5. Four
Four
Erik
I t takes me and my brothers Darius, who is my underboss, and Rowan, who’s my consigliere, a few hours to put together a plan. My parents had them a few years after me, making ours a family operation.
I have Grant, one of my capos who is also my tech guy, hack into security footage of all Andrew’s and his family’s properties to see which one they are at. When Grant shows us the footage of Andrew and Kayleigh walking into his hotel and to the elevator, it’s obvious she was tense. You could easily see she wanted to be anywhere else but with him.
If he has so much as damaged a single hair on my little clover’s head, he is going to pay with his blood.
Not even ten minutes after they enter the penthouse, he leaves but doesn’t come back for hours. I order Grant to trace his movements, which showed him at a bar then a hotel where he fucked some woman before returning home.
How could he cheat on her? She is fucking beautiful…no, not even beautiful does her justice.
Now to the easy part of the plan. We found a weak link in the staff of the hotel. Come to find out, one of the valets has an alcohol problem and has been borrowing money from the wrong people. He was more than willing to steal a copy of the elevator key for the penthouse in exchange for us not ratting out his location to the loan sharks that are looking for him.
Grant told us Andrew is currently on a twelve-hour shift at the hospital and won’t be back until tomorrow morning. Easy enough for us to head in and see what is going on with Kayleigh before I kidnap her and bring her back to my mansion.
While watching the tapes and seeing how tense she was and sensing how unhappy she was, I decided I was going to make her mine. I will deal with Peter and the consequences after I get her home and under lock and key. She may not agree to that plan, but I want…no, I need my princess with me. She will, in time, come to realize that she is my future.
Grant shuts off all the cameras before we pull in. I nod at the receptionist and ride up the elevator with Darius in silence.
“Kayleigh!” I call out into the penthouse as soon as the doors open. “My name is Erik; I’m a friend of your father’s, and he sent me here because he is worried about you.”
Silence.
I walk into the living room; she isn’t there. It’s the same when I walk into the kitchen. I keep moving further into the penthouse.
“Check with Grant and make sure she didn’t leave,” I tell Darius. He nods and pulls out his phone. I keep walking until I get to what I think is an empty room, except inside is a cage and Kayleigh is locked inside.
He locked my fucking clover inside a motherfucking cage!
“Kayleigh?” I say gently when I see her head drop, but she is still on her hands and knees. She doesn’t answer but as I get closer, I see why she isn’t reacting. She is wearing a blindfold and has a chain dog collar on which is attached to a short leash at the top of the crate. I can see the red marks from it around her neck. My eyes travel over the rest of her body, which is covered in bruises.
“Grant said…HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” Darius says.
I turn around and growl at him. “Turn the fuck around. Make it so we can slip out of here with ease once I’m ready.”
He lowers his eyes to the ground as he spins around. “Yeah. I can do that.” And then he quickly leaves the room.
I go back to my little clover, and when I see a key hanging from the front of the cage, I grab it, seeing as how I will need it to get my clover out of here. I first reach for her face and pull off her blindfold.
“NO. PLEASE DON’T.” She starts to cry.
“Shh, mo seamrag, you are okay.” I try to soothe her, but she still looks down and is shaking. When I cup her face, I feel something in her ear. I move her hair to the side and see the motherfucker put noise canceling earphones on her. I quickly take those out before removing the collar around her neck. She immediately falls to the ground.
“Umph,” she moans as her body hits the hard metal bars of the cage.
“Alright, seamrag bheag, let’s get you out of here.”
She finally looks up, and the moment her blue eyes meet mine, I know that I would burn the entire world for her. My eyes trace over every inch of her face, including the black eyes, multiple bruises, and split and swollen lips.
“Who are you?” she whispers.
“My name is Erik Duncan. I’m a friend of your father.”
“Daidí sent you?”
“Yes, he has been extremely worried about you.”
“No! He can’t know. If I leave, Andrew will destroy my family. I have to stay.”
“You are coming with me. I can promise you Andrew will not be a problem for you ever again.”
“No. I can’t risk my family going to jail.”
“It’s okay, seamrag bheag. I will take care of everything. Come out,” I say, scooting back to give her space to crawl out, but she shakes her head.
“I promise you will be safe.”
“I can’t move,” she says as her gaze shifts down to her wrists. This motherfucker zip-tied her wrists to the bars on the bottom of the cage! When I look at her ankles, I see he did the same to them.
I growl, and she shakes.
“Sorry, seamrag bheag. Seeing you in this condition makes me want to hunt him down and kill him. That will have to wait until I know you are safe and cared for. I need you to stay still while I cut the zip ties off you. I don’t want any other marks on your beautiful skin.” She nods while closing her eyes.
“Kayleigh, I need you to keep your eyes open.”
“I know, but I’m too tired. I’m tired…so tired,” she sleepily says, and I quickly work on slicing through all four zip ties before gently moving her from the cage. I lay her down on the ground and gently slap her cheek and try to wake her up, but she doesn’t even flinch or moan.
“KAYLEIGH!” I yell her name, nothing.
I hear Darius run back down the hallway. I growl, “Don’t fucking look at her.”
“I’m not… but wrap her in this blanket and let’s get her out of here. The sooner we get her to Scotland, the safer she will be. I already have a doctor on board.”
I grab the blanket and gently wrap it around her before lifting her into my arms.
“How the hell were you able to get a doctor so quickly?”
“Grant,” is all he says.
“Man deserves a pay raise after this.”
He chuckles as he holds the door open for me.
We stay in silence as we ride the elevator down and head to where the SUV is waiting for us at the front door with Rowan already holding the door for us. I carefully climb in the back with Kayleigh in my arms. Rowan and Darius don’t waste any time getting into their seats, and within moments, Grant is driving us away. I hear a mumble behind me and turn to see a man in a white doctor’s coat, gagged and tied in the seat. I glance over his face and see someone has roughed him up a bit.
“What did the doctor do to deserve this treatment?”
“Oh, he is a black-market organ donor.”
“Okay…”
“On unwilling, living victims. I’ve been searching for this son of a bitch for years,” Grant says. I know exactly what he is talking about. His younger brother was taken to a warehouse and was cut open while still alive and had his organs removed before he was tossed into a dumpster. It took weeks for us to find his body, and by that point it was barely recognizable.
Grant has been on the hunt for every person who was involved in his brother’s death. No one should go through that, especially not a thirteen-year-old boy.
“After he treats Kayleigh, I don’t care what you do to him,” I say.
“Good, he is going to enjoy feeling what he has done to people he has hacked up for money.”
“Do whatever you need to do,” I tell him. He gives me a nod and turns his attention to the road in front of us.
I run my fingers over Kayleigh’s delicate face. How I wish my touch could remove each cut and bruise that motherfucker put on her. She whimpers when I gently touch her cheek. “I’m so sorry, seamrag bheag. I promise you will be safe soon and I will deal with him.”
Darius turns around in his seat. “What are you going to tell Peter? Are you going to tell him how that fucker was treating his daughter?”
“No. No father should hear about the depth of their daughter’s abuse, especially when he finds out that she was suffering to try and keep them safe.”
“She’s strong.”
“Yes, she is. A queen.” Mo bhanrigh, I say to myself because she will be. I will give her time to heal in my home, and when she is ready, I will make her mine in every sense of the way: my ring, my last name, and my baby in her belly. Darius stares at me and shakes his head chuckling. He knows me so well. He knows I get obsessive over what is mine, and I’m sure he sees how things are about to change in my mansion.
***
Before the plane takes off, Grant is yanking the doctor to the back and the four of us are standing guard, watching his every move as he treats Kayleigh. I also have my own doctor on the phone to make sure he isn’t giving Kayleigh anything that could hurt her.
I watch as he stumbles around, hands shaking, and his forehead is soaked with sweat. He cleans her cuts and says she has passed out from dehydration and starvation. He puts her on fluids and wrapped her ribs to stabilize her until we land. Then she will be taken to the hospital where my doctor will treat her.
“You’re done. Now you’re mine,” Grant says as he grabs the doctor by the back of his coat and yanks him out of the room.
Darius turns to me and says, “Do you need anything, or do you want me to watch him and make sure he doesn’t kill the doctor before we land?”
I wave him off. “No go do that. I’m trying to keep my planes blood free.”
He nods and follows the storm of Grant’s anger.
I sit next to Kayleigh’s bedside and hold her hand for the rest of the flight home; the hour flight seems to take a lifetime.
When I step off the plane with Kayleigh in my arms, I have a team of men and several SUVs waiting for me to escort us to the hospital, and as soon as the doors close, we are speeding down the road. Either Darius told them about my little clover, or they can tell by my mood how serious this is.
I keep calm until I am forced to step out of the room when they begin examining her. I try to push my way back in there.
“You have no rights to her, you’re not her family or her husband. You can be there when we are done.”
And then the door shuts in my face. As much as I want to barge in there, I stand outside her door and guard it until they are done. I can at least protect her. Not that I think dumb fuck found out where she is. He will though, when I mail him back that pathetic excuse for an engagement ring with a note clearly stating what will happen if he tries to do anything against us.
My phone vibrates and I see Peter’s calling. I sigh and decide I really have no choice but to tell him how bad she was abused. I don’t envy Peter knowing what I’m about to tell him is going to crush him.
Just because the motherfucker was gone from the hospital when my men went to get him doesn’t mean I won’t be hunting him down. My first priority is Kayleigh; making her safe and making sure she gets the best care. Once I know all that is in place, then Andrew will be my prey, and it’s been a while since I have had a good hunt.
I smirk thinking of other ideas of things I could hunt.
EMILIA
“I knew something wasn’t right.”
“I know, but she is safe now.” Mateo holds me against him, even when I keep trying to pull away. Probably a good idea since I’m feeling very twitchy, especially for Kayleigh’s soon-to-be-dead ex-fiancé.
“I’m going to get her from Scotland.”
“No, you heard Peter. She needs time.”
“Fuck that bullshit. I know the pain she has been through, and I refuse to let that motherfucker steal any of her sunshine.”
“We are not allies with the Duncans. You cannot march up to their property and demand to see Kayleigh.”
I arch an eyebrow at him. “Want to bet?”
Before he can say something else, Arianna, our baby girl, comes into the room with tears streaming down her cheeks. Mateo has her in his arms within seconds.
“What’s wrong, principessa?” he asks, wiping the tears off her face.
“Miss Ashley killed Mr. Quackers.”
I feel my already boiling temper seconds away from exploding. Arianna is just like her older sister and loves being on our farm and adores all the animals, especially that duck. Adriano got her Mr. Quackers for her birthday.
“What do you mean she killed Mr. Quackers?”
“She stabbed him in front of me and said that’s what will happen to you and your family,” she sobs into Mateo’s chest. He holds her head against his shoulder as he rubs his hand up and down her back. I watch the beast come alive in his eyes and know I have the same amount of anger in my own.
I nod at him as I step closer, bending to kiss her cheek.
“Don’t worry, baby girl. Mama will take care of it.”
“O-Okay Mama,” she hiccups.
I give Mateo a nod and walk out, going to check the security footage knowing, as a four-year-old, she probably forgot to tell me some important stuff.
Ten minutes later, Mateo walks into my office as I’m scrolling through the security footage.
“It’s worse than I thought.”
“She’s a mole.”
“Mole?”
“Yes, she is Valente’s granddaughter.”
“Valente…”
“Yes, as in the butler who went missing after the bombing.”
He picks up his phone and calls one of the soldiers and instructs them to bring her to the warehouse. I keep scrolling as the sound of blood pumps through my ears. I find myself very eager to hear her screams as I drain the blood from her body while I torture her for hours.
But first, I need to get some intel from her.