Chapter Twenty Three - Patience

Theodore Jackson's P.O.V.

"Theo! Wait!" Andy, the receptionist at my office, calls just as I'm about to leave. "There's a call for you from a Carmen?"

I remember the name and her being Liam's girlfriend that I met at my cousin's engagement party. Frowning in confusion I walk up to him and take the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, Theodore Jackson?" She asks and her panicked tone has me instantly on edge.

"Yes, that's me. Is something wrong Carmen?"

"I-It's – Charlotte hasn't called me back! Is she with you?!" She asks and I feel my heart start to race. Char hasn't answered my recent texts but I assumed she was resting from the jet lag. "I called her an hour ago about Liam. I-I overheard him talking to someone that he wants to get back with Charlotte and will force her if she refuses. She told me she was going to you and that she'll call me back. I haven't heard anything, please tell me she's with you?!"

"She's not! I-I'm going to go check on her right now. I need to go, please let me know if Liam calls you about his whereabouts." I rush as I take out my phone.

She tells me she will and after giving her my number I quickly hang up before running out of the building. Getting into my car I drive to Charlie's place while ringing her at the same time. My heart pounds furiously and I curse myself for not checking up on her sooner. I refrain from almost breaking the speed limits and running red lights as I rush towards her neighborhood.

I've just about parked the car when I hop out and race up to her door. Twisting the handle, I find it already unlocked and step inside. "Char?! Aria?!"

My gaze lands on the smashed laptop, her mobile and the landline. There's grocery bags on the kitchen counter and running into their bedrooms I see everything in a disheveled mess. Her locker is open and I realize it's where she used to keep her important documents, noticing that hers and Aria's passports, birth certificates, and much more are gone.

"Fuck!" I yell and punch the doorframe as I get my phone out. I dial Roman's number as I walk back to my car. "Roman?! It's Charlie and Aria, they've been taken by Liam! I'm going to call the police but do you have any connections in the UK?"

I hear his sharp inhale before he slips back into work mode as usual. "Ask her neighbors if they saw anything too. I'll contact my supervisor so we can get the UK department on this."

"Excuse me?!" I look up to see a man step out from his house. "Are you looking for my neighbor Charlotte?"

"Yes! Did you see her?!" I rush up to him while on the phone with Roman.

"I just checked my camera footage and it looks like someone took her and her daughter. She mouths help at the camera so I was about to call the police." He states and Roman tells me to confirm.

"Can I see the footage please?" I ask and he gestures for me to come inside.

He rewinds it and my blood runs cold when I see Liam walking up to her door. She opens it and my eyes narrow when I spot the bags in her hand. She was clearly on her way to me. I watch with a clenched jaw as he steps inside and closes the door. Minutes later he walks out with them trailing behind. Char looks up with a desperate and pleading look, shaking her head before mouthing the word help.

"Rome, I'm calling the police now. It's him." I state as I watch Charlie get into the driver's seat before they leave.

"Good. I'm on my way, be there in fifteen." He grunts before hanging up.

I thank the neighbor before taking down the number plate and calling the police. They get here within minutes and Roman arrives right after. He squeezes my shoulder with a reassuring nod before verifying his identification with the officers. We show them the footage, provide extra details about him and they immediately get to work. They head into Charlie's house next and search for anything else before coming out with a shake of their heads.

"The UK department has been alerted by my chief of police. I believe he must have taken them to an airport so we should check out DFW first." Roman states and the officers nod with two others in their cars communicating to their departments.

"We'll go with you to confirm everything with the staff and security." One officer says and we all get into our cars. I take a seat in Roman's with a worried sigh and run my hand through my hair.

"She's going to be fine –"

"He used to be violent with her...I just...I need to find them. I can't lose them Roman." My voice is hoarse and gruff when it comes out.

"We will. Text Judah and tell him to call us." He instructs and I do it with a nod. "He's done some hacking back in the day so he can help with that."

"Okay – wait what?!"

"You didn't know?" He glances at me with a confused frown. "That day when the school's systems were hacked and nothing worked...it was him."

"What the actual fuck – no!" I splutter incredulously as I stare at him. "How did he not get kicked out?!"

"He stopped it after they let everyone go home early. Nobody found out it was him." He smirks with a half-hearted shrug.

That causes me to smile a little before we lapse into a tense silence on our way to the airport. My mind races in worry over where they are right now and if Liam has hurt them. If only I checked up on her earlier, I think to myself with a frustrated sigh.

We arrive at DFW airport eventually and I rush inside behind the police. We check with the guards at the entrance and one of them confirms that he saw them with Liam. When we meet with the security team it turns out Charlie had alerted a woman who was then knocked out by Liam and taken to the hospital because of the damage to her head. She woke up and told security everything.

"They didn't get on a plane to Venezuela as scheduled. Liam made a separate booking to Mexico..." One of the men explains and then sighs. "They landed thirty minutes ago before we realized what he'd done."

"What? Why Mexico?" I feel like ripping my hair out in frustration as we walk out of the room. "He never mentioned any family or business there."

One of the officers and Roman stare at each other knowingly before answering. "Huge number of human trafficking goes on in Mexico. He only wants Charlotte and Aria is just baggage."

"Weird he chose Mexico when he could get rid of the daughter here too. I'll get the team to run a background check on him. May not be clean and could have connections there." The officer states before taking out his phone. "Follow us back to the station."

I walk out feeling sick to my stomach. The thought of Aria being ripped away from Char and forced into that world makes me tremble in fear. Roman clasps a hand on my shoulder and gestures for me to get in the car. With a shaky sigh I sit inside and close my eyes.

"Have the police there been alerted?"

"They have. But if Liam has connections there then it'll be easier to hide from them." He glances at me and I clench my jaw tightly in anger.

"It's Judah." I perk up when my phone rings and I quickly put it on speaker. "Hello?"

"Hola!" He laughs and we frown in confusion. "What's up?"

"Where are you?"

"Mexico baby!" He exclaims before he groans. "The food is so amazing that I could die a happy man!"

"You're in Mexico?!" We exclaim in shock as we park outside the station.

"Uh yeah, mom and dad's anniversary is in a few days. I have clients in Cuba and Mexico to win over so I thought I'd stop by before flying to Dallas. Why?"

Me and Roman glance at each other before I speak. "You remember Liam? Charlie's ex? Well, he took her and Aria. They've taken a flight out to Mexico and landed about thirty minutes ago."

"What the fuck?! Why?!" He asks angrily and I can hear traffic in the background.

"He's a deranged, obsessed asshole. Only wants Charlotte and my suspicion is that he has human trafficking connections in Mexico." Roman replies with a deep frown. "Are you still good at hacking?"

"If you give me some information yeah."

"Good, we'll call you back in a few minutes. The police are going to run a background check on Liam before we get on a plane." I say as I watch the officers get out of their cars.

"Alright, I'll talk to you guys in a bit." Judah replies before hanging up.

"We need to move fast. They've already landed and we're still here Roman." I stress as we get out of the car and make our way inside.

"I know." He nods with a grim expression as one of the officers leads us inside a room.

Turns out Liam is clean but they did find some suspicious records of him being around members from both Santos' and Quintana's gangs in Mexico and Venezuela lately. The officers deduce that he might have recently started working for them. I text some information to Judah so he can try hacking anything.

"I'll get approval from my supervisor to fly out there. Can you guys alert the Mexican police with this extra information so they can start searching?" Roman asks and the team nods in agreement.

"Already communicating. They've picked up the case so we're providing all the details now." A woman responds as she types away quickly.

We run out to his car and I call Judah again who picks up immediately. "He has connections to it. We're going to fly out to Mexico soon with Roman and the team after he gets the green light."

"Good, we'll find them so don't worry. I've picked up on footage of his car through the city cameras, just trying to find where he's taken them." He replies as Roman starts calling his supervisor.

"Judah go to the police department. Don't go off on your own, do you understand?" Roman interrupts with a stern tone.

"Yeah, yeah I won't. Text me when you're boarding." He replies nonchalantly before hanging up.

"Why do I get the feeling he's not going to listen?" I sigh with a glance at Roman.

"He never does."

***

Charlotte Davidson's P.O.V.

We landed about two hours ago and Liam rented a car before driving us out to the middle of nowhere. He parks outside a house with nothing but fields of green encircling it. The only other houses I saw were miles away with the same surroundings. He grabs us and drags us inside to a room before I barely have time to look for any exits.

"This is where you'll be staying. Can't have you two trying anything else." He smirks before shoving us inside and locking the door.

I hold onto Aria before looking around the room. It's almost bare except for a wardrobe in the corner and no windows. Sighing in frustration I look down at Aria who's quietly staring at me. I shoot her a small smile and caress her cheek which relaxes her tense shoulders. She wraps her arms around my waist and cuddles up to me.

"I'm scared mum." She whispers and I feel the back of my eyes burn.

"I know. Don't worry, I'm here. I'll keep you safe." I promise and kiss the top of her head.

We're distracted by the sound of Liam talking on the phone it seems since I don't hear anyone replying. I scoot up to the door and put my ear against it. Within seconds panic sets in once I hear his conversation.

"Yeah I'm only giving the girl though. Six years old. Yeah...yeah she's in good condition." Liam chuckles and it makes me sick to my stomach. "Great! I'll have her to you in a few hours. See you later."

I struggle to pretend that everything is fine as I make my way back to Aria. She looks up at me confused but this time I'm sure my smile looks fake. Hugging her to me I blink away the onslaught of tears as my heart races in terror. I won't let him take Aria and sell her into human trafficking. Even if it kills me. She's going to make it out.

Back when I was in a relationship with Liam I could never defend myself. He was always much stronger, heavier and skilled. So, after Aria started going to school and whenever I had extra cash from tips I would go to self-defence classes just to learn. I'm hoping now that it comes into use and is successful long enough for her to get away at least. If only I had learned how to disarm someone. The threat of Liam shooting Aria is too much of a risk for me to take. If he lowers his guard enough to not carry a gun then I'll be fine.

"What did you hear mum? Is he going to –"

"Nothing's going to happen to you. I promise I'll get us out of this." I kiss her forehead and hug her tightly. "Once he lets his guard down I'll get us out, don't worry about a thing. Just promise me something."

"What?" She frowns as she looks up at me.

"If I tell you to run you do it. Don't look back, just keep running as fast as you can. Got it?" My voice wavers when her eyes widen and tears spill from her eyes. "When you get out of the house turn left, there's two more left turns before you take a right. It'll lead you into town."

"You can't leave me!" She whispers back fiercely but her bottom lip quivers.

"I'll tell you Theo's phone number and address. The country code to dial is plus one okay?" I start before giving her his contact details. "Find parents with children and go to them like I've always told you. Tell them everything and they'll get you back to him and grandma."

"No! You can't just –"

"Aria! This is just in case something goes wrong. It's a fifty-fifty chance, I will try my best to get out with you but if something happens to me you run. Do you understand?!" I whisper while my heart breaks inside for even having to say this to her. "Please I can't have anything happening to you."

"Okay, I-I promise." She cries softly and hugs me tightly.

"I'm sorry baby but it's just to keep you safe. I don't want to do this either and it kills me to even say this but Liam cannot take you. I will try my hardest to get out too." I whisper as tears spill down my cheeks. "I love you so much."

"I love you too mum." She cries harder and I try to calm her down in case Liam hears or comes in.

We take a few minutes but we eventually wipe our tears with a deep breath. She sniffles before turning to me just as her stomach growls. I smile sadly and wish I had some food to give her. Clearly Liam doesn't care if she starves.

"What now?" She asks softly as she clings to me.

"Now we wait until the time is right."

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