by Honor James
“Crap, it’s the pins and needles that are hurting. The marks on my skin I don’t care about. Bryce and Keagan love me no matter what I look like.” She spoke with utter and complete confidence. “God, that hurts like hell, though. Yoshi, will you please hit him for me? Just a small little tap to pay him back for the hurts?” She didn’t dare ask Bryce because he would break the man’s neck and she knew it.
Yoshi shot her a look, shrugged, and snapped his arm out, his fist cracking across the man’s jaw. “Oops,” he said. “Damn nerve damage, never know when I’m going to twitch violently like that.”
That had Sadie grinning. “I could hug you right now but I think that I will wait.” She looked at Bryce and nodded. “I’m okay. I just need to get past the pins and needles and then you boys need to do whatever it is that you do in order to get the answers from that fucktweed for all he has done to us.”
“I know, baby,” he said quietly. “Let’s move you so you’re sitting on the sofa properly. We’ll get Keagan up there, too, as soon as you’re settled. It’ll help with the circulation issue,” he told her.
“Sounds good.” She held her hands up to him and let him help her up. Once she was on the couch, she leaned back and closed her eyes. “That’s a bit better.” She was watching Bryce as he moved to her side. “Are you going to put Keagan up here or wait for him to wake up for it?”
“We’ll wait for him to come around. He’s starting to twitch, so it’s likely best to leave him there for a few more minutes. He tends to be a little annoyed when he wakes up after being drugged. Neither time was my fault,” he said. Bryce pointed over his shoulder, and mouthed, “Cutter.”
She snickered at that and held a shaky hand up to him once again. “Help me with my pins and needles, please?” she asked softly. “That way you are up here with me when he wakes up and he won’t hit you, hopefully.”
Taking her hand in his, he turned it palm up and began to rub his thumbs over her palm in a slow massage. Little by little he worked his way over each finger, then up her arm. Yoshi sat down on the coffee table, still going through the bag, and Cutter moved over to peer over the man’s shoulder at the contents. Finding a book, Yoshi held it out to Cutter to take.
Cutter flipped it open, and his eyebrows moved up his forehead. “I think we might have something here. It looks like a cataloguing of his activities. It’s in code, but I’m sure we can work it out soon enough.”
“Hopefully it will tell us who it is and why he’s done what he’s done to me. I seriously want to know what the hell the sins of the father means, too,” Sadie grumbled. Her head was pounding now, too. “Can I have some Tylenol or something like that for this rumbling headache I have?”
“Yeah,” Michael said. He disappeared toward her bathroom, reappearing a few minutes later with the bottle of Tylenol and a glass of water. Passing over the water, he opened the bottle and gave her two tablets to take.
She gratefully accepted the medication and then leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She accepted the care that Bryce gave her and sighed. “Is this all over? Please?” She prayed that it was at least.
Silence held for a time before she heard Keagan. “Who the fuck shot me?” he said in a heavily slurred voice.
“The dude tied to the chair over there,” Yoshi told him.
“Punch him for me, will ya, Yosh?”
“What is it with all this violence?” Yoshi asked. Clicking his tongue, he got up to punch the guy again. “Damn, I really need to get that nerve issue checked out.”
Sadie just grinned. She didn’t open her eyes, just smiled. “Welcome back, Keagan.” She spoke quietly and sighed. “Someone might want to pass Keagan some Tylenol as well because if he hurts as much as I do I’m sure he will need it, too.”
“What the hell died on my tongue?” he muttered. She heard grunting, and then a low, pained groan. “Damn it. Who let the little guys with hammers in?”
“Have some Tylenol,” Michael said.
“Thanks,” he said in return.
Sadie reached out with one hand that was still tingling and began to run her fingers over Keagan’s head now that he was sitting up and against the couch. “We are okay. They have the guy that tried to steal me from you tied to the chair and we will finally have answers. This is the best part of it. Right?”
She felt him nod slightly against her hand. “Are you okay, love?” he asked, his hand catching hers.
“She fought him all the way,” Markham said. “Made him fumble her in perfect timing so I could clock him and put him down for the count. Sadie’s a fighter for sure.”
Sadie smiled. “I have a lot to live for.” She squeezed Keagan’s hand and looked up at Bryce with affection in her heart, love bursting for both men. “No way in hell was I going to let some two-bit thug take away the best things to ever walk into my life.”
“Two-bit thug, huh?” Michael asked. He was shaking his head, his attention still on the book in Cutter’s hands. “There,” he said suddenly. Cutter and Michael shared a look.
“Spill it,” Bryce demanded.
“Nothing good, but I think we may have this guy involved on more than Sadie’s near kidnapping. Looks like he was part of the attempt on Gigi, too,” Cutter said. “The dates match, the location looks right, though I can’t be sure without a way to check the coordinates, but from what I can see this guys had his finger in quite a few pies.”
“Fucking asshole.” She liked Gigi and why someone would take her was beyond her. “So you guys will make sure that he, and those he works for, are either never seen again or are hidden under some flea-infested jail somewhere?”
“Absolutely,” Cutter said. “This guy will be lucky to live until we reach the office given how protective Michael is of Gigi. If this guy truly had a part in getting her hurt like she was, he’ll be breathing through a different orifice soon enough, too.”
“Good point. I’m fine with that, too. Do any of you have issue with him stopping breathing?” she asked the general room because she knew what Bryce and Keagan would say, especially if they had anything to do with the damage to their children’s graves.
Not a man gave a single protest, most shooting the guy on the chair dirty looks, so she easily had her answer.
“All right, someone help me up, damn it,” Keagan demanded. “My ass hurts. This floor is not nearly as comfortable looking as it would appear.”
Markham rolled his eyes and moved to help him. Tossing the sofa cushion back up, he took Keagan’s arms and pulled him up to his feet.
Sadie lifted her feet and put them into Keagan’s lap when he settled at Bryce’s side. “Will you please rub my feet? Get the pins and needles out?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
Chapter Fifteen
Timmons stilled half in, half out of the office, a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. “Uh, I was looking for Michael, but I’ll come back later.”
“Get your ass in here,” Michael said.
“You need us to leave?” Bryce asked. Sadie was right next to him on Michael’s very comfortable sofa. They’d come to check in on things, and had ended up settling in for a chat. Keagan was in an armchair with his feet up on the other one, and the other guys had slowly wandered in to say hello and check on her. They really were quite sweet.
“No, you all should hear this, I wasn’t expecting to have to tell you all at the same time, though,” Timmons muttered.
“Spit it out,” Yoshi said from the corner where he was juggling four different blades.
Timmons made a face and handed the iPad he had in hand over to Michael.
Sadie watched his face as he read, his brows came down slightly, and it even looked like he did a double take. “This can’t be right,” Michael said, looking to Timmons.
“That’s what I thought. Then I checked it, rechecked it, triple checked it, and tried something else coming to the same place every single fucking time,” Timmons muttered.
Sadie looked at Michael wit
h a frown and cocked her head to the side. “Okay, out with it, please? I’m getting a bad vibe and I really don’t like those. I feel like I’m in the middle of a cafeteria and everyone is pointing and laughing because I have toilet paper on my shoe.”
Michael passed the iPad off to Keagan, who shot her a look and shrugged. Taking the device, he began to read whatever was on there, and suddenly sat up. “Son of a fucking bitch. Are you sure this is one hundred percent accurate?”
“Unfortunately,” Timmons said. He really looked like he was about to be ill.
“Fuck,” Keagan breathed out. “Babe, come here please?” he asked, holding his hand out to her.
“I don’t know if I’m ready,” she whispered but did get up all the same. She couldn’t deny Keagan no matter what. “How bad is it?” She touched her cheek as she realized she was crying. “Crap. What is it?” she asked and settled into his lap, not looking at the iPad.
He wrapped an arm around her waist, hugging her close to him. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he sighed. “The money trail from the guy who tried to kidnap you, Harmon, leads straight back to your dad. From what Timmons dug up, it looks like he paid him to keep you out of the way, though there’s no evidence that Harmon was ever to eliminate you. Your dad paid him two months prior to the accident with instructions to do what was necessary. Obviously there had been a meeting, something not in writing, that we’re missing here. Then this guy was paid once more two months before the first time something happened to you at your house. Instructions were to see it done.”
“Oh God.” She looked at the iPad and was shaking, literally. “Oh my god.” She was sobbing now. She couldn’t have stopped it had she tried. “Why?” He had killed his own grandchildren, he had ensured that they never lived, and it killed her. “Oh god.” She sobbed once more.
“I don’t know, baby,” he said softly. He handed the iPad off and wrapped her in both his arms. Holding her close, he helped her to curl up in his lap, rubbing her back gently. “The guys will find out, though, and we’ll hand everyone over to the authorities so they can spend the rest of their fucking lives in jail.”
“Good. Whatever has to happen, we will do it. No matter what I want this matter ended so that we can all finally be free and happy. I don’t want to jump at shadows anymore. I want the life that’s been stolen from us.”
“We’ll have it,” he whispered. A promise, she heard it in the hard edge to his voice, and felt it in the tight band of his arms wrapped around her body. Keagan wasn’t about to let anyone take their life together away, no more than she would.
She just nodded, that was all she could do. She didn’t say anything else, simply allowed Keagan to hold her. “Somehow we will figure all of this out, and then I’m making you boys take me on a very, very long vacation. Just the three of us.”
“Agreed,” he said. He fell silent, and even the other men were quiet. Finally he loosened his hold on her. “Up, let’s get your face cleaned up, and then we’re going home. I’m sure Michael and the others can deal with this. You don’t need to be anywhere near this right now.”
“Sounds good.” She took another deep breath and smiled up at him. “I agree. I don’t want to be anywhere close to these people. I want to go and take a long hot bath and forget about everything for a time. Please take me home?”
“Why don’t you borrow Michael’s bathroom, and rinse your face? As soon as you’re done we can head out and get you home and into a hot bath.” Pressing his lips to her temple, he then helped her off his lap.
“Sounds good.” She got off of his lap and looked to the men. Giving them a nod, she walked away. She had a feeling that they wanted to talk alone without her there and she could understand that. She closed the door behind her and turned on the water, using the restroom and then cleaning herself up.
When she stepped out, everyone but Keagan and Bryce had cleared the room. Bryce took her hand when she got close, and though they both gave her smiles, she could tell that neither man was very happy about whatever had happened after she’d left the room. They headed out as soon as Bryce had his arm around her waist.
Sadie wrapped her arm around Bryce’s middle and watched Keagan navigate the room with his crutches. Laying her head on Bryce’s chest, she didn’t say anything until they were in the elevator. “Want to tell me what happened?”
“Michael called your dad to figure out where he’d be so they could go over for a chat,” he said. She liked that about them, they didn’t keep things from her unless she specifically told them not to tell her. “Turns out he’s at some luncheon with a bunch of other big wigs in the military, including the General.” The General, otherwise known as George Douglas Fletcher, was a man she’d heard of, and even met twice.
“It’s not going to be pretty,” Keagan said. He stopped and pressed the button for the elevator before looking her way. “We tried to talk them out of storming the joint given the security that will be in place. Cutter’s not very happy, none of the guys are on your behalf, and fully plan on getting themselves arrested should it be necessary.”
“This general will make sure that my father faces the stiffest of penalties, right? I need for him to pay for what he did. If he doesn’t, then I will react and I don’t think that you will want to bail me out for patricide.” Because with how she felt, she might just kill her own father.
“You know he will,” Bryce told her. “If the guys don’t decide to pound the snot out of him first.”
“We’re not even a hundred percent sure he’s there. He’s got it on his calendar, but we all know that the best laid plans don’t always play out how you envision, or how someone planned them to go. Any number of things could have detained him, traffic, a phone call, some guy on the street he knew six years ago, and they get to talking.”
“This is very true. Sadly. Well, let’s hope that they are able to corner him because I want to know just what the fuck my father was thinking. He stole everything from us.” She refused to cry again, couldn’t cry any more tears for the past and what was lost.
Bryce hugged her close as they rode down with Keagan to the main floor. “Not everything, love. You still have us, and we still have you. Yes, he took something precious from us through his actions, something that can never be replaced, but we’re all still here and kicking. That counts for something in my book,” he said gently.
“He’s right, Sadie,” Keagan told her. They were heading for the front doors. “We lost a lot, but we’re not down and out of this life, and we never will be. As long as we have one another, and our love, we’ve got what we need to build a good life together.”
She looked up at Keagan and smiled. “I agree. We are solid. I think we are even more solid now than we were before. I think that we will be able to find everything we need always. Now, we will go home and take a hot bath, and we will be able to order food in so that we can just all vegetate together.”
“Absolutely. Hopefully we’ll also get news that everything has been resolved before we get to bed,” he told her.
Pushing and holding the door open for them both, Bryce suddenly moved in front of them both. “Back inside, now,” he said. Keagan didn’t even hesitate to back up, and even reached out to snag and tug on her sleeve.
Sadie let herself be pulled back into the office and was shoved behind Keagan. “What the hell?” she asked and put her hand on Keagan’s back, her spine chilled to the bone with fear.
Bryce stepped back into the building, shutting and locking the front door. He pulled out his cell and stuck it to his ear. “Michael, we have a problem,” he said quietly.
“Sadie Green, front and center, girl!”
“Her father’s here, and he looks less than shipshape,” Bryce muttered. “Not sure, but we’re inside behind the glass, so I’m hoping he’s got nothing more than a handgun.”
Sadie stiffened when she heard her father’s voice. She went to step out, that command that he had given her was one she knew not to mess with. When Keagan shov
ed her back behind him once again, she clenched his shirt, shivering as she did so.
“I said to get your fucking ass out here. Front and center, girl,” her father demanded once again. “Boy, move your ass before I ventilate you as well as your bum leg.”
“Bryce,” Keagan hissed low.
“They’re on their way back, he’s got a 9mm, it won’t penetrate the glass,” he told them both. “If he’d had something bigger we’d book it out of here, but we’re good. I’d say he’s drunk, at a guess. No, Michael, I’m not doing anything to antagonize him. He’s plenty pissed all on his own though.”
“Sadie, you slut, get the fuck out here, girl,” her father demanded. “I should have fucking made sure you were dead that god damn night instead of ensuring that the bastards you were carrying were dead. Fucking whore just like your goddamned mother,” he shouted. “I would have thought I raised you better than that but there you went off and started to fuck two men just like your lousy momma,” he shouted. “At least I knew you were mine, the other fucker was shooting blanks.” He laughed, tilted slightly as he did so. “Now get the fuck out here so I can give you the same fucking ending as your whore momma got. Putting your fucking nose where it doesn’t belong. Now I have to make a damn example of you.”
“Bryce,” Keagan prompted again.
“They’re four blocks out, we’re good,” he said.
Keagan gave her a look over his shoulder. “You okay?” he asked softly. “We can go sit in an office so he can’t see us if you prefer,” he told her.
Sadie was shaking. She couldn’t have stopped her tears if she had tried. “He did kill our children.” He had said as much. “And my mother.” She gulped, a sob tearing through her. “He’s a monster. God, I never dreamed he was so insane.” And there was no other way to say it. Her father was bat-shit cray-cray.
Turning, he wrapped an arm around her, still using his body to shield her from her father as much as possible. “He will pay for it all. He admitted everything in front of three witnesses, so he’s not getting away with anything. It’s also all on camera, so there will be no disproving anything.”
