Chapter 41
Colt
My truck pulled up outside our house, and I didn’t even bother turning the engine off.
I trusted Beau. And the fact that he wasn’t answering his phone scared the shit out of me.
Vi had used our panic alarm code in the security system.
Our wedding date. She needed help. A car I didn’t recognize was parked in the driveway.
Taking the steps two at a time, I burst in through the front door. I half expected Violet’s shocked face to greet me, but there was only silence.
“Vi?” I headed towards the kitchen where I expected to find them. I needed to hear her voice. I needed someone to goddamn answer me. “Beau? What the hell is going on?”
Just as I stepped around the cabinets, my foot hit something solid. Dropping my gaze, my knees gave out and I fell to the floor.
“Beau?” My brother groaned, a bruise and swelling visible on his jaw. “Beau…wake up. Christ. Where the fuck is Vi? The baby! Beau…”
“He wanted her,” my brother groaned, his eyes opening but not focusing on me.
I didn’t wait for anything more. I ran. Where the fuck was Connor?
Did that bastard take them both? My phone was out and I was on the line with dispatch before I hit the stairs.
Taking them two at a time, I barked orders over the line, rattling off every piece of information I knew about Ryan before taking a breath, waiting for the instructions to be repeated back to me.
As soon as I knew help was on the way, I slipped my phone back into my pocket and ran to the nursery.
Throwing the door open, my knees buckled at the sight of our son, swaddled tight with rosy cheeks, fast asleep in his crib. I needed to get someone over to the house as fast as I could.
My hands shook as I stepped out of the nursery.
“Hey, how’s Vi?” my sister asked as she answered her phone. “I was going to ask if she would be good with me dropping off some freezer meals, but the weather is really changing—”
“Jess,” I cut her off. “I need you and Hawk to come over here and look after Connor. Vi’s missing. I need to search the ranch. But Beau’s hurt and I can’t leave Connor here alone.”
“Hawk and I are coming right now, Colt. Okay? We’re at the main house, so we’re close. Beckett’s going to stay with Mom and we’ll come get Connor.”
“Thank you.” Those last two words burned as I said them.
I ended the call, slipping the phone back into my pocket as I moved around the nursery.
Violet had to be the one who laid him down here, I knew that in my heart.
She’d kept him safe from Ryan. My eyes searched for any clues, but there were none that I could decipher.
She must have been so scared. Fuck, I needed to get to her. I grabbed the baby monitor and turned it on, breathing for a moment at the sight of our son so peaceful in the crib Violet had picked out a decade ago.
My feet felt heavy as I walked down the stairs. Beau was sitting up, grabbing his head as his back leaned against the cabinets.
“I’m so sorry, Colt. Fuck. I’m so sorry.”
I walked to the freezer and grabbed a bag of frozen vegetables. “It’s not your fault. I got your message and came back as soon as I did. I should have been here.”
Beau hissed as I pressed the cold bag against his face. “Ow.”
“I had dispatch roll an ambulance out here.”
“I don’t fucking need—”
“You had your bell rung and you were out cold. Yes, you do. And you’ll be heading to the hospital to make sure nothing is broken in your face. I’m already dealing with one stubborn brother who wouldn’t ask for help. You’re taking it even if I have to force you, too.”
Beau closed his eyes. “Connor?”
“He’s fine. Upstairs, asleep. Jess is on her way.”
As if summoned by my words, my sister and her husband burst through the door.
“We’re here! Oh my God, Beau!!” Jessie’s voice was frantic.
“What can I do to help?” Hawk immediately asked.
“Just keep Connor safe. I don’t think he should go out in this weather, and I don’t think Ryan will come back here, so everyone here should be okay. Just hunker down as best you can through the storm, okay?”
“Christ, your jaw looks awful.” Jessie stormed to the freezer, grabbing more bags of frozen vegetables and tossing them to Beau.
“I’m coming with you,” he groaned as he pressed the cold makeshift ice pack against his skin.
“Absolutely not.”
“I am. She was my responsibility, and I fucked everything up. You two losing each other the first time was your own goddamn mess, but I’m not being responsible for you losing her again.”
“You need to be here to tell the deputies who respond what happened. They’re on foot, Beau. I have a chance of catching them if they went deeper on the ranch.”
“Colt, I know you want to go after them right now, but it might be a smarter play to wait for backup. He’s unhinged. There’s no saying what kind of weapons he could have.”
Hawk had a point—but I couldn’t just do nothing. I couldn’t sit in our house, thinking of all the horrible things that sick bastard could be doing to her, without taking some sort of action.
“You’re right. I don’t want to get her hurt, or worse, if he’s truly unhinged.”
Living far outside the limits of Silver Springs was a blessing in many ways. The time it took for help to show up was not one of them.
I fucking paced back and forth with the baby monitor in my hand for what seemed like an eternity before the patrol cars and ambulance filled my front yard. I tossed the monitor to Jessie and was out the fucking door before anyone could say my name.
The rain poured down as my porch filled up with my coworkers.
“Ford, tell us what the fuck is going on?” Jonesy stood in front of me, his eyes wide with worry. The paramedics moved past us, heading straight into the house to deal with Beau.
“Demco, Mcallister, Langley. I want you on this house. My son is in there, and no one who isn’t already inside should step foot in there until I’m back with my wife. One on the inside, two on the outside.”
My phone chirped in my hand. As soon as I flipped up the screen to look at the alert coming in, I pointed to Nate and ran down the stairs towards his patrol car.
“Give me the keys!” I yelled over the wind and rain.
He dug into his pocket and tossed them over the hood. We were both inside the vehicle in a flash, his door not even closed as I started backing out of my yard.
“Where the fuck are we going?” he asked, grabbing the oh-shit handle above his head.
“I know where he took her. We’re going to get my wife back.”