Love Renewed (Entwined Hearts #3)

by Maria Macdonald

  “Jenson. You don’t know me. Dane does.”

  “But you know me?”

  He doesn’t answer in words, just nods. I assess my body. Strangely it feels okay, except my head which throbs. I tentatively touch my temple.

  “Be careful, when they brought you in you had a fair amount of fresh blood coming from your head. I couldn’t get to you to check you over. That was hours ago now and the blood has dried. As I smooth my hand over my hair, I can feel the clumps of dried blood. Thankfully although aching, I don’t think I’m too badly damaged. I can see clearly enough, and I’ve woken up from being knocked out. Those are both good signs that there’s no lasting damage. I look at my hands and feet to see that I’m not bound at all, so I gently get up and walk around the room checking for exits.

  “Be quiet when you walk around,” Jenson says and I glare over at him, not sure why he’s telling me what to do, when I’m trying to find a way out of here so I can get help. He smiles at me. “I can see why he’s always loved you,” he tells me and it stops me in my tracks.

  “Who exactly are you and how do you know me?” I snap.

  “Sorry babe, I’m not going to be telling you much. Everything that you need to know will have to come from Dane at some point. It’s not my place. What I will say is that I’ve known Dane for years and I trust him completely, plus he’s the best at what we do. If we stand any chance in this situation, it will be from him.”

  I ignore his words and continue moving around the room, then, remembering his earlier comment I stop, turning to him. “Why did you tell me to be quiet? Nobody’s here but us.”

  “Because if they hear you, then you’ll be tied up like me,” he tells me and I feel guilty at my earlier annoyance.

  “Okay, thanks,” I mumble.

  “Of course, I have to look after you as best as I can while we’re here. If I didn’t, then they might as well kill me now because Dane would do worse than those dicks ever could.”

  “Dicks? You know the people who have kidnapped us?” I sit back down on the makeshift bed as I realise there are no exit points. There isn’t even a window in this room, so I have no idea whether it’s night or day.

  “Yeah, I know them. They’re supposed to be part of my team. They’ve turned dark. I’m not sure what they want. They seem to have someone else with them too. Someone who isn’t part of my team. I’m not sure of the connection yet.”

  “Do you need a key?” I ask.

  Jenson pulls in his eyebrows and frowns. “For the cuffs,” I answer his unasked question and point at his hands.

  “Yeah. I could pick it if I had a strong enough pin,” he tells me.

  “Well, would a bobby pin from my hair help?” I ask sceptically.

  “Yep, that would work,” he replies.

  “You’re freaking kidding me, right? I mean that’s like the shit they say in movies to get people out of sticky situations,” I say laughter in my voice.

  “No. Absolutely not. You just have to look on YouTube to see how to do it, babe. Now do you think you could remember where we are and give me a pin?” he asks and I nod fishing a couple out of my hair, pulling hairs in the process and cursing like a sailor.

  “Seriously babe, you need to be quiet.” I narrow my eyes at him.

  “And you need to stop calling me babe.”

  He smiles back at me. “Noted. Now can you open the bobby pin, make it into an E shape but obviously without the middle line?” I nod and get into shaping the pin. “It doesn’t have to be perfect ba…Elizabeth, just rough. They could be down here at any moment,” he tells me and I nod passing him the pin.

  “Libby,” I state. Jenson looks at me while fiddling with the cuffs behind his back. “It’s Libby now. I don’t go by Elizabeth much anymore.” Nodding at me, I hear a click as one cuff opens then quickly another click then both his wrists are free.

  “Fuck that feels good,” he says rubbing his hands and stretching his arms.

  “How do you know we’re down? I mean you said they could be down here at any moment. How do you know?”

  They always go upstairs when they leave. The sound gets quieter and higher not lower and the lack of windows. It stands to reason we’re in a basement. If I were in their position, I’d put us in a basement. Less chance of escape.”

  “Well, that makes me feel better,” I tell him sarcasm dripping from my words.

  “You know most women would be crying right now, not throwing sass,” he tells me with a smirk.

  “Yeah, well, I’m not most women.”

  “Yeah, I already know that. But now I’m seeing it for myself,” he tells me and winks.

  “So what do we do now?” I ask.

  “We wait.”

  “What do you mean, we wait? Wait for what?”

  “We wait for world war three to commence.”

  “Okay, you’re scaring me now. What is going on? Who’s trying to kill you? Who has Libby and why did she have a black eye when she came here last night?”

  The last question from Pea gets my attention and I sit up straight, looking up at her from the floor. “What do you mean last night?” I ask, suddenly feeling vibrations simmering through my body.

  “She came here last night,” she replies.

  “Yes, but the black eye?” I choke out.

  “Oh, well, I asked her and she said there’d been a disagreement the night before she came over here. She wouldn’t tell me any more, just said it was all sorted now.” I work my jaw back and forth trying to ease the tension that’s building inside me. Closing my eyes, I centre myself. This is what I’ve needed. Something to focus me. I’ve allowed myself a moment to fall apart. But that isn’t me, and now I need to do what I do best, what comes naturally. I’m going to pull these fuckers apart. By whatever means necessary.

  Half an hour of sitting still must annoy Jenson because he suddenly gets up and prowls around the small space in the same way I did. Unlike me, he feels the walls and looks along the edges of the ceiling.

  “What are you doing?” I ask curiously.

  “Checking to see if there’s any light coming in, and I was feeling if the walls were all the same temperature, to see if any of them were maybe an outside wall. Anything that would show us that we’re not in the basement,” he replies.

  “And?” I ask holding onto some hope, which is dashed when he looks down at me, smiling sadly and shaking his head no.

  “Right,” I sigh. “Do you have any idea of what they want?”

  “I’m not sure, I have a gut feeling but like I said before, you need to ask Dane these questions. It’s not my place,” he tells me sitting back down in the corner.

  “You can sit here if you want?” I say tapping the space next to me.

  “No. If they come in and I’m over there, then all hell will break loose. I’m willing to sacrifice me. I’m not willing to sacrifice you,” he states and his voice tells me he’s not to be argued with.

  The clicking locks echo around the small damp room and my heart starts pounding as my palms gather sweat. The door swings open and the short, stocky man from Dane’s house appears in the doorway. His face has a light bruise where my fist connected with it. Unfortunately, my boxing obviously leaves a lot to be desired as it looks like I barely scraped the surface.

  “So we meet again,” he says looking at me. The accent in his voice sounds thicker now and I think it’s Russian, although I can’t know that for certain. I don’t reply to him, just sit there staring at the wall trying not to give him any reason to notice me further. There’s more movement in the doorway, but I don’t look over, still trying to focus on anything but him. “You gave me this mark. Now I think it’s time I repay you,” he tells me but still I say nothing, unwilling to acknowledge him. “No? You don’t want to speak to me. How about if I make your pretty little mouth talk?” he asks striding forward and grabbing my face. He pushes two fingers into one cheek and his thumb into the other as he grips me by my chin. I still don’t give him my eyes. “Y
ou might want to look at me now. No bitch gets away with putting her hands on me. Not even a pretty fuck like you.” He spits in my face and pulls his hand away, only to rear back and slap me across the cheek. My eyes water at the sting I feel and Jenson jumps up from the corner, launches himself forward and within about five seconds he has the Russian man’s head in his hands. He twists it so quickly my ears barely recognise the snap. My eyes, however, do notice the man’s lifeless body drop to the floor. I feel my stomach spin from the sight, and my cheek burns from the slap, but I refuse to touch it. I refuse to admit it hurts. Admit that they can get to me.

  “Fucker!” Another man shouts and grabs Jenson. They grapple for a moment, but others must have heard the commotion as more men join the party. It takes all three of the men in the room to subdue Jenson. He fights and punches, kicks and lands a few powerful hits by the looks of it. All at once though there are two men holding him back. Two men, both of whom are now sporting split lips and bruises, one has a broken nose by the looks of his face and the other has two fingers that aren’t sitting right. The other man has his back to me, so I can’t see his face, but he’s taller and broader than the others. I focus on his back because at the moment I have nowhere to look but there, and at the dead man in front of me.

  “You have always thought you’re smart haven’t you Jenson? Better than the rest. Just like Dane. Well, let’s test how good you really are. Firstly, you didn’t notice that you had people working against you, within your own team. Secondly, we managed to get you and your woman without you even realising it.” Before the guy finishes talking Jenson’s whole demeanour changes. It’s like his aura lights red and I’m assuming he didn’t know they had his girlfriend.

  “You took Hilary?” he whispers, his eyes narrowed. Just like that he’s switched and now feels completely dangerous.

  “She was in your bed, you didn’t know?” The man asks and laughs cockily, his men laugh with him.

  Like a lightning bolt Jenson moves, pulling his arms free he elbows the man with the broken nose in the face and that man drops to the ground. He kicks one foot forward slamming into the man with his back to me. He also drops to the ground groaning, so I assume he got hit square in the junk. The third guy with the dodgy fingers grabs Jenson around the throat, but he manages to pull back on his already mangled fingers making the guy cry out. He pushes himself backward slamming the heavy man against the wall, then he does it again. When the guy’s arm drops from Jenson’s throat, he twists around and seizes the man’s hair, then pulls his head forward and back smashing it straight into the wall once again. Without blinking he feels along the man’s back pulling out a gun and shoots all three men in the head.

  No talking, no hesitating, just ends their lives.

  My heart feels like it’s going to explode as bile rises from my stomach, my face and head hurts and I just want to go home. But I know I need to hold my shit together. The last thing he needs is an inconsolable female to deal with.

  “Come on,” he demands holding his hand out. I don’t delay as I grab his hand. He hauls me up his body and lifts me over the dead man on the floor. Gently but swiftly dropping me back down, he drags me behind him as he pulls me through the house.

  “It’s quiet. Too quiet,” he says as we reach the next floor up. Turning the corner we see six big burly men, and they come at us. Jenson manages to shoot and kill two, and he hits another one in the stomach before he’s dragged down by the remaining men. I know why they managed to get him down. It was because he was paying attention to me. He was trying to make sure I was okay. Someone new grabs me from behind and hauls me back. Struggling does nothing as I try to pull away. I use my elbows to hit him in the ribs, but he just grunts and pins my arms to my side. I bring my head forward and throw it backward hitting what feels like his chin.

  Fuck he must be tall.

  I hear him growl, but he says nothing else. I feel helpless as I struggle to move, I want to get to Jenson, and I know I can’t do much, but I need to try. They have him against the wall now. Two men hold him, meathead A and B, one each side. Every move I make is countered by the fucker behind me who grips my arms so tight I feel like my circulation is being cut off. The third guy is slightly shorter. His blonde hair is thinning and he has a paunch. He’s an ugly fuck. I watch helplessly as fugly takes a step forward and starts punching Jenson in the stomach, then the face, the face again, the ribs, and finally the stomach again. Jenson takes each punch with a grunt as meatheads A & B continue to hold him up. I could see he’d fall forward if they released him.

  “We went to your house before you arrived. You know this, so it can’t be a surprise that your bitch was there,” taunts fugly.

  “You leave her the fuck alone,” Jenson growls grabbing fugly’s Hawaiian shirt.

  Fugly laughs. “You’re not in a position to make demands, Jen, anyway it would be pointless. It’s too late. She’s been disposed of.” At his words Jenson tenses. The defeat that was starting to burrow into his body a second ago has become figment of my imagination, as the man standing before me now looks like he’s ready to rip someone’s head off with his bare hands.

  “You fucker!” he screams and lurches forward out of the arms of meatheads A & B. He punches fugly in the face and blood spurts from his nose, then he pounces and they both land hard on the floor. Thankfully Jenson is on top of fugly so he doesn’t get hurt. I hear the other man’s head crack on the floor. It’s all irrelevant, though, as in a matter of seconds Jenson has pulled a gun out of what I assume was fugly’s pocket…his jacket?...His belt? Wherever it was and shoots fugly in the face. That’s a vision now burned into my soul forever as brain matter splashes across the room. I feel some hit my neck and slither downward. All at once the meatheads have pulled out their guns and are screaming and cursing, they both shoot at the same time and I watch as Jenson gets hit. It’s like I’m seeing it in slow motion. One bullet hits his shoulder and the other goes into his back. I can see the blood blooming already as Jenson lays on the floor not moving. His eyes find mine though and I stare at him as I feel my eyes well up.

  “Arsehole. That was my brother,” meathead A says and shoots him again in his leg. Then delivering a kick into his side Jenson finally loses eye contact with me as they close.

  “No!” I scream, kicking and thrashing about again.

  “Shut up bitch!” he shouts and steps forward punching me in the face. It’s just as painful as every other time and I’m getting sick of it, but again I say nothing. “Tough girl, huh?” he spits. Then punches me again, twice, both times in my tummy. I lean sideways and throw up. Laughing he crashes his lips against mine and I stiffen automatically. His breath stinks. His beard is rough and so is he. I keep my mouth closed and fight the tears as he brings his hand up and grabs at my breast.

  Closing my eyes, I think of Dane. His love, his face, his smile.

  “Ahh see, she’s even closing her eyes for me.” He chuckles to himself and the remaining men. “You could be my little plaything. I’d treat you well.”

  “Never,” I shove the word out of my mouth even though it feels like I have razor blades in my throat.

  “Well, that’s a shame, I would’ve enjoyed having you around. You could be my new bitch. I could replace Dane for you when he’s gone.” His words cut into me deeper than any knife could. The thought of Dane not walking this earth makes me want to curl up and give in. Dane would hate that, so I try to push the thought away.

  “You could never replace, Dane. Never,” I tell him narrowing my eyes.

  “Pity,” he replies and the turns to leave. Just as I think this particular bout of torture is over he swings around and punches me in the jaw again, this time I feel something in my mouth and spit, blood and a tooth drops out and meathead A laughs walking away. Meathead B follows him and passes the man that Jenson shot in the stomach what feels like hours ago now. He’s groaning on the floor and meathead B pulls out his gun and shoots him three more times until he’s dead. Then walks off s
aying nothing.

  I swallow my fear and let my tongue travel over my teeth, realising I spat out one of my top front teeth. That’s when my legs give out and I find I’m being dragged by the big guy behind me.

  “Get off me!” I shout, my voice is shrill and anguish leaks out in my words.

  “Now, now Nova….that’s not the way to talk to an old friend.” The words are like a kick in the gut. Nobody calls me Nova but Dane…nobody except very occasionally Ryan.

  Turning me around to face him I feel my body shaking. I look into his black eyes and feel the fear I thought I’d left behind all those years ago creep back into my veins.

  “Why?” I say the word on a sob.

  “Because I fucking can,” he answers and everything goes black when I receive yet another blow to the head. This time, though, it’s familiar. It’s like old times.

  “Pea, calm down and go upstairs with Eleanor. Send Con down. I need to talk to him.”

  “About what? Don’t leave me out of this Dane!” she snaps.

  “Pea,” I say, my voice low, trying to keep the anger restrained. This isn’t her fault. I love my sister, but this is not the time for her to argue with me. The tears form in her eyes, but she nods, hugs me quickly, and then runs upstairs. A few moments later Con walks down.

  “What the fuck is going on Dane? Why is Pea in tears?” he asks crossing his arms over his chest.

  “Listen to me carefully, Con. This needs to get through, all right?”

  He nods but says nothing.

  “I work in a different field from you all. I have a situation where they have taken my friend and it looks like because Nova came over to my house without me being aware that they’ve taken her too.”

  “What the fuck?” Con’s words are clipped and annoyed.

  “Con. Understand I’m never going to tell you everything. I’m giving you what you need. Which is more than I want to give, so you can deal with keeping Pea as calm as possible. The only person who I owe the details to are Nova. She’ll know everything. When I get her back. Right now just know, until you hear from me you stay in the house. You answer the door to no one and if you hear any weird noises or anything at all you call the police immediately. Con rubs the back of his neck.