Chapter 23
It had been two weeks since her divorce petition had showed up at the diner.
Two weeks of Luke taking her to the shooting range and teaching her to shoot a gun in their free time.
He’d retained an attorney for Aaron and he was sleeping better.
Maggie was relieved that the dark circles under his eyes were almost gone.
Virginia had teased them about charging Luke as her roommate, but she’d handed over an extra set of keys anyway.
Deb kept asking if Luke was moving in with Maggie, but Maggie had her hopes set on an apartment downtown.
The lease for the apartment next to Grace’s above her bakery was up soon and they were excited about the idea of being neighbors.
Plus, Grace would make an excellent landlord.
With no news from Alex or threats from Sean, Maggie and Luke had relaxed a little. She had started going places without him, though they were usually not far from each other.
Tonight, however, was slow at the diner, and Maggie volunteered to leave early.
Luke stayed because Shorty had come down with a stomach bug and called off.
She pulled into the Haven and parked her car, noticing another car parked around the back.
Maggie beamed with pride. Her social media marketing for Virginia must be working.
She waved at Virginia, who was dusting the living area and hopped up the stairs to her room. Maggie giggled thinking of how she could surprise Luke when he got back. But when she unlocked the door, all plans of seduction fled.
Her dresser drawers were on the floor. All the sexy lingerie she’d bought last week with Grace that she’d planned to wear for Luke was shredded.
With a cry, she turned to the closet, which had not been spared.
No! Her beautiful pink dress that she’d worn for the dance lay in tatters.
The matching pink heels met a similar fate.
Her laptop? Missing. The power cord laid on the desk, a loose end.
Her mind whirled as she stood among her ruined possessions. Only one person would be this petty. This violent.
Before she could think his name, the bathroom door creaked open. “Hello, wife.”
Maggie dove for her purse. She had to get to her phone. But Sean stepped in her way. Her self-preservation kicked in and she stepped back.
“That’s right. Look at me, bitch.”
Sean looked terrible. He hadn’t shaved in weeks, and smelled like he hadn’t showered, either.
His shirt and jeans were caked in dust. Shaggy blonde hair hung limp and greasy.
Apparently, it only took two months for his clean-cut image to fall away and show the world his rotten core.
Did he think letting himself go would make her feel sorry for him?
“How’d you get in here?” she gritted out.
He chuckled, leaning in closer, his rancid breath turning her stomach. “I rented a room, of course. Apparently, you never told Miss Virginia your real last name. It was too easy. Then I just had to pick this old-fashioned lock.”
She leaned away, her face scrunching up, which was the wrong thing to do. Sean grabbed onto her arm, hard enough she knew there would be bruises. She tried to wrench her arm away. “Let me go!”
“I don’t think so,” Sean said with a hum.
“How’d you even find me?”
He leaned back in, smiling wickedly, either at her discomfort or his victory. “You’re not as clever as you think, whore.” She tried to duck away from the spittle that flew from his disgusting mouth, but he held on tight. Maggie used her free arm to wipe it off her face.
He held on for another moment, reminding her who was in charge here, then released her.
Maggie swayed on unsteady feet, the shock of seeing her husband and being put back in that awful headspace catching up to her.
Then she heard the unmistakable click of a gun safety.
Her eyes widened, and she looked up to find she was staring down the barrel of a gun.
“Now, you’re going to come with me, Margaret. And if you care about Virginia downstairs, you won’t make any noise. I won’t hesitate to kill her if you don’t cooperate.”
Fuck. She couldn’t let anything happen to Virginia. And Maggie knew best just how violent her husband could be, though this was quite a leap from waving his gun around their house. She gulped and nodded, the wheels turning in her head for how she could get away.
He followed her into the hallway, but when she turned right towards the staircase, the cool metal of the gun pressed against her head. “Ah, ah, ah. Can’t have anyone seeing us leave, Margaret.”
“But the stairs are—” She cut off her train of thought when the barrel pressed harder.
“Fun fact about these old Victorian houses.” Sean leaned in close, and she fought not to react. “There’s a second staircase in the back.” He pushed, forcing her to turn with the weapon. “Now, move.”
The back stairs were particularly steep, and Maggie understood why Virginia never used them. She nearly tumbled down headfirst, but just barely managed to keep her balance. They emerged into the kitchen, where Sean marched her through the back door in broad daylight.
Right to the car that she’d noticed when she’d come in.
No! She couldn’t go to a second location with him. Maggie shifted her weight to the left to run, but pain erupted in her temple and she fell, the gravel digging into her palms.
She was dimly aware of Sean lifting her and tossing her into the backseat. Hitting her somewhere visible could only mean one thing.
He didn’t intend for her to survive this.
Her last thoughts were of Luke and how worried he’d be when he returned to find her gone.
At least I got to know what it was like to be cared for…
“Night, Katya!” Luke waved as he locked The Busy Bee behind them. He zipped up his jacket and whistled as he headed for his car.
He cruised to the Haven with the window rolled down to dry off the sweat of the kitchen. Stars twinkled in the blue velvet sky. Hmm. Maybe he and Maggie could go star gazing in someone’s field one of these days. He could make her see two kinds of stars.
Luke chuckled to himself as he entered the Haven. His libido hadn’t been this strong since his twenties. Something about Maggie just brought it out of him.
Or he just needed to find the right person.
He took the stairs two at a time and speed-walked down the hall to her room. But he paused when he saw the door wasn’t pulled shut. That wasn’t like his Maggie.
Luke’s instincts screamed that something was wrong. Ignoring his training that told him to go back to the car for his gun, he pushed the door open. And came face to face with absolute carnage.
The room was a disaster. Shredded clothing lay strewn over the floor, “Maggie?” he called out. Her purse and phone lay on the entry table, where she always left them.
It took no time to sweep the room. He bent under the bed, just in case she was hiding underneath. The bathroom door stood wide open, and he saw her few pieces of makeup smashed to smithereens. Her laptop sat at the bottom of a tub filled with water, and lipstick covered the mirror.
Luke didn’t see the message in it at first. The numbers and symbols didn’t make sense right away. He took a picture with his phone, and the little computer chip recognized latitude and longitude coordinates. It automatically prompted him to pull up a map.
Shit. Fuck. The cabin in the satellite photo looked abandoned. Whoever took Maggie had her in the middle of nowhere. And if she’d come right home, he was hours behind them.
His stomach sank as the realization hit him. He knew who’d done this. Now he just needed to figure out how long she’d been gone.
“Virginia!” He called out, racing down the hall to the back staircase. Her apartment was on the top floor, taking up what used to be the attic. She’d had a stairlift put in for when her knee got bad, but he took the ancient steps as if they were nothing.
“Virginia!” He pounded on her door.
“Luke?” Swinging the door open, Virginia wrapped her robe around herself. “What is it?”
“Maggie’s been taken!”
“Maggie’s been faking?” She cupped her hand around her ear. Damn, she must have her hearing aids out.
“No. Taken! Kidnapped!” He gripped his hair.
“Have you checked her room?”
“Yes, it’s destroyed.” He took a deep breath, but trying to remember his training when the love of his life had disappeared was easily the most difficult thing he’d done. “When did she get home?”
Virginia shrugged. “About six or so? I was dusting, so I wasn’t paying much attention.”
Shit. That meant Maggie had gone straight home from the diner, just as he’d feared.
He couldn’t stay a second longer. “Call the police. I have to go.” Luke nearly took a header running back down the old servant’s staircase, then he bolted for the front door.
After looking at the map again, he realized the cabin was outside of Hawthorn Hills, so he called the person who he knew would have his back. “Delgado.”
“Gabe, I just got back to the Haven and Maggie’s been taken.”
“Taken? By who?”
“Her husband. She’s been on the run but he stalked her here. I went up to her room, and it’s a disaster. She left her phone and purse behind.” He put the phone on speaker as he slid it into the holder on the dash.
Gabe whistled. “Could he have taken her back to Oklahoma?”
“No, he left a message on the mirror. The coordinates lead to an old hunting cabin outside of town.”
“Send them to me. I’m on the way.” Luke typed furiously into a text message, then set up his GPS.
“Luke… you know this is a trap, right?”
His academy training had taught him to make logical decisions in the face of danger.
Scenarios he’d never had issues with before.
But the cool head he always entered assignments with was nowhere to be found.
“He hurt her, Gabe. She hasn’t said it outright, but she has old scars and injuries that didn’t heal correctly. ”
“Mierda,” his old teammate swore in Spanish. “Who’s handling the stalking case?”
“Marigold MacDonald.”
“Alright, I’ll call her while I get on the road. What’s your ETA?”
Luke checked the phone and swore. “GPS says forty minutes. I’m calling it thirty.”
Gabe muttered something about calling ahead so he didn’t get pulled over. “Don’t go in there until I get there!”
He peeled out of the gravel driveway, waving at Virginia, who’d come down to the front door, her phone to her ear. “I can’t make that promise.”
“Don’t be stupid, Luke!” The wail of a siren told him his friend was en route.
“Call Marigold. I’ll see you there.” He hung up the call and sped off into the night. Hold on, baby, I’m coming for you.