Chapter 29
“We like what your company is offering, Nick. I’ve reviewed the proposal along with my board and want to go ahead with the contract.”
“Thank you.” Nick held out his hand to the head of Clarksons—one of the biggest retail families in Oregon. His eyes shot to the window again when he stepped back.
The white delivery van was no longer there blocking his view of the café. He still couldn’t see Poppy, but she was probably just ordering more coffee, he reassured himself.
“I’ll talk to my brother, and we’ll be in touch regarding finalizing a start date,” Nick said.
“Excellent, I will speak to you soon,” Peter Clarkson said.
Nick walked out of the office and headed straight across the road. A guy wearing a striped apron was running toward him. He moved to the right to step around him and get to Poppy, but the man mirrored him.
“Do you know a Nick?” he demanded.
“I’m Nick,” he said, walking backward until they were on the sidewalk. “Why?”
“Someone called Poppy got a phone call in the café. She then told me to go to the portable office across the road and tell Nick Atherton that Malcolm Davy has her. I watched her get into a white van before it drove away,” he said. “I thought she was crazy, but you can’t be too sure, right?”
“Which way did the van go?” Nick demanded.
“Right.”
He ran then, pulling out his phone. Fear iced his veins as he called her. It went to voicemail, which he’d known it would, but he’d hoped Davy would pick up. Cutting the call, he rang Billy. Davy had Poppy. He couldn’t let anything happen to her. Not now, when she’d just come back into his life.
“It’s my lucky day. I get to talk to you twice,” Billy said.
“Davy’s got Poppy! I was in a meeting, and she was across the street. I could see her, and then this white van pulled up?—”
“Slow it down, bud.”
Nick exhaled and told Billy everything he knew. His eyes were going everywhere searching for a white van, but he couldn’t find it.
“I’m getting someone to track her phone now, Nick. Davy is nobody’s fool, and that’s how he’s stayed a step ahead of the game all these years, but maybe he’s not thrown it away yet,” Billy said.
“You said he was in his house!”
“I’m checking on that, Nick, but you need to calm down.”
“I don’t know the plate number, Billy!” Nick’s pulse was racing, and his skin felt tight. Davy had his girl. Poppy, the woman he loved.
That realization hit him hard. He loved Poppy, and she didn’t know.
“Go to your parents’ house now,” Billy ordered.
“No. I’m looking for her,” Nick said, his voice sounding hoarse.
“There are lots of white vans in Brook. You won’t find her,” Billy said.
“I have to try.” He cut the call. It rang constantly for the next twenty minutes, and he ignored it as he drove up and down streets.
When he found a white van, Nick stopped to search inside or question the driver.
Where is she? Knowing what Davy was capable of, Poppy would be terrified. He was fucking terrified!
“Poppy,” he whispered as the fear slammed into him. He hadn’t protected her.
Nick didn’t know how long he drove for, but when he saw the familiar gray sedan and black hatchback parked on the side of the road, he stopped.
His siblings then got out of the cars and surrounded his pickup.
“Move over,” Sam said, opening Nick’s door.
“Yeah, yeah, take a breath!” Em yelled when someone laid on the horn behind them.
“I need to find her,” Nick said. His fingers clenched around the steering wheel.
“I know you do, and we’re going to help,” Sam said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Now move over.”
Thomas and the girls got in the back, and Nick slid over because they’d stay there doing nothing to find Poppy if he didn’t.
“Eat this.” Thomas handed him a bag.
“I don’t want to eat,” Nick gritted out. “I want to find my girl now!”
“And to do that, you need to keep your strength up. Eat,” Gracie said.
“I can’t lose her,” Nick whispered.
“We’re not going to let that happen, Nicky,” Em said, resting her hand on his shoulder. “We’re going to find her.”
“Denton,” Nick said suddenly. “He’s being interviewed by Billy. He’ll know where Davy has taken her.”
“We can’t storm into the station, Nick,” Thomas said. “Let’s keep looking.”
“Go to the police station,” Nick gritted out, cursing himself for not remembering that his cousin was interviewing Denton.
Sam did a U-turn in the middle of the street. Horns blared, brakes squealed, and then they were speeding toward the station.
“Billy, we’re coming to you,” Gracie said from the back seat. “I know you told him that, but he’s sure Denton knows where Poppy is. We bring him, or he brings himself.” Nick heard a lot of cursing on the phone before Gracie hung up.
“Behave like a human, not a crazed bear,” Em said, this time jabbing Nick in the shoulder. “Billy said he’ll put you in cuffs if he has to.”
All he could see was Poppy in his head. Crying and in pain. That bastard hurting her. Nick wouldn’t rest until he’d destroyed Malcolm Davy if he had touched her.
“Inhale and exhale.” Sam shot him a look. “Another one,” he ordered.
“I need her,” he got out. “I don’t think I can live without her.”
He heard his sisters sniff, and then Thomas too.
“Will you three man up!” Sam snapped. “We’ll get her back, bro. It’s our vow to you,” Sam said.
“How?” Nick demanded.
Sam screeched to a halt in the parking lot outside the police station. Billy walked out the doors as they approached.
“You can’t go in there, Nick.”
“Why the fuck is Davy here and not in his house like you said he was?” Nick snarled.
“Because he paid an impersonator to walk about his house,” Billy said. “The police just knocked on his door and talked to the guy.”
“Christ!” Nick looked at the sky. “How can those fuckers be that inept? I want to speak to Denton. That asshole knows where my girl is, and I want her back. I’ll stand out here until you let me in.”
“Not happening,” Billy said. “I’m interviewing him now.”
“Good timing, then,” Sam said. “We can help you.”
Billy jabbed a finger in Sam’s direction. “You’re not helping, so shut up.”
Nick’s phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and checked the number, but it had no caller ID.
“Answer it on speaker,” Billy said.
Nick did as he asked.
“Hello, this is Malcolm Davy,” a nasal voice said. “Don’t speak or threaten me, or I will hang up.”
Nick opened his mouth, but Thomas put his hand over it.
“I want my friend released, and then I will return Poppy to you.”
Nick shook his brother’s hand from his mouth.
“You’ve been stalking her for years. Don’t tell me you’ll release her now,” he said. “I’m going to fucking destroy you if you harm her, Davy. There will be no place you can hide that I won’t find you.”
“Shut him up,” Billy hissed, taking his phone before Nick could stop him. “This is Detective William Atherton, Mr. Davy. What is it you want?”
“I want my friend back, and you have him.”
Billy waved everyone inside and followed. Clearly, he didn’t want to have this discussion on the street.
“What my cousin said stands,” Billy said, leading them all through the reception area and into a small room to the right. He then shut the door. Looking at each of his cousins, he placed a finger on his lips. “You have been stalking Poppy for years. Why would you stop now?”
“If you want Poppy back,” Em whispered in Nick’s ear, “shut up.”
It went against everything inside him to drop into the seat she nudged him to.
Nick fixed things that were broken. He helped his family when they needed it. He was never helpless. That was for other people. A problem solver, his mother called him.
He couldn’t do anything for Poppy in that moment but listen to this asshole dictate his terms. It was a type of hell he thought would haunt him for the rest of his life.
“I want my friend back more, and it’s the least I can do for him. I will get Poppy, but not now.”
“I’ll kill you first,” Nick growled.
“You need to stop him from speaking to me like that,” Davy said, his voice high-pitched and panicky now. “I’m in control here!”
Billy sent him a glare. “What do you want us to do?”
“I will give you the location and time for the exchange.”
“I want to speak to her,” Nick said, ignoring the anger his cousin directed his way. “How do we know he’s even got her?”
There was silence on the phone, and he thought Davy had gone.
“Nick?”
“Poppy.” Nick got out of his seat hearing her voice. “Are you all right?”
“Yes—”
“You’ve spoken to her, so now you listen to me.” Davy’s voice came back on the line.
“Davy,” Nick said.
“What?”
“I will not rest until you are dead if you touch one hair on her head.”
He cut the call.