Unraveling Him: A Small Town Family Romance (The Bailey Brothers Book 3)

by Claire Kingsley

  I swallowed hard and bit the inside of my lip.

  Evan, please be okay. Please let it just be me.

  And please let someone find me.

  Was there any chance of that? Did anyone know I was gone?

  My guard had a shaved head, rough stubble, and merciless eyes. He looked at me without a shred of concern or urgency. I was totally helpless. He had nothing to worry about.

  He turned his head. “She’s awake.”

  “I have to pee,” I blurted out.

  He looked at me again, his brow furrowing in confusion. “What?”

  It was true, I did have to pee, but I had no idea why I’d just said it out loud. “There’s probably no bathroom around here, is there?”

  “No.”

  “Okay. I guess I’ll wait.”

  His eyes flicked up and down, from my head to my bound ankles, like I’d just said the weirdest thing he’d ever heard.

  Maybe I had. ‘I have to pee’? Who randomly tells their captor they have to pee? It wasn’t even like I had an escape plan that hinged on him letting me get up to use the bathroom.

  What was wrong with me?

  Oh, right. I’d hit my head. Maybe that was it.

  Footsteps approached and a fresh wave of fear made me shiver harder. My back tightened uncomfortably and my head throbbed again. At this point, I hoped I’d get through the next few minutes without puking. Or being shot, but puking felt more imminent.

  A man in a button-down shirt and dark slacks came around a corner. He had more silver in his hair and beard than I remembered, but I knew that face. I’d met him many times as a child. I’d once thought he was simply a colleague or a business associate of my dad’s.

  Felix Orman.

  Tilting his head, he looked down at me like someone might regard a plant or a pattern in a brick path. No emotion, good or bad. There was nothing in his eyes—no malice or anger. No guilt or regret. He looked at me with cold calculation, like he hadn’t been to my tenth birthday party or professed to be a loyal friend to my dad.

  I was nothing to him. Just collateral.

  Icy terror chilled me from the inside. I was too cold to even shiver anymore.

  “Well hi there, Fifi. Lovely to see you again.”

  “No it’s not.”

  His lips twitched in a smile and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I know the accommodations aren’t exactly comfortable, but the show serves a purpose. Look at me.” He held up the phone and took a picture. “Good girl.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making sure your daddy cooperates. He seems to think I’m bluffing.”

  “My dad?”

  “He thinks he can disappear on me. I can’t have that. Makes me look weak. Like I can’t take care of business. So I’m offering him a little incentive. That would be you.”

  A mix of emotions swirled with the fear that thrummed through me. Relief that my dad didn’t have me kidnapped. Anger that he’d gotten tangled up with this awful man again. Frustration that I had to pay the price for his bad decisions.

  “What are you going to do to me?”

  “Depends on your father. If he does what I tell him, nothing.”

  “You’ll let me go?”

  “Of course.”

  I looked into those calculating eyes and I knew he was lying. He wasn’t going to let me go.

  “And if he doesn’t?”

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head about that. He will.” He turned to the guard. “Keep an eye on her. He has an hour.”

  Felix left, his footsteps echoing as he walked away. The guard sat down with his back against the wall and took out his phone.

  I looked up at the rough, rocky ceiling. This really wasn’t like the movies. If it was, I’d have had a tiny knife tucked in my shoe or a pin in my hair I could use to get out of my bonds. I didn’t even have my slippers anymore, and the only thing in my hair was a plain hair tie.

  And I really did have to pee. This was going to get uncomfortable.

  I didn’t have a plan. No idea of how I was going to get myself out of this. There was nothing to negotiate. I didn’t have anything to offer Felix, or this guard. I couldn’t sweet talk them into letting me go like they were car collectors reluctant to sell a rare part. I didn’t know what I was going to do.

  The only thing I knew was that I couldn’t give up. Felix Orman might have been planning to kill me and my dad. But that didn’t mean he’d succeed.

  Closing my eyes, I drew on the only thing I had left. It was silly and probably naïve, but I imagined Evan working in his shop. I held that picture of him, making it as sharp and clear as I possibly could. And I loved him. I sent out all the love I had, sent it out into the universe, hoping for the impossible. That somehow he’d feel it. That if all else failed and this was really how it ended, at the very least, he’d feel it and he’d know.

  He’d know how much I loved him.

  But maybe, just maybe, he’d use it to find me.

  41

  Evan

  I almost didn’t believe Fiona’s father. Held on to a shred of hope that he was delusional and we’d find her in town. Maybe feeding the squirrels in Lumberjack Park, her phone battery dead so she hadn’t gotten my calls.

  Until we saw her car, wrecked on the side of the road.

  It was far enough in the trees that I nearly missed it. I swerved across the other lane and slammed the brakes. Flew out of the car, my heart in my throat.

  She wasn’t there.

  Her purse had fallen, the contents spilled out onto the floor. Her phone was there, my messages unread. Sasquatch sniffed around, but trained as he was, he wasn’t a search and rescue dog. He undoubtedly smelled her, but he wouldn’t know how to find her.

  “I told you they took her,” Shane said. “Probably ran her off the road.”

  I ignored him, desperately looking for any sign that she was alive. There wasn’t any blood. Hopefully that meant she’d survived the crash.

  She had to have survived. I wasn’t going to entertain any other option.

  If her car was here, she’d been on her way home. On her way back to me. That thought made my chest ache.

  “Let’s go.”

  I’d group-texted my brothers before leaving my house—told them I had an emergency and I was on my way. My phone dinged with replies, but I didn’t answer. We were only minutes away and it would be easier to explain in person.

  I pulled up in front of the Bailey bachelor pad. Asher and Grace were already there, waiting in the open doorway. Judging by the vehicles out front, it looked like the other three were home.

  “Get out,” I said.

  Gallagher didn’t argue.

  I took him inside and wordlessly pointed to one of the chairs at the dining table. With my brothers and Grace all staring at him, he sat. Sasquatch stood guard in front of him.

  “Fiona’s been kidnapped and I need your help.” Saying those words—I need your help—released some of the weight threatening to crush me.

  “Holy shit,” Logan said. “Are you serious?”

  “Have you called Jack?” Asher asked.

  “Not yet. That asshole’s her father, Shane Gallagher.” I pointed to him and he shrank back slightly. “They took her to get to him, and he says no cops or they’ll kill her.”

  Everyone stared at me in disbelief.

  “I wish I was pulling a shitty prank on you guys right now, but I swear I’m not. I found her car partway to my place. I think they ran her off the road and took her.”

  “He’s right,” Gallagher said. “These guys want me. I have until three to respond to them.”

  “What do they want from you?” Asher asked.

  “Probably to kill me.”

  “Fuck,” Levi said. “What do we do?”

  I fought back the sense of helplessness and desperation threatening to overtake me. “I don’t know. If we call the cops, I’m afraid they’ll kill her. If we give them what they want, namely him, they
still might kill her. I can’t fucking lose her. I can’t.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Grace said. “I need to make a call.”

  “Grace—”

  “Just… give me a minute.” She whirled around and raced out the door.

  “Do you know where they took her?” Levi asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “If I agree to turn myself in to them, they’ll give me a location to meet,” Gallagher said. “Presumably that’ll be where they’re keeping her.”

  “Well, do it,” Levi said.

  “Not yet.” I held up a hand. As much as every cell in my body cried out to know where she was, we needed a plan. “We have to think this through. As soon as he calls them, I’m sure there’ll be a ticking clock.”

  “He’s right,” Asher said. “We need a plan.”

  Grace burst back in the house, her phone to her ear. “Thank you so much. Hang on and I’ll give you to Evan.” She held her phone out to me.

  I held the phone up to my ear. “Hello?”

  “Evan, it’s Leo Miles. I’m on my way now. First off, don’t panic. I can help.”

  I’d met Leo a few times. He was one of Grace’s half-brothers. I didn’t know him well, but he was retired military and one of those men who projected an effortless I’m a badass vibe.

  “Doing my best.”

  “Good. Now give me the rundown. What do we know?”

  I explained the situation, giving him the details I knew. When she’d left home this morning. Gavin confirmed when he’d last seen her. The discovery of her car, wrecked on the side of the road. And everything her dad had said—who had her and why.

  “Okay,” he said when I’d finished. “Gallagher has to respond by when?”

  “Three.”

  “Good, that gives us a little time. I’m about fifteen minutes out, so I need all of you to sit tight until I get there. I know waiting is the last thing you want to do right now, but trust me. I’m driving as fast as I can, and as soon as I’m there, we’ll talk next steps and make contact with the kidnappers. Understood?”

  “Got it.”

  “Hang in there, man. We’ll get her back.”

  The next fifteen minutes were the longest of my entire fucking life.

  I paced around the house, too agitated to stand still, even for a minute. Asher and Levi casually took up positions in front of Gallagher, either to keep him from trying to bolt, or to keep me from losing my shit and wrecking his face.

  Probably both.

  Logan and Gav had enough presence of mind to keep their mouths shut. No jokes, no attempts to cut the tension.

  We just waited.

  Finally, Leo arrived. He had a thick beard that partially hid scarring on one side of his face, and his dark hair was pulled back. Tattoos extended down over the back of his hand on his scarred side. He gave Grace a quick hug, then brought his laptop to the table.

  “First order of business, we need to locate Fiona,” he said. “We need to know what we’re dealing with so we can plan the extraction.”

  “If Gallagher makes contact, they should give him a location for an exchange,” I said. “But I don’t trust that they’ll give her up.”

  “We trust nothing.” Leo turned to Gallagher. “Text them back and ask for proof of life before you’ll agree to meet.”

  Gallagher nodded and typed a message. Asher leaned over to watch, then met my eyes and nodded.

  While we waited, Leo quietly asked Levi for the Wi-Fi password. I stared at the floor, my heart pounding.

  A moment later, Gallagher held up his phone. “Got it.”

  Surging in, I ripped the phone out of his hand. The pieces of shit had her tied up on the ground. She had a bruise on the side of her head and her face looked so pale.

  I fought down a flare of white-hot rage. Losing my temper wasn’t going to help Fiona.

  Leo took the phone. “I know this seems bad, but she doesn’t look seriously injured. She’s going to be okay.”

  “I know,” I said with a nod. She was going to be okay. I was going to make sure of it. “So Gallagher agrees to meet?”

  “Yes,” Leo said. “We need the location.”

  Gallagher looked like he might be sick. He typed on his phone again while Asher watched.

  Once again, we waited.

  The text came in and Gallagher’s forehead creased. “It’s coordinates.”

  Leo took the phone and brought up a map on his laptop. “This isn’t far from here, which doesn’t surprise me. They probably followed you out here, and there are dozens of spots in the mountains used for drug running, human trafficking, that kind of thing. It’s remote, and difficult for law enforcement to cover.”

  “That’s—” Gallagher closed his mouth before finishing.

  My eyes snapped to him. “What do you know?”

  He started to answer, but stopped again.

  I took a few steps closer, staring him down. “You said this Orman guy was into more than stealing cars. Stuff you didn’t want to know about. Is that what you meant? Human trafficking?”

  “Yeah.” He shrank back from me. “Runaways, girls addicted to drugs. I don’t know what he does with them. I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. I didn’t want to know.”

  I turned to Leo and he nodded once. He didn’t have to say it out loud. We both knew. Orman wasn’t going to kill Fiona, but he wasn’t going to give her up, either. He was going to sell her.

  Fuck that. Not my girl.

  I went back around the table to look at the satellite image on Leo’s laptop. “She’s there?” I asked, pointing to the spot.

  “Yeah.”

  “I know where that is. We used to ride dirt bikes out there. There’s an old mine entrance nearby, just off that logging road. Let me see the picture.” I took Gallagher’s phone. This time, I looked at everything around Fiona. The photo was dim, but I could make out the rough stone walls and what might have been a timber supporting the ceiling. “This looks like it’s inside the mine.”

  “Agreed. Let’s see if we can find a map.” Leo pulled out his phone and made a call. “Hi, baby. I’m sending you a location. It’s close to an old mine. Can you help me find a map or rendering?” He glanced my direction. “My wife, Hannah.”

  I nodded.

  In less than a minute, he had an old rendering of the mine on his screen.

  “You’re amazing. Kiss the kids for me. I’ll be home soon.” He put down his phone. “Okay, now we’re talking.”

  “That must be the entrance near the logging road,” I said, pointing. “There’s another one down here.”

  Gavin looked over my shoulder. “I’ve been in there.”

  “Of course he has,” Logan said.

  “I’m serious. Some kids dared me to see if it went through to the other side. It does. Or it did ten years ago.”

  “How did it look inside?” I asked. “Do you remember any cave-ins or blocked-off passages?”

  “No, I remember thinking the other kids were wussies for not going in. The entrances aren’t even blocked off. It was fucking dark, but all clear.”

  “I only see two entrances on the rendering,” Leo said. “If they still connect, that’s good news for us. The location they gave Gallagher is closest to the north end. That’s probably the side they’re using.”

  “So we could go in the back and get her out,” I said.

  “Not without some kind of distraction,” Leo said. “Something unexpected to draw them out on this side. We don’t know how many guys they have, but I’d say three to five is a safe bet.”

  “Fire,” I said.

  “Wait, what?” Levi asked.

  “Hear me out. It’s not wildfire season yet, but it’s been dry. You guys sneak over there and stage a brush fire near the mine entrance. Just a controlled burn. It’s right off a logging road, you could even get an engine back there. Put it out before it spreads.”

  “This is brilliant,” Logan said. “We don’t even need to start
much of a fire. Just enough to get smoke blowing to explain a big ass fire engine roaring down that road. That’ll be a distraction.”

  “Can you pull that off?” I asked.

  Logan scoffed. “Of course we can.”

  “We can take the engine. We’ll just leave Chief a note,” Gavin said.

  “A note?” Levi shook his head. “This could definitely get us all fired, but fuck it. I’m in.”

  “Okay.” I took a breath. “I’ll go in the back entrance and get Fiona out while you guys play with fire on the other side.”

  Leo glanced at me, raising his eyebrows.

  “She’s my girl,” I said. “I’m going in to get her.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Asher said.

  I nodded once.

  “What do we do with him?” Logan asked, jerking his thumb at Gallagher.

  “Grace and I will watch him,” Leo said, a hint of danger in his tone. “I’ll get law enforcement on standby, ready to move in once you have Fiona.”

  I nodded again and a potent surge of relief and gratitude flooded my chest. It was my girl in trouble, but my family was here, ready to risk themselves to help me save her.

  What the fuck would I do without them?

  “We all have a job to do,” I said. “Let’s move.”

  Hang in there, baby. I’m coming for you.

  42

  Fiona

  Now I really had to pee.

  I’d been staring at the ceiling for what felt like forever. Struggling against my bonds was pointless. That got me nothing but a few amused glances from my guard. I hated feeling so helpless, but what more could I do?

  Just wait. And hope.

  A whisper of fresh air cut through the gravelly smell. It looked like we were in a wide passageway, although it was hard to be sure. One direction disappeared into darkness. There could have been another wall there, but the lantern light didn’t reach that far. The other direction turned a corner not far from where they’d dumped me on the ground. Felix had gone that way. The occasional whiffs of outside air made me wonder if we weren’t far from the entrance.