by Susan Stoker
It was one thing to rescue a woman who’d been held captive as a sex slave and find she’d been reduced to a shell of who she’d likely been before. It was one thing to break into a room where a woman was being held captive by an ex-lover who held a knife to her throat. It was one thing to pick up a child who was so scared, every muscle in her body stiffened at his touch, even if it was gentle.
It was another thing altogether to drug his woman, kidnap his nephew, and expect him to take it lightly. A switch had been flicked inside Ryder, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever be the same again. Hate welled up inside him, so thick and viscous it made breathing difficult. Joseph Waters was a dead man. Ryder would make sure his death was slow and painful. He’d bring him to a place the mercenaries had in the mountains and extract his revenge from his flesh inch by fucking inch. The man would wish he’d never even heard Felicity’s name by the time he was done.
Felicity.
Ryder looked down at the woman he loved. Her eyes were closed, but she was alive. He sat on the couch and pulled her into his arms. He should be doing something right now. Talking to Logan. Trying to call Rex. Going to meet the police officers. Something.
But all he could do was bury his face into Felicity’s hair and thank God she was alive and safe. As the feelings of hate warred with the feelings of relief that she was in his arms, Ryder mentally planned.
Joseph would be contacting Felicity; he was sure of it. He’d just have to be ready when he did.
Chapter Seventeen
Felicity heard low voices all around her. She was extremely groggy but forced her eyes open. She didn’t recognize where she was. The room was lit by light coming in from a half-opened door nearby, and she saw Ryder standing at the foot of the bed she was lying on, talking with Blake.
“Ryder?” she said, although it came out more as a croak than an actual word.
Within seconds, he was at her side. “Hey.”
“Where are we?”
He didn’t answer for a second, but then said, “The hospital.”
Felicity crinkled her brow. The hospital? She couldn’t remember anything. “Are you all right?”
His lips quirked, but he didn’t laugh. “I’m fine. We’re here because of you. Do you remember what happened last night?”
She immediately shook her head, but asked, “Joseph?”
The anger and frustration was easy to see in Ryder’s hazel eyes as he nodded. “Do you remember me getting a text from Blake?”
Felicity frowned, but then nodded. “Yeah. You were worried about him.” She saw Blake shift next to her, but didn’t take her eyes off Ryder.
“Well, it was a setup, just like I thought in the first place. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”
“Did he rape me?” Felicity asked, not really wanting to hear the answer, but scared not to at the same time.
“No.” Ryder’s answer was swift and succinct.
“Then what?”
“He drugged you. With ketamine and Rohypnol. In your water.”
Felicity let that sink in. No wonder she didn’t remember what happened. “Why? Just to prove that he could?”
Ryder ran a hand through his hair, and he looked away from her for the first time. Felicity had been confused and nervous when she’d woken up, but it was nothing compared to how she was feeling now. A pit formed in her belly, and she felt her hands begin to shake. “What happened?” she asked in a whisper.
Ryder looked back at her then, and she felt Blake’s hand press into her calf. Felicity steeled herself.
“Nate is gone.”
Felicity blinked. “What?”
“Nate. Joseph drugged you, then entered your apartment and took Nate. We know it was him because the external cameras showed him clearly. Fucker even made a point to look up, straight into the lens, and smirk as he was leaving.”
“But you found him, right?”
Ryder merely shook his head.
Felicity stared at him for a moment, then her gaze swung to Blake. “Joseph has called, though, hasn’t he? To tell you how much money he wants?”
She felt Ryder’s finger on her chin as he gently forced her to look at him. “Joseph hasn’t called, love. Nate’s been gone for twenty hours. We don’t know where he is and have no leads.”
Felicity blinked. Then promptly began to hyperventilate. This was her worst fear come to life. Someone else she loved had been hurt because of her. Grace and Logan had to be devastated. God, the twins had been put under her care, and she’d failed them. Utterly. Tears sprang to her eyes, and there was no way she could hold them back. Not hiding them or even trying to wipe them away, Felicity looked up at Ryder helplessly.
“Breathe,” he said firmly. “Slow down your breathing or you’re going to hurt yourself.”
She tried, but it was impossible. There wasn’t enough air in the room. She was suffocating.
Ryder took hold of her head and brought his face inches from hers. “Breathe with me. Watch me. That’s it. In . . . hold it . . . out. Good. Again.”
Felicity did as Ryder ordered, mimicking his breathing and eventually slowing down her own breaths long enough to get a steady stream of oxygen into her lungs. She was aware of Ryder brushing her tears away with his thumbs, but she hardly felt it through her grief.
“Grace must hate me.”
“She doesn’t hate you,” Blake said from the foot of the bed. “Not at all.”
“I need to go to her.” Felicity didn’t know if her best friend would even want to see her, but she had to be there for her.
“As soon as the doctor arrives and checks you out, we’ll head over to their house,” Ryder told her.
Felicity nodded. She slumped back against the pillow and closed her eyes. She felt Ryder’s hand grasp hers and felt stronger simply because he was there with her. He didn’t try to tell her everything would be all right. He simply held her hand.
Sometime between when she learned about Nate being kidnapped and the doctor coming in to release her, Felicity’s grief changed to anger. Joseph had no right to drug her. No right to come into her apartment uninvited. And definitely no right to steal a helpless baby. Enough was enough. He’d terrorized her for years. Killed Colleen. Killed her mom. And hurt who knew how many people in his life. She was done.
“I’m done,” she said, wiping the tears from her face.
“What?” Ryder asked.
“I’m done hiding from him. I’m done making him feel like he has the upper hand.” She reached out and grabbed Ryder’s forearm where it rested on the bed next to her. “I’ll do whatever it takes to bring him down. Be bait. Drive to Chicago and march right up to his father’s house. I don’t care.”
“We’re going to find him and get Nate back,” Ryder told her.
“Damn straight we are,” Felicity said firmly.
At her words, Ryder’s lips twitched.
“It’s not funny,” she fumed.
“I know it’s not. Believe me. But I’m so fucking happy that you aren’t crying anymore. I’d much rather you be angry than broken.”
“I’m furious,” she informed Ryder.
“Me too, Felicity. Me too.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but the doctor interrupted by entering the room.
Within an hour, Felicity had been released, and Blake left to go back to Logan’s house. Nathan was already there with Alexis, Bailey, and her brother, Joel.
Now she and Ryder were on their way to the police station. Logan hadn’t wanted to leave Grace’s side, so he asked Ryder to talk to the officer in his place. Since Felicity didn’t want to be anywhere but at Ryder’s side, and she was too chicken to go and see Grace yet, she was going with him to the station.
“How do you feel?” Ryder asked.
Felicity looked over at him. They were in the reception area at the police station, waiting for the detective. “I’m okay.”
When Ryder didn’t respond, but ground his teeth together hard enough to make his jaw flex, Felici
ty put a hand on his arm. “I’m okay,” she repeated.
“He put enough ketamine and Rohypnol in your water to kill you,” Ryder bit out.
“But he didn’t,” she said, then added, “Look at me.”
Ryder’s eyes met hers, and she almost flinched at the pain and anger swirling in the dark depths. She’d seen glimpses of the mercenary behind his eyes in the past, but at the moment, Ryder looked like he would kill anyone who even looked at her wrong. “He didn’t,” she whispered.
“I handed that glass to you,” Ryder said softly, the anger in his eyes only dimming a smidge. “I served up that poisoned water on a silver platter.”
“Don’t,” Felicity ordered. “Don’t let him get to you.”
“Too late,” he said, barking out a laugh. But it wasn’t a happy sound. It was self-deprecating and filled with so much derision that Felicity nearly choked on the tears in her throat.
She got off the chair and kneeled on the floor in front of Ryder. She reached up and cradled his face in her hands, as he’d done so often to her. “You’re going to kill him,” she said softly so no one in the station could overhear her. “You’re going to find Nate and bring him home to Grace and Logan. Don’t let your anger get in the way of that.”
For the first time since she’d woken up, Felicity saw an emotion in her man’s face other than absolute fury. “He could’ve killed you.”
“But he didn’t. That was his mistake.” She took a chance saying that, but it was what she’d been thinking ever since she realized what had happened. “He could’ve killed me and been done with it. And then taken Nate just to be a dick. But he wants to taunt me with the fact he took the baby. He’s going to contact me, soon. I know it, and so do you. I need you to be clearheaded enough to be my backup. If you’re too blinded by rage, you can’t do that effectively. You hear me?”
Ryder had closed his eyes halfway through her little speech, but at her question, they opened, and he tilted his head into one of her hands.
“I hear you, love,” he said softly. “You can trust me.”
Felicity sagged in relief. It was the first time he’d used the endearment since she’d woken up. She’d half been afraid she’d lost him. But her Ryder was back.
“Good. And you know what else?”
“What?”
“I still owe you that blow job.” She said it to try to lighten the moment. She wasn’t exactly in the mood for sex, and it was obvious he wasn’t either, but her words worked. His lips quirked up in what would have to pass for a smile.
“That you do.”
They looked at each other for quite a while until a voice asked, “Felicity Jones and Ryder Sinclair?”
Felicity turned and saw the detective standing in the door of the waiting area. She struggled to get up, but Ryder was there helping her stand before she could get her feet under her. They walked hand in hand into the back area of the Castle Rock Police Station.
After they’d gotten settled into the chairs in front of Detective Chris Baker, he told them why he’d called them down. “Just to be sure there was no connection between your godson’s kidnapping and what happened a year or so ago, we called the state penitentiary and checked on Grace’s parents. They were interviewed and didn’t admit to knowing anything about the abduction of their grandson.”
Felicity gasped. She hadn’t even thought about the Masons being involved. Of course, it wouldn’t surprise her, they were truly awful people. And they’d probably love to see their daughter’s child in danger. “Do they somehow know Joseph?”
Detective Baker looked uncomfortable for the first time. He fiddled with a pen on the desk in front of him and refused to meet their eyes before saying, “After speaking with both of them, we don’t think they’re involved at all. Margaret didn’t have any reaction whatsoever to Joseph’s name, and when she learned about her grandson’s disappearance, she seemed genuinely surprised. Then she laughed. Said her daughter deserved it. Walter didn’t seem to have much of a reaction at all. He’s not having an easy time of it in prison. The other inmates don’t think much of him.”
“She laughed?” Felicity asked in an incredulous tone.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“That bitch,” she bit out. “I knew she was heartless, but God, that’s her flesh and blood.”
Ryder put his hand on her leg and squeezed. “She didn’t care about her daughter in the least, why would she care about her grandson?”
“I don’t know, but still. That’s just . . . I don’t know what that is.”
Ryder squeezed her leg once more, then turned back to the detective. “Have you told my brother or Grace this?”
He shook his head. “No. I was going to tell them when they came into the station today.”
Felicity looked up at Ryder in concern. If Logan had heard what Margaret Mason had said about his son, he would’ve lost it. Neither he nor Grace needed that bitch’s negativity right now. She was very glad they had come to the station to talk with the detective instead of Logan and Grace.
The detective spoke again. “So, with the Masons ruled out, we’re still checking video surveillance in the downtown area to see if we can’t find more evidence. We have some interviews lined up and . . .”
Felicity tuned out the detective and turned her gaze to Ryder. They both knew what the cops would find. Nothing. Yesterday they’d learned that the gym’s cleaning lady, Mrs. Hanley, had been found murdered in her home. They’d had no idea she was missing because the gym was still being cleaned on a regular basis. By who, they had no concrete evidence of, but had a pretty good guess. They figured the woman’s death was most likely how Joseph had gained access to the gym in the first place.
No, the cops wouldn’t learn anything new by watching surveillance tapes of Joseph stealing little Nate out of her apartment and the gym. They already knew who had done it. All they had to do now was wait for the asshole to contact her and finish his decadelong stalking, once and for all.
As if he had come to the same conclusion, Ryder suddenly stood. “Thank you for letting us know,” he said abruptly.
“Uh, you’re welcome,” the detective stammered. He shook Ryder’s hand, and the next thing Felicity knew, her man was leading her out of the stuffy police station.
The drive back to Logan and Grace’s house was done in silence. Ryder took her hand once more when they arrived. Felicity needed that connection. She was trying to be tough and brave, but it was difficult.
“Has Rex said anything?” Felicity asked Ryder before they made it to the front door.
He shook his head. “No.”
“But he’s trying, right?”
Ryder turned to her then. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked down at her. She was again struck by the intensity of his gaze. On the outside he was calm and collected, but all it took was one look into his eyes, and the lethal killer was revealed.
“They’re all doing everything they can to find Nate, love. Rex has been calling in favors, and the guys have reached out to their contacts as well. We’re going to find him.”
Felicity bit her lip. “Joseph is going to want me to meet with him. He’s going to throw it in my face that he knows where the baby is and I don’t.”
“You’re not going with that fucker. No way. I can’t lose you, Felicity.”
She looked up at him, her eyes filling with tears. “Even if it means your nephew dies?”
Ryder closed his eyes then, the frustration and helplessness clear to read on his expression before he shuttered it. But as soon as they closed, his eyes opened again, and Felicity gasped at what she saw there.
“It won’t come to that. I won’t let it. Felicity, you need to know that you are my first concern. Will always be from here on out. You come before everyone. I love you, Felicity. More than I ever thought I could love anyone in my entire life. I’d move heaven and earth to make sure you have enough to eat, a roof over your head, whatever material things your heart desires, and that you’re s
afe.”
“Ryder—” she began, but he interrupted her.
“That being said, I’m trying to stay confident that Rex will find Nate. If not him, then my team. If not them, Alexis will uncover something in her searches. She’s got that computer-guru guy helping her. Joseph is smart, but not that smart. He made a mistake. I feel it in my gut.”
“So you don’t think he killed Nate?” Felicity asked. It was her greatest fear.
Ryder immediately shook his head. “No. It’s just like you said. He wants to taunt us with the fact that he knows where the boy is and we don’t.”
“What’s taking him so long to contact me?”
“I don’t know. But he will. And soon.”
“I hope so.”
“Believe it. We’re going to end this.”
And with that, Felicity tipped forward and laid her forehead on Ryder’s chest. His arms came around her, and they stood like that for a few long minutes. Absorbing each other’s love.
They were interrupted when Nathan opened the front door. He, Bailey, and Joel had been camped out at Logan’s house as well. Logan had wanted Blake and Alexis there too, saying they’d be safer if the families were all together, but they’d refused. Alexis was frantically using her computer skills to see what she could find about Joseph and said she’d be more effective at her own house or at Ace Security’s offices.
“Logan just got a call. Number showed was yours, Ryder. It’s him. He wants to talk to Felicity.”
She stiffened and felt Ryder do the same.
“My number?” Ryder asked as he immediately turned to his brother.
Even though he was completely focused on what Nathan was saying, Felicity’s stomach clenched when Ryder reached out and grabbed her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers, showing her that he was still thinking about her even as drama swirled around them.
She held on tight as they entered the house.
“Yeah. We figure he’s still using whatever contraption he’s got to manipulate where the call is originating from.”