My Thug Bride

by Katherine Summers

  As cool as it had seemed earlier in my imagination, now it only freaked me out. I was worried she’d take the call. I was worried someday, she might not return home.

  It’s ridiculous how I’m the one tied up, and all I can think of is if I could keep Reeves far away. From here. From everywhere that was like here. I’m the truest example of a man in love.

  Chapter 20

  Anna

  Not Hathaway.

  The first thought that came into my head when I saw Henry’s empty car was that something had gone wrong. Although my heart was beyond convinced that he had left because he couldn’t face me, my instincts told me otherwise. I trust my gut. Which is why I was startled when I saw that the CCTV in the parking lot had been sprayed over.

  Another reason was that his car wasn’t locked.

  His phone was switched off, and he hadn’t gone inside. He was nowhere in the vicinity of the wedding venue.

  Not Hathaway. Not in a thousand, million years.

  My entire body shook as I realized that something horrible might have happened to him. My feet worked on my own, I took my leave from the party. On my way, I called the Chief of police.

  “Chief Natalie, it’s Anna.”

  “Yes Ms. Reeves.”

  “I need help.”

  Over the next half hour, I came to know that all the CCTV’s on the street had been tampered with, while the large area covered by the ones on the main road made it impossible to narrow down a suspect. The police department still checked, while I called for footages of the guests at the party. I also asked Natalie to check the cameras near my house and Hathaway’s – if someone had abducted him, they had to know where we’d be tonight. Chances were that we were being followed for some time. Greater chance was that he had been followed.

  If anyone had dared to take Henry, it was obviously a personal vendetta against me. Which is why I only needed to see one face – one familiar face so that I’d know which lowlife had dared to touch my man.

  “Ms. Reeves, calm down. We’re doing all we can.”

  Natalie is a dear acquaintance but her consolation wasn’t welcome. I ran through the screens of film like a mad woman. My best hope was to find a known face among the guests at Cain Matthews’s wedding. I should have refused to go there. I shouldn’t have let Henry go either. I shouldn’t have left him alone in the car. I shouldn’t have told him about me tonight, damnit! It was my fault!

  In two hours, we had our perpetrator. All the while, my throat hurt from the lump in it, and my eyes were burning from the effort of holding back angry tears.

  Kahn Roar had taken Henry. Kahn Roar was an alias this man used for circulating drugs on the street. He was a former minion of Sawyer Bensen, the Capo of the Chicago mafia. I clenched my fist when I found out.

  Footages didn’t help us. Natalie booked one of the waiters at the wedding who confessed he had spiked Henry’s drink under someone’s orders. Some substance that makes one lose consciousness in an hour or two. I could barely keep my hands from throttling this man. Turned out, the orders were given by Kahn.

  The rest was easy for the police. Easier for me. I know all of Kahn’s hideouts. Even though I had to pull a few strings with my ex-disciples in the middle of the night, I knew where that asshole went in a half hour. He was at the Blair automobile workshop, which was a front for his illegal deposits.

  I rushed there with the Chief, the head detective of the department and his partner.

  All the while I prayed for Henry to be safe.

  Please, honey. Please be safe.

  The police surrounded the workshop. There was a window on the upper floor and a pipeline reaching to it if I could climb the tree right next to it. I got ready to make the trip, but Natalie held my hand.

  She’s a beautiful, intelligent woman, and I know she sees me as nothing more than an impetuous child. I don’t discard her orders, but today was different.

  “Ms. Reeves,” she said, “You know you can’t go in. We have this under control. You’re an informant of the police, you’re not with the department. You’re a civilian.”

  “What if something happens to Henry?” My mind wasn’t exactly steady, “Natalie, I’ve always listened to you. Not this time. Just… not this time.”

  She looked me firmly in the eyes, I looked back with determination. I was going in one way or the other, she knew that. After a minute, she sighed and let go of my arm. Removing a gun from the back of her pocket, she placed it in my palm.

  “Don’t use it under any circumstance, I’m giving it to you so you can be safe.”

  I nodded, “Yes ma’am. Thank you so much.”

  “Just one thing Ms. Reeves, who is this gentleman to you? I’ve never seen you so rattled before.”

  How much does Henry mean to me? Just three hours ago it was a tough question that came with a lot of baggage and consideration. Now, I didn’t even think before I pushed the gun into my pocket and replied, “Everything, Chief. I can’t live without him.”

  I grabbed for the tree, took to the pipeline and reached for the window. It was half open and I could squeeze my way in, albeit with some trouble. The room I fell into was dark. There was the smell of dust everywhere, so I assumed it was a storage space. I ran out noiselessly and noticed the structure of the workshop. One floor and basement. There was a railing guarding the rooms on the first floor that ran all the way to the ground. I assumed Henry must have been locked in the basement, but I checked the rooms on the first floor just to be sure.

  My heart was thumping louder than a cracking thunder. I spoke into the wire I was wearing, “I’m on the first floor. It’s clear. Henry isn’t here.”

  It was then that I heard voices. I hid myself into one of the rooms when I saw a shadow move on the floor below me. I don’t remember Kahn’s voice, but my body almost sagged from relief when I could identify Henry’s.

  He was okay.

  He was okay.

  I swallowed and ran down the stairs as softly as I could. I followed the voice to the tool shed of the workshop. I noticed that the police had already invaded this part of the workshop, which meant they had also taken out the guards outside. I saw head detective Harker run out of one of the rooms on the ground floor. When he saw me, I motioned towards the locked door of the tool shed.

  He came over.

  “Damn you Reeves,” he almost spat, “I hate you pissing all over my jurisdiction like this.”

  I rolled my eyes. He’s one nasty jerk, but he’s good at his job. Also, his only problem with me is that I’m too young and he doesn’t want the blood of a kid on his hands, as he once put it.

  “They’re in there,” I whispered.

  “How’d you know?”

  “I heard voices.”

  “I heard them too. I thought they were coming from the other side, so I went in to check. Just some bullshit guards over there. Not your boyfriend.”

  I took in a deep breath, “I heard Henry’s voice. He’s in here, I’m sure."

  Harker alerted his team while I tried to breathe.

  It was then that my phone buzzed. I saw an unknown caller. I didn’t pick up, but soon enough another voice from inside boomed, “She ain’t picking up! He right! If he not boyfriend, Boogeygirl will not show up!”

  The voice sounded angry. I stilled.

  “It’s them.”

  Harker nodded, “Yeah. Please stop going by the alias Boogeygirl, Reeves. It’s fucking stupid.”

  He broke down the door. The rest was usual for me, only this time it didn’t bring any sort of thrill. Just worry. So much worry. I rushed in after Harker. The toolshed was small, and among the shots that were fired it was easy to spot Hathaway. He was on the far left to the door. Harker and his men charged in and disarmed the five thugs inside, while I took the chance to run to Henry.

  I could only put in so much effort to not burst into tears.

  He sat tied on a chair, his arms bound by duct tape while his legs were tied together by a tight rope. It loo
ked painful. There was a blindfold around his neck.

  “I’m so sorry,” I almost sobbed, trying to rip apart the tape, “I’m so, so sorry, sweetheart.”

  Henry

  Anna has guts. She’s terribly kind, amazingly funny and truthful to a fault.

  But the thing is, she is also very sensitive.

  I wasn’t hurt, not in the least bit. I was sighing from shattering relief when my bearded buddy had hollered that Anna wasn’t picking up her phone. He was contemplating his next move when the door to my far left had suddenly burst open.

  A regiment of police officers had entered the room.

  A commotion arose. I had been wiggling my hands as best as I could but to no avail. The tape wasn’t going to loosen. So when bullets began to be fired, my first reaction was to duck my head – which was useless by the way – and disbalance the chair so it would fall. I did not want anyone shooting me in my head by mistake or otherwise.

  However, my chair didn’t fall. Amongst the horde of officers came my self-proclaimed little future bride. Seeing her brought about the instant joy that is like reflex to me now. And then, there was dread.

  “Anna, careful!” I said, as I saw her run towards me. But my voice was drowned out by the hollering detective who was cuffing the huge guy and his men, and barking instructions rather angrily.

  Anna reached to my chair. She was looking like a mess, nothing like the ethereal beauty I had left behind at the wedding party. I saw she had changed into trousers and a shirt, her eyes seemed weary and every inch of her body looked like it would crumple any minute.

  She could have cried any second. She fell to my feet.

  “I’m so sorry,” she mumbled to herself as she tried to tear through the tape around my wrist, “I’m so, so sorry sweetheart. I shouldn’t have left you alone. It is all my fault.”

  I wasn’t even hurt. But her sincerity touched me. It hurt my heart. I wanted to embrace her and console her right there.

  “Sweetie, I’m alright. Look at me.”

  “I’m so sorry Henry.”

  “Anna. I’m okay baby.”

  She managed to remove the tape, but when she ripped it off my skin, I howled in pain. It fucking hurt! I don’t know how women manage to get waxed everywhere, but that tape hurt. My scream brought about something violent in Anna.

  I’ve seen her play before. In the warehouse, with her students. I’ve seen her beat up others as if their power meant nothing before hers. Back in that dark alley. But I’ve never seen Anna angry in a fight.

  Her eyes fixed on the red marks around my wrist. I didn’t take them seriously, they just stung a little, but those scars flipped something murderous in her.

  “That fucking piece of shit,” she whispered under her breath. Before I could stop her, she got up on her feet and turned around. With two blindingly enraged steps, she pulled Kahn Roar by his collar and out of the head detective’s hands.

  “You fucking load of crap!” she howled. Her fist connected with Kahn’s face. The man spat out blood. I flinched myself, shocked at the display. Kahn fell to his feet, while Anna kicked his chest with her foot, “You dared to touch him,” her voice was cutting.

  The detective must have been shocked as well, but he came back to his senses soon. Anna would have punched Kahn again, but he managed to put his arms under her armpits and drag her away from him. Anna protested rather violently, all the while hissing, “Let me go Harker! I’ll beat the daylight out of this asshole!”

  “No you won’t!” Detective Harker insisted, letting Anna go once there was a safe distance between her and Kahn, “I will have to put you in for assault if you do that, Reeves. So careful. Throw your tantrums at home to daddy, where he can make all your many faults go away. Here, you behave.”

  I didn’t like this man.

  Anna was already pissed, but her face turned fouler at his words, “Then maybe I should smack your gutless ass too before I run to daddy, Harker. He’d make it all go away anyway.”

  Normally, I would have laughed, but right then I was worried. Anna’s display put me into an urgent need to be by her side. Another officer had untied me while Harker was baiting Anna, so I rushed to her when I could walk. I was careful to hide my discomfort. Heaven knew what she would have done if she saw that even the ropes had left marks on my thighs.

  “Anna, calm down.”

  I grabbed her hand and forced her to turn around. The rage was so evident in her eyes, I had to hug her tightly to ease her mind, “Baby. I’m okay. Really.”

  She let go. Very slowly, she pressed her body into mine. Her hands went around my waist. I almost crumpled myself when I felt her shiver against me. I held her to my chest and kissed the top of her head.

  She cried.

  I’ve never seen Anna cry before. On the verge of tears, yes, but I’ve never seen her actually cry before.

  This is all the declaration of love that I need. My feelings took a turnaround, she had scared me seconds before, now I wanted nothing more than to take her back home and make love to her. Maybe watch a movie and brew her a mug of hot coffee. She had had a rough day.

  I hadn’t even got the chance to tell her how I felt about her hobbies.

  She was amazing. Thug or not. CIA or not. Mine or not. She was just amazing.

  “This is why the Chief shouldn’t send kids to a crime scene,” detective Harker’s words were harsh, but when I looked up at him I could tell that he was surprised as well. Maybe he had never seen Anna break down either.

  “Hand me over your gun. Chief told me she gave you one for protection,” he barked.

  Anna nodded into my chest as a response to detective Harker and shoved a shivering hand into her pocket.

  Everything else was a flash.

  Anna had dropped her gun while beating up Kahn.

  She turned around in my arms in a heartbeat, in time to see Kahn pointing the gun at the handcuffs around his wrists. He shot without hesitation and broke free. The next second, the muzzle of his gun was aimed at me.

  Detective Harker flew towards him. Everything was happening so fast, and yet somehow, I could catch each of everyone’s movements. It was all slow to my eyes. When the gun was pointed at me, my soul told me I was done for. This was it.

  It was too late. Kahn was grinning, making a final statement, probably saying that if he couldn’t kill Anna, he could remove me. It would devastate her more, and he wouldn’t be making an enemy out of his Chicago mafia boss either.

  I took a deep breath and pushed Anna out of the way, to my left side. It was reflex again, to safeguard the only person precious to me right then. The room rang from the sound of the gunshot once again.

  I screamed.

  Not from the shot, no. I had underestimated Anna.

  While I had pushed her out of my arms to my side, her hand had grabbed my elbow, refusing to let go. But she was out of the line of the shot. The gun had fired, I had closed my eyes in relief. She was safe. At the same time however, she had pulled my hand behind my back and knocked me down to the ground in a mere half second. I screamed from her attack. She had flipped me over.

  Meanwhile, she herself had fallen to her knees before me.

  I watched in horror as the front of her shirt began to soak red. The bullet had struck her heart.

  She cocked her brows as she fell to the floor, smirked a strained smile as she looked into my eyes.

  “Like hell I’ll let you die on me, Hathaway,” she said, “Like hell.”

  My world stopped before me. I screamed again.

  Chapter 21

  Anna

  I had a dreamless sleep. Which meant that if I was indeed dying, I would have died a painless death without regret. Thankfully, I wasn’t.

  I woke up to utter noise, feeling groggy and stiff. The voices seemed distant at first, but then I could identify them. My senses are sharp even when I’m half asleep. I tried to concentrate on the words being said before I opened my eyes.

  “It’s his fault! He was
at her side, and he couldn’t protect my Anna. This lousy – “

  That was my dad. The next voice which came was in retaliation to Mark’s. It was Earnest’s.

  “How can Henry protect Anna? She’s the one who is CIA!”

  “She’s not CIA! And isn’t Henry a man? He should have looked out for her!”

  “He did! What kind of logic is isn’t he a man?”

  Ugh.

  They were annoying. I’m not going to open my eyes. But then I heard a small, faint, “I’m so sorry, Mr. Reeves,” and my eyes flew open anyway.

  Hathaway!

  It was Henry.

  I didn’t take into consideration that I might have been put on sedatives. I shot up, or I thought I did – until my entire body felt like liquid mercury had been pumped into it. I groaned before I could sit up straight. It caught everybody’s attention.

  Mark was the first to launch at me.

  “Anna! Baby, oh my girl. You’re up!”

  I had difficulty focusing my eyes on him, but he pulled me into a tight hug right away.

  “Are you alright? Honey how do you feel?”

  Like you’ll squeeze out all my breath? Had it been an ordinary circumstance, I would have said it. But Mark was shivering around me. I know I had scared him with my little stunt. I managed a smile. Even my face felt stiff.

  “I’m okay, dad,” I said.

  “Are you sure? Let me call the doctor.”

  “You can call him, but I feel alright. Just slightly light headed.”

  “He said you’d be a little drowsy when you’re up.”

  “That must be it.”

  I looked around. No doubt I was in a private hospital room, alight with a T.V. screen and fridge. Guests, a washroom and two huge windows. Rows of towels, chairs and a comfortable looking couch. I’ve been in a lot of such rooms, usually to visit patients. Lying down here as one feels weird.