by Tia Siren
“Bastian! Wake up.”
I blinked away the unsettling dream to find Ashton standing above me while he shook my shoulder hastily. Swiping a hand over my eyes, I sat up quickly to try to regroup. I was still in my bed at my penthouse suite in Salt Lake City. Joanna was still missing and was with that fucked-up, corrupt cop.
“What did you find?” I asked desperately. “Please tell me you found her.”
“The former partner of his managed to get ahold of Sid,” Ashton said. I clambered off the bed quickly. “He’s in some seedy hotel on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. It’s a hotel that barters sex for protection for some of the prostitutes that work in the city.”
Disgust tore through me as I followed Ashton out of my bedroom to where Joe was waiting for me anxiously.
“We can get there quickly if you hurry, Mr. Burke,” he said. “We don’t want anyone tipping off Sid that we’re onto him.”
I grabbed my jacket from the back of the couch, and Ashton and Joe followed me down the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. Bright morning light greeted us the second we stepped outside to the sound of traffic.
“I’m going to get my team in case you need it,” Ashton told me. “I’m going to get ahold of Shelly, too.”
“Better safe than sorry,” Joe said. “You might be needing a legal team if this goes over badly, Bastian.”
I nodded my head at Ashton before following Joe down the sidewalk at a hurried pace. I didn’t even bother with a seat belt as Joe flew down the interstate in the direction of the hotel.
“No one knows we’re coming, right?” I asked anxiously. “I don’t want the cops there. Not yet anyway.”
“This PI made it clear that his partner would end up in trouble if he told Sid the truth about his phone call.” Joe turned onto an off-ramp. “I don’t think you have to worry about it, Bastian. This guy sounded fed up with having to cover for Sid’s ass.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said. “Because if something goes wrong, both of us are going to get a bullet for trying to get Joanna.”
“It won’t happen. I can promise you that.”
Joe tapped the holster of his gun beneath his jacket. I kept my eyes focused on the road ahead as we got closer to the location. Soon, a rundown hotel appeared in our sights, and the GPS indicated to turn into the parking lot. Relief shot through me when I spotted Sid’s undercover car parked in front of a room on the far end.
“That’s his car,” I said, opening the door before Joe could come to a stop. “That is Sid’s fucking car. I know it is.”
I jumped out of the passenger seat before Joe could fully stop. Screams. Terrified fucking screams came from the door of the very last room.
Adrenaline blinded me as I shoved my foot into the door. It surprisingly gave away to crash down, revealing a horrifying sight that nearly paralyzed me. There, in the middle of a dank and disgusting bed, Joanna struggled helplessly against Sid, who was on top of her. Blood filled my gaze as he reared back with his cock bulging out of his pants. Fury filled his gaze, too, and he glanced at the dresser, where I spotted his gun, holstered.
I surged forward with a snarl to tackle Sid to the ground as he jumped off the bed for the gun. He let out a pained groan beneath me when my fist found its place on his nose. Blood streamed down from his nostrils, covering my knuckles in the process. I spotted an extra pair of handcuffs still attached to Sid’s belt. I pulled them out and managed to slap them over his wrists. I hopped up, leaving Sid struggling on the floor, and grabbed the gun from the dresser as Joe ran into the room.
“Holy fuck,” he said, taking the gun from me. “I’m calling the cops. Right now.”
Joanna let out a trembling cry as I hurried over to the bed to use the key to free her bruised wrists. Tears prickled the backs of my eyes when she collapsed gratefully into my arms, sobs wracking her body. I fought back my own cries while I held her close to me, pressing kisses against the side of her bruised face.
“Thank God you’re okay,” I whispered, holding her tightly. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Joanna whispered, her voice muffled against my shoulder. “I’m just so relieved that you found me. I thought I was going to die.”
She choked up against me again. I adjusted the robe, the same robe from the hotel, around her legs to protect her modesty. I sheltered her from Sid as he sat up to spit blood out of his mouth with a leer.
“This isn’t over,” he seethed, his eyes focused on me. “I’m going to take the both of you fucking down. Just wait until the cops get here.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I growled, wrapping an arm around Joanna’s shoulders. “It’s over, you sick bastard. It’s fucking over. You aren’t ever going to go anywhere near her again.”
Sid laughed breathlessly at that. “We’ll see. We’ll fucking see who has the last laugh here today.”
“Bastian,” Joanna whispered, tugging on me. “He’s got photos of me, photos that I didn’t even know he had, in his bag.”
I ushered Joanna over to stand near the door despite the cold draft. Grabbing ahold of Sid’s bag, I rifled through his belongings and pulled out a folder that was inside. I opened it up to find a stack of photos. Every single one of them showed Joanna naked. She didn’t appear to be aware that he was taking any of the pictures, either.
Rage filled me as I looked back down at Sid leaning against the bed. He wheezed through his broken nose. Blood sprayed every single time he took a deep breath. No remorse flickered across his eyes. He didn’t give a shit if he tore Joanna down as long as he could do it.
“The cops are on their way,” Joe announced as he came back into the room. He shook his head in disgust at Sid, who spat blood in his direction. “You are one pathetic bastard with your dick hanging out. I wouldn’t spit blood in my direction.”
“The cops aren’t going to do anything,” Joanna said numbly. “They’re just going to take his side. Let’s just go before they get here.”
“We aren’t going to leave,” I said firmly, dropping the folder to the ground. “Let the cops come, Joanna. We are going to have him arrested for what he has done to you. All they need is one look at you.”
“I’ll say it was you who kidnapped her,” Sid announced with a grin. “She hasn’t been reported missing yet. The two of you are going to sit in jail for a very long time. I’ll make sure of it myself while Joanna and I leave this damn state.”
I glanced down at the top photo of Joanna naked in the shower, completely unaware of the picture. A smile tugged at my lips then when I caught Sid’s eyes.
“One problem with that,” I said. “Your former partner is the one who told us about you taking Joanna. He sold your ass out.”
Chapter 38
Joanna
I couldn’t stop shaking while I watched Sid spit blood out in Bastian’s direction. Rubbing at my aching wrists, I pulled the curtains of the hotel room open to keep an eye out for the police cars. I didn’t know who would show up, but I wanted to brace myself in case it was Sid’s partners on duty.
Bastian dumped out everything in Sid’s bag to fish through it all and make sure there wasn’t anything else hidden. He ripped the pictures up into a million pieces before tossing them in the trash bin.
“Anything else you can think of?” Bastian asked.
“You fucking punched me,” Sid seethed, struggling against the handcuffs binding his hands together. “You think anybody on the force is going to believe you when you tell them it was self-defense? You attacked me.”
“I attacked you because you were going for a gun to shoot me,” Bastian said calmly. “Now you’ll get to sit in jail for once in your life. You’ll know what it feels like to sit in a jail cell where you belong.”
“We’ll see about that,” Sid said. “We’ll fucking see about that.”
Bastian opened the hotel door to let the cold sunlight in and to look over at where his driver, Joe, was standing in the parking lot with a phone in hi
s hand. He kept one eye on the parking lot while he scrolled through his phone. I shivered against the cold air, and I joined Bastian near the door. I couldn’t bear to look back at Sid while he muttered underneath his breath.
“Who are you calling?” I asked quietly. “The police again?”
“Ashton, along with my lawyer,” Bastian replied. “Depending on who shows up, we might need some legal force behind us both.”
The thought hadn’t even occurred to me that there was a good chance Bastian and Joe could end up in jail depending on who answered the call. My stomach churned queasily as I gazed out along the snowy parking lot, no longer feeling the cold breeze that blew against my bare legs. I was just grateful that Bastian stood in front of me.
“How did you find me?” I asked, leaning up against the doorframe wearily. “I have no idea where I am right now.”
“You’re on the outskirts of Salt Lake still,” Bastian replied as he texted Ashton quickly. “His former partner informed us that this was the same hotel he had used in the past to pick up prostitutes.”
I reared back in shock at hearing that. Prostitutes? I flipped through the past few years of the life I had shared with Sid. It made perfect sense now that I recalled the night Sid had come home to tell me he was now working the hard side of Salt Lake—full of drug addicts and prostitutes.
“Oh, fucking please,” Sid snarled, shifting against the handcuffs that were cutting into his wrists. “Like you’re one to talk? Who the fuck has not cheated on their partner before?”
“I’ve never cheated on my partner,” Bastian shot back darkly. “I’ve never cheated on Joanna, either, once I realized how I felt about her. And unlike you, I don’t need money to get a woman to have sex with me. That’s a sad existence for you.”
The sound of police sirens cutting through the morning air interrupted Sid’s reply. The fact that he looked relieved to hear them made me leery. I watched four police cars screech into the parking lot to where Joe was flagging them down. I held my breath anxiously while I scanned their faces, relieved that none of them were immediate friends of Sid’s.
“He’s over there,” Joe was saying, nodding to the hotel room that Bastian and I stood in. “That woman right there is the one he kidnapped. We managed to track her down before he could do anything worse.”
I grasped Bastian’s hand as the police officers approached us. Bastian squeezed my hand with an encouraging smile and leaned in to whisper in my ear.
“It’s okay, Joanna. Don’t hold yourself back from telling them the truth.”
“You okay, ma’am?” one of the officers called out, scanning my bruised face in concern. “Do you require any medical attention?”
“I don’t think so,” I said, holding myself against the cold. One of them swept into the hotel room after patting down Bastian to make sure he had no weapons.
“Come with me,” one of the other officers said kindly to me. “It’s all right. Let’s get you out of the cold so you can explain to me what happened.”
I caught Bastian’s eyes as a police officer also motioned for him to back away from me. It’s okay, he mouthed with a nod. I started to follow the officer gingerly across the wintery parking lot when I realized with a jolt that I didn’t have any shoes to protect against the cold snow. My feet were numb as the officer helped me into the back of a warm police car. He leaned in to smile encouragingly at me.
“You’re safe now, okay?” He waited for me to nod. “I’m having a female officer come here to talk to you before we make any arrests.”
“Are you arresting Sid?”
“We’re containing everyone right now,” he said evenly. “Until we get your statement, everyone will be detained until things are straightened out.”
“Please don’t arrest Bastian,” I blurted out, catching ahold of the officer’s arm. “I don’t know if you know who Sid is—”
“He says that he is a police officer, but we have a large department. I’ve never seen him before.”
I swallowed the bulge in my throat. I needed to say this now before my courage failed. I knew that Sid would spin a quick tail of Bastian attacking him before I could even say a word.
“Sid is my ex-boyfriend. He used to beat the shit out of me all the time, so I made the decision to leave him a few weeks ago. I never pressed charges because he said that no one would do anything because he’s a cop.”
The police officer frowned down at me as he sat next to me on the seat—an offer of security that I was relieved to see.
“He used to hit you?” he repeated and then motioned at the bruises on my arms. “And these bruises are from recently?”
“Yes,” I said, nodding. “He has threatened to kill my mother, my friends, everyone who tried to help me. I was staying with Bastian at a hotel when he showed up with this rag and a bottle of something.” I frowned when I tried to recall the smell, but I found that part of my memory completely black. “I can’t remember it, but it knocked me out. I woke up here in this motel. I told him that I wanted to leave, but he didn’t listen to me. He kept me here against my will, and he tried to force himself on me. Please don’t let him go free.”
“I assure you that we won’t,” he said, shaking his head in amazement. “Not with the statement you just gave. We won’t let him get out. I promise you.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, hot tears spilling down my cheeks. “Thank you for listening to me.”
Over the next hour, I watched the police question Joe and Bastian while a paramedic attended to Sid’s broken nose. He sat on the back of the ambulance with his legs dangling off the edge, his hands still in cuffs while he argued vehemently with another officer. Under the female officer’s encouragement, I wrote down everything I could think of that was abusive. Then she handed me a pair of sweatpants and a sweater to slip into instead of the grimy robe.
“What’s going to happen next?” I asked her once she lowered the blanket she had put up to guard my privacy while I changed. “What is going to happen now that Sid’s going to be arrested?”
“He’ll be charged with a slew of things,” she said. “Domestic battery. Attempted sexual assault. Kidnapping. False imprisonment. Everything that you can possibly think of that will put him behind bars for a long time.”
“And what about Bastian?” I asked.
I longed to have him at my side while this ordeal concluded. I just wanted to step into the circle of his strong arms and feel safe again. I wanted to put the past few days as far behind me as I could.
“They are talking assault charges for him, too,” she said slowly. “Unless you can tell me the reason why he—”
“He was going for the gun,” I interrupted, horrified at the thought of Bastian getting arrested. “Sid was going for his gun when Bastian kicked the door in. It was in complete self-defense. Sid pulled his gun on Bastian twice before, and Bastian never reacted until now.”
“I’ll pass that part of your account to the officers over there and to my supervisor.”
I watched anxiously through the back window of the police car while Ashton showed up with a slew of what appeared to be lawyers. They immediately rushed to where Bastian was standing near another police car. I was tempted to step out, to rush over to them to explain it even more, but my feet were cold from the snow and ice outside. I wanted to trust the police officer’s words, too.
That was when Sid burst out into a string of curses as two male officers grabbed him by the elbows to haul him in the opposite direction of everybody. I covered my face to hide the fact that I was crying and smiling at the same time. It was actually happening. The one thing Sid had told me would never happen was now finally happening. He was getting arrested for everything he had done to me over the past few years.
Bastian strode across the parking lot. A triumphant grin spread across his face when the female officer opened the back door for me. He leaned in to hold out a hand to me.
“Ready to leave?” he asked.
“Is Sid rea
lly getting arrested?” I asked while I took ahold of Bastian’s warm hand. “Is this really happening, Bastian?”
“It’s not a dream,” he said. “Sid’s going to jail. He’s going to be in jail for a long time, and he won’t be able to contact you for the rest of your life.”
Realizing that I had no shoes on, Bastian swept an arm beneath my knees to cradle me to his chest. The cold wind stung the tips of my toes as he carried me back to the SUV Ashton had arrived in. A paramedic popped up then to ask if I needed any type of attention, and he did a quick check on the back of my neck when I explained to him what Sid had done.
“Just a pinched nerve,” the paramedic assured me with a warm smile. “Might be sore for a little bit, but you’ll be okay.”
Bastian climbed into the back passenger seat after thanking the paramedic. He slid across the warm leather seat to wrap an arm around my shoulders as he turned to look at me.
“Your mother still thinks I’m the jackass in the situation, huh?” he asked.
I burst out laughing. Ashton climbed into the front driver’s seat with Joe hopping in the SUV Bastian had taken here. As Joe pulled out, Ashton turned around to give Bastian and me a strange look.
“Are we ready to get the fuck out of here?” Ashton asked. “Now that the bastard is going to jail for a very long time?”
“Yes,” I said, my eyes slipping closed while I rested my head on Bastian’s strong shoulders. “Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter 39
Bastian
The drive back to Park City was the longest thirty minutes of my life. All I could do was sit back in the seat with Joanna’s hand clasped tightly in mine. We were free. Both of us were utterly free.
I sat back in relief while I mentally went through the past forty-eight hours. From the time Sid had managed to convince a bell hop to let him in the hotel to snatch Joanna to now, when Joanna sat safely alongside me, I couldn’t help but shake my head in amazement, utter amazement, at how quickly things could’ve gone in a different direction.