by M Dauphin
I know this family like the back of my hand. And I’ll be taking them down one by one, starting with the man that put me away and ruined my family.
After closing the car door, I slide on my gloves and wait. Traffic to cross town at this time of the day isn’t bad, so it shouldn’t take us too long. The trunk is ready for her. Byron has his directions of where to park. I have the needle of drugs and the bag for her head. I’ve done this so many times; kidnapping women; that it doesn’t even phase me anymore. The jolts of adrenaline used to mean nothing, but today is different. Today I’m taking a Roe. Today means everything. I check my bag for the rest of the necessities. A passport in her name will be needed to leave the country. There are enough drugs in here to keep her out for a few days safely and a change of clothes. I grin when I see the camera… she’s going to be a fun one. I typically stay away from the business girls, but this is different. I want Roe to see just how much I’m enjoying his wife before I sell her off. I send the text to make sure the jet is on stand by, and then lean back in my seat. All I have to do is keep her quiet for long enough while I can get Mac and Jase out without Eddie knowing who’s behind these breakouts, then we’re all on a one-way flight to South America.
Byron parks a half block down with an eye on the alley and I start my short walk to her back yard. I want nothing more than to take a torch to this mother fucking play set and burn the whole thing to the ground. Kids are so fucking stupid. Almost as useless as women. I’ll take care of them, and completely ruin Roe, the minute I’m done with Gwynn.
Small, fierce, no-back-down Gwynn.
I see her heading out back to take the trash out and smile to myself. Good God, this couldn’t be any easier.
The back door closes and it’s just us out here.
Here we go.
Eddie
“Bring them in,” I growl. My fucking adrenaline is pumping and not letting down any time soon. These fuckers have messed with the wrong family.
The boys drag in Jase and Mac and my fists clench at my side. Before Red, I didn’t consider myself a violent man. Hell, I still have issues with her fighting, but these men bring something out in me that I don’t want my children to ever see.
I want to murder.
“What the fuck are you boys doing back here?” I growl as the boys stand them in the middle of the room and remove the black hoods from their heads. When Jase’s eyes meet mine I see the fear in them.
Good, fucker. You should be fucking scared. Mac, on the other hand, is grinning at me like a madman. He’s never been right in the head. The grin he’s wearing makes me rage. He’s looking at me like he knows something I don’t know.
Fuck you, Mac, I’m Eddie fucking Roe. I know everything.
“You just gonna stare at me?” I bellow, breathing heavily. I can’t fucking believe I’m dealing with this right now. I should be home with my wife, but these fuckers have messed with the wrong man and I have to see to it that they never come back here again.
“Why did you bring us here?” Mac speaks up, grinning at me. “We weren’t doin’ nuthin’ wrong.”
“Bullshit,” I growl, moving closer to them. Good fuck they smell. “Why the fuck are you back in this town?”
Mac grins at me and I know he’s a lost cause, so I move to Jase. He’ll be a little easier to break.
“Should I get the bat out, Jase?” I quirk an eyebrow at him and his face falls remembering the beating they took the last time they were in this building. “I’m not a violent man, but when idiots disobey an order and put my family in danger, I turn into a madman on a mission to kill.” I pull the gun out of my waistband and turn off the safety. Mac’s grin falls when I shove it against his temple.
“So how about we try this again, Mac. Why the hell are you here?”
His breath trembles and his eyes are wide. But he doesn’t answer. I look over to Jase and grin.
“This is your dad, right?” I nod to Mac and all Jase can do is nod his head. Poor fucker looks like he’s on the brink of tears. “Good.” I smile. “Any last words, Daddy?”
“Roe,” a voice comes from behind me. One I most certainly can’t ignore. Tatum’s fucking father. I roll my eyes and shove Mac away from me, back to the chair behind him. I think I hear him fall but don’t bother to turn around and check.
“What?”
“This isn’t your job… put the gun away and go home to your family. We’ll take care of these boys.” He nods towards the two men on the other side of the room and I shake my head.
“You already tried that, remember? How’d they end up back here when you were supposed to be monitoring them in Mexico? Huh?”
“Go home, Eddie. We’ll take care of it correctly this time.” He glares at me, and there’s a small portion of my brain telling me I need to be scared of this very powerful man… but fuck man, his boys failed me!
“Go, Eddie.”
“Fine. I’m not fucking happy about this, though.”
He chuckles and slaps my shoulder. “You’re a passionate man. That’s a good thing, but you don’t want this blood on your hands. We can take that responsibility.”
“Yea… thanks,” I mumble then head out to my truck. I can’t wait to get this conversation over with Red. She’s been pissed at me in the past but never something like last night. Last night was more than anger… it was disappointment. I can’t handle that from her. I didn’t sleep a fucking wink either. I stood by that goddamned door, every now and then checking the lock, that it was secure. When the sun rose this morning I decided I wasn’t helping the cause at all just standing behind a locked door. I had to help Tatum… so I left. That was just a few hours ago and now I’m finally going home to my family. Now I need to make this right.
By the time I make it home I’m just ready for her not to be mad at me anymore. I can’t handle it when she’s pissed at me. Call it pussy-whipped, call it whatever you want… I’d do anything for my girl to be happy.
I pull into the driveway to see Tatum’s motorcycle still parked outside.
I sent him over a long-ass time ago to tell Red things are safe while I took care of business. Why the hell is he still here?
Then I notice Molly, Tatum’s wife’s, car in front of his on the street.
What the ever-loving fuck? Did we have dinner plans or some shit tonight?
Opening the door, I walk in to a crying baby and the TV on full blast.
“Hey!” I yell into the house as I lock the door behind me.
“The fuck, guys? What’s going on?” Walking into the living room, I see Molly trying to calm Dax and Angel planted in front of the TV.
“Oh my God, where were you? Where’s your phone? Why the hell haven’t you been answering?!” Molly’s flipping out and walks over to me, handing me the crying baby that immediately calms down when he makes it into my grasp.
“Hey bud, it’s ok. Shhh.” I bounce him around gently before finding Molly again in the kitchen grabbing a drink.
“Beer? Really?”
“Come on,” is her only reply. She walks past the couch to check on Angel then continues down the hall. The fact that I haven’t seen my Red yet and the weirdness that’s coming out of Molly right now has me freaked.
Bad.
“What the fuck is going on in here?!” I shriek when I walk through my office door and see Tatum on my computer. “What the fuck man?! This shit’s so fucking expensive, what the fuck are you touching it for?” My shit is my shit to touch… these fucking computers and shit cost me an arm and a leg. Tatum isn’t allowed to touch my shit! “Man, hands the fuck off!” I whine. Good fuck, dude. No.
“Shut the fuck up, Eddie. I need a computer.” He goes back to clicking away on the keys and every tiny click is another piece of my soul that fractures.
“Why the hell, man. Go the hell home,” I huff and lean on the wall, shaking my head at him. Dax is asleep in my arms, finally.
“Your wife is fucking gone, Eddie! Can you stop whining and just fucking lis
ten to me?” Tatum stands and storms over to me while the shock of his words settle over me. My heart rate spikes and I can’t move. “She’s gone, man. Fucking gone.” He curses and shakes his head. “She took the trash out and just fucking... vanished.”
“She couldn’t have gone far. Her car’s still here, I bet she’s just out, clearing her mind w-with everything,” Molly stammers quickly, trying to make us all feel better that the love of my life left me.
Left me.
“How long,” I growl. “How long has she fucking been gone and you haven’t called to tell me?” I want to explode on them right now, but doing so holding the baby, wouldn’t go over well.
“A little over an hour,” he whispers. “We tried man, you weren’t answering your phone.”
I grit my teeth and inhale, trying to calm myself.
“Excuse me.” I walk away from them… I have to. She’s gone? There’s no mother fucking way she’d just leave. She loves us too much. Right?
My feet take me into Dax’s room where I lay him in the crib on autopilot. My hand rests on his chest until he’s fast asleep, then I travel outside and close the door behind me. The fresh air typically helps clear my mind, but tonight it’s just making it worse.
She was here. She took the trash out…
“The cameras,” I whisper to myself, spinning to see if the cameras are on. The small red light at the bottom of the discreet camera tells me they’re still working, which means they would have picked up what happened.
Right?
“Up,” I bark after running back into the house and to my office. “Up, up, up,” I manage. Tatum scoots out of my seat and backs away, letting me take control. My heart’s beating at the possibility of knowing what happened.
There’s just no way she’d up and leave us. Not after a fight like that. Hell, she’s stuck with me through so much more, there’s no reason anyone could give me that would make me believe she left of her own free will.
Someone had to have taken her.
I click and scan the screen for the timestamp on the camera while Tatum stands quietly behind me.
“Hey guys, I’m putting Angel down for bed. She wants to tell Daddy goodnight,” Molly says quietly from the doorway.
“Wait, what about your kids? You guys need to get home.” I pull Angel into my arms. “It’s cool, I got this.” God she smells so good. How the hell could Red just leave this?
“They’re at grandma’s tonight,” Tatum says. “We aren’t leaving you here alone right now.” He watches me carefully and I can’t seem to focus on his words. Angel’s hands go around my neck and all I can focus on is how devastated she’s going to be when Red doesn’t wake her up in the morning. When Mommy doesn’t bring her milk in the living room to dip her graham crackers in while she watches her morning show.
Fuck.
I feel a tear slip down my cheek and sniffle, then wipe it away quickly before she can see.
“Daddy loves you, Angel,” I whisper as I hold her to my chest.
“Love you too, Daddy. Aunt Molly is taking me to bed tonight. She promised FIVE books.” She smiles widely and I look to the door to see Molly wiping under her eyes and smiling.
“I did, babe. Let’s get to it or it’s going to be tomorrow before we even finish.” She reaches her hand out and Angel walks over to take it, hugging Tatum on the way out.
“Jesus,” I huff, leaning back in my chair. “There’s no way she’d just leave all this behind. It doesn’t make sense.”
“We’ll find her, man.” Tatum pulls up a chair and I hit play on the recording. A pang in my chest sears through me when she comes onto the screen. Fuck.
“See, trash… then nothing.”
He’s right… she walks around the back of the garage to toss the bag and she never comes back.
“What the fuck?” I zoom in to see if there’s something we’re missing, but there’s not.
There’s nothing.
“There’s a gate back there… would she have left through it?”
I glare at the screen, paused on the last image of her, and think.
She left everything… but it wasn’t on purpose. Hell, she’s not even wearing shoes! Someone doesn’t run away without shoes on their feet!
“Someone took her, Eddie. We’ll find out what happened. I promise.” Tatum clasps a hand on my back but I shake it off. I don’t need pity right now, I need my fucking girl. Here. In her house with her family.
With a tight jaw, I stare at the screen, over and over, watching her walk that trash out to the back of the garage. Not once does she look around like she heard something. Not once did she seem scared or act like she was in danger. She’s not on the defense and not paying a lick of attention to her damn surroundings. Shit.
“There’s no other camera angle?”
“Nah, dude. I never put one on the garage,” I mumble, watching the same clip over and over again.
And then it hits me.
“The street. The fucking street!” I slap his arm and go to town typing and clicking, trying to hack into the city’s street camera system. It’s not that hard considering what I do for a living. After about twenty minutes I almost have them cracked. Tatum walks back in with a cup of coffee in his hands and sets it on the desk next to me.
“It’s bound to be a long night, man. Drink.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, not removing my eyes from the computer screens. “Just one… more…” I hit enter, praying I’ve got it all correct, and see the screens flicker then change to the street views of our neighborhood.
“Fancy shit, man,” Tatum lightly says.
“Yea, no clue why the city chose this neighborhood to start with this street view project but I’ve never been happier about it.”
I find time stamps of the area streets and start moving backwards to the time that lines up with the stamp on our home surveillance.
“There.” Tatum points to the screen where a black car pulls around the house. We sit there and watch the car circle the house three times before it pulls off camera. “Where’s that camera cut off?” He asks, but I already know the answer to it. My blood is boiling as I watch the black car pull into the alley on a different screen.
“Shit,” he huffs, sitting back down next to me.
We watch as the car stops, then creeps forward the smallest amount, putting all the doors in a camera blind spot… like whoever did this, knew exactly what they were doing. After a few minutes, the brake lights light up again and it drives away.
“Fuck,” I growl, staring at the screen. “There’s no plate on that car, Tatum.”
“Looks like you found your man… now you just have to figure out who it is.”
“How do I do that with no information?” I’m an information nerd! I know how to look someone up with enough information, but I’ve never for the life of me started from scratch and been successful. I’ve always had some sort of lead.
“Well… you have your two main suspects in custody. So, we just start ruling people out… you know it’s not them. Now we need a list of all the other people that want to see either you or Gwynn hurt and start crossing them off.”
He allows a small grin but it falls when he looks into my eyes. His phone rings from his pocket and he slides it out, answering it before he’s able to say anything else to me.
“Speak,” he growls. Pausing, his face falls then he shakes his head. “Fuck,” he growls, ending the call.
“What?”
“Someone just shot up the warehouse. Again. Lost three men, one’s in surgery. You just fucking missed whoever it was that decided to break those boys out tonight.”
“What the fuck?! Your men don’t have guns?!” I shriek, pissed at the level of failure coming from the Savage crew this week.
“We do, but being ambushed with bullets flying from nowhere isn’t really something they can protect themselves from.”
He shakes his head and stares at the screen for what feels like a lifetime. I know it. He knows
it. Whoever took her is already three steps ahead of us, and it’s going to take a good amount of smarts and a fuck ton of luck to get her back.
“She’s gone.” Fear courses through my body that I’m never going to see her again.
“Not for good, man.” He sighs and nods at the screen. “Come on. Do your magic.”
Gwynn
What the shit? I groan, my entire body sore. What happened last night? I stretch out, the white cotton sheets welcoming me as one of their own. I just need coffee. This headache is no fucking joke.
“Babe?” I’m able to murmur, but my voice isn’t as strong as it typically is. “Tex?” My head hurts so bad I don’t even want to open my eyes to see the light of day searing through my pupils.
No fucking thanks.
“She’s awake,” I hear, making me immediately shoot to a sitting position, glaring into the face of the man from last night.
Then it all comes rushing back to me.
I was taking the trash out, about to go in and finish cleaning. I had dinner planned and was excited that we were finally in the clear, again, from those two crazies. I was happy… and now I’m here. An elaborate room, probably a hotel somewhere, with a stranger standing near the bed smiling down at me with the brightest teeth and baby-blue eyes I’ve ever seen.
“Who the fuck are you?” I growl, then realize I just woke in a bed. His bed? “Shit,” I huff, looking around me. My shirt on the floor, my pants thrown across a chair. “You sick mother fucker,” I growl and then instinctively go in for the fight. Barreling towards him, I think I stun him by actually swinging and making contact with his temple. “Who the fuck are you?!” I scream, my stance strong.
I need out. Need to get back to my family.