Hell Bent (Rock Bottom #1) (25 page)

“Are you sure you want to do this, Izzy? We can have the police give a statement instead.”

I shake my head. “No, it needs to come from me.” I step away from Bennett but can’t let go of his hand. Turning back to him, I step up against his chest and meet his eyes for the first time in hours. I’ve avoided looking anyone in the eyes because I was afraid they would be able to see how broken I am. “Would you still love me if I had nothing?”

“What?” he asks, obviously confused with where my questioning is going.

“If I had nothing, no money, no company, no title. If I was just me—the broken girl that loves you—would that be enough?”

Grabbing both sides of my face, he kisses me. There’s nothing sexual in the kiss, but it is full of emotion, full of love, and for a second I let myself get lost in it. When he finally pulls back, his eyes are brimming with tears.

“You have
always
been enough. I think I have loved you since the first night I met you in that bar. I didn’t have a damn clue who you were, and I didn’t care. I’ve never been in this for your things, Izzy. I’ve been in it for your heart and as long as you have that, you have me.”

His words are enough to bring me to my knees, but his grip keeps me on my feet. The only thing that worries me is I’m afraid I won’t have my heart left soon if this goes on much longer. Drying my eyes, I grab his hand and follow behind Tuesday to the front entrance of the hospital. News of Dalton missing spread quickly, and the press has been on the edge of their seats waiting for someone to give them more information. After all, it’s not every day that a baby gets snatched from the hospital the day he is born. It’s even rarer to be the baby of someone like Bennett and myself.

My entire family, plus Bennett’s mother and sister, stand off to one side. Beside them, Greg stands with his head hanging, but as soon as he realizes we’re coming out, he looks up. I can tell how upset he is when he meets my eyes, and it’s in this moment that I can tell how hard of a decision it was to let Bennett take his place despite how easy he made it look.

I’ve done this press conference shit plenty of times, but this time it’s different. The microphones, flashes, and yelling reporters are daunting this time. Stepping up beside me, Bennett grips my hip to let me know he has me.

“Just breathe, baby.”

Forcing myself to do what he says, I try to ignore the fact that it feels like a vice is crushing my lungs. Stepping up to the podium, I grip the edges to keep my balance and pick a spot behind them to focus on.

“During a shift change just before eight PM last night, our son, Dalton Alexander Price, was taken from his bassinet—from
us.
A nurse named Cara Reynolds removed his security bracelets, placed him inside her duffle bag along with a few bottles of formula, and made her way out like it was just another day at work. No one suspected anything was wrong because she carried the bag in and out with her every day since she started working here two years ago. I have no clue why she would want to take him from us. The police have located her car and have been to her house, but have yet to find her or Dalton.” I stop, clearing my throat so I know they can hear me. “They say your priorities are supposed to change when you become a parent, but obviously hers did not. She is selfish and unkind. Greedy and uncaring of who she hurts to get what she wants. Cara Reynolds is my biological mother, she is someone I had never met until a few months ago, and I have only met that one time. I did not know she was a nurse at this hospital when I went into labor and the only motive I can think of for her to take him from us is money.” Pausing, I close my eyes for a second to get some relief from the stinging feeling the tears are causing. When I open them, I meet the eyes of one of the reporters, and I plead with Cara through her camera. “I want my son back. Unlike you, Cara, my child is the only thing in this world that matters anymore. The day we met, you told me you left me behind because you wanted better—because you
deserved
better. Even though I don’t agree, my son is more important than my feelings toward you, so here’s what I’m willing to do. We can make a deal. Leave him somewhere safe. A hospital, a fire station, hell, I don’t care if you leave him on the counter at a grocery store as long as he is unharmed and ends up back in my arms. If you do that, I am willing to give you everything. Every penny that I have to my name is yours. I’ll sell my shares of IronSound, my cars, anything that has any monetary value, consider it sold. The cash is yours. Money means nothing, I just want my son.”

I know my plea is going to cause an uproar with my family because I didn’t discuss it with anyone, but I don’t care. I know that’s why Cara took him. I saw dollar signs in her eyes the day I met her and she found out what my father had accomplished in his short life.

Ignoring the questions being shouted my way, I step away from the cameras, finally giving the police a chance to make their statement. I slowly bypass everyone including Bennett and head back to my room. I know that I’ll be discharged today with or without Dalton in my arms, and knowing there is a chance that I won’t have him is killing me. Saying what I did could help, or it could hurt, but I couldn’t sit back and do nothing.

Something changed after the press conference. Something new broke inside of her. The woman that was clinging to me before is now pushing me away. She’s cold and distant, but as much as it is killing me, I can’t blame her. I know she’s preparing herself for the worst as she faces the window and stares blankly out it. I want to slide over and pull her into my arms. I want to tell her that everything is going to be all right, but I don’t dare to promise her something I can’t guarantee. My promise to protect them and not let anything bad happen is already starting to eat away at me, but it’s making me wonder if she isn’t thinking the same thing and that is why she won’t come near me. I wouldn’t blame her if she blamed me; I know I do.

The ring in the front pocket of my jeans is burning a hole. I had planned on asking her this morning while we were curled up in bed with Dalton, but we never made it that far. I’ve been planning on asking her to marry me for months but could never find the perfect moment. It doesn’t matter to me that we haven’t even known each other for a year, she’s it for me. I’m done, there would never be a way to replace Izzy in my life.

We’ve been sitting in front of the open garage for the past two hours, neither one of us moving to go inside. I’m not sure either one of us will be
able
to go in. The house is decorated, ready to celebrate bringing Dalton home; walking through that and past his empty room is something that I’m pretty sure will kill us both.

Finally working up the courage to speak, I only manage to get her name out before she stops me. Without looking at me, she wipes her eyes.

“You told me that everything was going to be OK. You said you would never let anything else happen to us.” She finally turns, meeting my eyes, and the desperation filling hers breaks me. “You promised me everything was going to be OK.”

Izzy slips from the truck before I have a chance to say anything. The door slams behind her, shattering what little of my heart was left after what she just said to me. As she stands outside the truck staring into the garage, I’m left paralyzed with not a single fucking clue on how to put the pieces of our life back together now. She needs time to figure out what’s going through her head, leaving me alone to process what she just said to me.

She’s right. I did promise her all those things. How fucking stupid was that? I want to protect her, I want to make everything OK for her, I want to bring Dalton back. Fuck, more than anything I wish I could go back and not let the nurse take him out of the room. I should have stayed awake and watched him while I let Izzy sleep. I want to fix everything because her hate toward my ability to keep my promises is outweighing the love she has for me. Not that I blame her; the self-hatred I feel for myself is pretty fucking high. 

Starting toward the door that leads into the house, she suddenly comes to a stop. She shakes her head as if she is trying to talk herself out of something and takes another step. Changing her mind, she veers toward the work bench, grabbing anything she can get her hands on and throws it across the garage so hard that any pitcher would envy her arm. I don’t even have a chance to see what she is throwing because it is going past the front of the truck so fast.

Taking a chance, I climb out and step toward her. The crying she did last night is nothing compared to this. The screaming coming from her is filled with rage and agony, everything that has been building up inside of her since we found out Dalton was gone. She held it in, refusing to let people see this side of how she is feeling even though it is understandable to be pissed off at the world.

Izzy releases whatever is in her hand with a scream, her words unrecognizable through the screaming and sobbing she is doing at the same time. Stepping closer to her, I dodge a tape measurer just in time as it flies past my head, and I get my arms around her before she has a chance to grab anything else. Pulling her tightly against me, I tell her again and again how sorry I am and continue to try to calm her down. She slips her arms between us, beating them against my chest and yelling at me until she begins to choke because she isn’t breathing. Tightening my grip, she finally collapses against me, and I lower us both to the floor, leaning back against the truck tire.

I remain silent, because anything I say now only makes her start screaming again. When she gains control of her breathing again, she pushes out of my arms with a look of disgust and hate on her face and disappears around the outside of the garage. I know better than to chase after her because in the state of mind that we’re both in, it would only make things worse, and that is the last thing we need tonight.

A quick tap against my thigh scares the shit out of me, waking from the reoccurring nightmare that has become my life the past few days. The sky is pitch-black, and I have no idea how long I was asleep for. Before my eyes have a chance to adjust to see who woke me up, the passenger side door of the truck swings open and Izzy climbs inside, so I scramble to my feet and get in behind the steering wheel. The look of relief mixed with the fact that she is full-blown crying confuses the hell out of me.

“We have to go to the hospital.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” My eyes drop to the clock on the dash as I start the truck; it is well after midnight. As always, my mind goes in the worst possible direction it can, but I try to shake it off and think positive.

She shakes her head, telling me to just go. Leaning back in the seat, she huddles against the door, refusing to look at me or answer any question I ask in the short drive. I barely have time to pull to a complete stop, let alone put the truck in park, before she is sliding as fast as her sore body can out of the cab. 

Rushing after her, I catch up right as she pushes through the doors. She does a quick scan of the waiting room before running off to the right. I follow, and if I was paying attention to what she was running toward, I would pull her back into me, but I don’t. Nothing clicks until she screams and my eyes finally snap up and look around.

“Where is my son, you fucking
bitch,
” Izzy screeches, rushing straight for a handcuffed woman who I am assuming is Cara. 

Thankfully, two of the police officers standing near her have quicker reflexes than I do and pull Izzy off before she has a chance to throw more than one punch. At least it was a good hit; it sent her falling to her ass with no way to stop herself since she is handcuffed.

Turning her, one of the officers points to the other end of the hall, and she sobs, rushing in that direction. She makes her way down the hall as fast as she can, scooping Dalton out of the arms of a nurse, and clutches him tightly against her chest.

I stay rooted where I am, not because I don’t want to go to them, but I physically can’t get my legs to move. Her words from earlier are still fresh in my mind, and after what she said, I’m not sure she still wants me to be part of their family. For a few minutes, I do nothing but stand and watch her cry, but instead of everyone watching the heart wrenching reunion, I feel their eyes on me. I’m the fool that can’t manage to hold his family together, the one that breaks his promises, and the one that doesn’t know how to console the love of his life.