by Rachel Angel
I kissed him then, and he kissed me back. “You just made me so happy.”
“It takes two,” I said, smiling at him.
“I’m the luckiest man in town, Haven. I can’t believe you’re in my arms. Mine.”
“I can’t believe you can’t believe I’m yours,” I said.
“Oh God, Haven, you really are mine?”
“Max!” I shook my head. “Yes, come on! Time’s running out.”
“Gotcha!” Max said, straightening up. “The car’s loaded. I’m loaded. The men I hired to pose as land surveyors made their plants.”
“Then let’s go,” I said, packing a SIG Sauer into the inside of my jacket along with a few magazines. The kidnappers were murderers. They killed Rose Triton before. Probably Penelope Hills, too. And they wouldn’t hesitate to kill my mother or me. I needed to protect myself and not wait to get saved. And I didn’t want anyone getting hurt because I couldn’t protect myself.
Max sat in the back seat, hidden by tinted windows while I drove the small non-descript college student car into the old warehouse complex. It was a creepy old place during the day but at night? Darn right creepy like something out of a horror movie.
But having lights on in one of the buildings? Not so creepy, but scary because I knew the kidnappers really were there. And my mother was there with them.
I parked my car where they could see the front of my car in their view, but not the part of my back passenger doors where Max could get in and out.
I got out of the car and reached into it to bring out a heated pizza bag. Wearing my cap and a pizza delivery jacket, I made my way to the front door of the warehouse where there was light. I ran the doorbell and then bang on it loudly.
“Pizza!” I shouted. “Someone ordered pizza!”
I kept banging until I heard some shuffling noises and even voices.
The door finally opened, and I peered into the face of an older bald man, who looked like a henchman in any crime film.
“Pizza’s here!” I said.
He looked at me without a smile and nodded his head back. “Anyone ordered pizza?”
“Not me,” a man said. “But I sure wanted some. Must be my wishful thinking.”
The henchman looked at me and said, “We didn’t order any pizza. How did you get this address?”
I checked the receipt taped onto the pizza box. “It says here, 28973 Hidden Falls. Isn’t this it?”
“Does this look like it would be it?” the henchman asked.
“Hell, we get orders from all places. It’s not in my job description to judge a place. All I do is follow orders and that’s to deliver pizza orders.”
I looked around to see if I can see an address.
There was one. “Oh I see it is 2897 but is that last number an 8 or a 3?”
He took a look and said it was an 8 but it was so faded he wasn’t sure.
The second henchman walked up and said, “What kind of pizza do you have?”
I opened the bag and pulled out a large pizza. Opened it, letting the delicious hot smell of pizza fill the air and said, “Looks like Meat Lovers Supreme.”
Both henchmen looked hungry.
“Are you sure you didn’t ordered pizza? This place looks huge. Maybe someone in an office here ordered it? Working overtime?”
“Nope, just us,” the second henchman said.
“It says here the person who ordered it is by the name of Bra…” I swore, “Damn why couldn’t Harold write neater. You’d think a guy with a high school education can write.”
The second henchman laughed. “Tell you what. I’ll pay cash for the pizza. I’m just starving for pizza right now.”
I hesitated. “I don’t know. My boss might get mad at me if I don’t deliver it to the right address.”
“I’ll pay you cash. Then you can give that to your boss.”
“My boss is a tightwad,” I said. “Stick stuck so far up in his ass I know he would give me a hard time if I mess up.”
“Ain’t I know it,” the henchman said. “Stay there, and I’ll go get some cash.”
“Okay,” I said, rubbing my legs together suddenly. “Damn, I have to go pee.”
The henchmen looked at each other. Finally the second one said, “There’s a bathroom to the right of the door. This place is under construction so watch yourself.”
“Okay, thanks!” I said, handing the pizza to him before heading towards the bathroom.
While the two henchman opened the pizza box, I made my way around, looking for any movement. It was dark, and I put on my night goggles hoping to see the heat imagery of something alive.
Finally I saw a figure in one of the rooms. It was an empty room, and the figure was seated in a chair in the center of the room. Was this the one room that was special? I hope it was or it wasn’t going to work.
I walked up to the figure and lifted the hood over the head.
She looked tired, worn out, dehydrated.
It was my mother.
“Mom” I said quickly, cutting the rope around her wrists and her ankles. “It’s me, Haven.”
“Haven?” Mom asked groggily.
“I’m getting you out. Come with me now.” I looked around. “Is there a way out of here besides the way I came in?”
Mom got up, rubbing her wrist and her ankles. I gave her a small pocket-sized water bottle from my jacket. She took a big gulp and said, “There’s a way over there.”
She led me to the door, right when the first henchman flooded the room with lights and saw us.
“Run!” I yelled at my mother.
She ran as fast as she could with me behind her.
The henchman was almost to us when he pulled out a gun.
I pulled out mine and shot him in the shoulder. He shot back at me, but missed.
“Hurry!” I shouted.
Right when Mom ran through the door, the second henchman was on me. His sheer size almost knocked me out.
I kneed him in the groin and pushed my hand up to his chin, knocking his face back and his body off me. Then I kicked him as hard as I could in his nuts, which had him rolling on the ground.
I ran as fast as I could through the door and after my mother when another henchman I haven’t seen rushed out to tackle me to the ground.
He was big too, and I tried to kick him in the groin, but he blocked me. I tried to blind him, but he blocked my hand. He was able to block every punch and kick I threw at him before he lifted me up from my back and threw me across the room.
I landed with a thud and an intense pain shot through my shoulders. I felt as though I had dislocated my shoulders. I stood up and tried to push my joints back together again.
Luckily it was my left shoulder, and I was right-handed. I grabbed my gun and aimed it at the henchman. “Say your prayers,” I said.
A look of disbelief struck his face before he relaxed and smiled.
I looked behind me and saw two more henchmen running towards me. Wasn’t there only two? They lied to me. The place was crawling with them. Five of them so far.
I needed back up. I pressed a button on my watch phone, calling Max.
“Max! I’m surrounded. 5 henchmen. In the center of warehouse, but Mom is loose.”
Max answered back, “Not too good here.”
“What?” I was running now.
“I planted one but was stopped.”
“No,” I said. “Where are you?”
“Inside,” Max said. “Where I’m supposed to be.”
I could only hope that if I was caught, I would be together with Max.
“Not good,” Max said, “Your mother. They just brought her in. Good news, they have her standing near me.”
“Making my way there,” I said.
“Careful. If all goes well, you get the hell out of here. And your mom and me…pray for us.”
“Max…no, it’s too dangerous.”
“It’s the way it has to be… Plan B.”
“Max!”
“I love you, Haven. I’m where I should be. Now get out of here fast!”
I turned around and began shooting at the henchmen chasing me. When they weren’t stopping, I shot at the wooden crates stacked against the walls, and had them tumbling down in front of the henchmen, stopping them in the chase.
I didn’t have any time left to worry about any henchmen. I had to get out of the building. I ran through the hallways then to any door leading outside.
Right before I left the building, it blew up.
And I was thrown a few feet away from the blast.
Chapter 13
Tristan
As soon as I ran into the abandon warehouse near the falls, I knew it was a set up. It was the wrong location. Haven wasn’t here. Her mother wasn’t here. She was held in another location, but the kidnappers wanted me to come here…the exact location where I was once held by the kidnappers.
All the memories of me as a young 14-year-old blind-folded and tied to a chair hearing nothing but silence as I was held hostage came back to me. I remembered the sound of high heels walking across the concrete floor, echoing loudly as my captor came close. The tap tap tap of her heels sounding like the drums of an army awaiting the prisoners’ turn at the guillotine.
It was horrible, but what was even worst was the sound of sobbing. My mother’s sobs as she begged for my life in exchange for hers. The memory of her pleading, and then the sound of that gunshot. So close to me as though the shot was meant for me.
I shuddered as the memory came back to me as though it was yesterday.
I had to think. Why did the kidnappers of Haven’s mother send me here? They must have known the fine details of my kidnapping years ago. Unless they were the police, my father, my uncle who was there, or the kidnappers themselves; no one would know I was kept here.
Unless they were copycats, they wouldn’t know what happened.
Around the corner behind my back, I heard a click. Then the sounds of sobbing. A nauseous wave swept over me, and I almost lost my balance.
It was the recording of my mother pleading. Her sobs echoed in the ghostly abandoned warehouse.
“You are so fucking sick,” I yelled in disgust. “And a fucking coward. Come out where I can see you.”
I pointed my gun in the direction of the recording and made my way over where it was coming from. I thought I saw a flash of light and a dark shadow that ran pass me. I ran after it for a moment, but realized it was nothing but a shadow, and not a person.
The darkness was getting to me, and I was beginning to see things that I think was there…shadows, ghostly figures, strange lights.
A hard object bumped into me, and I aimed my gun towards it. A sound. Human. “Ouch! Hey!”
Dillon’s voice.
“Dillon?” I called out.
“Tristan?” a relieved voice sighed. “Man this place gives me the creeps.”
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“Drake and I followed you in,” Dillon said, his hand meeting mine. “There you are. It’s pitch black in here.”
“I know,” I said, “I dropped my phone somewhere back there…”
“No wonder why we couldn’t reach you,” Dillon said.
“Why don’t you turn on the lights with yours?” I asked.
“Battery’s completely out. Drained. It was fully charged before entering this place, and then it just gave out. Drake’s did too, at the same exact time. Weird.”
“Drake!” I called out. “Where are you?”
“Back here!” Drake’s voice answered back. “Near the sound of water. Closest wall to the Falls. I’ll make this banging sound.” He began banging a metal object against another metal object. A metal folding chair? Keys against the metal chair.
“Smart!” I shouted. “We’ll make our way towards you.”
Holding my little brother’s hand, I led our way over to the banging sound and almost bumped into Drake. “Whoa,” Drake said. “I’m right here.”
“Good,” I said. “Now, let’s find ourselves the way out.”
“Haven?” Drake called out. “Pam? Dr. Hillshire?”
“They’re not here,” I said.
“How do you know?” Drake asked.
“Because if they were, they would be kept right there in the open so we could see them. That’s what they did with me,” I said. “Kidnappers want their victims to be seen so they can use it to get their ransom or whatever they’re trying to get. Hiding them lessen their credibility and advantage.”
Drake said, “Makes sense.”
“It was a red herring,” I said. “They led us here to distract us away from the real location where Haven and her mother is.”
“Damn,” Dillon yelled. “Fuck them!” He was breathing hard. “If they hurt Haven…I’ll fucking kill them!”
“I know,” I said. “I have so much to settle with them. They’re the same ones…”
“Mother?” Drake asked. “And you?”
“I could feel it,” I said. “When I walked in here. Same sick style. Same cruel sick sense of stupid fucking demented humor. Not funny at all, but to them, it seemed like it. They find this amusing. It makes my skin crawl thinking about that demented mind…who seemed to like control, obedience…when they couldn’t get it from me…”
I shuddered.
Drake grabbed my arm. Dillon tightened his grip on my hand. “Come on,” they said. “Let’s get out of here.”
I let out a shaky breath. These kidnappers were demented and dangerous. Deadly serious.
No ordinary small-time criminals.
Big business.
And deadly serious.
Haven didn’t know what she was getting into, especially if she thought she could negotiate her way out of it.
Help us God.
Chapter 14
Haven
I was numb all over. I still couldn’t believe what happened.
When it finally hit me that my mother and Max were in the building that just blew up, my legs became so shaky that I crumbled to the ground.
“Mom!” I cried out, sobbing. “Please God, help my mother! Someone please help her!”
I was trying to get up when I felt a hand reach out to help me up. I was expecting Max or even any of my Triton stepbrothers.
Even Terrence Triton.
But not the person I was staring in horror at, staring down at me coldly as though an entire building with my mother in it and Max had not just blown up.
This person was dead cold, and I knew without a doubt was the murderer behind Rose Triton, Penelope Hills, and now my mother Pamela Hillshire. Max.
And I would be next on the list.
*****
Haven, Tristan, Drake, Dillon, and Max’s story continues in
Book 5 and 5 of The Heartbreak Falls Series
Love Me Not (Heartbreak Falls #5)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084BTRVYN
COMING SOON!
UNSAFE HAVEN
Before Haven ever heard of Heartbreak Falls, she had her own share of heartbreak at her elite prep school in New York and the three bullies who made her life hell. Little did they know, the harder they tried to bring Haven down, the harder they would fall.
** UNSAFE HAVEN is a RH Dark Bully Romance for 17+
Get a Free Book from Romance on the Go!
Sign Up for Rachel Angel’s Newsletter and get
A Free Full-length Steamy Contemporary Romance by Kailin Gow
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/5rmis5rrj1
Love bully romances, bad boy romances, billionaire romances, and Reverse Harem? Join Rachel Angel Royal Readers to discuss: https://www.facebook.com/groups/881277658892159
Bookbub
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/rachel-angel
Excerpt
HOUSE
The House Series
Rachel Angel
Kaley
I could barely walk. My body was still craving his touch.
When I first saw hi
m, casually checking his phone while dressed all in black cashmere top and pants, I almost fell for him. So handsome and so cocky like he owned the whole world in the palm of his hand. Damn he was so gorgeous. Bigger, more manly, and sexier. He was ripped before, but he was even more so now. I could feel all of his muscles when he pressed against me. Harder, tighter, and stronger. The years have been good to him after I left. He seemed older, more street smart than he was when he was just Seb, the hot senior and spoiled but pampered rich boy and Lord of the Manor.
What did he do after I left? Did he finally pursued his passion, like he said he wanted to do, if he didn’t have to help run the Keystone Empire? He was always so handsome in his suits, dressed like the conglomerate heir that he was. Seb had always been the Keystone whom I fell head over heels hard for. Out of all the brothers, he was the one who didn’t warm up to me until the end. Then it was like we couldn’t get enough of each other.
Except I had the other two Keystone brothers. Thomas with his bright grey eyes was like Seb, but also different from him. Ash with his amber eyes was completely different from his brothers.
Speak of the devil.
“Oh Kaley,” a familiar voice called out from the Den as I walked in. “Wow,” Thomas said, putting away the hardcover book he was reading and coming up to me like there was no rift between us. “Look at you!” His grey eyes devoured me from head to toe. “Is it really you?”
“Thomas,” I said, almost overwhelmed with emotions as I stared at the well-dressed man in front of me. He had a different haircut, cut with large bangs over half of his face, making his grey eyes more intense. He also wore glasses, making him look like a hot smart guy. He was dressed in a long-sleeved buttoned down shirt, a preppy V-neck sweater over his shirt, and black skinny jeans that were filled out with muscles. Then came his designer croc-skinned shoes. As serious as he was, he was always at the height of fashion, carrying off any look well. “Look at you, too,” I said, “Cute as a button. Going for that Baby Einstein look?”
