Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“A.J.!” Rory hurried outside toward A.J., sunlight cutting through the haze of the early morning hour. “You’re here.” Oh my God, they found us!
A.J. encircled her with his big, strong arms and hugged her tight. That familiar feeling of Alabama’s small-town comfort filled her with A.J. there. “You okay? You hurt? Anyone?”
“I’m okay. And no, I didn’t get hurt. Roman did, but he’s okay.” She eased out of his arms and released a grateful breath. “I can’t believe you found us or that you’re here.”
And also, the man looked intimidating. As did all of his friends crowding the backyard.
They’d come prepared for battle—military fatigues, black and green face paint, camo ball caps on, and weapons strapped to their bodies.
A.J. tipped his head, gaze pointed about twenty feet away from where Chris stood alongside Wyatt and Luke as they faced Carter. A heated exchange, but no guns were drawn.
It was Rory’s first time officially meeting Luke Scott, the team leader, since he hadn’t been at the party at Liam’s home last week. Luke was tall, broad-shouldered with a deep voice, and came across as a total badass. Basically, like all of the guys at Chris’s company.
“My family, are they okay?” They were why she’d left the life, and she couldn’t handle anything happening to them.
A.J. returned his focus to her, a tight grit to his jawline. “We’ve got everyone covered. We weren’t sure if the abduction was connected to you, or my people somehow.”
Kind of both. It was complicated.
“We put security on all of our families, including yours. My brother is also helping out back home to keep Jesse from searching for you himself.”
A.J.’s brother was the sheriff in their hometown in Alabama, but she wasn’t sure if even Beckett could keep Jesse in line.
He was stubbornly overprotective. “Chris knows about the scars on my back as well as what you and Jesse did nine years ago.” She shut her eyes.
“I had to tell him. I thought you should have a heads-up because I have a feeling he’ll bring it up. ”
“Don’t apologize. I have no regrets about what I did.” He set a hand to her shoulder, and she opened her eyes and took a steadying breath.
“Does Ella know I was taken?” Rory needed to talk to her. Let her best friend know she was safe. Not to worry. But she wasn’t prepared to explain the choices she’d made over the last three years that had basically come back to haunt her. At least, not quite yet.
“Jesse was afraid to tell her. He didn’t let your parents know, either.”
A sigh of relief slipped free. “Good call.” She didn’t know if Ella or her parents would be able to handle the news.
She’d rather face them once the main threat was gone.
“Carter said he has men in Alabama watching over my family, too.” If he wasn’t lying, that is.
But now that A.J. and the others had arrived, Carter wouldn’t need to provide proof her family was okay.
A.J.’s brows tightened in confusion, and she quickly explained what Carter had told her about pretty much everything. Well, the abridged version. She didn’t have time to get into too many details right now.
“Where’s Bear?”
“He’s with Jessica about a mile away waiting for us to let her know if it’s safe to approach,” A.J.
replied, his tone a bit hollow as if trying to shake off the shock of what she’d told him.
“We weren’t sure if we’d need Bear’s super sniffer nose to find y’all.
I’m not sure how much training he’s got so far, but we didn’t want to leave anyone behind who might help. Not even Bear.”
“And how’d you find us?” She glanced at the rest of his team standing not too far away deep in conversation with Harper and Roman, who were probably filling them in on some of the “highlights” of the weekend as well.
Holy cow, Knox Bennett, the son of the President of the United States, is here. It was, well, a bit strange and surreal. Every moment since Friday had been crazy, though.
“Elaina insisted she had to see Bear bright and early Saturday morning. She was actually beside herself with worry, so Liam and I took her over to Chris’s place when neither of you picked up our calls.
When no one answered the door—and with Bear barking up a storm—we realized something was wrong.
And then we discovered Roman and Harper were also MIA.
” He shook his head as though it was his fault he hadn’t known they’d been kidnapped.
“Jessica used our facial recognition software to track y’all down.
She realized some men dressed as firefighters had taken y’all out of the hotel Friday night. ”
Rory still couldn’t quite wrap her head around how they found them at Carter’s estate in Puerto Rico of all places, but it was damn impressive. “I’m so sorry about all of this. I never thought . . . I mean, I did think it was possible, but, damn it.”
“You’re safe now. All of you. That’s what matters.”
But we’re not. Not with The Italian out there.
“Looks like they’re done arguing.” A.J. pointed to Chris heading their way.
“What’s going on?” Rory asked Chris. “What’d you talk about?”
Chris was still shirtless, wearing only the jeans he had on from dinner last night and no shoes. He’d left the room in a hurry, not even ten minutes ago. It all happened so fast. And thankfully, not a single shot had been fired.
“Carter has no choice but to let us go. He doesn’t want a war, and he wasn’t counting on my people showing up,” Chris quickly explained.
“So, we’re not going to work with him?” And why did that have her feeling panicky?
“I didn’t say that, but you don’t want to stay here, right?” Chris’s brows tightened.
“I, um.” She turned, eyes falling to the lush grass beneath her sandals. Chills scattered over her skin. Chris’s hand on her shoulder urged her to turn back around, but she couldn’t face him. Not until she figured out what to say.
“You think we should stay?” His warm breath feathered over her shoulder. She’d quickly changed into jeans and a tank top before one of Carter’s men had retrieved her from her room.
“I think it’s best if we stay here.” There, she said it. She turned and set a palm to his face and let go of a deep, shaky breath. “I trust him, well, I’m trying to, which I know sounds strange. But I think we’ve been brought here together for a reason, and so, we should stay together.”
Chris squeezed the back of his neck, moving out of her reach, and she allowed her hand to fall to her side. “He’s going to want to use you as bait. Correction, he’s going to want to use you as bait again.”
“And he could have let the Trott brothers pass us off to The Italian, but he decided to rescue us instead. Not take the chance.” Her stomach twisted, nerves starting to get the best of her.
“I don’t deserve your trust in my choices given we’re in this mess because I didn’t open up to you sooner, but I’m going to ask for it anyway. ”
Chris studied her for a few seconds. Brows drawn. Conflict in his blue eyes. Then his shoulders sloped the tiniest of a fraction, and he stepped back and turned away. “Carter,” he called out.
Carter headed toward Chris, two of his men cautiously following behind.
“Rory wants to give this a chance, but it’ll be up to my team whether they’re joining us or not,” Chris said, his tone rough and gritty. And it must have taken all of his strength to say those words.
Joining us? So, Chris was with her regardless . . .
Carter peered at Rory, and she saw the look of thanks in his dark eyes. “Good.” He pointed in the direction of the dining area where they’d sat last night. “My staff will serve breakfast. You all eat while I make a few calls. We’ll meet afterward, and then we’ll talk.”
“My people will be present at our meeting,” Luke said, coming up next to Chris, standing tall, a dominating force.
“Fine. We’ll be sure to grab extra chairs.” Carter’s tone was casual, almost joking, which took Rory by surprise. Humor and this man would be a good combo if he tried it a bit more often.
“We don’t want to eat your breakfast,” Finn remarked, and Rory turned to see him coming up alongside Luke. “I’d prefer not to get poisoned.”
“It’s safe,” Rory said softly. Well, it had been last night.
“Eat. Don’t eat. I don’t care.” Carter turned, then tossed a look back over his shoulder toward where they stood. “Was it your men?”
“Our men?” Chris asked.
Carter offered his profile and tucked his hands into his sweatpants pockets. He was also shirtless like Chris, his ink on display. “Was it your men who retrieved Alvin Santiago in El Salvador, the man who Rory offered up to the CIA?”
Luke stepped forward, a hand in the air. “How the hell—”
“Santiago. He told me the men who took him weren’t CIA or typical military. I was just curious.” Carter shrugged.
“You know,” Rory began, turning into Chris’s arms once Carter had left, “part of me wishes we could go back to telling lies like we did this morning in bed,” she whispered, the weight of the world and their problems feeling a bit too heavy right now.
Chris gently held her biceps. “We’ll get through this, and we’ll get a million more moments after this to share, and none of them will have to be lies.”