“What does that mean? I never agreed to kill anyone,” Rob’s voice squeaked.
“What are you going to do with him? Let him go? Don’t be a wimp, Rob.”
“Don’t call me a wimp, Jerry.”
“Don’t call me Jerry. It’s Jerome. Everyone fucking calls me Jerry. And it’s not my name.”
“Fine. Fine, chill out. So now what? What do we do? How are you going to get to her now?”
“I just need to get her alone. To tell her I understand her secret message to me.” He started to sing off-key,
“Won’t anyone save me
From the depths of my despair
Please won’t someone save me
Before I disappear.”
Jesus. That was the secret message? Those could have been lyrics from any song from any artist. This guy was completely cuckoo. Which didn’t bode well for Bain.
“So what do we do?” Rob asked nervously. “There’s still that other bodyguard up there with her.”
They didn’t know about Caleb and the others? That was good. It meant Arianna had plenty of protection.
“How we going to get to her? They’re going to notice he’s gone soon.”
“Okay. . .okay. . .just let me think.”
He opened his eyes a slit. His head was slumped forward so he couldn’t look up. He could see two pairs of shoes in front of him, so he continued to tug carefully at the ropes around his wrists.
“We need to get her out of the apartment and away from her bodyguard but what would draw her out?” There was a moment of silence. “I have it. This guy. We’ll use him.”
“Use him how?” Rob asked.
“We’ll pretend we’ve kidnapped him.”
“Ah, we have kidnapped him.”
“Yes, but we’ll pretend we’ll release him if she goes to a certain place alone. Then I’ll go grab her. You stay here with him. Once I have her, you can kill him and join me.”
That was the worst plan ever. Like Dominic would ever let her out of the apartment alone.
“How will we send a message to her without giving ourselves away? We need to give proof that we have him.”
“We’ll send a photo and a message asking her to go to the park where she’ll receive further instructions. I’ll snatch her and then you can kill him.”
“What if she doesn’t go to the park? What if she resists?”
“She’ll do it if she cares about him. Obviously, he’s not her soulmate like I am, but my girl has a big heart and she had no idea I was coming for her. But if she puts up a fuss, I’ll inject her with a sedative. I’ll meet her at dusk when there won’t be as many people around.”
“Fine. Fine. How do we send the message? We can’t send it on our phones.”
“Where’s his phone?”
“I turned it off. I didn’t want them tracking us.”
Dumb asses. It would still ping his last location. Corbin would be able to figure out he was still in the building. Not that he was planning on waiting around to be rescued.
“Go buy a prepaid phone,” Jerry ordered. “This plan is going to work. I can feel it. I’m going to get my girl.”
“Where is he? He shouldn’t be gone this long, right?” Ari paced back and forth across her office, feeling ill and jittery. Everyone else was sitting or standing around the room. They all pretended to be relaxed but she could see the tension in Caleb’s shoulders, in Dominic’s jaw.
Wolfe had gone downstairs to see if he could find Bain. What if he hadn’t believed her? What if he’d taken off?
No. He wouldn’t leave you, Ari. Have some faith.
The door opened and Wolfe stepped in. He looked over at her and shook his head. Her shoulders slumped. “Couldn’t find the head of security either. His office was empty.”
“His phone is still going to voicemail. I don’t like it,” Dominic said. “I’m gonna have our tech guy ping his last location before his phone was turned off.”
He moved out into the passage. She continued to pace.
“It will be all right, Squirt,” Caleb reassured her.
Would it? She had this horrible feeling in her gut that it wouldn’t be.
“Is there something you would like to help soothe your nerves?” Prince Kassim asked her.
She shook her head, rubbing at her tummy. The ball of stress there made her feel ill.
Dominic walked back in, frowning. “His last known location is this building.”
Which meant nothing. Just that he’d turned his phone off before leaving. Or before someone made him leave.
Suddenly, her phone went off with a text message.
She scrambled over to grab her phone off her desk. Matek had luckily moved out of the way or she might have bowled him over in her haste. Disappointment filled her as she saw the strange number.
She opened the message, her stomach knotting further as she read what it said.
“Oh God.” She looked over at Dominic.
“What is it?” Dominic rushed towards her. “What’s wrong?”
“It. . .it’s Bain! Someone has him!”
24
“I’m going,” she said firmly.
“You’re not going.”
“I am going, Caleb, and you can’t stop me.”
“It’s a fucking trap, Arianna. For all we know, Bain is already dead and all you’d be doing is sacrificing yourself as well.”
She gasped, swaying as black dots danced in front of her vision. He couldn’t be dead. That wasn’t possible.
“Jesus Christ, Caleb, watch what you say,” Aleki snapped, wrapping an arm around her.
“I can’t just wait here and do nothing. Do you know how helpless I feel right now? Everyone has always made the decisions for me. This is my decision and I’m going to do it.”
Dominic shook his head. “I can’t let you do that. I’m your bodyguard, Arianna. I can’t let you do something dangerous.”
“Then you’re fired,” she said quickly. “The rest of you, figure out a way for me to do this safely but do it quick because we’ve got fifteen minutes left.”
Fifteen minutes to meet this asshole at the west corner of the park. It was nearing on dusk. There wouldn’t be many people out now. She knew it was a trap. But if she didn’t go and something happened to Bain. . .
“I’d never forgive myself if something happened to him.”
She didn’t know who had him or how they’d captured him. But she did know she had to help him.
Dominic crossed his arms over his chest. “Not happening.”
She turned to her best friend. “Caleb. Please.”
Caleb sighed.
“There are ways to manage this,” Kassim said quietly, surprising her. “We have time to set up if we go now.”
“You guys can’t get involved,” Caleb protested.
“No, no of course not,” she said. “Kassim, you and your brothers need to stay here. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. Of course, Caleb, Aleki and Wolfe need to stay with you.”
Caleb gave her a look while Aleki rolled his eyes. But it was Wolfe who spoke. “We’re going with you.”
“You seem to all think we are helpless children,” Matek said coldly. “You forget our skills.”
“You don’t have your sniper rifle here, Matek,” Caleb reminded him.
Sniper rifle?
“If you have a spare gun, I will try to get close enough to provide cover,” Matek said to Dominic.
Dominic tensed then looked around at them all. “Fuck. Shit. I’m not going to be able to stop you all, am I?”
“I have to do this, Dominic. Please understand.”
He groaned. “For the record, I don’t agree with any of this.”
“Noted,” she said grimly. “But the only way you’re stopping me is to tie me down.”
Dominic looked thoughtful.
“No,” she told him. “Come near me and I’ll run. I will fight you.”
“Fuck. When Bain kills me, I expect a nice funeral,” h
e muttered.
She shook her head. She didn’t care about facing Bain’s anger. Because that meant he would be alive and back here. With her.
Caleb grabbed hold of her shoulders. “We’re going to position ourselves along the route you’ll take to the park. Matek and Wolfe will be in the park, hidden. You’ll never be alone.”
She nodded.
“We’re going to get this guy,” he added. “We’ll get him to tell us where Bain is.”
As long as he hadn’t killed him already. She took a deep breath, panic threatening to flood her again. She pushed it deep. She could do this. She had to do this.
Bain was counting on her.
25
He managed to get his hand free just as Jerry left. Shit. It would have been far quicker if he hadn’t tried to do it quietly. He released his other hand, then grabbed the rope so it wouldn’t fall to the floor.
His ankles were still tied to the chair.
Rob was pacing back and forth. The scent of his body odor wafted out. Bain opened his eyes, watching him walk by before he flew forward, slamming into Rob. The chair came with him, slamming into his back, but he ignored the pain. The other man fell backwards, hitting his head on a shelf and crumpling to the ground in a heap.
Bain stared at him for a moment, but he lay still. Fuck. Had he killed him? Shit, he hadn’t meant for that to happen. But he wasn’t going to feel guilty. Or waste time checking on him. Asshole had been going to kill him after all.
Christ, he hoped they hadn’t let Arianna leave the apartment. He’d fucking kill them all if they had. He managed to get himself turned so he could work on the ropes around his ankles. It took longer than he would have liked.
He stood and moved towards the stairs. Now he had to make a choice. Go upstairs to the apartment or to the park.
Fuck.
She was so nervous that she thought she might vomit.
She took a calming breath as she walked close to the corner of the park. She couldn’t see anyone around. But she knew the guys were out there somewhere, watching. They’d made certain of the route she would walk before they’d all headed out to hide. Their one hope was that this guy didn’t know how many people she had with her.
She prayed this guy didn’t spot any of her guys. The message had told her to come alone or that Bain would die.
She swallowed. She couldn’t live without Bain. He was everything. If anything happened to him, she didn’t know what she would do.
She came to a stop a few feet away from the west corner gates. Where was this guy? She glanced around. Nerves tightened her stomach. Shit. Shit.
“Hello, songbird.”
She nearly gasped at the words, jumping into the air and glancing around frantically for the source of that voice.
Songbird? That’s what her stalker called her.
“Hello? Who’s there?” she called out loudly when she didn’t see anyone straight away. She didn’t know how far away the guys were. This corner of the park was quiet. It wouldn’t take much for someone to grab her and wrestle her into a car.
Someone stepped out of the shadows of a tree and she frowned. He was pale. Tall and kind of thin. His dark hair was shaggy, as though it hadn’t been cut in a while. But it wasn’t stylishly done like Aric’s was.
There was something oddly familiar about him, but she couldn’t place it. Had she seen him before?
“Hello, Arianna. Miss me?”
“Miss you?” she asked cautiously. Last thing she wanted was to set him off. That had been Caleb’s advice. Don’t get close to him. Keep calm. Don’t rile him.
He stepped forward, closer to her and she resisted the urge to step back.
“Of course, don’t you remember me, darling? I heard your message to me. I’m so sorry that I didn’t realize you’d been trapped all these years, songbird. It was your awful family. They’ve always held your prisoner. Treated you like you were less. Especially when you retreated into yourself. When you stopped talking. I know why you did that, though, don’t I, songbird? It was to protect me.”
What the fuck was he talking about? To protect him? Did she know him from her childhood? She tried to think back. Then she studied him again. The dark hair fit. And he was probably about the right age.
“Jerome?” she whispered.
He smiled wide. “You remember me. I knew you would. I’m here for you, songbird. To set you free.”
“You sent me those letters? You’re my stalker?” She glanced down at his hands, spotting what looked to be the same tattoo as the man they’d caught on camera delivering the last letter.
He frowned. Shit, Ari. Don’t make him mad.
“I’m no stalker. I made those letters to get your attention. I was going to be your hero, your protector. But you hired those stupid bodyguards. I’m glad to see you came without the other one. I couldn’t let you leave me, songbird. We belong together.”
“Is Bain all right?” she asked worriedly.
Jerome’s eyes narrowed, anger filling his face. “Why do you care about him? I’m your soulmate!”
“Of course you are,” she soothed, remembering Caleb’s words about not angering him. “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“You always had a soft heart. That’s why you need me to protect you. You always have since you were four. We were only together a short time, but I took care of you. Until my slut of a mother got fired and we were forced apart.”
She licked her lips. “You said I went silent to protect you?”
Did he know why she stopped talking? What her nightmares were about? The sleepwalking? Was he the reason for all of that?
“Yes, songbird. You never told anyone. I knew you wouldn’t. Because you were loyal to me. Don’t you remember?”
“Of course. But I guess I never fully understood it all.”
“You were young. You must have followed me out of the house one evening. I didn’t see you. But I know you just wanted to be with me, so I’m not angry.”
Okay. She guessed that was good.
“Mr. Longley deserved what happened. He yelled at me the day before. Just for walking on his lawn on my way home. He didn’t yell at your brother for doing the same. Because he thought I was nobody.”
Mr. Longley. Wait, didn’t she remember Mr. Longley? He’d lived next door to them for a while. Until his house. . .
“Wait. . .you. . .you set his house on fire.” Horror filled her. She vaguely remembered the flames. The screaming. “You were only what? Eight? Nine?”
“That was the biggest fire I’d ever set. I started small. Then I went on to bigger and bigger things. That fire was beautiful. Glorious.” His face filled with happiness. Was he a pyromaniac?
She tried to think. To remember. “Was he hurt?”
“Some third-degree burns. Nothing he didn’t deserve. He didn’t die.”
How could he be so callous? And how could he have done that at such a young age? And she’d seen it? Why hadn’t she told anyone?
“You saw me there.”
“Yes, of course I saw you.” He frowned. “I had to drag you back to the house. You started crying and screaming. So I put my hand over your mouth and told you that if you told anyone what you’d seen that I was going to hurt Squiggles.”
Squiggles. Her toy cat. She gulped. Oh God.
“I had to threaten him. I couldn’t let you tell anyone.”
She just stared at him.
“It was just a toy, Arianna. And I only chopped his tail off as a warning.”
She was going to be sick. She remembered now. Waking up to find Squiggles on the floor. His tail cut off and lying a few feet away.
A warning to a four-year-old to keep quiet.
That’s why she’d stopped talking. She’d been too scared to. In case she blurted out what she’d seen and then he would hurt her favorite toy.
“I had plans to have you be my little helper. Then that bitch mother of mine got caught stealing from your parents and we were out on our asse
s.”
She held back a sob. Poor Mr. Longley. All this time, she’d suppressed that memory out of fear. Until she’d forgotten it. How many more people had he hurt? Because she hadn’t said anything?
“Did you set the fire off at the concert?” Had he set someone else up to take the fall?
“Ahh, no, that actually wasn’t me. I wouldn’t risk you, songbird. You’re mine to protect.”
She shook her head. No. “Where’s Bain? Where is he?”
She didn’t care about Caleb’s warning any longer. What if this psycho had done something to him?
Jerome reached for her and she stepped back, stumbling and falling onto her ass. For once her clumsiness came in handy.
Her name was roared across the park and she froze. That sounded like Bain. Jerome bent over towards her, and she noticed something in his hand. A syringe? She scrambled backward just as someone slammed into him from the side. She was grabbed from behind, pulled onto her feet. She fought back. She wouldn’t be taken. She wouldn’t!
“Easy, Karisma! It’s me. Tavi.”
She stopped fighting. Tremors continued to rock her body, though as she stared down at Wolfe who had Jerome pinned to the ground, his hands were being twisted behind him. He was screaming.
“Fuck, quiet him before someone calls the cops,” Caleb said, racing forward.
But all her attention turned to the man running towards her, his face filled with thunder.
“Bain!” she screamed, wrenching herself out of Tavi’s arms. She ran forward and flung herself against him with a happy cry. “Bain! Oh God. You’re all right. You’re all right.”
She burst into tears. Bain picked her up, hugging her tight. She wrapped her legs around his waist as she sobbed into his neck.
“I was so scared. I thought he was going to kill you. Oh God.”
“Shh, angel. Calm down. I’m fine. I’m fine. Take more than that idiot to do me in. Hush, now. You’re going to make yourself ill.”
“Bain, you’re alive then,” Caleb said.
“Looks like it,” Bain replied.
“Bain. Fuck. Where were you?” Dominic demanded. Where had he come from? Oh, who cared. She didn’t care about anything except that Bain was all right.
Daddy's Angel (Montana Daddies Book 7) Page 24
