Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Deuce
“Sure is nice to see you in love,” Lottie drawls just before lunch.
My head snaps up from inspecting the suit pants that came back from the tailor last night. Lottie’s staring at me with a knowing grin, her hands on her hips. I’m not sure how long she’s been standing there.
“You’ve been whistling all morning.” She says it like whistling is a crime here in Heaven.
I roll my eyes and stand, tugging at my cufflinks. “Jeez, Lottie. You’re sounding more like Birdie every damn day.”
Lottie claps her hands to her chest, her expression that of a woman winning a pageant and being crowned in front of an audience of her family and peers. “Why, thank you, Deuce! I’ve never received a finer compliment!”
If I don’t quit rolling my eyes, I’m going to get a headache. My stomach lets out an inelegant growl even my assistant can hear. “I’m going back home to collect Landry.” My stomach growls again, the precocious little bastard. “And have lunch.”
“You do that, boss,” Lottie says, clapping me on the arm. “I got the shop, but don’t forget I have to leave early today for my dentist appointment.”
“I’m just happy you’re getting your teeth cleaned for the first time,” I drawl, collecting my keys and scooting quickly out of the way when Lottie throws a bowtie at me. It falls to the floor a foot away from me. “You need to work on your aim, woman.”
I exit my own boutique to the creative curses of a woman who knows how to blister your skin with words alone.
Which makes me think about Valentina, all warm curves and smelling like a basket of fruit waiting in my bed.
I can’t wait to slap her right on that delicious ass, waking her up and watching her go from peaceful to vengeful in two seconds flat.
God, I truly think I love that woman. Like a lovesick fool, the smile stays on my face the whole drive home. Normally, I’d give myself a talkin’-to at this point. No woman is worth mooning over like this.
No woman but Valentina, that is.
I park in my driveway and bound up the porch stairs, already hollering for the woman who’s never left my thoughts, even after twenty years apart.
“You finally up, you little lazy head? Let’s get some grub and head in to town!”
I come to an abrupt stop right inside my front door.
A single shard of pottery lies in the hallway.
It’s not menacing in any way and yet all my senses go on high alert.
Mumbled curses stream from my mouth as I duck against the wall and take in the scene with new eyes.
On silent feet, I head for the living room and grab my gun out from under the couch.
Now armed, I investigate, growing more and more concerned that Valentina hasn’t answered me.
I head straight for the kitchen, my breath seizing in my lungs when I see the rest of that pottery shattered, coffee pooling on the floor. Crouching down, I touch the coffee spill. Cold as iced tea.
“Shit,” I hiss, standing so fast I see stars in my vision. I clear the rest of the house and don’t find Valentina. Or an intruder.
But clearly one’s been here.
And they took my girl.
“What the fuck?” I spit into the phone the second Bettina answers.
She sighs, like she was just waiting for my call. “I’ve got it handled.”
I want to strangle someone. Make someone else feel as panicked as I do right now. “Handled?” I practically scream. “This doesn’t feel like you’ve got things handled. Valentina is missing.”
My brain is taking longer to catch up, probably due to the panic gripping my chest at the moment. While Bettina spits words at me that do nothing to make me feel better, I realize she answered like she already knew Valentina was taken.
“Where is she? Have you seen her? Who’s got her?” I interrupt, which I’m sure will piss her off, but I don’t have time for anything but finding Valentina right this second.
My phone is pinging with text messages but I don’t bother looking. It’s probably Silas and Rhett responding to my all-caps text asking if they’ve seen Valentina.
“She’s in a cabin, I think. She’ll be fine. He’s making threats, but I know he won’t hurt her.”
“Who?” I thunder, already heading out the door for my car.
Bettina sighs again, and I’m pretty sure she’s the person I’m going to strangle. “It’s Fazio.”
I tilt my head back to the hazy sky and let out a murderous yell. “I fuckin’ hate that guy!”
Bettina tsks in my ear. “Of course you do. You were both in love with the same woman. Now focus, Deuce.”
Rage steals my breath right out of my lungs, which is for the best. I would definitely say some inflammatory things when Bettina forbids me from trying to find Valentina.
“You’ll just give Fazio more leverage over me. Swear to me you won’t go after her.”
“Sure.”
It’s a lie.
Of course I’m going after Valentina. My mother should be smart enough to know this. Not my problem she thinks she can still order me around like a scared twelve-year-old.
The screech of tires down the street has me shifting behind my car and training my gun on the start of my driveway. A white truck bounces into my driveway going way too fast. I put my gun away and mumble something at my mother before hanging up on her.
If I’m going to piss her off, might as well do it fully.
Rhett and Silas spill out of the truck, doors left open as they race over to me. “What happened?”
I can barely get the words past my clenched jaw. I think I’m in shock. How is this happening? I already know the why. My mother is the why.
“Valentina’s been abducted by her former bodyguard, a guy named Fazio. Apparently, he’s already made contact with my mother, but she won’t let me get involved. Said she’s handling it.”
I watch their faces turn hard at the mention of Valentina being taken. There’s a beat of silence only broken by three grown men breathing heavy.
“Well, fuck that!” Silas snaps.
I nod. “Yeah, absolutely.”
My phone vibrates in my hand and I almost ignore it. But the sixth sense I haven’t had to rely on in decades tugs at me to pay attention. When I unlock my phone, I’m both horrified and glad I looked.
There’s a text from an unknown phone number. And they’ve sent a picture.
A picture of Papa blindfolded and tied to a chair in some sort of cabin. Next to him is Valentina, crumpled on the floor, her head lolling to one side.
I must speak or curse or emit the sound of a wounded animal because suddenly Silas is shoving me into the passenger seat of my car. Rhett has my phone, cursing up a storm as he rounds the hood for the driver’s side.
“I know this cabin,” he growls, sliding inside and handing me back my phone. I shut off the screen and pray I don’t have a heart attack. Feels like I might with how fast my heart is beating. My eyes slide shut and I try to keep in control of the situation.
Valentina.
Papa.
Fazio has taken the two people in this world I can’t live without.
He’s made a critical error.
“You drive to it, I’ll follow.” Silas is already jogging toward his truck. “Park a ways away and we’ll go on foot. Got my shotgun under the seat.”
My eyes spring open. “Hey. Wait.”
Silas turns to look at me. My best friend. The one who’s a dad and has another on the way. My gaze shifts to Rhett. He just became a dad a few weeks ago. I can’t let them barrel their way into danger.
“I’m going by myself. Tell me how to get to the cabin.” I grab the keys out of Rhett’s hand.
He grabs them right back. “No. We’re going with you, dumbass.”
I try to snatch the keys but he holds them over his head like we’re two fuckin’ years old and fighting over the same goddamn toy.
“Guys! You’re fathers! I won’t let you go into a dangerous situation! I can handle this.”
Silas chuckles but it’s nothing like his usual jovial laugh. “You’re just scared of Betsy if something happens to me. Which it won’t. We’re going with you. It’s what friends do.”
I grit my teeth so hard my gums ache. “Fine.”
Silas hops in the truck and Rhett fires up my Mercedes. I can’t stop them. Hell, I’d be right there running into a burning building to save these two losers if it came down to it. Silas is right. It’s what friends do. And the fact they’ll do this to save my father and the woman I love?
Means the world to me.
We race down the street and are soon whipping under a canopy of trees in a much more rural area. Rhett asks questions about our shared mission of getting my father and Valentina back safely. Questions I can’t answer. How many men? What type of weapons? Did your mother send her own men out already?
“The cabin looks like the abandoned ones out past where my papaw lives. Some guy owned them when we were kids, but let them fall into disrepair,” Rhett informs me.
“City council discussed tearing them down, but so far, they haven’t done it.
Perfect place to hold someone against their will.
Not another house for several miles in all directions. ”
Rhett screeches to a halt a few miles later, Silas right behind him. We step out of our vehicles and look around at tree after tree. I pull my gun out and check how many bullets I have. Should be plenty as long as Fazio doesn’t have more than a few men with him.
“I want you two to stay here. I’m going in alone. If shit hits the fan, you can call 911 and get the police here.”
Rhett scoffs. “Silas stays with the vehicles. I’ll come to the end of the tree line and help you scope out who’s all there on the outside. Then you can go in alone.”
I debate his offer. Silas rubs his hand over his jaw repeatedly.
He suddenly looks ridiculous in his lemon-yellow polo and khaki shorts.
Hell, my suit and tie don’t exactly fit the circumstance either.
Rhett’s the only one who looks like he even remotely belongs out here with his dirty jeans and cowboy hat.
“Fine, but we’ll have to take out the outside guys quietly. I don’t want to tip off Fazio and have him harm Valentina or my father.”
Rhett nods. “Agreed.” He pulls a knife out of the waistband of his jeans like some kind of Crocodile Dundee and hands me a pocketknife that’ll have to do.
Silas wishes us luck and then we’re off on foot, creeping as silently as we can through the woods. We don’t know which of the ten cabins they could be in, but when we get close enough, we only see one cabin with a gray sedan parked outside. Bingo.
The next few minutes happen in a weird haze of panic and laser focus. Rhett and I take out two men stationed outside the front of the cabin with cool efficiency. I don’t feel bad about taking a life. Not after seeing that photo.
Rhett motions that he’ll check out the back side of the cabin to make sure we didn’t miss any other goons.
It’s my job to go in the front door and deal with Fazio.
I’m ashamed to say I only make it one step inside the door before it’s slammed shut behind me by a boot.
Then a body is crashing into me and I’m swinging the knife wildly.
That same boot kicks my wrist lightning fast and the knife goes flying.
Fazio tackles me and we wrestle across the dirty floor, both of us grunting and grappling as we try to get leverage. The guy has only packed on muscle since I saw him last. I’ve been selling suits. We are not the same.
Finally, he pins me, stripping me of the gun and leering down into my face. “Ahh. Deuce. We meet again.”
He may be heavier and a better fighter than me, but he’s one ugly son of a bitch.
I smile up at him. “What was your name again?”
I see the flare of rage in his eyes right before he punches me and the lights go out.