by Lori Ryan
“She flooded the bathroom. It will have gone through to the apartment below by now. Someone will come to investigate soon and this floor is supposed to be empty. She gave us up,” the first kidnapper hissed in a voice that dripped with poison and made Kelly’s trembling worse.
The larger man appeared to be in charge. He began to bark orders to the other men while Kelly lay on the floor beneath them, frozen as she waited to see what they would do to her.
“You two, go get the van. We need to move the women now. Pull around to the back door and call up to us when you’re ready. We’ll get the women prepped and bring them down one at a time.”
The men all began to move while Kelly processed what he had said. They’re going to sell us. With that, she felt the bile rise in her throat and it took all her strength to choke it back down.
Tears fell down her face freely now as the terror of what could lie ahead filled her thoughts, and she began to wonder if Jack would be able to find her in time.
Chapter 58
Jack and Chad huddled in the stairwell of the third floor and watched the hallway while they waited for the FBI to arrive. Without warning, they heard a door open in the hallway.
They pressed their backs up against the wall. Chad leaned forward and peeked through the narrow glass window in the stairwell door and saw two men coming toward them. He held two fingers up to Jack, who nodded and knelt down to cross under the window to the other side of the door.
With Chad on one side of the door and Jack on the other, they could take the men down as soon as they entered the stairwell.
The door opened, and Jack and Chad moved quickly. Each of them struck one of the two men.
The man Jack hit didn’t hesitate to strike back and Jack felt the blow to the side of his head hard.
He didn’t let it stop him. If he did, Kelly might be lost to him forever.
He relished in the pain the man had wrought and used it, letting his anger and hatred for him build. Jack fought back, striking at the man’s head and body again and again. Then Chad was pulling him off the man.
The man slumped next to his partner where Chad had apparently gone the route of a carotid hold from the looks of it since the man lay out cold on the floor with no more than a single bruise over his left eye from Chad’s first strike.
Chad pulled zip ties out of his back pocket and they bound the men’s hands behind their backs.
“Let’s get them downstairs before they wake up. I don’t have anything to cover their mouths, and the last thing we need is for them to alert the others,” Chad said.
He and Jack hauled the men down the stairs by their shoulders, letting them thump, thump, thump down the stairs. Neither was careful with their cargo and Jack would be lying if he said he didn’t get a measure of satisfaction out of the fact the men would be bruised and battered when they awoke.
When they got to the bottom, they could see several unmarked cars rolling to a stop down the street, and they watched as police officers and FBI agents crept silently toward the building and came to a stop outside the stairwell entrance.
Chad looked at Jack and grinned. “Cavalry’s here.”
Chad opened the door to the stairwell and waived the FBI in through the door.
“They’re in apartment 307. We were waiting in the stairwell and these two came out. They were both armed. I estimate two or three more inside, but I can’t be sure.” Chad handed over the guns they had found when they disabled the two assholes from the stairwell, and briefed the FBI agents on the layout of the building and location of the apartment.
Jack and Chad fell back and grudgingly let the law enforcement officers take the lead—but Jack would be damned if he weren’t going to be right behind them. He followed silently up the stairs after them, driven by the intense need to have Kelly back in his arms safe and sound.
With the FBI in the lead and local law enforcement officers after them, the group crept silently down the hall toward the apartment. Four FBI agents framed the doorway. Two held flash grenades that would stun the kidnappers, while two more agents stood poised ready with a battering ram. Given the exigent circumstances, they could enter with force, without knocking.
The lead agent nodded his head to the agents holding the small but powerful battering ram, and they swung the ram at the door and broke through with the first swing. The two agents to either side of the door quickly threw the flash grenades into the room, and the agents stormed through the chaos and took down the two additional kidnappers.
Chapter 59
As the men roughly gathered the women together in the center of the room, prepping them to move to a new location, Kelly began to give up and let despair creep around the edges of her brain.
They’d watch her even more carefully now and her chances of getting away seemed even more grim than they already had. She closed her eyes as tears fell, stinging her flesh where she was bruised and cut.
She took deep gulping sobs, no longer able to hold back. She was terrified. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out how this had happened to her. How was this possible? Only that morning she’d been arguing with Jack over a stupid car. What she wouldn’t give to go back to that moment and tell him she’d only been upset because she’d fallen in love with him.
What she wouldn’t give for five more minutes with the man she’d married as part of a deal only to lose her heart to him when she least expected it.
A frighteningly loud crash broke the silence and Kelly watched as the door splintered off its hinges and flew into the apartment. There was a blinding light and a sound that took Kelly’s hearing completely away. For what seemed like hours—but was likely only seconds—the whole apartment was in chaos.
Kelly’s sight came back before her hearing, and through the spots that floated in front of her eyes, she saw men and women. Blue vests. Guns.
Thank God. These were officers or agents of some sort.
Time slowed as she watched the officers take down the three remaining men in the room. She watched in horror as two of the men were shot while the other quickly gave up his weapon, lowering himself to the ground with his hands held out at his sides.
She and the other women stayed crouched on the floor, huddled together as chaos reigned.
Then she saw Jack.
Kelly broke, and the tears fell in an unstoppable current as Jack’s arms encircled her, and she knew she was safe. She knew her nightmare was over.
He lifted and carried her, cradled in his arms, out of the confusion, down the stairs and out of the building. She couldn’t hear Jack as she sobbed in his arms, but she felt his lips as he buried his face against her neck. They moved against her skin, over and over as he spoke to her, and she let herself sink into his arms while he carried her away from danger.
Chapter 60
Jack frowned at the doctor. “I’ll have private security on her door.”
He’d contacted a private security firm run by former military special ops guys Chad had recommended. HALO Security had people on the way already.
The doctor seemed like he might argue, but Jack’s look stopped him. No way in hell was Jack taking any chances. The kidnappers had been arrested at the scene, but this had to go further than the men who’d been in that room.
He looked over to the bed where Kelly slept. She had bruises on her face and abrasions on her wrists, and she was being monitored in case she went into shock.
He wanted to growl every time anyone went near her. He didn’t care if these were the doctors and nurses taking care of her. He was in full-blown protection mode.
The FBI had questioned her, but Jack didn’t let that go on for too long. As far as he was concerned, they could postpone the rest of their questions for a day or so. They had enough to track down with the men they’d arrested and the computer they’d confiscated at the apartment.
He got his way. They’d agreed to question her after she had a chance to rest.
The doctor left and Jack sat next to the bed, loo
king at the face of the woman he loved. Battered and bruised, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He didn’t know if she’d want to make this marriage real, but he was going to do everything he could to show her he loved her. He wanted to spend the rest of his life by her side.
The door opened and Kelly’s mom and dad came in, followed by her sister and brothers. He stood, moving to the side as they hurried to the bed. Kelly didn’t stir.
“They gave her a sedative,” he whispered. “The doctor said she’d probably sleep for most of the day.”
He didn’t know how Kelly’s family would feel about him right now. It was his fault their daughter was lying in that hospital bed. If he hadn’t married Kelly, no one would have had a reason to target her.
Would they hate him? Wish Kelly had never met him? Would they push Kelly to run far and fast from him?
Mrs. Bradley turned to him and her next words answered all his questions. “Come here, Jack.”
She opened her arms and pulled him in, and damn if he didn’t want to cry right there.
“You brought her back to me.”
Kelly’s mom was crying, he realized.
Mr. Bradley came over as soon as his wife released Jack from her hold. He offered his hand. “You’re officially my favorite son-in-law.”
Jack grinned, feeling hopeful for the first time in hours. “I’m your only son-in-law.”
Kelly’s mom moved back to the bed and brushed the hair back from Kelly’s face.
Her father again. “Mrs. Poole and the others are out in the hallway. I should give them an update.”
“I’ll go,” Jack said. He didn’t want to go too far, but he wanted to check to see if the security people had arrived.
He was immediately pulled into another hug as soon as he left the room. Mrs. Poole’s arms enveloped him in soft warmth and he took a minute to let himself sink into it and soak it up.
When he pulled back, it was obvious from the expectant looks that he’d better start talking or else. Chad, Andrew, and Mabry were waiting for answers.
“She’s okay. Bruised, and they want to keep her for observation, but she’s fine. She’s sleeping.”
As he said the words, the strain of holding it together hit Jack all at once. He let his back slide down the wall and he landed, sitting on the floor as his hands started to shake uncontrollably.
He’d almost lost the woman he loved. The person who mattered the most to him in all the world.
Jack held Kelly as she slept. She’d come home the day before, but he’d had a hard time convincing himself she was there to stay. She had slept most of the time she’d been home, and he’d stayed by her side or held her most of the time.
Of course, since he had yet to talk to her about how he felt, it wasn’t actually a sure thing that she would stay. She might not feel the way he felt. She might not love him the way he loved her.
He felt his love for her grow stronger and bigger with each moment that passed. He saw their future together as he watched her sleep. A home, children, grandchildren—together. To come so close to losing her scared him to death. It was time for him to tell her how he felt.
As he watched, Kelly’s eyes fluttered open with the rising sun. She turned to him and smiled, and that smile made him feel like his heart would burst.
“Hi,” Jack said quietly to her.
“Hi,” she said back and rested her head on his chest silently for a few minutes. Then, “I was so scared, Jack.”
“I know, sweetheart. I’ve got you now, and I won’t let anyone hurt you again.” He held her tight and pressed his lips to her temple. “Kelly?”
“Yes, Jack?”
“Please don’t ever leave me.” He took a long slow breath. “I love you, Kelly. I love holding you. I love laughing with you, arguing with you, and just plain being with you. I love the way you accept everything about me without trying to change me. I love making love to you and holding you when you sleep. And I don’t ever want to give that up. Not in a year, or two years, or ever. When I’m with you, I know I finally found the kind of love my parents had—the kind of love that will last forever.”
She gasped and raised her head to look at him with tear-filled eyes.
He looked into her eyes and saw his answer there, clear as day for him. “Will you marry me, Kelly?” he asked.
When she laughed, he added, “For real, this time? Marry me, again?”
Kelly laid her head back down on his chest as though he wasn’t holding his breath. As though he hadn’t just asked her the most important question of his life.
“Yes, Jack. I’ll marry you for real.”
Epilogue
Over the next few weeks, they began the process of trying to put the turmoil of the kidnapping behind them. The kidnappers were arrested, and their testimony led back to the mastermind of the human trafficking ring.
Denise had been planted in the non-profit Kelly was volunteering at to befriend Kelly and get close to her. She had set up Kelly by getting her to go out the back door so her security detail wouldn’t know she was in trouble until it was too late to do anything about her disappearance.
The group had struck previously in two other cities, and the FBI was working with the kidnappers to have their sentences reduced if all ten of the other women who’d already been sold could be located and returned home.
Samantha was working to help police locate and monitor the people who accessed the site where the women were sold in the auctions. A sting was being set up to arrest interested buyers.
HALO security was staying on Kelly until she felt safe being on her own again, and she was going to take some self-defense lessons and see a therapist to help her regain her confidence.
Kelly felt good that she had taken steps to help Jack and the police track her down, but she still felt vulnerable when she left the house, and she knew she couldn’t live her life feeling that way. She needed to take back what those men had taken from her.
She knew that Jack would help her do that.
Jack and Kelly planned to renew their vows in a real wedding ceremony the day before they left on their three-week trip in August.
Jennie and Jessica helped Kelly pick out the wedding dress of her dreams and pale violet bridesmaid dresses for them to wear.
Chad and Andrew would stand with Jack as his groomsmen, and Aunt Mabry would sit behind Jack where his mother and father would have sat. Chad and Jack agreed; it was good to have Mabry—the old Mabry—back among them.
Jack walked into the house and called out for Kelly and Mrs. Poole. He had come home early from work, something he had been doing a little more often since Kelly had come home from the hospital. Mrs. Poole came bustling in from the kitchen.
“Hi, Jack,” she greeted him with her usual cheery smile. “She’s sitting outside on the patio. She seems more relaxed today.”
“Thanks, Mrs. P. What’s for dinner?” he asked as he kissed her cheek.
“Roasted chicken with new potatoes and carrots,” Mrs. Poole answered as she swatted him away and shooed him in the direction of his wife.
Jack watched Kelly for a few minutes as she sat in one of the Adirondack chairs on the patio. There was a book next to her but it sat on the table unopened, and he hoped she wasn’t thinking about the kidnapping. He would do anything to take away those memories and help her heal.
Jack thought back to his life before Kelly and wondered how it was that he hadn’t known how empty his life was. He had no idea until she arrived that he was missing the fullness of a life with the one that he loved. As he crossed to her now, he thought of the completeness he felt with her by his side.
“Hi, beautiful,” he said as he came up behind her. He was happy to see that she didn’t flinch when he spoke. He pressed a kiss to her lips and sat on the edge of her chair and looked into her eyes.
“What are you doing out here?” Jack asked.
She smiled at Jack. “I was just looking at the lawn and thinking that this is a la
wn that is calling out for children. I’ll be busy with school for a few years, but I want us to have kids someday,” she said as she looked out over the lawn. “There should be children splashing in the pool and children running down to the beach. There should be a dog and a tree house. And a horseshoe pit. We should have horseshoes.”
He grinned. “Anything you want, sweetheart, as long as I have you. Anything you want,” and he gathered his wife into his arms and swept her away into the fairy-tale land of kisses and passion once again.
Two days later, Jack walked down the hall of Sutton Capital toward the lobby. He was hoping to catch Andrew when he came in so they could grab coffee before their mid-morning finance meeting.
He was still smiling. He hadn’t really stopped over the last couple of days.
Having Kelly in his life for real—knowing that she was there because she loved him as much as he loved her—changed everything in his world.
He still loved his work and valued the company he ran, but all of it meant more to him now. The future meant more to him, knowing he would share it with her.
As he came into the lobby, he saw Debbie, Andrew’s secretary, watching the elevator doors shut. He caught a glimpse of Andrew in the elevator, and something hadn’t looked right.
“Everything okay, Debbie?” he asked.
She turned and the look on her face told him it wasn’t at all okay. “His grandmother took a bad fall. She’s on her way to Yale-New Haven right now.”
Jack bit back a curse. Andrew was close to his grandmother. This was going to be hard for him. “Any news on her condition?”
Debbie’s expression was tight and grim. “It’s possible she broke her hip. That’s about all I know so far.”
“Keep me posted?” At her nod, he continued. “And let him know he can take all the time he needs.”
Jack watched the elevator, helpless to do anything to help his friend.