Guarding Hearts (Living Again #3)

by L. L. Collins

  Ellis continued pacing. Something didn’t feel right. She never left this soon after a show, as she always liked her time to relax, even if she didn’t have a fan gathering afterwards.

  “Ellis? Sean said they are already in route to the hotel. Do you want the address?”

  Ellis blew out a breath. Thank God. She was okay. “Yes, please.” Samuel rattled off the info, and Ellis repeated it to himself so he wouldn’t forget.

  He ran back to the front of the arena and to his car, his stomach still a ball of nerves. He wouldn’t feel comfortable until he had his arms around her. Call him crazy, but he had this awful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  Arriving at the hotel in an amount of time he knew wasn’t safe, he jogged into the lobby and went right to the counter before he realized they would never tell him that Sam was here. Growling in frustration, he dialed her dad’s number again.

  “What room is she in?” He didn’t even bother with hellos.

  “Room 355. I’m in 322, right down the hall from her.”

  “Thank you.” He ran for the elevator and pressed the button until it opened. He tapped his foot impatiently while he waited for it to get to the third floor. Once it opened, he ran out and down to the door to her room. He knocked loudly, but heard nothing.

  “Sam!” He reached up to knock again and realized that his hand was shaking violently. He was terrified. Something was wrong. He pressed his ear against the door and heard nothing. Not waiting any longer, he ran to her parents’ room and banged on the door.

  Ella answered the door immediately, and Ellis pushed past her, barely uttering a word. “Samuel,” he said, his voice gruff. Samuel stood up.

  “What is it, Ellis?”

  “Something’s wrong. I can feel it. She’s not in her room. No one is. Sean told you that they were on their way here, right?”

  “Yes, he did. Maybe they’re in the lobby?”

  “I was just there,” Ellis argued. “Where the fuck is she, Samuel?”

  Samuel picked up his phone and pressed a button. After a few seconds, his eyes met Ellis’, and he saw concern mirrored there. “Sean isn’t answering. His phone goes right to voicemail.”

  “Call the rest of the security team, see if any of them saw either of them. I’m calling the local police, see if there were any car accidents reported in the last fifteen minutes.”

  Ella gasped at the thought, her hand on her mouth. “My baby.”

  Ellis found the police number on his phone and dialed, watching as Samuel put his phone to his ear again. Ellis didn’t know any of the other security guys’ numbers, and they had switched out a few guys since he had left.

  “Baton Rouge Police Department, non-emergency number. How can I help you?”

  “Yes ma’am, I’m calling to see if there have been any accidents reported in the River Center area in the last fifteen minutes.”

  “Hold on one moment, sir.” He could hear her typing on her computer. His hands were clammy and his mouth was dry. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself. “I don’t see any activity in that part of the city. I’m so sorry.”

  He stared pacing the room again as Samuel took turns talking to the security team. Ella was wringing her hands, tears coursing her cheeks.

  “None of the team have seen them since Sean walked her off the stage and took her to her dressing room. They said that he radioed that he was leaving, and he didn’t even wait for the diversion cars. They just left.”

  “What? Why would he do that?”

  Samuel shook his head. “He shouldn’t. He completely broke protocol and could’ve put her in danger. Someone could’ve followed them, leaving alone like that. Anything could’ve happened.”

  Ellis picked up his phone again, calling 9-1-1. “Yes, I’d like to report a missing person. No, she hasn’t been missing twenty-four hours, but this could be life threatening. Her name is Samantha Kerrigan. Yes, the Samantha Kerrigan. She left the River Center arena about a half an hour ago with her bodyguard, Sean Culbertson, and neither have been seen since.” He gave the operator their hotel information.

  “Sir, I’m dispatching a car to your hotel right now. What’s your name?”

  “I’m Ellis Warner. I’m here with her parents, Samuel and Ella Kerrigan.”

  “Sit tight. They’ll be right there.”

  She opened her eyes, feeling like her eyelids weighed a hundred pounds. What was wrong with her? Turning her head, she realized she was lying in a bed, but she didn’t recognize it. Where was she?

  Sam tried to think about what the last thing she remembered was, but her brain felt like it was working in slow motion. As her eyes focused, she could see she was in a large room that seemed like it was probably a master bedroom. She was lying in a big four poster bed. Decorations were country but modern. When she looked out the window, she could see trees and the beginning of a sunrise.

  She was confused. The last thing she remembered was leaving the arena with Sean. It definitely didn’t seem like they were in Baton Rouge still. She remembered feeling tired and falling asleep in the car, but that was it.

  The door opened and Sean walked in, a huge smile on his face. “Well, look who’s awake. Did you sleep well?” He was carrying a tray with a cup of coffee and a plate.

  She struggled to sit up. “Where are we? Where is everyone?”

  “Oh,” Sean said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “It’s just you and me here. We’re in the mountains. You slept the whole ride here.”

  She rubbed her face, trying to shake the overwhelming feeling of exhaustion and confusion. “What are you talking about, Sean? We’re supposed to be on our way to Oklahoma this morning! What mountains are we in? Where are my parents? I need to call them.”

  “No you don’t,” Sean’s voice was low, and her eyes snapped back to him. “You aren’t going anywhere, Sam. It’s just you and me now.”

  “What has gotten into you, Sean? Do they even know where I am? They are going to be worried sick.”

  Sean stood up and walked closer to her, then settled himself so he was almost touching her. “Oh, Samantha. You just don’t get it, do you? Tanner, he was just to throw you off.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “What? You aren’t making any sense.”

  He laughed, and the sound shot ice through her veins. “Must be the drugs I gave you to get you to fall asleep,” he mused. “You aren’t too quick this morning, my love. You liked my flowers, didn’t you? And where’s the necklace I got you? The hotel room was a nice touch too, wasn’t it? While you were whoring around with Ellis. Tanner was just a way to get all of you to think it was over. The only thing he did was go into your dressing room that night, act out that part, and just because I let him in and told him what to do. He did pretty well, taking the rap for me, huh sweetheart? I told you that we would be together, and we will be. From now on, it’s just you and me. I know that you believe we’re soul mates. You told me last night. I forgive you for sleeping with Ellis.”

  No. This wasn’t happening. Sean? Brian’s son had been behind this the whole time? He had kidnapped her from the arena. That’s why they had left alone and he told her to relax. He had this planned all along.

  “Thinking back on all the things you missed, aren’t you, my love? It’s okay, no one could foil me, not even the police. See, I was the police at one time before they rudely fired me. But I made enough connections. Tanner was a guy I arrested months ago. In exchange for me not locking him up, he had to agree to help me. Without him, I would’ve never gotten you here all to myself. And the great guy that he is, he’s going to stay in prison for a really long time for me too, all so I can be with you. I think we should name our first child Tanner, after all the sacrifices he made for us.”

  “Sean,” Sam sobbed. “I don’t know what happened or why you’re doing this. We’ve been friends forever!”

  “Friends,” Sean laughed. “Sure, maybe you’ve been my friend. You’ve never given me the time of day, Samantha.
You always just saw me as ‘Sean’. I’ve never been good enough for you. But all that’s going to change now. You’ll learn to love me just as much as I love you.”

  Sam watched him, and knew she was in really big trouble here. They were probably in the middle of nowhere, which meant that she had no way to get to anywhere. She would bet that he took her phone also. “What do you want from me, Sean?”

  “Want from you? I want to be your partner, Sam. We’re going to have a great life together.”

  “You know that everyone is probably already looking for me. We can’t stay here forever. I have a tour to do, fans that have paid a lot of money to see my show! Please, don’t do this!”

  “Sam,” Sean said, reaching out to touch her. She recoiled, and his mouth tightened into a fine line. “Your fans will move on to someone else once you don’t come back. People are fickle like that.”

  “But what about my family? What about your family? They’re going to come looking for us.”

  “They won’t find us,” Sean said confidently. “My dad may figure out what I’m doing, since his nosey wife did, but it won’t matter. It’ll be too late.”

  Sam started shaking, her teeth chattering. “W-what do you mean? Amelia knew?”

  “Dumb bitch let herself into my apartment and saw my plans. She called me to come over to their house and she confronted me. Of course, this wasn’t long after the Nashville PD fired me for misusing my role as a police officer. I had no choice. She was going to turn me in.”

  Sam gasped as the tears blinded her. “What did you do, Sean?”

  “Well,” he said, leaning so close she could smell his breath. “She had to be taught an important lesson. Unfortunately for her, that was the last lesson she would learn.”

  Sam scrambled back, trying to get to the other side of the bed so she could get away from him, but he was fast. He grabbed her leg and pulled her back, holding her so tight she cried out. “Y-you killed her! You killed your own mother?”

  “That bitch was never my mother,” he roared. “Things were just fine just me and Dad. She ruined everything. And she was going to get in the way of me being with you, and no one gets in the way of my soul mate. Ellis is lucky that he bowed out before I taught him a lesson, too. Though doing my due diligence and finding out about him and then leaking it to the press was easy peasy. He did the hard part for me, and I didn’t have to get my hands dirty.”

  She was dead. She knew it. He had fooled everyone. It had been him all along. Her lifelong friend, her bodyguard. He had known so many inside details, and then once he was with her full-time, he had everyone right where he wanted them, especially with Ellis gone. He was a mastermind. He would never let her go home. She absently wondered if anyone realized she was gone yet. If Ellis had been there, she knew he would already be on the trail. But he wasn’t. And even if he ever called her back, she’d never get it.

  She rolled away from Sean, her body shaking from sobs. She could feel him moving behind her, and she stiffened. God, she’d never survive if he forced himself on her.

  “You’ll be happy,” he whispered in her ear. “Maybe not right now, but I’ll make you happy. You’ll see, Sam. We’re meant to be. Oh, and you know I can’t let you contact anyone. I have your phone, and there’s no phone in the house. The closest house or store is over twenty miles away. So if I were you, I wouldn’t try anything. I love you too much to hurt you, but I’ll have to teach you a lesson if you don’t listen.”

  He got off the bed and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. She curled into a ball and wept, knowing it was a matter of life or death for her to find a way out of there.

  It had been over twelve hours since the last time anyone saw Sean or Sam. The story had hit the news, but for once he was grateful. The Baton Rouge police had been wonderful, but there were no leads. The car Sean was driving hadn’t been abandoned or spotted, and there had been no pings from either of their cell phones. It was essentially like they had both vanished. Lacey and Gage had spent the entire night with them as well, trying to think of anything they could all do to find out what happened.

  He had been on the phone with Devin and Andrew most of the night. There were a few different scenarios they were working with. One was that Sean and Sam had been abducted by someone, two was that Sean had abducted Sam, and three was that they were in some sort of accident somewhere outside of here with or without an abductor. They had no idea which one could be the right one, but Ellis had a gut feeling, one that he was sure to tell everyone.

  “So tell me again exactly what Sean said to you,” Ellis asked Lacey and Gage again. He had found out that Gage was Sam’s high school boyfriend who now lived in Baton Rouge and had only recently started talking to her again after four years without any contact. That made him think suspiciously of him, but he hadn’t shown any signs of having any ill will towards her, and Lacey knew him very well, also.

  Lacey wiped her eyes. “Sam was about to come off the stage, and Sean came up to both of us and said that he wanted to surprise Sam at the hotel, asked if we would go back ahead of them and set things up for him. We didn’t think much of it, so we agreed to go ahead and leave. Gage drove, since I came with Sam on the tour bus. When we arrived at the hotel, we were confused because Sean had told us that everything was in her room that needed to be set up, except nothing was there. I tried calling him, but he didn’t answer. Gage and I went back to my room to wait for them to arrive.”

  “Interesting,” Ellis considered. “So, he sends you ahead before you can even see her after the show, and once you get there, nothing he said was there.”

  “Definitely sounds out of place,” one of the detectives said from across the room. “Are you sure he isn’t the perp here?”

  Lacey shrugged her shoulders. “We’ve known Sean forever. I just can’t see him doing anything to harm Sam.”

  “Is he in love with her?” Ellis asked.

  “I think everyone has been in love with Sam at one time or another,” Gage answered, looking at him pointedly. “Lacey, what do you think? Was he in love with her?”

  “I hadn’t seen him in quite a while until we left last night and I joined them. He was very attentive to her, but I don’t know…”

  “I saw pictures of them that the news took, after I left,” Ellis said. “I know what a man looks like when he’s in love. Sean had it bad for her.”

  Lacey stared at him. “Is that so.” He knew that she saw right through him.

  The phone rang, and the room full of detectives jumped to attention, ready to trace the call. They figured that if someone really had her, it was only a matter of time before someone called asking for something. Mike, the head detective, nodded, and Samuel answered the phone.

  Ellis could hear the loud voice from across the room, and saw Samuel’s brow furrow. “Brian? What’s the matter? I can’t understand you.” Brian had been kept up to date on the situation all night, and was planning to arrive in Baton Rouge later that day to help with the investigation.

  “Hold on, Brian, I’m putting you on speakerphone. Can you hear me?”

  “Yes, I can.” Ellis had never heard someone’s voice sound so terrified.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I-I think I know what happened to them,” he admitted, his voice breaking. “I just broke into Sean’s apartment. Samuel, I’m so sorry…”

  “What the hell are you talking about? Brian, talk.” Samuel commanded, and Ella immediately started crying.

  “This is all my fault. Everything is my fault. I don’t know what told me to go over to his apartment, but oh my god, Samuel. He has pictures, newspaper articles, magazines of her everywhere. It’s like he has a shrine. He has the locations, times, and travel details of all of Sam’s stops, as well as the layouts and security areas in all of the arenas. He must’ve hacked into my computer and gotten them. I swear I would never give anyone anything…”

  “What else did you find?” Ellis broke in. He felt like he was go
ing to throw up. It was him all along. He had made them look like incompetent idiots. He had spent hours around this freak, and never figured it out. Ellis had walked away and left her in his arms. How many more things would he screw up in regards to her?

  “I searched the history on his computer. I found information on you, Ellis, and your ex, Mandy, your son, and Carl. He had information on dosage for drugging someone unconscious. I also found correspondence between him and Tanner Bauer. I have no idea why he would’ve left all of this unless he wants us to know what he did. I think he’s proud of himself.”

  “He was part of everything,” Ellis said.

  “It looks like he was let go from the Nashville PD several months ago,” Brian continued. “I’m going to call over there and see what I can find out about why. He’s been lying to all of us, all this time. I’m so sorry, Samuel. I had no idea, and I had him take over for me when Amelia was sick…”

  “Amelia,” Ellis and Samuel said at the same time. “Do you think he had something to do with that?”

  “I don’t know anything anymore,” Brian admitted. “I’m going to see if I can find any more information on where he may be. I’m taking his hard drive to my buddy who’s a computer whiz. I’ll keep you updated on anything I find out. What’s your plan? Are you staying in Baton Rouge?”

  “What the hell am I supposed to do?” Samuel’s voice cracked. “My daughter has been taken by him! What if she’s hurt? She trusted him! We all trusted him,” Samuel paced, his eyes looking wildly at the people in the room. “We need to see if we get any leads before we decide to travel anywhere. And I have to deal with calling Oklahoma and telling them she’s not making it. I may have to call a few of her tour stops and do some explaining. I’m really hoping we get to the bottom of this and get her back by then.” Samuel buried his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking with the sobs he had tried to contain. It was all Ellis could do to contain his own tears. They had to find her.