Road to Redemption (22 page)

“You think you’ll get away with it, huh?”

“Not a hair or a fiber, handsome. I will make sure of it.”

He dropped his head back and laughed. “Fuck me, I love you.”

I wrinkled my nose to keep from smiling. “Flattery will get you—”

My breath left my body in a “whoosh” as he threw me onto my back and kissed me before sliding his hands to my sides and tickling the shit out of me.

“I’m going to pee!” I squealed.

He grinned and tickled me again. This went on for several seconds before he let me up for air.

“We are never breaking up,” I said, emphatically.

“We’re never breaking up.”

“Say it again,” I demanded.

He grinned. “We’re never breaking up.”

“I need you to mean it, Alex, because if you don’t feel the same way I do, this won’t work.”

“I’m gettin’ used to being loved, babe. You gotta give me a minute.”

I cupped his face. “You have fifty-eight more seconds.”

“Okay, done.”

I giggled. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“Do you want to watch a movie, or do you want to play some more?”

“Um, I want to watch a movie and then I want to play some more, duh.”

Alex laughed and kissed me again. “Your wish is my command.”

* * *

“We found a house!” I shouted as Alex and I walked into my parents’ house the next day.

“Back here, honey,” Mom called.

I headed to the kitchen and Lily reached her arms up for a hug. “Did you find my room?”

“When the house is built, you get to pick your very own room and Daddy will paint it whatever color you want.”

“First, we need to get qualified,” Alex pointed out. “And then we can go from there.”

I laid the brochure out on the island. “Four bedrooms plus a den, three and a half bathrooms, almost three-thousand square feet, it’ll be perfect for us.”

“It looks beautiful, honey,” Mom said.

The rest of the day was spent planning and dreaming. Since the weather was mild, Lily got to run off some energy in the backyard, and then the rest of the kids arrived with their parents for our bi-monthly Sunday dinner. As we sat at the dining room table, I smiled at Alex and leaned over to kiss him. “Life’s pretty freakin’ perfect, huh?”

He chuckled. “So it would seem.”

“I love you.”

Alex linked his fingers with mine. “Love you too, baby.”

I focused back on the conversation at hand and let myself bask in my glorious life of love and happiness… I had no idea how quickly things could change.

T
HE WEDNESDAY OF my second week back at work, I packed up my desk and headed out of school, my mind on Alex. We’d gotten the paperwork signed for our loan application and been approved, found a preschool for Lily, at least temporarily, and everything appeared to be going our way. I couldn’t wait to start our new journey together. And on top of the house stuff, the wedding plans would start this weekend. Life was still perfect.

Alex and I were heading to the builder’s office tonight to pick options and appliances, then it was off to the carpet place tomorrow to pick tile, carpet and such. As I walked out the front doors, I was met by a new agent, Kyle Cobb, and he smiled in greeting.

“Hey, Kyle.”

“Payton. How was your day?”

“Not bad. Yours?”

“Good,” he said. “We have a few leads, so that’s a positive.”

“Awesome,” I said. “Does that mean you guys are close to shutting this thing down?”

Kyle didn’t get a chance to answer because he was suddenly on the ground, blood pooling from somewhere. I screamed and knelt beside him, only to find my body lifted and jerked away, then black.

* * *

“Daddy?”

“Hey, baby girl. Is everything okay?” Hawk asked, pouring a cup of coffee in the compound kitchen.

“Hawk, I have your girls,” the deep Russian voice came over the phone.

Hawk’s body locked. “Who the fuck is this?”

“I will send demands in two hours. You contact the police or FBI, I will kill both of them.”

The phone went dead.

“Fuck!” he bellowed. “Binky!”

Binky came running. “What’s up, boss?”

“I want Booker and Mack here now. Some fuckhead has Payton and Lily. Get me a burner.”

“On it,” Binky said, and left the common room.

Hawk headed toward Crow’s office, pushing open the door and finding his president slamming the phone against the wall.

“Crow?”

“The Russians have Ash.”

“Shit,” Hawk said. “They’ve got Payton and Lily.”

“I’ve called an emergency lock down. Families are staying here for a few nights.”

A knock at the door brought Binky with a burner. “Mack’s here, Booker’s five minutes out.”

Hawk nodded and dialed Brock.

“We know, Hawk,” Brock said. “Team’s movin’.”

“We’re movin’ too, Brock.”

“Don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Don’t give a fuck.”

“Try to keep it legal, Hawk,” Brock warned.

“I’m doin’ whatever it takes to get my girls.”

Brock sighed. “I hear ya.”

Hawk hung up and headed to the common room.

* * *

I came to with a splitting headache and a dry mouth. I registered the sound of sniffling and opened my eyes, turning my head to find who was crying.

“Lily?” I rasped.

She sat up from her place on the dirty mattress. “Mama! I fought you wew dead.”

“Come here, baby,” I said, and held my arms out. They were secured with a zip tie, as were my ankles, but at least my hands were tied in front of me so I could hold her. I was grateful for small favors.

Lily, unbound, crawled into my lap and hugged me gently. “Awa you okay, Payton?”

“I’m fine, honey.”

“Daddy’s comin’.”

“I know, baby girl.”

I scanned the almost barren room. On the floor were two single mattresses and in the corner a bucket… I looked up… only one window too high to reach, then to my right, concrete stairs, which indicated we must be in a basement of sorts.

“Lily, can you touch my back and tell me if you feel anything?”

She patted me down and shook her head.

“Okay, baby. Thanks.”

They found the gun. Not surprising, but I would have really liked a miracle right about now. I heard scuffling and pulled Lily closer as light appeared above us and a body was hurled down the stairs. If I didn’t have Lily, I’m pretty sure I would have allowed my panic to overtake me. Lily whimpered and I gave her a gentle squeeze. “I’ve got you, honey, but let me check on this person, okay? Can you just sit on the mattress for a minute?”

She nodded and climbed off my lap and I shuffled to the woman, gently pulling the pillowcase off her head. She looked a little familiar to me, but I couldn’t place her right away. She had a nasty bump on her head, but I was surprised she didn’t have worse damage from the trip down the stairs.

“Fucking bastard,” she hissed as she opened her eyes and let out a groan. “What the fuck?”

Her hands were tied behind her back, but her legs were free.

“Asswee,” Lily said, and rushed to the woman’s side.

“Hey, Lily,” she said, and rolled in an attempt to sit up.

“Try not to move,” I said. “I can’t tell how bad you’re hurt.”

She frowned. “You’re Hawk’s woman. Payton, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Ashley. Crow’s daughter.”

“Oh, right. I thought I recognized you.” I frowned and helped her sit up. “How did you get messed up in this?”

“I suck at choosing men.”

I bit my lip. “Oh.”

“Hawk’s gonna fuckin’ rain down death.”

“If he can find us,” I whispered, low enough so Lily couldn’t hear me.

“He’ll find us.”

I swallowed my fear and nodded.

“He will,” Ashley said. “Trust me. Dad’ll get him and Booker on it. No one can hide from them.”

“My brother will help too.”

“Oh, right. Isn’t he FBI?”

I nodded. I was quickly figuring out the club knew a lot more about me than I knew about them.

Ashley shook her head. “Never thought I’d see a day where club and law business mixed. It’s gonna be interesting.”

“Why are you so calm?” I asked.

“Because we’re still alive, my dad’s a badass, and so is your old man. Until they hurt us, we have a chance to plan.”

“Until?” I challenged.

“Well, let’s be honest here, Payton, they’re not good guys, so anything can happen.”

“Great,” I whispered.

“Will the bad guys huwt us, Mama?” Lily whispered.

I sent a look of warning toward Ashley, who didn’t react. “We’ve got you, honey, and Daddy will come.”

She nodded and crawled into my lap again.

Ashley made it to her feet and walked the space. “If we could find something sharp… something to cut our ties with, maybe we could fight our way out.”

“Or maybe we could not risk our lives and wait.”

She rolled her eyes as she continued to walk the space.

“Mama, I have to go potty,” Lily whispered.

“Okay, honey.” I swallowed down the bile at the sight of the bucket. “You’ll need to use the bucket, honey.”

I walked her through what she needed to do and, thank the Lord, she did it with no mess. Once we got out of here, I was going to buy the girl a freakin’ pony.

Of course, now I had to pee. But I was determined to hold it for as long as I could.

The limited light we had coming through the window was disappearing faster than I would have liked.

“I found something,” Ashley whispered.

“What?”

“There’s a nail sticking out here… if you can use it to get loose, maybe you can get me loose.”

“I think you’ve been watching too many movies,” I grumbled.

“Just try.”

I shuffled to where she stood and found the nail she was referring to, but I knew from experience that zip ties were hard to break. Granted, I’d never been tied up, but had used them to keep cords organized in our entertainment unit and things like that. Neither Macey nor I could ever undo them without scissors or a really sharp knife.

Before I could do anything, however, we heard muffled popping and I knew it was gunfire. “Lily, come here,” I demanded, and the three of us moved to the space behind the stairs. Ashley and I used our bodies to shield Lily, keeping her back to the wall.

The whole thing was over in minutes. I saw lights flickering from the stairs, then someone must have flipped a switch because light flooded into the room.

“Payton!” Hawk bellowed, his voice panicked.

“Here. We’re here.”

“Down here,” Hawk called.

I shuffled us out of our hiding place and Lily and I were suddenly pinned in Hawk’s arms.

“You came, Daddy.”

“Yeah, baby girl. I’m here,” he rasped.

Ashley was untied and pulled into a bear hug by her dad, before being ushered up the stairs.

“I can’t move,” I said, and Hawk released me. I gasped. “You’re bleeding! Why are you bleeding? Cut me loose! I need to look.”

“It’s nothin’, baby,” he said, and lifted my face. “What the fuck did they do to you?”

“I think they just hit me. I was unconscious, but I’m okay.”

Brock rushed down the stairs and pulled me into a hug. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”
How many times did I have to say it?
“Can someone cut me loose please?”

Hawk pulled out a knife and did as I asked. I immediately pulled his cut away from his chest and lifted his shirt. “Honey, this doesn’t look good.”

“EMTs are here,” Brock said. “Let’s go.”

The three of us were whisked into an ambulance and rushed to the emergency room. Alex’s wound was much worse than he let on, and he required surgery and a two day stay at the hospital. Lily and I were fine, well, other than my minor concussion which meant I wasn’t allowed to sleep for twenty-four hours. Kyle had been shot in the neck, but no arteries were hit, so after surgery, he made a full recovery.