Chapter 32 – Liam
I ran from the bathroom, scanning the restaurant. Maybe Molly came out and I didn’t see her. I looked at everything—the couples sitting at their tables, the wait staff—then I made my way into the kitchen. Nothing. No Molly.
The owner followed me into the kitchen, where I was clearly out of place.
“Sir, can I help you?”
“Did you see a woman come through here? Sandy blonde hair, very pregnant,” I said, doing my best to describe Molly as everyone stared at me like I was a madman.
“No. Nobody by that description came through here, sir.”
I ran back to the main dining area, noticing the restaurant’s surveillance system. “Where all do you have cameras?” I asked, frantically pointing to the one closest to us.
“Um—there’s one out front. One in the kitchen. One on the back door,” he said.
“Where’s the back door?”
“Right next to the restrooms.”
“Fuck! Show me all the footage you have from the camera aiming at the back door,” I demanded, not taking no for answer.
The man led me into a small office off the kitchen. He quickly brought his computer to life, pulling up the necessary software.
“Go back six minutes,” I ordered.
He clicked back the exact amount of time I’d asked him to. We both sat there, watching as a man dragged Molly’s limp body through the back door.
My knees went weak. I felt like throwing up, crying, screaming—all of it. Every emotion I could possibly have was coursing wildly through my body.
We sat there a moment longer, searching the rest of the footage—nothing.
I walked back to our table, forcing myself to think back over the last couple of days as I searched for a clue.
Anything that might help me figure out where he’d taken her.
After a few moments, it hit me—Molly’s purse was missing.
I ran back to the bathroom, searching everywhere for it. It was gone too.
Think, Liam, think. Her life literally depends on it.
I ran through what Molly would’ve had in her purse. Her phone—I could track her through that. I pulled up her location on my phone.
No Location Found.
“Dammit.”
They’d either turned it off or destroyed it before anyone could track her. The seconds kept ticking by, each one feeling heavier than the last. Seconds mattered. I had to think, and I had to think fast.
Her AirPods.
She always listened to music while she baked. Maybe she’d tossed them into her purse. I could track her through those too.
I switched from tracking her phone to her AirPods.
Miracles were real.
A small dot appeared on the map, moving down the highway and out of Great Falls.
Where the hell is he taking her?
I ran out the door and called Jace as I barreled down the road, praying I’d find her before they realized what was sitting in the bottom of her purse.
“They’re taking her somewhere on the outskirts of Great Falls. I’m not exactly sure where yet, but I’m trying to catch up to them as fast as I can,” I said.
“Colt’s here with me. What do you need us to do?” Jace asked.
“Just try to catch up to me as fast as you can. He must have known we had a reservation, because he followed us to the restaurant. He’s been keeping track of her—even after we killed his friend—which means he’s escalating. He won’t go down without a fight now that they have her.”
I ended the call, speeding down the highway as I tracked her location.
They turned onto a side road, traveling down it for a few miles before coming to a stop. They had either tossed the AirPods out of the car or stopped driving.
“I’m coming, Molly,” I said. It felt exactly like the day I rescued her from the bakery after she called 911—the same helplessness clawing at my chest.
Molly
I started to come to. Wherever I was, it was really cold.
There weren’t many lights either. I could barely see anything around me.
The concrete beneath me was freezing, the cinderblock walls a matching gray.
From what little I could make out, it was some kind of warehouse—probably abandoned.
The cobwebs told me no one had been here in years.
Footsteps approached from behind.
“She’s awake,” a man said gruffly. It wasn’t the guy who had taken me, but they were dressed very similarly. Obviously partners. “You didn’t drug her with enough chloroform, you idiot.”
Another set of footsteps followed, this time unmistakably the guy from the restaurant. He looked down at me, annoyed that I wasn’t still lying limp on the floor.
Sorry, jackass.
“It doesn’t matter. I got her here like the boss wanted. She’s not my problem anymore,” he said, brushing me off like I was a piece of disgusting gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe.
Great. So it wasn’t just these two douchebags I had to deal with. Apparently, there was a boss too.
“He’s on his way. Says he’s two minutes out. Let’s go get everything ready for later,” the stubborn one said, turning to the man who’d been stalking me for months.
He did exactly as he was told. It seemed obeying orders was standard practice.
After they were out of sight, I started trying to twist my arms out of the rope they’d tied around my wrists and ankles. If I could break my hands free, I could undo the rope holding my ankles together and get the hell out of here.
But no matter how hard I tried, the rope wouldn’t budge, not even slightly. After a few more seconds of trying, I stopped at the sound of footsteps approaching again—more of them this time.
“Here she is,” the one that drugged me said proudly, as if he caught the tournament winning fish or something.
What a prick.
I turned around, looking at the three stooges.
There was something familiar about the one I assumed was the boss. Had I seen him around somewhere? Was he was one of my customers from way way back? I couldn’t place his face.
He crouched down in front of me, arms on either thigh. “So this is the one and only Molly McKinley,” he said, studying my face. There was nothing but evil behind his eyes.
So I did the only rational thing a girl could do in this moment. I spit in his face.
The vein in his forehead popped out as he wiped the saliva away, flinging it to the ground.
“Who the fuck are you and what do you want with me?” I said, seething.
“I’m surprised you don’t recognize the grandfather of your own child,” he said, smiling wickedly as he stood back up.
Liam’s dad. That was why he seemed familiar. He looked like Liam.
The realization of who he was showed on my face.
“Yup. I’ve had these two goons trying to track you down for some time. You’re a hard one to find, Molly. Or should I say my son’s just really good at keeping you hidden?”
“Why do you want to hurt me?” I asked, trying to sound unafraid, like this moment wasn’t scaring the shit out of me.
“How you convinced my dumbass son to get a greedy bitch like you pregnant, I’ll never know. But he did, and now I have to clean up his mess.”
“What the hell are you talking about? I’m not taking anything from Liam?”
“Not yet. But as soon as that baby is born, I know you’re going to try to take him for all he’s worth.”
“News flash, dipshit, Liam isn’t filthy rich like you are.”
“So he thinks. What he doesn’t know is his grandfather left him a large trust fund.
One that he gets when his first child is born.
That’s the stipulation my father put in his will.
I always assumed Liam would be married when he had a child.
With a rock-solid prenuptial agreement put in place, of course, barring the mother of his child from ever seeing that money.
Then you came along, no pre-nup, nothing.
I knew you’d find out about the money eventually and get greedy. All snobby bitches like you do.”
This guy was a piece of work. Who the fuck did he think he was talking to me like this?
He jerked me up by the arm, so I was standing now.
“Where’s the gun?” he asked the two men standing off to the side of us.
I tried as hard as I could to jerk away, but his grip was too tight. I watched in horror as one of them handed him a black pistol. He pushed the barrel of the gun into my temple.
“I will never let anything come between me and my money. If you had just stayed away from my son, none of this would’ve happened. Actions have consequences, Molly, and this is yours. Any last words before I shoot you dead right here and all my problems finally disappear?”
“Go. To. Hell,” I growled.
He cocked the gun. “Not before you get there first,” he said, followed by a loud boom.