Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
CLOSURE
“Cut her free,” Knox’s dad ordered. “And take off that fuckin’ gag.”
My hands were freed, but that wasn’t the relief I thought it would be.
The zip-ties cut into my skin, my shoulders were frozen in a backward bend, and my fingers were numb.
I rolled my shoulders, pins and needles attacked them, and I shook out my hands as one of the guys untied the gag.
That felt better, though my cheeks ached.
Thus, I shifted my jaw side to side, all while taking in Knox’s dad.
The good news: Knox’s genes stated he’d be hot for a very long time.
The bad news: Knox’s dad kidnapped me, my phone was pinpointing me right where I was, Knox and the men would know where that was, and as such, who took me, and I knew Knox right then was going out of his mind.
“Take a seat,” Mr. Chambers said.
I looked to the chair opposite the desk.
Then I replied, “It wasn’t a fun ride down here. My body’s all tied up. I’d rather stay standing.”
“That wasn’t an option I offered,” Knox’s dad replied. “Sit.”
So Knox’s dad was a dick.
Not a shocker.
I drew in breath.
Then I rounded the chair and sat.
He studied me.
After he did this awhile, he said, “Got his good taste in women from his dad, I see.”
I said nothing. No way was I going to express gratitude for a compliment from this joker.
“Hope you don’t fuck his ass over like his mother did to me,” he went on.
I remained silent.
Mr. Chambers let this go on for some time. I got antsy during this time.
Finally, he broke it.
“I need you to do me a favor,” he declared. “I need you to get in touch with my boy and tell him to call his fuckin’ sister and tell her I want my product back…and my other two boys.”
Hold up…
Crew and Poe disappeared with Gypsy?
And they took his cache when they left?
“You still got your purse,” he continued. “So how about you get out your phone and see to that?”
Hold up again…
He was going to let me call Knox?
Swiftly, I pulled my bag off my shoulder and dug in it to find my phone.
“While you two are chatting,” he said, and I looked to him to see he was now sitting back in his chair, fingers steepled in front of him, like the villain in an old spy thriller, “tell him to tell them they got twenty-four hours to make this right. Vincente can have the women. I want Rocco too. And you tell Knox, I don’t get what I want, things are going to start happening to you.
So if they balk, he and his badass friends might have to start figuring out a plan B to get me back what’s mine. ”
Oh shit.
“Now, I want you to make it clear that this isn’t the way I want to play it,” he added. “Way Gypsy tells it, you’re gonna be my daughter-in-law.”
Confirmed: Gypsy watched her brother.
“I don’t wanna have to cut off any digits from my future daughter-in-law,” he continued.
Cut off digits.
Great.
Fabulous.
Shit.
“But I’ve made promises,” he carried on. “I got deliveries that are already gonna be late. My kids know because I taught them, business comes first. Knox has been gone awhile, but I reckon he remembers this too.”
Oh, he remembered.
I waited.
“You aren’t calling,” he prompted.
“I didn’t know whether to ask for a notepad so I can write it all down if you had more,” I returned.
He smiled, and damn, it sucked he was handsome. He even had that subtle cleft in his chin that Knox had.
But it figured.
Knox didn’t look at all like his mom, so he had to get it from somewhere.
It still sucked.
“I knew I’d like you.”
I didn’t want him to like me.
I wanted to get out of here and do it without anyone I cared about getting hurt.
Because there was one thing I knew about those men, especially my man.
They’d get hurt before I got hurt.
I bent to my phone, trying to figure out how I could code my language so Knox knew what they were dealing with when they stormed this place.
Because they were going to storm this place.
I hadn’t figured that out by the time I hit his contact and put the phone to my ear.
“Luna?” he answered, and yeah, I could tell in those two syllables they were gonna storm this place.
“It’s me,” I said.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m fine,” I replied. “Listen, your dad has a message.”
“You on speaker?”
“No. I’m unhurt.”
“We’re outside.”
Of course they were.
“Okay. Honestly, I really am fine,” I said.
Knox said nothing, but I could practically feel him listening.
“Nine,” I blurted, because yeah…I was just that smooth. Then quickly, “Your dad wants his product back. And your brothers and Rocco. In twenty-four hours. Or I might not be fine.”
“Nine men with you?”
“Yes, your dad said that.”
“Ten men.”
“Yes. That’s what he said.”
“Okay, baby. It starts happening, you get low and safe.”
“He says Vincente can have the women. He just wants his product, and the men. He has deliveries to make.”
“Okay. Can you give me a hint where you are?”
“He looks like you.”
“I know.”
I stared at his father. “Just like you.”
“You’re looking at him now.”
I didn’t reply.
“Office?” he asked.
“I love you,” I answered.
“I know. Get safe and low. Promise me.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“Love you too. Not long now.”
“All right. Bye.”
I hung up and looked at Mr. Chambers, and now my body was wound up tight because he couldn’t have missed me blurting out the word “nine” for no reason, and he had to know he had nine men with him.
“He’s going to see what he can do,” I told him.
“That,” the man jabbed a finger at me, and I wound up even further at his angry gesture. “That right there was where I made my mistake. That’s how I lost Cynthia.” He threw both hands up. “Bitches, they don’t need much. A gesture here or there. I didn’t give her enough gestures.”
Well, backhanding her didn’t help, I was sure.
He sniffed and I refocused on him.
“My youngest son has looked down his nose on me his whole fuckin’ life.
Swear, that kid came outta his mother smirking at me.
But his woman out of his control, he’ll deliver his brothers and my shit.
” He smiled in a way I did not like. “Finally, he’ll play my game, and he’ll hate it.
He’ll fuckin’ stew on the fact he had to do it, and he’ll do that until his dying day.
But, for you, he’ll do it. As for me, that’ll mean I bested his ass, and I get to live with that the rest of my life.
Better, I get to live with it knowing he has to live with it too. ”
Oh, Knox was going to do something all right.
And, oddly, the man missed me saying the word “nine.”
Oh, and not incidentally, he wasn’t a dick.
He was a total asshole.
“So is this about getting your stuff back, or getting one over on Knox?” I asked to keep him occupied while the guys prepared to do whatever they were going to do.
His gross smile came back.
“I get a twofer with you,” he crowed. “More, actually, because it’s me who’s pulling the strings with those badasses who think they run the entire fuckin’ west. The hit to their rep I’m gonna deliver that I got one of theirs and made them do my bidding is gonna be hard for them to live down.”
Right, so he wasn’t an asshole either.
He was a motherfucker.
On this thought, something exploded.
Unh-hunh.
Exploded.
Too late, I put my hands to my ears (because explosions were loud) and leaned forward, because even if there was no destruction where we were, some dust rained down on us, and I actually felt the concussion of the blast.
Once I recovered from the shock, I saw Mr. Chambers was up.
So I got up.
He saw me get up, so he shoved some papers aside on the desk and there was a gun.
He went for the gun.
I went for it too.
We scrambled for it.
I didn’t get it, but I managed to swipe it off to the side with enough force, it clattered to the floor and skidded under a table by the wall.
Okay, that went all right. At least I wasn’t going to be the next one filled with holes or held over Knox because his dad had a gun to my head.
I heard shouts and the exchange of gunfire, and it freaked me, like a whole lot, but I couldn’t focus on it because Mr. Chambers was coming at me.
I let him.
When he got close, he made a grab at me.
I did the same to him.
His shoulders.
That steadied me so I could put full force behind kneeing the shit out of his groin.
I made impact and did it hard.
He groaned, his hands went there, he sank to his knees, and I twisted, took hold of the chair I’d been sitting in and smashed it against his side.
He fell to his other side.
That was when I raced to the table, dropped to my knees, did a ducking skid under it, grabbed the gun on my way and hunkered down, gun aimed out.
More shouts, more gunfire, and a pounding up the metal steps.
Someone was coming.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
More gunfire.
Fuck.
There was movement at the door.
I aimed the gun there.
Knox came through, fortunately no blood was visible, and he was wearing a vest.
I pointed the gun to the floor.
He looked toward where I left his dad and then to me.
“You disarmed him?”
My position made it awkward, but I shrugged.
Lee Nightingale walked through the door.
Nope.
The man strolled through the door like he owned the joint and didn’t make his entrance through an explosion and a gunfight.
Jeez.
These guys.
His eyes did the same as Knox’s, going first to Mr. Chambers then to me.
“Get him up,” he ordered, not to Knox.
Shaw and Liam were coming through the door.
They went to Mr. Chambers.
Knox came to me.
He held out a hand, and I gave him the gun.
He took it and shoved it in his waistband, held his hand out again, then said, “No, baby, you.”
I put mine in his and he pulled me out and up to my feet.
I let him go to dust off my knees.
When I straightened, he was framing my face with his hands, his face in mine.
“Yeah?” he whispered, peering deep into my eyes.
“Yeah,” I whispered back, taking his hands with me while I nodded. “Is everyone okay?”
“Yeah.”
Thank God.
He held on a second, held my gaze that second before he let me go, took gentle hold of me and drew me to the center of the room.