by Joy Wild
“Well, then can we get moving? Maybe skip dinner?” she asked.
“We can get moving, but no we can’t skip dinner,” he said.
“Ugh!” She sighed. He took her hand and they walked into the jewelry store.
It took about thirty minutes to find the perfect ring. Mark saw Autumn’s eyes light up when she saw it and he knew it was perfect. It even fit her without any sizing. It was as if it were made for her. Mark happily paid for it and they stepped outside.
“Take the fake one off, baby,” he told her.
“I don’t know, I kind of like it,” Autumn laughed when Mark growled. “Okay, okay.”
She slipped the little plastic ring off and put it in her pocket. Mark took the new ring and put it on her finger. Then looked into her eyes and said, “With this ring, I thee wed.”
He saw the tears well up in Autumn’s eyes.
“What baby?” he asked.
“I have something for you too,” she said and pulled out a small ring box. Taking out the ring, she took his hand and slid a matching wedding band on, and said, “With this ring, I thee wed.”
Mark felt his tears well up. There were no words to say so he kissed her with everything he had. He felt at that moment they became one. He would do everything in his power to ensure that she wanted to stay married to him when this was over.
“How did you manage to get a ring too? I didn’t see you shop.”
“While you were paying for mine, the clerk slipped the matching one to me.”
“Wow. Sneaky!” Mark laughed. He couldn’t help but kiss her again, right there in the parking lot.
“How about Mexican for dinner?” he asked when they finally ended the kiss.
“Sounds good,” she answered, still breathless from their kiss. They walked hand in hand to the Mexican restaurant down the parking lot as if they had done this before.
Autumn couldn’t even remember what she had for dinner. All she could think of was the gorgeous hunk of a man sitting across from her. She couldn’t believe she was married to him, even if it was only pretending.
“I’ll be right back, baby, I have to go to the restroom,” Mark told her.
“Okay, I’ll be waiting for you,” Autumn smiled.
“You better be,” he warned, jokingly.
She watched her husband’s ass as he walked to the bathroom. She couldn’t help but smile. She ogled her beautiful emerald and diamond ring. It was perfect.
Suddenly, there was a man beside her.
“Keep your mouth shut and walk out the door with me. Leave your ring on the table.” She started to protest but felt a gun jabbed into her side.
“Don’t mess with me. We have Abby and if you want to see her again, you will get up and walk out of here now.”
Her heart was racing, not her Abby. They promised to keep her safe.
“Now, or your new hubby will die right here.”
Mark. No, not Mark. Do it. Save Mark. She slipped her beautiful ring off and laid it on the table and got up and walked out the door. She knew she would never see Mark again, but she had to save Abby.
24
Mark came out of the bathroom. He was ready to get on with the honeymoon part. He practically danced back to the table, but when he got there Autumn was gone. At first, he thought she had gone to the bathroom, but then he saw her wedding ring on the table. No note, no nothing. He picked it up and squeezed it. Panic started to set in, he stopped the waitress.
“Ma’am, did you see my wife leave?”
“Yes sir, she left with a tall, tanned gentleman,” the waitress said.
“Did she seem stressed or scared?”
“A little freaked out, but he didn’t force her. She left on her own,” the waitress said.
“Can I have our bill, please? I need to go after her.”
“Sure, here you go.” Mark gave her two hundred dollar bills and told her to keep the change. He put her ring in his pocket and raced out of the restaurant, dialing his phone as he went.
“Aren’t you on your honeymoon?” Gene said.
“No. Autumn is gone. She disappeared when I went to the bathroom,” Mark said, jumping in his SUV.
“Fuck, was anything left? A note?”
“No. Just her wedding ring that I bought her before we went to dinner.”
“Go back to her place. I’ll pull cameras and see what I can find.” The phone went dead.
Mark was driving like a mad man to get back to the house. He punched in the code for the gate and barely waited for the gate to open before barreling down to the house. He slammed on the brakes, throwing gravel everywhere. He jumped out of his truck and ran to the house. The door opened and Steve, Sam, and Caleb were all standing there.
“What the fuck are you doing driving down here like that? Where’s Autumn?” Sam barked.
“That’s just it. She’s missing! All that was left behind was this,” Mark shouted, showing them her wedding ring.
“Fuck! How did he get to her?” Caleb asked.
“I don’t know. We were having dinner and I went to the bathroom. I wasn’t gone for five minutes. When I came back she was gone, and the ring was on the table. The waitress said she left with a tall, tanned man. She left of her own free will.”
“Son of a bitch,” Steve said. “How the fuck did he know where you were?”
“Blake.” Mark grabbed a detector and headed out to his vehicle. He searched his vehicle and underneath the rear of the vehicle, he found it. A tracker had been put on his vehicle.
“Bastard!” Mark yelled. “He knew exactly what we were doing today.”
His phone rang.
“Owens!”
“Calm down. She left in a blue Toyota sedan with tall, dark and handsome. I ran facial recognition. Guess who she left with?”
“Gene, I’m not in the fucking mood to play games. Who the fuck has my wife?”
“Diego.”
“Fuck! No!” Mark bellowed and sank to the ground. Sam, Caleb, and Steve all surrounded him.
“I want the bastard and I want him dead,” Mark said. “He will hurt her and then he will kill her.”
“We will get him. Give me time to track the car.” The phone went dead.
Mark put his head down and cried. His friends huddled around him and let him cry. Steve had been there and so had Sam. He knew they understood how he felt. Now he understood how they felt when Spring disappeared and when Summer was taken. The pain was excruciating. He felt his heart being ripped apart.
He stared at his wedding ring. A gold band with an emerald and a diamond on each side. His beautiful woman picked this out without him knowing it. He toyed with the ring for a minute.
“Let’s find this bastard. I’ve had enough.”
The guys went inside to fill the girls in and make sure Abby didn’t find out. Spring was devastated so Stephanie was trying to console her. Summer took Abby and Lizzie to the nursery to play. This left the guys to start planning.
“Where’s Abby?” Autumn cried. “Who are you? I’ve done what you asked. Where’s my daughter?”
“I have no idea where the little brat is. Probably with that new hubby of yours. By the way, you will never see her or him again. You’re my bitch now. Get used to it,” the man said.
“Who are you? Why are you doing this?”
The man leaned in close to her and she almost gagged at his stench.
“I am Diego. I am the only one that matters now. Your stupid ex-husband has a serious gambling problem. Then he started delivering drugs for me. He made a mistake when he stole from me. Now I am taking what was his.”
“Blake and I are not married. I do not belong to him.”
“No, you don’t. You belong to me. And when I’m finished with you, I will kill you. Then I will take your life insurance money to pay his debt. It’s a win-win for me, Amanté.” He laughed when she cringed. “Rest well, Amanté, tomorrow we begin our fun.”
Autumn shrunk in fear. She knew that Amanté meant lov
er. That thought terrified her. Autumn curled into a ball on the floor of her dirty prison room. Why did you leave you stupid idiot? Mark would have helped you. Mark! She reached for her wedding ring, but it was gone. Was he even searching for her? She was sure he was angry with her by now. He should be angry with her. I am so stupid. Now Abby will grow up without her mother. I’ve lost my baby forever! I’ve lost the one true love of my life. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid idiot! She continually berated herself. She had no way of letting Mark know where she was. Hell, she didn’t know where she was. God, please save my Abby, I don’t care about me, but please save her. Autumn cried until she couldn’t cry anymore, she was cold and alone. A little while later, she felt a warm blanket placed around her, but she dared not open her eyes. She heard voices in another room, so she tried to listen as much as she could.
“You are a stupid asshole, Blake. You stole from me and now I take what is yours.”
“But she isn’t mine. Don’t you realize the guys that she is with are bodyguards? Ex-military. They will hunt us down and kill us all.”
“Sign the papers, Blake. Everything you own belongs to me. Don’t worry, I don’t want your pretty new wife. You can have her. I have the fiery red-head. She will be lots of fun.”
“You don’t understand what those guys will do. Here’s your papers. You can have it all. I don’t care about any of them. You can have Autumn, hell you can have Abby too. But they will kill you.”
“You had it all, Blake. The fame and fortune you wanted so badly had been yours. It wasn’t enough though; you wanted the drugs. I gave them to you. You turned on me and stole. I do not tolerate thieves.”
“Please, Diego, you have everything now. Just let me go.”
Autumn heard a gunshot. She stifled a scream.
“Stupid dumb fucker. Place him in the streets somewhere. I can see the headlines now, Blake Daze, former football star, killed in a drug deal gone bad.” A sinister laugh filled the building.
Autumn was frozen in fear. Diego killed Blake. She hated Blake, but the fact that he was dead still hurt. He had been her husband. She knew she was next. Diego was laughing about it. He was pure evil. Autumn knew she was screwed. In more ways than one.
“I don’t want the stupid red-head. She has no passion in her. Keep her locked up down here for a few days, then kill her. That dumb ass signed everything over to me, including her life insurance money. A half-million dollars. That will make lots of drugs. And those fucktard bodyguards. Kill them, one by one, their women too. But kill the women in front of them, then kill them.” She heard Diego give his orders and then leave with an evil laugh.
She heard two men talking after Diego left.
“I don’t want to go after those guys. They are badasses. They will kill us before we have a chance. How about we get out of here and leave her?”
“I second that. By the time they find her, she will be bones,” the second man said. She heard a door close and there was silence.
Autumn was relieved they were gone. She got up and tried the door, but it was locked. There were no windows. She felt around for a light switch. When she found it and flipped it on, a weak single bulb turned on. She glanced around in horror. She was in a prison room. A small cot with no sheets and a toilet. Nothing else. She looked back to the corner she had been in for the blanket that had been on her, but there was no blanket. Autumn was confused, she knew she had a blanket on her.
She was tired. She needed to sleep. She knew Abby was with good people, she would be okay. She laid down on the musty old cot and curled into a ball. She knew she was going to die, she hoped it would be fast. She closed her eyes and let darkness overtake her.
25
Mark was losing his mind. It had been two days and there was no word on Autumn. He was exhausted but he couldn’t sleep. He was angry and frustrated.
“Dude, you have to get some sleep. You aren’t going to do Autumn any good when you collapse. We will keep searching,” Sam said.
“No. I can’t sleep until I find her,” Mark grumbled.
“We are looking everywhere. We have searched cameras in the entire area. Take a nap, Mark. I promise you the second we find something we will get you,” Steve said.
“You don’t understand. I can’t sleep,” Mark reiterated.
“I do understand. I was in this position before, remember?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t the same. Spring ran, Autumn, was taken.”
“She might have run, but if you remember correctly, she was taken while you made me sit back and wait,” Steve said sternly.
“That’s not fair, Steve, I was following protocol,” Mark said, sadly.
“Maybe so, but it is what it is. Now, you need to go rest and let us work on this. You need to be a hundred percent when we find her. She will need you, no matter what has or hasn’t happened to her.”
“Fine. You let me know the second you know anything,” Mark said, giving in.
“We will,” Sam said. “Go rest. We got this.”
Mark paused for a moment, then bowed his head and turned to go upstairs. He looked over and saw Abby playing with one of the staff members. His heart ached for this little girl. My little girl. That thought crept into his head and he knew in his heart that little girl was his from now on. He smiled a little at the thought, but he didn’t know what to tell her if her mommy didn’t come home again. Sadness overtook him and he headed upstairs. He took a quick shower, hoping to rinse off the depression he felt. He toweled off and slipped into fresh boxers and crawled into bed. He pulled Autumn’s pillow close to him and held it. Now that he had a moment to relax, he cried. He wept into her pillow. He was deeply in love with Autumn, and he didn’t know if he would ever see her again. He closed his eyes to sleep and saw her emerald green eyes sparkling at him. She was his last thought as he drifted off to sleep.
Autumn woke up in a panic. Her heart raced as she tried to figure out where she was. Then all the memories came flooding back. She was in a prison room. Blake. Blake was dead. As much as he hurt her she would never have wished that on him. He had gotten into really bad stuff and now when she died, this Diego asshole was going to get the life insurance money that was intended for Abby. Her poor Abby. Her baby loved her daddy. She didn’t know how she would handle the loss and she hoped Mark would take care of Abby for her. He might be angry with her, but he would never take it out on Abby. Her stomach growled. She was so hungry, but there was nothing here for her and her captors had long ago gone away. Autumn had no idea how long she had been here. She was left here in this empty prison to starve to death. It was cold and lonely. She went back to the cot and laid down. She wasn’t afraid of dying, she was afraid of leaving her baby. She put her hands on her stomach and wondered what it would have been like to carry Mark’s baby. That thought made her cry. She didn’t even get to have her wedding night. Her mind drifted back to him making love to her and their time in the shower. The thought made her happy and sad at the same time. At least she had that with him before she died. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep again. As she faded, she felt the warmth of a blanket on her. She was too tired to open her eyes and look.
26
Mark woke up to voices. He immediately got up and threw on clothes. As he came out the bedroom door, Steve was about to knock on his door.
“Gene called. He had a lead on a warehouse district where Autumn may be being held.”
“I’m ready, let’s go.”
“Sam and Caleb went to fill the girls in and get Abby taken care of,” Steve said. “We’ll be ready to go in a few minutes. Grab a cup of coffee and a sandwich. They are already set up in the kitchen.”
“I’m not hungry. I want Autumn,” Mark said.
“I know. I understand. Eat a sandwich while we get the girls filled in. We have to count on them here. Autumn will need you to be strong.”
“Okay but hurry up. We have no idea what she is going through,” Mark said as he headed downstairs.
As he walked into
the kitchen, Abby came running up to him and threw her arms around his legs.
“Daddy!” Abby said.
“Hey love bug,” he said as he picked her up. “What are you up to?”
“I’m coloring a picture for Mommy. Where’s Mommy? I miss her. Did Daddy hurt her again?”
“A picture is a great idea. She’s out right now and no, your daddy didn’t hurt her, love bug.”
“Okay. Can you be my daddy? I love you.”
“I will gladly be your daddy and I love you too.”
Abby started wiggling in his arms, so Mark put her down. She ran back to the picture she was drawing. Mark poured a cup of coffee and grabbed a sandwich. He stood watching Abby as she concentrated on her picture. It took no time for him to finish his sandwich and down his coffee. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was. He grabbed another sandwich as the guys all came downstairs with go bags.
“Ready?” Sam asked.
“Definitely,” Mark said. Caleb handed him his go-bag. Mark grabbed it and stuffed the remaining bite of the sandwich in his mouth. They headed out the door. They jumped into Steve’s truck and headed into town.
“Gene sent me directions to the area where he was able to track the car to,” Steve said.
“Okay, so are we going in hot and heavy?” Mark asked.
“No. We are going in quietly and observing the area. We need to see if we can get a lead on where she is,” Steve said.
“Let’s storm the buildings in the area and find her,” Mark barked.
“Now you know damn well that would get her killed for sure. One step at a time,” Sam chimed in.
“I want to find her now,” Mark said.
“Mark, you know how this works. Get your head out of your ass or Steve will turn this truck around and make you stay at the house.”
“Fuck you.”
“No thanks. Autumn wouldn’t like that,” Sam smarted off.
“Asshole.”
“Yep,” Sam laughed. “So when are you going to tell us about your wedding?”