'That bastard has beat the shit out of Nat,' Jase shouts to me as I shake hands with Reagan.
'Which bastard is that? You have to be a wee bit more specific' I reply scooping up the well packaged Heroin Reagan had given me.
'Phoenix, his broke Nat's jaw and snapped his fingers'
I smirk at that, Phoenix was losing it which would benefit me greatly. Whenever Phoenix was as enraged as he evidently was, he became impulsive and clumsy. He made mistakes which often ended catastrophically.
'There's something else, mate'
By the way Jase spoke, I assumed something had happened that I hadn't anticipated.
'She's on a ventilator, fighting for her life,'
Fuck!
'We need to go there and sort Phoenix out. Then when she wakes up we'll take her to Meyer' I conclude, not ignoring the potent sensation of worry and unease gnawing away at my gut. She was a worthless slut but she was mine.
'Get Brett and Taylor to go and get Phoenix away from her room, Cameron and I will meet them in the alley at the side of St Mary's' .
'Right okay'
'Whilst you do that, I have an important phone call to make'.

—————————————————————————
Axel's P.O.V

The phone continued to ring but just as she always did, Agatha remained blatantly ignorant to it.
Suppressing my irritation, I picked up the receiver and gave a brusk 'Hello, yes?'.
'Is this the Father of Ms Adara Louise James?' An unfamiliar voice asked. Both my excitement and my worry hit the roof. Had she been found? Had her body been found?
'Yes, yes this-this is her father!' I stammer frantically. I tap Agatha on the shoulder, my expression one of combined happiness and despair as I pointed like a maniac to the phone. I was trying to convey that there was some news on Addie, but she remained stoic and staring out of the window.
The voice was dark and robotic so clearly the caller wished to remain anonymous which immediately showed me a red flag that this may not be as genuine as I wished it would be.

'Sir, she has been discovered at St Mary's hospital over the northern border. She is intubated and fighting for her life but there is a slim chance that she will pull through,'
My irritation came through and I found myself disgusted by the pranks people played. My daughter was missing and they thought it was comical. It hadn't been the first time either. Sick bastards.
'Who are you?' I growled. 'My wife and I are grieving! For fuck sake just leave us be!'
'Mr James, this is not a prank call nor am I trying to cause any further hurt to your family. I have a photo that I would be happy to email over to you for proof if you so wish,'.
'Send it to me - I assume you have seen the contact number we have put on our appeal for finding Addie?'
'Yes, I have sent the photograph over'
I drop the receiver and grab my mobile from the kitchen.
Tremors made it challenging for me to hold the device and my heart felt as though it were going to beat through my chestplate. I couldn't decipher whether it was from worry or exhileration that our girl could potentially be alive but I manage to calm myself enough to open my text messages. I clicked on the attachment the stranger had sent and couldn't saw what no parent should ever have to see.

Lying in a hospital bed, shacked up to no less than eight different machines, was my little girl. Her body, my god her body was so frail and so so thin! My poor baby. Her face was white as a sheet and her eyes were sunken from how much weight she had lost. A tube was down her throat helping her to breathe and her shoulder was bandaged up. She had gone through more hell than any of us and yet she was still fighting to hold on.
I return to the house phone and pick up the receiver. Tearfully, I speak to the person who had sent the photo.
'Do - do they know what happened to her?'
'No, but I do Mr James, I do' The voice admitted, chuckling wickedly afterward.
'What the fuck are you talking about?'
'It's me, Mr J'
There was only one little fuck that called me Mr J and that was Adara's former fiancé, Jordan Gray.
'Jordan, what have you done to her?' I dubiously ask, struggling to maintain my composure. I wanted to beat the shit out the little asshole. He had done enough damage when they were together!
'If you want all the details, you and Mrs J will have to meet me face to face to hear them'.
I didn't hesitate to answer.
'Where and when?'
'At the hospital, perhaps we can all have a family reunion' The little turd laughed. My anger erupted and I slammed the receiver against the wall four times, each hit much harder than the last.
'Time?'
'6pm tomorrow evening. Oh and Mr J if you tell the cops about this, I won't hesitate to have one of my boys pull Adara's ventilator out. You understand?'
I gritted my teeth and clenched my eyes shut to keep from screaming 'fuck you' at him.
'Yes. I understand. We will come alone'
With that said, I slammed the phone down and stormed into the garage.
'Axel?' I heard my wife's sweet voice ask. It was the first time she had said my name in almost twelve months.
I turn to her, taking in how thin and gaunt she looked.
'Yeah, baby?'
'That was about Adara wasn't it?'
I sigh.
'Yes baby, it's that son of a bitch Gray'
Agatha pressed her hands to her mouth to keep from sobbing.
'Is she-?'
'No, she isn't dead but she's very weak and on a ventilator'
The tears fell by the dozen for the two of us as I embraced my wife's tiny frame and held it against my larger one. We had just got our girl back and now we could lose her again.

I explained to her what Gray wanted us to do and like the protective Mama bear she was, Agatha was all for it. So, that same night we took my rifles from my gun cabinet, the butcher knives from the cutlery drawer and headed to St Mary's hospital. We had left a brief note to Andre that we had gone away for the weekend so that he didn't worry nor come as backup. He had his own family to protect now.

Don't worry baby girl, we are coming for you.

I'm loving writing this!
It's getting juicy! Haha!
Hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Word count - 1139