by Linzi Baxter
He grabbed the box and threw it up on the shelf.
The waitress had a few dishes in her hand as she wiped down the closest table. He had already taken a few steps toward the bathroom when her words stopped him. “Sorry. I almost forgot. The lady you were with told me to tell you she would meet you at the ranch. She had an emergency.” When she turned to move away, not waiting for his reply, Grayson reached for her arm. It must have startled her because she dropped the dishes she’d been holding. They fell to the ground, causing a crashing noise to echo through the restaurant. All the patrons turned to watch them.
“You need to let go of my arm, sir.” Her voice was low and demanding.
Grayson immediately dropped his hand from her elbow and stepped back. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you turned too quickly, and I had a question.”
She nodded her head tightly. Her back was stiff as if she were preparing to be hit.
“Did she leave with someone? Which way did she go?”
When it looked like she wouldn’t answer, Grayson added, “Please, I need your help. There was a man after her, and we thought he’d left town. She could be in great danger. Please.”
The waitress wrung her hands in front of her. “She told me to stall you, and the woman with her said you were here to hurt her.”
He didn’t recognize Wendy from his previous visits to the diner. He had no clue who she was or if what she said could be trusted. Their conversation was drawing an audience. Another waitress came over to clean up the mess on the floor.
“Can you sit with me for a second? I will call Hank Patterson. Do you know who that is?”
“Yes, he’s a hometown hero.”
“He is one of my really good friends.”
Grayson slid back into the booth where he and Kara had been a few minutes ago. Every minute he spent trying to get information out of this lady meant Kara was another minute farther away.
He grabbed his phone and dialed Hank immediately. Grayson didn’t look up to see if the waitress had followed him to the booth. The creak of the old leather seats was the only confirmation he needed. Grayson put the phone on speaker and laid it on the table between them. It rang twice before Hank’s deep voice boomed through the line.
“What’s going on, Gray Wolf?”
“I’m at the diner, and there has been a situation. I need your help. I’m sitting with…” Grayson didn’t remember the woman’s name.
When he looked up from the phone, she responded. “Wendy.”
“Hey, Wendy. How—”
Grayson cut him off before Hank had time to ask how the woman was doing. “Hank, someone kidnapped Kara from the diner. They told Wendy they were running from me and to tell me a few minutes after they left. Kara left with a woman. Can you tell Wendy I’m the good guy?”
In the background, running footsteps indicated that Hank was on the move, probably heading for the diner.
“Wendy, you need to tell us everything. Grayson is one of the good guys. The woman that took Kara wants to harm her.” Hank was breathing heavily from running to his truck. “I’m on my way to the diner. I’ll have Bear and Taz meet us there.” The phone went dead.
When Grayson looked up from the smartphone to Wendy, she had tears running down her face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I thought I was helping her.”
Grayson pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t fault this woman for wanting to protect his angel, but she was protecting her from the wrong person. After taking a couple of deep breaths, Grayson gave Wendy his full attention.
“What did the other woman look like?”
Wendy wiped the tears from her eyes. “She had to be in her late thirties. Her clothes looked old and dirty. I’ve never seen her here before. They both seemed so desperate. I’ve been hurt before, and when she said you hurt her, I wanted her to get away.”
Grayson would get his brother on the phone to see if he could help figure out who took his angel. He didn’t care what satellite Noah would have to hack so he could find his woman. He repeated the words in his head. His woman. That sounded good, and he had to get her back.
Rovshan had said he was done and didn’t want to deal with the hassle of taking Kara as a bride. Or it could have been the money Noah drained from his account. Grayson didn’t think it was Rovshan coming after Kara this time. He had a feeling this had to do with her father. They needed all the information they could get on her dad and anyone he dealt with.
“I don’t know who that is. Can you tell me every word that was spoken? Even if you think it has nothing to do with her leaving.”
“When I walked around the corner to the kitchen, they were standing by the back door. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about because they were whispering. I told them they needed to go out front because the area they were in was for staff only.”
He nodded, showing he wanted her to continue.
She blew out a long breath. “The woman spoke up.”
“Kara?” When Wendy looked confused, he said, “The woman who was with me. Her name is Kara.”
Wendy nodded. “Kara said she could no longer be with a man like her father. She said you were abusing her and the woman with her was trying to help her get away.”
Grayson’s jaw clenched. Kara was probably trying to save the day by keeping him safe. When he got his hands on her, he was going redden her ass. She wouldn’t be able to sit down for days. Why would Kara say Grayson was like her father? Unless she was sending a clue.
“The woman said to wait five minutes and then let you know they went out the back. I was supposed to distract you and not let you back there.” A sob burst from her throat. “I’m so sorry.”
He was about to respond when the doors to the diner flew open. Hank entered, followed by Bear and Taz. They would help him find his woman.
Chapter 11
Kara was excited to see the ranch this afternoon with Grayson. She wanted to take the horses out and show Grayson where her grandfather would take her to share stories. Something in her gut twisted, hoping he liked her family ranch. It had been five years since she’d stepped foot on the land.
When Kara entered the bathroom, she was shocked to see the foreman’s daughter. The years had not been gentle with her. Her eyes were sunken in, and they no longer sparkled like the ocean. Her shirt had a tear down one side and was covered in dirt and oil. The jeans she was wearing were too large and hung on her hips. The tracks running up her arm were a true indicator that something wasn’t right. Blond hair that used to shine like the sun was matted and unwashed.
“Sarah?”
“Kara, we need to leave.” When Kara just stared in bewilderment, Sarah added, “Now.”
“Why do we need to leave? I’m heading to the ranch once Grayson and I finish breakfast.”
“We can’t go to the ranch. They have my dad, and if you don’t come…” Tears were running down Sarah’s face. “They’ll kill both of our dads. If we don’t leave now, they’ll kill them.”
“Who is going to kill them? You’re not making sense.”
Sarah pulled out her phone and showed Kara a picture of her dad and the foreman of Montana Gold, Josiah, strapped to two chairs. Josiah was hunched over and had blood dripping down his face. It was impossible to tell whether he was alive or dead.
“Let me get Grayson. He can help us.” Kara turned to exit the bathroom and find Grayson as soon as she could.
Before she could make it out of the bathroom, however, cold metal pressed against her back.
She didn’t want to die in the bathroom of Al’s Diner. The previous night, the hours she’d spent in Grayson’s arms, had been the best night of her life. She needed more time with the man she was falling for.
Kara quickly took stock of the bathroom. She didn’t stand a chance of getting away. Her only hope was that Grayson would figure out she was missing and come for her.
“Take a right out of the bathroom. Don’t talk to anyone on the way out. We’re heading out the back door.�
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“Why are you doing this, Sarah? I’ll help you save your father. Do you think I wouldn’t try to save my own?”
Sarah jabbed the gun into Kara’s back, trying to get her to move. She stumbled forward, pushing out the bathroom door and knocking into the waitress who had been serving her and Grayson. Kara went to open her mouth to give the waitress some sort of clue she needed help. But she felt the metal touch her skin, and she shut her mouth.
“Sorry,” the waitress mumbled.
When Sarah pointed to the back door, the waitress reached out to stop them. “Only employees are allowed back there.”
Sarah faced the waitress and kept the gun pressed to Kara’s side. “You need to help us.” Sarah was excellent at playing the damsel in distress. Her plea sounded so real. “That man out there has been abusing my friend, and we are trying to get away.”
When the waitress looked like she was about to question her, Sarah pleaded. “That man has been forcing her to stay with him. I’ve been looking for a time to get her away. Please, let us out the back and stall him as long as you can.”
“Is what she is saying true?” The waitress’s voice was filled with concern. “Is that man abusing you?”
When Kara didn’t answer right away, she felt the gun jab painfully into her ribs.
“Yes,” Kara whispered. “Please tell him I can’t be with men like my father. I need to break the cycle, and that starts with going home.”
The waitress nodded and headed toward the dining room. Before she made it around the corner, Kara was shoved out the back door. She didn’t have time to see that there was another person standing outside the door before something hard hit the back of her head, and then everything went dark.
Grayson and Hank’s team had pulled together a few tables in the diner. Wendy was sitting at the counter with tears running down her face.
Grayson’s phone buzzed in his pocket. When he realized Kara was missing, he had called his brother and asked him to use his computer skills to trace Rovshan or find her father. Noah said he was going to do some digging and call back. Grayson needed to know if Rovshan was behind the incident.
He swiped across the screen to answer. “What do you have?” Grayson put the phone on speaker and laid it in the center of the table.
“Hello to you, too, brother.”
Grayson growled into the phone. He didn’t have time for shit like this. His angel was missing, and he wasn’t sure who took her. From Wendy’s description, he didn’t recognize the woman Kara had left with. Whoever was after her had to be using someone else to help get her away.
“Talk.”
“Fine. Rovshan is not behind her kidnapping.”
“So it’s her father?” Was he going to try to make her marry someone else?
He could hear Noah’s fingers flying across the keyboard. “I don’t think so. Kara’s father vanished off the face of the earth a little over two weeks ago. That’s not the only strange thing. The family lawyer has gone missing.”
“Why would the lawyer go missing?”
“When I hacked the lawyer's computer to pull the trust, I noticed he had a meeting with Kara’s dad on his calendar. Yesterday, I checked to see if her father had contacted the lawyer at all since the meeting. But he’s been gone since then. I checked with the local police station, and they have a missing person report out on him.”
“Fuck.” Who the hell could have taken his angel? Grayson pounded his fists on the table with such force that all the men sitting around him jumped.
Hank gave him a stern look, telling Grayson to keep his cool.
Bear leaned back in his chair. “Her dad is MIA, and so is the lawyer. We know that Rovshan is no longer after her. Does someone else know how rich she is? Are they trying to get money out of her?”
Grayson joined the men at the table. “How many people work at the ranch?”
Noah’s voice came across the phone. “It seems that over the past two years, they have gotten rid of all the staff and horses. The only person left at the ranch is a longtime foreman, Josiah, and we already knew he was helping her father take her money.”
“Does he have a wife?” Hank asked.
Looking down at his watch, Grayson’s felt his gut churn. Kara had been gone for over an hour. He wanted to jump in the car, head straight to the ranch, and take on the world. Luckily, Hank was thinking with his brain, or they could’ve been wrong and headed to the wrong place.
But the words the waitress had said kept going through his head. “I’m heading home,” Kara had told the waitress. That had to be a clue. Whoever had her was taking her back to the ranch.
Noah confirmed his theory. “No wife but a daughter that looks a lot like your description.”
“Thanks. I’m heading to the ranch.”
“Be safe, brother, and call when you get your woman back.”
Grayson sprung to his feet and faced Hank. “I need a Glock.”
“Hold on. Let's come up with a plan before heading in.”
But Grayson couldn’t stand around any longer, talking about what they were going to do. He needed to save his angel. When Hank looked like he was going to argue, Grayson said, “If that was Sadie that was taken, would you wait around, coming up with a plan? We can ride together and talk on the way.”
Bear and Taz followed in their truck behind Hank and him. The silence in the truck was filled with tension. They had decided to park half a mile away from the entrance of the ranch and work their way up on foot. That way, nobody could hear them coming.
Hank dialed the sheriff to let him know what had happened. He said he was on his way.
Kara’s head was pounding as though a kid were playing drums on it. It took a second for the rush of memories to come back—the perfect morning sex followed by the perfect breakfast and then the evil crack whore showing up and destroying her perfect day.
She tried to take stock of her body before she opened her eyes. When Kara tried to move her hands, they were stuck behind her back. A rough rope was twined around her wrists. When she tried to move her legs, they were tied to the chair she was sitting in.
“Open your eyes. I know you're awake.” Josiah's voice was hoarse from years of smoking cigarettes. He didn’t have to say a word for her to know he was close. She could smell the cigarette he was smoking.
Knowing she had no other option, Kara opened her eyes. In the back of her mind, she hoped Grayson was on his way. She knew deep down that her knight in shining armor was going to show up and save the day.
When her eyes adjusted to the dim light in the barn, she looked around for clues. Her eyes landed on a body lying on the floor six feet away from her.
Kara’s mouth went dry, and it was hard to get the words out. “W-Why… did you k-kill… my father?” Kara had known her father wasn’t the best person in the world, but he was all she had left.
“If he had kept his nose out my business, none of this would’ve happened.” Josiah waved his hand toward her father’s still body.
“The money? You're mad I cut off the money? I’ll give you as much as you want. Please, just let me leave.”
“The money was nice, but I’m talking about the gold. I found it, and it was supposed to be mine. Then your good-for-nothing father came back from Vegas early to find me taking the gold out of the mine. He wanted me to give it to him.” Josiah was pacing back and forth, his hands clenched with each step he took. “I’ve spent my life running this place for your family. Have they ever done anything for me other than make me work more?” Kara knew the question was rhetorical, so she kept her lips locked tight.
She needed to get out of the mess she was in. She hoped Grayson was on his way, and if he wasn’t, she needed a backup plan. From the look of the barn, Josiah hadn’t been doing his job since she left. The pens were piled with manure, and the door hung off its hinges. She couldn’t see an animal in sight. Kara thanked her lucky stars that there were no animals because she knew he wouldn’t be taking care of them.
She couldn’t stop herself from saying the words. “It doesn’t look like you’ve been doing much work lately.”
“You dumb bitch.” She didn’t see his hand coming until it was too late. The force of it knocked her chair over. With her hands tied behind her back, she didn’t have any way to brace for the impact, and her head bounced off the dirt floor. Kara felt as though stars were flying around her head. “If you had just married the Russian man, this would be all over.”
“How did Rovshan get involved?”
Her father looked like he had been dead for a few weeks. The stench of his decomposing body was making it hard not to throw up.
“I tried to make your father see reason and share the gold with me. But the greedy bastard wanted it all for himself. It was supposed to be easy.”
Josiah liked hearing himself talk. As long as she could keep him talking about himself, she might have a chance of distracting him and escaping. When her body had hit the ground, she felt the chair crack a little.
“What gold?”
He puffed up his chest, so proud of himself. “I always knew there was still gold on this farm. With your family finally off the land, I was able to look for it. At least until your father came home early.”
“So you killed him?” She didn’t really need a reply. Kara could see the dead body lying on the floor.
“Yes, and everything was going well until your father's lawyer showed up for some meeting. When he couldn’t get a hold of your father because he was dead, I knew I needed another option. I contacted Rovshan and made a deal with him. I knew your father owed him money. I pretended to be your father and got him out here as part of my plan.”
At the mention of the family lawyer, Kara looked closer at where her father was lying. Next to him was another man in a black suit. She had a sinking feeling she was going to be in the body pile soon if she didn’t cooperate.
“Why do you need me? Take the gold.”
“People were asking questions, and I needed you to marry Rovshan to get all the heat off me. He promised he’d make everything go away once you were married. The gold would be in his name, and he would take care of everything.”
