She paled, as if she were only just then realizing I was serious. The words were choppy when she released them from her vile mouth.
“You’re asking me to leave?”
“Oh, I’m not askin’ anything. I’m tellin’ you.”
“So what . . . I get out of town, don’t come back, and that video isn’t ever gonna appear? You’re saying those are your terms? You aren’t angling for anything more?”
Leave it to the thief to think I was aiming to steal from her.
“That’s it. Just go.”
She laughed a sour, hostile laugh, before she squared up, lifted her chin as if it didn’t hurt her none. “Fine.”
She spun around and flew back up the steps, door banging as she rushed inside. Rex’s dog, Missy, yelped when she slid out the door, door catching her tail before she went to stand guard at Frankie’s side. Frankie giggled and pushed her fingers through the dog’s hair. I took a couple steps into the driveway, figuring I best be guarding, too.
Ten minutes later, Janel came barreling back out, wrangling a big suitcase in both hands. She fumbled down the steps and heaved them into her trunk before she went running back up the stairs.
She scooped Frankie Leigh off her feet and raced back with her to the car. Missy scrambled down at their sides, whining, sensing that something was wrong.
Panic just about squeezed my heart into a million pieces, and I rushed that direction just as Janel was shoving Frankie into the backseat. She slammed the door shut and rushed to get into the driver’s seat before I could get there. Gunning it in reverse, she started to peel out of the drive.
I barely caught onto the back handle and jerked open the door. Hating the idea of putting Frankie in danger, but I couldn’t allow her to drive off with her.
The car screeched to a stop as I was hauling Frankie into my arms. Janel’s door flew open, fury on her face when she jumped out. “You might want me gone, but I’m not leaving without my daughter.”
She tore at my arms, skin breaking under the claw of her nails. Frankie started crying. Crying and crying. A jumble of confusion and fear. A baby who deserved none of this.
I fought her, backing down the driveway and holding Frankie protectively against my chest. “You’re not taking her, Janel. You are the devil and I’m not gonna allow you to taint this child. Leave her or I’ll gladly die showing Rex exactly who you are.”
Missy jumped around us. Yipping and barking. Not sure who she was supposed to be fighting and who she was supposed to be protecting. Janel continued to try to rip Frankie from my arms, two of us scuffling closer to the road.
And I tried to hold on. Not to let Frankie go. But Janel was stronger than I was. She finally tore her free, a sneer of victory on her face. That was right when we heard the loud rumble of the ever-distinguishable truck, the powerful engine rumbling as it turned onto the far neighborhood street.
For a second, Janel froze. I took the opportunity to lunge for her, grasping for Frankie, arm locking around her waist. I dislodged her from Janel’s hold just before Janel shoved me just as hard as she could. Both Frankie and I tumbled to the ground.
A wail of a cry rose from Frankie, and she climbed to her feet, wobbling at the back of the car. I skidded across the gravel, coming to a stop just to the side.
That engine roared in the distance. Coming closer and closer.
Panicked, Janel jumped back into the front seat and threw her car in reverse. Caring about nothing but setting herself free.
I screamed, “No!”
Tires screeched and dust billowed. It was so loud, the engine and my screams and Frankie’s cries, and I couldn’t make sense of the picture, nothing except her car hitting the street, shifting into drive, and then tearing down the road in the opposite direction of Rex’s truck.
No. Frankie Leigh, oh God, no.
It was a prayer from my soul. A cry from my lips.
A strangled sound of relief left my throat when my eyes landed on Frankie. She was crying, sprawled face-down on the dirt where she’d been thrown.
My eyes drifted back, and horror took to my throat.
Missy was dead in her place.
A heap at the side of the road.
Missy had saved her. Pushed her out of the way.
Rex’s truck jerked to a stop in the middle of the road, and he stumbled out, the glare of headlights cutting into the descending night. A cry wrenched from his mouth. “Missy. Oh . . . no . . . oh God . . . what . . .Frankie!” Second he saw his daughter, he went rushing her way. Stunned, he looked over his shoulder to the taillights disappearing in the distance, his expression shattered when he turned back to the scene.
But that was the thing. This loyal man had no clue just how much worse it could have been.
41
Rynna
Pain throbbed at the back of my head. Blinding. Excruciating. I fought it, swallowed the nausea and forced myself to climb to my knees. My hands fumbled around, searching the floor for my phone.
Gone.
It was gone.
Mumbled voices echoed from the depths of the kitchen. They were coming from the old break room and office.
Fighting the terror lining my veins, I pushed myself to standing and squinted through the darkness. I pressed my back against the commercial ovens just inside the kitchen. I fought to stay as small and quiet as possible.
Slowly, I edged toward the voices.
Sinks lined the far back wall. A huge dry storage pantry was to the right of them and the old office was down a short hall to the left.
Keeping myself plastered against the metal, I shifted so I could peek into the murky depths.
A flashlight and the flickering flame of a candle cast the small room in leaping shadows. Two people were inside, their silhouettes striking against the wall as they moved.
Where was Frankie?
A cold sweat broke out across my nape, and I squeezed my eyes again, gathering courage, calculating whether I could make it to the phone that rested on the old desk that sat right inside the office.
I eased down the short hall, those voices coming clearer with each step I took. Panicked whispers, frantic as they searched.
“Where is it?”
“The question is, where the fuck did you hide it?”
“It has to be here . . . I . . . it’s been a lot of years. I’m not leaving without that money. That money and my daughter and that goddamned tape.”
“You think they aren’t already going to be looking for you since you took that kid? That was so stupid, Janel. I warned you that was the dumbest thing you could do. Going back to his house. What were you thinking?”
“I’m not leaving my baby behind. Not again. It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.”
“Yeah, and what’d you expect? Me just to sit on the sidelines while you cozied up with that arrogant asshole again? Taking what’s mine? You’re insane if you thought I was going to let you stay there.”
“Just shut up and help me find it. None of that matters anymore.”
I kept edging closer, footsteps subdued, my heart threatening to pound right out of my chest.
“Yes! Here it is . . . it’s here!” Janel suddenly shrieked, coming into view when she jumped to her feet with a box in her hands. A box she had to have found beneath the floorboards.
I knew I didn’t have any more time. I rushed for the phone that was four steps away. I grabbed the receiver, fumbling to hit those three simple numbers.
I made it. I made it. One second before the receiver was yanked out of my hand. I started to spin around, caught off guard when I was shoved in the side.
Hard.
My feet flew out from under me.
I slammed against the wall. But this time, I was ready. Ready for this fight. A fight that’d been coming for years. For what felt like forever. I was fighting for Rex. For Frankie. I was fighting for me. “You coward, taking a little girl.”
I charged her. Rammed my shoulder into her chest as hard as I c
ould.
Pain splintered through my head, but it was worth it. It was worth it because Janel stumbled back, arms flailing and hair whipping around her. The box she’d had in her hands went sailing through the air and crashed to the floor.
I dove for it. A hand fisted in my hair, yanking it back. “You stupid bitch, always in my way. Not this time. Not this time.”
I threw an elbow back and caught her in the ribs.
She heaved out a cry.
I spun around and rushed her just as she was rushing me.
Our bodies collided.
A clash of souls.
I hooked her around the neck, trying to pin her, hold her.
She jerked free, so frenzied that she reeled, her footing gone. She stumbled back until she hit the desk.
I dove on her, and we slid across the slick wood, knocking everything that had been on the top to the floor.
Papers and the phone and the candle.
And we fought. Arms and fists and ripping hair. Fought until a big body was yanking me off. I screeched and kicked and fought. Fought in fury. In hate. In the desperate need to get to Frankie.
Frankie.
Frankie Leigh.
Aaron’s cologne filled my nose, the memory of it making me gag. I struggled to break out of his hold, but he was too strong. He tossed me aside. As if I was nothing.
Trash.
Just the same as he’d treated me before.
Aaron grabbed the box from the floor and then snagged Janel by the wrist. “We have to get out of here. Right now.”
My attention caught on the floor across the room. A tiny flame leapt to life. The candle a match to a piece of paper that’d floated to the floor.
Part of me wanted to go for it. Stamp it out. Protect my gramma’s legacy. But none of that mattered if they got away with Frankie. I couldn’t—wouldn’t allow it to happen.
Hand-in-hand, Janel and Aaron ran down the short hall and escaped out the back door. The door they’d most likely broke in through.
Frankie was my only concern. Not a building or its memories or the hopes of what it may be one day.
Only that little girl.
Crying out in pain, I struggled to get to my feet, chasing right after them. By the time I made it out the door, they were sprinting toward a black Durango parked in the back lot. In my periphery, I could see the spark of fire.
And I knew my grandma’s restaurant was getting ready to go up in flames.
I didn’t slow, only pushed myself harder, desperate to get to Frankie.
Aaron tried to force Janel around to the front passenger seat, but she diverted and wrenched open the back passenger door. “Frankie . . . Frankie?”
Janel started to panic, shouting it again. “Frankie!”
Struggling to jerk out of his hold, she whirled on Aaron. “Where’s Frankie?”
I stumbled to a stop halfway across the vacant lot, heart crashing against my ribs.
“Warned you, Janel, but you wouldn’t listen. We’re not taking that fucking kid. We’re getting out of Gingham Lakes and out of this country, and I won’t have anything slowing us down. Now, let’s go.”
“Where is she?” she screamed.
Even though he seemed to avoid it, Aaron’s attention darted back to the diner, expression twisting in the briefest flash of guilt.
Guilt aimed at my gramma’s diner that was going up in flames.
No.
Oh my God.
Slowly he shook his head. “Didn’t expect the fire. That’s not on me. Now get in or I’m leaving you behind.”
Janel’s expression froze in horror. And I thought maybe it was the first time I saw any true humanity in her. Any true care. Just as fast, it was gone, and Janel started around to the front of the SUV.
She was just going to leave her.
I spun around in my own horror. Flames licked out from the back window and glowed through the gaping door.
For a flash, my eyes squeezed closed, my gramma’s voice a whisper in my ear. Her presence overwhelming, so much I could feel her belief penetrating to the depths of me.
All moments matter. We just rarely know how important they are until the chance to act on them has already passed.
I’d always known Rex and Frankie were worth the chance. This one might cost me it all. Everything. But they would always, always be worth it.
My feet pounded against the pavement. Adrenaline and fear were a thunder that stampeded through my veins and whooshed in my ears.
I held up my arm as if it might protect me when I barreled through the doorway and into the kitchen.
Smoke swallowed me.
Taking me whole.
Black.
Thick.
Suffocating.
Holding my breath, I tried to get as low as possible as I began to search.
When I couldn’t do anything else, I tugged my shirt over my nose and gave in.
Inhaled.
It burned.
Burned so badly that my lungs wept, just the same as my insides.
Heat licked across my skin, so hot I wanted to scream.
Scream for help.
For sanity.
For Frankie.
Most of all, for Frankie.
I groped along the walls. Trying to find my way. To make sense of where I was.
Disoriented, I fumbled, trying to focus.
A wall.
An oven.
The pantry.
Oh God, the pantry.
The door was closed.
When I’d left this evening, it’d been wide open. I was sure of it. I’d been moving things in and out and had propped it open.
I slid my hands over it, feeling, searching. Relief wrenched from me when I found the latch. I managed to drag it open.
Smoke billowed inside. It was at the same second I heard Frankie’s cry.
“Frankie!” It was a shout.
Joy.
Solace.
Fear.
Each emotion rushed me. One after another.
Because I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t see and everything hurt so bad.
The radiating heat and the asphyxiating smoke.
But there was no chance I was giving up.
Flames bloomed just outside the pantry door, consuming the kitchen, eating away the plaster and wood and memories.
I dropped to my knees and crawled across the floor. My hand came into contact with something that moved. A foot. A leg. A tiny body that I pulled into my arms, holding her against my chest, burying her face in my shirt.
Because I’d do anything to protect her. To save her.
Dizziness swept through my being. Head. Body. Soul. I fought to stay coherent. To stay awake. To fight.
I clutched Frankie to me, rocked back, and screamed.
42
Rex
I rushed through the doors of the police station. I’d been on the phone with my mom the whole way over, trying to get as much information from her as I could and settle her down at the same time. Which was a ridiculous notion in and of itself, considering how close I was to coming unglued. Torn limb from limb. Janel’s fist punched right into the center of my chest, the bitch ripping out my still beating, bleeding heart, holding it hostage in her corrupt, vicious hand.
Never in a million years would I have imagined she’d stoop this low. Of course, I’d had no clue how deep her betrayal went, either.
Treason.
Treachery.
It was nothing less.
Lieutenant Seth Long was already coming out of his office when I skidded to a stop in front of it. We’d gone to school together, had been friends for as long as I could remember, the guy devoting his life to the greater good.
“Rex,” he wheezed, amped up, whole station already on red alert. “APB has been issued, and I have every available cruiser already on the streets. We’re going to get her back. I promise you, Rex, if it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to get your daughter back.”
I
nodded, though it was choppy, jerky with hatred and fear. The two together were a dangerous combination. They itched my fingers in direction’s they shouldn’t go. Thoughts of vengeance and retribution skating my skin, a twine that bound my body.
“I just . . . I’ve got to do something.”
He set a hand on my shoulder, head dipping down, eyes meeting mine. Like he was trying to get through to me. To get me to see reason when all I was seeing was red. “I know you do. But I need you to make an official statement first then you can ride with me, okay? I don’t want you running off doing something stupid.”
Another spastic nod, filled with reluctance, but what the hell else was I going to do? “Okay,” I agreed.
“Come on, let’s get this moving so we can get out of here.”
I started to follow him into his office, when my phone chirped with a message. I pulled it from my pocket, squinting when I realized it’d come in close to fifteen minutes ago, during the time I’d been talking to my mom.
Rynna.
Apprehension pressed against my ribs, and I quickly thumbed into the message, pushing the phone to my ear. Rynna was on the other end, sounding panicked and worried and a little shamed, telling me she was sorry but she was going to Pepper’s.
That was at the same second a radio bleeped in the station, a code issued and an address given, an officer asking for backup.
It was to an address I knew all too well.
My gaze locked with Seth’s. Time froze while awareness shot between us. Then I was running. Running back out into the night and into my truck. Seth was right on my heels, sliding into the front seat of his cruiser. I floored it, didn’t care that I was breaking about fifteen different laws as I sped toward the diner.
Toward Rynna.
Toward Frankie.
Toward my entire life.
The center of my world.
Felt like it took me forever to get there when not more than five minutes could have passed. I skidded around the last corner, taking a sharp left turn, roaring down the road.
All the breath left me when the building came into view.
Pepper’s ravaged by fire and smoke.
No.
No. No. No.
Tempt Me: A First Class Romance Collection Page 62