Chapter 11 #2
Sounds outside the bedroom had her forcing all negative thoughts from her mind, clearing it and allowing deep breaths to relax out the tension in her muscles.
All they had to do was play along, and soon they’d make contact with Desiree Tilly, then this would all be over, and all her friends could move on and nurture their fledgling relationships.
“Good girl,” Josiah murmured, tucking her tighter against him.
His muscular body beneath hers was strong and sturdy, dependable, and his promise to protect her filled her mind. Together, they could make this work and bring down the trafficking ring.
Evening out her breathing, she added in a slight snore, none too soon because bright light and loud shouts suddenly filled the bedroom.
If ever there was a time to jump all in to her character, this was it.
“Josiah!” she screamed, jerking upright as he bounded from the bed, placing himself between her and the intruders.
In one smooth movement, he’d grabbed his weapon, which he now held pointed at the four men.
Chelsea knew he could have dropped all four of them already if he wanted to.
Well, he did want to, but he knew he couldn’t if they were going to enact their plan, so he simply held the unwavering weapon, three others pointed right back at him.
“It’s okay, Mr. Fleet, we’re friends not foes.” The only man not holding a gun spoke calmly, like he regularly broke into people’s bedrooms in the middle of the night.
“You're in my bedroom without an invitation, that makes you a foe,” Josiah spoke, his voice low and deadly.
“A little unorthodox perhaps, but due to the nature of our business, I'm sure you can understand why such steps must be taken to ensure all of our safety,” the man said.
“Wh-what’s going on?” she asked, clutching the blankets tightly around herself, mostly to act afraid, but also partly because she was afraid. Instead of letting that fear consume her, Chelsea harnessed it, making it work for her benefit.
“Mrs. Fleet, we were sent by Dr. Wood. He has a potential match for you, which means it’s time for you to take the next step.” The man nodded at his armed guards, who approached the bed somewhat cautiously, obviously having been briefed on who Josiah was and what he was capable of.
“D-Dr W-Wood sent y-you?” she stammered.
“Yes, Ma’am,” the man replied.
“And you h-have a m-match for me?” she asked on a sob, that wasn't really all that hard to fake.
“We’re almost positive we do, Ma’am, so please understand that we need your cooperation.” Although his voice had never wavered, the man did cast a slight, concerned glance Josiah’s way.
He hadn't moved yet, a steady, armed presence between her and the others, and Chelsea knew that acting or not, he wouldn't move until she gave him the okay.
Crawling on the bed, hating that she’d chosen to wear these tiny sleep shorts and tank top that gave these men a pretty good view of her body, Chelsea crawled across the mattress and laid a hand on Josiah’s arm.
“We have to listen to them,” she murmured, blocking out the way the men’s gazes roamed her body, making her feel dirty and violated. “This is what we were hoping for. A chance to save my life.”
“No one is going to hurt your wife, Mr. Fleet. Not unless you do something that can't be taken back.”
Slowly, Josiah lowered his weapon so it was no longer pointed at the intruders.
“Very good,” the man praised. “Now toss the gun onto the floor.”
Although she knew it cost him, Josiah did as he was ordered.
The second the weapon was out of his hand, the three armed men were on them. Two grabbed at Josiah, wrangling his much larger body between them, while the third came and gripped her bicep in a punishing hold Chelsea had no doubt would leave bruises.
They were both dragged downstairs to the living room, where the men must have set up two chairs before they came upstairs.
Josiah was roughly shoved into one, metal cuffs used to secure his wrists to the chair’s arms, and she knew it was only because he let them that the men managed to get them on him.
Likewise, she was shoved down into a chair, metal cuffs locked around her wrists, binding her in place.
The way the man who had dragged her down there watched her had her shivering in disgust. As he straightened, the man let his fingers trail unnecessarily along her body, brushing across her breasts, and a warning growl rumbled through Josiah’s chest.
“Hurt a hair on her head and I will kill you,” he vowed. Not only was that threat absolutely genuine, but it was also the words that would activate the cameras and microphones set up to record everything and allow Alpha Team to watch and intervene if necessary.
The man who had done all the speaking chuckled.
“I assure you, Mr. Fleet, your wife is quite safe with us. She is very beautiful though, isn’t she.
” His appreciative gaze roamed her body, and Chelsea tried to shrink into her chair, attempting to hide herself even though there was nowhere for her to go.
“You know who I am, what I was, you also know I'm risking everything to save the woman I love,” Josiah told the man, looking him dead in the eye.
It was totally inappropriate given the danger they were currently in, and yet Chelsea couldn’t have stopped the flush of warmth at hearing Josiah say he loved her even if she wanted to. The words weren't real, of course, he didn't love her, but she loved hearing them nonetheless.
“I can kill all four of you without breaking a sweat, the only reason I'm not is because Chelsea needs to live, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. Touch her like that again, and I’ll change my mind,” Josiah warned.
“No need for threats,” the man said quickly, obviously believing Josiah. “We’re simply here to collect the first half of the money. Now that we have a potential match, we need payment. I'm sure Dr. Wood explained how it would work.”
“Half up front, half after the surgery,” Josiah said.
“Right. Now I'm going to give you your cell phone and you’re going to do the transfer,” the man said, holding up Josiah’s phone, which he must have grabbed while the other men were manhandling her and Josiah downstairs.
“I must warn you, if the money doesn’t go through, then both of you will be killed, and the scene staged to look like a home invasion. ”
Josiah snorted at that, and even she had to huff a small chuckle.
There was zero percent chance Josiah would be killed by untrained men in a home invasion. With his training and experience, he was quite capable of killing any intruders.
“No one would believe that,” she told the man. “My husband was a SEAL, the only reason you aren't already dead is me. If you try to stage this as a home invasion, then Prey will know something is wrong. Even if they find out what we were going to do, they’ll still hunt down our killers.”
“A murder suicide then,” the man snapped, like the whole thing was irrelevant.
“How you die doesn’t matter, right now, there are three weapons pointed at you.
You will be killed first, Mr. Fleet, then I will allow my men to indulge in your beautiful wife’s body before she is also killed.
Transfer the money now and don’t even think about trying something stupid. ”
The phone was thrust into Josiah’s hand, and he unlocked it and scrolled to the banking app.
This was it. Once the money was transferred, she and Josiah would move to the next stage, one step closer to getting eyes on Desiree Tilly.
Once they did, this would all be over. The trafficking ring would be dismantled, and she and Josiah would annul their pretend marriage.
That thought was both exhilarating and depressing, all wrapped in one.