Beautiful Surrender (Pride and Honor Book 4)

by Ember-Raine Winters

  “I said. Shut. Up,” he roared and Griffin was on him. One well-placed knock to the head and I watched his eyes roll back and he slumped to the ground.

  Standing over him, I looked at Griffin. “Do you think he’ll have brain damage?” I grinned and promptly turned to walk to the truck. We had put rope and other supplies in the back in case we needed them and I watched Griffin drag his big body to the nearest tree and prop him against it.

  We quickly and efficiently tied him up and duct taped his mouth shut.

  “Now what?” Griffin asked stepping away.

  “Now, we wait,” I replied dusting my hands off.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  TREY

  I grabbed Kenzie by the hand and hauled her over to the other side of the truck. “What happened to your head?”

  “I got pistol whipped by the Incredible Hulk. Not a big deal.”

  I had no idea how she was smiling after telling me something like that. Opening the door, I waited patiently for her to scoot in and then I jumped in myself. Instead of sitting next to her, I scooped her up into my arms and planted her on my lap.

  “Trey? What the hell are you doing?” she shrieked.

  “Shhh, just let me hold you,” I whispered nuzzling her neck. “You could have died. I never should have left you there.”

  “You didn’t have a choice. I never could have carried Tasha’s pregnant ass all the way up that hill.”

  “Watch it, Barbie. I’m not that pregnant yet,” Tasha uttered from beside us.

  Glad to see Tasha was awake and grumpy, I asked, “How are you doing, Trix?”

  “I’m caked in dirt and grime, I have a broken ankle, and a huge gash down my arm where some idiot decided to try to torture information out of me. I’m just peachy, thanks.”

  “It could be worse,” Kenzie chirped. “You could be dead or still in that hell hole.”

  “That would definitely be worse than being bumped around on a dirt road in bum-fuck nowhere.”

  “Don’t worry Tasha, we’re going straight to the hospital,” Griffin said from the driver’s seat.

  “How are we gonna do that?” Marcy asked in confusion. “Their pictures are all over the place. Everyone knows they were on that plane.”

  “Shit. Everyone knows about the plane?” Kaylee asked scared. “The kids. They took them somewhere. If they find out we’ve escaped they will kill them.”

  “Hey, Kaylee, as we told you, the kids are going to be fine. We’ve got a SEAL team ready to go. At this point, Barnes has no control over what happens. But, we had to get you two out there first. They were getting ready to take you to Mexico.”

  “What about Dylan?” Tasha’s panicked voice filled the cab.

  “Keller is getting him as we speak.” She relaxed a little knowing that Keller was on it. It wouldn’t be long before we were all back together and safe.

  “Don’t go to the hospital, Griff. I don’t want the world to know that I’m safe yet. Whoever has the kids might hurt them if they know we’ve been freed.” Kaylee panicked clutching his arm.

  “Tasha needs a hospital. She needs her leg set and her arm stitched up. You both need check-ups to make sure the babies are okay.” He put his hand on her belly protectively. She smiled and put her hand over his.

  “The baby is fine. I need my kids back, Griffin. They’re probably so scared.” Her emotions were all over the place. I could hear the quaver in her voice as if she was barely holding herself together. Kenzie was still in my lap so I couldn’t reach up and comfort her the way I wanted to.

  “It will be okay, Kay. We have a plan,” I said gently, putting my hand on her shoulder through the side of the car door and front seat.

  It was impossible to miss the glare Griffin shot me. “A plan?” Kaylee asked. “You know where they are? Then why haven’t you gotten them out of there yet?”

  “It’s not that simple, babe.” Griffin sighed and pulled into the driveway of the safe house. A black town car was sitting out front. “Who the fuck is here?”

  Kenzie bolted upright and grabbed the gun from her waist band. We were in the center of the back-bench seat, but that didn’t stop her from hopping over Tasha and exiting the vehicle. I was pushing Marcy to get out quicker.

  “Watch it, Trey. I’m going.”

  “You’re not going fast enough, Tink. Move or I’ll move you.” She finally moved out of my way and I jogged to the front door where Kenzie was standing looking confused.

  “Governor Barnes, what are you doing here?” I asked warily.

  “What?” Kaylee yelled from behind me and I moved to block her.

  “There’s been a problem.” She sighed rubbing her forehead. “Dylan was moved before the police arrived.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  KENZIE

  All the blood was rushing in my ears as I heard Tasha’s wail from behind me. Twitch was gone and by the look on Marie’s face, she had no idea where Barnes had stashed him this time. I watched as Trey dialed a number and put it on speaker.

  “This is Keller,” a tired sounding voice answered.

  “Where the fuck is Twitch, Keller?” Trey boomed.

  “They moved him before we got there. Looks like Barnes was tipped off. Probably by someone in the police department here in Mojave.”

  “Shit,” he cursed. “Is there any kind of trail? Tire tracks or anything we might be able to follow?”

  “Nothing,” he ground out and we could all hear his frustration through the phone. “What’s the plan now? Tell me you got the girls?”

  “Yeah, Kaylee and Tasha are right here. Tasha’s in rough shape. We were hoping you had better news so we could risk taking them to the hospital to get checked out.”

  “I have a doctor here waiting to check on them,” Marie smiled, pointing to the front door, indicating we should all move inside.

  “No.” Kaylee took a step back and I put a hand on her arm.

  “It’s okay, she’s the reason we were able to find you,” I said gently, but Kaylee just looked at me in confusion. “Sorry. We haven’t met yet. I’m Kenzie.”

  “Kenzie? MacKenzie Donovan?” Marie looked at me in confusion.

  “How do you know that name?” I asked warily. “That’s my birth mother’s name.”

  “Oh, my dear, I have been looking for you for a long time. Come. I think we all have some things to discuss.”

  Walking into the living room, I saw Mac sitting on the couch looking utterly confused. I was still ready to kill him, but at the moment there were bigger things to deal with. Marie took a wingback chair in the corner and Griffin set Tasha on the couch gingerly by Mac. “How you holding up there, Trix?”

  “Never better,” she groaned shifting her leg so her foot was propped up on the low coffee table. Hurrying over, I grabbed a pillow from the couch and eased it under her ankle. “Thank you.” She smiled at me with gratitude.

  “Maybe we should have my doctor check her out first?” Marie questioned.

  “No, I want to hear what you have to say about my sister.” Tasha smiled at me before turning her eyes back to Marie.

  “So you do know that you’re sisters then?” Marie asked and we nodded. “When you were born Tasha, I was furious with my husband. I told him that if anything like this happened again that I would destroy him.”

  “I have heard this all before.” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at her. “Kim told me right after we found her.”

  “I would be very careful what you believe from that woman’s mouth. She has been playing both sides for a very long time.”

  “That’s my mother.” Tasha glared at the other woman.

  “Yes, I know. But do you honestly know anything about her? She left you with that man who hurt you, for what?”

  Tasha didn’t answer. We were all still a bit confused as to why Kim left her with a man who would abuse children. I laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and she smiled gratefully.


  “About twenty years ago a close family friend came to me with a video. He said it was terrible and I needed to see it.” She looked over at Mac. “I knew your father had been working on some illegal dealings with my husband. When he came across that video, he was appalled by what lengths Roger would go through to get what he wanted.” She sighed before continuing the gruesome tale. “That video was what made him decide to help the prosecutor investigating Roger.”

  “What does this have to do with you looking for me?” I asked in confusion.

  “The video was your mother’s murder. Even though Kim got her out of there, she still died. I figured you were safe, but Kim wouldn’t tell me where you were.”

  “But why? Why would you want to find me?” I asked again and felt Trey’s hand on my shoulder. I leaned into his warmth for comfort.

  “I needed to apologize. I have a trust fund set up for you as well—the least I can do for inadvertently causing your mother’s death.” She looked down at her hands, appearing to contemplate her next words. “Actually, that wasn’t the only death my actions caused. My mother is an evil hag and I’m sorry she had your parents killed,” she said looking over at Mac, who was sitting ramrod straight with a blank look on his face. If I hadn’t seen his fury earlier, I would have assumed he was fine. My gut told me the opposite, and he was still going to take that ever-growing anger of his and place it my way, whether it was fair or not. “I was working with your and Dylan’s fathers to take down that bastard when they were killed.”

  “Wait a minute, if you were against them this entire time, why is it that we are just now finding out about it?” Griffin asked pointedly.

  “My dear husband has gone too far. At first I was going to let you all figure it out on your own. You seemed… capable enough. But the second he started kidnapping children and pregnant women, I had to step in.”

  “Do you have anything concrete? Anything that we can use to put him away forever?” Griffin asked hopefully.

  “I have a lot of dirt on him. Things that could ruin him and put him away for the rest of his natural born life. It’s not enough, though. His contacts with the mob along with my mother will get him out. I need proof that he is playing them. I need proof that he’s double crossing them. It’s the only way to completely destroy him.”

  “Unless we kill him,” I interrupted her.

  “You have to get close enough to him to do that and I’m afraid if you get that close you’re as good as dead.”

  “He hasn’t seen me. I can get close without him ever knowing.”

  “Wait,” Trey huffed. “Are we seriously planning a murder here?”

  “He has done worse and we would be ridding the world of an evil bastard,” Mac spoke up for the first time. I shot him a glare. I absolutely didn’t want this to be the thing that we agreed on. “He killed my parents, Barbie. He killed your mom with the intention to kill you too. Of course we’re on the same page here,” he said as if reading my thoughts.

  “I don’t know,” Griffin sighed. “Is it vengeance you want, or justice? Because it looks like you’re toeing the line, Mac.”

  “I don’t care what it’s called as long as he’s destroyed,” I argued, annoyed with myself for agreeing with Mac on this.

  “Well that’s the thing, sunshine.” Trey squeezed me tight. “Vengeance or justice, if it ends with his blood on your hands you could be the one destroyed.”

  He was right. I knew he was. I had a feeling that if it came down to it, I wouldn’t be the only one who lost. Was vengeance worth it? Maybe it was time to put it aside and choose a different path.

  Mac huffed out an indignant breath, his face drawn in angry lines. “So you’re saying that it’s okay? That what he did to all of us is just going to be swept under the rug?”

  “What?” Marcy looked at him in confusion. “Mac, that’s not what we’re saying at all. A line has to be drawn somewhere. Cold blooded murder is not the answer. If we don’t, we are no better than he is.”

  She tapped her foot, glaring at him. I got the impression that she was going to be giving him an earful later. This angry version of Mac was not the version I wanted to be around, especially since the majority of the side effects were directed at me. It appeared he wanted to get his vengeance any way he could, and if I was the shooter, and it destroyed my life in the meanwhile, who cared, so long as he got what he wanted. Watching the affable guy change like this was awful, but I wasn’t going to destroy my life for anyone.

  “You want vengeance, Mac? You want him dead? Do it yourself,” I told him. “You can’t deal, that’s on you. I want no part of your problems. I ain’t fucking taking your kill shot for you.”

  “This is all your fault. If you had shown us that video months ago none of this would have happened!” Mac yelled, unable to get over himself. Marcy took a step in front of him on the couch, looking like she was about to bring hell down to Earth.

  Marie shook her head in resignation and interrupted the near explosion. “No, Mac. I’m sorry to tell you, you’re wrong. That video would not have put him behind bars and honestly, you think things are bad now? They could have been a whole lot worse if you had leaked that video then.”

  I wanted to shoot Mac a victorious smile but thought better of it. The man was clearly suffering and it was tearing him down and causing him to act so uncharacteristic. However, Trey wasn’t as gracious as he growled low in his chest at him and pulled me tighter.

  “You’re being an asshole, Mac,” Kaylee spoke up for the first time. “I may not know everything that’s going on here, but I do know that you can’t expect Kenzie to do something like that. You can’t blame her for everything that’s wrong in your life. It’s not fair.”

  Griffin wrapped an arm around her and tried to pull her away shushing her. She glared at him and he stopped. “You’re backing him up on this, aren’t you?”

  “That’s not what I’m saying. But, can we please not do this now, babe. You’ve been gone for weeks, I’ve been a wreck, we still don’t have the kids back, and I don’t want you to get worked up until we know the baby’s okay.”

  “Oh, this baby is fine, but you may not be in a minute, if you don’t tell me.”

  “Babe, calm down. You don’t know the whole story.”

  Huh, so much for his fucking apology earlier. Guess I was still the not-to-be-trusted member of the group. It wasn’t time to analyze how much that fucking hurt.

  The scoff that came out of Trey’s mouth was all Kaylee needed to know to peel herself away from Griffin and come stand next to Trey. “I love you both,” she said to Griffin and Mac, “but you’re being morons. Two of the three kids we are trying to save are mine, and the only person who’s responsible for this is Barnes. We are trying to stop him.”

  Mac huffed and slouched back on the couch. “Yeah, you’re right.”

  Whatever, I didn’t believe a word Mac said. He still was holding me accountable for everything, regardless of the evidence Marie just gave him. Once I helped them get the kids, I was gone. Like, so far gone from them, they’d never have to see my face again.

  “You have got to be kidding me?” Marcy was yelling at him now. “We basically said the same thing to you jackasses hours ago and you wouldn’t hear it.”

  “As interesting as this whole conversation is, I think Natasha needs to be seen by a doctor?” Marie posed it as a question, but when I looked at my sister she looked a little gray and her eyes were closed.

  “Trey, help her get Tasha to one of the bedrooms so the doctor can check her.” I didn’t need to say anything, as he was already scooping her up before I finished my sentence. I smiled at him gratefully as he carried her off followed by an old man I hadn’t noticed standing there before.

  “Okay, what do we do?” Griffin asked getting back to business.

  “Don’t you have a plane to catch?” Marie eyed him warily.

  “A plane? What’s going on?” Kaylee asked confused. />
  “I’m meeting the SEAL team in Miami in six hours and we are heading out to an undisclosed location to rescue the kids from a group of Somali pirates."

  Hysterical laughter bubbled up and out of Kaylee as she looked around the room. “You’re kidding, right? You’re joking. There are no Somali pirates. Am I being punked?”

  “I’m sorry, babe. I wish I was joking. I wish that this wasn’t real but he sold the kids to pirates and now we have about sixty hours to get them back before they’re delivered to human traffickers and we never see them again.”

  “That’s what the SEAL team is for?” Kaylee sent a death glare Trey’s way. He’d glossed over the specifics after we had rescued them.

  “Let’s go then,” I said adamantly, hoping to avoid yet one more full blown argument between our happy little group.

  “You’re not going,” Trey and Griffin said at the same time. Trey whipped around and glared at his brother.

  “No, Barbie, it’s not like that. We need someone capable to protect the girls. Marcy can’t do it on her own.”

  “I can take care of myself, Griffin,” Kaylee grumbled.

  I didn’t even bother to stick around to listen to the rest of the bullshit about protecting Kaylee and Tasha. And with the way the conversation had gone, I no longer believed Griffin’s apology or that he truly even trusted me. For all I knew, he didn’t want me around for fear I’d what? Aid in the selling of children?

  Well fuck him.

  Running to my room, I grabbed my bag and started shoving stuff into it. They thought they could leave me behind? Not a chance.

  “What are you doing?” Trey asked me angrily from the doorway.

  “What does it look like I’m doing?” I said, not even bothering to turn around and look at him.

  “Where the fuck are you going?” He grabbed me and spun me around to face him.