Chapter 55 Isaac
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
isaac
Wind buffets the wings as I track the route to the highway below, the plane slicing through gray. I spot the SUV weaving through traffic like it owns the road.
I usually turn my phone off when flying but thank fuck I didn’t, because Brett Mitchell calls me just as I almost lose sight of the SUV.
“What’s your twenty?” I bark out hoping like hell he’s in the area.
“Just got off work, heading down I-90 East.”
“Can you head toward Livingston? Looks like that’s where he’s headed.”
“Copy that,” Brett’s voice comes back tight. “Getting off at the interchange now.”
I drop altitude, keeping pace overhead. Every muscle in my body coils tighter with each mile marker.
On the ground, Brett’s truck swings into the merge. He’s not far from Diego but not close enough to cut him off before I can land somewhere.
“Pick me up behind the old, abandoned strip mall. I’m landing now.”
“10-4. Beau is on his way.”
Just as I’m about to set the plane down, a black Triple Creek Ranch truck speeds toward Diego from the opposite direction.
I don’t see what happens next because I’m landing in a shitty excuse for a decent place to do so. I bank toward the grassy knoll beside the abandoned mall and set the plane down rough. My pulse pounds in my throat.
I’ve barely cut the engine when Brett whips into the lot in front of me. I make my way out of the plane and into his truck as fast as I can.
When we turn onto the main road, the Triple Creek Ranch truck and Beau Mitchell have boxed Diego in next to the Town Pump gas station and truck stop.
Diego’s brake lights flare, then flash, like he’s thinking about ramming what I think is Wyatt and maybe Lane Colter in the work truck.
When I skid up behind them, Beau’s already yanking Diego’s door open. Rain pelts the asphalt, hot steam curling off from the earlier sun.
Diego’s security spill out of the back of the SUV, two men with shaved heads, matching skull neck tattoos, and leather cuts stamped with the words Depraved Souls.
What the fuck?
I thought these guys left town years ago. A nearby group called the Broken Savages ran them out of town because of rumors of drug and human trafficking. Brooklyn Harris’s mom had disappeared with them. But two of them are right here in front of me.
Guess they’re assholes for hire these days.
Wyatt walks calmly over with the confidence of a serial killer in a movie.
He has the same deadly look I’ve seen only twice before in my life.
When Ivy’s ex showed up on the ranch and when the Sheriff told us our father was murdered.
Colter follows behind him looking as blood-thirsty as I’ve ever seen him.
Beside me, Brett moves like a boulder rolling downhill, an unstoppable force. His brother yanks Diego out of the vehicle and slams him against it, grinning like it’s his birthday.
I’ve never been so damn grateful to have unhinged family members and friends.
Diego glares like the devil himself, pulls a gun from his jacket, then it’s chaos. One of the bikers grabs Beau from behind. But Brett is faster. I barely make my way around a flurry of fists, shouts, and bodies hitting the ground before Diego tries to get back in the SUV.
I grab his jacket from behind, yanking him to me. “Of course you’d try to bolt, you fucking coward. Where is she?”
“She’s none of your business. She’s mine,” he sneers. “Always has been.”
“Elena!” I roar.
The passenger door bursts open. She stumbles out, rain plastering her hair to her face, eyes wild.
Diego takes advantage of my momentary distraction to land a punch to my jaw.
I grin at him because if that’s all he’s got, he’s fucked.
I swing hard, savoring the sound of my knuckles crunching the bones of his nose. When he doesn’t go down, I swing again, using every ounce of rage I possess, connecting with his jaw just before he hits the pavement.
Wyatt grabs him and drags him away from the entrance just before an eighteen-wheeler takes him out.
Luckily for Diego, my brother has more scruples than me.
Colter pats him down for more weapons, removing a knife from his belt. In the melee, Diego’s gun was knocked from his hand and skittered too far under his vehicle for any of us to reach.
I crouch down to where he’s slouched against his SUV, close enough I could kiss this fucker. Giving him a hard slap so he opens his eyes, I make sure he’s coherent enough to hear me before I speak.
“Listen close, because you only get this one warning.” My voice is one I’ve never heard come out of my mouth. “If you ever so much as think about coming near my wife or anyone in her family ever again, I will personally break every bone in your fucking body. Are we clear?”
He spits blood to the side, meets my eyes with what little fight he has left in him and lifts his chin.
“I’m not afraid of you, cowboy.”
I feel the smile spread across my face. “Good, Diego. That’s real good. Because deep down, I was hoping like hell you’d give me a reason to end you’re miserable fucking life.”
I grip his throat and lift him to his feet. I’ve got a few inches on him so I don’t stop until he’s only tiptoes on the ground.
“Any final words?”
“Okay,” he bites out, through bloody teeth. “Okay. I won’t go near her or her fucking family.”
I still slam him against the vehicle for good measure. Just to make sure I got my point across.
The back of his head must hit the window awfully hard because it shatters. Diego’s dead weight causes me to drop him to the ground.
He doesn’t move but he’s breathing.
Elena runs straight into me, fingers fisting my shirt. “I recorded him,” she gasps. “Everything. His threats, his ties to the cartel. It should be enough to make a case against him.”
Even now, even with a bruise in the shape of a handprint forming on her beautiful face, my girl is brilliant. Sharp. Strong.
“You’re okay?” I check her over for contusions. Move her hair so I can see every inch of her head.
She nods but she’s trembling.
I stroke the side of her face gently. “Who hit you, baby?”
She glances at Diego and I’m about to finish what I started when she wraps her arms around me.
“Don’t,” she pleads. “Let him pay for his crimes. Let him suffer like all of those who suffered because of him.”
I hold her in my arms as she sags against me. Relief that she’s safe and sound slams into me so hard it steals my breath.
Wyatt checks to make sure we’re both okay.
Behind us, Beau, Brett, and Colter finish mopping up what’s left of Diego’s pathetic crew. A county sheriff cruiser finally rolls in, lights flashing, way too late.
Paradise Valley’s finest, ladies and gentlemen.
I tuck Elena under my arm knowing I’ll never let her go again. “We need to get you to a hospital. Have you and the baby checked out.”
She nods. Then her voice cracks when she speaks. “I’m so sorry, Isaac. I didn’t know he was capable of those horrible things.” She sucks in a breath. “As soon as I realized how dangerous he was, the danger your family was in, I did everything I could to keep him away from you.”
Even if it meant her being away from me.
I tip her chin so she’s looking at me. “I know you did, spitfire. And I’m so proud of you.
But next time, let’s come up with a signal or a code word so I know when you’re being kidnapped and held against your will.
Otherwise, anytime I piss you off and you try to leave me, I’ll assume you need to be rescued and come after you like the love-crazed maniac I am. ”
She smiles through her tears. “I’m hoping there won’t be a next time, cowboy.”
I kiss her then, long, slow, and full of every promise I intend to keep.
When we come up for air, I rest my forehead on hers. “You never have to face anything like this alone again, Elena. Understood?”
She nods and I kiss her again.
“We’re a team now, baby. ‘Til death do us part.” I knock my forehead gently against hers. “And I’d like for that to be a really, really long time from now.”
She snuggles against me then, as if she can’t get close enough.
Even with sirens wailing, engines rumbling, and the rain coming down in sheets, the only thing I hear is her whisper, “til death do us part.”
And just like that, every mile I chased her, every obstacle that we’ve faced, feels worth it.
Because I’ve got her.
And I’m never letting go.