Candy Crush (33 page)

Alonzo was in the adjoining room, and Hector
just stepped outside to smoke. She cursed the patio door as he
slipped through it. It had been so damn easy for them to park their
rental car behind the hotel and carry her in via the patio door.
She hadn’t seen a single other human being when it happened, and
Miguel had gagged her so she couldn’t scream for help. How come no
one else was standing around outside, smoking, when she needed them
most?

When they first entered the hotel room,
Hector had deposited her on the bed and Miguel took off the gag and
tried to engage Gabriella in conversation, as if they were long
lost friends – or lovers – and they’d finally been reunited after a
long absence. Gabriella had steadfast refused to speak to him, and
she could tell it was beginning to irritate him.

Good
. She was in a mood to irritate
him, even though she suspected she would at some point regret it.
Most likely when she was back in Dallas and he’d doubled his
security measures. He probably wouldn’t even let her go shopping
anymore, even with one of his sisters or Hector. Which would be,
unfortunately, smart of him, because she knew damn well she would
run at the first opportunity. And she would run all the way back to
Michigan, and back into Brandon’s arms.

After Hector closed the patio door, Miguel
climbed onto the bed and lay down next to her. He propped his head
on his right hand, facing her, and then with his left hand, he ran
his fingers along her cheek, down her neck, across her chest and
along her hip. She cringed away from him and he smiled, a wicked,
hungry smile.

“I don’t actually dislike your new style,
mi queirda
. You look quite lovely from the back. Maybe I’d
rather you wear jeans more often.” Gabriella glared at him and
refused to respond.

“Was that dirty cop telling the truth? Have
you managed to find yourself a boyfriend in such a short period of
time?”

Gabriella’s eyes widened as her thoughts
automatically strayed to Brandon. She wondered what he was doing at
that moment. Was he searching for her? Had he contacted the police?
Had he figured out that Daniel Franks was involved? She desperately
wished he would stay as far away as possible, so that he wouldn’t
get hurt. If Miguel figured out that she was in love with Brandon,
Gabriella feared his life would be in danger. She shuddered at the
thought.

“Why the tremors, Gabriella? Thinking about
the boyfriend? Does that mean there really is a boyfriend? That
would make me very, very unhappy,
mi queirda
. Very unhappy.”
He squeezed her hip until tears sprang to her eyes and she cried
out in pain.

There was a knock on the door, and Miguel
rolled off the bed and walked over to answer it. A moment later, he
placed a tray of food on the desk. “Are you hungry? I’m happy to
feed you.” He smiled but the smile did not quite reach his eyes.
Gabriella looked away and blinked back tears.

The door wall slid open and Hector stepped
inside. “There are two men sitting in a truck outside. If you can
believe it, one of them looks like her brother.” He nodded towards
Gabriella.

Her heart started racing.
Oh God, please
don’t let it be Emmett and Brandon
.
Not unless they’ve
brought an entire army with them
. She squeezed her eyes shut
and repeated her prayer.

Miguel looked from Gabriella to Hector and
then stepped over to the door wall. He slid the curtain back a
fraction of an inch and peered through the small gap. “I can tell
there are men in that truck, but I can’t make out their faces.”

Miguel turned toward the bed. “Is your
brother in town, Gabriella?” She glared at him and didn’t answer.
He stepped up to the bed and slapped her. “Is your brother in town,
Gabriella?” he repeated with more menace.

“Leave my brother out of this, Miguel,” she
cried out. “He’s done nothing to you.”

“Maybe not. But it appears he may be
considering doing something now. Who would he have brought with
him?”

Since he appeared to be almost speaking to
himself, Gabriella assumed he didn’t require an answer. She
fervently hoped it wasn’t Brandon. She was reasonably certain
Miguel would not harm Emmett – too much, at any rate – but she
couldn’t say the same for Brandon. In fact, she felt reasonably
certain Miguel
would
seriously harm Brandon, possibly even
kill him. She swallowed convulsively and watched Miguel.

“Hector, take Alfonso. Go get them and bring
them to me.” Hector knocked once on the door between the two hotel
rooms, and then opened it and walked into the other room.

Miguel sat down at the desk and began
eating, as if it was a completely ordinary day and he had no
worries in the world. He held his fork in the air, with a piece of
steak on the end. “Would you like a bite,
mi queirda
?”

She shook her head. When he turned back
around and focused on his food, she began struggling against the
restraints with more zeal than she had since she arrived in the
hotel room, but it was to no avail. Her hands were securely bound,
and the restraints weren’t coming loose without a knife or
scissors, neither of which she had handy at the moment.

***

“What do you think is going on in there?”
Emmett asked for what was at least the tenth time. He and Brandon
sat in Brandon’s truck, staring intently at the door wall where
Hector had entered ten minutes earlier.

“I’m trying really hard
not
to think
about what is happening in there,” Brandon snapped back. His temper
was so close to the breaking point, he was ready to punch Emmett,
just to relieve a little stress. And Emmett was supposed to be
helping him save Gabriella, so he really shouldn’t hit him.

“He won’t hurt her, you know,” Emmett said
quietly.

“It’s not the hurting her I’m worried
about.”

“I think in his own sick way, he actually
loves her.”

“You aren’t helping, Emmett.”

“I can’t believe you’ve fallen in love with
my sister after only two weeks.”

Brandon turned and glared at Emmett. “Why is
that so surprising? You’ve known her your whole damn life. You know
what she’s like.”

Emmett nodded. “True. But I’ve heard a
little bit about you, too, since I’ve been in Michigan. You aren’t
exactly the fall-in-love type.”

“So?”

“So, if we rescue her” –

“
When
,” Brandon growled. “When.”

Emmett nodded again. “
When
we rescue
her, what are your intentions?”

“What are you, her dad?”

“Well, since our father isn’t here to ask, I
figure I’m the next best thing.”

“My intention is to let her make her own
damn decisions. If she’ll have me, I’d gladly spend the rest of my
life with her. But it’s her choice,” Brandon said so fiercely that
Emmett blinked in surprise, and then whistled.

“Wow, you really have it bad.”

“Emmett, I really have a need to hit
something right now. Would you care to be my punching bag?”

Emmett actually chuckled. “No. Save it for
the bad guys. You’ll probably need your strength.”

Suddenly, each door on the truck was
wrenched open and Brandon and Emmett were both pulled from the
truck. If they hadn’t been taken unawares, they may have had a
fighting chance, however, they were both caught completely by
surprise. With just a handful of well-placed punches, both men went
from surprised to dazed and confused in a matter of seconds.

Brandon was vaguely aware that he was being
dragged, first across grass then cement. Then a glass door wall was
opened and he was tossed into a hotel room. A moment later, Emmett
was tossed into the room, half on top of him, but Brandon hardly
noticed that.

“Gabriella!”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Brandon was so relieved to see Gabriella
that he actually stumbled and fell to his knees. Hector roughly
pulled him to his feet. When Brandon next looked up, the man he
assumed was Miguel stood between him and the bed, holding a gun in
his right hand and pointing it at Brandon’s chest. Brandon sucked
in a breath and his eyes flicked from Miguel to Gabriella, as he
tried to figure out what exactly Miguel knew – if anything – about
his relationship with Gabriella. Judging by the gun, he had to
wager Miguel knew or certainly suspected something.

“Emmett,” Miguel said, addressing
Gabriella’s brother. “How nice to see you again. Such a surprise
that we should run into each other in Michigan, of all places. What
brings you to this part of the country?”

“My sister,” Emmett all but spat at Miguel.
If Brandon hadn’t known it already, it would have been blatantly
clear that Emmett despised his sister’s ex-boyfriend. He supposed
he ought to be relieved that Emmett just teased and harassed him,
instead of outright loathed him, like he did Miguel.

“What a coincidence. That’s exactly what I
am doing here.”

Brandon glanced at Emmett, who glared at
Miguel.

“Did you know I had someone watching your
apartment in New Orleans? I thought for sure when she left me, she
would go straight to you. Imagine my surprise when she failed to do
that. It seems our Gabriella has gotten rather smart and a little
devious lately.” He paused and watched Gabriella for a moment. “Odd
how that seems to attract me even more.”

Brandon lunged towards Miguel, Gabriella
cried out and Hector elbowed him in the gut. Brandon doubled over
as the breath rushed from his lungs.

Miguel addressed Emmett again. “Who is
this?”

When Emmett didn’t answer, Miguel flicked
another glance at Gabriella, who steadily refused to look at
Brandon.

“Is this the boyfriend that cop
mentioned?”

When no one answered, Miguel stepped forward
and hit Brandon in the face with the hand holding the gun. Brandon
fell backwards, first onto a chair and then he tumbled onto the
floor. He spat a wad of blood onto the carpet. He thought he heard
a muffled cry of distress, but it could have been the ringing in
his ears.

“He’s my friend,” Emmett shouted.

Miguel cocked an eyebrow at him, and
adjusted the cuff on his shirt.

“He’s – I’m dating his sister.”

“You’re dating his sister? In Michigan?” The
disbelief was evident in Miguel’s voice.

For a minute, Brandon thought Emmett was
just sharing a bit of new information, which was of course
ludicrous given their current situation. It took a couple
additional heartbeats for Brandon to realize Emmett was simply
trying to protect him. Apparently the knock to the head had dulled
Brandon’s ability to think fast.

“Yeah, well, I’m here on an assignment, and
it was a sort of love-at-first-sight thing,” Emmett said in an
almost casual voice. His voice hardened. “Let him go. He doesn’t
have anything to do with this. He doesn’t know what’s going on. And
his sister will kill me if anything happens to him.”

Miguel stood there, appearing as if he were
actually contemplating Emmett’s request. He turned again and
studied Gabriella. She glared back at him, complete and utter
hatred radiating from every fiber of her being.

He turned back to the four men and said,
“No, I think he should stay with you, Emmett. He knows too much at
this point. Hector, Alonzo, take them into the other room and tie
them up. And then gather your things and call the pilot from that
plane we chartered, let him know we will be on our way to the
airport within the hour. I’ve changed my mind. I want to leave
tonight.”

He glanced at his watch. “We’ll request a
late check out and put on the
do not disturb
signs. By the
time anyone finds them, we’ll be in Texas. I’ll contact the priest
on the way, to make sure he will be ready this evening. Emmett, I’m
sorry you’ll miss your sister’s wedding, but I’m sure you
understand.”

Miguel smiled, and Brandon could have sworn
it was directed at him, as if he were taunting him. “Before
midnight tonight, Gabriella will be Mrs. Miguel Martinez.” He
turned and smiled at Gabriella. “Such a nice ring to it, don’t you
think,
mi queirda
?”

Gabriella glared at him, although just
before Hector shoved him towards the door to the adjoining hotel
room, Brandon caught her eye as it strayed his way. He saw fear,
regret and most of all, love, in that look. He hoped the love was
directed towards him, not Miguel. Otherwise, what the hell was he
doing here?

Hector gave him a shove and Brandon pulled
his eyes away from her and stumbled into the next room.

***

Miguel placed the gun on the desk and
stepped over to the foot of the bed. He contemplated Gabriella for
a few moments and then said, “You love him, don’t you?”

Gabriella turned and stared at the wall.
Miguel shook his head. “Part of me wishes you loved me like that,
even just a little. But mostly, I don’t really care what you want.
You will be mine, Gabriella. And once we are married, you will
never be free of me. You will do exactly as I say,
for the rest
of your life
.”

Gabriella continued to stare at the wall,
and cursed herself as she felt a tear escape and trail a path down
her cheek.

The silence that descended was abruptly
broken by the sounds of scuffling and shouts from the next room.
Miguel snatched the gun off the desk and hurried to the door
leading to the adjoining room. When he wrenched open the door,
Gabriella could hear the sounds of fighting more clearly, but she
could not see what was happening from her vantage point, lying on
the bed.

That issue was solved a moment later, when
Miguel strode to the bed, grabbed her by the hair and dragged her
to the door, as she helplessly struggled against him, her attempts
impeded by the fact that her wrists were bound together.

Brandon, Emmett, Alonzo and Hector were all
scuffling, and unless Gabriella was a very bad judge, she thought
that Emmett and Brandon might have the upper hand. Which only
lasted until Miguel released the safety on his gun and then pointed
it at Gabriella’s temple.