Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
September 7 th
8:02 A.M.
“Who could that have been do you think?” John asked as he lowered the phone from his ear.
Never in all his years as an adult had Cade rolled his eyes so many times at another person. Sure, when he was a kid, he might have rolled his eyes at his brothers, his parents, his teachers, his football coach, it was what kids did. But as an adult, he’d never really had cause because most people weren't as ridiculous as the man standing before him.
Despite delivering what could have been a life-ending knife wound the day before, the man who had delivered it hadn't angled the blade correctly to hit his femoral artery. So instead of bleeding out in a matter of minutes, Cade was still alive more than twelve hours later. The wound on his thigh was a bloody mess, but it had already clotted and formed a scab, he wasn't going to bleed out from it.
Infection was another story.
If he didn't receive treatment for the deep gash, there was the possibility that infection would set into the wound, and if left long enough, could wind up killing him.
But that was a worry for another day.
Right now, he’d just been given something to eat and drink and he already felt his strength returning. He was ready to make a move and had a plan in place.
“It was Becca asking to meet up with me,” John informed him since he hadn't done the obvious and asked who had been on the other end of the phone.
If his brothers had okayed Becca attempting to arrange a meeting with John, that had to mean they knew something. If they didn't know who John Jones really was, then at the very least, Gabriella had been able to give a description of the men who had taken her and they knew that John had been part of it.
Perfect.
Time to make his move as soon as John left.
“Give my regards to the woman who turned you down multiple times and called you creepy,” he shot back.
“How about I do better than that.” John lifted the phone and snapped a photo of him, then turned and walked back up the stairs out of the basement.
When he reached the top of the stairs John paused. When he turned around his expression said he was clearly conflicted. The man was a walking contradiction. In some ways, he seemed to actually care about other people, but in other ways, he was quite obviously a narcissist.
“Letting the woman and child go was a mistake. I knew that when I agreed to the terms of your deal. But … the way she protected the girl … reminded me of how my mother would do her best to protect me from my father’s rages. So I can't regret my decision. I can call in enough favors and have any description she gave of me wiped out, have her painted as suffering from PTSD and labeled as not a reliable witness. Anything she says won't destroy me, but I can't risk you getting away. I'm sure you understand.” Turning to his men, he said, “If I don’t contact you within the hour, kill him. He’s outlived his usefulness.”
Those words probably should have instilled fear in him, but instead, they resolved his determination that it was the right time to make his move.
With a last look that conveyed a slight measure of regret, John turned and headed out the door, leaving him alone with two of John’s men.
He had to give it to John Gaccione, the man certainly had confidence.
Stupid confidence if he really thought that with all of Prey’s resources and connections, he was going to be able to undo Gabriella’s claims that he was one of the men who had been part of abducting her and holding her and Essie against their will.
Cade knew he owed a massive thanks to John’s deceased mother. Because if it wasn't for her instilling some humanity in her son and doing her best to protect him from his abusive father, there was no way Gabriella and Essie would be alive right now.
He owed a massive thanks to Gabriella as well.
Because if she hadn't fought for his daughter, reminding John of the mother he’d obviously loved,there was no way either she or Essie would be alive.
Shoving all thoughts of his daughter and the woman who had woken up the heart he believed had died along with his wife, Cade focused on what he had to do if he even wanted to stand a chance at getting home to his girls.
There was no way his brothers weren't planning on being there for that meeting. Once they got their hands on John, he had no doubt they would do whatever they had to in order to make him talk.
But they didn't know they had less than an hour to get John someplace secure, get him talking, and then get there to wherever he was being held, otherwise he’d be dead.
If he wanted to live, wanted to go home to his girls, then his fate was in his own hands.
With their boss out of the way, the two remaining men in the room headed over to the small table they’d set up and sat down, picking up the card game they’d abandoned when their boss showed up. While he’d been left alone before John arrived, ever since the man had made sure he had at least two guards in the room at all times. Seemed John wasn't big on trust and did realize how great a threat he was even if the men he’d hired didn't.
Before it annoyed him, hampered his ability to act while being constantly watched, but now he was grateful for their presence.
For his new plan, he needed them close by.
One shot.
That was all he was going to have.
If he didn't get it right the first time, there would be no do-overs. If he wanted to live and figure out what came next for him and Gabriella, he had to get this right. If he wanted to ensure that his daughter didn't lose the only parent she had left, he had to succeed.
With the pressure weighing heavily against him, Cade focused. This was the most important mission of his life.
There was literally zero room for error.
Dragging in a deep breath he got himself in the zone. He had a plan, all he had to do was follow it through step by step and he should make it out alive.
Knowing he could have his little girl and Gabriella in his arms in just a few hours was all the motivation he needed.
Gagging, he fought against his body’s natural instincts to not throw up and instead expelled everything he had in his stomach. At the same time, he ordered his body to jerk uncontrollably like he was having a seizure, one that sent him and the chair he was still chained to crashing to the floor.
He barely felt the pain as his already battered body hit the hard concrete because the two men were hurrying over.
“What's wrong with him?” one asked.
“Looks like he’s having a seizure. Could be because of the wound? How long does it take for infection to get in?”
“No clue. What even are the symptoms of infection? I didn't think they were seizures.”
“Does it matter? Something’s wrong with him.”
“Maybe we should just let nature take its course. We’re supposed to kill him anyway in an hour if we don’t hear from the boss.”
“You want to risk not following orders to a T?” the other asked incredulously. “He said kill him in an hour if we don’t hear from him. It’s been like thirty minutes. If we do hear from the boss, he might not want him dead at all. We should try to help him.”
“Fine,” the other said with a long-suffering sigh. “Unchain him from the chair.”
Success.
Exactly what he’d been after.
“Leave the other chains on. Boss said he’s dangerous,” the man who’d advocated for him said.
That was fine. He could work with that. It should still be easy enough to take these two out even if his wrists were chained together.
Knowing he’d have to take them both out almost simultaneously, Cade waited until he felt himself slump away from the chair, then the two men laid him out flat on the concrete. Keeping his body limp and unresponsive, when he felt them both close by, he sprang into action.
Hooking his legs around the neck of one of them, he used the cuffs binding his wrists to his advantage and swung his bound hands up and around the other man’s head. Using his legs to snap the neck of one man, he squeezed tight around the other’s neck.
The first was dead before he realized what was happening, the second took a little longer, but soon his attempts at fighting back died down and then stopped altogether.
Sighing in relief, he let go of both dead bodies and quickly shifted so he was on his knees. Finding the keyring with the keys he needed to unlock himself, Cade freed himself from the last of his chains and shoved to his feet.
A wave of light-headedness reminded him that he wasn't in optimum condition. Not that it mattered. He had to get out of there quickly before the remaining guards came to check on their friends.
Claiming both weapons, he ignored the burning pain in his thigh and took the stairs two at a time to reach the top.
Only just as he was swinging the door open, he came face to face with the barrel of a weapon.
Just like that, his one chance at living went up like a puff of smoke.
September 7 th
8:26 A.M.
This was crazy.
Never in her life had Gabriella been this close to anything this dangerous.
Growing up in foster care, she’d spent some time around kids who were lost and alone and searching for a place to belong and found it in all the wrong places. Some of those kids were into dangerous things, drugs, gangs, and fighting, sometimes with knives or guns as weapons.
But nothing to this level.
The anger rolling off the Charleston brothers was off the charts. They were furious that John Gaccione had been targeting their family and were ready to do something about it. It helped a little to know that part of their anger stemmed from what had happened to her and Essie, and she knew she was in no danger from them, none of them would ever lay a hand on her, but she was thinking maybe she should have stayed home with Essie, Jake, and Jax.
Too late to back out now.
Becca was already standing by the mall doors.
Connor and Cooper were hovering nearby but out of sight.
Cole was sitting in the car with her.
The wheels had already been set in motion, there was no stopping what was about to happen. While they all waited to see if John was actually going to show his face, Prey was running through every piece of information they could gather about the man including a list of properties where he might be holding Cade.
Please let us find him soon.
For some reason, Gabriella felt like time was running out. It was probably just because things were about to get serious, but she had this horrible feeling in her stomach just like she’d had the morning before she was beaten that said something bad was going to happen.
“Incoming,” Cole suddenly said into his comms, and she followed his line of sight to see a vehicle driving past them taking a parking spot a couple down from where they were, closer to the door.
From where she was, she got a perfect look at the driver and it was indeed John Gaccione.
Maybe she should have recognized him right away when she’d first seen him in that room, but honestly, she’d been too scared to focus on anything else. Still, her delay in identifying him could have cost Cade his life, and if it did she would never forgive herself.
Since she’d declined wearing a comms unit because she didn't really want to be involved in the actual takedown, she didn't know what the guys were saying, or what was happening.
Seconds ticked by.
Cole didn't say anything, but she could feel the tension rolling off him and knew he wished he was out there with the others instead of sitting with her.
Just as she was about to tell him she’d be okay on her own so he could go out there and do … whatever the guys had planned, she saw them.
John being walked between Connor and Cooper toward their vehicle. If you didn't know any better, you’d just see three men walking side by side through a busy mall parking lot, but she did know better and could see the bulges of the weapons the twins were wearing. She could tell how they were angled toward John even as they were hidden from anyone not specifically looking for them.
To his credit, John didn't look to be concerned, in fact, he almost had what she would consider to be a smug grin on his face.
That feeling she’d been having intensified a hundredfold.
Something was wrong.
Why wasn't John more worried? Why wasn't he even a little bit worried? He had to know he was likely walking into a trap because he knew he’d let her and Essie go and that she’d seen him and would tell people. Yet he’d come anyway. He had to have a plan, some reason he thought he was going to walk out of this alive.
Did he not realize how dangerous these brothers could be?
Mess with their family and they would do everything in their power to take you down. Cade and his brothers also had the entire might of Eagle Oswald and Prey Security at their back. While it was true that John had a lot of contacts through his job, it still wasn't comparable to Eagle’s contacts. She’d met the revered former SEAL a handful of times and Eagle was an intimidating figure, oozing confidence and charm, who was always so sure of himself and his decisions. She wouldn't want to be on the man’s bad side, yet John didn't seem to worry about it at all.
When their gazes connected, Gabriella couldn’t help but shrink away from the window. The intensity of John’s gaze brought back all those memories she didn't have time to deal with right now.
But stuffing them away was so much harder when one of the men who’d made her get on her knees before him so he could roughly take her mouth was too much.
She wasn't even aware she was whimpering until Cole reached around to shoot her a worried look.
“You okay, Gabs?” he asked.
Unable to speak she just nodded.
There was no time for her to have a meltdown.
Whether she was okay or not—and most definitely was not—the priority was getting Cade home to his daughter.
That was what mattered.
Once the two were reunited then she could fall apart.
Maybe.
Unless they needed her.
“Gabriella and I are going to take an Uber home,” Cole told the others when Cooper reached out and opened the back door of the SUV.
“No,” she said, still shrinking away from John’s approach, but confident she wanted to be there. “I'm okay. I just …” she trailed off because she still hadn't told the others what had happened to her when she was being held captive. They knew about the kiss because it was on the video that had been sent, but they didn't know about the oral sex she’d been forced to give, or about the bite on her breast that burned with pain, but she was steadfastly ignoring it.
“Yes, yes, of course she is,” John said as he was shoved into the back of the SUV behind where she was sitting.
“Don’t talk to her,” Connor snarled as he climbed into the backseat beside her. Cooper joined him and Becca took the front passenger seat.
“Of course,” John agreed amicably. “Was just trying to make conversation. I understand why you're all so on edge. It’s why I felt like I must reach out to Becca and let her know that I might be related to the woman I assumed would one day be her sister-in-law. I was just trying to do the right thing, Becca, you know that. You know me.”
“Shut up,” Cooper ordered, and John gave an agreeable nod.
They rode in silence until they got to the building she knew was where Cade and his team planned their ops and ran training drills. Prey’s main office was in Manhattan, but since that was several hours away, they had their own office building close to home. There were plenty of times that they had to go into the main office, but most of the time, Eagle allowed his teams the autonomy of working independently so long as they ran things by him.
She’d only been there a handful of times over the years, but never like this.
Never with a prisoner in tow.
Since she knew Prey always did things in a way that there would be no blowback to them, she had to assume they had already alerted authorities to the fact that John Gaccione was involved in her and Essie’s abduction and had permission to interrogate him.
Whatever John thought was going to happen was not.
Life as he knew it was already over.
This was all just a formality because they needed to know where Cade was being held.
Please be alive, please be alive, please don’t let us be too late.
It felt like it was too late.
That’s what she was thinking as the car drove into the underground parking lot and came to a stop.
As the guys pulled John out of the vehicle, she and Becca trailed behind as they all headed inside. Instead of taking the lift to the main floors, they took it down to a level she hadn't been to before.
Not that she needed an imagination to figure out what this level was for.
These were the interrogation rooms.
“Wait here, moonlight,” Connor said, pausing to drop a kiss to Becca’s lips. “You too, Gabriella.”
That was fine with her. She didn't want to watch this even as she knew it was necessary.
Cade’s life was hanging in the balance.
It didn't take long for the first scream to hit the air and all she could do was slump against the wall, wrapping her arms around Becca as they held onto each other and prayed for the answers they needed to save Cade’s life.