by L. A. Fiore
Alexandra? Shit, yeah…that made sense. And by the way Brynn jerked, he knew it had been her too.
“You need to leave my office.”
Dad stood and leaned over the desk, getting right into dear ole granddad’s face. “Either way, you’re going to be dead soon, but I want you to die with the knowledge that it was by your own daughter’s hand that your company, you sacrificed everything for, slipped through your fingers. I hope like hell there is an ever after, so you can spend yours rolling in your grave you fucking motherfucker.”
“I think we’re done here.” I said and started for the door. Waiting for Dad in the hall, I asked, “How’d that feel?”
“Really fucking good.”
“So Alexandra took the disc.”
“Yeah, it’s the only thing that makes sense. Lexie steals the disc and sends it to you. That’s fucking poetic justice. So where the hell is it?” Dad’s voice turned hard, “And why the fuck didn’t she give us a heads up? Even now, she has to know what’s going on, so where the fuck is she?”
I’d been thinking that myself and I hated that Dad was seeing the woman he loved in a different light. But the truth was if she loved us at all, she wouldn’t have put us in this situation. We were pawns to her, just like she’d been with her Dad. “I’m sorry, Dad.”
“No, I’m sorry. I’ve had Lexie on a pedestal a long time, didn’t want to believe she didn’t deserve being there.” I hated seeing the pain that moved over his face, followed quickly with profound disappointment. And then his focus fixed on me. “Don’t push Avery away. She needs you to pull her in and hold her close.”
“If something happens to Nat, she won’t want me anywhere near her.”
“If something happens to Nat, she’ll need you right at her side. Don’t be like me, a victim of circumstance. Fight for her, even if she’s the one putting up the fight. There’s love there and only a fool walks away from that. My son is no fool. Now let’s go find that fucking disc.”
We searched the entire house and nothing. Outside of ripping the wainscoting from the walls and tearing up the floors there was nowhere left to search. Sitting in the living room, my focus on the wall, my heart pounded in my chest because we were running out of time. The detectives had come and gone, two cops stayed back to handle any additional demands should they come. Jax had called; he was working another angle for the detectives. And the detectives, they were insistent on handling the drop, even though we didn’t have what Nat’s kidnapper wanted. They wanted to fake it, give him a phony disc. They wouldn’t listen to reason, didn’t heed the kidnapper when he’d said no cops. I wasn’t risking Nat’s life, so time wasn’t my only enemy; I had to find the damn disc, and soon before the cops fumbled this. The two who remained were currently in the kitchen eating through the platters, their distraction worked in our favor.
“It has got to be here.” Ember paced and bit her nails. “We’ve looked everywhere on this property though.”
We had, every nook and nothing. My gaze settled on the clock, the perfect clock for a woodworker. The minutes ticking by, mocking me. And it was while I stared at the clock my focus shifted to the face. The whole clock was made of exotic wood in asymmetrical patterns, but the face was round with arts and craft style numbers: a nice round face that was roughly the size of a DVD. Rafe had mentioned his friend sent him that, a gift when he moved in. Standing up, I started across the room.
“The face on this clock, it’s about the size of DVD wouldn’t you say?”
“Yeah, why?” Mom asked clearly confused.
“Rafe said this was a gift. Sent to him when he moved in.” I took the clock from the wall and turned it over. “I need a little Phillips head screwdriver.”
Darcy started from the room, “On it.”
My hands were shaking by the time Darcy returned with the screwdriver, so it took me a bit longer to unscrew the back, but when I pulled it off, staring back at me was a disc in a white sleeve.
“You found it! Holy shit.” Ember whispered.
“We need to make a copy.” Josh said.
“Can you?” I asked.
“Yeah, I have equipment at my office.”
Ember asked, “Should we call the guys.”
“There isn’t time for that.” I said as I handed the disc to Josh.
“The cops?” She added.
“You heard Nat’s captor, no cops.”
“Who do you suppose sent this?” Darcy asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m making the call.”
“I think Ember’s right. We should wait for the guys or tell the cops, that’s why they’re here. I’m all for damsels doing the rescuing, no offense Josh, but you have no idea what you’re walking into.”
“Yeah, and he has my sister. I’m not waiting.”
Reaching for my phone, I pulled up the number on Rafe’s phone and dialed it. The man answered immediately “I hope for your sister’s sake you have what I want.”
Moving to the bedroom, I said, “I’ve got it.”
Surprise edged his next words. “You do?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, meet me at Steeplechase pier by Coney Island in an hour. Do not bring the cops.”
Cruel that the place I spent the best day of my life could be the place that turns into the worst of my life. “Make it two, I need to slip by the cops and it takes an hour to get there.”
“Two hours. Don’t be late.”
My hands were shaking, the reality of what was happening finally hitting me. What the hell was I doing?
“Now what?” Darcy asked.
“I slip out the front door.”
“We.” Josh said at the same time Ember and Darcy did. And as much as I loved that Ember and Darcy wanted to help, there was no way they were coming.
“No. You have children and your husbands would hate me for life if something happened to you. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Mom, no.”
“Avery, I’m not asking.”
“I don’t like this.” Ember said.
“We’re meeting at the Steeplechase pier. Tell the guys when they get here and they can come riding to the rescue, but I’m going to get my sister.”
“He’s going to be pissed, you do know that right?” Ember asked.
“I’m not waiting. Call Tyler.” I jotted down his number. “He needs to know what’s happening.”
“Okay.” Darcy said before she hugged me hard. “Come back with your sister and in one piece.”
“I will.”
Ember pulled me close. “Please don’t be a hero.”
“What car are you going to take? Yours is blocked in by the cop car.” Darcy asked.
“The guys took the one we came over in.” Ember added.
And Rafe’s keys were in the kitchen with the cops.
“We’ll take my ride.” Mom said. “What? It’s the only wheels we have.”
“Damsels riding to the rescue in an RV, that’s a first.” Darcy said, and if I weren’t sick with worry, I would have seriously found the situation hysterical.
Pulling onto my street, the first thing I noticed was the RV was gone. “Where the fuck is the RV?”
“You don’t think—”
I didn’t let Lucien finish. “Yeah, I absolutely do think. Goddamn it.”
Double parking in front of my drive, I jumped from the car…the back door slamming in my wake.
“Tell me she did not leave this house.”
Ember and Darcy were in the kitchen looking nervous and worried. Two cops were with them looking frustrated and annoyed.
One of the cops said, “About an hour ago. These two aren’t talking.”
“Son of a bitch.”
Trace spoke up from behind me. “Baby, did she find the disc?”
“She did, in the clock in the living room. Uncle Josh went with her, they stopped at his office to make a copy.”
“Where are they meeting?” Trace pressed, sh
e looked conflicted. “Ember, where are they going?”
“He said no cops.”
“Ember.”
“Tell him.” Darcy encouraged. “Or I will.”
“Steeplechase pier. They’re meeting in…” Ember glanced at the clock on the stove, “forty minutes.”
“Anna?” Harold asked.
“She went too.”
“In the RV?” I asked for clarification, but bright side, it’d be easy to find them in the RV.
“Yeah.”
I was already halfway down the drive by the time the others caught up.
“Thank you for coming.” Josh sat at the table in the back of the RV, next to Mom as I drove.
“As if I’d let you go alone, especially since the disc is corrupt.”
“How do you think this will work?” Mom asked Josh.
“Honestly, I think he’s going to take the disc and then put a bullet in Avery’s brain. I’m being blunt because you are walking into danger and candy coating that is only going to get you killed.”
Crazy to think all that went into finding the disc and it’s useless. “We have to try.” I said.
“Yeah, but we have to be smart about it. As much as this thing is an attention getter, it may work in our favor.”
“How?”
“He thinks you’re coming alone. We can hide in here, you tell him the disc is in the RV. He’s got to expect you’ll be parking in the lot by the pier. It’s late in the season; the park closes at six so there won’t be many people around. If we can lure him over, we might be able to surprise him; maybe we get a few seconds to get his gun away, if nothing else we buy seconds for all of us to get away. Is there a back way out of here?”
“Yeah, the window in the bedroom’s big enough to slip out of.” Mom supplied.
“All right, let’s get armed with anything we can use as a weapon.”
I had never in my life been as afraid as I was while walking toward the pier. I knew Mom and Josh were close, believed Rafe was on his way, Tyler too, and yet as I walked to meet the unknown, I felt very much alone. And it was because I felt that staggering feeling of terror and isolation that I kept walking because my sister had to be petrified. And she’d been alone with her captor for hours.
It was cold, colder here near the pier. Nat had only been wearing a sweater when I’d last seen her. Was it really only just yesterday that she’d been teasing me; she had to be freezing. I hadn’t even thought of that. I should have. What if Nat’s captor wouldn’t come with me to the parking lot? What if he killed Nat and me and searched the RV on his own? Now that I was here, I realized how stupid I had been because I was walking into the viper’s den with nothing more than the clothes on my back and an excuse.
As I reached the pier, I saw Nat. She looked okay which immediately had the knot in my stomach easing. A man stood next to her and as I approached I recognized him. It was the man who had seen me home that one night at Allegro after I’d had too much to drink, Marco.
“You?” At first asked in disbelief, but as the reality finally sank in I said it again in a snarl. “You! It wasn’t a coincidence us meeting at Allegro, was it? You were the one breaking into Rafe’s house.”
“Until the codes changed, then I needed a new way to gain access.”
Another man stood in the shadows and yet somehow I knew he was the mastermind behind this. As soon as he stepped into the light, I recognized him too. He was the man at the café that day with Melody.
“Avery Collins. I’m Nicholas Titus. It’s very nice to meet you. I’ve enjoyed my time with your sister, a delightful creature. I’d hate to have to put a bullet in her brain. Have you got the item?”
“Yeah, it’s in my car.”
Nicholas moved as gracefully as he had that day in the café, so the backhanded smack across my cheek completely took me by surprise as I stumbled backwards a few steps. “You’re lying to me.”
My cheek stung like it was on fire, but instead of feeling terror, anger stirred. Reaching for my phone, I pulled up the picture of the disc that Josh insisted I take. “Look! Proof. I have it.”
He took my phone and studied it for a minute, before a creepy smile spread over his face. “Take me to it.”
“Let Nat go and I will.”
“You’re making demands?”
“I’ll take Nat’s place. Let her go. She isn’t a part of this.”
“Why don’t I just shoot you and your sister and retrieve it myself?”
“You don’t know what car or where it’s parked. Look, there are others coming for me. You think Rafe is seriously going to sit back while I walk into danger. Let her go and I’ll take you to it. You’ll be gone before they ever get here.”
He seemed to study his options for a minute before he said, “Very well.”
“No! Avery, don’t go with them.”
“I have to Nat.” I pulled off the jacket I was wearing. “Can I give this to her?”
“Check it.” Nicholas demanded of Marco.
Marco grabbed it from me. “It’s clean.”
Nicholas’ head jerked and I didn’t waste time moving to Nat to hug her hard. Whispering I said, “Mom is close, so it Tyler. Take my phone; call Rafe, tell him about Nicholas.”
“Let’s go.” Nicholas was losing his patience. I released Nat. “Run. Get to safety. I’ll see you soon, I promise.”
God how I hoped that was a promise I could keep. Nat hesitated, conflicted with the idea of leaving me, but she needed to get to safety, needed to get in touch with Rafe. Seeming to understand that too, she ran. And as I watched her go, profound relief filled me because whatever happened now, Nat would be okay.
We’d started down the pier toward the parking lot; Marco walked close to the railing with me in front of him and his gun digging into my back. I tried to walk as slowly as I could to give Nat more time. Peering over the railing, the drop wasn’t so bad. Maybe I could make a break for it and jump.
Marco’s voice jarred me back. “Where did you find the disc?”
Couldn’t hurt to share and talking might distract them so they wouldn’t hear when Rafe and the others arrive. “Behind the face of the clock in the living room.”
“Fuck me.” Marco mumbled, but it was Nicholas’s tone that sent a chill through me.
“And how is it that this woman finds the disc in just a few hours and you, a professional, had weeks collecting my money and came up empty-handed?”
Marco tensed, his gun easing at my back. “She had full access with no limitations, I had pockets of time in which to search. It’s a big fucking house.”
“And still.” Marco was scary; Nicholas was downright terrifying. The man was as cold as ice. “The others who came back empty-handed got a bullet in the head for their efforts.”
Marco picking up on the deadly undercurrent, stopped walking, yanking me in front of him, but he leveled his gun on Nicholas. “Are you threatening me?”
“I’m merely saying that when I pay for a service I expect results.”
“Yeah, well maybe if you’d been smarter you wouldn’t be scrambling at the last minute looking for the evidence that linked you to murder, charges they can pile onto the list the authorities already have.”
Nicholas flinched. What the hell was Marco talking about?
“Yeah, I know about the pending arrest warrant, brought down and by your own wife too. Not too fucking smart, are you?”
Holy shit. Alexandra’s comment at the hospital about the game changing made sense now. She was courageous, taking on Nicholas and winning. I hoped I lived through this to share that news with Rafe and Liam.
Under the cold façade, Nicholas was cracking; his eyes were all crazy. And as Nicholas and Marco had their standoff, I caught a movement further down the pier. People were coming, heading in our direction. Hope died as quickly as it flared because when I turned my attention back on Nicholas, he had a gun aimed at Marco. They were going to kill each other and me in the process and even as my survival ins
tinct kicked in, Marco’s hold was unyielding using me now as a shield.
“You’re going to shoot me? I’ll kill her and you’ll never get your disc.”
I heard a strange popping sound, the stirring of the air near my face, and in a terrifying moment of clarity I realized Nicholas had shot Marco. The pier railing was right behind us, and the momentum of the bullet caused Marco’s body to fly backwards. Since he had a death grip on me, when he went over the side of the pier, I went with him.
I landed in a jarring heap, I may even have lost consciousness for a second or two, but I was alive. I tried to move, to get away, and then all hell broke loose.
My phone rang, seeing it was Avery nearly had me crashing the car. “Avery!”
“It’s Nat.”
“Thank Christ. Where’s Avery? Where are you?”
“The pier. Tyler found me. We’re following Avery. They have her.”
Fear, even with all the rage burning through me, the fucking fear nearly choked me “Who’s they?”
“Some goon named Marco and his boss, Nicholas Titus.”
Marco? Why the hell did that name sound familiar? “You’ve got eyes on her?”
“Yeah, Marco has her, a gun at her back. Wait, they’ve stopped; looks like Marco and Nicholas are exchanging heated words. Oh shit, you need to hurry.”
“Did you call the police?”
But she didn’t answer because the line went dead. We were just pulling up beside the RV.
“I’ll check the RV.” Lucien called as Trace went in search of Nat and Tyler, but I was already running to the pier. I didn’t immediately take in the whole scene, since my focus was on Avery and the two gun-wielding assholes with her.
It happened so fast, a gunshot fired and one second Avery was standing on the pier and the next her body was being dragged over the side. More shots were fired, but I was running to Avery, didn’t give a fuck if I got shot. Dropping at her side, I saw her eyes were open.
Relief hit me like a fucking punch in the gut. It wasn’t that high of a fall, but she could have landed funny and cracked her neck. “Does it hurt?”
