Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
The second the man walked into the house, Josie knew she was in deep shit. He was big. And he had a mean scowl on his face.
“This her?” he barked.
“Yes,” Gen said.
“She’s small,” the man observed.
“I’m sure a lot of men will love that. You could probably lie about her age and charge people more.”
“True,” he said with a nod. “All right. Here’s your money.” He held out an envelope toward Gen, but Millie stepped forward and took it before her daughter could.
She flipped through the cash, then frowned. “It’s only five hundred. You said a thousand.”
The man shrugged. “That’s what I’ve got. Take it or leave it.”
Millie scowled but put the envelope into her back pocket. “As long as I never have to see her again and she suffers, it’s fine.”
“She’s not going to club med, that’s for sure,” the man said with a laugh that sent shivers down Josie’s spine. He reached down and wrapped his huge hand around her upper arm and pulled her to her feet, almost wrenching her arm out of its socket in the process.
“She talk?” the man asked as he hauled Josie toward the door.
“Not much,” Gen said with a shrug.
“Good. Got no use for bitches blabbering on and on. ‘Please don’t hurt me,’” he said in a high-pitched tone, mimicking what a woman might sound like. “‘That hurts, stop.’” His eyes rolled. “It’s hard for the customers to concentrate when they do that shit.”
Josie felt sick. She trusted Nate and his friends, but they needed to hurry up and get here if they were going to prevent her from being taken away.
She tried to slow the man down as he neared the front door, but he was holding her so tightly, practically carrying her. Her efforts were useless. She wanted to yell at Millie and Gen. Tell them that they wouldn’t get away with this. That they couldn’t sell people! That it was Ayden who’d insisted on renting that boat, and he was showing off, getting close to the border just to scare her. But her vocal cords felt broken. Frozen.
The man pulled open the door and yanked her out onto the small front porch. He took two steps—then stopped suddenly .
Before Josie could figure out why, he’d pulled out a revolver and jammed the muzzle into the side of her head.
“Step away from the car,” he said in an absolutely chilling tone. “Or I’ll blow her brains out right here.”
Looking up, Josie spotted the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen—Nate.
If she’d thought she was glad to see someone when she’d first lain eyes on him after he’d been dragged into that cell, she was wrong. Nothing made relief swim through her veins more than knowing he hadn’t left her after searching Millie’s house. That he was there. He’d save her. She had no doubt.
“I mean it,” the man holding her growled, pushing the gun harder against her head.
With her hands cuffed in front of her, Josie couldn’t do much more than try to lean away from the weapon. Not that it worked; the man was holding her too tightly.
“Oh shit,” Gen muttered from behind her.
“Go get in my car. It’s parked out back,” Millie told her daughter.
Josie heard them, but all her attention was on Nate.
“Let her go,” he said, coming out from behind the vehicle in the driveway. To Josie’s dismay, she saw he wasn’t holding any kind of weapon.
“Not a chance in hell,” the bad guy said. “Fuck—where’s the other one?”
“Her name is Bree. And she’s already far away from here, you sick fuck,” Smiley said, approaching Nate with a deadly look on his face.
“You’re outnumbered, asshole,” Preacher added, as he appeared at the side of the house, as if out of thin air .
Seeing the other members of Nate’s SEAL team made Josie feel more confident, though this situation was anything but under control. She was more scared right this moment than she’d been at any point during their escape from Iran, which was messed up. Boat ride from hell, getting hoisted up into that helicopter, crashing, wandering through the desert mountains. Maybe because the man who held her had absolutely nothing to lose. If he allowed himself to be subdued, he was going to prison, probably for a very long time.
He was shuffling Josie off the porch, toward his car. But Nate and the others weren’t giving up any ground. In fact, they were coming closer.
Suddenly, the man pointed his weapon at the sky and fired.
Josie’s ears rang, but before she could even comprehend what he’d done, the barrel of the revolver was back against her temple.
She winced in pain. The heat from the weapon being fired felt as if it was branding her skin. Any attempt to pull back, to get away from the searing heat, was useless.
The fury on Nate’s face was easy to see. Even from the ten or so feet that separated them, Josie could see the anger, the helplessness, the frustration.
“Back up!” the man ordered. “Or the next bullet will be in her brain.”
In her peripheral vision, Josie could see neighbors starting to gather in the street, no doubt attracted to the scene by the gunfire—she would’ve thought the sound of a shot would’ve had them running away , but apparently she was wrong. She kept her gaze locked on Nate. If she was going to die, she wanted him to be the last thing she saw.
Even as she had the thought, anger welled inside her.
She was so mad. Furious .
That she’d been taken prisoner while she’d been in Kuwait visiting Ayden.
That she hadn’t been given food or water.
That Nate had been tortured in those cells.
That she’d finally found a man who was kind and protective, and for some reason liked her , and this asshole was trying to take that away from her.
That Gen and Millie thought it was okay to sell her. Sell her!
That apparently there was another woman who’d been sold to this horrible man who was holding her with a grip that felt as if it would leave permanent marks on her body.
Josie was done .
She opened her mouth, and all her frustrations poured out.
She screamed as loud as she could. Letting the world hear her frustration, her anger, her sorrow. Life was unfair—and she didn’t want to die!
Even as she continued screaming, Josie felt herself falling. The man had not only let go, he’d shoved her as hard as he could to the side. With her hands bound in front of her, she couldn’t protect herself as she crashed to the ground. She hit the ground hard, her scream cutting off as abruptly as it started.
Pandemonium erupted all around her. Nate, Preacher, and Smiley charged the man the second he shoved her away. The sound of the damn gun going off again was loud but when Josie looked up, she couldn’t tell if anyone was shot.
There was a tangle of arms and legs as the men fought for control. Josie tried to scoot out of the way, but her shoulder screamed in pain and all she could do was lie on the grass and watch with wide eyes.
The fight, such as it was, ended in seconds. Even though the man she’d been sold to outweighed the SEALs by a hundred pounds or more, Preacher and Smiley quickly had him on his belly with his arms wrenched behind his back and his legs bent in a kind of hogtie situation. They didn’t have anything to tie him with, but he wasn’t going anywhere as long as the two SEALs had a hold of him.
Then Nate was there, kneeling in front of her, blocking Josie’s view.
“Are you all right? Were you hit?”
Hit? No, the man hadn’t struck her. Why would Nate think that?
“Josie, look at me! Did you get shot?”
Oh! That’s what he meant. She shook her head.
“ Fuck !” Nate exclaimed.
And for some reason, hearing him say that, remembering back to the first time she’d heard him speak, when he’d said the exact same thing, made Josie feel safe.
Nate didn’t say another word, just reached into his pants pocket and pulled out something small and shiny. To her surprise, the cuffs around her wrists fell off.
“You have a handcuff key in your pocket?” she asked. Now that Nate was here, she had no problem speaking.
Though, it seemed as if Nate had lost his words. He simply nodded, then put his hands on her cheeks and stared deeply into her eyes.
“I’m okay,” she whispered, grabbing his wrists. They sat like that for several heartbeats, before the sound of a scuffle had them looking toward the side of the house.
Nate tensed, wrapping an arm around her.
“Hey! We saw what went down! They were trying to leave through the alley behind the house…figured that wouldn’t be cool. So we pulled them out of the car and brought them back here.” Four men held Gen and Millie between them. The women were struggling and trying to escape, swearing at everyone, but the men—who Josie could only assume lived in the area—had tight holds on both.
“A few of us have called nine-one-one,” a woman called out from the street.
“I recorded it all on my phone!” a boy who looked to be in his late teens said. “Well, I missed the first gunshot, but I got everything else. That was so fucking lit!”
“You need help?” another man asked.
Before Josie knew it, the neighbors had come closer and were all talking at once. A couple knelt on the grass to assist Preacher and Smiley. The others stood around, talking excitedly as they waited for the police to arrive. Sirens were getting louder and louder as vehicles raced toward the scene.
Nate went to help Josie stand, and she moaned when the movement hurt her shoulder. He froze. “You’re hurt?” he asked in a panicked tone.
Josie rarely heard him sound anything but calm and controlled. That, more than anything else that had happened, freaked her out. “I’m okay,” she reassured him quickly. “It’s just my shoulder. I think I landed on it wrong.”
The next twenty minutes were a blur. The police arrived, guns drawn, and for a minute or two, Josie was afraid Preacher and Smiley were going to be shot. But the bystanders made sure the cops knew who was a good guy and who wasn’t. Gen and Millie attempted to claim they had no idea what was going on, but the young man with the video was happy to share what he’d recorded with the officers—including Gen and Millie desperately trying to get away from the helpful bystanders, proving the two women were involved up to their eyeballs.
Nate had carried her over to the ambulance when it arrived, and an EMT looked at her shoulder and managed to massage it back into place, then put a brace on her arm. She was currently standing in the street, leaning against Nate, who had his arm around her. Josie soaked up his presence.
Eventually a detective arrived, and, after talking with the police officers who’d first reached the scene, he walked toward them.
“Mr. Davis and Ms. England, right?” he asked.
Josie didn’t have time to do more than nod before Nate spoke. “I know you want to talk to Josie, but I need to get her to the hospital to be checked out more thoroughly. She’s probably hungry and thirsty, and I really just want to get her out of here.”
“I understand, but we need to figure out what happened here tonight,” the detective said.
He really did look upset that he had to ask her questions. His compassion and understanding over the fact that she’d just been through something traumatic made Josie want to talk to him. The faster she got this done, the sooner she could go home. To Riverton. With Nate.
“It’s okay,” she told Nate, putting a hand on his arm.
“It’s not okay,” he said fiercely.
Ignoring the detective, Josie slipped around so she was facing Nate. She lifted her good hand and wrapped it around the back of his neck. “Look at me,” she whispered.
It took him a second or two, but finally, he tilted his head down to meet her gaze.
“I knew you’d come for me,” she told him. “That you’d find me. That you wouldn’t let them get away with it.”
“Spirit,” Nate breathed.
Josie shook her head. “Even if that man had managed to take me away, I would’ve held on…for you . I love you, Nate. In a way I’ve never loved anyone else in my life. I wasn’t going to let them win, not when I’d finally found everything I’d ever wanted. You, Nate. I found you . Or rather, you found me. I’m okay to talk to him. I want to. I want to make sure Gen and Millie don’t get away with what they’ve done.”
Nate closed his eyes, then nodded.
Josie turned to the detective. “I’m ready.”
“If you wouldn’t mind coming to sit in my car, it’ll be more comfortable for you.”
“I’m coming with her,” Nate told the man firmly.
After they’d gotten as comfortable as possible in the back of the detective’s vehicle, and he’d gotten her permission to turn on a recorder, Josie told her story. From the beginning. How Gen had shown up in disguise and kidnapped her, had been wearing an adult diaper so she didn’t have to stop to use the restroom…about the gas, the phones, and how Millie was in Vegas sending texts on them to provide an alibi. How they’d kept her in that closet in the basement—and the scratches she’d left inside, as proof—the story about selling her to the man for a thousand dollars, and what Gen said would happen to her.
Finally, she explained the why —that they blamed her for Ayden’s death, and hated her for it.
By the time she was finished speaking, Josie was a bit light-headed. It almost felt like she was in a dream, as if everything had happened to someone else.
“We’ve got all of them at the station now. The neighbors are being interviewed. Apparently they aren’t well liked in the area, and no one is hesitating to speak up. We’re also canvassing for security camera footage as well.”
“We’ll be staying the night here in Vegas, after I take her to the hospital. I’ll leave you my contact info, as well as my friends’ info. We’re all Navy SEALs, stationed down in Riverton, California.”
“Appreciate that. Thank you for your service.”
Nate nodded, then reached for the door handle.
Josie scooted to the edge of the seat, and when Nate picked her up, said, “I can walk.”
“I know. But I need this. Please.”
Josie heard the anguish in her man’s voice. She nodded, resting her head on his shoulder as he carried her toward his truck.
Preacher had been talking to a few officers, but when he saw them, he broke away and jogged over .
“She’s gone,” Smiley said when they reached the truck. He was standing next to the vehicle with a frown on his face.
“Who?” Josie asked.
“Bree.”
“ Who ?”
“The woman who was in the car. The other woman who’d been sold to that asshole. She was tied up and beaten. I brought her to the truck and told her to stay here. But after everything happened, I came to get her…and she was gone.”
“Oh no,” Josie whispered. “Where’d she go? Do you think someone got her?”
“I don’t know,” Smiley said, sounding more worried than she’d ever heard him before.
“You want to stay here, maybe look around while we take Josie to the hospital?” Preacher asked. “We can come back after.”
Smiley nodded. “If that’s okay.”
“It’s fine,” Nate told him.
“It’s just…she was beaten all to hell. And terrified. Her ex fucking sold her. I don’t know where she could’ve gone,” Smiley said, running a hand through his hair.
Josie felt a kinship with the unknown woman. They’d both almost experienced something beyond horrifying. “I hope you find her,” she told Smiley.
“Me too. I’m glad you’re all right,” he said gruffly.
“Thank you for coming with Nate to find me.”
“Wouldn’t have been anywhere else. Blink might be new to our team, but he’s one of us.”
Josie wanted to cry. She loved that Nate had friends like these. That he had people who would have his back no matter what.
“Call if you need us,” Preacher told Smiley.
The other man nodded. “I’m just going to hang out, maybe talk to some neighbors. She has to be around here somewhere.”
He wandered back toward Millie’s house and the groups of people who were still standing around. Even though it was the middle of the night, the adrenaline and excitement were keeping people at the scene.
Nate got Josie settled in the back of the truck, then climbed in after her. Preacher got behind the wheel and headed down the street.
Josie closed her eyes and leaned against Nate, fully relaxing for the first time since she’d opened the door to find Gen waiting for her.
“Fucking adult diaper,” Preacher mumbled from the driver’s seat. “Gross.”
It was. But it also proved premeditation, which Josie hoped would mean she’d get a harsher sentence in court. Though she was well aware that by the time lawyers did their thing, the amount of time both Millie and Gen spent behind bars would probably be minimal. It sucked, but she had to hope that karma would take care of the heartless bitches.