Betsy nodded. Her heart was racing.
“If you need us to come in and get you before then, call or text me on the burner phone.”
She wouldn’t be doing that, but she agreed.
“I’m going to take you back to the room. Okay?”
“Will you be in trouble for coming with Ink to the hotel?” Duke asked worriedly.
“No, I don’t think so. Forrest wants me to get close to Ink. He’ll probably approve.”
“Write down his address,” Brody told her. “Anything you can think of in regards to the security system. A name, what it looks like, are there any cameras in the office?”
“I don’t think so,” she said as she grabbed the pen and paper he offered, writing anything down she could think of. “But there are in the passage outside and the rest of the house. Even my room.”
Ink made a noise like he’d been punched.
“I’ve grown used to getting dressed with a towel on,” she said quietly.
“Let’s go,” he told her, taking her hand in his. He cupped her chin. “Just remember, I’m here. I’ll get you out whenever you need to leave. And I will keep you safe. You and your sons. I fucking promise.”
He kissed her gently then escorted her back to the other bedroom.
* * *
Ink waited until she’d left then stomped back into the other room. He let the rage flood through him. He’d been holding it back by the bare skin of his teeth. Knowing what she’d been through, about her issues with people yelling, he’d held back.
But he couldn’t anymore.
He slammed his fist into the wall. Drew it back. Not enough. He punched the wall again.
“You’ll need to work on those anger issues unless you want to scare her,” Reyes commented. Brody and Duke had disappeared somewhere.
“I don’t have fucking anger issues,” he snarled, turning to face the other man who watched him coolly.
“The wall would beg to differ.”
“Fuck you.”
Reyes sighed. “You know what it’s like to have someone else calling the shots in your life and to be helpless to change things. You weren’t to blame for what happened to half your team.”
Fucking Duke. He’d kill him for telling Reyes Ink’s business. “Duke told you?”
“No,” Reyes said. “I’ve got a Brody of my own.”
He did? Who the hell was that? And why was he looking him up?
“I knew something was wrong. We still went in.”
“You told your superior, he didn’t listen, he sent them in. It’s on him not you.”
“So my fucking therapist tells me.”
Reyes sighed. “I know you don’t like me. That you blame me for getting the club involved with Bartolli, with the money laundering and blackmailing the senator.”
“It was Smiley’s fault. He paved the way.”
“And I cemented it,” Reyes said without a hint of guilt. “But the club is my life. And the brothers are my family.”
Ink nodded. He knew that.
“Do anything for any of them. Including kill someone.”
He’d already proven that when he’d killed Fergus Bartolli.
“That extends to Sunny and Jewel. And now your woman. Betsy thinks she’s weak, but you and I both see the truth. She’s fucking strong. She just needs a bit of help. We’ll help her, Ink. You don’t have to do this on your own. Just remember that. Like me, don’t like me. But I’ll help you get your girl safe.”
“Took everything I had to let her go.”
Reyes snorted. “Shocked the shit out of me that you let her go. Thought I’d walk in here to find you had her tied to the bed.”
“It was close.”
“Hmm, sometimes I think we clash because we’re so alike.”
Ink wouldn’t go that far.
16
Her stomach was alive with nerves as she snuck down the stairs. The cameras were off again. The alarms were blaring. Brody had done a good job of setting them off over the last few days. They’d had a technician out twice and he’d been unable to find what was wrong.
The guards were getting complacent, which was precisely the point.
Thank God Kit had gone with Forrest on business this time. He was still monitoring her phone, she was certain. But she knew that if he’d been home the guards wouldn’t be nearly as accepting of the security measures being down.
She was supposed to be going on a date with Ink in two hours. She had watched the video on unlocking doors with a card what felt like hundreds of times. She’d practiced on one of the bathroom doors which had a similar lock during the other times that the cameras had been down.
Still her heart raced nervously as she forced the card in and wiggled it. The door opened and she re-locked it once she was inside. Moving quickly, her heart racing, breath coming in fast pants she strode to his computer and shook the mouse. It came on. It took her three attempts to get the pen drive into the slot.
Calm down. Calm down.
She expected someone to barge into the room at any moment. For there to be some other alarm on a different system or a camera that Brody hadn’t managed to pull down. But nobody came. She slid the pen drive out when it was finished.
Maybe she should take a quick look around. But he wouldn’t leave anything out where she could just find it. It would all be in his safe.
And she didn’t have any clue where that was.
There was nothing more she could do. She moved to the door and unlocked it. Now the tricky part. Stepping out when she had no idea if there was anyone on the other side.
Taking a deep breath, she cracked open the door and tried to peer out. Not seeing anyone, she stepped out and shut the door behind her. Shoot! She’d forgotten to relock it.
“Hey, Betsy, what are you doing down here?” a gruff voice asked.
Thing One. Her heart raced. Could have been worse, though. Could be Thing Two. She turned and glared at him. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m checking all the fucking doors during this security breach. Alarms are messing with my head. Get up to your bedroom.”
“I’m supposed to be going on a date. Someone needs to take me.”
“You’re not going fucking anywhere,” he yelled back. “Get upstairs!”
He grabbed her arm, shoving her forcefully towards the staircase.
She scrambled to her feet right as he tested the door and it opened. She looked around frantically for something to help her. Spying a heavy candlestick, she picked it up and swung it at his head as he turned towards her. He fell to the ground with a thump.
Shoot. What had she done? She couldn’t just leave him here. She quickly opened the door to the office then dragged him inside. It took a lot of effort, but adrenaline flooded her, giving her added strength.
When he was in the room, she raced back out, remembering to lock it in the hope that bought her some extra time. She didn’t know how much longer the cameras and alarms would stay down; she knew Brody would try to give her as much time as possible. She had to get out of here before he woke up. Breath sawing in and out of her lungs, she quickly moved towards the kitchen. She figured the back entrance might be the easiest way out of here. Someone yelled out from the front of the house and she bit back a cry of fear.
She couldn’t think beyond what to do past getting out of the house safely. There were guards outside, dogs and a wall. If the cameras came back on and she was seen…she was so terrified that all she wanted to do was find the nearest safe space, crawl in there and wait until she was rescued.
But no one could help her. If the guards found her, she was a dead woman once Forrest returned.
It was now or never.
There was no one in the kitchen and she slipped out the back. She was grateful for her dark clothing and the fact that she had shoes on as she moved down a pathway towards the gardens. The alarms wouldn’t be down for much longer. Out the back was a lot of taller trees, densely packed in. Good for hiding. But not e
asy to move through quickly. But to go out the front or sides of the property, she’d be far more exposed.
She could get away with this. She could.
Branches tore at her, scratching her skin. It wouldn’t take much for her to be tracked. She just prayed that they didn’t discover Thing One or that she was missing before she got out of here. She pawed at her bra, feeling for the burner cell phone and pen drive. She’d left the phone Kit had given her in her room. Not that she could risk stopping to call Ink. And all he’d do was worry anyway. Or try to come get her.
No, she’d wait until she was well away from here to call him.
She ignored the pain of the scratches, just focused on getting through the trees towards the huge fence. This was going to cause the biggest problem.
How was she going to get over it?
In the distance, a dog howled. She told herself it wasn’t coming for her. She had nothing to worry about. She reached deep into herself to keep herself from falling apart.
She could do this. She could do this.
The trees started to thin and she saw it. The fence. She didn’t know if the alarms were back on. She guessed they probably were. She was only going to have one shot at this. The fence was solid brick, no obvious way of climbing it. She hid behind a tree, and watched as one of the mounted surveillance cameras started moving back and forth.
Shit! She figured that meant they were back on. She had to get out of here!
What to use to climb over? She wanted to give in. Wanted to climb a tree and hide…
Climb a tree. She looked around. There were some trees on this side that were close enough to the fence that if she climbed up and moved out on one of the branches, maybe she could jump over the other side.
And break something in the process.
She had no other options. They could have discovered she was gone by now. Have found an unconscious Thing One. Even though she was trembling with fear, weak from exhaustion.
She had to do this. She moved along the tree line, careful to keep herself hidden until she spotted a large tree. One of its branches reached out towards the fence. There would still be a bit of a jump. But if the branch would hold her, she thought she could make it.
She moved the pen drive and phone to her zip-up pocket on her pants.
Now, if only she had some experience at climbing a tree.
Little ladies don’t climb trees, Elizabeth Victoria.
Well, it seemed this Little was going to have to learn. Fast.
* * *
“Where the fuck is she?” Ink roared as he paced Brody’s office. It was basically a room with desks loaded down with computer screens. His office was off the main security room, where screens were monitored by his guys remotely for several security contracts they had.
Brody was tapping on his keyboard, looking at different screens. He’d called Ink in just as he was leaving to go home and get changed for his date.
The date that would change his life. Betsy was gonna be his.
“Tonight was meant to go smoothly. How the hell did it go so fucking wrong?” he demanded.
The main room was quiet, which was unusual. But everyone knew he was walking a tightrope on his temper.
Betsy was missing.
“I don’t know,” Brody muttered. “When I put the cameras back on, she was missing. I can’t find her anywhere. I’ve tried calling her but it goes straight to voicemail. Either it’s off or dead. We never gave her a charger.”
Fuck.
“Is there any way of finding out what the hell happened while the cameras were down?”
Brody shook his head, looking worried.
Shit. Mother-fucking bastards. He knew he should never have allowed her to go back there.
He drew his phone out and brought up Seth Blue’s number.
“She’s not here boss,” Blue said immediately. He was stationed at the restaurant in case by some miracle she turned up.
“Fuck. Just stay the fuck there and call me if that changes.”
“Got it.”
“I’m going out there,” he said to Brody and Stone who stood in the doorway, watching him like he was a ticking time bomb.
Which is exactly how he felt.
“You can’t go out there,” Stone pointed out. “Their security is back up. It would be suicide.”
“How long has she been missing?” he demanded
“Around thirty minutes,” Brody said. “There’s something else. One of their guys was injured. They found him in the office. There are no cameras in there, but I saw them open the door then drag him out.”
Jesus. He fucking hated this.
“Could she be in the office?” Stone asked.
“Guess it’s a possibility,” Brody said.
“Are there any other parts of the house where you don’t have eyes?” Ink asked.
“Yeah,” Brody looked ill as he said this part. “The basement.”
Ink let out a pained roar. “Fuck! I’m going. I don’t care about their fucking security.” He moved towards the door.
“Ink,” Stone said.
“She’s my woman. Right now, she could be injured, frightened, fuck knows! If they found her snooping around who knows what the hell they would do to her. I have to find her!”
“Fine. But not alone!”
Ink shoved past him. “Whatever! But if you’re coming hurry the fuck up!”
* * *
She was so scared that her teeth were chattering. She knew they were searching for her. The dogs were howling. That sound sent chills up her spine.
What was she going to do? She was running out of time.
And she was out of steam.
Sore. Scared. Exhausted.
She might have given up already if it wasn’t for Ink. He’d be furious if anything happened to her. He’d blame himself for letting her go back there.
Right now, she wished she’d listened to him.
At least the boys would be safe. He’d promised her that.
Before Ink, that had been the only thing she’d wanted. The only thing keeping her going.
She reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone. She’d call him. He’d come for her. She looked at it in disbelief as it did nothing. No. No. No.
She knew it had been close to dying but she thought she’d have some battery left. She shouldn’t have watched that video so often!
A sob rocked her and she nearly gave up. The road. She needed to head to the road and hope she could flag down someone. Of course there was every possibility that she’d run into Forrest’s men rather than any savior. It wasn’t like there were many houses out this way.
Tears blurred her vision as she reached a deep ditch. It was next to the road and she’d have to make her way through it to reach the other side. Whimpers escaped. She didn’t want to go into the ditch. It was dark and she couldn’t see the bottom. What if it was filled with water? What if something lived in that water?
But it was the only way to get to the road. She slumped onto her bottom. Why? Why her? More barking rattled her and she knew she had no choice, she pushed off, sliding down on her ass.
She landed at the bottom of the ditch with a jolt. The impact sent pain up through her legs and water soaked her legs.
Great. Awesome.
Searching for any reserve of strength, she moved through the sludgy water, glad it was only knee-high and tried not to think of what might be in here.
When she reached the other side of the ditch, she attempted to pull herself up. She managed a few feet before her arms gave in and she collapsed back down on her ass.
It was hopeless, she was never going to make it. She might as well give up.
You’re a McClain, Elizabeth Victoria. McClains don’t give up.
Huh, for once Mama’s voice was encouraging.
Mind you, her father had been a McClain and he’d easily given up on them so she didn’t know how encouraging that was.
But she knew she needed to get out of here. R
eaching up, she used the last of her strength to get out of the ditch. Then she collapsed on the side of the road. There was nothing left. No energy. No fortitude.
She lay there, panting desperately for air, wishing she was stronger, better, braver.
I’m sorry, Daddy.
* * *
Ink drove his truck along the winding road, he was aware of the bikes that joined him once he was about fifteen minutes away from Forrest’s estate.
Stone had called in reinforcements.
He was grateful. He didn’t care what it took. He was going to storm that fucking estate. He was going to take back what was his and then he was never letting her out of his sight again.
Thank Christ no cops seemed to be around, because he wasn’t exactly sticking to the speed limit. Then again, he wouldn’t stop for them even if there was.
Nearly there. Five minutes out.
He glanced around the woods, his headlights hitting on something on the side of the road.
Probably garbage.
With white-blonde hair? And had it moved?
As soon as his head caught up with what his eyes had spotted, he pulled over. Some of the bikes shot past, those at the back stopping with him as he jumped out and ran back to where he’d spotted what he was now certain was a person lying on the side of the road.
His heart stopped as he saw her. Lying there. Arm outstretched towards the road as though reaching for it.
Betsy!
He ignored the others around him, racing towards her and falling onto his knees. He grabbed her, turning her over.
Please let her be alive. Please let her be alive.
Her moan was the most delicious sound he’d heard in his life.
“Betsy! Betsy!”
“Betsy don’t wanna get up. Sleep.”
Shit. He gathered her up into his arms, ignoring her protests.
She was alive. Maybe hurt. He wasn’t certain. But alive.
“Ink, we need to go, man.”
Hero Daddy Page 17