by J. L. Beck
But goddammit to hell, someone is going to pay! All I can think in that instant is what they’re doing to her? If she is okay? How this is my fault, how I should’ve been there.
“Come to the gym. We’ll figure everything out and leave from here. I’ll make some calls and see what I can find out.” His cell signal cracks a bit, but I understand what he’s saying.
“I’m already en route. Be there in ten, actually maybe five.” I couldn’t care less about any fucking speed limit right now.
Hanging up the phone, I toss it onto the seat next to me. Then I slam the palm of my hand against the steering wheel a couple times in rage.
NOBODY better lay a hand on her, or they will take their last breath tonight!
I can’t believe this. I was just gone for twenty minutes, thirty tops. Fuck, I didn’t even check the time. Briefly, I entertained the thought of going to the cops but quickly ruled that out. Jude’s an adult, they wouldn’t do anything, or at least not anything I couldn’t do myself.
There is no way in hell I’m even going to wait a few hours. The cops are useless in this situation. Timing is of the essence, and I need to find her before something horribly awful happens to her and my baby.
When I get to the gym, I park up front and run inside. Roman and Luke are already waiting for me, their features masked.
“Did you figure anything out?” I huff out, my heart racing out of my chest.
“I looked into her family when you asked me to. The girl’s dad is a fucking religious icon and is up to his eyeballs in debt, up until now, I couldn’t figure out to who,” Roman explains, and I can already sense this is going somewhere that I don’t want it to.
“What’s Jude got to do with this?” I growl.
“Guess why he’s in debt?”
“Stop with the fucking games! Spill it!” I yell, not caring about any of this shit or if I’m being an asshole. Jude is fucking gone, the love of my life was taken, and I’ll make those fuckers pay, make them wish they never touched her.
“He’s a pussy church daddy, who makes parishioners pool their “communal” money, then he spends it on sex with underage girls and gambling. Now someone has their hooks in him and is threatening to kill his kid if he does not get his people to ante up on what he owes. Jude’s just leverage.”
Woah. The room spins, and information lands like a wave of grossness so thick that only rage can burn it off my skin.
I’m definitely in a red hot rage.
I am going to kill that piece of shit father if it is the last thing I do on this planet.
Looking at Roman, I find his eyes trained on me.
“I have to get her back.”
“I know.”
“She’s pregnant.”
Roman whistles low and looks away.
“That is a gamechanger. We’re going to have to go in different, then.”
“Copy that,” Luke acknowledges.
No way can I risk her, but now we are rescuing two. “Any sense of where they are holding her or how much the debt is?” Paying is an option. I want to kill the fuckers, but if money gets her out safer, then I have to at least know how high the bar is.
“Three hundred grand, but,” his mouth tightens as he pauses, “no doubt they will tack on interest for the muscle expended. If it was me, and I’m generous? I’d guess a solid half mil.”
Fuck me.
“That kills that option.”
“Not necessarily.” He eyes me, and I don’t like that look.
“My family does well, but even collectively, I bet we have nowhere near that. Not without selling houses and cars.”
“There is another option, but I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”
“Roman, at this point, I would be willing to do anything.” And I would, when it comes to Jude, there isn’t a damn thing I wouldn’t do.
He nods. “We can ask Damon.”
I visibly recoil.
“He can help, if not with the money, then with extracting her. We need to know where they are holding her, and Damon knows these things. He knows people, has connections.”
My phone rings just then. I pull it out, and desperately hope, without thinking, that it is an answer to this bad dream and that it is all about to be over.
I look at the caller ID and glance back up to Roman. It’s Damon fucking video calling me. “You already contacted him, didn’t you?” I accuse.
Roman grins. “Where do you think I get my information from? Damon knows things, he can help. He is your best chance of getting her back fast and unharmed. Nobody fucks with the Rossi’s, and with Damon attached to the situation, they’ll back off, or risk death.”
Nodding my head, I hit the green answer key and accept the call.
“Lex, I’m sorry to hear about your girl.” To my utter shock, he sounds sincere. “If you want, I can help you.”
Never in a million years did I think I would ask the mob to help me with anything. But hell, I don’t care at this point. All I care about is getting Jude back into my arms.
“I don’t care what I’ll owe you, just help me get her back.”
Desperate times, call for desperate measures, and I’ll do anything to get the woman I love back unharmed.
I can’t take this waiting any longer. If someone doesn’t call us soon, I’m going to go fucking berserk. As if the universe answers my silent prayer, Luke’s phone starts ringing. The sounds seem unusually loud after the room has been silent for so long.
He looks at the screen before glancing up at me. He gives me a tiny nod, letting me know that this is the call we have been waiting for. My heart beats against my chest in an unnatural rhythm. The anticipation is killing me, eating me up from the inside out.
“Tell me what you got.” Luke is direct, almost authoritative, and that surprises the shit out of me. I still don’t know how he is involved with the Rossi family, but hearing him talk to Damon of all fucking people like this, tells me he is more involved than I can fathom.
“Thanks, Damon.” Luke hangs up the phone. “I’ve got the address. Let’s go.”
He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I’m already up and moving. Luckily, so is Roman and Luke. Collectively, we’re out the door and piling in the car in record time. Roman drives while Luke gives direction, and I mentally prepare myself for what’s to come. We’re going to get her back. I might have to kill someone, but I’ll be okay with that. I’ll be okay with anything so long as she comes back to me whole.
I briefly flash to the conversation I had with Damon and what he told me.
“I would die for my family, but I would kill for them too. Hell, I have killed for them. You do what you have to do in the name of love. Sometimes that means you get your hands dirty.”
Maybe we are all more alike than I thought. Maybe he was right, there is no black and white. You can be good and bad at the same time. Today, I’ll be both.
Ten minutes later, we pull up behind an old industrial park. I look around and see nothing. No other cars, no people. Nothing, just open space, with lots of trees.
“We’ll walk from here,” Luke explains. “The building is right behind those trees. We’ll cross through there, so they don’t see us coming.”
Getting out of the car armed to the teeth, we sprint around the grass and huddle in a grove of trees on a ridge above the plant. There are no lights that we can see and only one vehicle in the parking lot.
A white SUV.
Motherfucker. I knew it. Guilt gnaws at my insides like a dog chewing on a bone.
Luke offers more intel that came in on the drive over.
“It’s only the two men inside. Not particularly smart, with no training, but a history of overreacting and pretty damn trigger happy. Prepper types with a small armory. Three entry points to the interior offices. Front and rear walk-ins from employee parking lots and a set of stairs down, right next to the main door, from an industrial catwalk that can be accessed from exterior junction points. We get her out quickly
and leave. Damon sent backup. They’ll clean up everything we leave behind.”
I nod, imagining the layout in my mind.
Luke turns his phone toward me and points at it. He has the floorplan!
Shocked by how well they are trained and what kind of access they have, I take the phone and shift the image in several directions and zoom in on several spots. Then hand the phone back and nod.
“I’ll take the catwalk. If you flank in from the other two points, that will give us the most coverage.”
The two of them look at each other and back to me.
I pull out my pistol and double-check the barrel. Then do the same with the semi-automatic slung over my shoulder as they check their handguns too.
In stealth, and under cover of night, we slip down the hill and toward the plant, each finding our own way in. My eyes try to make out the subtle lines of the metal railings against the same color metal backdrop. I find an exterior staircase and head up and inside, the stairs creaking beneath my boots. Once I reach the interior offices, I see a couple of lights on inside. I wait until I make out the silent movements of Luke and Roman, suddenly feeling grateful for their assistance.
Making a soft bird chirp, they both look up and nod their acknowledgment. I descend the stairs, which land right next to the first lit office. I can see inside the window and the two idiots–Christ, the same damn ones that attacked her at the fucking gas station–are playing cards.
I shift my position, trying to see if Jude is with them, but I don’t see her. She must be behind one of the doors that are behind them.
These guys don’t seem well-armed. One pistol between them, which lies on the table, unless another is shoved in one of their waistbands. This should be easy.
Hell, I could probably walk up, knock on the door, and punch them out before they realized what was happening.
But you never assume you have all the intel. There could be another helper in a bathroom somewhere or keeping watch in the room with Jude.
No, better to go in with controlled maximum force. Eradicate any possibility of resistance. Neutralize any threat.
This is my child and the woman I want to marry. The only thing that matters to me is their safety. It hits me again, and I grip my rifle tighter. These motherfuckers are going to pay.
I glance toward Luke and Roman once more. They are tight and ready to back me up.
I hold up three fingers and bring one down to my palm one at a time.
Three.
Two.
One.
I kick in the door, shove the gun and playing cards off the table, moving the weapon out of reach. Disorienting the men, I plant my boot in the face of one as the other struggles to get his gun out of his rear waistband. Knew it. I lunge at him before it gets free, and he grunts as we go down, the arm behind him breaking with a loud, satisfactory crunch, that causes him to wail out in pain as we hit the ground.
As I get up, I’m tackled from behind by the first guy, who tries to get me into a headlock. I reach back to claw his eyes out, but he uses that advantage to tighten his grip, cutting off my air supply. Knowing I have less than six seconds before I pass out, I slam my foot into his shin and ankle with my heavy boot, to gain a couple of millimeters of freedom when he cries out.
I use that small reprieve to twist back toward his dominant arm and place my leg behind his, giving me room to slip out and twist his arm up behind him. Then I slam against the back of his knees, causing him to buckle and go down.
The second guy finds his footing, standing once more, and heads for my back when I hear a cold voice at the door.
“I would stop right there if I were you.” Roman. Finally.
The douche backs away, and Roman orders him face down on the floor. Roman keeps them pinned there with his gun as Luke and I begin opening doors.
“Clear,” Luke calls out.
“Clear,” I add after opening the second room that is lit.
We look around, trying to find where they might have stashed her. Then I see a door at the back of the room.
When I fling it open, I find Jude sitting in a far corner, shielding her eyes from the sudden light.
“Jude...”
“Lex! Oh, my god, Lex!” She stands as I cross the distance and crush her in my arms. Holding her so tight I’m worried I might crush her, I bury my nose in her hair and breathe her in. I want to keep her in my arms forever, protect her from everyone and everything. I need to do better, I can do better.
“Kids! Time to go!” Roman calls out, dragging me out of my momentary bubble. We are not safe yet.
I release Jude and ask if she is okay. “You’re not hurt?”
“No, no, I’m fine. They didn’t touch me, just scared me.” I grab her hand, wrapping mine fully around her smaller one and pull her close to me. We have to get out of here before more men show up.
Luke is just finishing tying the men up, and I want to smash their heads in with my boots until they are a bloody, pulpy mess. Then I realize that a fate worse than that is waiting for them when Damon shows up, and I don’t have to do a thing. Just leave their stupid asses here.
Talk about karma.
Maybe asking Damon for help wasn’t such a bad idea. It got me Jude, and I know for sure that these assholes will pay the ultimate price.
24
Jude
The four of us head out the door as quick as thieves. When we reach the edge of a gravel parking lot, Lex bends down and picks me up. I almost object, but the truth is, I won’t be able to walk fast or run with bare feet on that harsh gravel. Not without tearing up my skin, so I bite my tongue and let him go all alpha on me.
He carries me all the way through a heavily forested area and to another parking lot, where a dark SUV is parked. His friends get into the front as Lex deposits me into the back seat before sliding in beside me.
The engine roars to life, and we speed off. Still in shock, I look out of the window, trying to process what has happened today.
A mile down the road, two dark, expensive-looking SUVs pass us, and I watch as they head the same way we just came from. I wonder if those are more bad guys. All I can do is shiver, thinking of how badly this all could’ve been. I could’ve died, our baby could have died.
“It’s okay, Jude, you’re safe now,” Lex coaxes and reaches for me. He pulls me into his lap, and I bury my face in the crook of his neck, letting his woodsy scent calm my chaotic nerves.
“Lex, I was so scared. Not just for the baby and me, but for you. I was so afraid you were going to get hurt trying to rescue me. I knew you would come for me, and I didn’t want anything to happen to you.”
“That wouldn’t have mattered as long as you were safe.”
“But it would have mattered, Lex. That would have left the baby and me alone.”
“You’ll never be alone, Jude. I’ll always be with you, my whole family loves you and will always protect you. You and this baby are so much more important than me. I’ll die a thousand deaths to keep you safe.”
His words pierce my heart, and I realize how deep his feelings for me go. There is nowhere he won’t go, nothing he won’t do.
When I feel the car turn, I look up just to see where we are going. As if Lex reads my mind, he whispers, “We’re going home, unless you think you need to see a doctor and get checked out?”
“No, I’m fine. I promise. No one touched me.”
I can feel his body relax at my words, and I don’t want to know what he would have done if someone did touch me. It certainly would’ve been worse than the little beat-up session I saw him do once before.
“This is Roman and Luke, by the way.” He points to the two men in the front while saying each name.
“From the gym?”
“Yes, but as you can tell, they have other skills as well.”
“Were they in the military too?”
Roman chuckles from the front seat. “Something like that.”
I don’t know what that’s supposed
to mean, but right now, I really don’t have the capacity to care.
Luke turns around to look at me, and even in the dark car, I can make out his features. “Believe it or not. My wife, my sister, and I grew up similar to the way you grew up. We escaped that life just like you did.” His words sound genuine and true.
“Oh…”
“That’s a story for another day though. Maybe we can all get together one day, you know, when you’re not being kidnapped and stuff?”
“That sounds like it would be, well, it would be nice,” I tell Luke, who turns back around in his seat.
I shift on Lex’s lap and return my head to his shoulder. Closing my eyes, I just let him hold me for the rest of the drive. This is it. After this, I know there is nothing he won’t try and protect me from. He’s proven himself without even knowing it, and I have no reason to be scared of him anymore.
He’ll protect me forever, and always.
25
Lex
By the time we get to my house, Roman has already called in a private security detail for us. Two armed men are on the porch, two are around back, and two are stationed in a car down the block to manage top-down scenarios. At least for tonight, we will be safe.
I get Jude inside, and she falls against me as we embrace.
To her credit, she does not cry, she just seems weak, spent, like she’s just been through hell and back, and I suppose she has been.
“Oh, Jude.” I reach down and kiss her deeply. She melts into me, and I feel a warmth spreading between us, reminding me of the enormity of the attraction I feel toward her.
Our kiss turns more passionate as I begin to think about what could have happened. I want to burn away any memory, force out any remaining fear or stress, to press myself inside her and eradicate anything bad that might have gotten in.
Her hands grip me and then paw at the buttons of my shirt. Clearly, she has the same idea as me. I move to drop my jacket and then rip the buttons of my shirt with her to get it off.