Relentless (Titans of Founder's Ridge Book 2)

by Nichole Greene

  The tension in the car is through the roof. We’re all pulled tight and ready to explode. Guys speaking Russian leads me to believe it has something to do with Con’s family. I swear to fuck I will rearrange his face if this is some sort of retribution for his family’s shady ass business.

  We make it to the hospital they took Lilith to in record time, and Con flies out of the car and into the building without looking back. We follow on his heels, hopefully we’ll have enough time before Lake and Nolan get here to find something out. Con’s yelling at the receptionist, trying to get something about Lilith’s condition, but all we’re told is to wait while she’s in surgery.

  I’m about to go yell at him for this but stop when I see the unshed tears in his eyes. They’ve made his normally dark green eyes a light vibrant green. Griff senses the anger radiating off me and puts a hand to my chest. With a firm shake of his head, I back off. The logical part of me is saying to calm down, Con doesn’t want this anymore than I do. The primal part of me, however, wants to tear the city apart until I know Lilith is safe and Ivy is back with me.

  Griff’s phone beeps with a text from Nolan and Lake; they’re out front waiting for us. I leave without saying a work to Con. Griff hangs back to make sure he’s okay.

  “Do you have a location on them?” I say as I slide into the back seat of Lake’s truck.

  “Yeah,” he points at the GPS display, “they are the blue dot. It looks like they’re heading out of the city toward Connecticut.”

  Griff gets in and closes the door. “Let’s go get them.”

  “There are guns and vests behind your seats. Do you two know how to shoot?”

  “Yes,” we both say at the same time.

  “Good. I haven’t alerted the police yet. We’re going in on our own first.” Lake says. “Tell me everything you know so far.”

  If there was anyone qualified to do this, it’s him. He runs a mercenary group of former soldiers and marines. They do a lot of rescue missions in eastern Europe and Asia. I let Griff fill him in on everything, my mind is too busy compartmentalizing everything so I can keep functioning. My eyes trained on the blue dot traveling toward Connecticut’s coast.

  “Fuck,” Nolan mutters, “it looks like they’re heading toward Bridgeport.”

  Lake and Nolan share a concerned look.

  “The fuck is that look about?”

  “There’s a shipping yard and several marinas,” Nolan answers. “I’ll hack into the street cameras to see if I can watch the progress of the van that way too. Maybe get some ID on the guys.” He hands a second tablet back to Griff, “Here, you do the same. I know we have similar skill sets.”

  I make eye contact with Lake in the rearview mirror. His eyes are hard and focused, almost as dark as his black hair.

  “We’ll get them back,” he says firmly. The sun’s going to start going soon, and they have at least forty-five minutes on us. I’m not remotely as confident as he is.

  28

  IVY

  I wake up slowly with a splitting pain in my temple. Everything is dark, but I’m moving. I try to touch my face but realize my hands are bound behind my back with what feels like duct tape. We hit a bump, which jars me to the side where I touch another body. It stiffens, but then I hear my name very faintly.

  “Ivy?” Claire asks. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” I whisper. “Are you?”

  “Yeah, but it’s just us. Lilith isn’t in here with us. Do you have a bag over your head, too?”

  That explains the darkness. “Yeah, I might have a concussion, too.”

  “You’ve been out for at least an hour.”

  “Do you know where they’re taking us?”

  “A marina. They’re speaking in Russian, but I can’t make everything out.”

  Shit. Are we about to be trafficked?

  We both stop talking for a while. It’s probably better for them to think I’m still knocked out. I wiggle my wrists back and forth, trying to create some room between them. I discover my ankles are bound, too. I can’t risk moving them though, I don’t know how visible I am to these guys.

  I’ve been listening closely, and I think there’s only two men in the van. I know I counted five in the alley, but Lilith knocked one out. I don’t know what that means for the other two. Are they in a different vehicle? Are they silently watching me struggle against the restraints? Did they listen to my conversation with Claire?

  The van slows down, and I hear a bunch of mumbled Russian. I slump and relax my whole body when we stop moving, and I hear the men get out. I hear them pull Claire out, they know she’s awake. I manage not to react when a boot connects with my side. I’m pulled out and thrown over the shoulder of someone.

  We must be somewhere somewhat remote because it can’t be a normal occurrence to see two hooded girls being carried out onto a boat. I know we’re on a dock of some sort because I can hear the boards under their boots.

  We get to the end of the dock, and for a second, I’m scared they’re going to throw me in the water. Elite swimmer or not, you’re going to drown with your hands and legs bound and a hood over your head. I’m not tossed into the water. Instead I’m handed over to another person who drops me onto the deck of a boat.

  They prop me up against rail, and Claire slides down beside me. Our hoods are ripped off, and I wince at the rays of sun. As I shift to turn my head, I feel a bolt along the side of the boat. The men are largely ignoring us so I move my hands around to figure out if it’s sharp enough to cut through the duct tape.

  “They have to wait about forty minutes for the sun to go completely down before we leave port,” Claire whispers. “They’re talking about something else, but I can’t quite hear it.”

  “Are you bound with duct tape?” I ask her in a whisper. I’m already making headway with my wrists on the bolt.

  “No, zip ties.” She tilts her head toward her feet.

  Damn. I’ll have to find a knife to get her free. This looks like a fishing boat, I’m sure I can find something to use.

  “They just used duct tape on me, and I’m working it off on a loose bolt behind me. Keep your eyes open for a knife or something sharp to cut your ties.”

  One of the men comes back and leers down at us. He yells something in Russian and it must be bad because Claire growls something back at him in Russian and spits on him. He backhands her but instead of cowering she gives him a cruel smile, blood trickling down from the corner of her mouth. She says something else in Russian, which makes kneel down in front of us. He stays there, staring, for what feels like hours.

  Eventually someone calls him to the front of the boat, and he leaves.

  “I’m not going to repeat what he said, but it was bad, and we need to get the fuck off this boat,” she whispers frantically.

  “On it,” I get a hole punctured through the tape and start ripping. Claire hits me with her knees when the same man comes back undoes the stern lines.

  “Oh, fuck, hurry,” she whisper-yells. “There’s a first aid kit under that bench on the other side of the deck.”

  This whole thing is risky, I can see the tops of the guys’ heads from where we’re sitting. One look, and they’re going to know. I finally get the tape off my wrists as the boat starts moving away from the dock.

  One of the men looks over his shoulder at us for a minute then turns back to other guys he’s talking to. I take this opportunity to tear off the duct tape on my ankles. My head swims when I stand up, and I sway on my knees.

  “Careful,” Claire whispers. “No one is looking this way. They’re making dirty jokes.”

  I look around until I see the first add kit. I unzip quickly and dig through bandages and alcohol wipes until I come across a pair of medical shears. I don’t bother closing the kit, just drop where it was and slide back to my spot. A different guy looks down over the railing at us, and I pray harder than I ever have to any God listening that he won’t notice my ankles. After another tense minute, he turns and w
alks away from the railing.

  “How good are you at swimming?” I ask while I clip the ties over her ankles.

  “Not great, I don’t really know any strokes beyond basic freestyle.” She shifts, so I can clip her wrist restraints. They’ve dug into her wrists and cut them open.

  “That’s fine, the water is pretty calm. I’m pretty sure we’re in the Long Island Sound so boats will be a big concern, especially in the dark. If you get tired, I can pull you along with me.”

  “Are there sharks? We’re both bleeding.”

  “I’ll take a shark over those guys,” I point over my shoulder. “Take off your shoes, pants, and cardigan. It’ll be cold as fuck but reduce our effort,” I say as I strip. “On the count of three dive over side of the boat. Swim underwater as long as you can, I’ll stay beside you.”

  She nods and stands.

  “One, two, three,” we dive over the rail together. I look over at her and match my strokes to hers. The water looked pretty calm from the boat, but now that we’re in it, I can feel the current is stronger than I thought.

  Claire starts to surface, but I grab her hand and shake my head. I keep her hand in mine and do a few strong dolphin kicks. As soon as we break the surface, I look around for the boat. They must not have noticed us gone yet because they’re still going in the same direction.

  The water is a bit choppy, and I notice Claire struggling to breathe. I swim over right in front of her.

  “Breathe in the troughs, slow breaths until you get used to the water.” It’s a lie, you don’t get used to water this cold. The pools I’ve swam in are usually between seventy-seven to eight-two degrees. This water is much colder. I can’t judge the distance from where we are to the nearest shore, but I can see it. When I notice her breathing pattern becoming steadier, I point to the shore and start swimming. I don’t mention it, but the boat we were on isn’t getting smaller on the horizon anymore; they must be circling looking for us.

  If I had to guess, we’re more than a mile offshore but less than a mile and a half. Not as bad as it could be but not great with a weak swimmer. Claire keeps up with me for a while but starts lagging about fifteen minutes in. I look over our shoulder and don’t see any boats in the near vicinity, so I suggest a break.

  “Ivy,” Claire drags in a deep breathe, “you aren’t even winded.”

  “I’ve been training my entire life. You are doing so well for not having training.” I’m going to keep encouraging her as long as I can before I have to start pulling her along with me. “Do you think you can do another fifteen minutes? I think we only have about half an hour until we reach the shore.”

  I watch the determination in her eyes as she nods. She’s digging deep for this, and I’m so here for it. “I can do it. I can do this.” She starts swimming with me matching her stroke for stroke.

  I signal for another break when her strokes start slowing significantly. I tell her to float on her back for me and describe how I’m going to haul her along with me the last quarter of a mile. Luckily, she’s smaller and lighter than me so it’s not that much harder. Most of my effort comes from being on my back using only one arm. She kicks with me though, which helps with propulsion. I keep my thoughts focused on Levi and how much I love him, how we are just finally starting our lives together. His face is helping me make it through the water. When we finally reach the shore, it’s a rocky seawall alongside a road. I’m not sure if I have energy to lift myself up and over the rocks.

  She pulls herself up, shivering and teeth chattering. Once she’s out of the water, she reaches down for me. Her fingers and lips are turning blue, and I’m sure I’m not far behind.

  “You just dragged me across Long Island Sound, I’m not letting you drown on the side of the road bitch,” she says. “Take my fucking hand so I can pull you up.” Her grip is surprisingly strong. Once I’m out of the water, we pull ourselves up and over the wall, collapsing on the side of the road.

  Neither of us has the energy to stand, and several cars pass us by without stopping. Finally, a black truck pulls over, and I think I must be going into shock and imagining things because Levi and Griff fly out of it.

  “Ives,” he yells, “fuck! They’re freezing. Do you have blankets?”

  That’s the last thing I remember before everything goes black again.

  29

  LEVI

  “Grab blankets, I think they’re both hypothermic!” I yell to Lake and Nolan. Ives just passed out as soon as I grabbed her. Thank fuck for Con’s psychotic need to know where the girls are all the fucking time. If Claire hadn’t had her tracking device earrings on, we wouldn’t have found them.

  “How the hell did they make over here from the middle of the Sound?” Nolan asks as he drops fleece jackets down for us. They aren’t blankets, but they’ll work.

  “Carry them to the truck and pull their wet clothes off,” Lake instructs us. “Then we’ll put them in the jackets and our shirts.”

  Griff picks up Claire, carries her over to the truck, and starts pulling her clothes off. What remains of their clothes anyway. Neither of them have anything other than panties and their shirts on. What the fuck happened to them? Why are they half-dressed?

  My mind is spinning through every terrible scenario as I strip Ivy down. Were they assaulted? I must have thought those questions out loud because Griff answers.

  “They probably took their shoes and pants off to reduce drag or something. That seems like something Ivy would think of.”

  Aside from cuts on Claire’s wrists and her lip, she looks fine. Ivy has a bump and bruise on her temple and a bruise on her ribs. All four of us strip our shirts off and put two on each of the girls. Then we zip the fleece jackets up around their legs.

  Griff and I get in the backseat and Nolan and Lake put each of them in our laps. Lake calls Con and puts him on Bluetooth so we can all talk.

  “Did you find them?” Con asks as soon as he answers.

  “Yeah, we have both of them. Found them collapsed on the side of the highway along the sound,” Lake says as he does a U-turn. “How’s Lilith?”

  “She’s in recovery. She lost a kidney and a lot of blood but is okay otherwise. How are Claire and Ivy?”

  “Both are passed out and probably hypothermic. I’ll bring them to the hospital you’re at though. I don’t think either of them is critical.” Lake lowers his voice, “Do you have the guy Lilith knocked out?”

  “Yes,” Con growls, “our guys took him to the compound upstate.”

  “I want in on the interrogation,” Lake states.

  Get in line.

  “We’re all going to want in on it,” Griff says.

  “Lilith will probably want in on it,” Nolan says.

  Truth.

  “We’ll see you in a bit. I’m trusting that you know what you’re talking about. There’s at least four hospitals between where you are and where we are,” Con says to Lake.

  “Trust me, I know what I’m looking at here. They’re both going to be okay once their body temperature goes back up.”

  Ivy’s eyes flutter open for a second, and she mumbles my name before passing back out. I press a kiss to her forehead. I’m so thankful that she’s okay but so pissed that she had to go through this.

  I look over at Griff who’s holding Claire a little tighter than might be appropriate for your best friend’s baby sister. Now’s definitely not the time to dig into it, but if there is something going on there, he better be careful. Con will tear him to shreds, especially with Griff’s predilections.

  The four of us are all quiet on the way back. Each of us are lost in thought about this terrible day. Nolan and Lake start talking about cleaning up the traffic cam footage of the guys driving the van and running it through facial recognition.

  “You don’t have to do that,” Claire mumbles with her eyes still closed. “I know who they work for.” She tries to sit up, but Griff tightens his hold on her.

  “Stay where you are and tell us,” he
commands.

  “They’re from a rival family in St. Petersburg. My uncle Ivan did them dirty in a few business deals. They were going to ransom Lilith and me.” She smirks, “but they didn’t realize Lilith is a badass who can fight off three grown men on her own. They also didn’t realize they kidnapped an Olympic caliber swimmer.” She lifts her head and looks at me. “How is Ivy? She pulled me the last twenty minutes of our swim. If I hadn’t been holding her up, she probably wouldn’t have any trouble making it from the boat to the shore.”

  “I think she’s generally okay, she’s got a bruise on her ribs and a bump on her head.”

  “One of the guys hit her over the head with a rock or something in the alley when they jumped us.” She fights to sit up, glaring as Griff tightens his hold again. “How is Lilith?”

  “She’s fine,” Griff answers quickly, “resting at the hospital we’re taking you two to. Close your eyes and sleep.”

  He and I make eye contact, silently agreeing that it’s best to keep upsetting information to ourselves for now. I pull Ivy closer to me, comforted by the way she nuzzles into me. Now that I know she’s safe and will be okay, my mind wanders to Lilith.

  All of this happened because of Con’s shitty fucking Russian family. I almost lost both the women I love because of it. Every minute that goes by fuels my anger. By the time we pull up to the emergency drop off of the hospital in the city, I’m vibrating with rage.

  Parker, Isaac, and Dad meet us in the lobby. They all look sick with worry. Parker and Isaac are allowed to go back with Ivy since they are family, but I’m not. Dad pulls me aside and leads me to Lilith’s room.

  Con is sitting in a chair right beside her, holding her hand and staring at her. Victor is standing by the window, hair a disheveled mess and tie loosened. As soon as he sees me, he takes off, probably looking for Claire. I drag a chair over on Hoodrat’s other side and sit, I don’t look at her though. I can’t handle seeing how pale and delicate she looks. A horrifying change since the photo of her in a wedding dress this morning.