Spring Romance: NINE Happily Ever Afters

by Tessa Bailey

  My stomach pitched. She’d been in a trunk? This fucker was dead. He’d put my woman in a trunk. If I had just been there, if I hadn’t left after she’d told me she was pregnant, none of this would have happened.

  “It’s not your fault,” she whispered, lacing her fingers with mine as she read my thoughts.

  “Should have been there.”

  “He would have found another way. This was planned. He wanted you to think Genevieve had taken me so you’d go after her.”

  “Why?” Emmett asked. “Did he say why?”

  Bryce shook her head. “Just that he wanted to win an old war.”

  “The Warriors,” Leo bit out. “Tucker lied to us.”

  “You’re right,” I said. “It has to be the Warriors, but Tucker isn’t the kind of man who would hide his intentions. If he had a beef with us, he’d own it. Hell, he’d brag about fucking us over. So why hide behind a ruse? Why try to frame Genevieve? How did he even know about her?”

  “My gut says it’s not the Warriors.” Dad stood, moving to stand in front of the fireplace. “That Tucker’s been telling the truth from the beginning. This is someone else. Someone knows I went to meet with Amina that night. He knows she—we—had a daughter and went after Genevieve too. Bottom line, this is all about me. Making me pay.”

  “Who?” Emmett asked. “We’ve been trying to come up with a target for a damn month and we’re no closer now than we were the day you got arrested.”

  “What else happened?” I asked Bryce. “After he loaded you into the trunk, what else happened?”

  “We drove,” she said. “For a long time. Then he parked and got out. It was a while later that he came back with Genevieve.”

  “Bozeman. Bet he took you to Bozeman to grab Genevieve after her flight got in. Probably took her from the hotel. Which meant he had to know she was coming. Do you know who else she told about coming here?”

  Bryce shook her head. “As far as I know, it was just me. But if he was watching—I don’t know, can you hack someone’s credit card transactions?”

  “Yeah,” Emmett told her. “It doesn’t take much.”

  “That makes me feel safe,” she muttered.

  I’d wait until a different day to tell her Emmett had broken into her accounts the day after she’d shown up at the garage.

  “Let’s find out what hotel Genevieve was at. Maybe they have video footage of him taking her.” Though I wouldn’t hold my breath. This guy was smart. He’d taken precautions. Even in the mountains, he’d been covered head to toe. “Did he show his face?”

  “No.” Bryce’s shoulders fell. “Not once.”

  “Then he took you up to the mountains, right?” Dad asked.

  “Yep. He made us pose for the picture. He said he wanted you guys to find me dead because then you’d kill Genevieve. He had me on my knees. The gun . . .” She swallowed hard. “The gun was to my head. I really thought that was it. Thank God, it wasn’t. I guess you got there faster than he’d expected.”

  “Did he . . .” I swallowed hard. “Did he hurt you?”

  “No.” She gave me a sad smile. “He pushed me and Genevieve around, but nothing more.”

  Other than trying to kill her.

  He’d die for that. Except we’d missed our shot. “Fuck, I wish I hadn’t missed.”

  When was the last time I’d missed a target? Years. But I hadn’t shot a gun in a year either. I needed to fit in time at the range. I’d been so close with my shot, but after sprinting up the mountain, my heart had been racing. Then to see the guy holding Genevieve, I’d made a split-second decision to shoot at him instead of Genevieve.

  “I’m just glad you didn’t shoot Genevieve,” Bryce said. “Where are they? Can you call them again?”

  Dad took out his phone and made the call. He didn’t leave the room as he pressed it to his ear. The rings were loud enough for us to hear until they ended and he dropped the phone. “No answer.”

  Shit. Something had gone wrong. Maybe this guy had caught up to Isaiah? I didn’t want to drag Bryce along to go find them, but it might come to that. I wasn’t leaving her alone or in anyone else’s care.

  “After he got Genevieve, did you go anywhere else?” Emmett asked her.

  “No, we drove right to the mountain. He made us walk to the spot where you found us.”

  “Any trace of a car up there?” I asked Leo.

  “None. Wherever he parked, it was far. Probably a trail we don’t know about.”

  “Did you get a look at the car? Maybe a license plate?”

  Bryce shook her head. “He took us out, faced us away, and I didn’t even think to look at the plates. The car was nothing special. It was a typical black sedan. Sorry.”

  “It’s okay, babe.” I put my arm around her shoulders. “You did good.”

  She’d lived. That was all she’d had to do. She’d fought. And when it was time, she’d run.

  “He seemed so determined. Angry. This is . . . personal. It has to be someone you know,” she told us. “I could feel it, when we were up there. He hates you.”

  Dad’s eyes met mine. Who?

  We’d been asking that question for a month.

  “If we haven’t figured it out by now, we’re not going to today.” I stood from the couch, pulling Bryce to her feet. “We need to find Isaiah. Let’s check the garage first.”

  “Wait.” She tugged on my hand. “Don’t you think we should go to the cops and tell them about the kidnapping?”

  I looked to Emmett and Leo, both shaking their heads. I sighed, turning to Bryce. “Babe, I know you trust Marcus. But I think this would be better kept between us.”

  “Why? We’re trying to prove that Draven is innocent here. To show reasonable doubt that someone is out to frame him. If me being kidnapped makes them investigate, then shouldn’t we try?”

  “They won’t find anything. If we didn’t, they won’t.” And if the cops were involved, I wouldn’t get the vengeance I wanted against the man who’d taken her.

  She narrowed her gaze. “You don’t know that.”

  “I do,” I said gently. “I’m not saying they aren’t good at their jobs, but no matter how hard they tried, they never pinned much on the Gypsies. We’re just . . . better than they are. We don’t have to follow the same rules.”

  “What if we don’t find who took me? He can’t get away with it, Dash.”

  “He won’t,” I promised. “But we’ll have an easier time finding him if we’re not worried about Marcus in the middle of everything. If we bring in the cops, we’ll be constantly worried they’ll stumble onto something they shouldn’t. Some secrets need to stay secret. If they’re hovering over us, it’ll cripple us. Trust me. Please?”

  Her face softened. “Okay.”

  “Come on.” I put my arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go to the garage and find Isaiah.”

  Except when we got there, it was deserted. Open and empty, the way we’d left it this morning. It seemed like years, not hours, since I’d been working on the Mustang.

  “Where are they?” Bryce asked as we stood together in the office. Emmett had gone to the clubhouse to make sure nothing had happened there while we’d been gone. Leo and Dad had just run upstairs to check Isaiah’s apartment.

  “I don’t know.” I hugged her to my chest. “We’ll find them.”

  I took out my phone, calling Isaiah’s number and not expecting him to answer—and he didn’t. Boots thudded down the metal stairs at the side of the building, preceding Dad and Leo as they came into the office.

  “Nothing,” Dad said. “Leo and I are going to head back up to the mountain. You guys wait here. Stay safe.”

  “Call as soon as you can.” There was plenty of light this time of year. They had until almost nine before the dark would creep in and make a search impossible.

  “Will do. Lock down tight. Everything. Call Presley and make sure she’s home. Tell her to stay there and lock the doors.”

  “You think he’d
go after her?”

  Dad’s gaze drifted to Presley’s desk. “Don’t know what to think anymore.”

  When the door closed behind them, I took Bryce’s face in my hands. She leaned her cheek into my palm. “You’re dead on your feet. Let’s go home. Get some rest.”

  “I want to be here in case they show up. Can we wait in the office?”

  I wouldn’t tell her no. Not today. “I’ll call in for some food. What do you want?”

  “Whatever. I’m not all that hungry.”

  “Well, you have to eat.” It had been twenty-four hours since she’d eaten.

  I led her into my office, where I had a couch. I made sure she was comfortable, then called for pizza. She did her best to eat two slices while I inhaled the rest. Then we sat in the silence. Waiting.

  Other than Emmett stopping in to tell us he’d found the hotel and was trying to get security camera footage, no word came. Eventually, Bryce fell asleep on my lap. I kept one hand on her hip. The other ready to grab my gun from its holster.

  The light behind the window blinds in my office faded slowly. It got dark, enough for the timed lights outside to flicker to life. And that was when the buzz of a motorcycle caught my ear. The sound didn’t belong to Dad’s bike.

  “Babe.” I gently shook Bryce awake. “Someone’s coming.”

  She roused from sleep, rubbing her eyes. “Do you think it’s them?”

  “Don’t know. Come on.” I held her hand, keeping her hidden behind me as I went to the office door. I cracked it an inch, taking out my gun. When the machine came into view, I put it away. “It’s Isaiah.”

  “Finally.” She opened the door wider, pushing past me as he pulled into the parking lot.

  His face was haggard as he shut off his bike. His shoulders slumped. When he spotted us outside the office, at the base of the stairs that led to his apartment, his frame fell even further.

  “Where’s Genevieve?” Bryce asked after he climbed off his motorcycle and walked our way. “Is she okay?”

  “She wanted to leave. I drove her to Bozeman.”

  “And you left her there?” Bryce’s jaw dropped. “We don’t know who took us. What if he got to her again? He took her from that hotel once, he could have—”

  Isaiah held up a hand. “I took her to the hotel and went in and got her stuff. Then I drove her to the airport, waited until her plane took off. She’s on her way to Colorado if she’s not there already.”

  “Okay.” Bryce relaxed. “But she’s all right?”

  “She’s fine.”

  “What happened? Why didn’t you answer?” I asked. “We’ve been calling.”

  Isaiah dropped his eyes to the ground, his jaw set tight. He looked awful. More haunted than the first day he’d shown up here, desperate for a job and to get on with his life.

  I put my hand on his shoulder. “What happened?”

  He didn’t answer. He brushed past us to the stairs, taking each one with heavy footfalls.

  “Isaiah,” I called his name.

  He paused and glanced over his shoulder. “I got her out of there. Just like I said I would.”

  Something else had happened, but before I could ask for more, he was up the stairs and out of sight.

  Bryce and I shared an anxious look.

  We weren’t going to get any more answers tonight.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Bryce

  After Isaiah left Dash and I standing with our mouths hanging open, we went back to his place for the night. I wanted my own pajamas, a brush and clean panties, but I wasn’t sure when I’d be ready to go home, especially in the dark.

  As we drove, Dash called his dad to tell him Isaiah had returned. And it was unlikely Genevieve would ever set foot in Montana again.

  “Dad said they’re already on their way back,” he told me after hanging up. “They couldn’t get close to the cabin anyway.”

  “Because of the fire?”

  Dash nodded. “Forest service had a whole crew up there, making sure it doesn’t spread to the trees.”

  “Why do you think he burned it?”

  “Don’t know. But like Dad said, it was probably to cover his tracks.”

  Something in that cabin could have identified my kidnapper, but we’d never find it now. “I wish I had my phone to text Genevieve. Just to make sure she’s all right.”

  Genevieve and I had been through so much in a short period of time. But given what had happened, what I’d told her about Draven and her mother’s murder, I didn’t blame her for running.

  I probably would have done the same.

  “Tomorrow.” Dash took my hand from my lap, threading our fingers together. “Tomorrow I’ll get your phone and whatever else you want from your house.”

  “That’d be great.” I’d have to go back eventually, but for now, I was content to spend some time at his place. I had a feeling not many women could claim they’d spent time at Dash Slater’s home. I was too tired tonight, but tomorrow, I wanted to explore. Relax in his space.

  After I made sure Genevieve was home safely.

  “Do you think Genevieve will be safe in Denver?”

  “Might be the safest place for her. Or she’ll be an easy target.”

  “She has to be okay, Dash. None of this was her fault. I can’t help but think if I’d only stayed here, stayed away, that—”

  “This is not your fault, babe.” He tightened his grip on my hand. “If not for you, we wouldn’t know the truth. Dad would have died keeping it a secret. And it needed to come out. It’s for the best.”

  Except it had cost him his relationship with his father. I wasn’t sure what was best now.

  “What do we do now?”

  “Sleep.” Dash sighed. “Regroup in the morning.”

  If my mind kept racing, sleep would not come easily.

  Dash led me straight to his bedroom when we got to his house. The room overlooked a large backyard. Was that a hot tub? Before I could get a look at it on the patio, Dash pulled the blinds over the windows shut.

  “Bed. Sleep. You can have free rein of the place tomorrow.”

  “Fine.” I pouted, stripping off my clothes.

  We met in the middle of Dash’s enormous bed, our naked bodies molding to one another as we lay face-to-face.

  “I don’t know if I can sleep,” I whispered.

  My mind raced over everything Isaiah didn’t say. Why would he stay quiet? What had happened on that mountain? Was it really as simple as he’d taken Genevieve to Bozeman and then come back? But why had it taken so long? Why did he seem more broken than ever?

  “Isaiah looked—”

  “Sleep, babe.”

  “But—”

  “Bryce. You need to sleep. Tomorrow, ’kay?”

  I huffed. “Okay.”

  Closing my eyes tight, I breathed in and out in a steady rhythm. It was odd, remembering that only last night I’d been at home, wondering if I would be raising this baby alone. If Dash and I were over.

  “You rescued me,” I whispered, bringing a hand up to push a lock of his hair off his forehead.

  His lashes lifted, and even in the dark, his eyes were shining bright. “We’ve got a lot to talk about. You and me. The baby. And we will.”

  “Are we going to be okay?”

  He pulled me tighter into his arms, holding me safe. “Swear it on my life.”

  * * *

  Tomorrow came and went without the answers we’d hoped for.

  Because when we went to find Isaiah at the garage the next morning, he was gone.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Bryce

  “I need to go to work.” I pulled a tank top over my head.

  “Can you wait a few hours? Please? I need to get to the garage first thing and make sure we have everything covered for the day in case Isaiah doesn’t show again. Then I can drive you to the paper.”

  “I could go alone. Other people will be there.”

  “Not an option.” Dash pu
lled on a pair of jeans. “Until we find out what the hell is happening and who took you, you’re not going anywhere without me.”

  This was not an argument I was going to win. “Fine.”

  It had been two days since he’d rescued me from that mountain and he’d only left my side once. And that was to go to my house yesterday and pick up some things so I could stay at his place for a bit. Even then, he’d called Emmett to stay with me while he was gone.

  “How you feeling?” Dash, dressed in jeans and a gray T-shirt, came over and ran his hands up and down my arms.

  “Meh.” I’d been sick this morning. Yesterday morning too. I hoped it had passed because if we were going to the garage, I was nervous about getting up close and personal with the shop’s toilet. “Will you grab me some crackers?”

  “Sure.” He kissed my forehead, walking out as I finished getting dressed. When I found him in the kitchen, he had a box of saltines on the counter and a travel mug of decaf ready for me. It wouldn’t be until noon that I’d be able to stomach anything else.

  Picking up my laptop from his dining room table, I loaded it into my purse, then followed Dash to the garage. He looked longingly at his bike, parked next to his truck, but knew I wasn’t ready to get on it yet.

  Soon. But not yet.

  When we got to the garage, three bikes were already lined up against the fence in the parking lot.

  “Since when does everyone beat you here in the morning?” I asked Dash. The clock on the dash said seven thirty.

  “Since never.” He pursed his lips. If Draven, Emmett and Leo were here already, it meant trouble.

  All three men were waiting inside Draven’s office when we got inside, Emmett and Leo across from his desk, Draven behind it. The moment he spotted me, Draven leapt up and offered me his seat.

  “Thanks.”

  He nodded, standing against the wall next to Dash. He didn’t get a good morning or hello from his son.