Chapter 35.

**Narrator’s POV.**

It had been two weeks since Tessa disappeared and at this point, the three step-brothers were convinced that she had vanished off the face of the earth, “I never knew Cali was this big until now”, Alex groaned as he plopped down on the large bed in Gabriel’s hotel room,

“It’s not that big you lazy son of a bitch, we haven’t even covered half and you’re already whining like a little pussy”, Kevin shot at him,

“Shut the fuck up asswipe-”,

“Guys! Would you stop this, at least just for a second? I understand that you do not like each other- I do not like you guys too but I am trying to be civil and stay focused because I know and realize that I have other things to do than throwing digs or shades at the both of you- Tessa’s life could be in danger”, his voice cracked while saying the last sentence and he had to tur away from them so they won’t see as the tears coated his eyes- he missed Tessa a lot and he did not know what he would do if she got hurt.

“As much as it pains me to say this; you are right”, Kevin sighed as he made his way to the bar, “Drinks?”,

“Bourbon, hold the poison”, Alex mumbled from the bed while Kevin rolled his eyes and poured him his cup of whiskey. He handed Gabriel a glass of wine even though he had not asked.

“You look like you need it”, Kevin pointed out and received a curt nod before walking to the sofa with a bottle beer in his hand, “Honestly, I feel like the more we look for her, the less it seems like we are searching”, he suddenly said, getting the attention of the other two men,

“No shit”, Alex downed the cup of alcohol in one gulp and headed straight to the bar for another drink, “How do we find a person when we don’t even have the slightest idea of where they are?”, he grumbled,

“That’s the point of searching for something Alex. There is always a ninety percent that you do not know where it is”, Kevin pointed out,

“Yes Kevin, but we’ve been going through too many dead ends. We should scrap California out; I do not think she is here. If there is one thing I learned about Andrew O’Connell while I kept him under surveillance, it is that he loves a chase. He knows we are not stupid and would’ve guessed that she was still here and even if she was ever here, he would have shipped her out long ago”, Alex said taking a huge gulp of his drink.

“You actually have a point Alex- surprisingly”, Gabriel said and sat down on one of the couches- so much for not throwing jabs. Alex gave him a fake smile before flipping him the bird, “Tessa is not in California, we have waisted fucking weeks”, he placed his wine cup on the coffee table in the most aggressive way possible,

“So, lets rule out California then, that means we have about fifty states to go to. Where the hell are we going to start from? She could be anywhere”, Alex said and joined his step-brothers at the mini sitting room. Just when he was about to sit, a knock came from the door, “Did any of you order room service?”, they both shook their heads, “Expecting anyone?”, they shook their heads again and wondered who it was at the door, Alex knew one thing though; he wasn’t going to answer it, “Gabriel its your room, go open the door”.

“Bloody coward”, Alex shrugged at Gabriel words and continued sipping on his whiskey. Gabriel was extremely reluctant to open the door but after a few words of reassurance to himself and a long debate, he opened the door slowly to reveal a man dressed in all black. He had his head down and a face cap covered his face almost completely,

“Mr. O’Connell, I mean you know arm”, the man whispered, “May I come in?”,

Gabriel cocked an eyebrow up in surprise, “I’m sorry but do I know you?”, it was obvious that the man was trying to disguise himself so Gabriel tried his best to match the man’s tone.

“Please, Mr. O’Connell, it is not safe out here, they could’ve followed me here”, the man raised his head slightly and Gabriel let out a gasp of shock after taking in the familiar face, what was this man doing here? Well, there was only one way to find out…

“Come in”, Gabriel moved aside and let the man walk past him, he locked the door shut and took the key out, placing it securely in his pocket. He led the man to the sitting room and ignored the questioning looks he got from the other two men, “State your business”,

The man took off his face cap, “My name is Andrew Prescot and I am one of your father’s personal bodyguards”, Alex was forced to turn his head back to Gabriel,

“What the hell is he doing here? Why did you let him in?”,

“I’m with Alex on this one”, Kevin said as he turned to Gabriel, “Why did you allow him in?”.

“Because he is friends with Tessa”, Gabriel pointed out, “Isn’t that true, Andrew?”, Andrew’s head bent down in shame as he remembered his last moments with Tessa,

“I betrayed my friendship with her”, he said to the men,

“What do you mean by that?”,

“Your father knew about my friendship with Tessa and decided to use me as a pawn in his sick game, he threatened to take my job away if I did not do what he asked”, this revelation could only go two ways for Andrew; they all gang beat him or they understand where he is coming from.

“What did he tell you to do, Andrew?”,

“He made me lure her to his office so he could interrogate her about something- I assume it was concerning her relationship with the three of you”, Andrew inhaled deeply then exhaled, “Next thing I knew, he ordered me to drop her off at his private hanger and make sure she gets on the plane. I am sorry”, he completed.

“What the fuck man? How could you-”, Alex was cut off by Gabriel,

“No Alex, it is not his fault that he got mixed up with the likes of our father”, he turned to Andrew, “Do you have useful information you could give us?”,

“Well, I overheard some of Mr. O’Connell’s men saying that ‘the girl is up north’, do you think it could be Tessa?”, Andrew said, “It has to be Tessa, right?”, he looked among the three men, “Right?”, he repeated,

“How are we sure that you aren’t here to spy on us?”, Alex asked him, he was finding it hard to trust this man- was it because he shared the same name as his crook of a father?

“I would never do that, I am here to help you find Tessa, I swear”, still, he got a suspicious glare from the man, “I promise you that I would not betray your trust”,

“You could lose your job for this Andrew”, Gabriel told him,

“This job isn’t worth keeping honestly, from what I can tell, the entire O’Connell business is built on lies and manipulation”, the look in his eyes showed that he was a hundred and one percent with them.

“Even if we go up north, there are about twenty-one states there, where do we start from?”, Kevin tried to reason,

“Connecticut, we will do it alphabetically. Kevin, please can you get a list?”, Gabriel asked and he nodded, getting right to it.

“Before we leave the state, I need to get some of the tapes I took of dad and the secret room before he decides to burn our properties- they could come in handy later but now, I just need a way to get in”, Alex stated,

“Leave that to me”, Andrew smiled.