Chapter 6
Chapter six
The moment Brett said Emma had been taken, Jayson’s world had ground to an abrupt halt.
A million questions sped through his mind as he directed Sabrina to the apartment Emma and her fiancé shared.
Sabrina drove fast and with confidence, wisely choosing to remain silent.
She was a whole other fucking problem he had to figure out how to handle.
The truth was, a huge part of him was incredibly disappointed. He’d genuinely liked her, but she was clearly using him. For what, he wasn’t sure yet. But he’d find out. Just as soon as he got his fucking daughter back. For now, she was all that mattered.
Thankfully, it wasn’t a long ride, because he was about to lose his damn mind.
Emma was a good girl who never got into trouble.
She worked at one of the gift shops on Main Street and always had a friendly word for everyone.
She had a sharp business mind and even talked about opening her own store one day.
She was happy, on the verge of getting married and starting her life and a family of her own.
Why would anyone take his daughter? His sweet Emma didn’t have any enemies.
He did, though.
Fuck.
His gut churned. If this was somehow his fault, he’d never forgive himself.
Then the worst thought yet crossed his mind, and he turned his full attention on Sabrina, fists clenching. “Who the hell are you? Did you have anything to do with my daughter’s disappearance?” he demanded, tone lethal and suspicious.
She glanced over at him, eyes widening. “No! Absolutely not.”
“I want to believe you.” He searched her face for any sign of deception. “But I know you’re hiding something. Why were you going through my stuff?”
She pressed her lips together, as if trying to decide what to share, then sighed as she turned her attention back to the road.
“I’m FBI, Jayson. I was sent to find out if you or your friends had anything to do with Donato Ferrante’s murder.
His brother Rocco is on a rampage, trying to find the killer. Or killers.”
Pieces began rapidly snapping into place. Sabrina’s sudden appearance in a neighborhood that rarely attracted single women. Her convenient heating and plumbing problems. Him—a lonely sucker who fell for her duplicity hook, line and sinker. Goddammit.
“If Rocco discovered it was you, he’d want revenge,” she stated.
“I didn’t kill Donato Ferrante,” he growled.
“Do you know who did?”
There was no way he would admit Chaz and Lottie were the ones who stabbed and shoved Donato off the rooftop patio of his lakefront home.
His friends had been forced to act out of self-defense.
The fucker had kidnapped Lottie because he’d wanted a bag of jewels connected to her useless ex.
The Motley Crew had raced to her rescue and made it in the nick of time.
Instead of answering Sabrina’s question, Jayson shut down. One, he couldn’t trust her. For all he knew, she might be the enemy. And two, the father in him was barely holding it together. He needed to rely on the warrior within to get him through whatever lay ahead.
The moment they reached Emma and Brett’s apartment building, Jayson jumped out, rounded the front of the car and pulled the driver’s door open wider as Sabrina climbed out. He gave her a hard look.
“You’re not going to try to bolt, are you?”
Her brow pinched. “No. I want to help you.”
For whatever reason, he believed her. Maybe because I’m an idiot. An idiot who’d hoped his new neighbor had liked him. Not some FBI agent who was merely using him to further her own agenda.
With a sharp nod, he guided her inside where Brett was waiting.
He looked visibly upset and kept running his hands through his brown hair.
Jayson needed details—clear, concise answers to the questions he was about to ask.
That meant he needed to think like a Ranger preparing for a rescue mission, not a desperate and worried father.
Pushing all of his emotions into a mental box and shutting it tightly, he quickly introduced his new neighbor to Brett and then started his interrogation.
“I’m going to need you to calm down and tell me exactly what happened,” Jayson began as he and Sabrina sat down on the couch. The living room had a cozy vibe, and Jayson saw his daughter’s touch everywhere—from the floral-scented candles to the framed Jack Vettriano posters hanging on the walls.
Brett stopped pacing and dropped down in a chair. “Yeah, okay.”
“Where were you when it happened?”
“At the grocery store. Emma wanted to make lasagna for dinner, so we went to pick up the ingredients. Everything was fine until we returned to our car. I started loading the groceries into the back and Emma wheeled the cart back to the cart corral. That’s when I heard her shout, and I looked over and saw a couple of guys throw her into a truck. ”
“What kind of truck? What did the men look like? Did you get the license plate number?” Jayson fisted his hands, forcing himself to keep it together.
“A big, black car. A Suburban maybe? It all happened so fast. I didn’t get a good look at the men because the lower half of their faces were covered.”
“Covered with what?”
“Neck gaiters.”
Jayson’s mind raced. Probably not some kind of revenge related to their dealings with the cartels then, he surmised.
As part of their last op in Mexico, Xander Hawke told them the Villarreal thugs wore skeleton balaclavas, unlike these assholes.
No, he had a feeling they might be dealing with Rocco Ferrante.
Sabrina’s words came rushing back: If Rocco discovered it was you, he’d want revenge.
Not exactly how he’d wanted to start the new year. But here I fucking am.
After unsuccessfully trying to pull out a few more details from Brett, Jayson sent a 911 text to his buddies. The Motley Crew might be getting up there in years, but they still had it where it counted most—brains, muscles and hearts.
In seconds, they all replied. Jayson promised Brett they’d find Emma and bring her home, then glanced at Sabrina. “C’mon.” He stood up.
“Where are we going?” Sabrina asked, popping up, too.
“Old Glory.”
Old Glory was Brandon Ward’s bar at the edge of town.
It didn’t look like much from the outside, but as Sabrina and Jayson stepped inside, a crackling fire welcomed them.
Endless bottles of liquor covered shelves over a mirrored back wall, along with a large American flag.
It proved to be more than just the hole-in-the-wall she’d expected.
It had character and warmth. A group of men and women sat at a big corner table, but she only recognized Lex.
“What’s going on, Jay?” a man with steel blue-gray eyes asked.
“Someone grabbed Emma in the grocery store parking lot,” he said gravely.
The men hissed out a slew of swear words and the women gasped.
“I just talked to Brett and he said they were wearing gaiters, so no real help on descriptions. They tossed her in a black car, possibly a Suburban, and he wasn’t close enough to see the plates. ”
“We’ll get her back,” a big man stated gruffly. He had military-short brown hair and a determined look in his green eyes.
The woman beside him grabbed his hand and squeezed. She shook her head, blonde curls bouncing, and laid her other hand on her large, very pregnant belly. “Oh, no. This is awful.”
“Who’s she?” the first man asked, nodding to Sabrina.
Everyone’s attention shifted to Sabrina, and she felt like a specimen under a microscope. She did her best not to squirm, sticking close to Jayson.
“That’s his new neighbor,” Lex answered, giving her a flirty smirk. “Hi, Sabrina.”
“Hi,” she murmured, shifting under their scrutiny.
A dark-haired man with striking ice-blue eyes spoke up. “I’m Corey. This is Wes, Chaz, his wife Lottie, Brandon and his fiancée, Julia. Looks like you already know Lex.”
Before she could respond, Jayson added, “Apparently, she’s also an FBI agent currently investigating us because the Bureau thinks we might’ve had something to do with Donato Ferrante’s murder.”
Although he kept his tone impassive, Sabrina steeled herself for their reaction. The room quickly turned cool and more cursing filled the air as they exchanged looks.
“Talk about a clusterfuck.” Brand raked a hand through his brown hair. “We need to call Mitch.”
Sabrina had no idea who Mitch was, and the last thing she wanted was this room of alpha warriors to turn on her.
She needed to get a hold of the situation fast before she became a target.
And she truly wanted to get Emma back, because she was fairly certain the girl was innocent and probably completely oblivious to whatever Jayson and his crew were wrapped up in.
“I’m here to help,” Sabrina assured them.
“Are you?” Jayson countered. She understood his doubt, even expected it, but it still hurt.
“Yes.” She straightened her shoulders then addressed the group. “My name is Sabrina Ross, and, yes, I work for the FBI, but I’m not the enemy. The men who took Emma are, and I can help you track them down.”
“So can my dad,” Julia said. The woman had gorgeous dark red hair and eyes that appeared to be the same auburn hue in the firelight. “Call him, Brand. He’ll know what to do.”
Brand nodded, opening the laptop in front of him.
“Maybe she should wait upstairs.” Chaz crossed his huge arms, eyeing Sabrina.
“I can help you,” she repeated.
“Can and will are two different things,” he stated.
Sabrina looked to Jayson, but he didn’t say anything. “Jayson, I will use every resource available to me to get Emma back safely. You can trust me.”
He gave a stiff nod then looked over at Julia. “Julia, will you and Lottie take Sabrina upstairs?”
“Sure.” The women stood, and disappointment filled Sabrina.
Message received loud and clear, she thought, sending one last look Jayson’s way before following the women over to a back staircase. He doesn’t want my help. And they don’t trust me.
But she planned on doing everything in her power to change that.