Chapter 50
Chapter Fifty
JETT
My leg bounced nervously under the table.
I was half paying attention to the meeting, but my mind kept drifting. Patience should have texted by now to say she picked up Griffin and was home. I hadn’t heard a peep from her, and it was gnawing at me.
Glancing down at my phone resting on the conference table, I sighed at the black screen that held no alerts indicating communication from my wife.
Maybe I was being paranoid, and she needed to stop and grab some medicine or something. I hated that I couldn’t go with her to pick him up, but we had this meeting, and she assured me she’d done it a million times and would be okay.
“Everything alright?” Braxton asked.
Dragging my gaze to him, I nodded, hoping it truly was.
Braxton studied me for a second before carrying on. “I hate to bring this piece of news, but Harland isn’t taking the job here with us.”
Everyone sat up straighter in their seats, giving Braxton our full attention. We all liked Harland and were excited to bring him on board.
“What the heck?” Gyth exclaimed, raising his hands in confusion. “I thought he was all in?”
The big man was voicing exactly what I’d been thinking. After he’d toured the facility and we’d gone out the night he came to town, I’d thought it was a sure thing too. All the other guys made some sort of sound or gesture, clearly agreeing with Gyth.
Braxton’s face fell. “His sister and brother-in-law were killed in a car accident two days ago.” He sighed. “They left behind Harland’s four-year-old niece, who he will now be solely responsible for, and he doesn’t think the big city is the right fit for her right now.”
“Shit.” Kace ran his hand through his hair. “That’s rough.”
Bodie nodded in agreement. “I hate to lose him.” Something painful and dark flashed in his eyes as he spoke. “But we all know that family comes first.”
When I looked around the room, I knew not a single man there would disagree with that statement.
“Is there anything we can do for him?” I inquired.
“Actually, yes,” Braxton said, pointing at me. “I want to run something by you all and get a vote.”
We all nodded.
“I got a call this morning about a job, but was thinking we’d have to turn it down,” he continued.
“Why would we turn it down?” Paxton questioned, brows pinched.
Braxton chuckled softly. “Another excellent question.” He rubbed his hands together. “The job is a few hours from here in the mountains and could last a while. I didn’t think any of us would want to be away from our families that long.”
“Why? What’s the job?” Rowan asked.
“Bodyguard for Luna Vale while she spends some time in her hometown,” he announced. “Away from a stalker, I will add.”
My eyes widened in surprise, and I coughed, taken off guard. “Luna Vale, one of America's favorite pop princesses?”
I knew music, and I knew exactly who Luna was, yet I was so shocked that I asked the question anyway.
Braxton smiled. “You got it in one.”
Lyric let out a dramatic, long whistle. “Wow, that’s quite the high-profile job. You have someone in mind for it, don’t you?”
“I do,” Braxton answered. “I want to offer it to Harland. He’d be working for us like we wanted, but just in another location, and once the job is done, we can figure it out from there. I think some time in the mountains might be good for him and his niece. Should we vote?”
It was an easy vote; everyone agreed Braxton should present the offer to Harland. Then the men started to ask more questions about the accident and Harland's family, while my thoughts drifted back to mine.
Something isn’t right, I can feel it.
Snatching up my cell, I pulled up the Find My Phone app to check where Patience was. I squinted, not understanding why she’d be on the side of the road, not moving. She wasn’t too far from home but was on one of the back roads. If she had car trouble or something, why hadn’t she called me?
“Fuck,” I whispered, panic starting to build at warp speed.
“What’s up?” Lyric asked from beside me, but I ignored him.
Punching in her number, I dialed my wife.
“Pick up. Pick up. Come on, baby, pick the fuck up,” I muttered to myself, but felt eyes on me so I knew I wasn’t being very quiet.
Her phone went to voicemail, and I knew something was wrong for sure.
“Damnit!” I yelled, not caring now if I was disrupting the whole meeting while I pulled up the other tracking app.
My lungs seized at what I saw.
Her phone was in one place, not moving, and her tracker on her necklace was going in a completely different direction—away from home.
I turned my phone toward Lyric to show him what I was looking at. “Something is wrong; I felt it when we started the fucking meeting, and I ignored it!” I yelled. Abruptly, I pushed up from my chair and it toppled backward. “If anything happens to them, it’s my fault!”
I’d come so far with therapy, our trip, and letting those I loved in, but I couldn’t help but flash back to the moment I couldn’t save my buddies. Everything felt like it was closing in on me, my chest tightened, and my throat closed up, mouth going dry.
“Let’s go; we will split up!” Lyric suddenly barked out, helping to slow my spiral.
“I’ll hold the fort down here,” Landon said, his voice on edge and his jaw clenched with concern. He always sat in on meetings if he was around, and it felt good to have someone at what felt like home base.
We all moved out of the room, questions and plans being thrown around as we went. Braxton snagged a bunch of equipment on the way out.
Every man was on a mission.
My mind rapidly sifted through all the ways this could turn out, but there was only one acceptable outcome: I’d find my family and they would be okay.
As I barreled into the warm summer air, I softly whispered…
“Please don’t take them from me.”
When I got the call, my world tilted.
Gyth, Kace, Lyric, and I were following the tracker, while Braxton, Rowan, Bodie, and Paxton headed toward the location Patience’s phone was showing.
Bronson and Huntley, who helped when they could these days, were both working, while Landon was back at the office. There was also Lance, who was cool, but he only jumped in with Landon on lawyer shit when needed.
I wouldn’t have minded having all hands on deck, but the guys who had my back were good. However, as our group sped down the highway, out of fucking town and away from home, the other group didn’t bring good news.
Instead, they delivered an update that devastated me and set my pulse pounding with rage.
“You need to brace yourself and try to stay calm,” Braxton began, causing my jaw to clench. “We found Patience…”
For a brief second, I started to relax, but then he sighed and continued.
“Jett, she’s hurt, and Griffin isn’t with her.”
“What the fucking hell are you talking about?” I bellowed. “What do you mean she is hurt, and Griffin isn’t there? Where the fuck is our son?” The words tore out of me and my pulse jackhammered. “You found her, but not h-him?” My voice cracked.
Lyric placed his hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off. I didn’t need nice or soothing right then, and I sure as fuck didn’t want anyone touching me. What I needed everyone to be was as goddamned angry as I was, and to help me take out the fuckers who’d clearly dared to hurt my family.
Being rational flew right out the window.
“Put her on the phone. Now! Let me talk to her!” I pleaded, but Braxton still had more information, denying me the chance to hear Patience’s voice.
“Ambulance is on the way. There was a car accident, and someone hit her in the back of the head. When we got here, she was just rousing but disoriented, so she hasn’t been able to say anything; I called you right away. We’ll get her to the hospital.”
“She’s pregnant, Braxton,” I snapped, uncaring about how much of a dickhead that I was being. “Just tell me that she and the baby are okay.” I gulped, the question leaving a lump in my throat as I waited for his response.
“We’re going to do everything we can, and we’ll take care of her,” Braxton told me. “But your son is missing, and you need to follow the necklace tracker.”
I knew, somewhere deep down, he couldn’t know how bad it was yet. He was also right that we needed to keep moving, but I was pissed so I wasn’t thinking clearly. Right then, Braxton was my outlet. Somewhere inside, I knew I’d have to apologize later.
“Keep going? Are you out of your fucking mind? I need to see my wife!” I screamed into the phone.
All I could picture was my wife lying motionless while my son screamed for his momma as she lay there hurt, maybe even losing our baby, and some monster dragging our boy away.
I slammed my fist into the back of the driver’s seat—Lyric flinching next to me—and looked at Gyth in the mirror. “We can’t keep going, I need to see my wife. Turn around!”
He met my gaze but didn’t listen, just kept flying down the highway.
My breathing was heavy, my voice raw from screaming, but I tried again. “I said turn around so I can see my wife.”
Lyric tried to touch me again, and I growled. I was out of control, but everything stilled when I heard my wife whimper my name.
“She wants to talk to you,” Braxton said.
There was some rustling, and then I heard her sweet voice, so faint and scared. When I found out who did this, someone would have to pry my bare hands from their throat.
“Jett,” she moaned. “It’s Sloane… she has… h-him.”
I heard Braxton barking something in the background about calling Bronson. Lyric was on the phone next to me with Ruby, letting her and Gramps know what was happening.
“Sloane has Griffin?” I asked her to be sure.
Why the hell would she have my son?
“Yes,” she cried.
My nails dug into the seat. “Baby, is Chaz with her?”
I knew she was hurting, but we needed as much info as we could get. Not wanting to repeat everything, I put the phone on speaker even though I wanted my beautiful girl all to myself. The guys needed to hear too.
“No.”
Patience almost sounded confused when she said that one word and I wasn’t sure how much more we would get, but then she forged ahead like the strong woman I knew her to be.
“Attacker from… bakery. He… hit me. Put necklace in p-pocket.”
There were some words missing there, but we all got the gist of it and my heart swelled with pride. My wife was phenomenal. Even in an extreme situation, she managed to come up with a way to give our son her tracker so someone could find him.
“Told him to be strong… that D-Daddy would come for him.”
My emotions were doing their damndest to take me hostage, and for a second, I felt like I was going to smother under their intensity. But, knowing I needed to be strong, I pushed them back, not allowing them to fall.
“Please find our son,” she pleaded, tears clogging her throat.
As much as I wanted to go to my wife, it was not only clear what she wanted me to do, but what I needed to do.
Champ needed me to save him.
Could I do it this time?
There was no time for doubt. I didn’t know exactly what we’d be walking into, but we had some info thanks to my wife, and I had some highly capable men with me. I glanced around the truck. I could read these men, and they were worried for my family, but they were ready for whatever came next.
This time, when Lyric laid his hand on my shoulder, I didn’t brush him off.
“Roo, baby, I will bring our son home.” I sucked in a deep breath and then let it out. “I promise.”
The sounds of her tears and sniffles tore at my heart.
“I know,” she said, her voice filled with so much faith that I was overcome with love.
Next thing I knew, Braxton was on the line again.
“Ambulance is here. We got her, I swear. I also heard everything she said, and we are looking into things from our end, but just follow that tracker. I’ll be in touch,” he said before hanging up.
Fuck, it was torture not being able to be by Patience’s side, but I was where I needed to be in that moment.
“I’m coming, Champ. Hang on, buddy.”
As the words left my mouth, Gyth floored the pedal, and we bolted down the road at lightning speed.
I didn’t give two shits if a cop saw us; we were not stopping for anyone.
Not when my son’s life was at stake.