Chapter 28 ~
Rory ~
“They’re here!” I shout as I run out of the house, nearly slamming into John as he’s coming in.
“Sorry!” I throw over my shoulder and I hear John chuckle.
The familiar sound of my Hilux reaches my ears.
Maverick gets out first and I throw myself into his arms.
“Ompf!” He steadies me, chuckling. “Hey, baby,” Mav murmurs in my ear, hugging me close. I hold him just as tight.
“Hey,” I whisper back before I’m stolen by Mason.
“Angel!” Mase spins me around and I giggle when he blows a raspberry on the inside of my neck.
“Missed you, guys,” I tell them as Maverick hugs me from behind.
“Missed you too, baby.” Maverick captures my lips in a passionate display of affection.
“Hey, hey, do I get to see my girl too?”
I quickly kiss Mase before jumping out of his arms and into Jace’s who catches me easily.
His words turn to kisses before I bury my face into his neck.
Home.
I hear Luc, Dom and Alec join the twins, starting to take stuff inside.
“You okay?” Jace forces me to pull back so he can study my eyes.
I smile at the worry in those grey irises and simply nod.
Jace doesn’t release me as he sets me down onto the front of the Hilux. My legs stay around his waist as he steps between them.
“It felt like we were gone for forever,” Jace murmurs, entwining our fingers. “How was everything here?”
“Last night was good,” I tell him. “Although that may have been the vodka.”
It works.
Jace laughs softly. “I would have loved to see that.”
“We can arrange that.” I stroke his face, smiling.
“And everything else?” Jace questions.
I shrug. “I haven’t seen Alice since yesterday when she told Dom our relationship was doomed to fail. John’s here though. He seems okay with it.”
Jace’s face darkens and I wish I hadn’t said anything.
He exhales, looking like he’s trying to push the emotion away.
“It’ll work out,” he tells me.
“Yeah,” I murmur, not so sure.
Confusion baffles me when a car pulls up beside us—Bear and Helen getting out.
“I didn’t know your parents were coming,” I say to Jace as I jump off the hood.
“Well,” Jace starts but Helen interrupts.
“Rory!” I get pulled into her embrace.
“Hi, Helen.” I smile. I love Helen’s energy. She could make a cyclone seem fun as kids.
I get wrapped in Devon’s arms next. “Hey, little one,” Devon rumbles.
“Hey, Bear.” I grin up at him.
“So, what’s the plan, Rory? Do you want to have lunch here first?” Helen asks, looking excited.
“Ummm.” I glance up at Jace, clearing having missed something.
“We just got here, Mum. I haven’t told her yet,” Jace explains. He turns to me. “The guys and I thought you might like a distraction and we figured you still don’t have a lot of clothes, especially for winter. Mum offered to take you shopping.”
He looks nervous but he shouldn’t be.
“Thanks, J.” I lean up and kiss him softly.
Helen makes an ‘awww’ noise and I remember that she and Devon are right there.
“It’s Alec’s birthday next week too,” Jace tells me. “I figured he wouldn’t have told you. He doesn’t like doing anything big for it.”
“No, he didn’t tell me. That’s good then, I have time to get him something,” I say lightly.
Jace ensures I’m not put out by that and I assure him that I’m not. Some people just don’t like celebrating their birthdays.
“I’m good to have lunch here first.” I answer Helen’s earlier question and she’s happy with that.
We eventually make it inside where Helen and Devon catch up with John while the guys and I start throwing lunch together.
We do a tour with Jace, Mase and Mav who haven’t seen the finished house yet. They find Alec’s surprise for them.
The twin’s cupboards in their bedrooms conjoin so that they can walk through them to each other's rooms. They are stoked about that. Apparently it’s something they’ve always wanted when they had their own rooms.
Alec also shows the twins and Jace how to use the panic rooms, just in case.
“Where’s Alice?” Helen asks Dominic.
Dom turns to John who doesn’t seem to know what to say.
“Mama doesn’t approve of our relationship with Rory,” Dom tells Helen. Sadness laces his voice.
I grab his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. He smiles sadly at me, squeezing my hand back.
“Oh,” Helen says simply, not seeming sure what to say.
“Your mum just needs a bit more time to wrap her head around the idea, son.” John puts his hand on Dom’s shoulder.
Dom doesn’t say anything to Luc changes the subject.
“Everything go alright? No problems?” He asks Jace and the twins.
“We didn’t see anyone following us. The house didn’t look out of place or anything when we got there.” Maverick shrugs.
The worry doesn’t leave Luc’s eyes all through lunch.
While we’re cleaning up, Luc pulls me aside. “You’ve got your knife?” He asks quietly.
I grab his hand and position it on the hilt on my side, covered by my shirt.
It helps reassure him but the fright doesn’t stray for very long.
“Maybe you should take someone with you,” he suggests, anxiously.
Helen places her hand on his arm. “Luc, honey, Rory will be okay. We’re going to a crowded shopping centre with security and you will be able to contact us at all times.”
“It’s okay, Luci,” I tell him. “I have my knife and if anything happens—which it won’t—I’ll hit the red circle thingy on my phone.”
“Holy shit!”
All heads turn to look at Alec who’s staring at me dumbfounded.
“What?” I frown when he glances down at his computer then back up to me.
Jace goes around to peek at Alec’s laptop. “What the fuck?!” J says, incredulously.
“Boys, language. What’s going on?” Helen joins her son. “Well, damn.” She peers closer at the screen.
“What’s happening?” I question.
“You’re rich, Ro!” Jace blurts out.
“What?!” The rest of us say at the same time.
“Hang on.” I look between Alec and Jace. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“So…the bank you told us about. That you went to after you saw that guy. We stopped there on the way to Mum and Dad’s place,” Jace tells me.
Oh, yeah. Alec brought it up last night. I thought it would be good to know what Mum actually left me. I got a few hundred when I first went there but I didn’t get access to everything until I turned eighteen as part of her wishes.
“And to cut a long story short, Alec hacked your bank account since the dude at the bank wouldn’t give us any details but since I was technically your legal guardian he gave me your card and you’re fucking rich.” Jace grabs Alec’s laptop and turns it around for the rest of us to see.
My mouth drops open at all the zeros. Holy shit!
“What the fuck?” I whisper. “How?!”
Devon puts his hands on my shoulders. “Before your mum passed, she said she had a bad feeling about your father. That he’s changed over the years.
She’d already started moving money into accounts and most of what she made as an architect went into an account for you and Declan.
I’m not sure Marcus even really knew how much your mother really made. ”
I rub my eyes then look at the screen again but the number doesn’t change.
I glance up at Alec who has a small grin on his face. He pushes a credit card towards me with my proper, legal name on it.
I pick up that piece of plastic with shaky hands.
“What do I do with all this?” I say mostly to myself.
Dom’s chocolate irises capture mine and I stare into them for the answers.
“Sweetheart,” Dom says fiercely, “you can do whatever you want with it.”
. . .
“Do you want to get a coffee before we start looking around?” Helen says loudly over the crowd.
“Sounds good!”
I stick close to Helen, hating being among so many people.
My hand subconsciously inches towards my knife on my hip.
I got my old one out of the Hilux too before we left so it’s on the other side in the lining of my jeans.
It’s thin enough that it’s not perceptible to the human eye.
Thankfully the security guard doesn’t pay me enough attention to see the faint outline of the one Drake gave me through my loosely fitting shirt.
Helen picked one of the centres about an hour from home. It’s surprising big. Thankfully, it also doesn’t have scanners. Those are rare around here though.
We wait in line and get our coffees.
I sip my caramel latte as we walk past a few shops. It’s good, but not as good as the one Maverick made for me the other day.
My eyes glaze over the crowd but stop when I think I feel someone staring at me. My gaze snaps back but I don’t see anyone.
“Jace said you need more of everything.” Helen directs me towards a line of shops. I shake off the feeling of fear creeping up inside me.
“Pretty such,” I tell her. “I definitely need some shoes for around home. I think Dom wanted to get me some boots.”
We talked about doing some things at his parents place, maybe going horse riding. I’m excited for that. I’ve never been horse riding before—it looks really cool.
“I know just the place.” Helen detours, linking our arms.
A few hours later, my arms are heavy from carrying bags and I’m immensely tired but I never knew shopping was fun. Or maybe Helen just makes things fun.
“Let me take those.” Helen takes my bags despite my protests. “Do you want to get us another coffee while I put these in the car? Then we can look for some boots.”
We had found the boot place earlier but got distracted by planning what I was getting Alec and we never got around to buying anything.
I see that the place we went to this morning is pretty busy so I venture down to a quieter section of the shopping centre where I thought I saw another coffee place.
My phone rings in my pocket and I keep walking to a quiet spot near the back doors to answer.
“Hey, Luci!”
“Hey, gorgeous. Having fun?” Luc asks.
“Uh-huh! We’re just getting a coffee, then we’ll go find some boots and come home,” I tell him. I keep an eye out for Helen so I can wave her over.
“Are you becoming a coffee addict?” Luc teases.
“Blame Maverick.” I laugh when I hear Mav protest in the background. I must be on speaker.
“Okay, well, I don’t want to interrupt. I was just calling to check up on you,” Luc says sweetly and my heart melts.
“Awww, such a romantic.” I remember our conversation from last night and Luc chuckles.
I spot Helen and raise my arm above my head. She waves back but even from the distance I see her smiling face turn to horrified. I frown at her terrified expression and glance around.
“Rory?” I hear Luc in the background.
“Something’s wr—“
A hand covers my mouth as the phone is forced away from my ear.
I panic for two seconds before remembering myself and slam my elbow into their gut.
I hear an ‘ompf’ before two strong arms are wrapped around me, pining my arms to my sides. My phone clatters to the ground.
I use my foot to press the red circle on the lock screen of the phone before stomping down on their foot. Their grip on me turns bruising.
“Hey! Let her go!” Helen runs towards me but she’s too far away to do anything.
“Shit!” A deep voice growls. “Stay still, bitch.”
He yanks me out the back doors, everyone around us oblivious to someone being kidnapped.
I fight their hold and bite down on their arm as hard as I can. They throw me across the empty back parking lot. I hiss as my skin scrapes across the gravel.
“Fuck!” The man holds his arm, anger storming in his eyes as he heads for me.
I scramble to my feet just to slam into someone else.
I reach for my knife but they beat me to it and force me into a hold so tight it’s painful.
The guy I bit punches me in the face with enough force that I see stars.
Not today, I blink them away.
“You’re fucking weak.” I grin through a mouthful of blood, spitting it on his shoes.
Apparently that’s enough to make him hit me again. My head spins and I nearly go down.
“Hey! They don’t want her damaged. Yet.” The guy holding me tells kidnapper number one.
A van screeches around the side of the building, coming to a stop beside us.
God, why can’t kidnappers be more original?
“Rory!” I hear Helen’s blood curdling scream.
“Call the guys!” I shout as loudly as I can before kidnapper number one grabs my arm, throwing me into the back of the van.
I wince when I land on my shoulder. The tires scream as they take off and I’m thrown around the back, slamming into the back of the doors.
“Tie up her hands,” the driver orders.
Kidnapper number two reaches for me. His mouth drops open and looks down at my knife, imbedded deeply in his chest. I twist before yanking it out, alerting the driver.
“Aaron!” The driver warns kidnapper number one who whips out a gun.
“Fucking bitch!” He roars when he sees kidnapper number two slump to the ground, gurgling as blood fills his lungs.
He cocks the gun, pointing it at my head.
I hold my knife out, not wanting to back down.
“Put it the fuck down!” He shouts and I flinch. He pounces on me, forcing me to the ground where we wrestle over my knife.
“You ain’t worth the trouble, bitch. Stupid fucking Dark Riders,” he snaps when I cut his arm with my knife.
My confusion has me losing the upper hand and the chamber of his gun slams into my temple.