It’s Razor. Liam tightened his hold on the gun and moved back to the window.
“Hurry up and piss.”
“Not with the stall open and you standing there.”
Sabrina!
“I guess you don’t have to pee, then.”
Son of a bitch. Liam edged closer to the frosted glass.
“I’d rather pee on myself than let you watch me.”
“Suit yourself.”
Face against the siding, Liam carefully looked into the room. Razor leaned against a sink, legs crossed, one hand stroking his chin, the other cupping his crotch. His attention focused on Sabrina, who stood in front of the stall.
The Glock had been cocked the moment Liam left the ridge. He brought the weapon up and slipped the muzzle into the small opening. One move, one wrong twitch in Sabrina’s direction, and he would be dead.
“Yo, Razor. You in or not?” Someone called from the other room. Liam watched Razor smile.
“Lucky, lucky woman. Soon, your luck will run out.” He pushed off from the sink and swaggered out of the room.
Sabrina waited until the door closed behind Razor to stagger to the sink and splash water on her face. Gently, Liam tapped the window. Sabrina yelped, jumped a foot, and spun. She saw the gun first and backed up, her mouth open, preparing to scream.
“It’s me,” Liam hissed.
Eyes wide, Sabrina slapped her hand over her mouth and rushed to the window. “Liam!”
He reached through the opening and grabbed her hand. She clung to him, tears blurring her eyes. Her tears shredded his heart. He shut down his emotions and stayed focused. “Where’s Vivi?”
“She’s fine, but not safe. She’s with Anna, but Anna is tied to a chair. I-I h-had to leave her on the floor. They put my baby on the floor and locked both of them in the dark.” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I could hear her crying through the door and couldn’t reach her.”
Rage, channeled properly, becomes fuel. “How many men?”
“Five. All I saw was five, plus Vincent. They have him tied up in a room on the other side of the building.”
That was a surprise. However, he wasn’t here to save Vincent.
She spoke fast. “I didn’t ask how he got out of jail and it doesn’t matter. He told them he needed my signature to get into a bank account so he could get their money. It’s a lie, Liam. He lied about my signature and the money. There is no money. He blew it all in Vegas. They’re gonna kill us when they find out.”
He cupped her cheek. “No, they’re not. I’m getting you out of here. I want you to get Vivi and get low. Hide and I will find you.”
She shook her head and another flood of tears rushed down her cheeks. “I can’t leave Anna tied to a chair to die.”
Liam retrieved a switch blade he’d stuffed into his back pocket. “Free her and hide.” She nodded. “Promise me,” he insisted and squeezed her fingers.
“Yes. Promise me you’ll be careful.”
He nodded once and silently promised the Black Dragons and her ex would never threaten her again. He’d make sure of it. “Go.”
Sabrina rushed to the bathroom door, then paused to center herself. She glanced over her shoulder. Their eyes locked and he knew what he was fighting for. He knew what was on the line. She opened the door and was gone.
Liam returned to the back door. He gave Sabrina five minutes, praying she made it back to Anna, freed her, and got somewhere safe. He pressed send on the text, holstered his Glock, and thumbed the safety on his Colt. He brought the semi-automatic up and grabbed the handle. His mind went into countdown mode.
Chapter Forty
Sabrina exited the bathroom with the switchblade tucked into her waistband and her shirt bloused over it. Razor was in a card game, but he wasn’t the only man to watch her cross back to the room they’d locked Anna and Vivi inside.
As calm as she could be, she entered the room and sank beside Anna. Vivi was just a few feet away, sleeping. Liam is here, she mouthed, her gaze cutting to the door every few seconds. Don’t move. Cutting you free. She pulled the blade out of her waistband and cut Anna’s binds. Anna kept perfectly still, pretending nothing had changed and she was still a captive, still helplessly bound.
“At the signal. You go for Vivi,” Sabrina whispered.
Anna didn’t ask what signal and neither had Sabrina. Though, she figured it would be loud. Carefully, Anna rotated her ankles and moved her legs up and down, trying to regain circulation.
Outside, something exploded. Anna dived off the chair, moving fast for her age. She scooped Vivi up and wedged them into a far corner, her body curled around Vivi.
Sabrina picked up the chair, kicked the door closed and wedged the chair under the handle, throwing them back into darkness. The switchblade was in her hand, prepared to defend her child at any cost. She stood there, listening to gunfire, some muffled, some right outside the door. Then silence until someone yanked on the handle and banged on the door.
Anna started praying.
Knife poised to strike, Sabrina joined her.
∞∞∞
The back door was locked. Two rounds to the mechanism remedied the problem. Liam entered low and found himself in a short hallway. He moved through swiftly and emerged into an open area with the Colt sweeping from side to side. Yeah, the place was a chop-shop filled with various auto and bike parts, plus a few cars in the process of being stripped. No one was present. A scream came from outside, followed by another. Two possible hits. Two possibly dead. Shots echoed from outside in rapid fire. It had to be Mack unloading his Colt.
His gaze darted around the room. He spotted the bathroom through an open door and two doors next to it. A third door lay on the other side of the room. Sabrina and Vivi were inside one of them. Which-fucking-one?
The front door banged open. Liam ducked behind a tractor trailer engine and flattened himself on the ground. Two guys ran past. He shot the one in the rear first, and the one in front before the first body hit the ground. Thing is, a silencer didn’t matter in close quarters, and when bodies hit the ground, they tend not to be quiet.
An automatic fire pinged the engine. He swung his colt around and returned fire, careful not to hit any of the closed doors. There was one more out there. One more. He couldn’t stay behind the engine, had to switch positions. The only thing big enough to shield him was the truck of the SUV and the last man was behind one of them.
Fifty-fifty shot. Could wait for Mack and Jay, but whoever was out there was closer to the three doors than him. That put Sabrina and Vivi in more danger. Unacceptable.
He had a lot riding on his next move. Make it count.
Liam sprinted to the rear of the SUV. A quick look under the body showed no one. He eased around the back of the SUV. The engine started. The bastard was in the driver’s seat. He brought the Colt up, got off one round, when the car went into reverse.
He hit the ground. Head to the side, he sucked in and flatten himself like a cartoon character. Luck was on his side, the tricked-out SUV with the mega tires and high undercarriage rolled right over him. Shit was still close.
The second he cleared the front bumper, he popped up onto one knee with his Colt aimed at the person in the driver’s seat. He peppered the windshield, the gun steady in his hands as the clip emptied. The SUV crashed through the front of the building. Liam chased after it and didn’t stop firing until he saw red. The vehicle slowed though didn’t stop. If it didn’t stop soon, it wouldn’t on the sloping driveway.
Two long range shots, high caliber shots, and the rear tires exploded. The SUV shuddered, rolled over a body in the driveway. That was the last of its momentum and it stopped next to a second body. Liam squinted at the ridge. Jay and Mack were headed toward him. Dammit, I told that boy to stay.
Liam turned his attention to the three closed doors. He couldn’t call her name and possibly draw her into the line of fire.
Glass crunched behind him. It was Mack. Where’s Jay? Liam mouthed.
“Perimeter check. There could be more lingering.”
Nothing he could do about it. Liam made for the nearest door. He pressed himself to the wall nearest the door. He used the stealth he was taught and sunk to the floor. There weren’t many options. Mack took aim from behind an engine.
Headlights flashed through the opening in the wrecked front wall. It could be Mayhem finally arriving. His gut didn’t agree. He positioned himself.
“What the fuck!”
“They killed Caleb.”
“They killed our prez.”
Liam dove for cover as bullets sprayed the interior, including the Silverado. Talk about shooting first and asking questions later. With bullets flying, Liam hunkered down. He couldn’t wait for a lull, not with bullets piercing the closed doors.
He dropped to his belly. A pair of feet shuffled into view. Take out the foundation and the rest will crumble, plus the guy will never walk without a limp. One squeeze of the trigger and timber.
“Liam, to your right!” Mack yelled.
Liam rolled to his side, swung the gun around and…didn’t fire. It was just a hand sticking through a crack in the door, firing. If he fired and missed, if the bullet pierced the wood and shot the wrong person… Liam sprung to his feet and rushed the door. He grabbed the arm while slamming into the door.
The door flung open. Liam and Razor crashed to the floor, the Colt wedged between their straining bodies. There was another person in the room with them, a man tied to a chair. He wasn’t an immediate threat, unlike Razor, who squeezed off two wild rounds. Liam locked a hand onto the wrist holding the gun, the other hand, he wrapped around Razor’s throat. Unfortunately, Razor took the opportunity to do the same to Liam. A thumb pressed his carotid artery. His vision blurred. His thoughts slowed.
This standoff wouldn’t work. One of them would black out before the other. If that one was Liam, he’d never wake up and where would that leave Sabrina and Vivi. He released Razor and before the asshole could inhale, Liam planted his elbow in Razor’s neck. The bit of air Razor managed to inhale was trapped in his throat. He bucked, but Liam held onto Razor’s wrist as he pried the fingers away from his throat.
The gun fired.
Footsteps rushed toward the room. Friend or foe, Liam hooked a leg around Razor and rolled Razor on top of him. A spray of bullets swept from left to right. Pain flared in Liam’s side while Razor jerked, and his scream abruptly ended. Razor slumped on top of Liam.
Nothing weighed more than a dead body. He peered around Razor at the opened, unoccupied doorway. A body was sprawled across the threshold. Liam shoved Razor off and climbed to his feet. Less than a yard away, another body. The chair had tipped over with the guy still tied to it. A bullet to his jaw obliterated his face. The bullet to his chest was redundant.
“Liam! Liam! Where yae at boy?” Finlay’s voice cut through Liam’s inspection.
He stepped over both bodies to find Finlay standing in the middle of the chop-shop as if he owned the place…which—come to think of it—he did. Liam didn’t have time to address the relief on Finlay’s face. He had to find his woman and his kid.
“Here.” Liam brushed past Finlay, but Finlay wasn’t having it. He stopped Liam with a bear hug that had Liam groaning from the flash of pain in his side.
“Yae hurt?” Finlay released him and scanned him like a laser reading a barcode from top to bottom. He’d never seen Finlay like this.
“No. Vest caught the bullet. Still hurts like a sonofabitch.”
“Yae sure, Son?” Finlay squeezed his arm.
The fatherly concern was overwhelming, especially since he’d never had it before. This was new. Finlay with emotion. Maybe old age and a dance with death had mellowed the old bird.
“Yeah, Dad.” After all these years, the word sounded strange rolling off his tongue. “I gotta find Sabrina and Vivi.”
Mayhem filled the space. Seemed like the entire club turned out. If we were all standing, that meant the Black Dragons weren’t. They’d rolled the dice and came up snake eyes. Liam wasn’t sorry. When you fuck with a man’s woman and kid, you get what you deserve.
He went to the nearest door. Mack met him with his semi in his hand. He was bloody, but upright and alert. Door was unlocked and the room was an empty office. Heart pounding, Liam moved to the last door. He pressed the handle. The door was unlocked but didn’t budge. What would he find behind it? A part of him wasn’t prepared, would never be prepared. Good or bad, he had to know. He manned up, lifted his boot and kicked the door in.
The sight greeting him would live in his nightmares for the rest of his life. He glimpsed Sabrina in the middle of the dark room, his knife in her raised hand, before she came flying at him with a war cry shredding the silence.
“Baby, it’s me. It’s Liam.”
She faltered, the knife lowered a fraction, then he swept her into his arms. He wrapped her in his embrace, rocking her against his chest, as her entire body trembled.
“Liam.”
All the fight went out of her and her knees crumbled, but he had her and he was never letting go.
Over her shoulder, Anna rose from a corner of the room. In her arms, Vivi, who squinted in the light and let out a wail when she saw them. Anna handed her over to him and he was complete. He had everything he would ever need.
Epilogue
Eight Months Later
“Mama! Look!” Vivi lisped and did her version of a twirl, and nearly tipped over. Somehow, she escaped Anna and made her way into the master suite of the hotel room.
“Oh, baby, you look so pretty.” Vivi’s flower girl dress fanned out from her chubby legs, showing her white patent leather Mary Janes and ruffled socks. Sabrina tempted Willa’s wrath and picked her daughter up. “You are the prettiest flower girl slash honorary maid of honor ever.” She tickled her chin, earning a giggle. “And so beautiful my eyes hurt.”
Willa groaned and warned Sabrina. “If you don’t keep still, I swear I’ll make you look like the Joker.”
Willa had been fussing with Sabrina’s hair and makeup for the last hour and she was over it. No amount of hair and makeup would turn her into a model. She was ready to call it quits and get married. Liam loved her. Not the hair or artfully applied goop. He loved her as much as she loved him.
Anna rushed into the room, already in her bridesmaid dress. “There you are, missy. I go pee and you vanish.” She took Vivi from Sabrina. “Say bye to Mama, who looks absolutely beautiful. Liam will be blown away. And he and the boys are all here.”
That got Sabrina’s heart in her throat. “Really?”
“Where did you think he’d be on his wedding day?” Willa snorted.
Sabrina fiddled with her engagement ring as Willa added the finishing touches to her hair. It was a simple round cut, half a carat, and the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. He actually got down on one knee and asked her to marry him in his backyard in front of all their friends. Two months later, here they were, getting married at the hotel with the balcony where they’d made love.
Her hands drifted to the slight bulge at her waistline. They didn’t know she was pregnant when he proposed. She would’ve liked to have had more time as a couple before giving Vivi a sibling. However, all things happened for a reason, and she had never been happier. This baby was created in love and would be brought into a home filled with love.
“Finished,” Willa announced and spun the chair around. “Take a look and tell me what you think.”
Sabrina’s breath caught. She was so glad she grew her hair out again, because Willa had slicked everything back and up and piled her hair high in a riot of tight curls. The hair, combined with cubic zirconia teardrop diamond earrings, complimented the A-line halter, floor-length, white tiered wedding dress. The lace top and tulle bottom was a tight fit, but it fit.
“Well?” Willa sighed, her hands on her hips, waiting none too patiently.
“I’ve never looked so good.”
Both their
phones rang. They reached for them at the same time and showed each other the screen. Mack called his wife while Liam called his soon to be bride.
Willa whipped off the smock covering her pale blue bridesmaid gown. “Let’s get you married before they come up and get us.”
Sabrina peeked out of the terrace doors and oh, her man looked good. Not only had he trimmed his beard so that it skimmed his jawline, he’d also trimmed his hair. Also, this was her first time seeing him in a suit, and it wouldn’t be the last.
“Places, everyone.” The hotel’s event planner clapped, and they all lined up.
Music started and Anna was the first down the aisle. Finlay eyed Anna appreciatively. Turns out, they’d spent some time together, secret lunches that weren’t so secret. Willa followed Anna.
Finlay approached. The Callahan men sure knew how to clean up. He was resplendent in his three-piece suit. His eyes had misted when she asked him to walk her down the aisle, and the first time Vivi called him Pop Pop.
A week after the incident, she was ready for the details. Liam told her everything. The Black Dragons and Vincent were buried on the property in the woods. Buried deep. She’d never have to worry about her ex again. The chop-shop burned to the ground in a forest fire started by lightning and exacerbated by gasoline stored on the property. The club was in the process of rebuilding.
Liam remained on the fringes of the club, and that was all right with her. If he wanted to be a member of Mayhem, she wouldn’t fight it. The club helped him save her and her child. Plus, she trusted Liam. He was her bad boy and the best man she’d ever met.
“Are yae ready tae get hitched?” Finlay asked.
“More than ready.” She hooked Finlay’s arm and took Vivi’s hand as the wedding march began. A deep breath and a silent prayer, Sabrina took the first step toward the rest of her life.
Plain Jane and the Bad Boy (Plain Jane Series) Page 26
