Crazy Beautiful Love (25 page)

“We had to do
this. It was the only way to ensure that my dad didn’t get Logan sent to jail,
and that you guys would get the money. Kidnapping me was the only solution. At
least, it was the best solution my mom and I could think of.”

“I don’t even want
the money from the Bugatti.” Jared shook his head. “It feels dirty. I know
Logan won’t want it, either.”

“Don’t think of it
as money from the Bugatti. Think of it as money for everything my father has
done to your family. He owes you.” I froze as the phone rang. I watched it as
Jared answered it on speakerphone.

“Hello.” His voice
sounded a lot more confident than he looked.

“Where is my
daughter?” I heard my father’s booming voice and swallowed hard. I still wasn’t
sure how my father could be this person. He was the man who had loved me and
protected me my whole life. But he was the worst person I had ever met.

“She’s here.”

“Let me talk to
her.” Jared looked at me questioningly and I bit my lip, unsure of what to do.
“Let me talk to her or the deal is off.”

“Hold on.” He
passed me the phone, and I held it for a second before talking.

“Daddy,” I
whimpered.

“Maddie, oh my
God, Maddie, is that you?”

“Yes, Daddy,” I
cried. “Please come and get me.”

“Where are you?”

“I don’t know!” I
cried out again. “Do whatever they ask, Daddy. He has a gun.”

“He has a gun.” My
father’s voice was loud and I heard someone in the background saying something.

“Wait, what are
you doing?” My dad’s voice sounded angry.

“Maddie, Maddie,
are you there?” Logan’s voice sounded hoarse and worried.

“Logan,” I said
his name softly. “What are you doing?”

“I know Jared
kidnapped you, Maddie. I’m so sorry. I know he hates you, but I never thought
he would do this.”

“Logan, please—” I
bit my lip and looked at Jared’s anguished expression. This was not going
according to plan at all. “Please just give my father the phone.”

“Tell Jared I told
him to release you now. Tell him I said if he loves me, he will let you go
now.”

“He can’t do that,
Logan,” I cried, hoping he would realize that there was something else going
on.

“I love you,
Maddie. Please, please tell him that. I won’t let anything happen to you. I
promise.”

“Logan, I—”

“Give me back the
phone, you piece of scum.” I heard my father’s voice in the background.
“Maddie, it’s me again. Where are you?”

“I don’t know, Daddy,”
my voice was louder this time. “Please just do as he asks.”

“I’m going to get
the cops,” he breathed into the phone. “Try and find out where you are.”

“No cops, Dad.
He’ll kill me!” I screamed out. “No cops. Just get the money.”

“I can’t just let
them—”

“
Noooooo
!” I screamed and hung up the phone. I turned to
Jared with a panicked look. “He said he’s going to call the cops.”

“You said he
wouldn’t do that. You said he would just pay so he could get you back.” Jared’s
eyes looked wild.

“That’s what I
thought.”

“What are we going
to do?” He looked at me in fright and I grabbed the phone again.

“I have to call my
mom.” I grimaced. “I have to call her and trust her to help me.”

“Fuck.” Jared sat
back down on the ground with his head in his hands. “It’s over.”

I didn’t answer
him, because I felt the same way as well. What had I done? What had seemed like
a way out now seemed like it had only made the situation worse. The penalty for
kidnapping was going to be a whole lot worse than it would be for stealing a
car.

***

“My mom said not
to call him or answer his calls again.” I looked at Jared. “She’s going to
bring them to us.”

“What does that
mean?”

“She’s going to
tell them the address here. She’ll say this is where the
dropoff
is supposed to happen. She’s going to call the police from a neighboring town
and have them waiting outside while everything goes down. She knows the chief of
police in
Sawyerville
and so she has told him what’s
going on. She trusts him and knows he won’t interfere with anything. I sure
hope it all goes well. All we need is for my dad to bring the money and give it
to you and let you and Logan go.” I shivered again. “I’m cold.”

“Come here.” Jared
called me over, and I picked up the gun and went and sat next to him. I put the
gun down and then huddled next to him. He put his arms around me and I wrapped
my arms around him so we could stay warm. I closed my eyes, and we must have
fallen asleep because the next thing I knew we were lying flat on the ground and
I could hear his heartbeat against my ears. I cuddled into him to stay warm,
and then I heard the footsteps. Everything seemed to happen so quickly, and I
was even able to jump up before Logan and my father burst into the room with
Vincent and Marty behind them.

“Logan!” I cried
out as I saw his distraught face. Jared and I sprang apart and Logan looked
back and forth at us furiously.

“What the fuck is
going on?” My dad charged towards us and Jared grabbed me.

“Stay back!” he
shouted and grabbed the gun on the ground. “Stay back or I’ll fucking shoot.”

“What are you
doing, Jared?” Logan screamed furiously and I tried to make eye contact with
him so that he could see that everything was okay.

“You fucking
Martellis
, I should have—” My dad ran forward and pushed
Jared back into the wall, he stumbled back and dropped the gun, and my dad and
Logan both jumped to the ground to get it. Everything seemed to happen in a
blur but before I knew it, a shot had been fired and I was screaming. I looked
to the ground to see who had been shot, and my screaming intensified as I saw
Logan just lying there. My father stood up with a shocked look on his face, and
I gave him the most venomous look. I ran to Logan and fell to the ground,
kissing his cheek. “Please, Logan. Please be okay!” I screamed at him, but he
didn’t answer me. And then I saw the blood seeping out of his body onto the
ground and the next thing I knew, I had fainted. It all seemed like a
bittersweet poetic justice. After all that I had done, I still hadn’t been able
to save my darling Logan.

***

I woke up in a
hospital room. There were white lights all around me, and I could see my mom
whispering to a nurse in the corner. I tried to stretch but my limbs screamed
out in pain, and I tried not to moan.

“Where’s Logan?” I
cried out, and my mom looked over at me with a pained expression before walking
over to me slowly.

“How are you
feeling, Maddie?” Her eyes flashed in sympathy and my stomach dropped.

“Where is Logan?”
I screamed out in fear.

“He’s in the ER.”
She grabbed my hand. “I don’t know what—”

“I need to go and
see him, he needs me,” I started crying. “How could Dad have shot him? You told
me that everything would be okay.”

“I’m so sorry,
Maddie.”

“It’s all my
fault, if I would have just left him alone,” I mumbled. “This is all my fault.
If he dies, oh my God, what am I going to do if he dies?”

“Maddie, none of
this is your fault.” She sighed. “Your father is a bad man. I’m so sorry,
Maddie. I never should have let things go this far. I knew when you told me
that you were falling for Logan that something bad would happen. I had hoped
that we could talk to your dad, that hopefully his love of you would change
him. Make him a better person. He’s a very evil man, Maddie.”

“But you love
him.” I looked at her in confusion.

“I was blinded by
love, and it cost me everything. That is why Logan’s mom left him. She saw him
for who he was, and she tried to warn me. But I was so jealous I didn’t want to
hear it, so I pretended that she was the enemy.” She shook her head. “Look at
what I did. I ruined so many lives. I’m not sure how I can ever make any of
this right.”

“Oh, Mom.” I cried
into her shoulder as she hugged me. “I don’t understand but I’m sorry. I still
love you. Where is Dad?” I looked into her eyes, worried. I was scared that he
was at this moment trying to think of a way to ensure he ruined the
Martellis
’ lives even more than he already had.

“He’s at the
police station,” she paused. “In a cell.”

“What?” My eyes
popped open. “How come?”

“We’ll discuss it later.
For now we should go and see how Logan is. He should be coming out of surgery
right about now.”

“Surgery?” I
frowned. “How long have I been here?”

“Four hours.” She
smiled at me gently. “You hit your head quite hard.”

“Where are Jared
and Vincent? Are they okay or—” I couldn’t say the words out loud. Were they in
jail as well?

“We’re here.”
Jared smiled at me weakly from the door, and they both walked into the room,
looking dazed and traumatized.

“Hey.” I sat up
and stared at them both with love filling my heart. “How’s Logan?” I chewed my
lower lip.

“They haven’t said
yet.” Vincent kissed my cheek. “He’ll be okay.”

“He has to be
okay.” Jared took the words right out of my mouth.

“I’m so sorry.” I
started crying again and they both looked at me in dismay.

“It’s not your
fault.” Jared stared at me with passionate eyes. “We know that. It’s not your
fault. It’s your evil dad’s.” He looked over at my mom, and his face turned
red. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.”
My mom’s voice was loud and clear. “It was his fault, and I’m sorry for
everything. None of this should ever have happened. It has to stop here.” She
pulled out her phone and walked towards the door. “I need to make some calls,
please excuse me.” She left the room, and I stared at Logan’s brothers in silence.
What could I say to them to make it better? It seemed to me that I, or
everything that I represented, had ruined their lives.

“Maddie,” Vincent
began. “Jared and I want you to know that no matter what happens, you will
always be our sister.”

“Oh.” I felt
overwhelmed with emotions and looked down at my hands. How could they be so
sweet and loving to me? After everything.

“You’re a part of
the family now, Maddie.” Jared gave me a warm smile and took my hand. “It’s
what Logan would want.”

“I want to go and
see him.” I attempted to get out of bed but fell back slightly because I felt
woozy. Both Vincent and Jared rushed to my side, and I smiled at them
thankfully, my heart filled with warmth and love once again. I just didn’t
understand how anyone in River Valley could have judged these boys so unfairly.
To know each and every one of them was to love them. They were the most loving
and courteous men I had ever met.

“Lean on me.”
Vincent smiled at me as he offered his arm. “We can go and see if Logan is out
of surgery.”

“Take my other
arm.” Jared smiled down at me from the other side, and they both helped me as
we walked to the ER.

“I’ll die if
anything happens to him,” I whispered. “He has to be okay.”

“He’ll be okay.”
Vincent’s voice was confident. “He’s Logan
Martelli
,
he will always be okay.”

I looked over at
him, and I saw the strain in his smile, even though his words were positive. He
was as worried as I was, and he was trying to convince both of us that our
worlds weren’t about to end. We stopped in the ER waiting room, and we all sat
there in silence, waiting for someone to come and give us the word.

“Are you a
relation of Logan
Martelli
?” A middle-aged man walked
into the ER with a clipboard and we all jumped up.

“Yes, I’m his
brother,” Vincent spoke up, and we waited for the doctor to speak. I felt
myself going weak and I held onto Jared’s arm tightly. He looked at me with
concern, and held onto me with a tighter grip.

“Logan just got
out of surgery. I’m afraid that—”

“Oh my God, no!” I
screamed, and I felt like my heart was being pulled out of my body. “No,
please, God, no.”

“Ma’am, calm
down.” The doctor gave me a harried look. “I was just about to say I’m afraid
he is still under due to the drugs we gave him. However, his prognosis is good,
the bullet only grazed him, so he is very lucky.”

“But he was
unconscious, the— the blood,” I mumbled incoherently.

“It is likely he
fainted from the shock,” the doctor continued. “He did lose a lot of blood, but
we were able to contain it.”

“So he’s going to
be okay?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes, he should
make a full recovery.” The doctor nodded and then turned away. “He should be up
and able to talk in a few hours.”

“Thank you,
doctor.” Vincent grinned as the doctor walked out of the room, and I felt him envelop
me and Jared. “He’s going to be okay. I’m going to kill him for scaring us like
that.”

“Not if
I
 
kill
him first,” I
laughed shakily. All of a sudden, my world seemed like it was going to be okay
again. I felt some of the tension leave my shoulders and I felt lightheaded.

“Trust me, guys, I
will get him first.” Jared joined in our laughter and I squeezed his hand.

“I’m going to go
to his room. I want to be there when he wakes up.” I walked to the door. “Do
you guys want to come?” I watched them exchange a look, and Jared shook his
head.

“You go. We’ll be
here. Come and get us when he’s up.”

“Thank you.” I
smiled at them both lovingly and went to go and find Logan’s room. I walked
into the room slowly and walked to Logan’s bed with my heart in my mouth. I
stared down at his handsome face, and I leaned down to kiss his cheek and run
my hands through his hair. I couldn’t stop myself from touching him, and I was
tracing his lips with my fingers when he opened his eyes slowly.