When Knight Falls

by Nikki Rose

  “Two strikes against you. Tell me, are there any more surprises I’m going to find if I keep looking? If you’re a good girl and tell me now, I won’t punish you as severely for disobeying me.”

  I gritted my teeth and hesitated before finally forcing words from my mouth. “There’s a wire.”

  He spun me around and roughly pulled up my shirt to expose the bug neatly tucked around the line of my bra cup. He yanked it away. Ian threw the device on the ground and crushed it under his shoe.

  Before I had time to brace myself, he brought the back of his hand across my face with such force that it knocked me to the ground. “I told you I’d go easier on you, not that I wouldn’t punish you at all.”

  I pulled myself up on my hands and knees but his foot struck me in the belly. Another strike in my ribs knocked the breath out of me in a loud whoosh. I couldn’t breathe. My limbs gave out and I dropped to the rough gravel. I wrapped my arms around myself and curled into the fetal position to guard against another blow. Before I could stop myself, I was pleading with that son of a bitch.

  “Please, Ian, please, stop. I’m sorry,” I cried out as loud as I could.

  “Get on your knees.” He towered over me. I struggled to obey. My trembling body moved slowly and I cringed as pain shot through my midsection. “Tell me you’re sorry again.”

  “I’m sorry,” I sobbed. The pain in my side was excruciating.

  “Lean down and kiss my shoe. Then tell me again.”

  “Ian, please…”

  “Do it!” he barked.

  As much as I wanted to fight, surviving was more important than pride. They’d broken me in that basement and even more so in the jungle. I’d gotten to the point of asking them to kill me. I had welcomed death that had never come. I could feel those dark thoughts creeping back. I wasn’t strong enough. If Ian took me, I couldn’t fight for days like I had before—not under those kinds of conditions, not when I still felt so fragile. How many times is Ian going to turn my life upside down? Will this be the last? I know the kind of pain this man can inflict. Sarah and Belle are safe now. Is it even worth fighting for?

  I leaned over to kiss his shoe and the small heart charm around my neck swung into my view. Anthony. My strength and hope reignited. Anthony was enough to keep fighting for. He was still with me, even though he wasn’t right here.

  I obeyed Ian, kissing his shoe and biding my time.

  “I’m sorry,” I told him, nearly choking on the words as I forced them from my mouth.

  His ruthless grip tangled into my hair. I scrambled in order to dull the sharp pain in my scalp, but Ian didn’t give me much time to adjust as he dragged me to a waiting car. I struggled to stay on my feet, tripping over the rough ground and slipping on loose gravel. He hurled me into the trunk, yanked my wrists together and bound them with coarse rope that bit into my skin. Another piece of rope bound my ankles so I was unable to do more than wiggle.

  Ian slammed the trunk shut, plummeting me into darkness. The crunching sound of his footsteps on the gravel faded. Every noise was muffled, but I heard and felt his door slam shut. I noted that no one else was getting into the car with him. I thought that was strange, since it was clear that he wasn’t by himself out there in the middle of nowhere. Someone had released Sarah and Belle, so I knew there were more men hiding somewhere. Maybe he wants me alone. The car rumbled beneath me and crunched over the gravel drive as we rode off to the unknown.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Rachel

  Each bump on the drive knocked the air from me. My whole midsection hurt. I was pretty sure Ian had cracked a rib or two. Everything was dark. I could only see the strange glow from the backside of the taillights. The dark threatened to take me back to being blindfolded in the basement.

  I had no idea where Ian was taking me. What I did know was that he was still alone. I was surprised he didn’t bring his backup with him. I suppose he thought he had all his bases covered. He’d searched me again before we left. He knew I had no weapons, no cell phone, nothing that he knew of. I did have the one-way wire on that he hadn’t found. I started giving any information I could that might help Anthony to find me.

  My breath began to come faster but I didn’t feel like I could get enough air as my heart raced in my chest. “Anthony, I’m scared. He has me tied up in the trunk. I can’t see anything but I know we are moving.”

  I felt dizzy and scrunched my eyes closed, even though it was already dark in the trunk.

  What would Anthony tell me to do if he could?

  I took a deep breath and willed my pulse to slow down. It took me a couple minutes before my body was acting close to normal once more. I took another deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking again.

  “I’m okay. We’re in a black four-door sedan—just Ian and me,” I whispered.

  I was glad I’d told Anthony to use two wires. Ian had no reason to think I’d have a second one on, not that it had done much good when he was beating me.

  It must have been hard on Anthony to hear what was happening and not come to my rescue. He’d had to listen to everything as Ian had beaten me. My mind drifted back to the pain as he’d struck me.

  Smack.

  Thud.

  I was on the ground.

  ‘I’m okay,’ I grunted into the mic.

  I let out a loud cry as Ian kicked me in my ribs.

  ‘Stay back. It’s okay.’

  I could barely even breathe out the words but I was sure Anthony heard them because he didn’t come. He would have charged in otherwise.

  I knew he’d heard the rest too. It made me sick to think of Anthony knowing how I’d begged, knelt before Ian and told him I was sorry. Ian was a control-seeking bastard.

  The vehicle jarred again and I let out a grunt as my ribs ached.

  “Anthony, I know you can’t respond but I hope you’re listening. I want you to know I’m okay. My ribs hurt, but I’m okay. I know you’re beating yourself up over it all. I know sitting there and listening to everything that happened to me was killing you, but you did right by waiting.”

  The SUV stopped and my heart rate kicked into overdrive. I had no idea where Ian was taking me or what he had planned once I was out of the trunk.

  I could hear the opening and closing of the car door as I imagined Ian getting out. I didn’t have long. I spoke fast, in a race to blurt out everything I needed to say before Ian could round the car.

  “We just stopped but I can’t hear anything. I need you to know that if anything happens to me, it wasn’t your fault. I chose to do this and I’d do it again, no matter what. Anthony, I—”

  Ian opened the trunk. I thought about fighting him, but that would just make things worse. I was bound and couldn’t actually escape. He pulled out a large knife and I screamed. I tried to squirm away, but the ropes held me tight and the movement only intensified the pain shooting through my midsection. His strong grasp bruised my ankle as he held me still. Ian quickly raised the knife and cut through the rope to free my legs, then he flopped them over the edge of the trunk. He grabbed me by my hair and pulled me from the car. I struggled to find my footing on the dirt.

  When he threw me to the ground, I had the first opportunity to see where we were. Trees lined the dirt path that led to the small clearing and a dark, murky lake spread out behind me. There weren’t many reasons someone would bring a prisoner out here and none of them boded well for me.

  “Ian, what are we doing out here?”

  “Here?” He motioned around with his hand. “I wanted a good backdrop for our special reunion. Don’t you like the lake? Look how still and calm it is.” He gripped my hair and twisted me to look out at the dark, eerily calm water. Tears welled in my eyes from the bite of pain. “It’s deep, you know. It would take them a long time to find a body in there.”

  A sob ripped from my throat.

  “Oh, mi hermosa, don’t cry. I’m not going to kill you—not yet, at least. Depending on how tonight goes, you may live
a long and miserable life still.”

  I looked up at him in complete bewilderment. He released my hair with force so that I fell forward onto my knees in the dirt.

  “You see, you have a choice to make—a major, life-altering choice.” He began to circle me. “Option number one… I can kill you right here tonight. I’ll tie you to a large rock and dump your body in the lake so that you don’t float back up.” His words were so calm, almost businesslike. Tears streamed down my face.

  How could I have ever loved him? How had he fooled me so completely?

  “Option number two—and I really hope you pick this one. I could take you back to Colombia with me and keep you as mine. Mi tio always wanted to find a way into the flesh trade. This seems like as good an opportunity as any. It would be a miserable life, but it would be life. Oh, plus there would be the sweet revenge of your loverboy knowing that I have you and he couldn’t get to you.”

  My stomach twisted and I thought I might throw up. What kind of choices are these to make? Where is Anthony?

  “The choice is yours.” Ian stopped in front of me and looked down expectantly.

  I knew what I had to do—what choice I had to make. I had to buy Anthony time. I took a deep breath but it shot pain through my ribs. The words threatened to choke me. “I choose life.”

  “No, no, no, I want to hear you beg. I want you to beg to be mine.”

  There was a rumbling of tires on dirt and my heart soared. Anthony had found me. He’d used the GPS in the necklace. My plan had worked. I glanced up at Ian to see his reaction, but something wasn’t right.

  Ian smiled. It wasn’t his sweet smile, like when we had been dating. His smile belonged to the devil himself. My panic rose again. My heart threatened to break my breastbone. What is going on? Something isn’t right.

  A large man got out of the driver’s seat. He didn’t look like one of Anthony’s men. Another got out of the passenger’s side and they both disappeared behind the SUV. I heard scuffling along with some shouts.

  Anthony.

  The larger of the two men came back into view with Anthony. He looked disheveled and his wrists were bound behind him. When the second man came into view my heart stopped. He dragged Belle over with bound wrists and tears streaming down her face as she sobbed and cried for her daddy.

  The sound of her tiny voice sent a pain through my chest and I glanced at Anthony. The agony on his face mirrored the feeling in my heart.

  I couldn’t take any more. I cried out with pleading eyes as I gazed up at the monster I used to love, “Ian, please, please… You have me. Let them go, please? I’ll do anything.”

  He looked at me with intrigue. “Anything?”

  “Yes, yes, leave them alone, let them go and I’ll do anything. I won’t even fight. Please?”

  “Okay,” he said so calmly that it left me shocked. “Turn the girl away. I’m not a complete monster and she doesn’t need to see this.”

  The man obeyed, turning Belle’s back to me. Panic flooded my senses. Ian stepped over to me and untied my arms.

  “I want you to do this completely free.” He stood in front of me but turned to speak to the man restraining Anthony. “Bring him closer. I want him to have a front-row seat.”

  The man forced Anthony closer but not without a struggle. All three men stood towering over me. I didn’t move. I wouldn’t risk Anthony or Belle. If there was even a chance for me to save them. I had to obey Ian.

  “Lean down, palms on the ground, and kiss my shoes to show your supplication.”

  I moved slowly, painfully, but I did as he’d commanded.

  “Now beg me to own you. Beg to be mine.”

  My eyes cut to Anthony. His expression was so pained. As our eyes met, there was a flash of something else. Hope. Determination. I couldn't explain how it happened, but an understanding transpired between us in a passing of looks.

  “Please,” I whispered, my voice growing louder as I continued. “Please, Ian,” I sat up on my knees and grasped at his pants softly. I desperately pleaded and begged him. “Please make me yours?” I almost choked on the words, but he was eating it up.

  By the look on his face, I could tell he enjoyed my added enthusiasm, which just so happened to position my hands within reach of the gun on his side. Before Ian knew what had happened, I grabbed the gun and pulled back.

  Anthony easily slipped his wrists free from the ropes he’d obviously been working on. He elbowed the man behind him. When the guy doubled over, Anthony grabbed his sidearm and let off three rounds into his midsection before the man fell to the ground.

  Anthony aimed the gun at Ian, but the man who was holding Belle released her so he could charge. Anthony and the guy scuffled in the dirt. Belle’s scream brought my attention to my right. Ian was holding her tight against him with a gun pointed at her head. She was standing, but her arms were still bound in front of her. Belle cried uncontrollably and the air rushed out of my lungs. I couldn’t breathe and my ears roared.

  I cast a quick glance at Anthony. He was busy wrestling with Ian’s goon, who had him pinned to the ground. I looked back at Ian and Belle.

  “You made a big mistake, bitch,” Ian barked out.

  I didn’t know what to do. Fear had me nearly frozen in place. I looked over at Anthony again, but he still couldn’t get free. I felt the weight of Ian’s gun, forgotten in my hand. I lifted it and aimed it at Ian.

  “Let her go,” I commanded but my voice still shook.

  “You won’t shoot me. You’re weak. You’ll miss and I’ll kill you all—starting with her. Put the gun down.”

  I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves and still my shaking hand. Maybe he’s right. What if I miss? Ian will kill us all. Or what if I hit Belle?

  While battling with my nerve, Belle reared her bent arms back as hard as she could with them bound. Her bony little elbow made perfect contact between Ian’s legs and his grip on her slipped. At that moment, there was not one doubt in my mind that Belle was Anthony’s child. Tough as nails.

  She ran toward the path, the way they’d come. Smart, brave little girl.

  Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Ian lifted his gun and aimed it at Belle.

  Bang.

  My ears rang from the shot of the gun I was holding and Belle ran safely behind the SUV. My attention turned to Ian. He looked at me in complete shock as he gripped his chest. He stumbled, falling to his knees before his eyes fluttered closed and he collapsed into the dirt. The gun in my hand was suddenly too heavy to hold. My grip faltered, sending the pistol tumbling to the ground.

  I stared at Ian, lying in the dirt, not moving. I was vaguely aware of the fight still going on between Anthony and the other guy, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t tear my eyes away.

  Then Anthony ran to me, shaking me out of my daze. “Rachel, we have to move.”

  Finally looking around us, I spotted Ian’s man lying unconscious on the ground. The sound of tires crunching over the dirt drive drew my attention and I spotted the faint beam of distant headlights peeking through the trees, probably signaling more of Ian’s backup arriving.

  Anthony wrapped his arm around my shoulders and dragged me behind the SUV where Belle was crouched, crying.

  “We have to go.” Anthony scooped Belle into his arms and practically dragged me into the SUV. He spun dirt as we sped down the worn road to make our escape before anyone could find us.

  “Belle,” Anthony called out to her in the back seat, but it sounded so distant. “Buckle up, princess. It’s okay. The bad men can’t hurt you anymore.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Anthony

  After several minutes of driving maneuvers, I determined that we had officially lost Ian’s men. Ian had taken Rachel out into the middle of nowhere and it took me a good fifteen minutes to navigate through the small dirt roads. I managed to relax slightly once I hit the main road, but I was still on high alert with the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I slowed my driving to a n
ormal pace, making my way toward the city and on the way to our home.

  Rachel had been quietly staring out of the window ever since I’d announced we were clear and she’d taken my phone to talk with Sarah to make sure her friend was all right. She had been through hell—again—and it tore me apart to think that I hadn’t been able to protect her. I’d failed her for the second time and I hated myself for it. I glanced into the rearview mirror, adjusting it so that I could check on Belle, who was sound asleep in the back seat.

  I took advantage of the quiet drive to put a call in to the director to bring headquarters up-to-date about what had happened. Bright headlights from an oncoming car flashed in Rachel’s face and she jolted with a quick gasp that made her cringe.

  “It’s okay.” I reached my hand over and gently squeezed her knee. I glanced from the road to her, filled with pain and concern, searching for any sign to tell me how she was doing.

  Rachel relaxed back in her seat and stared out at the open road while I went back to my phone call. Darkness surrounded us and the headlights cut through a thin fog that covered the road.

  “Anthony, are you there?” My director’s concerned voice demanded my attention.

  “Yes, sir. I’m here.”

  “What the hell happened? I’m getting all kinds of reports coming in.”

  “It’s a long story. After Ian took Rachel, I had one of the men take Sarah to get cleaned up. After they’d left, we dispersed as planned, with the rest of the team following Ian and Rachel. But before I could take Belle to my parents’ and catch up, my vehicle was ambushed and they took Belle and me. I’m not sure what happened with the other car.”

  “They called in that they’d lost the signal. Apparently, Caballero’s men threw them off with a dummy car and a tracker blocker.”