by Leigh James
“Where do you want me?” Gabe asked his brother.
I reached out and grabbed his hand, holding on for dear life. My anger receded all at once, my need for him winning out in a landslide. “Here. Right next to me, where you belong.”
His shoulders relaxed a little. He squeezed my hand and stood by me as the screen came to life, an image of Hannah appearing. My little sister looked like hell. She was pale beneath the traces of her tan, and her eyes were puffy from crying. What was left of her normally meticulous mascara was smudged beneath her eyes.
I clutched Gabe’s hand. “Hannah?”
“Lauren!” she shouted, looking at the screen wildly. “I overheard the guards talking about the plan—do not turn yourself over to Li Na! It’s a trap! They’re—”
“Hannah. Hannah!” The last thing I wanted was for my sister to get punched in the face, or worse, before I even had a chance to talk to her. “Calm down. Stop yelling. Are you okay?”
She looked at me, her eyes wide. “No, I’m not okay! They shot Wes, Lauren! He’s dead! In my kitchen!” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “He’s dead, and it’s my fault, and I swear to God, if you give in to one thing that bitch asks for, I’m gonna rip—”
“Jesus, Hannah! Stop!”
She glared at me through the screen, but at least she stopped yelling for a second.
“Please listen to me. Wes is alive. He’s hurt, but he’s alive.”
“Are you…are you sure?” Hannah looked too afraid to be hopeful.
I nodded while Hannah collapsed back into tears. “Oh my God. Okay,” she said, sobbing. “I saw him. I saw it happen. I thought he was dead.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
She wiped her face roughly and looked back up. “It is not going to be okay. These fuckers…” She jerked her thumb in the direction of her captors, off-screen. “They shot him right in front of me! And I swear to God, if you negotiate with these terrorists—”
“Hannah, stop! You’re going to get yourself ki—hurt,” I said hoarsely. “Calm down.”
She opened her mouth to protest again, but Gabe cut her off. “Listen to your sister, Hannah. Please.”
She looked at Gabe desperately. “You!” she cried. “At least someone with some sense! Don’t you dare let Lauren do it!”
“She’s not doing anything—”
“Stop lying!” She turned back to me, another tear spilling down her cheek. “I know why they took me, and I know what Li Na’s after—you. Don’t you do it, Lauren. You’re the important one. The special one. You have a gift to share with the world.”
I clutched at my heart, which she was breaking. “You’re special—you’re the most important person in the world to me.”
She shook her head savagely. “I’m average. I’m nothing. Don’t you dare trade yourself for me. I’d rather die. I’m not kidding, Lauren. I’ll never forgive you.”
Someone in the background barked an order that I couldn’t make out, and the screen went dead.
“No!” I smacked the keyboard and then the screen, hoping I could somehow bring the image of my sister back. “No, no, no.”
Gabe pulled me into his arms, but his touch offered no relief.
My sister, the unrelenting optimist, seemed to have accepted defeat.
I could feel myself teetering, off-balance, very close to the verge of hysteria.
I turned to Levi. “I want you to get her. To do the public service thing.”
He looked at me, clearly not understanding. “What’s that?”
“Take care of Li Na, like you said you would,” I said, my breathing ragged, my heart pounding. “Nobody makes my sister cry like that and gets away with it.”
Chapter 3
GABE
A few hours later, Lauren went with me to see Wes. I thought it would be too much, but she insisted.
“Hannah would want me to. And he was working for me when this happened. Of course I’m going.”
She didn’t say another word on the drive to El Camino Hospital. Her hand was limp and cold beneath mine, but at least she was letting me touch her.
Eddie, Paragon’s security manager, was in the waiting room, his large frame sprawled across two of the small, uncomfortable chairs. He stood when he saw us, his normally ruddy complexion gone pale. “He’s out of surgery. They moved him to intensive care, though. The bullet nicked his heart, and when he was shot, he went down hard and hit his head on the granite island. They had to put him in a medically induced coma because they’re worried about the swelling in his brain.”
Lauren clutched my hand. “Oh my God.”
Eddie’s reddish brows furrowed into a deep V. “It’s for the best, Ms. Taylor. They said he’ll be able to heal this way, and that he has a better chance of making it.”
“Why are they releasing this information to you?” I asked. The hospital staff had refused to disclose anything to us over the phone.
“I’m his emergency contact,” Eddie said. “Wes’s closest relative is his brother, who’s deployed right now.”
“Of course—I remember.” Wes had shared that his parents were deceased. His mother had died recently of cancer, and his father had passed ten years ago from a heart attack. His older brother was a career marine.
“Do the doctors have any idea if there’s permanent damage?” I asked. I knew medically induced comas were used only in the most extreme cases, where the patient had suffered a brain injury.
Eddie shook his head, looking devastated. “They don’t know, and they don’t know how long he’ll need to stay under.”
“Thank you for being here. I’ll set up a rotation so that one of our team is always on duty, in case there’s news. I want a list of the physicians involved—I have some friends who do rounds here. I want to make sure he has the absolute best care.”
“Good.” Eddie sank back down onto his chair. “But I’m staying for now. This kid…he’s a good kid. I gave him the assignment. I feel responsible for him.”
“Wes is great at his job, and I know he loved being with Hannah. He’s tough—he’s going to be okay,” I said, trying to lessen his guilt.
Eddie perked up. “Any news about her?”
Lauren nodded. “She’s alive. I spoke to her. I actually got to see her on Skype. We’re trying to negotiate with the people who have her. I’ll catch you up to speed when we’re back at the lab and can talk.”
“Okay.”
“Eddie—do you think we can see Wes?” I asked.
“I can check with the nurse.”
A few minutes later, Eddie came back with the nurse, who smiled at us kindly. “You can come with me, but you can only see him for literally a minute. Okay?”
We followed her to a private room. My heart plummeted when I saw him—I wouldn’t have recognized the figure on the bed. Wesley’s handsome face was bruised and bandaged beyond recognition, and there were myriad tubes connecting him to various machines.
Lauren took a deep breath before straightening herself and going to him.
She took his hand in hers. “Hey, Wes, it’s Lauren. I don’t know if you can hear me, but I hope you know I’m here. I want to say thank you.” She started crying, clinging to his hand. “Thank you for protecting Hannah. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I want you to know she’s okay, and I’m going to get her back, and she was so happy to hear you’re alive.”
Her shoulders shook some more, but she calmed herself. “I want you to get better. We’re all rooting for you. We’re here, and we’re rooting for you. Gabe and I are here, and when I get Hannah back, she’ll be here too. We’re your family. We love you, and we want you to come back to us.”
Tears streaked her face as she turned and headed quickly from the room.
I went to Wes’s side. Memories of my father’s brief hospitalization before his death crept up, but I pushed them back. “Hey, buddy.” I placed my hand over his. “I saw the tape—I saw how you protected Hannah. She’s
fighting to come back to you. So you fight too. You fight this and come back. You have a whole life to look forward to. And we’re going back to that island, dammit. All of us. So get better—I need my ally and my drinking buddy.” Wes and I had gotten friendly during our recent vacation. I admired him. He was only twenty-seven, but he’d already served our country and was an important piece of Paragon’s security team. He was strong too—we’d worked out together, and I’d seen his focus and commitment.
I squeezed his hand. I hoped he could find that focus and commitment now, and use it to come back to us.
Lauren’s eyes were red-rimmed on the way home. I didn’t bother to ask if she was okay.
LAUREN
I poured myself a straight vodka when we got back to the house. I put approximately two-point-five ice cubes in the glass, watching as they floated around hopelessly, inundated by the alcohol. I felt the same way—lost and floating, about to disappear. Seeing Hannah sobbing and then Wes connected to all those tubes had gutted me.
I kept hearing Hannah’s words. “You’re the special one. I’m average. I’m nothing.”
Oh, what I wouldn’t give to be the average one.
Levi and Ash both had their laptops open in the kitchen. There were papers everywhere, spread all over the island. “Any luck?” I asked, not knowing what constituted luck in this horrible context.
“No, but I don’t expect any.” Levi rubbed his eyes. “I need you to understand—this is just the beginning. You should get emotionally prepared for the long haul, and for the waiting, because it’s tough. Even a week feels like a lifetime in a situation like this.”
“Today felt like a lifetime.” I took a sip of my drink. It tasted terrible and it burned, but at least I felt something other than panic and despair.
Levi patted my hand. “We have some time to look for your sister. Li Na has asked you to do something and said she’d keep Hannah alive while you did it. I believe that. She hasn’t killed her for a reason. And we’re looking for her, but it’s not going to be easy, and we’re not going to find her tonight. Li Na could have her hidden anywhere—a condominium, an office, a house she’s rented. It’s going to take some time for us to track her down, and I need you to be patient.”
Gabe put his arm around me. “We’ll both be patient, but I need to know that you’re doing everything in your power. Promise me—us.”
Levi sighed. “I promise. Again. And yes, I’d love a bourbon, since you asked.”
I grabbed my own drink and laptop and nodded at the men. “I’m going to bed.”
“You want company?” Gabe asked.
“No… I’m going to start working on the sale prep. I have to make a list and figure out my next steps. At least I’ll feel like I’m doing something.” I nodded at Levi and Asher. “Thank you both. It means the world to me that you’re helping—I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here right now.” With no updates from the police or the FBI, I was relying on Gabe’s brothers to find Hannah and somehow get this nightmare under control.
I headed listlessly to the bedroom, arranging my computer on the bed. And then, once I’d settled in, I started sobbing.
I couldn’t believe Hannah was gone. God only knew where she was and what was happening to her right now.
Her words from this morning played over and over in my head: “Don’t you dare trade yourself for me. I’d rather die.” I’d thought my heart couldn’t hurt any more, but it broke all over again as I wept. My sister had always been the one constant in my life, and I loved her more than anything. And Wesley…big, strong, young Wesley was inert in a hospital room, connected to more tubes than I cared to count. He was in a coma.
What on earth had happened to my world today?
But I knew the answer. It was Li Na, and she wasn’t going to rest until she had my company. I wiped my tears away roughly and snapped open my laptop. She could have it. She could also shove it—and I’d love to work on getting creative with the logistics of that—but I couldn’t dwell on anything so pleasant right now.
I had to get back to work.
I grabbed my phone. Even though it was getting late, I knew my attorney would be up working. “Bethany?”
“Did you hear something about Hannah?” she asked immediately.
“No. I was going to start a to-do list… I thought we should talk, start planning…” Instead, I erupted into a fresh round of tears.
“Oh, Lauren. I’m so sorry.” Hannah had been her client first, and Bethany loved her too. “Just go to bed, and please get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning—we’ll make all the lists and do all the things, just like we always do. It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
We hung up, and I glared at my laptop, a headache settling between my eyes. I could accomplish nothing tonight in my current state. I closed the computer, grabbed my drink, and took another burning sip.
And then, remembering every single terrible moment of the day, I cried myself to sleep.
Chapter 4
GABE
I wanted to follow Lauren to bed, but I knew she needed some time alone. So instead, I poured myself an extra-large bourbon and one each for my brothers.
“How’s the security guard?” asked Ash.
“Terrible. The bullet nicked his heart, and he fell and hit his head hard.”
“Was there brain damage?” Levi asked.
“They don’t know yet. They put him into a medically induced coma because his brain was swelling. He’s a young kid—it was awful to see him like that.”
“Do they think he’s going to make it?”
“I don’t know.” I gulped my bourbon, anxious to feel it hit. We’d spoken to the attending physician before leaving the hospital, but he didn’t have answers. “They’re hoping the coma will help him heal and let his brain take care of itself without stressing the rest of his body. But I have no idea what’s going to happen. It’s too early to tell.”
“I’m sorry,” Ash said. “He’s Hannah’s boyfriend, right?”
“Yes. He was assigned as her bodyguard, and they hit it off. They’re both in their twenties.”
Ash stared into his drink. “Jesus.”
“Listen, I need you to understand—we have to get this done. I’ll pay you whatever it takes.”
I probably could’ve ordered them to do this—I owned a minority stake in Betts Security. When my brothers started their company, we did a cross-purchase deal with my company, Dynamica, to fund the startup. Levi’s company had been very successful, and part of his success originated from our agreement. Levi owed me, but I held off reminding him because he got douchey whenever I did.
And I needed effective Levi. Not douchey Levi.
“I already told you I’m going to put my best men on this case, including myself and Ash,” Levi said. “And of course, I understand this is personal and it’s urgent. I know you like to be in charge, but you’re going to have to let me do my job.”
I poured myself another drink. “I’m not going to fight with you. You guys are staying here, you’re working for us, and I want to help.” I turned to Levi. “Just please don’t be a dick. Because then I’ll have to break your nose again, and Mom wouldn’t like that.”
Ash laughed, but Levi glowered at both of us. “If I recall correctly, you had some help—it wasn’t exactly a fair shot.”
I shrugged. “Seemed fair to me.” Ash had held Levi when I punched him, but as far as I was concerned, that was water under the bridge.
“Let’s forget about that for now.” I brought the decanter over and poured them each a conciliatory drink. “What are the next steps for getting Hannah back?”
Ash pointed to a picture on his laptop. “The security tape showed part of the license plate on the kidnappers’ car. We’re beginning there, trying to track the plate down. I’m sure it’s stolen, but it’s a place to start.”
“And then we’re going to work with the FBI and the police to see if they have any leads, which I’m sure they don�
�t.” Levi finished his drink and helped himself to another—apparently, his successful business hadn’t dampened his taste for bourbon.
Not that I had a lot of room to talk. Not tonight.
“Once we get a lead on the plate,” Levi continued, “we’ll start the search. We’ll cast a wide net and try to ascertain their whereabouts. In the interim, I’m going to find out as much as I can. Maybe something will come in handy—I’ll research Zhao’s real estate holdings, or corporate entities of hers that may own real estate—to see if I can find anything local. And we’ll work around the clock. We’ve got you covered.”
That was all I could hope for. “Okay. And Levi?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for being here. This means everything to me. I won’t forget it.”
I went to my room and found Lauren curled up on the bed, weeping. My heart broke as I gently took her into my arms and kissed her cheek. She sobbed and held on to me.
“Can I get you anything?”
She shook her head, still crying.
I cradled her in my arms, wishing I could take her pain away. “Shh, I’ve got you.”
I held her until she finally fell asleep. It took a long time for her body to relax. I tucked her in, brushing the hair back from her face. Her features smoothed out as she finally became oblivious in sleep.
I gently kissed her forehead. “I love you, babe. More than anything,” I whispered, careful not to wake her. “And I am going to make this right.”
LAUREN
The next morning, I called an emergency meeting with my board of directors. I shivered as I strode through the doors of Paragon, followed closely by Timmy and two of Levi’s guards. Gabe and Levi had both insisted that my personal security be tripled, but I wasn’t worried about myself. All I could think about was Hannah.
Several employees stopped to ask about Hannah. She was a favorite with the staff, always irresistibly upbeat. I answered their questions carefully, saying that we were working on getting her back. I updated them about Wesley—that he was in a medically induced coma, his prognosis questionable.