Chapter 9: What is Love Worth?

Jason's phone hit the wall at full force and smashed into pieces.Another voicemail. He sunk down onto the cold kitchen floor and buried his head in his hands. "Where the hell is she?!" he shouted.Three days. No calls. No texts. No unexpected visits. Not a single word from Scarlett. Jason was growing restless. It was entirely unlike her. Scarlett was sociable and mostly responsible. She could barely make it through an entire day without texting a friend to see if they were alright or to ask how their day was going. She was by far the most caring person Jason had ever known, and the few people she knew in her life were important...too important for her to ignore this long. For a brief moment, Jason wondered if Scarlett had finally decided to leave him. The conclusion seemed a little premature even to him, yet he couldn't stop himself from thinking the worst. Everyone else in his life had turned their backs on him. Why would she be any different? He did everything he could to prove how much she meant to him...but was it enough? He saw how disappointed she was when he distanced himself from her. Maybe she realized that his problems ran too deep, and two broken people trying to make a life together would only lead to more pain. It didn't take Jason long to realize how ridiculous that idea was. Scarlett was not a vengeful person. She was hurt by the idea of him leaving her, enough that she came to his apartment to convince him otherwise. She even gave him one last chance to make things right. She wouldn't decide to ignore him as retribution. As if that wasn't enough proof, their conversation in the botanical garden brought them closer than ever before. Their shared trauma wasn't the path to an end. It was the thing that kept them together. Scarlett said herself that they could save each other in the ways their parents failed. She wouldn't suddenly disappear after making a promise like that. Jason cringed, feeling the fear rising in his throat. Something had to be wrong...and there was only one explanation. He raised himself off the floor and snatched his leather jacket from the hook on the front door."Maybe it's time I pay her a visit," he said determinedly. ...Jason's Lamborghini screeched to a halt in the center of the parking garage at Scarlett's apartment complex, leaving a dark streak of hot rubber on the pavement. Jason didn't bother to park. If his suspicions were correct, he wouldn't be there long.He walked the length of the third floor and scanned the endless rows of vehicles. Sure enough, Scarlet's red Volkswagon Beetle was parked in the middle row. He placed the palm of his hand flat against the hood. His years of stealing cars and stripping them for parts as a teenager gave him a wide range of automotive knowledge, something he came to appreciate when he later put on the mask. "The engine isn't warm. She hasn't been out recently," Jason examined. He then circled to the side of the vehicle and inspected the tires. The rubber was slightly deflated, sinking under the weight of the car."The car has been sitting idle," he observed."She hasn't driven it in a while. She needs it to go to work, and she tries not to walk anywhere alone after what happened with that creep back in March. If something happened to her, it would've been while she was in her apartment."...Virginia leisurely flipped through the pages of her Home and Garden magazine. Sundays were always reasonably slow. The tenants were most likely having dinner, and those who worked weekends had already returned for the day, affording her a little peace and quiet. Suddenly, the front door swung open and slammed against the wall. Virginia cautiously peered over the counter of the front desk. She lifted her eyebrows and slid her Cateye glasses down her nose when she saw who was making the racket. "Well, well...if it isn't the jaded Prince Charming. Come to pick up your pretty princess?"Jason rolled his eyes. "More or less, but I've got a few questions."Scarlett had lived in the same apartment building for years, so the front desk receptionist knew her well and had become somewhat protective of her. Virginia would hassle him whenever Jason came to pick her up or left her apartment early in the morning. This time, he wasn't in the mood for a fight...at least not with her. "Do you now?" she asked, bewildered. "Who are you? Homeland Security?""I haven't heard from Scarlett in a few days. No calls, no texts, no nothing. Every time I call, it goes straight to voicemail.""I'm sorry to hear that," she replied flippantly. "What do you want me to do? Call her for you?""Will you stop giving me shit for one minute?! This is serious! She has disappeared!""Alright! I'll be serious with you! Have you maybe considered that she doesn't want to be with you anymore? Scarlett is a sweet girl and too kind for her own good. She doesn't like confrontation, so she's probably choosing to ignore you instead.""She would never do something like that to someone, least of all me. And how the hell would you know unless she talked to you?!"Virginia held up her hands defensively. "I'm just saying that when a girl stops talking to a guy she's been dating, it usually means she's not interested...or she's trying to get away from someone who might hurt her."Jason's jaw twitched angrily at her insinuation. He was psychologically damaged beyond repair, and his morals were gray, to say the least, but he was not a batterer. "I would never hurt her," he growled. "I would die to protect her. Just...listen to me. Please!"Virginia sighed. She slapped her magazine on the counter and pulled off her glasses in a huff. "Fine. What do you want to know?""You see the tenants come and go every day. Have you seen Scarlett at all during the last few days?"Virginia squinted her eyes in concentration. "You know...come to think of it...I haven't. But her schedule is hectic these days. She doesn't work every day of the week. Then again...you'd at least think she'd come down to get her mail."Jason glanced at the wall of locked boxes. "May I?"Virginia lifted a ring of keys from the drawer and passed it to him. He walked over to Scarlett's box and pulled open the door. Mail spilled like a waterfall onto the marble floor, and there was more jammed inside the tiny metal box."She hasn't been down here in days," Jason said aloud."Scarlett comes down at about four o'clock every day to get it," Virginia declared. "I don't know why she hasn't."He slammed the box shut and tossed the keys back to Virginia. "I'm going to check on her.""Should I call the police and file a missing person's report?""Don't bother," Jason growled as he stalked down the hallway toward the elevator. "I know who's behind this."Virginia watched him go, then peered over the counter at the pile of mail on the floor."Oh sure! You go on ahead! I'll clean this up!"...The elevator finally arrived on the 5th floor. To Jason, it seemed like the ride took a thousand years. With every step he took toward her door at the end of the hall, he felt his heart beating faster. He fought back the urge to faint when he saw her door. "I don't understand. It's perfectly intact. No forced entry. Maybe Virginia's right. Maybe she doesn't want anything to do with me."However, Jason's thoughts vanished when the door opened. The once pristine white walls had been torn and dented. Some of the boards of the dark wood floors were cracked and splintered. The red doors of the kitchen cabinets barely hung by the hinges, and the black marble counters looked as if they had been smashed by a sledgehammer. Every pillow and cushion on the sofa had been savagely ripped open, and the contents were strewn around the room. The torn red curtains dangled lifelessly over the shattered windows. On the center of the living room floor was the broken vase of roses he bought Scarlett on their last night together."Holy shit..." Jason breathed. Shock turned to disbelief as he wandered madly around the house, searching for the one person he knew wasn't there."Scarlett?!" Jason screamed, searching every room.Nothing. "Scarlett, where are you!?" Not a sound.He stopped and braced himself against the dining room wall, suppressing the urge to vomit. Just then, a cold and wet substance coated his fingers. He retracted his hand and stared up at the wall. Sloppily drawn in black ink was another League symbol, written in the same Persian dialect as the previous. Talia and her forces had returned, and just as he predicted, they went after the most precious person in his life.Jason took out his phone to scan the symbol. After his first dealing with Talia, Barbara installed a digital scanner on Jason's phone in case he came across another symbol. A holographic bar moved across the screen. When it was finished, the haunting message appeared transcribed in its place:A fair warning turned into a threat.Come to me, and we shall put this to rest.No more blood needs to be given,For I have something else to make you driven.Here she lies before my eyes:A beautiful woman, a terrific prize.Come to me, the man with the hood of red.For if you don't, she will surely be dead.Jason's fists clenched in fury. "You want me, Talia? Well, now you've got me!"He pressed the speed dial on his phone and held it to his ear. It rang for a few short moments before he heard a deep voice reply on the other end of the line."It's me," Jason raged into the phone. "Grab the gang and meet me at apartment number 58 at 101 Fortune Lane, Chinatown. 5th floor. While you're at it...bring my suit."