Finding Us

by Debra Presley

  Please, no. She was not going to be violated. No fucking way.

  “No!” She pushed with all she had and kicked him squarely in the crotch. He doubled over.

  Abby got up and ran. She was almost to the club door when she tripped over debris and fell. She gasped to catch her breath and struggled to her feet.

  “Get back here,” Sean called after her, rage in his voice.

  Abby didn’t look back, but she heard him running after her. She made it to the door, but there was no handle on the outside. She banged and banged but no one opened it. She tried to run again, but Sean quickly caught up with her and tackled her to the ground. She was trapped between him and the asphalt.

  She struggled to break free, but he overpowered her. He took both of her hands in one of his and pinned them above her head.

  “Please, Sean. Please don’t do this.”

  “Shut up.” He ripped the last of Abby’s shirt before yanking down the right cup of her bra. He roughly squeezed her breast, and the pain and shock made her cry out. He took her nipple into his mouth.

  “Stop!” She thrashed beneath him to no effect. “Sean, please, please stop. Please.”

  “Now, now Abigail,” he crooned and brought his lips to hers and brushed them lightly with his. “Let’s play nice. You’re not going anywhere,” he whispered, causing a chill to creep down her back.

  Sean released her hands and started to unbutton his jeans. Oh, God. No. Please God, no. She clawed, kicked, and fought wildly. She got another shot to his balls before he punched the right side of her face. The force of his blow caused her head to swing to the left and hit the pavement. A fiery burst of pain burst through her face, sharp and hard and overwhelming. It was like nothing she’d ever felt before. Her brain felt like it had shifted and everything was spinning.

  “Please,” she whimpered.

  “Please what, Abigail?” Sean taunted. “Tell me, Abigail? What do you want?”

  “Please,” she implored, tears rolling down her face. “Don’t hurt me. Let’s talk. We can work things out. Let’s go talk.” She sobbed between her words.

  “Oh, now you want to talk. I think the time for talking is over Abigail.” He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up. “I’m done talking. All I’ve done is talk to your voicemail. That’s very rude.” Sean’s right hand curled around her neck, and his thumb pushed into her trachea. She gasped for breath and grabbed his wrist, doing her best to loosen his grip.

  He pressed this thumb deeper into her skin. She clawed at his face, but her fingers couldn’t find purchase.

  She felt his hot breath on her neck when he whispered in her ear, “Talk, Abigail. I’m listening.” He released his hold on her neck.

  She sucked in a huge gasp of air and coughed, struggling to breathe.

  “Please, Sean. I’m sorry, please,” she croaked between gasping breaths. “You can come back. We can work things out. I promise.” Anything to make him stop.

  “Talking’s done.” He squeezed her throat again, harder this time, and pulled her up to him only to slam her back down to the ground.

  Abby’s head hit the blacktop, and her vision blurred. She was helpless, unable to fight as he pulled down her shorts. The last blow to her head completely undid her. Which was worse? Death or what he was about to do? Please, God, somebody help me, she begged silently.

  A loud bang sounded, and she couldn’t register what was happening. Sean’s weight lifted off her, but he grabbed her by her shoulders.

  “Until next time.” He pushed her back to the ground momentarily, and she heard his running footsteps. After that, everything stopped.

  * * *

  What the fuck just happened?

  It took a moment for the situation to register in Danny’s head before he was on the move.

  “Round up,” he ordered his crew.

  “What’s going on?” Connor asked as he jumped to his feet.

  “That bastard has her.”

  “Fuck.”

  “All hands on deck,” He told his men, and they moved into action.

  He dialed John’s number, then Aaron’s, but neither picked up.

  Fuck.

  His heart was racing. Sean had her. Just like that bastard had Vanessa.

  “I’m calling anyone in the area to get their ass over there,” King announced. Mike King was one of Nucci Securities top guys.

  Danny nodded.

  He tried John and Aaron again, but still no answer. He wasn’t about to wait around for them to return his call. Danny and his crew were on their way to Exit within ten minutes.

  “Ricky is nearly there,” King informed Danny. King navigated through the streets of Manhattan. Half the team was with them, and the other half in the car following behind.

  Danny’s phone rang. John. Danny took a breath as he answered the phone. He was overflowing with adrenaline and fear-fueled anger and yelling at his employees wouldn’t help right now. He’d have plenty of time to kill people later. Still, he didn’t bother with hello. “Sean took her,” he said.

  “Not sure—”

  “No, Sean took her,” he said, cutting him off. “He had her and called me. What happened? Why was she out of your sight?”

  “Kelly had an issue and—”

  “Is Kelly with you?”

  There was silence on the other end of the line.

  “I asked you a question.”

  “No. When the alarm sounded, we broke away and went to get Abby. When we returned, she was gone.”

  “Christ. Okay, we’re ten minutes out. You need keep looking for Abby.” He hung up, and his next call was to the management office of Exit.

  “Club Exit. How may I direct your call?”

  “Andrew Franco, please.”

  “Who’s calling?”

  “Danny Nucci, Nucci Securities. I spoke with your boss earlier today about my client. She was just kidnapped from your club. I think he’ll want to take my call.” He’d better, Danny thought grimly.

  “Hold, please.”

  The manager picked up almost instantly. “Mr. Nucci, I’ve been notified of the situation, and we are working diligently to get it resolved. As I’m sure you know someone tripped the alarm on one of our doors. The crowd in the area thought there was a fire, so it was a bit hectic there for a while. Things are starting to look normal again. We are assessing things as we speak so—”

  “Mr. Franco, my client was taken.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “She called me in distress when someone took her.”

  “Uhhh…” the manager sounded at a loss for what to do.

  “I’ll be there shortly. I’m going to need your full cooperation on this.”

  “Of course.”

  “I have men there now.”

  “Yes, I’ve not had a chance to speak with them directly because I was dealing with patrons, but I’ll find them now and get briefed on matters. Someone will meet you out front when you arrive.”

  “I’d appreciate that.”

  Danny hung up and didn’t feel any better about the situation. Sean had Abby, and his men were clueless. This all seemed so surreal. Why didn’t he listen to his instincts? He never should have let her go out tonight. He had been trying to convince himself that he wasn’t emotionally invested in Abby. That he wasn’t repeating his mistakes. He needed to push aside his personal feelings and guilt. Now wasn’t the time to play the “what if” game. When Abby was in front of him and safe, he’d have plenty of time to beat himself up.

  Danny’s phone rang as the car pulled up to the club. Aaron, this time.

  “Yeah,” he answered.

  “Where are you?” Aaron asked.

  “Pulling up now. Got something?”

  “Yeah. Abby.”

  Relief flooded every part of his body. “Where are you?”

  “Back alley.”

  “On our way.” He hung up. “They found her. Follow me.”

  “Where is she?” Danny demanded when he reached th
e scene.

  Aaron met him at the alley’s entrance. There was a commotion up ahead, lots of people milling around.

  “She’s just ahead. Banged up a bit, but it looks like she’ll be okay.”

  Maybe physically. But what about mentally?

  “What happened?”

  “We escorted Abby and her friend to the ladies room, and while she was in there, this dick that had been dancing with her friend Kelly started getting rough with her. I went to defuse the situation. The guy attacked me, and shit got out of hand, and John had to assist. Then an emergency door alarm was tripped, and all hell broke loose. We searched the area and couldn’t find her.”

  “Where’s Kelly?”

  “I don’t know. She’s in the wind.”

  “Find her.”

  Sirens sounded, and Danny figured emergency personnel were on their way here. He turned and looked back at his team. “Secure the area and make sure the ambulance has clear access.”

  He followed Aaron. His heart was racing and nothing anyone could say would convince him she was okay until he saw for himself.

  The men cleared a path, and there she was, lying on the ground with John next to her. From this distance he could see that her face was bloodied and swollen, but she was still breathing. She had a man’s jacket draped over her body. He really didn’t want to think about why. He clenched his fist and fought back his emotions. Abby didn’t need to see any more anger tonight.

  “Abby?”

  John made room for Danny. “She wants to sleep, but I’ve been talking to her to keep her awake.”

  He nodded and kneeled next to Abby.

  “Abby?”

  “Danny?”

  “Yeah, it’s me.” He smiled at her while he took in the injuries he could see. She had a nasty red mark on her face, her shirt was completely torn to shreds, and there were minor cuts and scrapes over her body. He’d feel better once a doctor checked her over. But there was no doctor in the world who would be able to fix Sean once Danny got to him.

  “He found me,” she said between sobs. “I don’t know how and I tried—” she took a breath. “I tried to get away, but I couldn’t.”

  “It’s okay. He’s gone, and I’m here. Stay still.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “For what?”

  “I should’ve listened. I should’ve taken it more seriously.”

  “Hey, none of that. Let’s get you fixed up first, okay? We’ll talk later.” He reached out to touch her hair but pulled his hand back. He didn’t know the full extent of her injuries and didn’t want to accidentally hurt her. And maybe the last thing she wanted after Sean was any man’s hands on her.

  Sirens blasted nearby then stopped.

  “The ambulance is here, and we’re gonna get you out of here.”

  “I want to go home,” she said through her tears. “I don’t want to go to the hospital. The press—”

  “Don’t worry about anything right now, okay?”

  “The paramedics are here,” Connor said.

  Danny started to get up, but Abby grabbed his shirt.

  “Don’t go. Please.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll be right here. They need to have a look at you.”

  “Danny—”

  “Sir, can you step back, please?”

  “Hold on,” he said to the newcomer. “Abby, I’m not going anywhere. I need to let these guys do their job. I’ll be right here,” he assured her.

  “Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  “Okay.” She let go of his shirt, and he got to his feet.

  “I’m concerned that she’s asking to go to sleep,” he said to the paramedic. “Concussion at the very least.”

  “Let us have a look,” the paramedic said.

  He moved out of the way, and the paramedics went to work. While they did their thing, Danny rounded up his team, trying not worry about the extent of Abby’s injuries.

  “I’ll be at the hospital with Abby. The police will probably say they have this shit under control, but I’m not waiting for them to gather the intelligence we already have on him. We hunt, and we find him.” There was no room for compromise. He wasn’t going to sit back and do nothing.

  “On it,” King said.

  For Danny, tonight it wasn’t just that Abby was attacked. They all were. There had been a security breach, and each man standing there needed to correct that.

  “If you find him, bring him to me.” He struggled to maintain his composure.

  “That’s a promise.”

  He glanced around, staring at the shadows accusingly, daring Sean to step out of them and face him man to man. “King and Aaron, hit the intel networks. I want security video pulled of the club and a three-block radius. Check in with NYPD for street views. John, get a team and run down this fucker’s records. Check his phone, credit cards, bank accounts—anything and everything. I want to know when this asshole takes a dump and what toilet paper he uses. Connor, with me,” Danny said as the rest of his team dispersed.

  “Are you Danny Nucci?” A paramedic asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “We’re about to load Ms. Murphy into the ambulance. She’s asking for you.”

  “What kind of injuries?” Danny asked.

  “Probable concussion. Doesn’t look like anything is broken. Bruises and scrapes.”

  Danny didn’t ask any other questions. He wasn’t sure he was ready to hear about the answer yet. He and Connor followed the man to the ambulance.

  The paramedic gestured for Danny to take a seat in the back of the ambulance toward Abby’s feet.

  “Hey,” Danny said as climbed in. “It’s me.”

  Abby managed a smile.

  “I’m right here, okay?”

  She gave him a weak thumbs-up, and the paramedic shut the door as Danny settled himself onto the bench. He left plenty of room for the medic to tend directly to her. Connor got into the front seat with the driver.

  “Moving,” the driver announced, and Danny braced himself as the vehicle pulled out of the alley and started its lights and sirens. They swerved in and out of traffic, passing cars and trucks in his rush to get them to the nearest hospital. Within minutes, the back doors opened, and a medical team moved her quickly and efficiently into the building.

  Danny and Connor follow closely behind her stretcher, but were stopped by a security guard.

  “Gentlemen, only one of you can follow her back. The other will have to stay in the waiting room.” He motioned to the double doors on the right.

  “I’ll wait outside. The guys should be here in a minute, and I’ll give Sophie a call and let her know what’s going on. Let me know if you need me back here.” Connor patted Danny and left.

  Danny headed to Abby’s cubicle. There were several nurses working on her, hooking Abby up to machines and taking blood.

  “The doctor will be right in,” a nurse informed.

  “I’m going to need to speak with whoever is in charge here.”

  “Let me find someone to help.”

  “I’d appreciate that.”

  Danny kept his eyes glued to Abby, who was laying on the gurney, motionless.

  “Hello, I’m Nikki Moore. I’m the charge nurse. How can I help you?”

  Danny looked her over. Youngish white chick, hipster glasses but she had an earnest expression. “I’m Danny Nucci, President of Nucci Securities and personal bodyguard to Abby Murphy. I’m sure there’s going to be a mob of reporters and fans here as soon as word gets out. Also, for your security, she was attacked tonight. I’ll have my team supply a photograph. We’ll need to know what plan your security has in place. I’ll also establish a schedule rotation to ensure she’s protected at all times.”

  “Okay.” The nurse tapped her pen against her clipboard.

  “We need to register her under her alias, which may help to delay the media attention, but we shouldn’t count on it. We’re too exposed here. I’m going to need a private room for m
y client.”

  “I’ll get her registered in the system. What name should I use?”

  “Madeline Roberts,” Danny answered.

  A doctor entered the room.

  “I’ll get the paperwork started and inform the staff. I’ll also have a private room set up for Ms. Murphy.”

  The nurse left, and Danny watched and listened to the doctor give his orders.

  “Sir, I’m Doctor Phillips.

  “Danny Nucci. I’m Ms. Murphy’s bodyguard.”

  “I’ll need you to step back and let us examine her please.”

  Danny looked down the gurney and noticed he was holding Abby’s hand. He hadn’t even realized he had picked up her hand. Fuck, he was really losing it, and that just wouldn’t do. He needed to keep his shit together. Now wasn’t the time to fall apart. Abby needed him. He released her hand and walked to the corner of the cubicle and observed the hospital team do their job.

  Her face was beginning to bruise, and he was sure she was going to be hurting soon, if she wasn’t already. After several minutes, the doctor approached Danny.

  “I want to send her for a CAT scan and a few other tests before I determine if I’ll admit her.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “We won’t really know until the results of the CAT scan comes back, but right now she’s stable.”

  Danny nodded. He knew the drill, but he still had to ask.

  “Okay, let’s get our patient up for the scan and please put a rush on her blood work,” he told the nurse.

  “Thank you, Doctor. I really appreciate that.”

  The nurse prepared Abby for the move.

  “Danny,” Abby mumbled.

  He moved quickly to her bedside. He took her hand, and it felt small and vulnerable. His heart ached.

  “Yeah? I’m right here.”

  “Don’t leave me.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” he assured.

  “Thank you.” She let go of his hand so the nurse could continue, and he sent Connor a quick text to tell him he’d need him to help escort Abby for her tests. He wasn’t about to chance Sean showing up and trying to finish what he started. Within minutes they were all in the patient elevator on their way to the first of the several tests Abby would have to undergo.