by A. K. Evans
Over the last few weeks I had witnessed such a positive change in her. She let her guard down and was now smiling and laughing more often. Even when bad shit trickled in she found a way to always see through to the good. The strength she showed always amazed me. Even tonight, she got emotional at times, but she kept it together and stayed strong. I was so proud of her.
“Yo, Zane,” I heard Stone call out.
I snapped out of it and turned my attention to him. “What’s up?”
“Wes says you’re zoning out thinking about some surprise you got. What’s he talking about?”
My eyes sliced to Wes’ and I found him smirking at me. “Didn’t fucking know it on Thursday, but I found out this morning why you insisted the wait was worth it. Surprised you aren’t zoning out yourself considering your Christmas gift.”
“What the fuck are you two talking about?” Luke asked.
I looked to Luke and Stone and said, “You get serious enough with one of those girls, you might find out. I’ll tell you from now, though, that happens and you get what we both got you’ll regret you ever wasted any time on anyone but a girl like that.” I paused a moment and looked Stone right in the eye when I said, “Especially you.”
Stone and Luke looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and brushed it off. I looked to Wes to find him grinning. Fucker. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself and think about what Emme had given me that morning. Those pictures were everything. My sweet girl was pure perfection and I was stuck wondering how I could have ever gotten so lucky. And it once again showed me her strength. To have been in the situation she was in before she moved here and be able to get to a point where she was comfortable and confident enough to do a photo shoot like that only proved she’d always find a way to fight and get through to the good.
I was pulled out of my thoughts when we saw the girls approaching the table. It was crowded at Lou’s so they were moving toward the table single file. Charley was in the front. As she moved out of the way and rounded the table to where Wes was, Monroe followed behind her and sat next to Stone. Nikki was behind her and as she sat Elle stepped forward. When Elle moved out of the way I didn’t see Emme. My body immediately went on alert.
“Where’s Emme?” I asked, loud enough for everyone at the table to hear me.
“She was right behind me,” Elle answered as she turned to look behind herself.
I was up out of my seat and moving toward the direction the girls had come from. I didn’t turn around, but I knew Levi was moving, too.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Hoping she decided to get a drink, I scanned the area by the bar, but didn’t see her.
“Check the bathroom and talk to the bouncers, Zane,” Levi said behind me. “I’m heading outside.”
I took off toward the bathrooms. Thankfully, as I walked up toward the women’s bathroom two girls had come out together.
“Anyone else in there?” I asked them.
They shook their heads and walked off. I went in and double checked. Nothing. For good measure, I went into the men’s bathroom. Still nothing. I went back out into the bar area praying that I’d see that smiling face looking back at me, but when I got there I couldn’t find her. Cliff, one of Lou’s longtime bouncers was at the front door to the saloon. I ran over to him.
“Cliff, you see Emme leave here?” I asked.
“Just got back to the door about two minutes ago. Our new guy, Pauly, was covering the door before me.”
“He still here?”
Cliff looked beyond me. “Hey Pauly,” he called out to him.
Pauly walked over and said, “What’s up?”
Levi materialized beside me at this point.
“Nothing,” he said.
I held my phone up in front of him and showed him Emme’s picture. “You see this girl leave here?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“She with anyone?” Levi asked.
“Some guy. She didn’t seem happy. Figured it was another typical lover’s quarrel.”
“She was kidnapped,” I said, turning to Cliff. “Can you give Levi access to the security cameras, Cliff? It’s likely Emme’s with a murdering rapist who likes to beat up women.”
“Pauly, cover the door.”
We took off behind Cliff to the room where they kept all their surveillance footage. Lou joined us at this point and gave Levi full access to all of the footage both inside the saloon and out in the parking lot. It took a few minutes, but we found the footage that showed the girls heading into the bathroom and then out. As Elle said, Emme was right behind her until a guy came up, wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her away from the group. She was tense. He spoke into her ear, saying something, and Emme nodded. We saw the footage of him walking her out of the bar. He had his arm wrapped around her waist and as she walked I could see the rigidity in her body. She was fucking scared.
Levi switched over to the parking lot footage and we watched the bastard dragging Emme across the lot. He was pulling her hair as he approached a white panel van. He opened the back of the van and moved to pick her up and put her in. She fought back. She kicked and flailed her arms, but he overpowered her and tossed her in the back like a rag doll. Levi zoomed in on the plate and got a number.
“Thanks, Lou,” he said before looking to me. “We’ve got to get to the office.”
We moved quickly out of the offices and back out into the bar area. The guys and girls were all there waiting for us.
“What happened?” Luke asked as they all fell into step beside us.
I pulled my keys out of my pocket and tossed them to him. “Motherfucker has Emme. I’m riding with Levi to his office. Somebody needs to grab her jacket and purse from the table. Take my truck back to one of your places.”
“I have her stuff,” Charley said, as they all followed alongside Levi and me.
“Seth took her?” Nikki asked.
“Yeah,” Levi said. “She fought him and tried to get away, but he threw her into the back of a van. I’ve got to get my guys on this so we can find out where she is and get her back.”
“Oh my God,” Monroe said, her knees buckling. Stone caught her before she collapsed.
“Going to get the girls back to my house. Keep us posted, Zane. Let us know what we can do.”
I nodded and hopped into Levi’s truck. He pulled out of the lot and took off toward his office. The Bluetooth in the car started ringing.
“Michaels,” we heard after one ring.
“Miller just took Emme. Need you to get any camera footage from the streets leaving Lou’s in Rising Sun heading west. White panel van,” he began as he rattled off the plate number. “Zane and I are on the way to the office, probably about twenty minutes out.”
“Roger that.”
Disconnect.
Levi hit a few buttons and we heard the phone ring once.
“Yeah, Levi?”
“Emme’s been kidnapped, Locke. Miller took her.”
“Fuck.”
“Zane and I are on the way to the office. I need all hands on deck. Call Dom, De Luca, Tyson, Reynolds, and Hayes. I’ll call Cruz to fill him in.”
“Got it, boss.”
Disconnect.
Ringing again.
“Levi?”
“Miller’s got Emme.”
“Motherfucker. When?”
“About twenty minutes ago. We were at Lou’s. Know you’re on assignment and not in town right now. You finish, we’re going to need you.”
“How’s Zane?” Cruz asked.
“Right here,” I answered.
“Almost at the office. I’ll keep you posted,” Levi chimed in.
“Thanks. Zane…we’re going to get her back, brother.”
“She’s scared, Cruz. Levi got the footage from Lou’s security cameras. She fought him in the parking lot, but he overpowered her and threw her into the van. I know my girl and I know she’s fucking terrified right now.”
“She’s a fighte
r, Zane. She’ll get through this. We’ll all get her through it.”
“Pulling into the office lot now, Cruz. Gotta go. We’ll update you when we’ve got more.”
Levi turned off the truck and we jumped out and ran to the door. To save us time, Pierce was at the door and had it open for us already. As we walked through the door, Levi asked, “What do we have boys?”
We walked into Trent’s office and found him sitting behind the computer. “Hit a dead end, Levi. Was able to follow the van all the way through town, but he got on the interstate, heading south. We lost him there. Don’t know how far he’s going, but I’m checking footage from the cameras immediately off every exit on the interstate. It’s going to take time. She have her phone with her? I can track that much faster.”
I shook my head. “She went to the bathroom with the girls and left her purse and phone on the table by me. They went as a group; I never thought she was in danger. FUCK!! I never should have let her out of my sight.”
“Can’t beat yourself up, man. We’re going to find her,” Hayes said.
I began pacing around the offices waiting for something to happen. The guys worked tirelessly attempting to locate her or any sign of that fucking van. A little over an hour after she was taken Trent got a lock on the van. They made a stop at a gas station. Dom and Hayes took off and made their way to that area. Emme was never taken out of the van. It was dark out and my sweet girl was locked in the back of a dark van. I hoped like hell we found her soon enough so that I could get her back into the light.
Three hours after she was taken we still had nothing new. The van got back on the interstate after the stop at the gas station and they hadn’t located it again. I heard a buzzing sound indicating someone was at the front door. I followed De Luca to the door. A woman was standing outside. De Luca turned on the intercom and asked, “Can I help you?”
“I was told to deliver something here,” the woman said.
“What is it? And from who?”
“It’s a flash drive. I don’t know the man who gave it to me, but he said to tell you to enjoy the show.”
De Luca and I went solid. “That’s him,” I said.
De Luca opened the door and took the flash drive from the woman. “When did you get this?” he asked her.
“Earlier this evening. I was told to deliver it now.”
“And you just did this for some guy you didn’t know?” he asked.
“He paid me to do it. I am a single mom and I’m struggling now. I was at work; I’m a waitress. He offered me a hundred dollars and I need the money so I agreed to do it.”
“Thank you.”
De Luca let her go and we walked back to Levi’s office.
“Just got a delivery. USB flash drive. It’s from him,” De Luca said to Levi, Tyson, Pierce, and Holden. Trent was still working on locating the van on the cameras.
Levi held out his hand and Lorenzo gave him the flash drive.
“Woman who brought it was paid off.”
“Message?” Levi asked.
“Enjoy the show.”
“Fuck,” Levi muttered under his breath.
Levi put the drive into his computer and opened the file. There was a clickable link in the file. When Levi clicked on it and a new screen opened my stomach twisted at what I saw. I stood there frozen, staring at the screen.
“MICHAELS!!” Levi yelled.
Trent ran into the room, a look of concern washed over his face.
Levi turned in his chair and pushed a button that dropped a projector screen down. He tapped out a few buttons on the laptop and suddenly the screen on his computer was displayed on the projector screen.
“Jesus Christ,” Trent said.
“Oh fuck,” Pierce and Holden said in unison.
“It’s a live feed, Michaels. Where is it streaming from?” Levi said as he stood.
Trent came over and sat at Levi’s desk. He immediately went to work, but I kept my eyes laser-focused on the screen.
We were watching a high-quality live feed being filmed with infrared cameras. My girl. My sweet girl. She was in the dark. I couldn’t see her face. She had her head down to the side and her hair was covering the side of her face. If that wasn’t already bad enough, she was there with her arms over her head with her wrists bound together in shackles, suspended from the ceiling. Her ankles were also shackled and connected to the wall behind her. She had no shoes on, but she was still wearing her dress, thankfully. I could see her body trembling. She was scared for sure, but she was cold. She hated being cold.
Emme’s body was hanging there almost lifeless when she suddenly went solid. That’s when we heard the footsteps.
Chapter 30
Emme
My body was numb.
I was cold.
It was dark.
I wanted Zane. All I wanted was Zane to wrap his arms around me, warm me up, and bring me back into the light.
I wasn’t sure how long it had been since I’d been taken. It could have been five minutes and it would have felt like five hours. I had gone with the girls to the ladies’ room at Lou’s. We walked out and I was at the back of the pack. I felt an arm wrap around my waist and I was pulled back into a body. That’s when I heard Seth’s voice in my ear.
“You scream or try to get away and Cunningham is as good as dead. Tell me, Emily, you going to walk out of here with me and do this the easy way?”
I nodded, hoping that someone would see me walking out and do something. Cliff was always at the door, but today there was a new guy. He didn’t recognize me. The moment we got outside and down the stairs to the ground level Seth started dragging me. He pulled me by my hair across the parking lot to the van. If I got in that van I knew the chances of someone finding me would diminish. I struggled. I tried to fight. I tried so hard, but in the end, I just wasn’t strong enough. Seth managed to pick me up and throw me into the back of the van. My body screamed out in pain as I landed on the hard metal surface. I attempted to crawl out, but he slammed the doors before I could get there. And then, I was in darkness.
He drove. It felt like I had been in the back of this van for hours. It eventually stopped. He spoke again.
“Make a sound and you’re dead.”
He got out of the van and I listened carefully. We were at a gas station. I wished there had been some light. I was feeling around the back of the van, but couldn’t find anything to help me. The gas pump stopped and seconds later he got back into the van. It started moving again. We drove for a while, but it didn’t seem nearly as long as the drive before the gas station stop. I heard Seth get out of the van and braced myself. The back doors opened. He leaned in, grabbed me by the ankle, and pulled me out. I tried to look around and take in my surroundings. It was too dark out and it looked like we were in the middle of nowhere. Seth walked me to what looked like an abandoned house. I didn’t recognize anything, not that there was much to see. Seth forced me up the steps and into the house.
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
“You, Emily. You’re mine.”
The house was dark and damp. I began searching for anything that I could possibly use to fight him. He must have seen me and realized what I was doing.
“That’s cute, but you aren’t going to be here.”
I froze.
“Come with me, Emily,” he said as he held out his hand.
I stayed put. No way was I going to go with him. He started walking toward me and I took steps back. I continued moving back until I felt the wall behind me. Shit. Seth stood in front of me and grabbed me by the wrist. He squeezed it tight. So tight it hurt. He pulled me through the house and stopped in front of a door. He yanked open the door. No.
No. No. No.
I was pulled down the steep concrete stairs struggling against Seth. I tried pulling back, but he only yanked harder. I was still in my heels, so when he yanked and moved toward the wall I went tumbling down the rest of the stairs. Then, everything went black.
&
nbsp; I came to minutes ago unable to move my arms. They were over my head, bound together. I had a headache. I couldn’t see anything; it was pitch black. I tried moving my legs, but realized that they were also bound together. I felt cold metal on my wrists and ankles and knew he had to have me in some sort of shackles in a cold, dark, and dingy basement. I felt my body trembling because it was so cold. I had no strength and knew that I’d only make it worse on myself if I struggled. I tried to relax and conserve what little energy I had left.
I dropped my head to the side and closed my eyes. I kept them closed. If I was going to be in the dark I was going to be in control of it. So, I closed my eyes and tried to hold onto my beauty. I closed my eyes and saw Zane. I stayed like that for a long time, comforted by him. I knew he was probably sick with worry right now and was doing everything he could to find me. He told me if I ever needed him he’d always come to me. I trusted him and knew he’d stay true to his word. I just had to do what I had to do in order to make sure I was alive when he found me.
That was when I heard the door open and the thud of Seth’s footsteps down the stairs. I tensed. I did my best to stay still. Maybe if he thought I was still knocked out he’d go back upstairs and that would buy me more time for Zane to find me.
Despite my best efforts to remain still Seth continued to approach. I felt him put his hands on my hair. He pushed the hair that had fallen in front of my face out of the way.
“Time to wake up, Emily.”
I didn’t move.
He laughed an evil laugh and said, “Come on, Cunningham is watching.”
Zane was here?
