“Hey, Jamie, it’s Angus.”
“What do you know?”
Angus chuckles. “Love it. You’ve been hanging out with Sean and are straight to the point.” I hear his intake of breath. “Chase Kelly is old, very old money. Very well connected. He has a small business selling hybrid yachts. There are a lot of pictures of him and Isabelle on the society pages. They looked happy.”
“If they were so happy, why did she change her name and flee?” I ask.
Sean says, “We don’t need a recap on their marriage. What we need is—”
“To know where he is. I’m on it, brother.”
“He’s stopped on the side of the road. He’s still about an hour from you.”
“How the fuck do you know where we are?” asks Sean.
“I’m tracking your cell phone and his too.”
“Can you keep us updated?” I ask.
“I’m always watching, brother.” He laughs creepily and ends the call.
I put my foot down harder on the accelerator, increasing my speed. Sean looks at me but keeps quiet. My hands are gripping the steering wheel so hard, they are aching and my knuckles are white. All I can think about is Isabelle and what condition I’m going to find her in. The worst scenario which keeps running through my mind is Isabelle is dead.
Sean clears his throat. “Do you want me to drive?”
I shake my head.
“We’ll get to her.”
“What if he’s…” I can’t finish the sentence.
“We can only deal with the facts. The amount of blood in her room wasn’t enough for a serious, life-threatening injury. Maybe he broke her nose, or maybe she fell and bled on it? We don’t know. We know she wouldn’t have left Charlotte without telling her. And there’s no way in hell that any woman leaves the house without her wallet and cell phone.” Sean shifts in his seat. “Don’t go getting stuck in your head worrying about what-if’s. That’ll drive you crazy, and we’ve got an hour to go.”
Isabelle
The rocks cut at my feet as I run. I keep running, ignoring the pain. Chase is close behind—I can hear his footsteps and his screams of anger as he charges after me. I woke up in a car, and when I opened my eyes, he was with me. I screamed and tried to open the door. Chase slammed on the breaks and attempted to grab me, but as soon as the car was motionless, I was out and running.
Suddenly, it feels like my hair is being ripped out, and I’m off my feet, flying through the air backward. I hit the ground, and all the air rushes from my lungs, leaving me gasping. Chase leans over me, rage infuses his face, and he lets out an almighty scream. I cringe and cover my head, waiting for him to strike me.
Slowly, I lower my arms. He’s towering over me, breathing hard, hands on his hips. His perfect hair is mussed, but the look of contempt which I came to know so well is there, staring down at me.
“Why?” he screams and throws his arms in the air. “I gave you everything. A home, money, a place in society, and you repaid me by running away?”
“What we had was never love.”
“Why did you cut your hair? How’s that going to look in all the papers? And how the hell am I supposed to explain your absence? I’ve told most of our friends that you’re on a retreat. How could you do this to me?” Chase rages at me.
It’s obvious he heard me, but more importantly, he doesn’t want to hear me. I’m a possession, something he owns, a toy he’s not done playing with.
Chase holds out his hand to me, and I cringe.
“Put your hand in mine so I can help you up, you stupid bitch.”
“Please, let me go.”
“Give me your fucking hand!”
I’m scared to touch him and scared not to touch him. Tentatively, I put my hand in his, and he wrenches me to my feet.
“Who was the guy in the photo, Belle?”
“What photo?”
He throws his hands in the air. “Last night at the restaurant. I finally found you, but who was the guy? The guy who bought you your favorite hand cream.”
I close my eyes and shake my head. The fucker tracked me down with hand cream? All the precautions I took, and that’s what gave me away—a damn gift?
His hands land on my shoulders, and he shakes me. “Who was he?” screams Chase.
“He’s a friend. It was a present for my birthday.”
Chase shoves me, and I stumble. “Walk back to the car, and I swear if you try to run, I’ll break something.”
Stumbling over rocks and debris, I pick my way through the forest.
“What is his name?”
“Jamie.”
“Does this Jamie have a last name?”
I don’t want to tell him. Chase is a powerful man and could hurt Jamie and all he loves.
“Belle? I asked you a question.”
“Smith.”
Chase grabs me by the upper arm and snarls in my face. “Lie to me again, I dare you.”
“Jamie MacKenny.”
He nods and sneers down at me. “She can tell the truth.”
“You knew?”
“Of course, I knew. You loved that brand, and I paid them to tell me who orders it in the United States. Do you know how many people use that shit?” I shake my head. “In the United States, one hundred and sixty-five people order it directly from the supplier. Do you want to know how I know that?” He shoves me forward. “I had people track every single order.”
“Why can’t you just let me go? Divorce me. Marry one of your mistresses and leave me alone.”
Chase laughs hysterically. “I married you because you never cared about my money. You signed a prenup without any legal representation. All you wanted was to make me happy. We don’t divorce in my family, and I’d never marry any of those whores because they are with me for my money. It’s a financial transaction… pure and simple.”
“But you don’t love me.”
He scoffs. “I do.”
“No. If you did, you wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Belle, a woman like you needs to know her place. I hit you because I love you, and you need reminding every now and again how the world works. Once we’ve had children, you’ll do as you’re told, or I’ll banish you.”
I stop walking and turn around to face him. “What the fuck makes you think I’d ever have children with a monster like you?”
Chase smiles and then backhands me across the face so hard I see stars. I trip and fall against a tree for support.
“Keep walking,” he orders.
“And if I don’t?” I ask defiantly.
“Honey, I can do this all day. No one is coming to save you. You’re going to have my children. You’re going to resume your place at my side, and you’re going to behave.”
“Never!” Spittle flies from my lips, and I bare my teeth at him.
Chase grabs me by the back of my hair and walks me forward. “I’ll take you out on the Mary-Lou and keep you prisoner on her until I get you pregnant. You’ll change your tune when we have children.”
Twisting my head, I ignore the burning feeling as my hair is pulled from its roots. “I’ll never love anything that comes from you.”
Chase laughs and pushes me forward.
I stumble and go down hard on my knees.
“Oh, really? Maybe I’ll put Charlotte into a facility for the mentally retarded. See how well she does in one of those places. I bet you’ll change your tune then.” He laughs. “I have enough money that I could do that. My family has so much money that I could put you on an island in the Pacific, and no one would ever see you again.” Chase pulls me to my feet. “Or I could just kill you here and now and then do whatever the hell I want to that thing you call a sister.”
Tears threaten to fall at the thought of Chase hurting Charlotte. I keep walking. And with each step, I realize I can’t win. I can’t let Charlotte fall into his clutches. She’d never survive in one of those places.
We’re back at the road, and Chase grabs me by the upper arm. He
looks in both directions, then drags me back to the car.
“If I stay with you, you have to leave Charlotte alone. Leave her where she is. She’s happy there.”
“No,” he replies flatly.
“Please, Chase, I’ll do anything.”
He presses his body up against mine on the side of the car. “Yes, you will. Anything, I damn well please.”
Bile crawls up my throat, and I gag at the thought of him touching me. My mind goes to Jamie and the tenderness he showed me. Chase knows no such things. He’s always been a brute and a bully.
“What is it, Belle, can’t handle a real man?”
“I hate you!”
Chase laughs. “I want to know. Did you fuck him?”
I smile at him and nod. “Best. Sex. Ever.”
Chase pushes off me, a look of pure disgust on his face. He punches me hard in the stomach, then grabs me by the hair, pulling my head back.
His face is close to mine as he snarls, “I’ll have him killed. You’ll be checked over by a physician to make sure you don’t have anything, and then I’m going to have that sister of yours brought home. Hell, I might just fuck her until you’ve gotten the all-clear.”
A scream comes from deep within me, and I charge him, pushing him back onto the road. Chase trips and falls onto his ass. My knee connects to his face, and he falls back, his hand flying up to protect himself. Like a madwoman, I jump in the air and land on his crotch. Chase screams in pain, but I don’t stop. I kick and jump on him, and when he gets a hold of me, I bite the hand that touches me. While I’m screaming, he’s yelling, and I don’t see the truck that pulls up or hear my name being called.
My only thought is, I have to kill him. He has to die.
Chase will keep on coming, and we’ll never be safe unless he’s dead.
Two arms encircle me and lift me off the ground. “Isabelle, it’s me, Jamie.”
I’m kicking and screaming, trying to get back to Chase, who’s lying on the ground, blood dripping from his nose, and he’s cupping his genitals.
“Isabelle, you’re safe. Honey, please calm down.”
Hysterical, I keep trying to get loose, but these arms that surround me feel safe. I stop screaming, and then I stop trying to break loose. I’m breathing hard.
“Isabelle, are you with me?”
“I’m in this.”
Jamie barks out a laugh and loosens his grip. I twist in his arms, burying my face in his chest. My legs give out, but he doesn’t let me fall. He scoops me up and walks me to his truck. Someone opens the passenger side door, and he gently places me on the seat.
“You can’t let him go. He’ll never let me go. He’s a monster.”
Jamie
Isabelle is exhausted. Her words are coming out in whispers, but her eyes are wide with fear. I look over at the man on the asphalt—she’s hurt him good—and he’s crying and blubbering like an idiot.
Sean is standing over him, smirking down at his broken body. I look at him, and he gives me the thumbs up as though he’s proud of what she’s done.
“Three years of hell. Three years of beatings. Three years I’ll never get back.” Isabelle is rocking back and forth in the truck, her arms wrapped around herself. She looks at me, her eyes so wide. “We have to kill him. There’s no other way.”
Kyle and Cutter pull up. Cutter’s eyes bulge out of his head when he sees Isabelle, and then he laughs at the man on the asphalt.
“Did you do that?” he asks me.
“No, Isabelle did that.”
He nods, his lips turn down, and then he grins. “Hell hath no fury.”
“Is she okay?” asks Kyle.
“I don’t know,” I reply honestly.
Isabelle looks past me to Kyle, then she locks eyes with Cutter. “You do what no one else can do. You told me that. Will you do me a favor, Cutter?”
“Name it,” he replies instantly.
“Kill him.”
Cutter pulls out his gun and walks toward the man. He glances at Kyle, who holds up a hand.
“Murder leaves a stain on your soul, Isabelle. Are you sure?”
Isabelle nods. “He’ll keep coming. If he can’t have me, he’ll destroy all of you. He’ll hurt Charlotte. He’s a monster.”
Sean’s cell phone rings, and he looks at it, then puts it on speaker.
“Did you find her?” asks Angus.
“Yes,” replies Sean.
“And?”
I stare into Isabelle’s eyes, and I know she’s scared but murder a man? I’m not sure I can do that.
“I’ve been looking into Isabelle, Belle, Kelly’s medical file. She’s had a lot of accidents, and never once was she taken to a hospital—every time the family doctor looked after her. He kept immaculate records. She fell down some stairs and broke her arm. She tripped in the bathroom and broke some ribs. Oh, this one was good... Isabelle fell through a window and broke her nose, arm, and had several abrasions to the insides of her thighs. This guy sounds like a prince.”
We’ve all stopped to look at the man on the ground.
Cutter has his gun pointed at him.
Kyle flicks a glance at me, and I nod.
“Angus, are there any cars or people in our immediate area?”
“No, no one is around.”
Kyle nods at Cutter, who then empties his gun into Chase Kelly. Most of the shots are centered around his head until it’s nothing more than a mushed-up mess of blood, bone, and brain.
Cutter shrugs, puts his gun back in his holster, then smiles at Isabelle when he’s finished. “All done. Do you like being called Belle?”
“I fucking hate it. Thank you, Cutter. I owe you.”
“No, you don’t,” replies Kyle.
“What do we do with the body?” asks Sean.
“Drag it off the road. No one will find him, and if they do, they’re never going to get dental out of that. Cutter, take the fingers, so there are no fingerprints.”
Cutter grins and looks up at Sean. “You get the feet, and I’ll take the arms.”
Sean nods, he hands his cell phone to Kyle, and they pick up the body and walk him further off the road and into the woods. Sean is the first to come back to us and Kyle nods at the car.
“Get it stripped and sell the parts, nowhere near us or the club. Make it so it’s never found.”
“I can do that.” Sean nods.
I’m watching them talk when Isabelle tugs on my hand.
“You saved me.”
I shake my head. “No. You’d saved yourself. I’m just here to take you home.”
“Home?”
“Home with me and Charlotte.”
Isabelle dissolves into tears and reaches for me. I hold her, stroking her hair, telling her everything is going to be okay, but, in truth, I don’t know if it will be. Looking around, Kyle has moved away from us, and I assume he’s talking to Angus as I watch him nodding. He ends the call, puts the phone in his jacket, and turns around to face me. There’s no expression on his face. He gives me a chin lift and puts his hands in his pockets. His eyes go to Isabelle and then back to me. At this moment, I have no idea what he’s thinking or what I might owe him for what he let Cutter do.
One thing I do know—I’m glad my family is with me.
Our motto of ‘family first, always’ has never been truer.
Jamie
Isabelle asked Mr. Whistler to come back and work in the bakery with Charlotte for a month while she recuperated. Not that he’d admit it, but I think Kyle had a hand in Mr. Whistler coming out of retirement. I moved her and Charlotte into my home and drove Charlotte to work every day, and Cutter brought her home at night.
At first, she wouldn’t talk to me about her ordeal until one night about two weeks after the incident, she woke up screaming. She sat between my legs with my arms wrapped around her and told me about the horrors she’d lived through. What Isabelle didn’t know is Kyle could see I didn’t want to end Chase Kelly’s life, so he had Angus send
him a copy of her medical file, then he printed it out and gave it to me. The file was over an inch thick. Isabelle had suffered from everything from broken bones to a bruised spine to gonorrhea. And these were just the injuries that were so bad she had to see a doctor.
I wept as I read every horror that she’d suffered through. Isabelle is far stronger than I’ll ever be. Chase Kelly deserved to die a long time ago. No man should ever treat a woman the way he treated her.
I’m driving into town to be with Isabelle and Charlotte. It’s Saturday, and I take Sundays off so it’s easier for all of us to stay in town overnight. I’ll help out in the bakery on Sunday and then bring them back to the farm. When I pull into the back of the bakery, Cutter’s bike is parked to one side. I knock on the door, Isabelle’s face appears in the window, and she immediately lets me in.
“Hey, you.” She kisses me on the lips.
“Hey, gorgeous girl. You done for the day?”
“Yeah.” She points over her shoulder, and I see Cutter lounging against the counter. “I was talking to Cutter.”
“You want me to wait upstairs?” I ask.
Cutter shakes his head. “Nah, I’m going.”
He walks up to Isabelle and hugs her, then he gives me a chin lift and walks out.
“What was all that about?”
“Cutter thinks he’s a monster. I told him he might be for some people, but for us, your family, and even the MC, he’ll always be a savior.”
I put my arms around her, and she rests her hands on my chest. “He’s no savior.”
“Well, not in the traditional sense.” Her eyes drop to my chest, and she tilts her head to the side. “You know, I knew you’d find me.”
Kissing the top of her head, I lean back until her eyes meet mine. “I will always come for you.”
“Charlotte feels safe with you. I’ve never seen her this happy, especially now that she can ring Brandon.”
“He’s not some MC enforcer, is he?”
Isabelle laughs. “No, but he was living on the streets at one point.”
I look up at the ceiling. “She can pick ‘em, can’t she?”
Spark of Time: MacKenny Brothers Series Book 5: an MC/Band of Brothers Romance Page 19
