15. Chapter 15
Chapter fifteen
Abigail
I really liked my new friend Roxy. Her Mommy was called Meghan, and she was an ER nurse, and when we were all jumped out, both Daddy and Roxy’s Mommy got us seated at a cute table to color and put juice and snacks down. There had been another Little called David, but he’d elected to stay bouncing when another Little joined him.
Roxy worked from home and built fancy websites for people. She was just doing the site for the new club Daddy was opening called Kingdom, and I sighed heavily. What would I do for a job? We were down to a week left of our trial.
“I worked at a daycare, but it was just bought out and I had to be let go.”
Roxy tipped her head to the side as she sucked her juice. “Sorry? Not sorry?”
“I loved the kids, but…” How did I explain? “There were so many rules,” I finished, realizing the ache in my heart wasn’t because of the job. “I miss Poppy.”
“One of the kids?”
I shook my head and told her all about my rescues and how much I missed Poppy. “And Daddy hasn’t taken you to see her?” Roxy asked.
“I—” But I didn’t answer. I hadn’t asked him. I shot a look to the sofas and met Daddy’s gaze, and knew he’d heard every word I’d said. Did that mean I was in trouble? And just as he stood to come over to me the door opened, and a man walked in clutching a woman’s hand. I saw Daddy’s head whip around to them and his jaw harden. What was wrong? I switched my attention back to them.
The man was maybe the same age as Daddy or a little younger. Hard to tell because while Daddy was yummy, he’d lived harder being in the military. This man just looked soft. I didn’t like the way he gripped the woman so tightly either. He bent and whispered something to her, and she nodded obediently even though she looked terrified, and toed her sneakers off. He didn’t bend and untie them for her like Daddy did mine, his gaze searching the room while she did as she was told.
I doubted if the woman was even twenty-one, even though I imagined she had to be in order to be in here. I didn’t honestly know as there was no alcohol in here anyway. She had long blond hair with highlights tied up in a messy bun, and a simple white dress on. It wasn’t especially Little exactly and it made me wonder. No diaper room, but maybe she was older in her Little space. Daddy had said I might even be younger once I got comfortable.
And I wondered about that. I had to learn to balance what Daddy needed with what I needed, and I thought about my list again. Daddy ticked all the boxes except the first one, because I still didn’t know if he was going to keep me or if the two weeks were all I got.
Roxy met my gaze and looked worried. The atmosphere must be affecting her as well because she didn’t jump up and rush over like she had done with me. And just like that my heart clenched in sympathy. The Little looked terrified, whoever she was. I stood and held my hand out for Roxy, and she stood and took it. We walked over to where the Little was hovering, abandoned by her Daddy who had gone to talk to some other Daddy I didn’t know. I waved a hand as we drew close. “Hi, I’m Abby, and this is Roxy.” The Little shrank back and looked nervously at her Daddy, but he wasn’t taking any notice. I doubted if my Daddy had taken his eyes off me for one second since we arrived, and I felt bad for her.
“We’re coloring,” Roxy said.
“And if you pick red, we might need to find a dragon,” I added. If I’d thought about it, my words sounded odd, but of course all the best dragons were red.
And she smiled. “I like dragons.”
Roxy clearly decided all was well, and she took her hand and practically dragged her to the table. “You can have puppies as well but not red ones,” Roxy confided.
And soon we were doing our best pictures.
“What’s your name?” Roxy asked.
“Samantha,” she whispered then paused. “You said you’re called Roxy? ”
Roxy beamed. “And this is Abby,”
She looked at me rather nervously. “Is Abby short for something?”
I nodded. “Helena always called me Abigail.” I wrinkled my nose.
“Helena?” she asked.
One of my group home managers but she’d had her favorites. “Her favorite was Peter. She always liked boys better.” I caught the look of confusion and realized I’d skipped over her details and opened my mouth to work back, when Roxy’s Mommy came over.
“Sorry, pumpkin. We have to leave early, or you’ll be grouchy when we have to get up for our trip tomorrow.”
My eyes widened. “A trip?”
Roxy shrugged. “Work, but Mommy’s coming and we get to visit the zoo.”
I wriggled happily. I’d always wanted to go to a zoo. “Have fun.”
Roxy gave a little hand-wave and got up, taking her Mommy’s hand. I turned back to Samantha just in time to see her nodding, and followed her gaze to her Daddy, but he turned and walked to the bathrooms.
Samantha put her crayon down and whispered. “Will you show me our bathroom?” She wiggled in her seat a little. I glanced over at Daddy, who had stood and was saying goodbye to Meghan.
“It’s just there,” I said pointing it out behind the little kitchen area Daddy had gotten our juice from. There were two bathrooms on the opposite wall next to the fire exit door, and we had to walk past the small kitchen area and the large fridge that held snacks and juice .
Samantha seemed to shrink a little and look for her Daddy, but he’d gone in one of the bathrooms himself, and I felt so sorry for her. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt there was no way Daddy would have left me on my own in a strange place.
“Will you go with me?” Samantha whispered.
“Sure,” I said smiling and I stood holding out my hand, which she clutched. I glanced at Daddy, but Roxy was hugging him, and suddenly I wanted a hug too. I could show Samantha the bathroom then maybe Daddy would let me sit on his lap for a cuddle?
I took Samantha’s hand because she seemed so scared and walked her through the small kitchen to the bathroom doors, and I paused, but Samantha didn’t let go. “It’s just there,” I said encouragingly, and she winced. At the same time the other bathroom opened and Samantha’s Daddy stepped out. He walked up to me and put out a hand to shake. Flustered, but not wanting to seem impolite, I held mine out to touch his.
“Good girl,” he murmured, then took my hand as Samantha let go of my other.
I tried to let go as he glanced behind me again, then so quickly I was too stunned to cry out, he clamped a hand over my mouth and grabbed my waist, lifting me off my feet. In another second he kicked the emergency exit door open, and the alarm started shrieking. We were outside and in a huge car waiting with a door open before I even got the chance to struggle.
I saw two things. Samantha’s look of horror as the car left without her, and Daddy just appearing at the open door as the car I was in lurched and sped up. Then I felt a sharp prick on my neck and after that I didn’t see anything at all .
Gideon
I didn’t pause, just ran. I had one chance and that was it. If the lights on the corner of our parking lot changed, then whoever was driving had to at least hesitate. My slim Sig Sauer P365 was the only one I was comfortable with in a suit, but I hadn’t drawn it because I didn’t dare risk so much as hitting the tires when my baby was in there, unless it slowed.
I heard the car horn behind me just as the lights changed, but the Escalade I was running after didn’t so much as pause, causing another car to swerve. I turned my head as the car slowed at my side and dived into the open door. Max floored it as soon as I was in, and I managed to grab my phone and fastened my belt. I needed Eric to see if he could get into the traffic cams in case we lost it. The Escalade turned onto West Gandy, and I knew they were heading for the expressway. Maddox sped up then swore as another car pulled right in front of us. He had to hit the brakes and swerve, and my phone slipped from my grasp. Horns beeped and Max floored it again toward the intersection. Then we heard the sirens and before Maddox could get around the car in front, two cop cars effectively blocked us in.
“FUCK,” I screamed and punched the dash.
It took two hours. Two fucking hours and it was only when my lawyer finally threatened them with a complaint via the mayor because we had given a hell of a lot to her favorite charities that they let me go. I’d refused to tell the regular cops why we were chasing a car, and just said he’d cut Maddox off, and I had no idea who it was. Eric had wiped the parking lot cameras and all they had was a mad car dash through town. The cops were conveniently there as apparently a store had been broken into and they thought it was us. It was all fucked up.
Dion picked Max and me up. We’d been separated but I knew Max wouldn’t say anything. Technically, they should have never held me anyway as I wasn’t driving, but I hadn’t come nicely when they’d asked, just yelled at them to get out of the fucking way. So, they’d taken me in.
“Please tell me you have something,” were the first words out of my mouth.
“What about the other Little?” Max interrupted.
“Picked up in a second car,” Dion said, “while we were trying to get to you. A regular Ford Explorer. False plates on both cars.”
“We have him though,” I said. “We have him taking her.”
“We have her being taken out the fire exit with no cameras showing his face. As you know there are no cameras in the Little room because of privacy concerns. We can kick shit up, but I’m guessing you don’t wanna go official because involving the cops could make whoever took her wanna—” Dion clamped his lips shut but I knew what he was going to say. Some version of get rid of her .
“Why?” I said. “I mean what the fuck ? A kidnap with a ton of witnesses is hardly what old man Kirkman wants. How is that staying under the radar?”
“No,” Maddox grunted. “This is personal.”
I opened my mouth then closed it. Personal? “He’s pissed because I took Abby? How would anyone with a lick of sense go this far for that? Kirkman I can understand in a pinch because he’s a crazy sadistic fuck, but Jonathan Price?” Who spent most of his time on the other side of the country. It was ridiculous.
Dion hesitated and my stomach took a dive. I couldn’t even ask.
“What do you know?” Maddox snapped out.
“Eric kept digging,” Dion said grimly. “Remember Jeremy Blakeny?” I frowned. How could I forget the asshole who had beaten and nearly starved that Little, Clare, nearly to death. I turned to stare at Dion.
“Isn’t he dead yet?”
Dion shook his head. “We had to back off because of killing the butler. Just letting things lie for a while. But one of Jeremy Blakeny’s shell companies lists him as a partner with Jonathan Rice. We think he’s in deep shit with the trafficking, and they’re doing a favor for Kirkman. After beating him out on the permits for Kingdom, the fact it’s you us just the icing on the cake.”
“Taking Blakeny’s cash means he’s had to lean heavily on the other two,” Max said. “Kirkman Senior wants Junior out of the way and quiet. I think this is a mixture of revenge and convenience. They get Abby for Kirkman, it’s payback for them, and it keeps Kirkman Senior sweet.”
“No, this is too far. Fucking kidnapping because they’re pissed we got a rezoning? That’s—”
I shut up the second Max’s phone beeped with a message. He glanced down, then paled. Then all of ours beeped with the same notification. I stared down at it in shock. It was from an unknown number of a grainy image, but it showed the two of us running from the house carrying Clare. They must have had a camera not connected to the system because it showed the moment the butler stepped out of the house and raised his gun.
And it showed Max turning and looking back to check. He’d taken off his damn mask because Clare had been terrified, and the camera caught him. The message from the unknown number just read, Eye for an eye.
This was what it was all about? Jeremy fucking Blakeny? It didn’t take long for Eric to find a connection between all three of them.
I stared at Max. Every instinct I had made me want to murder the fuckers. Rip them apart with my bare hands. They were the lowest of the low. Pond scum that needed to be wiped off the face of the earth.
And they had Abby. My Abby. My baby girl. And they had us. We couldn’t get Abby without sacrificing Max if the video was a threat. What the fuck was I going to do?