Chapter 18
I screamedinto the gag in my mouth, kicking out and trying to break free, even if I knew it was hopeless. I was tied to an old wooden chair, with an old t-shirt or something stuffed into my mouth. The rope dug into my skin, burning and cutting me, but I kept struggling anyway.
No way was I going to just sit there and let them try to do this.
I could hear my dad on the phone with what had to be Wilder and Lincoln, and slowly, I could feel my heart sinking. It wasn’t like I had any love left for my father — not after the life I’d had and all the ways he’d abandoned me and neglected me. But the fact that my own flesh and blood would kidnap me and try and barter me for ransom still hurt.
I glanced at Wilder’s sister, watching her pace the floor and chain-smoke cigarettes. She’d been talking on the phone first, but when she’d stuttered to a stop and turned white, my dad had yanked it out of her hands.
“One million, you pricks!” he yelled into the phone. “We’ll call you back in one hour to tell you where to—”
I blinked, his face turning red as he pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it. “Fucking assholes hung up on me!”
He whirled, snarling as he glared at me.
“Looks like your little boy-toy sugar-daddies gave up on you, huh? I mention money, and they hang up?” He shook his head, glaring at me. “Looks like I raised you to find some real prizes, huh.”
I glared at him, muttering through the gag before he marched over and took it out.
“What?”
“I said you didn’t raise me at all,” I hissed. “I did.”
He rolled his eyes as he looked way. “Well, either way, they ain’t fuckin’ coming, so we need a new plan.”
He and Stephanie stormed away, lighting cigarettes and pacing around muttering and trying to come up with a plan. But I wasn’t worried. I knew Wilder and Lincoln would come for me.
…I knew it, in my heart. The man holding me hostage like this — tied to a chair in this old mill building — was not my family.
They were.
Lincoln and Wilder had become the family I’d looked for my entire life. And I don’t just mean they were my “daddies,” as hot as that dynamic was. But they protected me, and took care of me, and listened to me. And loved me. With them, I became a part of something bigger than just me, and that’s what a family was supposed to be, right?
“Well call them back!” my dad shouted at Stephanie, shoving the phone back into her hands.
“You fucking call them! You’re the one who just blew the deal, asshole!” She screeched back. “Dammit, we need that money! Rico said he’d have a whole package for us in a few days. We need that money to get it! C’mon, think about it! We could do as much of it as we wanted and sell the rest and be set!”
For one second, my dad glanced at me, and there in his eyes, I could see the hesitation.
“C’mon,” Stephanie whined. “I wanna get high!”
And just like that, his attention snapped away from me, and he grinned as he grabbed the phone. Just like that, my own father chose drugs over me.
Again.
And just like that, I knew there wasn’t any single doubt about who my real family was now.
…I just need them to hurry up and save me.
My dad snatched the phone up, punching the buttons and bringing it to his ear before he swore.
“Fuckin pricks just picked up and then hung up on me!”
He muttered under his breath, dialing again and listening before he swore even louder.
“They just did it again!”
“Maybe you ain’t dialing it right!”
“They’re picking up, Steph!”
The two of them bickered back and forth, yelling so loud that they didn’t even hear the sound of the engine approaching.
But I did.
“Well maybe they’re just fucking with you! Keep calling!”
“Goddamnit, bitch, let me handle it!”
“Well maybe they’re trying to get the money together first.”
Or maybe they’re just stalling and keeping you preoccupied.
“Fuck you! Give me the phone, I’ll call—”
With a thundering roar, the big wooden barn door on the side of mill building exploded. I screamed, turning my head as wood splinters showered the room, and as the roaring Bentley came to a screeching stop. The doors slammed open, and the two huge men came roaring out, hurdling the smashed wreckage of the door and charging at Stephanie and my dad.
The two drug addicts went white, their jaws dropped in shock and horror. Stephanie just sank to her knees right there, and while my dad tried to make a run for it, Lincoln’s hand caught him by the back of the neck and yanked him to the ground.
“Watch them,” Wilder growled, shoving his sister into Lincoln’s other hand before he ran across the room to me. He slashed the ropes from me, scooping me up and kicking the chair away before he kissed me fiercely. I threw my arms around him, hugging him so close like I never wanted him to stop.
He sat me down, and I gasped as Lincoln came barreling into me, scooping me up and kissing me too.
“Fuckin knew it.”
We all stopped, turning to look at my dad, there on his knees next to Stephanie.
“I knew you were slutting it up with these two fuckin—”
He choked on his words, his face going white as the hand slammed into his neck, knocking him to the floor and clenching tight around his windpipe.
Myhands.
“You listen to me,” I hissed, my blood roaring in my veins and my eyes narrowing on the man I’d never call father again. “Listen to me and don’t you fucking forget what I’m about to say to you.”
He swallowed, his eyes wide.
“You abandoned me. Over and over and over again, you let me down, you left me to raise myself and fend for myself, and you did all of this without even a second’s hesitation. You don’t get to speak to me that way.”
My eyes burned into his empty, vacant ones, and I shook my head.
“You’re not my father. Not anymore.”
I stood, backing away and into Lincoln and Wilder. He and Stephanie started to stand, but my two guys growled as they moved forward, between me and them.
“Sit,” Wilder snarled, his shoulders heaving. He pulled his phone out.
“Wilder, c’mon,” Stephanie whined. “What are you doing?”
“Calling the fucking cops. Because I’m willing to bet money there are jails that are currently looking for you.”
She and my dad looked at each other with white faces.
“Hang on, hang on, Wilder. C’mon, we’re family! You can’t just—”
“Family would never do this, Steph.”
He shook his head, stepping away with the phone. Lincoln pulled me tight, holding me in his arms as Wilder made the call.
“Mackenzie, honey—”
“Don’t ever talk to her again,” Lincoln growled, pointing a finger at my dad. “Not ever.”
His hand tightened on my waist, and I felt Wilder move in behind me.
“Sheriff Watkins and his boys are on the way.” He nuzzled my neck. “You okay?”
“I am now,” I said quietly, feeling the two of them wrapped around me so warm and tight.
We could hear sirens, and when the Sheriff and his officers pulled up, Wilder and Lincoln took me away. Lincoln helped me into the car as Wilder shook hands with the Sheriff and promised to make some statements later. And then we drove home.
Home. Because that’s what it was. A house is just a house, but it’s love and family that make it a home.
And that’s exactly what we had. Love, a home, and two daddies as the only family I needed.