Chapter 4 #2
I shifted my weight off Daisy. “Are you hurt?” I asked as I quickly scanned her body for blood. She was gasping for air as she shook her head.
“Shallow breaths,” I said gently as I cupped her cheek. “You got the wind knocked out of you.”
I mimicked how I wanted her to breathe. It took her a second to follow my lead. I fought back my fury at the sight of the bruise on her right cheek.
“Daisy?” Sage called as he hurried to us and dropped to his knees. I was beyond relieved to see he was unhurt. He grabbed her hand in his and skimmed his fingers over her hair. Her breathing was a little better, so Sage and I helped her to sit up. The second we did, she began sobbing.
Sage drew her into his arms. “It’s okay, honey, we’ve got you,” he said as he ran his hand up and down her back. She clung to him and nodded. I was about to get up and take stock of the scene when Daisy suddenly reached out one of her hands.
She was reaching for me.
I took it and shifted so I was pressed up against her side. “You’re safe, Daisy,” I whispered in her ear as I brushed a kiss over her temple. “Sage and I are here now. You did real good.”
She managed another nod, but it was several minutes before she calmed. I could hear sirens in the distance.
“I need to call Ronan and Memphis,” I said to Sage.
I helped him get Daisy to her feet. He led her to the couch while I took in the scene. Her apartment was trashed, but I suspected most of the damage had been done prior to our arrival. There was only one body – the guy I’d used for cover.
“Give me your gun,” I said to Sage. He handed it to me and I tucked it into the waistband of my pants. I’d put it and my gun on the coffee table once the cops arrived.
I got my phone out and dialed Memphis.
“Cash,” Daisy said. I turned to look at her. She was huddled against Sage, her face wet from her tears, but she seemed calmer. “You need to wipe my computer.”
I nodded in understanding. The cops would gather evidence as part of their investigation and there was no way we could have them finding information about what Ronan’s group did. “Tell me what to do,” I said as I went to the computer.
When Memphis answered, I said, “We’ve got her.
She’s okay, but we’ve got a problem.” I told Memphis to hang on and then did what Daisy told me in order to start the process of wiping her computer.
It took just seconds for the screen to go completely dark with only a little cursor in the top left corner. “Is that it?” I said to Daisy.
She nodded.
I quickly gave Memphis a rundown of what we’d walked in on.
“You know what to do with the cops,” he said. “Ronan and I are on the way.”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “See you in a bit.”
I went to Daisy’s other side and sat down. “What happened?” I asked. I knew we had just minutes at most before the cops arrived and I wanted as much information as I could get.
“Dylan,” she said. “They took Dylan.”
“Who is he, Daisy?” Sage asked.
“A friend. I met him online. We both play a lot of the same RPGs – role-playing games – so we started chatting. He was offline for a few days and I was worried about him – I messaged him my number through the game’s interface.
When he finally called me, he sounded really scared, but he wouldn’t say what was wrong.
Only said he was in trouble and he needed to disappear.
He lived in Pittsburgh, so I told him to come here.
I bought him a bus ticket. I thought… I thought if I could find out what was wrong, Ronan and Memphis could help him, you know? ” she said as she wiped at her eyes.
I nodded and rubbed her back.
“He was covered in bruises when he got here. But he wouldn’t tell me who did it.
He slept for like three days straight. Today was the first day he was able to eat something.
He used my landline to call someone,” she said as she motioned to the cordless phone that was lying in several pieces on the floor.
“They… they must have been monitoring whoever he called because they showed up a few hours later. This guy – Dylan called him Lee – kept telling Dylan to tell him where it was.”
“Where what was?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Dylan wouldn’t tell him, no matter how many times he hit him.” Tears began to streak down Daisy’s face. “But then Lee looked at me and one of his guys, he… he…”
“It’s okay, sweetheart, you’re safe,” Sage reminded her as he kissed her temple.
She managed a nod. “He hit me and then he grabbed my hair and Lee, he started… touching me. Dylan screamed at him to stop and then promised he’d take him to it as long as they let me go.”
Rage curled in my belly, but I managed to keep my hand light on Daisy’s back. I could see that Sage wasn’t faring much better.
“Lee and Dylan and another guy left. The other two stayed here… I’m sorry, I didn’t know there was a third one,” she said as she looked at me.
“You did good, honey. You did real good,” I reassured her. I stroked her hair, dreading what I had to ask her. “After Lee and Dylan left, did anything…?”
She shook her head. “No, Lee, he said that he… that he’d go first if Dylan didn’t come through.”
I couldn’t stop the rush of air that went through me as I felt the relief in every single one of my cells.
“We’re going to tell the cops it was a burglary,” I explained gently. “Don’t mention Dylan or Lee. Keep it simple and if you’re not sure about something, just say you don’t remember. I’ll take care of the rest, okay?”
Daisy nodded. “What about Dylan?”
“We’ll find him,” I assured her. “Sage and I might be put in handcuffs until the cops determine we aren’t a threat. Just don’t interfere, okay? Ronan and Memphis are on the way. They’ll get everything straightened out.”
Her eyes went wide, but she nodded. I could hear the sirens closer now, but it wasn’t until I heard the telltale signs of squealing tires that I nodded to Sage.
I could tell he hated to do it, but he released Daisy and stood.
I put both of our guns on the coffee table and Sage and I took several steps back and raised our hands.
“Sweetheart, put your hands up, but stay where you are, okay?” I said. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”
She was so pale that I was a little worried she might pass out, but she did what I said and lifted her hands.
I glanced at Sage and sent him a silent message. I saw his mouth move, but the cops chose that moment to bust into the room, yelling at us not to move, so I couldn’t be sure the words Sage had seemed to say weren’t just a figment of my imagination.
But I held onto them just the same.
Because I’d been waiting what felt like a lifetime to hear them.
I love you, Cash.