When she started to turn to go back to her apartment a hand covered her mouth and something hard jammed into her back. She started to scream and struggle but was restrained by a large arm wrapping around her, pinning her own arms at her sides. The man moved down the hall, dragging her with him and there was nothing she could do about it. Panic and fear gripped her and she fought as hard as she could as she was pulled into the elevator.
Once the doors closed she could see the reflection of her abductor in them. He was over six foot. Dark hair and very dark, beady eyes. He released the arm he’d wrapped around her and that’s when she saw the gun he was holding before she once again felt it being jammed into her lower back. His hand still remained covering her mouth.
He stared at her through the reflection. He spoke quietly. Calmly. “This is what’s going to happen. When the doors open you and I are going to walk to across the foyer to the side exit of the building. Do not draw any attention to us. There’s a car in the alley, we have Jana. No one has to get hurt if you do everything I say. Do you understand?”
Maxi couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. Her mind was racing.
“Do you understand?” His fingers tightened over her mouth.
Not knowing what else to do she nodded.
“I’m going to take my hand off your mouth. If you scream, Jana is not going to have a good day. Do you understand?”
She nodded again and as promised he removed his hand just as the doors slid open. Everything felt like it was simultaneously moving in slow motion and on fast forward. It was like she was outside of herself looking in.
Her legs shook as she forced herself to walk out of the elevator. She stared straight ahead as she crossed the foyer that led to the small hallway where the side entrance of the building was. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the lobby to her left. There were several people there.
She knew that she had to do something, but she didn’t know what. If she signaled someone, would they know to call Billy? Would they try to step in? Would they see the gun at her back?
She could make a run for it and hope for the best but even if she somehow got away from the man, would Jana be safe?
There were no good answers to any of her questions and the isolated hallway to the door he’d instructed her to exit was getting closer and closer. Every television procedural that she watched had taught her that you should never let yourself be taken to a second location. But they had Jana.
“Good girl. Keep moving.” The man whispered behind her in a menacing voice.
Just as she reached the far side of the foyer she heard the ding of the elevator moments before she noticed a blur of black in her peripheral vision.
“No! Down!” A male voice yelled.
The next thing she knew she was being knocked down on the floor and Bonnie and Clyde were hopping over her and around her. Lifting her head she tried to sit up and she saw that her kidnapper was down too. He was crawling towards the lobby. Innocent people were in the lobby.
“Gun!” She yelled. “He has a gun!”
There were screams and several people running. The dogs started going crazy barking. She lost sight of the man that had grabbed her. Then she remembered the side door. The alley. She had to help Jana. She kept trying to get up and get to the exit to help Jana but with the dogs jumping all over her, she wasn’t making any progress.
As she twisted to move towards the exit a loud, familiar crack of a jaw breaking sounded. She pushed herself up to see Carter standing between her and the man who’d tried to abduct her. The man was flat on his back, knocked out and Carter was rubbing his knuckles.
“Gun!” She yelled again. They needed to get it away from him while he was unconscious. “He has a gun.”
Carter bent down, lifting the abductors arm as he searched around him. “I don’t see it.”
“It’s here! I’ve got it!” Mr. 7G, who was standing in front of the elevators retrieved the weapon just as the elevator doors opened and Billy stepped out.
When Billy saw Mr. 7G holding the gun, he immediately tackled him to the ground and grabbed the gun. Maxi saw the flash of fury in his eyes as he lifted his fist to punch 7G.
“No! Don’t! Billy don’t!” she screamed as she was finally able to move freely when the dogs ran to their owner’s side. She, Bonnie, Clyde and Carter rushed towards Billy and Mr. 7G at the same time. Carter jumped on Billy’s back as Maxi kept yelling, “Don’t hurt him! He didn’t do anything.”
Before he landed a punch, Billy stood and shrugged Carter off, still holding the gun as he stood he pulled Maxi into his arms just as she reached him. As much as she wanted to stay there, to absorb his safety and strength, she couldn’t. Pushing away from him she pointed to the back door. “They have Jana! He said they have Jana!”
Billy scanned the area, saw the man that was knocked out on the floor and pushed the gun in Carter’s hand. “I’ll take care of him. You take them into the office, lock the doors, the police are on their way. Don’t let anyone in but Grover or me. Do you understand?”
Carter nodded as he started helping Mr. 7G, who was getting licked by his dogs.
In two steps Billy crossed the foyer and reached the man knocked out on the ground when Maxi heard Jana’s voice.
“What the hell is going on?”
Maxi turned to see her friend standing in the lobby. Alive.
“Jana!” Maxi ran and threw her arms around her. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“Who? Did who hurt me? Are you okay? What’s happened?”
Letting her arms drop, Maxi stepped back, pointing at the man that Billy was standing over. “He grabbed me and said they had you.”
“No one had me. I was shopping and realized I didn’t have my phone. I came back to get it,” Jana explained.
“Oh thank God.” Maxi hugged her friend once more before turning to Mr. 7G and asked. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry.”
“I’m fine.” He assured her as he got up and gathered the dog’s leashes.
A moment later, a dozen or more police officers flooded through the doors and Maxi felt tears filling her eyes, blurring her vision. There were loud voices and commotion and the room was spinning. When she felt Billy’s arms surround her she let herself fall into him. He ran his hands through her hair as he promised her she was safe and everything was okay now. And it was. Everyone was safe. And as long as Billy’s arms were around her, so was she.
Chapter 26
“He’s getting released from jail?” Maxi couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
After everything she’d been through, everything she’d put people that she loved through, Damien “The Smasher” Samuels wasn’t going to stay in prison.
“He cut a deal. The FBI have been trying to get him to turn on the Galletti crime family for a while now. Once this all blew up they pulled him out and got him to talk. He’s going into WITSEC.”
They’d been at the station for almost ten hours. She’d given her statement four times and been questioned by six different people. Four of them had been from the FBI.
She wished that Billy was with her, she felt lost. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been led away to give his statement to one of the feds. That was right after her dad left with Jessie and Zach. They had taken him home a couple of hours ago. She’d called him before they came to the station and he met her there. He was upset that she hadn’t told him what was going on, but more than anything he was just happy that she was okay. He’d stayed with her while she’d given her first two statements but once the FBI showed up, things had changed. Rules that didn’t allow family members to be with you while you gave your statement were no longer bent.
After her second FBI interview she’d been escorted out to the waiting area. That’s when she’d convinced her dad that she was fine and that he should go home and get some rest. Well, she tried to convince him, Billy was actually the one that had made that happen. He’d pulled him aside and spoken to him. She couldn’t hear w
hat he’d said to her dad, but after a few minutes her dad agreed that he’d go home and rest.
She said her goodbyes to her dad, and as soon as he left Billy was pulled away to speak to one of the agents she’d already spoken to and she’d been brought to this room. After two more fed interviews Grover had come in to answer any questions she had. She had a lot.
So much information had come to light and she was still trying to make sense of it all. “And what about the guy that hacked into the security cameras at my gym and sent the emails to the office?”
“Todd Bond. He was Samuels’s cell mate, served eight years for cyber-crimes. Identity theft. Hacking. Phishing. He was released three months ago. After his release he states he was approached by a member of the Galletti organization to hack into your personal computer. They wanted to find anything they could to see if you’d told anyone else about your plans and also to find something to blackmail you with. Debt. Shady business dealings.”
“Because they had connections at the DA’s office and knew that I wanted to testify against Samuels,” she reiterated.
Grover had explained that the Galletti family had informants everywhere in law enforcement and that she probably hadn’t even made it to her car after her meeting with the DA before they were notified about her plans.
Grover nodded. “Samuels’ father is a Capo in the family. Samuels served as a solider for four years before he was arrested. When they found out that the feds were trying to turn him, the family got nervous. They knew if he had to serve more time, chances were, he would turn. With anyone else they would have probably just taken care of him in prison. But they were banking on ‘The Smasher’ being their golden ticket. They’d already secured his release and were poised to make millions on the fight that they’d set up for him.”
“Secured his release?” Maxi repeated.
“Payoffs, threats, blackmail. They have their ways.” Grover took another sip of coffee. “Then you came along. When they couldn’t find anything to blackmail you with they decided to scare you. To intimidate you. They wanted you to withdraw your appeal to speak at his parole hearing.”
Maxi was starting to feel like she was in one of the procedurals that she watched on TV. “Okay, so what about the girls. The girls that I saw him with. The girl he put in the trunk. What’s going to happen regarding justice for them?”
Grover shook his head. “Nothing. What he’s giving the feds is a lot more valuable to them than solving two missing girl cases, both over a decade old. Even if he did admit to any wrong doing, he’s got full immunity.”
Unfair didn’t even begin to describe what this was. For years, she’d carried the burden of what she’d witnessed. The guilt of not speaking up. The terror of keeping her secret. The trauma had affected her entire life. And now that she’d finally spoken up, finally found the courage to do the right thing, to be a voice, a witness for those girls… nothing was going to happen. It didn’t even matter. He was a free man.
“What if he does it again? What if he hurts someone else?” Maxi argued.
Grover pinched the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb. She could tell that her incessant questions were frustrating him, but she wasn’t about to apologize for them. She needed answers.
He sighed. “Samuels isn’t insane. If he was, I would tell you that he might do it again and that there wasn’t a whole lot we could do about it. He’s a sick, sadistic predator, but more than that he’s a survivor. He’s going to keep a low profile. Not out of the goodness of his heart, but because if he doesn’t and the Galletti family finds him, it’s game over.”
“What about the guy that tried to kidnap me?” There were so many players in this thing it was hard to keep everyone straight.
“Angelo ‘The Gun’ Nespola. He’s a solider in the family. Flew into Chicago after we picked up Tully. The feds have him now. He’ll either talk and take a deal or end up behind bars. He has several outstanding warrants in addition to the charges he’ll be brought up on for the incident today.”
The door opened and Maxi looked up expecting to see yet another officer or agent that she’d have to go through her entire story with. Instead, Billy stood in the doorway.
He stared straight at Maxi and like always his stare was a wave and the rest of the world washed away like sand on the beach. She was so happy to see him but wished she knew what he was thinking. His expression was blank. The same way it had been the entire night.
She knew that everyone dealt with things differently, but it would be nice if he could give her some clue of what he was feeling. Was he mad at her? Was he relieved that this entire fiasco was finally over? Was he just tired and over this entire situation?
“You ready to get out of here?” he asked.
Her stomach dropped. For the last two weeks, whether they were in the city or in Harper’s Crossing, whenever he referred to either her condo or his house he used the term “home.” Now he asked if she wanted to get out of here. Not do you want to go home. Maybe she was reading too much into his choice of phrasing. Maybe she was just letting her fear that he was going to grab his bag and leave the second they walked through the door color everything he said, every look he gave.
Looking at Grover she asked, “Can I go?”
“Yes.” He stood. “You are free to go. You have my card if you have any more questions.”
“Thank you, for everything.” She shook his hand and the reality that this was really over sank in.
As she walked beside Billy through the precinct, she tried to prepare herself for whatever was going to happen, or not happen between them. She’d known that this was temporary, whether they talked about it or not. She wasn’t stupid. There was always an expiration date on their time together.
If this was the end, then she knew she was walking away from what they’d shared a better, stronger person. He’d shown her what she was missing. She wasn’t going to settle for safe anymore. She wanted more. She wanted the world disappearing with one look. She wanted her body to go up in flames from one touch. She wanted…Billy.
Chapter 27
Billy watched as Maxi tried to slide her key into the lock on her apartment door, but her trembling fingers just wouldn’t let the alignment come together. He was doing his best to give her space. He didn’t want to be accused of robbing her of her independence or of trying to take over her life, so as much as it pained him—no, fuck that, infuriated him—he forced himself to stand idly by and watch her try without saying anything.
Tonight had been the biggest test of his life and at this point he wasn’t trying to ace the bastard, he was just trying to get a passing grade. He was trying not to show any emotion, because apparently they were the wrong ones. When he’d told Zach how upset he was that Maxi had gone out into the hall without telling him, his friend had told him he needed to remember who they were talking about. That this was Maxi. That she had always done things on her terms. He’d asked Billy point blank what was going on between them and Billy told him the truth, he loved her. Zach hadn’t missed a beat when he’d told him that he better get used to being frustrated because she was never going to be the girl that wanted to be saved.
When the keys fell to the ground he couldn’t take anymore, he stepped in and took control. He calmly picked them up and smoothly slid the right one into the lock, and pushed the door open. He did all of this without saying anything. It wasn’t that he didn’t have anything to say. He just didn’t think he could get the words out around his clenched jaw.
He pushed the door open with a decisive shove and she walked in ahead of him. Not too far ahead, though. He stayed close enough to her that he could feel her shaking like a leaf, even through her clothes, and his. When he glanced down, he could actually see her knees shaking.
Fuck. He hated that asshole for making her feel like this. Not to mention the very stark reality of the situation—he could’ve lost her. He could’ve actually lost her. That was, he knew, the root of the volcanic anger that was boilin
g inside him right now—fear. Fear more harsh and terrible than he’d ever felt before. He wasn’t afraid of physical harm, or even death. He risked those, gladly, in the course of his job. He didn’t mind. He’d rather die than live afraid.
But the thought of losing Maxi—especially when it became more than just a concept, but a real possibility, like had happened today? Fuck. That shook him to the core. Made him feel scared and helpless.
But most of all? It made him furious. That was the real reason he was so upset at her. Not because of what she did, but at what her actions could’ve cost her. Cost him. Her life. It was unthinkable and yet when he’d gotten off the phone with Nate and come back into the apartment to find her gone, that’s exactly what happened. He had immediately called Nate back who reran the footage that showed her step out of frame in the hall and then showed a man grab her from behind. He’d thought she was gone.
He didn’t realize how much of his coiled rage was coming off of him in waves, filling the air around them, until she looked up at him with eyes that had aching vulnerability peeking through the strength they always displayed. “Please don’t be mad, Billy,” she said, sounding exhausted. “I can take anything but that. I’m just—it’s been a long day and I’m hanging on but…I just don’t think I can take it if I feel like you’re mad at me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I was stupid and I put myself in danger, if that’s even what you’re mad about. I know that this whole thing has been a lot for you and now that this,” she motioned between the two of them, “is over I’m sure that you want to get on with your life, but just…don’t be mad. Okay?”
He knew that she didn’t deserve his anger, and seeing what it was costing her was like a punch in the gut.
“I’m not mad at you,” he said, his voice coming out as more of a low growl than he intended. He figured it might not be helping his convince-her-I’m-not-pissed-at-her case, but, hell. He couldn’t help the intense protective feelings right then, and he was beyond done when it came to tamping down his feelings for her, or hiding them. “And this is not over.”
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