Sworn to Protect

by Diana Gardin

  My head snaps around. “I’m not reporting shit. That’s my fucking family. I’m going after them my damn self, and if you aren’t on board then this is where we split.”

  Dare studies me, his dark eyes brooding and wary. “Man…”

  Holding up my hand, I head for the driver’s seat of the Land Cruiser. As soon as I open the door, Night’s ferocious barks turn to an anxious whine.

  “What if it were Berkeley? I worked her case when she went missing. No one could tell you shit. You were gonna be in on it, no matter what, right?”

  Turning back to Dare, I stare him down. “I won’t ask you to help me, you know that. Going rogue like this could hurt us both. It’ll definitely earn us a suspension from NES. Can’t ask you to do that.”

  With a heavy sigh, Dare steps toward me and offers me his knuckles. “No way I’m letting you do this alone. Your family might as well be mine. I’m in. And as soon as we let Swagger and Ghost in on the situation, they’ll say the same thing.”

  I suck in a ragged breath. It’s what I’d hoped he’d say. “So the entire team is going off the books?”

  Dare gives a curt nod. “Damn straight.”

  Adrenaline races through my veins, amping me up, sending my brain and my muscles into overdrive. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I have this.”

  I hold up my phone as I pull up a special GPS app I installed only a few days ago. There’s a red dot on the screen with concentric circles pulsing out from it. There’s also a green triangle. The red dot is moving, while the green triangle stays static.

  “What the hell is that?” Dare leans over my phone, trying to see it closer.

  “That’s the tracker I set up. The bug is attached to the inside of Decker’s backpack, concealed inside a pocket.”

  Dare stares at me, awe and admiration in his eyes. “You’re one smart son of a bitch.”

  Shrugging, I place the phone back in the car. “Instinct told me I should make sure I have tabs on him and Rayne both. Get Swagger and Ghost on the phone. They need to be in the car and headed this way…yesterday.”

  Dare turns and jogs back to his car.

  The GPS tracker gives me hope that I’m going to find them again. But it doesn’t change the jarring truth of what just happened. The truth that—if I allow myself to settle into it, really absorb it—will pull me under and drown me where I stand.

  I lost them.

  30

  Rayne

  I don’t know where we are, but I’m with Decker and at the moment that’s all I care about.

  We drove only for another hour or so before pulling off the road and onto an unmarked dirt pass through a thick wood. The headlights only illuminated a few feet before us, enough to shine on the back of the SUV that I knew held my son. My eyes stayed glued to that vehicle, even when Wagner would try to engage me in conversation.

  I remained mute.

  Pulling up in front of an elaborate log mountain cabin, completely hidden from view and off the path in a clearing, surrounded on all sides by nothing but forested mountain land, I rush to slide out of the sedan.

  I ignore Wagner’s chuckle behind me as I race for the SUV and pull the back door open. Decker tumbles out and into my arms.

  “Mom?” His voice is raw, probably from screaming, and my heart breaks in two equal pieces.

  Grasping the sides of his face, I study him from head to toe. “Did they hurt you, sweetheart? Tell me the truth.”

  He shakes his head, his green eyes wide with fear. “What’s going on, Mom? Who are these guys?”

  Wagner steps up next to me on the brush-strewn path. “Decker, right? I’m Wagner, your mother’s old boss. I’ve heard so much about you, but it’s very nice to meet you.”

  Everything that I’ve been thinking and feeling for the last hour and a half boils up inside me, a volcanic eruption of rage, emotional turmoil, and paralyzing fear. Turning to Wagner, my hand raises almost on its own and the slap rings out through the night.

  “Don’t you speak to him,” I snap, putting my arm around Decker and leading him away from Wagner.

  My hand stings, but I ignore it as I’m hustled up the stone steps, my grasp on Decker never weakening, and led inside the elaborately styled cabin. Knotty pine walls, a gorgeous, cavernous vaulted ceiling with wood shiplap and wooden beams painted white, and all the luxurious furniture and decor you’d see in a rustic home magazine.

  Turning to Wagner, I’m satisfied to see a red stain on his cheek where my hand left its mark. “Why do you have this house?”

  Wagner shrugs, his blue eyes piercing me where I stand. “It belongs to a business associate. Came in handy, didn’t it?”

  Glancing around once more, pulling Decker tighter to me, I see that the two men in suits and Kevin O’Shea came inside with us. The others must be assigned to outside guard duty.

  Grabbing my arm in a hold that’s too rough to be gentle but only harsh enough to border on painful, he steers me toward the spiraling staircase.

  When I’m wrenched away from Decker, I cry out and he stands as tall as he can.

  “Hey!” He raises his little voice in a shout I’ve never heard from him before. “Let go of my mom!”

  He sounds absolutely enraged, and it’s not a side of him I’ve witnessed often. Decker is usually a pretty even–keeled kid, relaxed and fun loving and happy. I hate that there’s a possibility this experience can change that forever.

  With a smirk, Wagner gestures toward O’Shea. “Watch the kid.”

  Tugging my arm painfully out of his grasp. I dig in my heels. “I’m not leaving my son alone!”

  I’m still having trouble even wrapping my mind around the fact that we’re here. Just under two hours ago, I was sitting in a car with the man I love, the father of my child, escaping all of the problems that had followed me to Wilmington from Phoenix. Then, those same problems caught up to us, ripped us apart, and carried not only me away with them, but my son as well.

  And the last thing I ever wanted was for Decker to be dragged into any of it. Now he’s downstairs alone, scared, and clueless about why we’ve been taken or whether or not we’ll be hurt.

  I didn’t miss the fact that he called Jeremy “Dad” for the first time. That should have been an epic moment for the three of us, something that we could stop and revel in. I can only imagine how Jeremy’s feeling. The look on his face when Decker said it, and when he realized that he was probably going to lose us, nearly broke me.

  And I put every ounce of trust I had in Jeremy. I should have known that no one would be able to protect me from Wagner forever. The man has never failed at getting what he wanted. He didn’t get to be a billionaire by sitting around waiting for things to happen.

  But I was naïve to think that Wagner only wanted me. I never truly believed that he would hurt Decker. But now Decker and I are here on our own. There’s no way Jeremy will be able to get to us. Even though we aren’t too far away from where we were snatched, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. For all he knows, we could be driving through Tennessee by now, on our way to God knows where.

  The thought of never seeing him again makes my knees buckle, and I trip up a step. Wagner hoists me up and pulls me the rest of the way up the stairs and into a bedroom where he shuts and locks the door.

  “Have a seat, Rayne.” His voice is cool and polite, but I can hear the command in it even with the layer of saccharine on top.

  “I’ll stand.”

  His lips twist in amusement, and he presses hard on my shoulders. I plop onto the bed and then scramble backward, pulling my knees up to my chest.

  “What do you want?”

  Instead of answering right away, Wagner tilts his head to the side, studying me. I want to close my eyes and pretend invisibility under his stare, but I know that showing weakness in front of Wagner is a mistake. He smells it, the same way a shark seeks bloody chum in the water.

  When I don’t flinch or cower under his probing gaze, he turns away
and heads for the big picture window. Looking out onto the black night, he says nothing for so many minutes I’m about to open my mouth and ask the question again.

  Without turning, he speaks. “I want you to understand me, Rayne.”

  Reeling back, my mouth opens and then closes again. It’s not what I expected him to say. He wants me silenced. He wants to be sure I don’t have proof of the corporate espionage he used to steal information from Prednar. And from the looks I’ve interpreted, he wants my body.

  But for me to understand him? I never would have put that on a list of things Wagner Horton wants.

  “What do you want me to understand?” I whisper.

  Finally turning, his hands clasped behind his back, I expect him to walk toward the bed. Even though he takes in my tight gray leggings, short, heeled boots, and clinging tunic, his eyes going dark, he takes a seat on the edge of an armchair instead.

  “I want you to understand that the only crime I’ve committed is conforming to the way the business world works. I’m a creative genius, Rayne. I have people who breathe down my neck, demanding the next best thing in order for the company to continue to grow and flourish. But that’s not the way my brain works. I can’t come up with the ‘next best thing’ on demand.”

  Cautiously, I nod. “I can imagine that would be hard. Lots of pressure.”

  With an eager nod, he looks up into my eyes. “Unrelenting pressure, Rayne. All the time. When the opportunity arose to borrow an idea from another company, I bit. It felt wrong, but do you know something? Ideas are rarely ever original. They’re just recycled, over and over again. Revamped, yes. And that’s all I’ve done with Red40. It may have originated at another company, but I’ve tuned the software to my own needs, and it’s really quite different now.”

  Is he seriously trying to convince me that stealing is okay when you’re a genius billionaire?

  All I do is nod, because he’s talking. And when he’s talking, he’s not touching me and he’s not hurting me. I have an urgent need to get back to my son, though.

  “Wagner…I need to go back downstairs. I can’t stand leaving Decker alone.”

  A glow of something stronger and harder than irritation glows in Wagner’s eyes, but it’s gone so fast I can’t even be sure I saw it. Then his face is a mask, hiding his emotions as skillfully as a chameleon blending into its surroundings.

  “Give me a few more minutes, Rayne. I have a proposition for you.”

  Shaking my head, I scoot forward on the bed until my feet touch the floor. “Let’s just lay it all out on the table, Wagner. You know what I saw, and I know that you want to keep me from singing to the authorities. You let my son and me go, and I’ll keep my mouth shut. Does that work for you?”

  He leans forward on his elbows, watching me like I’m a show he just can’t turn off. His lips curl into a smile that hides more than it shares. “Just like that? I should just let you and your son walk away?”

  Trying to keep my face impassive, I nod.

  The silence in the room stretches, growing thick and heavy until it might as well be a suffocating blanket covering us. I jump when Wagner bursts into laughter.

  He laughs so hard and so long that his face turns red, and I can feel myself growing more furious and more humiliated with every passing second.

  He’s just playing with me. This is a game to him.

  “Nothing is more important to me than my son, Wagner.” There’s a warning note in my voice.

  Wiping his forehead, his face turns serious. “Oh no? Let’s talk about that, shall we? If nothing is more important to you than your son, why have you been shacking up with Jeremy Teague?”

  Wheeling back like I’ve been slapped, I snap. “We’re not shacking up. I love Jeremy. And he’s Decker’s father. You know he won’t stop until he finds us, right? And he’s trained to do it.”

  Wagner leans back in the armchair, crossing one leg over the other, his expensive leather boot dangling over his knee. “Yes, I think I’ve heard some information to that effect. It’s rather interesting, really. Did you know that your son is an heir of sorts?”

  Narrowing my eyes, my teeth snap together as a wave of fear ripples through me. “What are you talking about?”

  He waves his hand. “Never mind. I have a counter deal for you. Are you ready to hear it?”

  Mutely, I nod.

  As if he’s been waiting decades for my response, he launches himself off the chair and before I can take a breath, I’m on my back, staring up at his hovering face.

  Attempting to struggle is futile, Wagner has me pinned underneath him, my hands pinned above my held, held in place by his.

  “What are you doing?” I hiss through my teeth.

  “Are you angry, Rayne? I always thought I’d really love to see that. Have you like this—pissed-off and spitting venom like the little harlot you are, right underneath me. I plan to have you like this again and again. Ready to hear my deal?”

  His mouth is so close to mine, hot breath floats from his mouth to my face and I want to squeeze my eyes shut, but I’m too afraid to take my eyes off of him. I can feel his hard-on pressing into my thigh, and bile rises in my throat. I cough as I choke it down.

  “I’m going to let your son go.”

  Waiting for more, my heart beats a frantic rhythm in my chest. “Why…why would you do that?”

  His smile is cruel, sure. “Because I have you. I don’t need him. He can sail off in the sunset with his daddy, for all I care. But you and I are leaving on a private plane, out of the country, tonight. I have a private deal going down, a merger with a very lucrative corporation. Once that deal is done, I won’t need to run the day-to-day nonsense at Horton Tech anymore. I’ll be free to just collect my paychecks. And if I have you with me, you’ll keep your sexy little mouth quiet. So much better than killing you.”

  I’m having a hard time remembering how to breathe. “That’s…you’re insane. Why would you want me to stay with you when I despise you?”

  He leans down and takes my mouth with his, a rough and harsh and stomach-turning kiss that leaves me gasping when he finally pulls away. Running a hand over my thigh, he grips is tightly and wraps it around his waist, pressing into me.

  Oh, God. This isn’t real. Please let me wake up and this will all have been a horrible nightmare.

  “Because hate and love straddle a fine line, Rayne Alexander. And I’ve never wanted a woman as much as I want you. The fight in you?” He dips his head, running a tongue along my heck until he reaches my collarbone. “It’s something I’m going to enjoy tearing out of you.”

  The fight to keep from gagging has black dots dancing on the outside of my vision.

  “No response? No biting reply, no snide remark? Would you rather I beat it out of your son instead?”

  I snap to attention, cold and oily fear coiling in my gut. All the fight leaves me then. Since the first moment I laid eyes on him, I always knew I’d do absolutely anything for Decker.

  My answer for Wagner is easy.

  “Let Decker go. You make sure he gets back to Jeremy. And we leave tonight.”

  31

  Jeremy

  Early September in the Appalachians brings crisp night air. The scarred and scuffed wooden tabletop at the coffee shop adjoining the service station where the Land Rover is getting four new replacement tires is filled with the writings of previous customers. A slew of Sharpie in a rainbow of colors reads like a love song, but I’m not studying the poetry.

  I keep glancing at the glass door leading to the service station, checking the status on my SUV, my fingers drumming anxiously on the table.

  “If they aren’t here by the time the car is done, we’re leaving without them.” My tone warns Dare that I’m dead fucking serious. It’s been two hours since I watched a psychopath drive off with the woman I love and our son. There’s only so much waiting a man can do before he snaps.

  And I’m at the tipping point.

  The tracker stopped mo
ving an hour and a half after they left, and I’ve had eyes on it, waiting for it to start up again. But it hasn’t. They’re still in these very same mountains, and I need to get on the road so I can get to them.

  The thump, thump, thump of my fingertips hitting the table and the beeping of the tracker on my phone, combined with the continuous whir of the espresso machine behind the counter are the only sounds in the room.

  “No, Brains. We wait. You can’t do this alone, that’s why you have a team. Swagger and Ghost are on their way…should be here any minute now.”

  When we called them, they were staking out a hotel where they’d had confirmation Horton had been staying. As soon as we informed them of what had happened on the mountain road, they abandoned that post and we decided as a group not to put Jacob on the line by telling him what we were doing. We collectively made the decision to go rogue and take the consequences later.

  But we knew damn well that if Boss Man were in any of our positions, he wouldn’t hesitate.

  I hope he’s not too pissed off at me later, but at this point I really don’t give a fuck.

  Thoughts of what Horton could be doing to Rayne and Decker while I’m sitting on my ass waiting for my car to be fixed threaten to drive me over the edge. Dare insisted that taking his truck and going in alone without a plan was a bad idea, something that would surely be more dangerous to my family than waiting and planning.

  When the little bell over the shop tingles and I glance up to see Grisham and Ronin walking through the door, I shoot out of my seat.

  Ronin locks eyes with me and the sympathy in them almost breaks me.

  He walks over and places a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll get them back.”

  With a curt nod, I rake both hands through my disheveled hair. “No other option.”

  Grisham takes the seat beside Dare and places his tablet on the table. “Show me your app with the tracking device information.”