Unplugged (Blue Phoenix, #3)(74)

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I wake on the sofa, with a sore neck and the sound of Cerys rummaging through drawers in a nearby dresser. She looks like crap; the dark eyes and tired face age her. I squint at the clock. 7 a.m.

No Ella.

“I can’t find it!” she says, dropping papers to the floor as she continues her search.

“What are you looking for?”

“Ella’s passport.” Her voice cracks.

f-uck. “Is this where you keep it? Let me look.” I place a hand on Cerys’s in an attempt to soothe. She jumps at my touch and steps back.

I carefully sort through all the papers on the floor and in the drawer but the only passport is Cerys’s. “You keep them together?”

She nods, chewing on her nails. “He’s taken her, hasn’t he?” she asks hoarsely.

“Maybe.”

“He took her passport! Of course he f-ucking did!”

Her rationality hasn’t improved since last night, but how could it? “How would he know where to look?”

“I don’t know! Maybe Ella gave him it!”

I guess I need to accept today is going to be one where I’ll constantly say the wrong thing. “Right. Where would he go? We’ll go there. Today.”

“I don’t know... he has family in Italy. Would he go there?” she’s talking to herself. “f-uck, Marcella must know! She lied to me!”

Spinning around she snatches the phone from the table and proceeds to scream down the phone at someone. I retreat into the kitchen to make some phone calls of my own. When I return, Cerys is staring out of the window, breathing rapidly.

“She’s lying. She has to be. He would tell her.” Cerys tucks her shaking hands under her arms. “Do I tell the police? What do I do, Liam?”

My brain cycles options. “Tell me his name and date of birth; tell me everything you know about his family. Do you have a rough idea where his family in Italy is? We’ll track him down.”

“How? What if he’s not in Italy?”

I hold her shoulders. “Look at me, Cerys. If I have to spend every minute of my time looking for Ella, I will. I am not stopping until she’s home. I’ll spend every penny I have on finding her and I’m starting now.” A pen lies in the open drawer and I pull out a notepad, handing both items to her. “Cerys, I know you’re freaked out and upset, but do this. Write down what you can think of. I promise you we’ll be in Italy as soon as we can.”

I leave her alone and walk outside into the new day, not wanting Cerys to see how I feel. The bubbling panic inside threatens to consume me too, my love for Ella as strong as the one I have for her mother. This has hit me as hard as if she were my own child. I slam a fist against the wall, unable to feel the pain through my own numb shock, and imagine Craig’s face in its place. Get a grip. I need to be strong for Cerys because she’s in there, disintegrating.

Phone calls made to lawyers and details given to Tina, who promises to have someone onto this quickly; I convince Cerys to eat something. The frightened look she held when I woke is replaced by an angry determination, but she refuses to eat.

“Thank you, Liam,” she says eventually, turning her dull eyes to me.

“Why thank me? I told you I’d always protect you and Ella; and I failed, so I have to fix this.”

“We couldn’t have known he’d do this.”

She touches my face with her soft fingers as she leans in to kiss my cheek. Her hair sweeps my face and I fight tears of my own.

I can’t remember the last time I came close to tears.

CHAPTER 33



CERYS



I wake in the night sweating, confused at where I am; and when I catch up to the reality, the nausea grips me. Hotel room. Italy. Every night since Ella was taken, this happens. Liam always wakes and holds me, stroking my hair in an attempt to soothe but I can’t stay in bed.

I let Ella down.

The painful hole in my heart gets bigger every day she isn’t in my life. Does Ella think I don’t care? What has Craig said? Has he told her I don’t want her?

I dreamt of coming to Rome years ago, fascinated by Italy when I saw pictures in encyclopaedias and holiday brochures. When I was young and stupid, or stupider than I am now, I wanted to bring Ella to show her the Italian roots that gave her glossy brown hair and olive skin. Craig stuck with holidays to Greece, saying Italy was too expensive. His connections to his roots were non-existent, although now it seems they’re there when he needs them.

How do people cope without the money and resources I have through Liam? Within hours, we discovered he recently applied for an Italian passport for himself, and is travelling on that. A breadcrumb trail leads to Italy then ends. We discovered his grandparents’ address but he isn’t there. Liam has organised private investigators to search the country for any sign of him. If Craig came to Italy, I don’t believe he’ll leave again, or will be able to without being detected.

Craig didn’t plan this properly; otherwise, he’d have covered the tracks leading us to Italy. Somebody Craig knows must be helping him because he’s not using his credit cards or bank accounts. I’m unsure whether the methods Liam’s using to find Craig are entirely legal, but then what Craig is doing isn’t either. I don’t care as long as I get Ella back.