37. Brian
37
brIAN
“ O ver here.” Holding on to my daughter, afraid to let go, I found a spot under a canopy of trees. “Duke and I shared our locations. I want to see if I have a signal strong enough to tell where he is.”
“Are the cops coming?” she asked.
“They should be.” I was able to pull up Duke’s location with one bar for a signal. “Duke is to our right, in that direction. It’s best if we go to him. It will be easier to find the barn.”
She swept the flashlight I’d given her outward, the light highlighting the rain that seemed to be slowing down. “There.” She pointed at a large boulder in the distance. “I bumped into the rock earlier. We need to go in that direction.”
“I want to call Duke before we go. We still might encounter more men. Keep alert.”
She smiled, nodding and shivering. I was desperate to get her to safety so I could freely look for Grace without worrying about her.
“Brian,” Duke said. “You got Fran?”
“I do. We’re coming your way. What’s it like on your end?”
“I counted four men that went into the house about ten minutes ago. I don’t see any guards or anyone else. They’re probably all at the barn, is my guess.”
“See you in a few.”
Through the rain-soaked darkness, Fran and I trudged forward as my phone guided us to Duke. He was standing by a tall oak tree, binoculars in hand, when we approached him twenty minutes later.
“Hey, friend,” I said in a low voice.
Duke placed a finger on his mouth.
I spotted a guy on the porch, lighting a cigarette.
I gave Fran the binoculars. “Do you recognize the man?”
After a quick glance, she shook her head.
“We should move now,” Duke said, gun in hand, “while these four are none the wiser.”
Memories of our old days working for the cartel were shining like a fluorescent bulb before me. Duke and I had so much experience surprising our enemies when the situation warranted.
“Fran, stay behind me,” I ordered.
Duke took the lead as we walked up to the house.
The cigarette dropped from the guy's mouth the moment he saw us and our guns.
“Hands up!” Duke commanded. “How many more in the house?”
“Three,” the short, pudgy asshole said. “We’re just here for the festivities, nothing more.”
Duke growled. “Where are Josh Kinley and Drew Lopez?”
Fran’s hand was on my back as I stood to the side of Duke. “Sabine is in there. She helped Grace and me.”
I stiffened at the mention of her name. She would pay for what she’d done.
“Dad, we can’t let Sabine die,” Fran said.
Sabine didn’t deserve death as a punishment, but right now, Sabine was the least of my worries.
“The lady you just mentioned is dead,” the short guy said. “Her son killed her.”
Fran screeched.
“Duke, take Fran, please.” I guided her to him, then I climbed the porch steps. “What’s your name?” I aimed the gun at him.
“Richard.” He eased away, fear written all over him.
“Well, Richard, if you and your buddies in there want to live to see another day, then I suggest you tell us everything you know.”
He nodded. “We didn’t come here to die.”
“No, you came here to purchase girls.” I shoved him against the door, growling like a wild animal. “My daughter included. And my girlfriend. So if you don’t want me to”—I placed the gun on his dick—“shoot this off, tell me where I can find Josh.” If I located him, then I would find Grace.
“He took off into the woods, chasing a woman by the name of Grace. She has Josh all fucked in the head and fights him like she’s a wildcat. All I know is he had a special shack built just for her.”
I jammed the gun farther into his dick. “Where’s this shack?”
Richard was sweating. “Somewhere past the barn and the horse pen. That’s all I know.”
Sirens blared in the distance.
“Sounds to me like your ride is here.” I jumped off the porch.
Duke kept his gun trained on the guy.
“Fran, stay with Duke.”
“I want to help,” she said.
“Fran, I have to know you’re out of danger.” I used my fatherly tone. “I can’t worry about you and find Grace at the same time.”
“Fran,” Duke said, “you can be a big help and tell the police what you know.”
“I do want to make sure they arrest Grayson,” she mumbled.
“Go,” Duke said to me. “I got this here.”
Blue lights flashed, cutting through the darkness as tires crunched on gravel. I couldn’t rejoice yet. With Fran safe, now was the time to rescue the woman I loved.
Fran stabbed a shaky finger toward the dense woods on the side of the house. “The barn is in that direction.”
I left one part of my heart with Duke and ran.
The lighted path led to the barn where that white van I’d seen in the street cam video was parked—the one Sabine had coaxed my daughter into.
I caught a glimpse of Harris walking into the barn as I darted off the path, careful not to make a sound. Harris and Lopez would meet their destiny soon enough, since the cops were converging on the property. I had to trust the girls would be rescued as well.
I navigated around the barn and spotted the horse pen. Stopping, I looked through my binoculars, scanning the area far and wide. Bingo. A light filtered through the cluster of trees about twenty yards away, directly in line with the barn
After five minutes of deep breathing, with my legs burning and adrenaline pumping, I was close to the shack, hoping beyond hope that Grace was alive.
More sirens blasted in the distance, and the wind was dying down.
As I approached, gun in hand and pulse racing, I was determined to end this madness once and for all.
Ted wanted Josh Kinley alive. Fuck that. The only way Grace could live freely was if I put a bullet in his head.
A psychotic laugh hit my ears as I found a knothole in a board big enough to see through yet small enough not to give myself away. If someone was really looking, though, they probably could spot my eyes, at least.
I peered through the knothole, and my world narrowed to Grace. The bare bulb overhead cast harsh shadows across her face, highlighting every cut, scrape, and bruise that peeked through the mud covering her body from head to toe.
But what had me falling in love with her all over again was that fierce intelligence in her eyes—the one that said, I will not go down without a fight. I am woman. Hear me roar.
A chill of victory blanketed me for a mere second until my gaze landed on the zip ties cutting into her wrists and the duct tape binding her ankles. A wave of desperation to kill Josh hit me like a fast-moving train. But something in the way Grace held herself—the slight tension in her shoulders, the calculated stillness—told me she wasn’t broken. She wasn’t waiting to be rescued.
In that moment, she reminded me so much of her brother Duke. He was the master of quiet control, biding his time, not showing his enemy that he had a plan.
Regardless, she might be calm, but the crazy fuck pacing in front of her made my muscles coil tighter. Josh swung a serrated blade around like it was a baton and he was a drum major in a college marching band.
My trigger finger ached. One clean shot was all it would take.
Grace glanced at the weapons on the table before her gaze flickered in my direction. She angled her head before a hint of a smile emerged on her face.
I couldn’t tell if she saw me or not.
Her chest rose. “Just fight me.” Her voice carried that edge I recognized from her sparring sessions with Duke.
She was goading him, but why?
“Your father would’ve,” she taunted.
Josh’s laugh came out twisted and unhinged. “He would’ve beaten you while he fucked you.”
“Then why not do that?” She sounded as though she would welcome that kind of torture.
I would become a madman if I had to witness that.
Josh paced toward the opposite side of the shack from me, not paying attention to Grace, which gave her a moment to look in my direction and shake her head, as if she knew I was about to burst in and shoot this motherfucker.
“Oh, I will,” he replied, pivoting on his heel, coming in my direction.
It was then I saw his eye, which was bloody and almost closed. The man was as badly battered and bruised as Grace. His neck appeared wounded. Blood was caked around his nose. I had no doubt they’d wrestled in the mud.
Way to go, baby girl.
He stepped up to the table. “But first I’m going to enjoy pulling out your fingernails.” He picked up a pair of pliers.
“Did you come up with that idea from a movie?” she asked mockingly.
He placed her hand on the arm of the chair.
Fuck this. It was time to end this freak show.
I love you, baby girl. But my heart can’t take much more of this, no matter what you have planned.
I was sure she wanted to be the one to end Josh, which I hoped would also put an end to her nightmares, night terrors, and sleepwalking.
But I couldn’t sit idle and watch. If she screamed, it would be the death of me. I found a rock near a tree and tossed it on the roof, hoping for a distraction to pull Josh outside. The rock hit with a thud.
Josh snatched up a gun and stalked out of the shack.
Despite her bonds, Grace rose and reached for the remaining gun on the table.
I crept along the perimeter of the shack, prepared to face off with Josh, but by the time I peered around the corner, he’d returned inside.
“Well, isn’t this a twist in my plan?” Josh asked.
“Drop the gun,” Grace commanded, her voice unyielding.
I slipped inside as quietly as I could. Grace was pointing the gun at Josh, even though her wrists were still bound.
His body was rigid. “Now, why would I do that?”
“Because if you don’t,” I said, letting my voice carry all the pent-up anger I’d been holding back, “I’ll shoot you.” Keeping my attention on his back side, I asked, “Baby girl, are you okay?”
“Never better.” The slight warmth in her tone did nothing to put me at ease.
We weren’t out of danger yet.
She held the weapon steady. “Josh, this can go one of two ways. You can live to see the inside of a jail cell or go to hell.”
“If I go to hell,” he snarled, “you’re coming with me.”
The tension inside the shack crystallized.
Before I could take a breath, gunshots blasted simultaneously, deafening in the confined space.
My heart stopped as both Grace and Josh fell to the dirt-covered ground.
I bolted to her side, my legs wobbly, my lungs constricted.
She moaned. “I think I sprained my shoulder.”
Nausea lurched as I searched her body but didn’t find any fresh blood. “Are you shot?”
She smiled. God, that smile could light up the darkest corners of my soul. “No, I fell on purpose while I pulled the trigger.”
Behind us, Josh stirred, blood pooling beneath him.
I helped her to her feet after I cut her loose from her restraints. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and never let her go.
But first, she had other plans. She went over to Josh, ready to shoot him. “Just like your father, you just won’t die.”
Josh laughed, his mouth bubbling with blood. “Go ahead and kill me.”
Grace shook her head. “You’re already dead.” She quaked with emotion, the gun falling to the ground.
I caught her before she collapsed. “I got you, baby girl.” I kicked the gun away from Josh, just to be sure he couldn’t pick it up.
I was about to carry her out of the shack when she said, “I need to watch him die.”
It didn’t take long for the asshole to take his last breath.
She sighed heavily against me. “Can we go home now?”
“I would love nothing more.”
My heart was fully healed, and as we walked outside, I saw more than the fighter she was. I saw a survivor.
Halfway to the barn, Fran came running up to us. “Dad? Grace?”
Duke was on Fran’s heels. The moment he saw his sister, he mouthed, “Thank you.”
Grace wiggled out of my arms. “I’m okay.”
“It’s over,” I said to Duke. “No more worries about Josh.”
Fran hugged Grace. “The girls are safe.”
They both cried, sharing something between them that Duke and I could only imagine.
“All parties involved are in police cruisers,” Duke said. “Lopez, Harris, guards, and the five men that include Grayson. They found Grayson walking on the main road.”
“And Sabine?”
“Her body was found in the bedroom upstairs,” Duke said. “You might want to check your bank accounts. Fran tells me that Josh was planning on draining them.”
I gave him a nod. “I will. Right now, I want to get out of here.”
“Not until the police question us,” Fran said. “They’re in the house.”
Grace came over and hugged her brother. “My past is finally behind me.” Then she walked into my arms. “Brian, I’m so sorry I put you in this situation. I put your daughter in this situation. This was all my fault.”
“None of this was your fault.” I squeezed her to me. “You’re my hero, and I’m so in love with you that I want to marry you.”
She flashed her tired eyes at me. “You don’t blame me?”
I grinned. “That’s not an answer to my desire to marry you.”
She held in a smile. “I didn’t hear a proposal.”
“Dad, ask her properly.” Fran held a fingernail between her teeth. “Ask her?”
“Not the place,” I said.
“Perfect place,” Duke chimed in. “It solidifies the beginning of a new chapter for both of you. And, my friend, don’t sell yourself short. You handled this situation better than I ever would have.”
“I don’t have a ring.” I really wanted to propose in a better environment, romantic and quiet, with just the two of us.
“I don’t need a ring,” Grace volleyed back. “I just need you.”
I placed my hand on my chest as I got down on one knee that sank into the mud. “Grace Hart”—I kissed her dirty fingers—“will you be my partner in crime, the mother of my future children?”
Grace rubbed her lips together. “I would love to have your children—three, to be exact. And yes, I would love to be your equal, your partner in crime.”
I rose and kissed her thoroughly, sweetly, not caring one bit that we could both use a shower. I was overcome with so much joy and knew without a doubt home wasn’t only a place—it was Grace and Fran. It was the children Grace and I would have in the future.
As I deepened the kiss, I felt Grace’s happiness, strength, and love flow into me as mine flowed into her.
After facing impossible odds, I knew from this day forward that our souls were connected and nothing could break us.