‘I don’t know, Boss,’ Scott replied.
‘Haven’t I told you never to be late picking her up?’ I snarled. The anger was kicking in, drowning out the fear for now as the adrenaline started to take over. ‘Be an hour fucking early if you need to be, but never fucking late.’
‘I know, Boss. I’m sorry. But the accident was in the street right behind yours. There was no avoiding it.’
‘Get your team together and wait for further instructions,’ I snapped. ‘If anything happens to her …’ I swallowed. I couldn’t even bear to finish the sentence.
‘I know, Boss,’ Scott said quietly.
I put my phone back into my pocket and stared at Sebastian. ‘Sam is missing,’ I told him.
‘What? What?’ he shouted.
I watched the range of emotions flickering across his face as I dialled Samantha’s phone number. The call went straight to her voicemail and I fought the urge to throw up onto the pavement. ‘No answer,’ I told him.
‘How the fuck did this happen, Gabriel? How the fuck?’ he banged his fist on the top of my car and closed his eyes in anguish.
‘Look, this is obviously Milton, isn’t it? So, let’s do what we do best and find this prick, Seb.’
He opened his eyes and nodded. ‘Where do we fucking start?’
‘Let’s see if she’s spoken to anyone this morning,’ I replied as I opened the car door and climbed inside.
As soon as we were moving, I dialled Nick Cook’s number from my car. He answered on the second ring. ‘Gabriel, is everything okay? Where is Samantha?’
‘I don’t know Nick. I think someone has taken her.’
‘What?’ he gasped. ‘Oh fuck!’
‘Have you spoken to her at all this morning?’
‘Yes, earlier on, about nine o’clock. She told me she was doing some work from home and would be in at lunchtime.’
‘Did she say anything unusual or something that didn’t sound quite right?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Nick replied.
‘Think, Nick. Are you sure?’ I snapped.
‘No, she didn’t. She just told me she was catching up on some admin, and then I told her that Simon had phoned in sick.’
‘What?’
‘Simon phoned in sick,’ he repeated.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I knew there was something fucking dodgy about that prick. ‘What did he say was wrong with him?’
‘Said he had a stomach bug. Why? Is that important?’
‘Has he ever been off sick before?’ I asked.
‘No. Never, although he hasn’t worked for us for that long.’
‘Thanks, Nick. I have to go.’
‘Please tell me as soon as you hear from her,’ Nick added. ‘And if there’s anything at all you need me to do, let me know.’
‘Will do,’ I said as I ended the call.
I turned to Sebastian. ‘I think I know where she is,’ I said and I watched the relief wash over his face.
‘Where?’
‘I think we were right to keep an eye on Simon Hardaker. And I think he’s connected to Milton somehow. Call Scott and tell him and the team to meet us at the Holbrook services. Tell him to bring the guns from the safe. One for each of us. And tell him to bring my toolkit as well.’
Sebastian nodded as he took his phone out of his pocket. I listened to him giving Scott his orders and willed my heart to stop racing as I sped along the streets of London.
The thought that Milton Carver had his hands on her, that he had her and my baby hostage, was too awful to think about. I couldn’t let the thoughts occupy my head for too long or I’d fall to pieces. I had to concentrate on my anger and my rage. I had to do what I did best, and that was finding people and fucking them up when they had crossed me.
One thing that I could guarantee, was that whoever had taken her, would feel a pain like they had never even imagined possible.
Chapter 54
Samantha
It felt like we’d been driving for hours. We’d left London and from the road signs, it seemed we were heading towards Surrey. I wanted to ask more questions. My mind was racing with them. Why the hell had he taken me and where the hell where we going? But I knew he wouldn’t answer. I wondered too if Gabriel or my father had discovered I was missing yet, and whether they had started moving heaven and earth to find me. I certainly hoped so.
‘I need the bathroom,’ I said as the urge to pee came over me.
Milton turned and sneered at me. ‘Hold it. We’ll be there soon.’
‘I have a baby pressing on my bladder and I need to pee.’
He shrugged. ‘Hold it, or don’t. I don’t care,’ he said as he turned back to the window.
I frowned at the back of his head. Arrogant prick!
A short time later, we pulled up outside a large detached house in the countryside. Milton climbed out and pulled me with him. I stumbled on the gravel path but Milton walked on, undeterred. Fortunately, one of his goons held out his hand to steady me and I took it gratefully. Another goon opened the front door and the four of us walked inside.
‘Can I use the bathroom now?’ I asked as soon as were inside the house.
‘There,’ Milton said, indicating a door to the left of us.
I rushed to it and pushed it open, relieved that it was in fact a bathroom and not a broom cupboard. The minute I saw the toilet, my bladder wanted to release its load and I scrambled with my clothes, just about making it.
I sat on the toilet and looked around the small room. It was very country. Cream tiles and flowery wallpaper. A small mirror in a wooden frame hung above the basin and a pink towel was hanging over a small rail. There was a pink soap dispenser on the basin too and I got the impression that this house had something of a woman’s touch. For some reason, that made me feel slightly more at ease.
A loud banging on the door made me jump. ‘Hurry up. Don’t make me come in there and get you,’ Milton snapped.
‘I’ll just be a minute,’ I replied as I stood up and fixed my clothes. I walked to the small basin and started to wash my hands. I glanced around at the small window to the side of me. I looked down at my bump – there was no way the two of us were squeezing out of there.
I opened the door and stepped back into the hallway where Milton and two of his men stood waiting for me.
‘This way,’ Milton said as he started to walk along the hallway. I followed him and his two henchmen followed behind me. We walked into the large stone kitchen where two other goons were already waiting for us.
Milton indicated a wooden chair beside a large table. ‘Sit,’ he ordered.
I did so, thankful to be off my feet. Now that I was no longer focused on my desperate need to pee, I started to wonder what the hell I was doing here, and I could barely stop my legs from trembling.
‘Where are we? And what do you want from me?’ I asked, my voice shaking as much as my legs. ‘I signed the money over to you. I told you I don’t want any of it.’
Milton pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of me. ‘I know you did. But you see, the thing is, it’s not enough,’ he said as he sucked air in through his teeth.
‘What?’ I scowled at him.
‘It’s not enough that you relinquished your claim on the money. As long as you’re alive, you have a claim on it.’
I shook my head. He had no clue how the law worked. ‘No, I don’t. And I don’t want it. Not a single fucking penny.’
Milton smiled at me. If you could call it a smile. It reminded me of a shark’s. It never reached his eyes. ‘You say that now, but who knows how you might feel in a few months, or a few years. What if you and that little bastard need money one day?’ he looked down at my stomach and I felt the urge to slap his smarmy, arrogant face.
‘I’d rather beg on the streets than take a penny from you or your family,’ I hissed.
He stood up and towered over me, lifting up his hand, he brought the back of it across my cheek, sn
apping my head back. It hurt like hell, and I tasted blood, but he would never see me cry.
‘You brought my family’s name into the gutter, you fucking whore!’ he spat. ‘I told my brother you were bad news. You came from nothing, and you will always be nothing, Samantha!’
I glared at him and he held my gaze until something caught his eye behind me. He looked up and grinned. ‘Son! I’m so glad you could join us?’
Son?
Milton looked down at me again. ‘I believe you’ve already met my son, Simon,’ he said.
I turned my head to see Simon Hardaker, the junior partner from my firm, striding into the room. He walked purposefully towards me, with his head held high and his hands in his trouser pockets. He stared at me. His blue eyes ice cold and then he grinned. ‘Fooled ya,’ he said and then he and his father started to laugh.
There was not a trace of the nervous, caring, Simon that I had come to know. Instead, he was arrogant – and cold. Just like his father and uncle. The psychopath gene must really run in the family.
I blinked at him. He’d had me completely fooled. He had played me perfectly, knowing that his nervousness and clumsiness would endear him to me. ‘Simon?’ was all I could say.
‘God, it’s so good to finally show you who I really am,’ he ran a hand through his blonde hair. ‘Having to listen to prattle on about your favourite films and watching you pine over that great big ape you called a boyfriend. It was fucking torturous.’
‘You were Edward Lewis?’ I scowled at him.
He smiled widely and nodded, looking incredibly proud of himself. ‘Yes. I thought you’d figure it out. You’re supposed to be smart, aren’t you? We’d literally just been talking about that God-awful film and you still didn’t have a clue.’
‘But why did you do that? What the hell did it achieve?’
‘That was just a bit of fun. You walk around that office like you’re God’s gift to fucking men, but I knew all along who you really were and what you tried to do to my family. Slut!’ he snarled at me with such venom in his voice that I shrunk back from him.
‘So, what do you plan to do with me then?’ I asked with a shaky breath. I feared the answer but I needed to know.
‘You haven’t figured it out?’ Simon said with a laugh.
I shook my head.
‘My dear, Samantha. We’re going to kill you and then we’re going to bury your body on this land. No-one will find you for decades,’ Milton said with a vicious grin.
I stared at him open-mouthed and then I began to shake my head. I couldn’t die. Not here. Not at the hands of these psychopaths. I couldn’t let them kill my child.
I looked at the four armed men who were standing in the kitchen. Surely one of them had an ounce of compassion and couldn’t stand back while this pair of psychopaths murdered a pregnant woman in cold blood?
They all avoided my gaze except for the one who had offered me his hand when I’d stumbled earlier. I was sure he gave me a subtle nod. But, maybe I just imagined it? Maybe I was so desperate for him to be an ally that I read into a meaningless head movement?
‘No, please? My baby.’ I started to beg.
‘No, please? My baby,’ Simon mimicked me as he and his father started to laugh.
Suddenly, I felt a fury like I had never felt in my life. I jumped up and lunged at Milton, scratching my nails down his face and drawing blood.
‘You fucking bitch,’ he screamed, pushing me back down on the chair and pinning me down against it, his hands pressing on my shoulders. ‘I’m going to make you regret ever hearing the name Carver.’
‘I regretted that five minutes after I married your sadistic fuck of a brother,’ I hissed.
He raised his hand again, but we were both distracted by a fast whooshing sound followed by a thwack. We both turned as one of his armed men clutched at his neck before dropping to the floor. Then, immediately the same sound reverberated around the kitchen and another man dropped. The two remaining henchmen withdrew their guns and pointed them at the kitchen doorway.
I turned in my seat and my heart almost leapt out of my chest with relief when I saw Gabriel and my dad walking through the door with at least half a dozen men, all of them carried guns and their weapons were trained on the men who were holding me captive. I looked back at Milton and his men. They were outnumbered, but they could take at least a few of us out before they were shot themselves. We weren’t out of danger yet.
I looked back at the doorway and my eyes met Gabriel’s. ‘It’s okay, baby. But don’t move,’ he said to me, holding my gaze intently, and for a moment it felt like there was only the two of us in the room.
‘What the fuck?’ I heard Milton bark behind me. ‘You told me no-one knew about this place?’
‘They don’t,’ I heard Simon reply.
That’s when Gabriel broke eye contact with me. ‘Did you really think we weren’t onto you?’ he snarled. ‘I’ve been keeping tabs on you for weeks, Simon.’
‘You fucking idiot,’ Milton shouted and I turned in my seat just in time to see him slapping Simon around the back of the head.
Simon shrunk back from him and I couldn’t help but smile.
‘Train your guns on her,’ Milton said to his henchmen and then he turned back to Gabriel and my father. ‘She’ll be dead before any of you even get a single round off.’
Gabriel looked up at the two henchmen and nodded and I watched in stunned silence as they sheathed their weapons.
‘What the fuck are you doing!’ Milton shouted at them.
‘You can’t buy loyalty, Carver. It has to be earned. The problem with hired guns, you arrogant fuck, is that they work for the highest bidder. And in this case, that would be me,’ Gabriel snarled.
‘You couldn’t afford them,’ Milton scoffed.
‘Actually, I can. But the real beauty of it is I don’t have to. They’ve already been paid from your family’s estate,’ Gabriel replied with a smile.
‘What?’ Milton sputtered.
‘Samantha signed the papers to relinquish her claim, like you asked, but any outstanding debts from the Carver family will be paid for by the estate. And my shit-hot lawyer has given these fine men iron-clad, backdated contracts to ensure they get exactly what they’re owed.’
‘But I haven’t signed any such contracts,’ Milton spat. ‘So, good luck proving that.’
‘No, you haven’t,’ Gabriel said with a shake of his head. ‘Because they were security employed by the Carver family estate, and they were backdated, weren’t they? I just told you that, fuckwit. Those contracts were signed eighteen months ago, by Mrs Jackson Carver.’
I couldn’t help but smile. Nick must have drawn up those contracts and I would happily sign them. I didn’t want a penny of the Carver family money, but the fact that it was now paying for Milton’s own demise was the perfect karma.
‘You fucking snakes,’ Milton shouted as he waved his arms around maniacally. I wondered if he would start foaming at the mouth soon enough.
Gabriel took a few steps towards me. ‘Samantha. Come here,’ he said and I obeyed, standing up and running over to him.
He pulled me into his arms and I melted into him, burying my head in his chest and inhaling the smell of him. ‘Are you okay,’ he whispered as he ran his hands over my back.
‘I am now,’ I said, trying not to cry.
‘You two can go,’ I heard my father say and then the two remaining henchmen walked out of the kitchen. I looked at them as they passed me. The one who had helped me earlier and whom I had hoped might be an ally, gave me a nod of acknowledgement before he walked out of the door.
Gabriel turned to his own employees. ‘Secure them,’ he barked and the kitchen was suddenly filled with men dressed in black as they restrained Milton and Simon. The two of them begged and protested – loudly.
‘Fucking shut them up, will you?’ Gabriel snapped. He kept my back to the room and I heard shuffling and banging, followed by a few loud groans, but then Simon a
nd Milton’s pleading stopped.
Then my father was standing beside us. He put an arm around my shoulder and kissed the top of my head. ‘You’re okay, now, love,’ he said and I saw he had tears in his eyes.
‘Can you give us a minute, mate?’ Gabriel said to my dad who nodded at him and walked into the centre of the room to join their employees.
Gabriel cupped my chin and tilted my face up towards his. He ran the pad of his thumb over the cut on my lip and scowled. ‘Who did that to you?’
‘Milton,’ I whispered.
He nodded and then he crushed me to him again. When he released me, he ran his hand down over my stomach. ‘Is he okay too?’ he asked.
I nodded. ‘He’s been playing football with my bladder for the past four hours. He’s fine.’
‘Good. Now, I need you to go home with your dad.’
I blinked at him. ‘No. I want to go home with you.’
He tucked my hair behind my ear. ‘I need to sort this out. Your dad will take you home. I’ll be home as soon as I can, baby.’
‘Come with me. Please. Let your men sort this out for you.’
He shook his head. ‘I can’t. I need to deal with this myself. And I don’t want you anywhere near me when I do.’
‘But, I need you with me,’ I sniffed.
‘Your dad will look after you until I get home, and then I will never let you or our child out of my sight again. Okay?’
I nodded. ‘Okay. But please come home soon.’
‘I’ll be home as soon as I can, baby,’ then with a final kiss on the lips, he beckoned my dad over to him. ‘I’ll see you both later.’
My dad put an arm around me and we walked out of the kitchen and out of the house to his car.
Chapter 55
Gabriel
I watched as Samantha and Sebastian walked out of the door and then I turned back to the room. Four of my best bouncers were holding onto Milton and Simon. But, I wouldn’t need them for much longer. Given what I had in mind, I preferred to work alone.
Sebastian and I had argued over who would deal with the two bastards who had kidnapped Samantha for the whole drive here. Understandably, he’d wanted to deal with the fuckers himself. They had taken the most precious person in the world to him too, not to mention his unborn grandchild. But there was no way I was going to let anyone else do what needed to be done. I had to handle this myself.
Fallen Angel (The London Ruthless Series Book 2) Page 20
