Chapter 50

Opening the door, Dréy sighs in relief as his younger brother walks in.

"Pack your bags, we have a flight at 8:00 tonight."

"Mane, what're you talking about?"

"After doing my own stalking, I found out that Khristina and some other kids are on a flight to Monaco. They're being auctioned off as part of a human trafficking ring." Alexei replies, crossing his arms.

"WHO THE HELL PUTTIN' THEIR HANDS ON MY LIL' SISTER?!" Dréy asks, shaking his brother's shoulders.

"I don't know that, now if you'll go pack, we can leave and find out, dumb bastard!"

"Aw man, you cannot be this stupid." Dréy says, rolling his eyes. "Bruh, how was you there and couldn't see who was doing what?!"

"YOU IDIOT, I TOLD YOU I DIDN'T-

"DON'T CALL ME A FUCKING IDIOT AND I'M WORRIED LIKE HELL ABOUT KHRISSY!"

All of a sudden, the two brothers begin to fight each other, knocking the other into walls and a table.

Getting up, Kenneth walks over to the two young men, pulling them apart.

"Is fighting going to bring your sister home?"

Dréy raises a brow.

"Look old head, I need you to stay-

"Shut up. Fighting won't do anything. Go pack like your brother told you."

Giving Kenneth an angry look, Dréy pulls his arm out of the man's hand and makes his way upstairs to his room to start packing.

"I apologize that you all had to view that unpleasant sight." Alexei says, standing up and brushing himself off. "Thank you sir for intervening. I should've controlled my anger better."

Kenneth sits back down, folding his arms over his chest.

"Son, it's okay to get mad here and there, but you should remember to never lose your cool in difficult situations such as this. It'll only make the problem worse and you don't want that."

The young law student nods, before looking down at the notes on his phone.

"Dréy, Laurenté, and I will need all the help we can get in finding Khristina, so if any of you don't mind, I ask that you three will come along if you can. You don't have to worry about paying for anything, I'll cover all of that."

"Sure!" Jai says. "I wanna give your little sister the biggest hug once we rescue her!"

"I'll tag along." Lennox says.

"I have work, but I do hope you all have success in finding her." Kenneth replies.

"Sir, we could really use your help." Alexei says. "Well, Dréy and I could use your help in case of another incident like that happens."

"That's what you two need to learn; it's time to be an adult and learn other responsibilities aside of academics. You're not little boys anymore, you're young adults. It's time to start putting better choices into practice, alright?"

"Yes, sir. I'll try my best to keep your advice in mind, thank you." Alexei replies. "Well, Mr. Cizetto, would- Oh, where did he go?"

"Kazimir left while you and Dréy were fighting." Jai says. "He seemed a little, uh what's the word again? Unhinged! Yeah, that's the word!"

The young law student nods and gets up.

"I better go find him then. We'll meet in front of the airport at 8:00 P.M. Goodbye for now."

After driving for about 20 minutes, Alexei pulls into the driveway of the new house and knocks on the door.

"Mr. Cizetto? You seem to be-

"Alexei, what can I help you with?"

"We're meeting in front of the airport at 8:00 this evening." the young law student replies. "Mr. Cizetto, I know how much you care about Khristina; but really, I think you should take a small rest when we arrive in Monaco."

"I can't, man. She means so much to me, HOW THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT ME TO TAKE A BREAK WHEN EVERYONE I CARE ABOUT IS EITHER MISSING OR DYING?! I HAD TO WITNESS THIS SHIT ONCE, I CAN'T DO IT AGAIN!"

Alexei watches as Kazimir screams in anger against the front door, punching it.

"I understand, so I'll let you have your moment, Mr. Cizetto. However, I'd like to enlist your help in a plan I have."

Slowly putting his punching rampage to a stop, Kazimir turns to Alexei.

"You see, there's going to be an auction to sell off the children, unfortunately."

"Uh, how about we discuss this inside?" Kazimir asks, looking around outside.

"Of course." Alexei replies, walking in. "I have hopes for this.

-------

"IT'S A BUNNY!"

Placing Bon Bon's cage down, Kazimir watches as Jai runs over to the small animal.

"Awww, she's so cute, man! Look at how much fat she has on her! Hi, little bunny! HI!"

"Okay, everyone's here except for Dréy." Alexei says, sighing. "Where is he?"

"He didn't look so happy when we left his place." Jai says, feeding Bon Bon an Oreo. "I think he's still mad from earlier."

Alexei sighs and takes out his phone to dial Dréy's number, before hearing loud music blasting a few feet away.

"Nevermind, then."

A pair of headlights pull up beside the five and a black Charger quickly comes to a stop.

"Uncle Elliot never showed him how to brake properly, huh?" Laurenté asks, with a small chuckle.

"You listen to Lil Baby, too?!" Jai asks, running over to Dréy's car. "What's your favorite album by him?"

"You two can discuss that later." Alexei says, reaching in his brother's car and turning the volume down. "Dréy, if you're planning to take your car along, then park it next to everyone else's and then put your keys in this box."

The young man drives forward and parks his car next to his brother's, before taking his luggage out and setting his keys in a plastic box.

"This everything I got." Dréy says, setting his stuff down. "Chantelle gets to come onto the plane wit' me, right?"

The young law student.

"Yes, we'll be flying private, so all pets are free to stay on your person. Now that everyone is here, we can start boarding."

The six men make their way to the back of the airport, and towards a private jet.

"It has your last name on the tail! Was this your father's?!" Jai asks, jumping up and down.

Alexei shakes his head.

"No, it actually belongs to me; I recently just got it. You all can board while I talk to the pilot and co-pilot."

The five men get on, taking a seat in which they found comfortable.

"It's kinda large for a private jet." Lennox says, looking around.

"Yeah, Alexei said he wanted it larger for safety reasons or somethin' like that." Dréy replies, taking Chantelle out from her cage.

As the rest of the men continue with their conversation, Kazimir looks out the window. He couldn't really understand how everyone else could be so relaxed while no one had any clue where Khristina was.

"Red wine, sir?"

Looking up, Kazimir comes face to face with Laurenté, who gives him a soft smile.

"I'm okay."

"You must still be worried about little Khrissy." Laurenté says, sitting down next to the young man.

"I'd be lying if I said no." the young man replies. "I mean, seriously, how the hell was she just singing in my car this morning and now she's gone?"

"It's weird how fast life works, isn't it?" Laurenté replies, taking a sip of his wine. "Unfortunately, there's not much we can do for now, but have hope. Do it for Khristina, she'd want you to have hope for her, too. And cheer up a bit; she'd be really disappointed to see you like this."

Kazimir watches as Laurenté gets up and walks back to his seat, taking out a stack of papers to grade.

"Meow!"

Jumping up on Kazimir's lap, Chantelle curls up into a small ball and starts to fall asleep.

"Out of everyone here and you choose me?"

The young man looks around for Dréy and frowns as he puts on a chef's apron.

"Yo, Kazimir!"

Throwing a game controller to the young detective, Jai happily takes a seat next to him.

"Lennox, ya wanna play too?!"

"Sure." Lennox replies, grabbing one of Jai's controllers.

"So what's your favorite Call of Duty title?" Jai asks, turning on his PS5 console. "Mine's Infinite Warfare!"

Lennox opens a bottle of cherry Pepsi, handing one to Kazimir and Jai.

"I like Warzone. And Black Ops 2."

"Uh, I liked Ghosts." Kazimir replies, watching as Chantelle jumps off his lap to sit with Laurenté. "I haven't actually played it in a while; probably since I was 17, honestly."

Jai shrugs, selecting the video game title on his screen.

"Eh, it ain't that long. Let's see if you still got it!"

Within an hour of gaming with Lennox and Jai, the young detective started to feel a little better. Laurenté had a point; Khristina would be really disappointed to see him in a saddened state.

"AGAIN?!"

Jai groans, putting his controller down.

"I gotta admit Kazimir, you're kinda hard to defeat." Lennox says, taking a sip of his Pepsi.

"Kinda?! IT'S OUR SIXTH TIME PLAYING!" Jai yells, shaking his head. "Bro, you gotta share some of your secrets!"

"I'll give you a tip; when hiding behind buildings, crouch and move around a bit until you can draw your enemy out. Then you can begin firing. I'll show you."

The two young men watch in awe as Kazimir demonstrates one of his many gaming secrets.

"That's so cool, man! But it looks a bit hard." Jai says.

Kazimir shrugs.

"Yeah, it won't be so much once you get used to it."

"Dinner's ready, y'all!"

Dréy puts down a table as Alexei puts down multiple trays of food.

"A'ight, so we got fried chicken, sweet potatoes, biscuits with gravy, potato salad, and my lil' bro made his famous Cajun macaroni and cheese; boy I tell ya, that shit good!"

"Thank you, Dréy. I do hope you all genuinely enjoy." Alexei says, with a smile. "Please, eat as much as you'd like."

"Did you two make up from earlier?" Jai asks, picking up a piece of fried chicken.

Dréy smiles, putting an arm around his younger brother's shoulder.

"Yessir! Cooking like this always bring us together!"

Ignoring the laughter and chatter in the background, Kazimir looks down at the faint city lights below him.

"You still tweakin' out, Kash?"

Taking a plate of food from Dréy, the young detective thanks him.

"Yeah. I guess I just can't really stop worrying about her. Khristina's grown so much on me."

Dréy chuckles.

"Aye, it may not look like it, but I feel the same way, bruh. Khrissy can be a lil' annoying sometimes, but I love her to death and want to see her as soon as possible. You mind if I eat wit' you?"

"No, I don't mind." Kazimir replies.

The two young men happily talk while eating, until it was time to turn in.

"Everyone, our estimated time arrival in Monaco is around 10:30 A.M. tomorrow." Alexei says, clasping his hands together. "Please don't stay up too late, as we're all looking at a busy day ahead of us."

He switches a light off and makes his way over to his seat.

"Sweet dreams to all."