She stomped her feet to get the circulation going in her legs. In a few days, it would be the New Year. The last few days of December were bitter and cold, the skies overcast with an impending snow. Greater Manchester seldom had thick snow south of the Pennines, but the weather had been pretty freaky the last few years.
"Shit, what's taking so long for them to open the bloody door?" Felicity grumbled. When she left four years ago, she didn't bring her house keys, believing there was no point. She had no intention of returning until her father called.
There were muffled sounds inside, too dull to even make out the words. Sighing in irritation, she made her way through the back, knowing that the kitchen door was open during the day. Midway through, she froze, feeling the blood drain from her face.
"Make sure that he doesn't cry when he wakes up," her father spoke.
"He won't," a female voice said, anxiety tingeing her voice. "The tranquilizer in the candy I gave him will keep him out cold until tomorrow."
"Good."
"When Luke arrives you will let me go," she stated more than asked.
Silence.
"You promised me!" Her voice was shrill. "You gave me your word that after I brought him to you, you'd set me free!"
"Cease your screaming, bitch!"
Felicity jerked when she heard the slap, the shocked cry and the sobs.
"Until Luke agrees to what I want him to do you will do as you're told," Felicity's father roared. "You only gave my son a reason to be here, not a reason to agree to what I want from him. Now get out of my sight and bring the boy with you!"
Felicity felt numb unable to believe what she had just heard. What the fuck is happening? What does this have to do with Luke?
Her father spoke about a boy. Her contact never mentioned Luke having a son or any boy remotely connected to him. It was always about women, a different one every weekend, except for...
Oh, God...did Luke really have a son that her contact didn't know of? Or was the boy his girlfriend's son? Felicity leaned on the wall, doubling over. She was going to be sick, but she knew she couldn't make a sound. It would let her father know she was here. She straightened up and sucked in huge gulps of cold air that pierced her lungs, waiting for her pulse to decelerate. She jerked her head sideways when she heard the front door open. She flattened herself against the side of the house, the sudden move causing her to back up harder than she should have. Pain exploded at the back of her head. She waited until the ringing in her ears eased.
"Who is it?" her father boomed.
"There's no one here," the woman's voice called back tremulously.
"Damned nuisance." She heard her father's voice come closer to the door. "Whoever was here is damned lucky my CCTV is out of order or I would’ve shot him for trespassing."
Felicity clamped her hand against her mouth to stifle the gasp, her fear crystallizing into tears that fell down her cheeks. Where was her mother? Her sisters?
What happened to her father?
Her mind was processing so many things at the same time that she shut her eyes to force herself to calm down. Breathe...in and out...she had to warn Luke. She had no idea what was going on at the moment but if this involved her brother, it wasn't good.
"Close the door and see to the boy."
As soon as the door closed, Felicity furtively made her way out of the property, and walked to her car. Her hand was trembling, unable to click the car open, then her keys had to slide from her fingers.
"Dammit!" She retrieved them from the ground and finally got the door open. Once inside the Mini, she searched the number of her contact and called. Switching the engine, she gunned on the accelerator, wanting to leave the place she grew up in as though the devil himself had taken residence.
"Hello?"
"I need my brother's address." Felicity sped through the roads as sanely as possible, trying not to go over the speed limit. "I need it now."
"Felicity..."
"Please," she begged, her voice cracking. "Something is going to happen to him. I've just been at my dad's house."
Suddenly, the voice became efficient. Felicity's contact gave Luke's address immediately just as she neared the motorway.
She breathed in relief. "Thank you! I owe you one." She checked her windshield and side mirrors to ease into the traffic, putting her brother's address and postcode in the GPS.
Felicity weaved her way through the traffic, earning a few birds and cuss words shouted at her from a closed window.
"Well, fuck your sorry ass too!" She slammed two fingers against her window. "Ow! Bloody idiot!"
She finally reached her destination and parked haphazardly, eager to warn Luke. She climbed out of her car and beeped the lock.
"Hey, you can't park that way."
She swivelled towards the voice. If it weren't for her brother being in danger, she would have appraised the hunk coming out of her brother's apartment building. She felt a frisson of awareness running up and down her body, but crushed it.
"Do you live here?"
He arched a brow, his eyes scouring her body with heat. "Who's asking?"
Bloody wrong time to flirt, arsehole.
"I need to speak to Luke Bryce. It's very important." Felicity was getting desperate. "I'm his sister."
"Sister?" the stranger remarked with interest. "He never told me he had a sister."
"It's probably none of your damned business!"
His eyes snapped with surprise before any emotion became unreadable. "Can't help you." He turned away from her.
"Look." She rushed and grabbed his arm. "My brother and I have been estranged, not that you need to know that, but he’s in trouble. Please, I need to know where he is. My father is planning to hurt him, and I think his girlfriend as well."
The stranger stiffened. "That's some elaborate—"
"Goddammit!" Felicity's eyes filled with tears of frustration. "Never mind! I'll go to the police instead, though I don't know how long that'll take." She stalked back to her car, beeping the lock open. "If that child comes to harm it will be on your head—" She squealed, her heart in her throat.
"What did you say?" His eyes glittered dangerously. "What child?"
"The child my father has kidnapped."
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gracie ran to her room, pushing the door open, her heart knocking about inside her ribcage when Flynn wasn't the room either. She tried the upstairs bathroom, even the closet Flynn used when they played hide and seek. But Flynn wasn't there. She returned to the lounge and saw that Luke had removed Theresa's bonds, allowing her to remove the tape over her mouth herself. Tears were streaming down her face.
"Mum...Flynn...where is...he?" Her words came out in puffs, trying so hard not to scream.
"Oh, Gracie...Luke..." Theresa turned to him before she started to weep in earnest.
"What?" he said with incredulity.
"The woman who took Flynn. She said she was your girlfriend."
As though in slow motion, Gracie looked at the man she loved. He turned to her, his features stricken, shocked before it became thunderous. Then he stood and left the house.
"Oh, Gracie," her mother sobbed. "Flynn...what's going to happen to Flynn?"
Gracie stared into space, her heart breaking into jagged pieces. In a matter of minutes, her life unravelled. She shook her head violently, erasing the visions that came unbidden in her mind. This couldn't be happening because there was no reason that it should, she kept telling herself. But actually there was.
Luke.
"Gracie! Oh my God! Luke just told me." Noreen rushed into the house carrying her phone, her braided hair swinging to and fro as she looked at them both, her face filled with dismay. "Let me call the police."
Noreen's voice seemed to come from far away. As though she was experiencing an out of body experience, Gracie looked around. Except for her mother being bound and gagged, the living room was spotless, as though nothing had happened. She looked at Noreen, observin
g the way her mouth moved, her eyes, the way they darted to her with worry. She looked at her mother, who was sobbing, her eyes filled with pain and guilt.
"I couldn't stop her from getting Flynn. I couldn't stop her." Her mother's eyes pleaded with understanding yet blanketed with remorse.
She couldn't understand herself. Why was she so calm? After that burst of panic as she went up the stairs it was like she wasn't in her body, as though she was observing the entire tableau at a distance. It was probably shock...yes, that was it. Shock that this could happen to her. Immediate resignation that happiness for her was only fleeting. The moment her mother said it was Luke's girlfriend, she knew it was Cilla. She also knew that as long as she and Luke were together, Cilla wouldn't stop until she broke Gracie and Luke apart.
Sadness cloaked her like an old friend, and she resignedly welcomed it. Whatever Cilla wanted, Gracie was going to give it, willing to sacrifice anything to get Flynn back. There was no doubt what her decision would be if she had to choose. She saw Luke enter the house, watching him dispassionately. Why wasn't she freaking out? But as she looked at Luke's face, his anguish and rage seemed to be more than enough for them both.
He stopped just a few feet from her, unsure and hesitant.
"Gracie..."
To hear him say her name cracked the glass that held her. Gracie suddenly heard someone scream, the agony of the sound reverberating through the room. The rage firing the voice was almost like a roar. She could see Luke turn ashen, his face tightening with pain, body tensing at the onslaught of the invectives she heard someone say. Gracie couldn't carry her weight anymore, couldn't accept that Flynn had been kidnapped, couldn't understand how this could have happened to her. Her knees buckled beneath her, and she fell in a heap amidst the shouts of dismay from her mother and Noreen.
Her face was damp...more than wet. Her heart crumpled...more than crushed. She sobbed softly into her hands and when Luke's arms surrounded her, she held on tightly, curling in a sphere of pain and misery.
Only then did she realize that the person screaming was her.
Luke felt as though his skin had been stripped off him at Gracie's screams. He had brought this on her, without meaning to. His debauchery had brought torment to the woman he loved by taking away the one person who had kept her whole all this time. He never imagined how far Cilla could go with this obsession.
Ironic that he had also been obsessed with Gracie.
As he held her trembling form in his arms, he heard the sirens outside. Snapping his head to the open door, he saw a police car slow down. One of the officers climbed out of the car, while the other looked as though they were talking to the dispatcher.
"That's bloody fast." Noreen looked at the time on her phone before striding to meet them.
Suddenly Luke's phone buzzed inside his pocket. He eased Gracie and himself into the sofa and checked who was calling. Unknown caller. He let it go to voicemail. Less than a minute later, his phone rang again. He swore inwardly and slid the phone to answer.
"Cray, I can't talk right now. Can't make the meeting to—"
"Bryce, your sister's here."
"What the bloody hell is she doing there?" How the fuck does she know where I live? Luke was nearing the end of his tether. He couldn't deal with Felicity now.
"She says your father has kidnapped a boy."
"What?" Luke barked.
"Talk to her." Cray's voice was cool, unruffled. Felicity's voice came through.
"Luke, I tried calling you, but you wouldn't answer."
"How did you know—?”
"Where you live? It doesn't matter," she said quickly. "Dad...Dad is holding someone at his house. I heard your name mentioned...about him wanting you to agree to what he says."
Luke removed his arm from around Gracie and stood up.
"If this a cheap shot to fuck with me, Felicity, I swear I will drag all of you down." He seethed.
"It's not a trick, Luke." Frustration marred her voice. "I heard him say it to someone in the house before I could get inside. The woman who took the boy drugged him."
Oh, shit.
"Luke, the woman you were with when we bumped into each other in town." Felicity paused. "Does she—"
"Yes, she does." Luke knew what she was going to ask and couldn't put it away any longer. He desperately wanted Flynn back. Anxiety gnawed at his insides as fear rattled his bones. He had to get a grip! He had never put his father and Cilla as working together or even knowing each other, but the information Barry gave him about Denholm Holbrook made him more determined not to give in to his father's growing demands of investing in his company. No way was his father's name going to stain the reputation of his own firm. Luke never understood how low his father would go just to get him to agree, never expected it.
And now that he knew, he never wanted to be reminded that part of him was cut from the same cloth.
But this was Flynn. Gracie's joy that had become his happiness. Flynn couldn't...shouldn't be sacrificed for the whims of capricious men.
"Is he there?" Felicity's voice intruded into his thoughts.
"He's missing."
"Oh no! Oh, dear God..." Felicity said, dismayed. "Luke, you need to call the police. You have to get the boy back."
"You'd do that? You’d help get Flynn back? I’m your father’s bastard remember? Making me or those I love suffer is what you people do best."
"Dammit, Luke! Now's not the time to argue about bloodlines!" Felicity shrieked into the phone, and Luke thought his eardrum would burst. "I don't know what the fuck is going on and what Dad has planned. The sooner you call the police to get to the house the better!"
"The police are here already." Luke said tiredly, all fight leaving him. He turned to look at the officers. "I'll tell them."
"Hey!" Felicity's voice fell into the background. If the situation wasn't so tense, Luke would have chuckled at the way his sister hurled expletives at his neighbour.
"Bryce, keep it away from the police. For now."
"What the fuck for?"
"Are you all right, sir?" Luke darted a glance at the male police officer.
"Tell him everything's fine, Bryce." There was a steely edge in Oliver's voice. "Do it. Now. I'll be there in half an hour." The phone went dead.
He scowled. "I'm not fine. My girlfriend's son has been kidnapped." He exhaled. "Sorry, not your fault."
The officer nodded. "Who was on the phone?"
"The office." He returned his phone in his pocket.
Oliver Cray had a lot of explaining to do.
* * *
Oliver pocketed his phone and ran into the building.
"Where are you going?" Felicity ran after him, almost being left out when Oliver didn't bother to hold the door for her. "If you're going to Luke, I'm going with you."
"No, you're not."
"The hell I'm not! He's my brother."
"Whom you've not seen in a long time," he muttered as he sped down a flight of stairs and out into the underground parking area. He spared her a glance. "You better wait here." He approached a matte black Ducati Panigale before straddling it.
Felicity quickly straddled the bike behind him.
"What the hell are you doing?" Oliver's eyes spat fire.
"I want to see my brother, and he has no idea where the house is," she shot back. "Now, unless you take me with you, you won't find the boy."
Oliver combed through his dark hair in annoyance. He didn't need Felicity to know where the house was. Neither could he tell her he knew. Fuck. He gave her his helmet. "Put that on. And if Luke takes my head for bringing you, believe me, I'll throw you to him first." He started and revved the bike.
"Not a gentleman, are you?"
"Babe, you don't need a gentleman. You need a bad boy who'll whoop your pretty behind."
Felicity's gasp turned to a squeak when Oliver accelerated the bike. She had no choice but to wrap her arms around his middle as they screamed through the streets.
Oliver gritted his teeth. It was too damn hard to concentrate on driving and stopping his body from reacting to the softness behind him. His gaze briefly lowered to her hands clasped together across his waist. A few more inches lower and she'd feel something hard and it definitely wasn't going to be the tank guard. He growled softly when Luke's sister shimmied her pelvis against his hips and her breasts against his upper back.
If only this wasn't a matter of life and death he'd stop on the side of the road, turn around and bring on the charm.
If only she wasn't Luke's sister.
In less than half an hour, the bike reached Gracie Sinclair's house, the police car still parked alongside the street.
Felicity dismounted from the bike, stepping backwards as she removed her helmet. Her hair fell in waves around her shoulders.
"You okay?" Oliver snorted. God, if only I could run my hands through her thick strawberry blonde hair. My kind of woman. Shit...so not going there.
But she huffed instead, shoved his helmet towards him, and he automatically took it. She pivoted and strode towards the house, hugging her coat around her.
Not even a word of thanks. What did you expect, asshole? Well and good. Oliver's eyes narrowed before he made a call.
"It's me. I want the police out of the area...I can't let them blow our cover...good. When they're gone, I'll come in and sort all of this out."
Oliver waited in the shadows, still astride his bike in a slouch. In less than a minute, the police walked out of the house and left soon after.
Kicking the stand, Oliver dismounted and sauntered towards the open front door, admiring the sway of Felicity's hips before she froze as her brother came out with a murderous frown.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Luke asked before he saw Oliver and got into his face. "You better have a bloody good explanation for all this before I rip your head off."
"I wouldn't expect anything less, but maybe if you calm the fuck down I'll be able to tell you," Oliver drawled but his eyes were steely. "Your choice."
Luke growled and moved away, his face a hard mask. "Spill. Why can't the police be involved? Flynn's life is at stake here!"
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