by Susan Stoker
“Thank you, Blake.”
“You don’t ever have to thank me for saving your life, sweetheart. I’d kill a hundred people fifty times over if it meant I could look into your beautiful brown eyes and kiss your pink lips.”
She smiled, and he felt her small hands run up and down his forearms, but he didn’t take his eyes from hers as she spoke. “I hope you don’t ever have to even hurt anyone again for me, but if you do, thanks in advance for killing hundreds of people for me. I kinda like you, Blake Anderson, and you’ve spoiled me. I might not be up to fighting form yet, but I’ll show you how thankful I am to be back in your bed later.”
Blake leaned down and carefully and gently kissed her lips. The bottom one was split, and kissing had to be painful, but Alexis didn’t even seem to notice. She opened her mouth under his, and her tongue came out to brush against his bottom lip. Blake pulled back before causing her any more pain.
He leaned back but didn’t move his hands from caging her in. “If you need a break, just squeeze my hand, and I’ll make sure the detective gives you some space. Okay?”
She nodded quickly. “Okay. But, I’m going to try to get through it as fast, and as thoroughly, as I can. To get it over with.”
“Still. You need a break, just let me know and you’ve got it.”
“Do you think I can sit in the chair?” Alexis asked. “I’d be more comfortable talking about it there.”
“I don’t see why not. As long as you’re not in pain, I think it’d be fine.”
Blake sat up and set about moving Lex from the bed to the large easy chair in the corner, the one he’d slept in the night before as he kept watch over the woman he loved.
Thirty minutes later, Alexis was telling the four men standing and sitting around her exactly what she’d been through at the hands of the Inca Boyz gang members. Logan was leaning against the far wall of the hospital room, his hands crossed over his chest, scowling as she spoke, obviously not happy with anything she was saying.
Nathan was sitting on the bed, taking notes as fast as she was speaking, even though there was a tape recorder sitting in front of her. He’d probably review every word she said several times just to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Detective Ross was sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair, jotting comments into a small notebook, and Alexis sat in Blake’s lap in the big chair.
He wanted to be as close as he could get to her, and he hoped that maybe his warmth and caresses would make the entire thing easier.
“I wasn’t going to make the mistake of getting into a car with Kelly,” Alexis was saying, “But she said we could just go a little bit away from my apartment and talk. She sounded so sincere, and I actually felt sorry for her. She totally played on that. It was dumb of me, obviously. I know that now, but you weren’t there. You didn’t hear her.”
It was Nathan who reassured her. “She somehow figured out the way to get to you was through your big heart. Don’t ever apologize for that.”
She smiled at him before continuing with her story. “But as soon as we turned that last corner, the others were there, and they stuffed me into the trunk before I could really say or do anything. Luckily, I had my phone in my pocket instead of my purse.”
She shuddered, and it was all Blake could do to keep from cursing out loud himself. It had been very lucky. They all knew the situation could’ve turned out very differently if she hadn’t been able to get in touch with Blake.
“We’ll get the transcripts of your texts later, but you told Blake where you thought you were every time you stopped?” the detective asked. “How much money did you take out of your account?”
“Well, we stopped around six times, and I could only get five hundred out at each stop. But the last one didn’t work for some reason. I’m not sure why. They wanted more, and I think they were going to keep me alive up there in the mountain until they had as much as they thought they could get.”
The detective nodded. “What happened when you got to the burial site?”
Blake heard Alexis’s loud swallow at the officer’s terminology. It honestly could’ve been Lex’s burial site if things had gone differently. They never would’ve found her grave if the gang had killed her and left her there. He ran his hands up and down Alexis’s cold arms but didn’t interrupt her as she began to speak.
“I could tell we were on a smaller road when we turned off. I was jostled around in the trunk, and I was scared that they would shoot me the second we stopped. Chuck opened the trunk and pulled me out. He wanted to rape me right there, but Damian stopped him.”
“How’d he stop him?” the detective interrupted. “What exactly did they say?”
Alexis took a deep breath, then continued with her story. “Chuck shut the trunk and bent me over it. He shoved my head hard into the metal, and it hurt enough that he stunned me for a second. He stuck his hand up my shirt and was trying to undo my pants when Damian shoved him away from me. I fell sideways and landed on my hands and knees in the dirt, trying to get my bearings.
“I heard them yelling about the plan and Damian said something about how Chuck would have his turn when they were done with me. I wasn’t going to hang around for that shit, so I took off. Chuck caught up to me and dragged me back. I managed to elbow him in the face, splitting his lip, but he didn’t let go of me and hit me back. He was pissed that I’d made him bleed and thought when he’d hit me that he’d subdued me. He dragged me in front of Dominic, and before they could tie my ankles together or something, I did one of those side-kick things you guys showed me.
“I got Dominic’s knee and—you were right—he immediately went down. Unfortunately, that only pissed his brother off. He grabbed me from Chuck and was shaking me like a rag doll, so I head butted him in the face. That really didn’t please him, although I was happy I’d at least drawn blood. But he threw me to the ground, and they all kicked me a few times while Kelly cheered them on.
“Then Dominic pulled me upright by my hair, making sure to keep himself away from my feet and head, and Damian asked me what I was really doing hanging out with the Inca Boyz. I wasn’t sure if I should tell the truth or not, so I tried to stick with the original story . . . that I just liked hanging out with bad boys.”
She paused in her story for a moment, and Blake settled his hand on her thigh, squeezing her gently. She turned and gave him a small smile, trying to reassure him. Then she continued her heartbreaking story.
“Damian didn’t believe me for a second and pulled out the bottle of vodka. He told me to drink it. I refused. He hit me a few times, and I still refused. He had Chuck kick my knees from behind, until I fell onto my hands and knees. Then he held the bottle to my mouth, while Chuck grabbed my hair and pinched my nose closed. They forced me to drink, until I was choking. Then Damian asked me again why I was so interested in their gang.
“They continued to force me to drink the vodka, until I was gagging. I knew they wouldn’t stop until I told them something, so I relented and said that I was pissed at them for what they did to my brother. That seemed to amuse them, and they quit forcing the vodka on me and changed their game.”
When she paused, the detective asked, “What’d they do next? How’d you get inside that hole?”
“I was pretty dizzy by that time. The alcohol went straight to my head. I don’t know if it was because I was so scared and my heart was beating so quickly and it made it work faster or what, but they threw a shovel at me and told me to start digging. There was no way I was going to dig my own grave. I’ve seen way too many forensic shows to fall for that, so I pretended to be drunker than I really was and fell on the ground and made it seem like I couldn’t get up. It pissed them off, Kelly especially. She came over and started kicking me and hitting me. I tried to use the shovel as a weapon, but my arms weren’t working very well at that point, and the guys just laughed and let her do whatever she wanted while they started digging.
“I guess it was harder than they thought it would be, and they
got tired pretty quickly. That’s why it wasn’t very deep. I think it was Dominic who got the idea to cuff my hands to my feet and to make me sit inside the hole. He figured with the way I’d fought them that if they didn’t do something, I’d just dig my way out . . . which was smart, because I totally would’ve. I was getting worried that no one had shown up yet to help me, and the last thing I wanted was to be buried alive, so I made another run for it, but I tripped and Chuck easily caught me . . . again. He dragged me back to the hole by my hair and held me still and let Kelly take a few more shots at me. Then Dominic and Damian started in again. They kicked and punched me. My stomach, my face, my back. Chuck even took my breasts in his hands and twisted them as hard as he could. They wanted to know exactly who I was working with and what information I’d given them.”
Alexis turned to Blake, and he almost cried at the look of shame in her eyes. “I told them everything, Blake. That I was working for Ace Security, and we were trying to get information about the gang to give to the task force so they could shut down their thug-for-hire business. I even gave them my PIN numbers and told them they could go back tomorrow and the next day and the next and take money from my accounts until they were empty. I’m sorry. I tried to be tough, but it hurt so bad. I didn’t want them to bury me, and I was so scared.”
“Shhhh, Lex. It’s okay. You didn’t tell them any big secrets.”
Big tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over her bruised cheeks. “It hurt, Blake. It hurt so bad, and I just wanted it to stop.”
Logan moved then and came over to where Alexis was sitting on his brother’s lap. He turned her head with a big hand on the side of her face and looked into her tear-filled eyes. “You did nothing wrong, Alexis. When I was in the army, I was once captured by a group of Taliban soldiers. They were as surprised as my squad was to have been caught unaware. They didn’t really know what they were doing, but they took great pleasure in beating us. I can tell you without a doubt that you held on longer with those assholes than some of the trained soldiers I was with. A few of them broke after only a few minutes at the hands of the terrorists. Do not feel bad. Not for a second. You hear me?”
“You were captured?” Alexis choked out, bringing a hand up to cover Logan’s resting on her cheek. “Were you hurt?”
The fierce look on Logan’s face gentled. “You remind me of Grace,” he said softly. “More concerned about others than you are about yourself. Yeah, Alexis, I was hurt, but they didn’t have us very long before a group of Delta Force soldiers came in under the cover of darkness and kicked some Taliban ass. Those guys killed every one of the terrorists without a sound. My point is you lasted longer under torture than some of the professional soldiers I served with. And you didn’t have state secrets to blab like they did. I’m sure they already knew all about Ace Security because of Grace’s connection to me. Cut yourself some slack . . . okay?”
Blake looked at his brother with narrowed eyes. He hadn’t known Logan had been captured by terrorists and tortured. It wasn’t something they’d ever talked about, but it looked like they’d be having a serious conversation about how they’d spent the ten years apart after high school sooner rather than later. The three brothers hadn’t been close, but he hated that he hadn’t known that about his own brother.
Blake’s eyes cut to Nathan, and he saw the same confusion and concern in his other brother’s eyes. Yeah, the three of them definitely needed to have a heart-to-heart conversation.
Alexis nodded at Logan, and he leaned into her and kissed her forehead gently, before standing up and resuming his stance against the far wall.
She turned to Blake and looked tearfully into his eyes.
“You need a break, sweetheart?” Blake asked.
She shook her head, then said, “I do need a tissue, though.”
Blake smiled and leaned over and took the tissue the detective was holding out. He tenderly wiped the tears from her bruised cheeks and under her eyes, before handing it to her so she could blow her nose. She crumpled the white tissue in her hand and took a deep breath before bravely continuing her harrowing story.
“Anyway, when I was crying so hard I couldn’t talk anymore, they finally believed that I’d told them the truth. Damian and Chuck forced me to sit and held me still as Kelly and Dominic put on the cuffs. They squeezed them so tight I knew I wouldn’t be able to slip out of them. Then they lifted me and dropped me into the hole. I swear I thought I’d broken my tail bone, it hurt so badly. But I refused to scream, not wanting them to see how freaked out I was. They shoved all the dirt back into the hole. Telling me all the while that they were going to leave me there. That animals would come and peck at me and try to eat me.
“Chuck wanted to fuck my mouth, but Dominic wouldn’t let him, thank God. Of course he didn’t care about me. They all knew Chuck was going to come back and do it anyway after they got back to the city. They kicked dirt in my face, and then they tried to get me to swallow more of the vodka. They were going to leave me there and come back in a few days, when I would be desperate for water, when you shot at them, Blake. I’d never been so glad to hear anything in my entire life.”
“What’d they say about Bailey?” Nathan asked quietly from his seat on the bed.
Alexis bit the side of her lip that wasn’t split and tried to remember.
“Kelly was really pissed off that Donovan still had a thing for this Bailey person. She ranted that when Donovan got out of jail, she thought he’d go looking for her. I got the impression that the woman ran away from the gang and that he was pissed she left him.”
“Did she say what Bailey’s last name was?” Nathan asked, looking intensely into her eyes.
Alexis shook her head. “I can’t remember anyone saying her last name, sorry.”
Blake spoke up then too. “She didn’t say her last name, Bro. Sorry. But having her first name should make it easier to track her down, yeah?”
Nathan’s nose was buried back in his notebook and he was scribbling things down. “Maybe, maybe not. If the woman was smart, and truly wanted to get away from Donovan, she got as far away from Denver as possible. She’s probably long gone by now.
“Is there anything else you want to add about what happened or what was said?” the detective asked Alexis.
She shook her head slowly but stared the detective in the eye, her own eyes narrowing and her mouth tightening into a thin line. “Just that I know without a doubt that Blake and Logan and even the SWAT guys saved my life. If Blake hadn’t shot Kelly, she wouldn’t have hesitated to slit my throat. She hated me. I was pretty drunk from all the alcohol they made me drink, but if you’re thinking about charging Blake or Logan with murder, I’ll get my family involved and hire the best lawyer Denver has to fight the charges. He saved me.”
Blake squeezed Lex’s hand in support, touched that she was defending him so staunchly. It was unnecessary but made him love her all the more.
When the detective didn’t protest or argue with her in any way, she continued in a less fierce tone. “All Damian and Dominic were interested in was getting cash for Donovan’s bail and hurting me.”
“We’ve got the money you took out of your accounts,” the officer told her. “It was in Damian’s pocket. We’ll get it back to you, but it might be a while, as it’s evidence.”
Blake cut in and asked, “Will Donovan still be able to make bail?”
Now the officer looked anywhere but at Blake or the other men in the room. “It’s possible. He didn’t personally kidnap and hurt you. There’s no evidence that he ordered anyone to kidnap Alexis either. His lawyer will claim that it was his brothers who acted on their own out of their love for their brother. So unfortunately, yeah, if his friends can get together enough money, he’ll probably still be able to make bail.”
“Fuck,” Logan swore from against the wall. “So that means that not only will Alexis still have to look over her shoulder, but Grace will too. Just fucking great.”
“Not necessarily
,” the detective said quickly. “Donovan’s brothers are dead, and there’s dissention in the ranks. He’ll have his hands full trying to keep his gang together. He knows we’re watching him carefully, and it’s unlikely that he’ll try to do anything against either Miss Grant or your wife. I think it’s a better possibility that he’ll go after this Bailey person, whoever she is.”
“I’m not willing to take that chance,” Logan growled. “From now on, you’ll pass on any information about anything that has to do with the Inca Boyz. I will protect my family and my brothers’ families from any threat. No matter how big or small.”
“I understand,” the officer said with a grim look on his face. “And I can’t blame you. I’ll talk to the chief and make sure he knows the seriousness of the situation. If and when Donovan gets out of jail, I’ll make sure you’re notified. We’ll keep our eyes on what’s left of the Inca Boyz and let you know if it looks like they’re trying to regroup and come after your women.”
“We’ll keep our own feelers out as well,” Logan told the man.
“No more undercover ops,” the detective ordered.
“No, we’re done with that,” Logan assured him. “We’ll use technology to get the information we need this time.” And with that, Logan pushed away from the wall and held out his hand to the officer. “Thank you for coming to the hospital to interview Alexis. If you need to get a hold of her, she’ll be staying with my brother. You can always contact any of us at Ace Security as well.”
They shook hands and the detective turned to Alexis and said, “Thank you for your time, Miss Grant. I hope you feel better soon.”
She nodded at him, but didn’t say anything.
Blake was content to let his brother see the detective out. He felt Lex melt against his chest and heave a huge sigh. “Do you need another pain pill?” he asked her quietly.
