“He has her. Logan Nichols. He kidnapped Joslyn. I saw him take her. I saw him. I didn’t know he was going to take her. I swear it.” My spine straightens when her declaration tumbles out of her mouth. Words no person should have to hear.
In a haze of fury and rage, I swing my arm out, grab her by the collar of her shirt, and drag her the rest of the way into my house. Not caring if she’s acting to prove some kind of sick point. If she is, I’ve underestimated her ability to act. I drag her down the hall and into the kitchen just as Dean hangs up the phone.
I yank my cell out of my pocket and call Joslyn. When it rings and goes straight to voicemail, I know. Christ Almighty, do I know that something isn’t right. This animal has her.
“Someone call Grim.” Shit. She had some meeting at the courthouse today. There’s no way they would allow him to sit inside and wait for her. Damn it.
“Voicemail,” someone speaks. Have no idea who because all that’s whipping through my ears is what she said. I’m drowning in my own desperation over this.
“You better start talking, Gwen. How do you know Logan?” I release the strong hold I have on her arm when Dean puts a hand on my shoulder and tugs me back. A rush of guilt rises when she rubs it.
“Cops are on their way,” Miles alerts.
The room suddenly goes quiet. My head is spinning on a cycle of violent terror. I’m coming undone. Fear has never scorched through the layers of my skin like this. It’s burning me alive.
“He worked for the law firm I hired when we drew up the prenup. I didn’t start seeing him until you and I started fighting all the time. We were seeing each other up until the day I found out about Joslyn. I drove to his house after I found pictures of her. I was hurt and angry that you had all these pictures of another woman. At first, he played dumb, tried to reason with me by saying I had no right to be angry if you were seeing someone else when I was, too. I told him I didn’t think you were; I just needed to know about her and who she was. All hell broke loose when I told him her name. He hit me, started rattling off her name. All kinds of stuff I couldn’t understand. Over and over he kept saying it while he paced the floor. I didn’t know what the hell he was going on about until he suddenly stopped and told me there was no wonder she broke it off with him.” She pauses, catches her breath while I try to choke down everything she’s saying. “Before he threw me out, he told me he would kill me if I ran back to you. I was so scared he would do it.”
Fury swells deep in my sanity, as hot as a poisonous mixture ready to erupt. It churns until I feel the bile rise in my throat as I stand here white knuckling my fist in order to not knock her on the floor. The pressure of this roaring sea of rage, the same one that’s been building over the course of three long years of dealing with this bitch, tosses my mind and bleeds the truth in my ears.
“Where are they?” I demand low, pressure building in my chest. Sirens are bellowing closer while fear and dread creep up my spine.
“I’m not sure where. I told you I wasn’t seeing him anymore. I might be stupid for doing what I did to you, but I was not going to let a man hit me. I called him a few days later to tell him it was over between us. He wasn’t the man I thought he was, and then the next thing I knew, he started blackmailing me with all these pictures I let him take of me. That’s what I came here to get. I stopped paying him once and he sent them here. I’ve been paying him thousands of dollars for months. Then he suddenly disappeared. I-I thought it was over. I granted you your divorce. Kept trying to act normal when I went out. I was always looking over my shoulder for him. I was planning on moving so I could start over after our divorce was final. No harm had been done to you or to me until you started seeing her again. That’s when he showed up at my door demanding more money, telling me I was going to accuse the two of you of having an affair. I told him no, I wasn’t going to hurt you anymore. I wasn’t going to give him another dime either. I didn’t care if he exposed me or not. I asked him to leave, or I was calling the police. He grabbed me by the throat, pushed me up against the wall, and told me I was going to do exactly what he said, or he would kill you and her.”
My face falls, and I freeze in dread.
It crawls up and down my spine like the slimy legs that carry the man who has my soul out there with him.
“Why in the hell didn’t you tell me this? For Christ’s sake, Gwen, I might hate you, but I would have protected you. We all would have, and you know it. So help me God, you better hope he doesn’t touch her, or I’ll kill you.” My pupils enlarge, my heart refuses to stop pounding wildly in my chest, and my blood flow hits my brain with a sudden hiss that makes me wobbly.
“I wanted to. I told him I was going to. He beat the hell out of me, Roman. Why do you think I haven’t been out in public? God, this isn’t what I wanted. You have to believe me. I’m sorry.”
“You expect me to believe you after what you're confessing to me now? You knew the man was dangerous, and this entire time you kept it to yourself. Don’t sit there and tell me you’re sorry when he has the woman I love. I give zero fucks, Gwen, zero when it comes to you. He may have been blackmailing you for Lord knows how long, but you know how loyal we are. We would have found him, and she wouldn’t be out there with a crazy man right now. Jesus fucking Christ. He’s obsessed with her. Obsessed people don’t think right. Fuck, where are those cops?” My lips thin and quiver. The noises coming from behind me rise as I hear voices coming down the hall. Someone asks a question and a loud “What the fuck is going on here?” comes from right next to me. I ignore them all while I keep my eyes trained on this woman who in spite what she’s been through I want to skin alive. I couldn’t care less about the pictures. I need to know where this crazy fucker has taken Joslyn.
“Are you crazy? You should have called the cops or called me. Goddamn it, Gwen.” There is so much commotion going on around me, but I don’t hear a word anyone is saying. I can hardly breathe. I can’t even grasp on to any of this. It’s worse than fear. It’s a living nightmare that will forever be with me if Joslyn isn’t found safe and sound.
“Mr. Nixon, I need you to step away from her. We will take it from here.” Silence is an eerie fucker. It seeps into my blood and paralyzes my brain. It consumes all my inner thoughts as I stare the cop down who has a hold of my arm.
“We already have an APB on the vehicle, sir. It was called in by a witness. Let me do my job, or I’ll have you arrested.” I hold my hands up and back away, but not before I shoot Gwen a death threat through my eyes, stating if anything happens to Joslyn, she’ll be leaving this town in a black fucking bag.
“If you’re not going to let me leave, then can someone at least have the courtesy to tell me if they’ve found her? For fuck’s sake!” I holler, slamming my fist on the table when an officer walks by. They made all of us come down to the police station. Told us all we would be arrested if we tried to interfere. I scoffed at the assholes. Knew they were specifically talking to me.
Terror owns me right now. It has my stomach wedged in my throat. I can’t end it. I can’t do a fucking thing except pace this shiny tiled floor at the police station while the cops continue questioning Gwen.
It’s been nearly two hours since she told us, and I’m dying a little more with each breath I take. I can feel the blades homing in on my heart. Hundreds of them ready to slice me open and gut my soul.
This entire time I thought Gwen was behind it all when she wasn’t.
I drop down in a chair, place my elbows on the table, my head in my hands, and wait.
The only damn good thing to come out of this so far is that Grim is okay. He’s got a mighty big gash on the side of his head and is quite a bit shaken up. He’s being questioned now. He was the one who called it in after someone found him. Of course he tried calling all of us, too. None of us heard our phones through the violent storm of my voice. About cried when the man pushed his way through the doors with guilt surrounding him.
My knuckles glow a bright white from fle
xing my fists over and over again. The repeated action does nothing to quell the storm brewing inside of me. The annoying ticking of the clock on the wall is a constant evil reminder. With each second that passes, I feel my world slowly begin to evaporate. I stand to my feet, fucking done with waiting. This bullshit is over, and if I have to take matters into my own hands, so be it. Guarantee any one of those bastards outside this interrogation room would do the same thing.
“Going somewhere, Mr. Nixon?” A familiar detective walks in with a file folder tucked under his arm and a coffee mug clutched in his hand.
Fucking coffee. This bastard has the balls to be leisurely sipping a cup of joe right now? I don’t think so.
I step up to him, squaring up chest to chest, my vicious stare unforgiving. I know better than to disrespect the law, but a man can only take so many chips to his shoulder before exploding. I grab the coffee mug from his hand and place it on the far end of the table. The hot, pitch-black liquid sloshes over the sides. The detective stares at me in disbelief.
Right here is where I need to keep my head clear and not let the delicate thread keeping me together snap. I’m pushing the limits and don’t plan on stopping.
“Figured your cup of fresh coffee could wait, sir.” I nod my head. “I need answers, and I need them now.”
“Mr. Nixon. I’d be upset if I were you, but you’ve been known to be a loose cannon in the past. You’re being detained here so we can find her without having you take the law into your own hands.” The detective pulls out a chair. The grating noise frays my nerves. I’m about to fucking lose it.
I run my hands through my thick hair and then grip the back of my neck, squeezing it tight. “I could demand to call my lawyer, but seeing that she’s the one who was kidnapped, I can’t. Can you at least tell me where they are?”
He doesn’t acknowledge me this time.
And that does it. My final nerve fucking snaps in one bright explosion. My vision fills with rage and anger.
I slam my palms down on the cold metal table. “This is fucking bullshit! I want answers now!”
“Have a seat.” He coolly nods.
A sardonic chuckle escapes me. Well played, detective. I know his game. He’s remaining cool and calm in hopes of only pissing me off more.
I lean in, my biceps flexing in anger, and control the level of my voice. “We are on the same side here, Detective. My emotions are running high as expected. I want to know every single thing you’ve discovered in the last two hours. Don’t leave a damn detail out.”
Chapter 21
Joslyn
“Fuck. This is not how I wanted this to go. You just had to go and trip up my plans, didn’t you? Had to get back with him? Couldn’t stay away. I had this all worked out, Goddamn you.” Logan pounds on the hood of his car with his gun pointing right at me, while I sit in here suffocating.
My hands and legs are tied with a long rope and twisted around the driver's door handle. He’s baking me to death.
“You’re going to call him and get me money, or I’ll expose picture after picture of him and his wife. I told you once, just you wait until I got you alone. Now that we're alone, either you do what I say, or the media will be getting a picture of your dead body.
“That was you? You rotten son of a bitch. You set that up. Bastard. Screw you! Roman and I are solid. You can’t hurt him or me, so quit threatening me and do it,” I scream. I feel violated in more ways than I can count. He is one twisted man.
“I wanted to scare you. It worked, didn’t it?”
No, what you did was piss me off even more, you crazy fool.
I’d give anything to have use of my hands right now to rub my head; it’s throbbing like crazy from where he knocked me out with the same gun he violently whipped into the side of Grim’s face the second we walked through the door to the underground parking garage where I asked Grim to wait.
The next thing I knew, I was being jostled awake in the front seat of this car.
The indescribable nagging that’s been attacking me since this all started hits me worse than anything I’ve experienced before. I’m hurt, ashamed, and the conclusion this isn’t my fault somehow reaches up and grabs hold of my senses. The man has completely lost his mind. He’s obsessed in an unnatural way.
It’s infuriating more than anything that Logan thinks he can force me out of the building undetected, strike my friend down, and blackmail me. My thoughts are consumed with it. Pressure begins to press down on my chest, making it difficult for me to breathe.
“Maybe I should show you what I have of the two of them, huh? That ought to get your attention. I have many of him hitting his wife right after she started tweeting. Or how about this one?” He comes around to my side, jerks open the door, and shoves his phone in my face. I squeeze my eyes shut. “Look at it.” He grabs a handful of my hair, slams my head against the dash. I swear I feel my brain jar around in my head.
“Fuck you. That’s fake as hell. Roman was in bed with me Friday night. I won’t call him, no matter what you do or say. You may as well give up now. I’d rather you pistol whip me to death before I engage with you blackmailing him. You’ve lost your mind. The entire plan you thought out has derailed. You're not getting a thing except a long time behind bars. I’ll make sure of it. You know I will. Don’t forget how good I am at my job, you son of a bitch.” I hold in the vomit wanting to emerge from seeing Roman on top of Gwen. It sickens me.
I know I’m making him angrier by the second. I don’t care. I’m not a doormat for him or anyone else. Roman taught me to fight for what I think is right, and until he makes me shut up, I’m going to drill him with everything I can think of to hurt him.
“You really are a slut, aren’t you? You ruined me by taking the job I worked my ass off to get. Not a chance in hell you're keeping it.” God, he’s chasing his own tail in this circle he’s running around in. I can’t keep up with everything he’s saying.
“A job you worked hard for? You are more demented than I think.” Something clicks when he yanks open the door, grabs me by the throat, and shoves me backward, the seat giving way until I’m lying all the way back and he’s straddling me. I’m choking in the warm air. Gasping for breaths of it. Any feelings I had for him are long gone. The only thing I feel for him now is pity. The man is nuts.
“There were several interns competing for your job, Joslyn. I was one of them. Of course, I worked in a different department than you, knew it would give me the disadvantage when the time came to interview. I wanted that job more than anything. The thing was, you got in my way. You were driven. Worked day and night. Probably fucked your way to the top. That internship should have been mine from the get-go, and you fucking strode right in and stole it.” My God, he’s been planning to ruin me all along.
“So, you befriended me out of hatred because I took something you wanted? That doesn’t make any sense. You said you cared about me.”
“Not at first, I didn’t. I wanted to destroy you. But then I got to know you. You weren’t the woman I thought you were. I fell in love with you. Thought you felt the same. Until you broke it off with me because of him.”
This cannot be happening. My body begins to tremble. My emotions have all of a sudden climbed past their ability for me to think clearly; even though they’ve been pushed to the max, I still have the sensibility to try and reason with him.
“I thought you said you were surprised when you found out about Roman. How long have you known?” I whisper.
“Since you moved here. You’re not the only one who knows how to find things out about people. I did a background check on you trying to find something to use if I needed it. Never thought I’d find you were connected to him. When you dumped me, I sought out his lonely wife. Don’t go feeling sorry for her, though. I may have been the first man she cheated on him with, but I definitely wasn’t the last. She made me start to forget about you, then she showed up with pictures of you she had found, and all hell broke loose after that. At l
east for her, anyway.”
“What do you mean, for her?”
“She’s a weak link. Not a tough one like you. However, I didn’t care about her the way I do you. She’s disposable. You are not.”
I’ve never really known true fear until he leans in and runs the barrel of the gun down my face, his eyes glassing over as if he’s gone somewhere else.
“Does he tell you how beautiful you are? Touch you like this?” He chuckles, pushes himself back a little. Runs the gun down my ribs and brushes the underside of my breasts. He stills, leaving one hand around my neck, the other one reaching for the door, and he slams it shut. I continue to watch him, horror-stricken, as he continues his exploration.
He’s going to kill us if we stay in this hot car.
I watch him with a slight wheeze in my breath, struggling to hold back my tears. All I can see in my mind is Roman’s handsome face. The way he holds me and touches me. I’m trying hard to hold on to the love I feel. Remembering a boy who would count the stars with me. Read me stories, stroke my hair. An innocent love that turned into something more. A promise that may have been severed for years but was never broken. It was hanging on for us. I want my someday, and I refuse to let this man take it way.
And then there’s my brother. I haven’t had the chance to get to know everything there is to know about him. He needs me as much as I do him. Even now, as we’re separated by thousands of miles, I feel more connected to him than I have to anyone except Roman. Only with Alex, it’s a different kind of tether. I hunger for our children to grow up together. For them to be able to form the ties that Alex and I weren’t given a chance to develop as children.
The Right Direction Page 19