Marcus nodded. “She doesn’t know about him, does she?”
Renata shook her head. “No more than she could find out on Google, which isn’t much. He does a really good job of keeping his run-ins with the law scrubbed from the internet, and you know they’ve never gotten him on anything. Not enough evidence, supposedly.”
“Too bad we couldn’t save that video of him killing Tomiko.”
“I know,” Renata groaned. She and Quentin had spent long hours trying to unscramble the video, which had gone corrupt and basically self-destructed after one play. “Even if we had it though, without a body… Marcus you know he would have been free within the hour.”
Marcus scrubbed a hand over his head. “Yeah, but… a kid can dream, right?”
“If you say so.” Renata smiled, then patted Marcus’s hand. “Come on, let’s go see what everyone is doing.”
They stood, and went inside, finding everyone gathered in the war room. Since Renata had jumped the gun, and released the files to the media, everyone was calling for Terry King’s head. He was being dragged across social media, the internet, and it seemed every law enforcement agent had a warrant for his arrest. Problem was… nobody could find him.
“It’s like he’s disappeared off the face of the earth,” Inez said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Every property he owns, every place he frequents… nothing there. He’s probably in a bunker somewhere knocking back tequila, waiting for this all to blow over.”
“But in the meantime…” Quentin grinned at Renata, grabbing her hand. “Stock is plummeting, people are resignin’ from the board of directors. The government has cancelled all of their contracts with King Pharmaceuticals, and the president is holdin’ a press conference later today, with the surgeon general present.. We’ve got good intel that it’s about easing the American people’s fears about their prescription drugs, and condemning Terry King’s actions. So… it sounds like a win to me.”
Beaming, Renata squeezed Quentin’s hand, then blushed when he grabbed her waist to pull her close. “We did it, baby. You did it. You win.” He pressed his lips to hers, and she eagerly kissed him back, giggling into his mouth when Inez led a series of whistles and claps.
Renata was turning to say something to them when her cell phone rang, and everyone went quiet. One look at the screen, and her heart surged.
It was Wolfe.
She looked nervously at Quentin, who gave her an encouraging nod. Renata answered the phone with the biggest smile, and perkiest hello she’d ever given Wolfe.
“Good morning, Agent Parker,” he said, chuckling at Renata’s obviously bright demeanor.
“Good morning. When is Taylor’s flight? Or are you doing a road trip? Do I need to come get her? Just say the word.”
“Right to the point, I see.” Wolfe cleared his throat, then looked pointedly at the screen. “There’s been a change in plans,” he said, with no trace of humor. “I’ll be keeping Taylor with me indefinitely.”
Immediate, white hot anger swept Renata. “What? You son a bitch, you said if we took King Pharma down, you would give her back!”
“I did say that, and according to the news, you haven’t quite held up your end of the bargain yet. Stocks are falling, yes. People are upset, yes. But Terry King is still walking this earth, alive and free. King Pharmaceuticals is still standing. You’ve done well Ms. Parker, but you’ve still got work to do. I want to see that daddy of yours burn.”
From the way he smirked at the screen, Renata could tell he thought that last statement would be a surprise to her. But, she shook her head. He was about 12 hours too late to use that as a jab.
“I already figured out why you wanted me to do this, you sick, twisted bastard. How do even fucking sleep at night?”
Wolfe smiled. “Don’t be naïve, Ms. Parker. I sleep wonderfully. I hope you’re not taking any of this personally. I think you’re a wonderful young woman, so it was never anything against you, but business is business — and family is family. Terry King fucked with my business and my family.”
“Your family? How?” Renata asked, even though she immediately hated herself for being curious.
“Yvette. My beautiful baby sister, who wanted nothing to do with any of this shit. She got pregnant when she was sixteen. No father. I made sure she had everything she needed, made sure her little man had something to eat, and I sent her away from the city, away from trouble. She got sick, when her kid was about 20, and that’s when I find out Terry’s bitch ass was the one who got my baby sister pregnant. She told me before she passed away. He had been skinning and grinning in my fucking face for twenty years, knowing what he’d done, knowing he hadn’t done right by her. He’d already screwed me out of that drug deal, and I hadn’t gotten with him about that yet either. Then Nelson and Julian finally decided to pop off too, so I just handled everybody.”
Renata shook her head. “And you decided to use me as your weapon.”
“Unfortunately so. But I did better by you than your bitch ass father ever did by my sister. I didn’t just send money, I checked in, made sure Taylor was taken care of. She’ll be fine with me. Taylor has a father.”
“And she needs her mother too!” Naomi chimed in, stepping beside Renata to speak to Wolfe. “I want to meet my cousin, and she needs her mother. Why don’t you just stick to your word, and send her back?”
Wolfe smiled. “Madame Mimi. I appreciate your concern for Taylor, but be assured, she has a mother figure. My wife is here, and she is loving taking care of the girls.”
Renata’s anger flared again. She didn’t even know Wolfe had a wife. How had they missed that? “Is that supposed to appease me? Some woman I don’t know is taking care of my child?”
“You may not know her, but Naomi does. Naomi is very familiar with my wife.”
When Renata glanced over at her, Naomi had her eyebrow lifted, and returned Renata’s glance with a frown. “What are you talking about? Who is your wife?”
“You’ll see soon enough. How is the pregnancy going?”
“I’m not telling you anything,” Naomi snapped. “You tell me what you’re talking about! Are you… are you talking about Noelle? Is that your wife?”
Ignoring Naomi’s question, Wolfe smiled at someone off screen. “I’ve gotta go,” he said, looking back at the camera. Ms. Parker, we’ll speak again next week for your usual update on Taylor. Naomi… my wife sends her best. She’s looking forward to meeting her new grandchild.”
After that, the line went dead. For a long moment, everyone just stood there without speaking, stunned. It took Renata a second to register that Wolfe was… serious. He really wasn’t sending Taylor back.
“You told me he would do this,” she said, tears choking her voice as she turned to Quentin, letting the phone slip from her hands and drop to the floor. “In the very beginning. You told me I was being ridiculous if I thought he was really gonna give her back, and I… I can’t believe I was this stu—”
“Stop.” The edge in Quentin’s voice made her stop speaking, as tears dripped from her eyes. She’d seen Quentin angry before — at her, at Marcus, even at Terry King — but the look on his face now… wasn’t a look she ever wanted to see. He was beyond angry. His hands shook as he cupped her face, tipping her chin up to face him. “Don’t you dare blame yourself for this. He’s not doing this shit again. Not to you, not to Naomi, not anymore. Not today.
He kissed her, with a surprisingly light touch, considering the rage radiating from his skin. When he turned away, he faced the rest of them team. “Marcus, it’s time.”
“You’re reading my mind, Q,” Marcus said, his face carrying a similar — if not more menacing — expression as Quentin. “Kendall, Inez… y’all down?”
“Wait a minute.” Renata grabbed Quentin’s arm, turning him to face her. “What’s going on? What are you doing?”
Quentin smiled. “We’re about to go get your daughter back, bien-aimé. It’s time we paid Wolfe a visit.”
&
nbsp; — & —
“If she’s there… bring her back to me. Please.”
Marcus closed his eyes, taking a breath as he pulled a clean shirt over his head. It had taken them hours to formulate a plan, and convince a few of Kendall and Inez’s former unnamed-government-agency friends to accompany them, for extra man power. Now, they were simply waiting for the right time. It was best to go middle of the night, cloak of darkness. It was already night now, and time to go. Time to take the hour long flight that would get them to Wolfe’s compound.
He turned to Naomi, still naked, still beautiful, with that tiny bulge in her stomach. Guilt gnawed at him. What if I don’t make it back to her? But he couldn’t really let himself think about that. He would eliminate Wolfe. He would erase that ever-present fear from her mind. And now, because she thought it was possible, he would bring her mother back to her as well.
The feeling that Wolfe was just taunting her, employing his usual emotional manipulation, came to mind. If Naomi’s mother had been alive all this time… why hadn’t she contacted her? Why hadn’t she said anything? Why was she with Damien Wolfe? Of course… if she actually was alive, she could answer for herself. Marcus just hoped it wasn’t a similar situation to Renata and Terry King — knowing your child was out there, needing you, but you simply don’t care.
Approaching the bed, he sat down at the end, and pulled Naomi into his lap. She snuggled close to him, and Marcus was struck by conflicting emotions over how vulnerable she felt. He was glad that she was comfortable letting down her guard with him. Glad that she trusted him, relied on his strength. But… he also missed her strength. Her willingness to not back down, not let emotions rule her. He missed her fight.
But Marcus understood. Or at least, he was trying. Just like Renata, Naomi was dealing with blow after blow. Unexpected pregnancy, being attacked, then finding out that her father may not have been the man she thought he was… it was a lot.
For anybody.
So…instead of thinking about what he wished she would do, he simply stroked her back, until she’d calmed, and turned her head up to press her lips to his.
“You’d better bring your ass back,” she said, moving so that she was straddling his lap. “I’m not kidding. If you don’t come back to me… I will kill you.”
Marcus chuckled, then gently swatted her on the butt. “Then I guess I’d better make sure I— wait a minute, what are you doing?”
Naomi smiled at him as she finished her swift undoing of his pants, then filled her hands with him. “Well… in case this is the last time…”
“I thought we just did that. You’re still naked, Beautiful.”
“That was a test run.”
Marcus’s laugh turned into a groan of pleasure as she lowered herself onto him, but it was short lived. Suddenly, the sound of muffled chaos erupted below them
Shit.
Naomi moved out his lap, scrambling for clothes as Marcus put everything away and refastened himself. By the time he turned to her, Naomi had already pulled on shorts and a tee shirt, had a gun in her hand, and was tucking a second one into her waist. There was no point in telling her to stay where she was. If there were intruders in the house… she was probably safest with him.
As they exited the room and descended the stairs, he warned her to stay behind him. The commotion was coming from the garage, where they were supposed to be meeting to leave. Confusion swept him as he turned through the doorway.
A terrified-looking Taylor was in Renata’s arms, sobbing on her shoulder. Another teenager, who Marcus recognized as Wolfe’s daughter Kennedy stood crying nearby. Quentin, Kendall, and Inez all had their guns trained on a man in dark clothes on the floor. Startled by the sudden opening of a door, Marcus pointed his gun, finger on the trigger as Savannah — Savi — came barreling through. When she saw his gun, she stopped and raised her hands, letting her medical bag hit the floor.
“Marcus,” she said, her dark eyes opened wide. “It’s me. Inez called me!”
Inez glanced over her shoulder, noticing Marcus and Naomi’s presence. “She’s good Marcus. I called her to help him.” She nodded her head at the man on the floor, and Marcus turned his gun away from Savi with a quick apology.
She quickly retrieved her bag from the floor, and rushed over to where the rest of the team stood, with Marcus and Naomi following. She dropped to her knees beside the man, and opened her bag, doing a quick examination before she used her scissors to cut open his pants leg.
Marcus moved to stand beside Kendall, and once he was there, his eyes went wide.
What the hell was Harrison doing here, with what appeared to be several bullet holes through his lower body?
What the hell was going on?
— & —
“You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you?”
Terry King paced the floor in front of where Damien Wolfe lay immobile, thanks to the drug he’d injected in his spine, and both of his kneecaps shattered by bullets Terry had thoroughly enjoyed putting there. He really wanted to just get this over with, but that was too simple. That would be way too easy.
It would be way less pain than Damien Wolfe deserved, after what he’d done to Renata.
Terry had fucked up.
That was something he could admit.
He’d trusted Allison to do right by their child, even though she didn’t understand him leaving, and she hadn’t. He should have been more diligent. He should have hired someone to keep tabs on them. Maybe he shouldn’t have screwed Damien out of that drug deal. Maybe… he shouldn’t have screwed Damien’s sister.
But, that was the distant, distant past. He was focused on the present, focused on the fact that King Pharma was losing investors, about to be under countless investigations, and hemorrhaging money faster than he could even keep up with. And this bastard had used his daughter to do it.
Terry glanced over at the love of Damien’s life, tied up, bloodied and bruised. He hadn’t gotten nearly as much satisfaction as he’d hoped for while making Damien watch that.
He knelt down beside his old friend, and smiled. “Nothing to say for yourself man? No response? Maybe if I get your daughter in here, give her the same… treatment I gave your wife… maybe then you’ll have something to say.”
At that, Damien laughed, although it was distorted by the drugs. “Whatever. Harrison must have gotten the girls out of here a long time ago. If not, you would’ve already used them against me.”
“Oh, you’re right,” Terry said, patting Damien on the shoulder. “Your little right-hand-man escaped with your teenaged daughters.”
“Exactly like I thought. You’ll never get your hands on them. Harrison knows better. I win.”
Terry laughed, then shook his head. “No, my friend. I win. Because I’m not talking about them.” He glanced from Damien, to Noelle, then back to Damien, and laughed again.
“I’m talking about the thief.”
— the end… for now —
I know, I know! Where’s the rest, right? Be on the lookout for the continuation of the “If You Can” series, Save Me If You Can, in Summer 2015.
I would love you know what you thought about Quentin & Renata, catching up with Marcus and Naomi, and a little more introduction of Kendall and Inez ! You can share with me by leaving a review, visiting me at my website http://www.BeingMrsJones.com/ (you can email me there from the contact page), liking my Facebook page, at https://www.Facebook.com/BeingMrsJones or connecting with me on Twitter, at @BeingMrsJones.
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Other titles by Christina Jones:
Standalone Titles:
Love and Other Things
The Trouble With Love
Friends & Lovers:
Finding Forever
Chasing Commitment
Strictly Professional:
Strictly Professional
Unfinished Business
Serendipitous Love:
A Cr
azy Little Thing Called Love
Didn’t Mean To Love You
Fall In Love Again
If You Can:
Catch Me If You Can
Release Me If You Can
Coming Soon:
Haunted – a paranormal romance novella
Release Me If You Can Page 22
