Beautifully Decadent (Beautifully Damaged Book 3) (45 page)

“Honestly, I think he’s going to take the disc and then put a bullet in Avery’s brain. I’m being blunt because you are walking into danger and candy coating that is only going to get you killed.”

Crazy to think all that went into finding the disc and it’s useless. “We have to try.” I said.

“Yeah, but we have to be smart about it. As much as this thing is an attention getter, it may work in our favor.”

“How?”

“He thinks you’re coming alone. We can hide in here, you tell him the disc is in the RV. He’s got to expect you’ll be parking in the lot by the pier. It’s late in the season; the park closes at six so there won’t be many people around. If we can lure him over, we might be able to surprise him; maybe we get a few seconds to get his gun away, if nothing else we buy seconds for all of us to get away. Is there a back way out of here?”

“Yeah, the window in the bedroom’s big enough to slip out of.” Mom supplied.

“All right, let’s get armed with anything we can use as a weapon.”

I had never in my life been as afraid as I was while walking toward the pier. I knew Mom and Josh were close, believed Rafe was on his way, Tyler too, and yet as I walked to meet the unknown, I felt very much alone. And it was because I felt that staggering feeling of terror and isolation that I kept walking because my sister had to be petrified. And she’d been alone with her captor for hours.

It was cold, colder here near the pier. Nat had only been wearing a sweater when I’d last seen her. Was it really only just yesterday that she’d been teasing me; she had to be freezing. I hadn’t even thought of that. I should have. What if Nat’s captor wouldn’t come with me to the parking lot? What if he killed Nat and me and searched the RV on his own? Now that I was here, I realized how stupid I had been because I was walking into the viper’s den with nothing more than the clothes on my back and an excuse.

As I reached the pier, I saw Nat. She looked okay which immediately had the knot in my stomach easing. A man stood next to her and as I approached I recognized him. It was the man who had seen me home that one night at Allegro after I’d had too much to drink, Marco.

“You?” At first asked in disbelief, but as the reality finally sank in I said it again in a snarl. “You! It wasn’t a coincidence us meeting at Allegro, was it? You were the one breaking into Rafe’s house.”

“Until the codes changed, then I needed a new way to gain access.”

Another man stood in the shadows and yet somehow I knew he was the mastermind behind this. As soon as he stepped into the light, I recognized him too. He was the man at the café that day with Melody.

“Avery Collins. I’m Nicholas Titus. It’s very nice to meet you. I’ve enjoyed my time with your sister, a delightful creature. I’d hate to have to put a bullet in her brain. Have you got the item?”

“Yeah, it’s in my car.”

Nicholas moved as gracefully as he had that day in the café, so the backhanded smack across my cheek completely took me by surprise as I stumbled backwards a few steps. “You’re lying to me.”

My cheek stung like it was on fire, but instead of feeling terror, anger stirred. Reaching for my phone, I pulled up the picture of the disc that Josh insisted I take. “Look! Proof. I have it.”

He took my phone and studied it for a minute, before a creepy smile spread over his face. “Take me to it.”

“Let Nat go and I will.”

“You’re making demands?”

“I’ll take Nat’s place. Let her go. She isn’t a part of this.”

“Why don’t I just shoot you and your sister and retrieve it myself?”

“You don’t know what car or where it’s parked. Look, there are others coming for me. You think Rafe is seriously going to sit back while I walk into danger. Let her go and I’ll take you to it. You’ll be gone before they ever get here.”

He seemed to study his options for a minute before he said, “Very well.”

“No! Avery, don’t go with them.”

“I have to Nat.” I pulled off the jacket I was wearing. “Can I give this to her?”

“Check it.” Nicholas demanded of Marco.

Marco grabbed it from me. “It’s clean.”

Nicholas’ head jerked and I didn’t waste time moving to Nat to hug her hard. Whispering I said, “Mom is close, so it Tyler. Take my phone; call Rafe, tell him about Nicholas.”

“Let’s go.” Nicholas was losing his patience. I released Nat. “Run. Get to safety. I’ll see you soon, I promise.”

God how I hoped that was a promise I could keep. Nat hesitated, conflicted with the idea of leaving me, but she needed to get to safety, needed to get in touch with Rafe. Seeming to understand that too, she ran. And as I watched her go, profound relief filled me because whatever happened now, Nat would be okay.

We’d started down the pier toward the parking lot; Marco walked close to the railing with me in front of him and his gun digging into my back. I tried to walk as slowly as I could to give Nat more time. Peering over the railing, the drop wasn’t so bad. Maybe I could make a break for it and jump.

Marco’s voice jarred me back. “Where did you find the disc?”

Couldn’t hurt to share and talking might distract them so they wouldn’t hear when Rafe and the others arrive. “Behind the face of the clock in the living room.”

“Fuck me.” Marco mumbled, but it was Nicholas’s tone that sent a chill through me.

“And how is it that this woman finds the disc in just a few hours and you, a professional, had weeks collecting my money and came up empty-handed?”

Marco tensed, his gun easing at my back. “She had full access with no limitations, I had pockets of time in which to search. It’s a big fucking house.”

“And still.” Marco was scary; Nicholas was downright terrifying. The man was as cold as ice. “The others who came back empty-handed got a bullet in the head for their efforts.”

Marco picking up on the deadly undercurrent, stopped walking, yanking me in front of him, but he leveled his gun on Nicholas. “Are you threatening me?”

“I’m merely saying that when I pay for a service I expect results.”

“Yeah, well maybe if you’d been smarter you wouldn’t be scrambling at the last minute looking for the evidence that linked you to murder, charges they can pile onto the list the authorities already have.”

Nicholas flinched. What the hell was Marco talking about?

“Yeah, I know about the pending arrest warrant, brought down and by your own wife too. Not too fucking smart, are you?”

Holy shit. Alexandra’s comment at the hospital about the game changing made sense now. She was courageous, taking on Nicholas and winning. I hoped I lived through this to share that news with Rafe and Liam.

Under the cold façade, Nicholas was cracking; his eyes were all crazy. And as Nicholas and Marco had their standoff, I caught a movement further down the pier. People were coming, heading in our direction. Hope died as quickly as it flared because when I turned my attention back on Nicholas, he had a gun aimed at Marco. They were going to kill each other and me in the process and even as my survival instinct kicked in, Marco’s hold was unyielding using me now as a shield.

“You’re going to shoot me? I’ll kill her and you’ll never get your disc.”

I heard a strange popping sound, the stirring of the air near my face, and in a terrifying moment of clarity I realized Nicholas had shot Marco. The pier railing was right behind us, and the momentum of the bullet caused Marco’s body to fly backwards. Since he had a death grip on me, when he went over the side of the pier, I went with him.

I landed in a jarring heap, I may even have lost consciousness for a second or two, but I was alive. I tried to move, to get away, and then all hell broke loose.

My phone rang, seeing it was Avery nearly had me crashing the car. “Avery!”

“It’s Nat.”

“Thank Christ. Where’s Avery? Where are you?”

“The pier. Tyler found me. We’re following Avery. They have her.”

Fear, even with all the rage burning through me, the fucking fear nearly choked me “Who’s they?”

“Some goon named Marco and his boss, Nicholas Titus.”

Marco? Why the hell did that name sound familiar? “You’ve got eyes on her?”

“Yeah, Marco has her, a gun at her back. Wait, they’ve stopped; looks like Marco and Nicholas are exchanging heated words. Oh shit, you need to hurry.”

“Did you call the police?”

But she didn’t answer because the line went dead. We were just pulling up beside the RV.

“I’ll check the RV.” Lucien called as Trace went in search of Nat and Tyler, but I was already running to the pier. I didn’t immediately take in the whole scene, since my focus was on Avery and the two gun-wielding assholes with her.

It happened so fast, a gunshot fired and one second Avery was standing on the pier and the next her body was being dragged over the side. More shots were fired, but I was running to Avery, didn’t give a fuck if I got shot. Dropping at her side, I saw her eyes were open.

Relief hit me like a fucking punch in the gut. It wasn’t that high of a fall, but she could have landed funny and cracked her neck. “Does it hurt?”

“Rafe. Where’s Nat?”

Looking around I saw Nat and Tyler with Anna and Harold. The cops were swarming, setting up a barricade, not that they’d be able to hold the four of them for long. “She’s fine. She’s with your parents and Tyler. The cops are detaining them.”

“Thank God.” She looked past me to the pier. “I went over the side.” And then she giggled. “Even with my ass.”

She was clearly in shock. “What hurts?”

“My arm.”

More sirens came from the parking lot.

Her eyes shifted to me and in them I saw heartbreak. “You pulled away from me. Why did you pull away from me?”

I answered honestly. “You lost your sparkle and I did that to you.”

Her temper stirred and I preferred that to the haunted look she’d had a moment before. “No you didn’t. None of this was your fault or your dad’s and it’s just stupid of you to think so.”

“You’re right.”

She was getting ready to argue, but stopped; her bewildered expression was adorable. “I’m right?”

I couldn’t wait another second to kiss her, taking her mouth as my tongue slipped between her lips to taste her. The kiss ended way sooner than either of us wanted when two paramedics dropped down next to us.

“Can you tell me what happened?” One of them asked me while the other splinted Avery’s arm.

“She was pulled over the side of the pier.”

It was only then that I looked over and saw the man who had dragged Avery over the side. He was lucky he was dead because I would have killed him.

“Did you lose consciousness?” The paramedic asked Avery.

“I don’t know.”

“Let me check your eyes.” He flashed the light, a few times in each eye. “Equal and reactive. Anywhere else hurt besides your arm?”

“No.”

“Any dizziness, shortness of breath, headache.”

“No.”

“I think you were very lucky, but we’re going to take a ride to the ER and let the docs take a look at you.”

Her free hand grabbed for mine. “Rafe, please don’t leave me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”