty and vindictive. I honestly didn't even want to be with him anymore. It more so out of habit than anything else. We had been a couple for so long that it was the only thing I had known. It was definitely our parents fault as much as our own for not stopping it sooner. Anthony treated me the way I saw Kaiden treat you and I was finally happy. But he couldn't let go of his obsession with you, Susan and the Andretti's. I didn't even know he was an escaped convict until later, much later after it was already too late. I believed all the lies he told me and I loved him. I wanted him to get his vengeance so that he would get it out of his system and fully commit to me. That was until he started stalking you, Melodi. He had a fixation on you, a crazy, dangerous one. I told him if he wanted to continue seeing me he had to let go of his obsession with all of you. He promised to help me get back at Kaiden and against my better judgement and decided to go with it. That's when we cooked up the plan to drug Kaiden with Mr. Andretti. He never actually met Anthony so he didn't know who he was when he agreed. I had never seen him so angry when that didn't work to break you two up. I think that was the first time he had hit me. Everything had just gotten worse from there. The beatings, the sexual abuse and the drugging me when I fought back. He's doing drugs too. Basically I've been his prisoner. I've been trying to get free, talk him out it especially after the fire he set at your shop. I prayed that you would be safe. Both of you. especially after finding out you're pregnant. Clearly my prayers were ignored. Now I just hope that you both get out of here safely." She said told me wiping tears from her eyes.

It seemed like every one Anthony Jackson came in contact with, payed some price or another. The Andretti's lost a son/brother, a daughter-in-law/sister-in-law, a grandchild/niece or nephew. Susan lived in terror for years. Hell look at the amount of destruction he managed to cause for both Brianna and I in just a few months. We would never be free of him. He had to be stopped before he could do anything else. For not only my safety but the safety of my children. 

Anthony Jackson had to die.

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If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, please call 1-800-799-7233 or contact your local domestic violence hotline.

If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault, please call 1-800-656-4673 or contact your local sexual assault hotline.

Operators are available 24/7. Let's end the cycle.