Chapter 22 Camryn
Chapter twenty-two
Camryn
“Camryn!”
I try to scream through the gag in my mouth when I hear Barrett’s frantic yell.
“Oh shit, Danny,” Jude calls, and I squeeze my eyes shut. I heard the gunshot, then three men wearing ski masks came barging into Syd’s room, where we were sitting on her bed looking through the photo album I gave her.
Barrett screams my name again and again while I struggle to be heard over the commotion toward the front of the house. When he throws the door to Syd’s room open, more tears and snot start running down my face and over the gag.
He rushes to me in a flash and pulls the gag from my mouth. “Thank God.”
“They took Syd, Barrett,” I cry. “I couldn’t stop them. I fought, but one of those assholes punched me in the side of the head.” He pulls a mean-looking knife from his belt and cuts away the thick tape they used to wrap my arms and legs to the chair. “When I came to, she was gone.”
My voice is hysterical, and my entire body is shaking with adrenaline and fear.
“I know,” he says, then pulls me into his arms. We collapse on the floor as he holds me, running his hand over my scalp.
I wince when his fingers brush my temple.
From the throbbing there, I can imagine the bruise that’s already formed.
“Your father set us up. The meeting was a way to get us away from Syd. He knows you weren’t at the diner with us. ”
“That’s why those fuckers were surprised when they saw me. One of them said to put a bullet in me, and the other told them they didn’t get paid to kill the boss’s daughter, so they tied me up instead, I guess.”
Barrett pulls away and looks me in the eye. “Did they…did they hurt you anywhere else?”
I quickly shake my head, and the pain in my temple from the sharp movement nearly takes my breath away. “No. I don’t think I was out that long. I’ve been screaming, hoping someone would hear me. I knew it was probably a lost cause, but I had to try.”
He closes his eyes for a brief moment and releases a sharp exhale. “We have a plan to get her back. Your father didn’t trust us to keep our word. Said he wanted extra assurances that we weren’t going to screw him over.”
“Do you know where he took her?”
Barrett nods once. “Your old house. He told me to be there in the morning for the trade.”
“I’m going with you.”
He immediately shakes his head. “No, baby. I need you safe. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to have some sort of security, either the Russians or someone else. It’s not going to be a simple extraction.”
“I don’t give a shit if it’s simple or not. I’m going to be there when you get Sydney back from that sadistic fuck. Period.”
Barrett looks at me for a long moment. I see him working something out in his head, see all the ways he’s going to try to talk me out of it. Then I see him accept there is no way in hell I won’t be there when we get my niece back.
“Okay. We’ll figure it out,” he finally concedes.
Barrett lifts me from the floor and carries me out of the room. When I look toward the kitchen, I see a pool of blood in front of our kitchen table.
“Where’s Danny?” I ask as he carries me out of the house to his truck.
Liam and Sawyer are on our front porch waiting for us. “On his way to the hospital,” Liam answers. “Cece, Cash, and Ozzy are headed back to the clubhouse. My brother will stay with Danny and let us know when there’s news.”
“Thank God he’s alive,” I say, my voice hoarse from screaming so much.
“It’s a bloody fucking miracle.” Liam shakes his head as though he hardly believes it. “He was unconscious and lost a hell of a lot of blood, but he was hanging on; hopefully they can stitch him up.”
“We need to get to the clubhouse and go over the plan I’m hoping you’ve been concocting since we left the diner,” Barrett says.
Liam nods. “I have Abel and Hendrix on their way with a plane. Sawyer found us a private landing strip not far from your father’s address. I have an associate who will have vehicles ready for us when we land.”
“Thank you,” I tell him.
Liam shakes his head. His eyes are hard and void of the humor that I saw when we first met.
“I saw what was on the flash drive and was filled in on what happened to your sister. I’ll never pass up an opportunity to rid the planet of someone who would destroy a young girl like that.
It’s more than my pleasure to help get your niece back. ”
“We need to go,” Barrett says. “I don’t want to be in the open like this.”
Liam jogs down the stairs after us. “Lead the way.”
When we get to the clubhouse, all the women are here.
Colby is the first to run up to me and Barrett. “Where’s Syd? I made her a picture.” He holds the paper up, pride shining in his little face.
Maizie hurries over and gently takes Colby by the hand. “Remember, I told you she was busy and wouldn’t be here.” She looks at me. “But she’ll be back real soon.” She’s answering Colby, but her words are for me.
I swallow back the tears and give him a forced smile. “She’ll love it, sweetie.”
Tanya comes over with an ice pack, a glass of water, and a bottle of pain relievers. “Come sit down.” She looks at Barrett, who has a protective arm around my middle. “She’ll be fine with me, honey. Go talk to the brothers.”
Barrett nods at the family matriarch and kisses me on the side of my head. “I’ll be back.”
Tanya leads me to the couch, and the other women slowly begin to wander over once I’m settled.
“I have some experience with getting knocked around in my old life,” Tanya says, handing me the water.
She shakes out a couple pills from the bottle and hands those over, too.
When I’ve swallowed the pills, she hands me the ice pack, and I press it to the side of my face.
It stings at first, but quickly begins to help soothe the burning bruise.
Lucy sits on the other side of me and clasps her hand in mine. “We’ll get her back, Cam. The brothers won’t stop until she’s safe.”
“I know,” I reply in a broken whisper. “I’m so scared. Holy shit, I’m so scared.” The tears start again, and Tanya is quick to wipe them away with a tissue.
“Listen to me,” Lucy says. “You cannot let the fear overwhelm you. They will get Syd, and she’s going to be fine.
Right now, we’re going to keep a cool head, and we’re going to listen to the plan.
If you have any suggestions, ideas, or anything to ask, you will bring it up.
There is no angle that they won’t look at, and they need to.
So we’re going to go over there”—she nods to where the men are gathered at a couple of the tables—“and we’re going to listen to every detail of how we’re getting Syd back, okay? ”
“Okay,” I breathe out and Lucy stands, keeping hold of my hand as she leads me to the brothers.
“Do you think it was the Russians who broke in?” Ozzy asks me when I’m standing next to Barrett.
“I’m not sure. It didn’t sound like the guys from the bar the other night, but they were wearing masks, so I can’t be positive.”
“There were three, you said?” Liam asks me.
“Yeah. I heard a gunshot, and they busted through Syd’s door. One grabbed her. She fought and kicked so hard.” I look up at Barrett. “She was so brave.”
“Of course she was. You taught her how to be,” he says.
“They were screaming at each other, trying to figure out what to do with me. I wasn’t supposed to be there. One guy wanted to put a bullet in me, the other said they weren’t paid to kill the boss’s daughter. They sounded, I don’t know…almost annoyed.”
“My guess is, for being a rich asshole, your father is a cheap-as-hell employer,” Barrett tells me.
“That’s when the guy punched me. I woke up tied up, and Syd was gone.”
“Okay, so he may be working with hired thugs. We don’t know for sure, though,” Liam says. “Sawyer hacked the bank accounts we know about, but didn’t find any suspicious transfers to an unknown account.”
“He probably paid cash if he hired someone,” Ozzy says.
“Very true,” Liam agrees. “Abel and Hendrix will be here with a plane in the next thirty minutes. I want to get to Connecticut and back here as fast as possible. They may be driving, which means they are most likely more than halfway there.”
The thought of what Syd is feeling right now makes me want to collapse to the floor. But like Lucy said, I have to be strong. I have to stay levelheaded.
“We’re going to have vehicles when we land.
We’ll get to the house, and Sawyer will hack into the cameras.
I want to have some sort of idea of who or what we’re dealing with before we storm the castle with guns blazing.
Petrov provided photographs of Sokolov’s men who defected with him.
If we see any of them or Sokolov at the compound, at least we know who we’re dealing with.
These guys aren’t afraid to kill, so we won’t be either. Clear?”
Liam meets the eyes of every brother standing around, and they all nod in agreement. When his gaze lands on me, I do the same.
People say they would kill for the ones they love, but could they actually go through with it?
Today, I’ll most likely watch that happen.
It should scare me, knowing that people are going to die today because they threatened our family.
I shouldn’t be okay with this level of violence; I certainly never was before.
But that’s just it.
That was before.
Before I found out what evil people my father and his associates are.
Before they took my niece. Before I fell in love with the man standing next to me—a man who I have every faith would burn the world to the ground to keep me and his daughter safe.
I’m not the same person I was before, and I’m at peace with that fact.
“Let’s pack up,” Ozzy says, heading to the hallway.
The brothers follow, and Barrett looks down at me before joining them.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m barely holding on here,” I answer honestly.