Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
BECKETT
“I have to go, Brad. Skyla’s waiting for me.”
“Sorry, boss, I just had to get this handled before you go. One more thing?—”
“No. Call me if there are issues, but you know this as well as I do. I have to go. ”
He nods, and I wave, hurrying to my truck. The last class ends in fifteen minutes, and it’ll take me at least that long to get there. I don’t want my girl alone for even a minute. There’s no evidence that The Asshole has left Manhattan, but I’m not taking any chances with her safety.
Every day for the past month, she’s had someone, if not me, collect her from the dance studio. Family members have stepped in when I’ve been busy, or Benji has driven her home on the rare days that none of us are available. I hate that we don’t know where the fucker is or what his motives are. Does he know where she is? Hopefully not, but we’ve stayed vigilant, and this delay has me feeling on edge.
I’m making decent time into town when I come upon an accident and have to slow way down until I crawl to a stop.
Chase Wild holds up a hand, then crosses to my window, and I roll it down.
“What’s up?” I ask him.
“Fatality,” he says grimly. “They were going too fast around the bend. Hit a deer.”
“Shit.” I tighten my hand on the wheel. “Anyone we know?”
“No. Tourist. It’s going to take about ten more minutes to get the ambulance out of there and the vehicle moved.”
“Skyla’s alone at the studio,” I reply in agitation. “It makes me nervous.”
“Call her and check in,” he advises. Connor reached out to the Bitterroot Valley Police Department after the incident in LA, just in case we had any surprises, and I’m glad he did. I’ve known Chase all my life and trust him implicitly. “I’ll get you through here as soon as I can.”
With a nod, I pick up my phone and dial her number, but it goes to voicemail after the fourth ring.
With a scowl, I press the call button again but get the same result.
“Fuck,” I growl. It’s likely that she’s just in the restroom or neglected to turn her ringer back on after her class, but I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
So I call Connor.
“Gallagher,” he says.
“It’s Beck. I’m stuck behind an accident on the highway, and I’m late getting to Skyla. She’s not answering her phone. How far away from the studio are you?”
“Closer than you. I’ll head over.”
“Appreciate it,” I reply, and he ends the call. I need to know that she’s okay. I hate being late in getting her. It doesn’t happen often, and after today, I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Nothing is more important than Irish.
Finally, the ambulance leaves the scene, and Chase waves his hand at me, indicating that I should drive through. With a relieved sigh, I do just that, nodding at my friend as I pass by.
When I’m sure I’m past the wreck, I floor it.
I pull up to the studio and see that I have beat Connor here. I’m about to call him back to tell him that I have this under control when my eyes spot a black mass on the studio floor.
Riley.
Something is not fucking right.
Running out of my truck, I push through the door and scream my girl’s name.
“Skyla! Baby, where are you?”
There’s no answer. It’s silent in the studio as I run through checking every room, but I know I won’t find her.
She’s not here.
And she’d never leave Riley.
I fall to my knees beside the dog, my heart in my throat and blood roaring through my head as I press my hand to his side.
He’s breathing.
But he’s hurt.
He has blood on his head, and his eyes are rolled back.
The bell dings as Connor comes inside.
“What the fucking hell?”
“She’s not here. Riley’s hurt and needs help.” Jesus, I don’t know what to do. “He’s got her. That’s the only way she’d ever leave Riley like this.”
“Call your sister to help with him,” Connor says as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Miller.”
He talks to his security man, and I call Bee.
“Hey,” she says.
“I need you at the studio. Riley’s hurt. Call a vet or something. We don’t know where Skyla is.”
Those last six words almost kill me.
“On it,” she replies and ends the call.
What feels like hours later, Bee rushes inside and runs over, dropping to her knees beside me.
“The vet’s on her way,” she says, and I can tell she’s struggling to keep her voice calm. “I have this handled. Where is she?”
I shake my head as terror wants to take over, but Bee lays her hand on my shoulder.
“Stop. No panicking. Do you hear me? No. Panicking.”
I swallow, push the terror back, and nod. “We don’t know. She was gone, and I found Riley like this.”
More people rush inside. The vet, more security. Even Chase, whose eyes narrow on me in an unspoken question.
What the fuck?
I shake my head. I don’t know what’s fucking happening, and it’s tearing me apart inside.
“Go,” Bee says, placing her hands on the dog. “I’ve got him. You find your girl.”
Just as I cross to Connor, Miller pushes inside, his face grim.
“Airport,” he says before we all run outside and climb into Miller’s waiting black SUV. Chase is behind us, the lights on his car and siren on, and then more cop cars join us. It looks like something out of an action movie.
“What in the actual fuck is happening?” Connor demands.
“There was no record of Lewis leaving New York, but there was a record of him landing here this morning. He has a private jet, and it’s parked on standby. Engines are running, boss.”
“Explain why the feck you didn’t know he left New York,” Connor snarls.
“There was literally no flight record,” Miller replies. “He doctored the flight logs. Or it wasn’t logged at all, but he doesn’t have anyone paid off here to do the same.”
“He’s trying to fucking take her ?” I shake my head and answer my phone when I see Bee’s name.
“Riley’s okay,” she says immediately. “We’re taking him to the hospital for X-rays and stuff, but the vet says he’s going to be fine.”
“Thanks, Billie. I’ll be in touch.”
I hang up and notice Connor fisted his hand when he heard me say my sister’s name, but I don’t have time to address that right now.
Right now, I need to get to my girl.
“If he’s so much as given her a goddamn papercut, I’ll end him,” I say.
“He’s not making it out of here alive,” Connor says, catching Miller’s gaze in the mirror. Miller nods.
It seems we’re all on the same page.
“The gate’s already up,” Connor says when we turn toward the private plane area of the tarmac. The four cop cars follow us through, but they’ve cut the sirens.
“Chase must have called ahead,” I reply, and then my eyes narrow.
Because there’s Lewis, pulling Irish out of the back seat of a sedan, his hand fisted in her hair, yanking her.
He’s going to suffer for that alone.
Lewis must hear us coming because he starts to pull her faster, and when Miller stops at the base of the steps of the plane, I push out, running toward them.
But Lewis turns around and presses the barrel of his pistol against her head.
“Jesus fuck,” I mutter as Skyla’s terrified gaze finds mine.
Intentionally, I let my shoulders drop and keep the fear out of my face.
Her lip trembles.
“ I got you, baby. ” I mouth the words, and she gives me a tiny nod.
“Drop the fucking gun,” Miller growls out, but Lewis sneers.
“I’m taking what’s mine,” Lewis yells back. “She belongs with me.”
A tear falls down Skyla’s cheek, and now I hear running footsteps as Chase and the other police join us.
“Bitterroot Valley PD. You heard the man,” Chase calls out calmly. “Lower your weapon. No one needs to get hurt. You know that we’re not going to allow you to leave. You’re not taking her anywhere.”
Lewis laughs and yanks on Skyla’s hair again, making her yelp.
“I can’t get a shot,” Miller mutters next to me. “I won’t risk hitting her. I need her to fall. To drop, so his head isn’t hiding behind her.”
“If you kill my girl, I’ll kill you. ”
Miller doesn’t waver. “I won’t hit her.”
Jesus. I have to trust this man that I barely know with Skyla’s life. He’d better not be wrong.
Her gaze is still pinned to mine, almost desperately.
“ Fall ,” I mouth to her. “ Drop down. ”
“Stop that!” Lewis screams, pointing the gun at me. I’d rather it was pointed at me than at my girl. “Don’t you fucking talk to my tiny dancer. Don’t you even look at her! She’s mine. She’s my love.”
Skyla frowns. Then it’s like a light bulb goes off, and her eyes widen. His grip on her has loosened during his tirade.
“Get ready,” I tell Miller just as Skyla lets her legs relax, and she slumps down. The arm Lewis has wrapped around her middle doesn’t let her fall to the ground, but it’s enough that his head is clear from her body, and Miller, along with several cops by the sound of gunfire around me, immediately take their shot.
Lewis’s body jerks as the bullets hit his forehead, his chest, his neck, all miraculously missing my girl, and I leap forward as the man slumps and Skyla falls back with him. Thank God she doesn’t take a nosedive forward off the steps.
She’s pushing his arm off her as I reach her and tug her into my arms, lifting her against me and walking down the steps so the cops can do whatever they need to do with the dead piece of shit behind me.
Skyla’s face is pressed to my neck, and she’s crying. Shaking.
“Riley,” she says. “He killed Riley.”
“No, baby. Riley’s going to be okay.” I kiss her head, her temple, hold her so close to me, I never want to let her go. I’m never letting her go again. “Billie’s with him. He’s going to be fine, my love.”
She gulps, and those huge emerald eyes look up at me. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.” I set her on the back seat of the SUV and turn her so I can cup her face and kiss her lips, her cheeks, and her nose, then take her in. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “Well, just my scalp because he pulled my hair.”
I growl and reach out for her, not giving a shit that she’s got some blood spatter on her. I’m surprised there’s not more. There would be if she’d been behind him.
“Fuck, Irish. That took ten years off my life.”
“How did you find me?” She sniffs, and she keeps her eyes on mine as if she can’t bring herself to look away.
“Miller,” I reply. “He did whatever he does and knew you’d be here. Thank fuck you weren’t on that plane yet.”
“I kept trying to talk to him,” she says, swiping at her tears. “Tried to reason with him, to have a conversation, to just bloody stall him.”
“It worked. My clever girl.”
She’s shaking more now, and I can see the shock setting in.
“He’s … dead?”
“Yes, baby.” I pepper more kisses on her face. “He’s gone. It’s over.”
She nods, and her teeth start to chatter.
“Hey, look at me. Give me your eyes, Irish.”
Those beautiful orbs fill with water again as she raises them to mine. “I n-never wanted anyone to die.”
“I know.” I don’t tell her that I regret that it wasn’t my own hand that killed him. That I didn’t get to make him hurt for every moment of agony that he put my girl through. “But he wouldn’t have stopped, baby. And he has too many people in his pocket that would have let him go free. Not to mention, he had a gun pressed to your fucking head. So yeah, he had to die today.”
She blows out a breath and curls into me.
“I’m going to have questions.” I didn’t even hear Chase walk up behind me. “But they can wait for later.”
“We leave for London tomorrow,” I reply.
He nods. “That’s what Connor said, too. I can ask my questions when you get back from that trip. It won’t change what happened here today.”
“No, I’ll answer you now.” Skyla squares her shoulders. “I don’t want any part of this hanging over my head while I’m in London. I need it over.”
“Are you sure?” I hold her face in my hands, and she smiles up at me.
“Yeah. Let’s finish this.”
With a nod, I step back, and Chase addresses Skyla.
“Can you state the victim’s full name? We will, of course, confirm identity,” Chase adds.
“Of course.” Skyla swallows hard. “His full name is Lewis Spangler. I don’t know his middle name.”
“There will be an investigation into which bullet was the kill shot and whose gun it discharged from,” Chase says. “Just letting you know.”
“Makes sense.” I nod but look at him. “You okay?”
“Needed to be done. He had a gun pressed to her head and then turned it on all of us.” He holds my gaze for a moment before turning to Skyla. “Let’s make this quick so you can go home, okay?”
“Aye, please.”
I stand nearby as Skyla tells Chase about waiting at the studio for me, going into the back room and hearing the door, thinking I was there to get her.
Jesus, if I’d just been there, none of this would have happened.
She cries when she tells us about Lewis hitting Riley, and it splits my heart in two.
“And then he put me in his car, and made me leave my boy, and brought me here. I tried to distract him, to slow him down, but I didn’t know if you knew where I was. You know the rest.”
“I’m sorry to ask this, but can you tell me why he abducted you? He’s a long way from home, and I’d like to get an idea of motive,” Chase says. Skyla swallows hard. Fuck, I hate this for her.
“A few years ago, we dated very, very briefly. I called it off and thought he’d been okay with that. Turns out he wasn’t, and then the stalking started.” She looks down, and I can see how hard this is for her. I’m about to tell Chase she’s done when her eyes flick, and I see pure strength in her face. “He was incredibly clever to taunt me but never do anything, or rather be seen to be doing anything illegal.”
“We’ll search his apartment in New York City. If there’s evidence of stalking, we’ll ensure it’s destroyed in due course, Skyla. No one will get access to evidence.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“Do you have any records of the deceased reaching you by phone or email?”
“No, I’ve deleted everything. I never thought it would get to this…level of depravity.” That’s one word for it.
Chase nods, then looks over at me. “That’s all I need. Have a safe trip.”
He pats my shoulder and walks away as Conner and Miller approach us.
“We’ll wait a day to go to London,” Connor says, but Skyla’s already shaking her head as Connor wraps her in a blanket from the back of the SUV.
I need to get these clothes off her and get her in the shower to rinse his blood away.
“No. We won’t wait, and that’s final. He doesn’t get to feck up my life anymore, not for one more minute. I’m mostly packed and ready for tomorrow. Oh God, I have to tell Mik.”
“I called him,” Connor says, then blows out a breath. “Jesus Christ, I’ve never been so scared.”
He tugs his sister into his arms and hugs her close.
“It’s all over,” she says, patting Connor’s back. “It’s all over now. I need to go home and shower, Connor. I feel dirty.”
Because that son of a bitch had his hands on her, just like before. I’d like to bring him back to life so I can tear the flesh from his body.
“I’ll make sure your truck gets returned to you,” Connor tells me. “Miller will drop it off at the ranch. You take this SUV, and we’ll switch them out after we handle everything here.”
“I appreciate it. Billie’s with Riley,” I remind him.
“I’ll deal with that too,” Connor replies. “And I’ll call you or have Billie reach out when I’ve checked in on them.”
“Thank you.” After I shake his hand, I get Skyla situated in the vehicle, then we’re on the way to the ranch. My girl pulls my hand into hers, lacing our fingers, holding on almost desperately.
“I wish I could sit in your lap,” she murmurs. “Can I crawl over and cling to you?”
“I want you safe in that belt, baby. Don’t worry, I’ll have my hands on you all night. I’m not going to let go of you.”
She bites her lip and nods, then looks out the passenger window.
We ride in silence. My heart is still hammering. Christ, I almost lost her today. I could have fucking lost her. I wouldn’t survive her being ripped away from me like that. She’s my entire world, and losing her at the hands of a fucking madman wasn’t an option. Losing her, period, isn’t a goddamn option.
When we arrive at the farmhouse, I guide Skyla out of the vehicle. With her hand in mine, we walk into the house, and she turns into me, clinging to me.
“Let’s get you in the shower,” I say as I lead her to the stairs. My emotions are all over the place. I want to get her clean, to get the blood and gunk from The Asshole off her, and get him gone for good. To take care of her.
To worship her.
“Beck, let’s sit.” She points in the other direction, toward the couch.
“You need a shower, baby. Let me take care of you.”
“Soon. First, I need you to sit with me.” Her voice is even now, and there are no tears in her eyes. No sign of distress. In fact, she looks … calm .
I walk to the couch with her, and when I sit, she straddles me, and her fingers dive into my beard as she tips her forehead against mine.
“Talk to me,” she whispers. “You’re so quiet, a ghrá .”
I’m so fucking angry. With him. With myself for not being there. And I won’t take that out on her.
“Just tell me what you need, Irish.”
She frowns and settles more against me, then wraps her arms around my neck and hugs me close.
“I need you,” she murmurs against my skin, and my heart thumps. “Just you. Please hug me back, Beck.”
I crush her to me, my arms wound tightly around her, and bury my face in her shoulder. I breathe her in, and it all starts to pour out of me. I couldn’t stop it if I wanted to.
“I’m so sorry.” I choke out the words as my hands move up and down her slim back. “I failed you today. I wasn’t there to protect you and Riley, and I’m so fucking mad at myself. You shouldn’t have gone through that. None of what happened tonight should have happened, and it’s my fault.”
“Hey, hey,” she says, kissing my neck. “No, Beckett, don’t you dare do that to yourself. Everything that happened this evening is his fault. Not yours. Not mine. It’s all on him. You got to me as quickly as you could, and at that moment, when I was on those steps with him, you were the only thing that kept me sane. Your eyes. You telling me that you had me. You, Beckett.”
I can’t get fucking close enough to her. She’s clutching me to her, kissing my neck, and I know she’s safe here with me, yet my hands are still unsteady when I reach up to trace her cheek with my knuckles.
“I could have lost you tonight.” My voice is rough. My stomach is in knots. “I can’t lose you, Irish.”
“I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere. You’ll have to serve me with an eviction notice if you want me out of this farmhouse, a ghrá , because I love you.” She smooths her nose up the side of my neck and then along my jawline until her lips hover over mine. “So much that it makes my chest ache.”
“I love you. And no, I’m never asking you to move out of this house. Move the rest of your shit in, Irish. You’re mine, and you can stay forever if that’s what you want.” With a soft kiss, I stand to carry her upstairs, but my phone rings, and I frown. “I’d normally tell whoever is on the phone to fuck off, but this is Billie.”
She bites her lip and nods.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me,” Billie says. “Riley’s great. He’ll probably have a headache from the bump on his head and maybe a concussion, but there’s no break in his skull, and he’s not injured anywhere else. They’re going to keep him for a few days to monitor him. What should we do while we’re in London? Do you want me to stay behind to take care of him?”
“No,” Skyla says, obviously able to hear my sister. “Brad’s going to take care of him, and I think that’ll still be just fine. But I’ll want to see Riley before we leave in the morning.”
“The vet said you can come in anytime,” Billie says. “Are you all okay?”
“Yeah.” After our moment on the couch, I'm steadier as I look down at my girl. I need to take care of her. “We’re okay. We’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay. I love you both. Good night.”
“Love you,” Skyla says into the phone before I hang up. “Bee’s the best.”
“She’s okay.”
Skyla grins and pushes her fingers through my beard. “The best , Mr. Blackwell. Now, I’ll take that shower, and then I’m going to get naked with my man.”
I raise an eyebrow as I climb the steps toward our bedroom. Our bedroom. “You’re remarkably calm after what you’ve been through tonight.”
She lays her head on my shoulder as I climb the stairs. “Now that the initial adrenaline has worn off, it feels different than it did in LA because I know he’s gone. He can’t hurt me or taunt me or upset me ever again. It’s over. And I’m here with you, where I always feel the safest.”
“I’m going to fucking worship you tonight.”
She grins, wrinkling her nose in that way that makes my cock twitch. “I’ll never say no to that.”