Chapter Nineteen

**PRESENT DAY**

It pained Matthew not being able to do anything to help his daughter, it pained him even more to see her the captive of that psychopath. This was the second time in less than a year his daughter had been kidnapped and held hostage. He just didn’t understand how this could have happened. After he showed Nick and Laura the photo his phone rang, it said it was Sam calling, but he knew it was William. “You sick son of bitch!”

“Now now Detective….is that any way to speak to the man who holds your daughter’s life in his hands?” William had an arrogance about him that made Matthew more infuriated by the second.

“If you lay another finger on her I swear I will end you myself! We will find you make no mistake!”

William laughed it only pissed the detective off further, but he was enjoying himself. “I don’t see how that’s going to be possible, I’ve disabled the tracking on Sam’s phone. Even if you do manage to turn it back on it’s not going to lead you to her.”

“I want to speak to my daughter… now!”

“I’m afraid she’s a little tied up right now, pardon the old cliché. But don’t worry Detective Riley, when the time is right, I’ll let you speak with her.”

Matthew was seething with anger, he couldn’t hold back anymore but before he could speak Nick spoke, “Mark my words William you will pay for everything you and your psychotic brother have done!”

“Well, if it isn’t the boyfriend, glad to see you’re awake. How was your nap boy?”

As mad as Nick was, he didn’t miss a beat, “Listen to me you psychopath I may not be the one to bring you down but hear me when I say you’re going to wish you hadn’t pissed off Detective Riley!”

William was enjoying himself, but he knew he had more pressing matters, “As fun as this has been I really must be going, best of luck detective, I’ll tell your daughter you said hello.” And with that William disconnected the call.

Matthew was seething and couldn’t think straight he left the room to go clear his mind and get some much-needed fresh air. Nik and Laura were alone, she decided to ask Nicholas about what had happened to him. “I had gone to drop off the files that Sam needed for the trial; she had texted me back letting me know I could come upstairs. I knocked when I got there, you know I’ve never been one to just walk in without announcing myself.” Laura could see the pain on her brother’s face as he spoke, “The door opened I didn’t suspect anything out of the usual. But as soon as I entered her apartment, I saw her tied up on the floor, William had her gagged so she couldn’t warn me.” She saw her brother start to tear up and wished she could take the pain away, “I turned around and he was holding a gun on me, he asked for my phone and my weapon, I didn’t want to risk getting Sam or myself hurt so I gave them to him. He was the one texting you and Matt the whole time.” Laura felt her heartbreak, how could she be so stupid, “I’m so sorry Nick, we should have known…” Nick grabbed his sister’s hand and squeezed, “It’s not though Laura you couldn’t have known, don’t blame yourself.” Nick continued on and noticed that Matthew had come back, “He tied me to a chair and left Sam on the floor…he was telling us what his plans were…” Nick was having a hard time, he wasn’t crying but the tears were falling. “He went over to Sam and removed the gag, she tried to headbutt William, but he hit her that’s where that bruise is from…” Matthew saw how upset his friend was, and he couldn’t blame him he just wished he could take that pain away. “I tried to protect her Matt; I really did….” But Matt cut his friend off “Do not blame yourself, Nick, you did the best you could, and I will be forever grateful to you for that! What happened next you were gone for about 2 days before we found you.” Nick took a breath and steadied himself, “He tortured us, Sam more than me, he kept carving into her…” Nick closed his eyes at the memory, but at the same time, everything clicked into place for Laura and Matt.

“Matt, those pictures from the emails…” Laura couldn’t even finish her sentence.

“I know Laura… they’re…oh god…” Matthew broke down realizing all the pictures they had were pictures of Samantha.

“How could we have missed that?” she didn’t want an answer really, but the thought made Laura sick to her stomach.

“He carved my daughter up… and he sent us the pictures… I’ll kill him myself.” Nick and Laura looked at Matthew with shock, it was rare to hear their boss and friend talk like that.

“Matt… it’s hard for me to say this but I know you heard what William said. I’ve loved your daughter from the moment I saw her.” Matthew could see the truth and oddly it didn’t bother him, and it shouldn’t. His daughter was an adult just like Nick, they deserved to be happy, and Matt couldn’t think of anyone better than Nick truth be told.

“Does she know you love her Nick?” For the first time in the last 20 minutes, Nick and Laura saw their friend smile. It brought much-needed comfort to them all.

“She does… and she told me she loved me first. Your daughters’ a lot braver than I am Matt, and I swear when not if but when we save her, I will love her with all my heart.” Nick said the words with such passion it was almost enough to make Laura cry. Nick finished briefing them on what had happened leading up to when William decided to discard him like trash. They left Nick to rest and headed back to the lab to formulate a plan and send a team to Sam’s apartment.

After William had ended the call, he turned Samantha’s phone off and threw it out one of the windows where it landed 10 stories below in a dumpster. He knew time was limited and went back to Sam’s apartment one more time, there was one more thing he needed to do. William gathered up the sheets from the bedroom and took them with him, the last thing he wanted to do was tip them off to the fact he had assaulted the detective’s daughter. When he got back, he took stock of the room around him; there was the cot and a chair, and he also had a small worktable for his bag and tools. Additionally, the bathroom in this apartment was at least complete so he could clean himself and Sam up if needed. William couldn’t help but marvel at how well everything seemed to be going at the moment.