24. Margot
CHAPTER 24
Margot
M y stomach lurches as the boat moves yet again. I’d been drugged as soon as we were in the car, so by the time I woke, I was already in the hull of a boat. Fear consumes me, but I try to beat it back because I know it won’t help me now.
Only God can bring me out of this.
I’m tied to a chair, my mouth gagged with a scarf. My feet are secured to the legs of the chair, my arms behind my back. I have no idea how long I’ve been here, but when I first woke, it was dark outside. Now, light streams in through a small window on the side, though it’s partially boarded up so I can’t see anything.
There is no one down here, and I keep frantically watching the door, waiting for someone to walk through it and explain to me what’s going on. Has my abductor already called Jaxson? Given him a riddle?
Is Matty scared ?
Did Chad survive?
Tears fill my eyes, and I close them, forcing myself to take a deep breath.
“ The Lord is with me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” I repeat the verse from Psalm 118 over and over again in my head, hoping that doing so will ease some of the terror.
But all I can think about is leaving Matty behind. I don’t even have a will. What if they send him back to Chad and he spirals again? What if?—
The story about Daniel in the lion’s den comes flooding back to me.
It was Matty’s favorite story when he was younger.
The lions could not harm David because of his faith in God. Because he believed, with his entire soul, that God would bring him through the trials he was facing.
Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God. I repeat the verse from Daniel, over and over again.
I trust in my God.
I trust in His plan for me.
And I believe, with everything I am, that my time on this earth is not done.
God, please be with me. Please help me stay strong. I know that You are here with me. That You have never left me alone. Thank You, God, for your promises. Amen.
The door creaks, and I open my eyes.
My abductor is wearing all black, their face shielded with a ski mask. They don’t speak to me as they come through the door, walking over toward where I am and checking the ties.
Daniel and the lions. I can do this.
I try to speak, but the words come out garbled. Thankfully, the person removes the gag.
“Why are you doing this? Who are you?”
They don’t speak to me as they withdraw a phone and tap the screen.
“Where is she?” Jaxson demands over the speakerphone.
“Alive. For now. But based on your previous performance, I wouldn’t imagine she’ll stay that way for long.” Just like at the B&B, the voice is disguised.
“I’m here! Jaxson!” A hand cracks across my face, and I groan, my mouth filling with copper tang. Daniel and the lions. I can do this.
“I am going to find her,” Jaxson growls. “And when I do, you will receive no mercy at my hand.”
“That’s not very becoming for a man of God,” the man replies.
“Tell me where she is.”
“I think I’ll let you figure this one out for yourself, Detective. Have fun fishing.”
The door opens again and a second masked figure walks in. Bile rises in my throat when I see the vial and syringe in their hands.
“Jaxson!” I scream. “They have a—” The person ends the call and tosses the phone to the side. “No. Please no. Don’t do this! ”
“You’re a distraction for the detective, and I need him focused.”
Daniel and the lions. I can do this. “You don’t have to do this. You can let me go.”
“No, we can’t. We have plans, Margot, and they don’t include you.” The second person fills a syringe, then offers it to the first person. They start toward me, and I take a deep breath, once again turning to my God.
Father, please give me strength. I have to survive for Matty. Please let me go home to him.
As soon as the person is close enough, I slam my head into theirs. Pain rings in my ears, but instead of focusing on it, I throw my chair back, hoping that the fall will break it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t, but I still try to fight the hold, doing everything I can to loosen at least one of the ropes.
My heart pounds.
The first person stands and rips the mask from their face.
Nothing would have prepared me for the shock as I find myself looking back at someone I’ve known my entire life. “Patty?”
“You shouldn’t have done that,” the second person snarls, then rips their mask off. “You weren’t supposed to let her see your face, Mom!” Lanetti rushes forward and lifts my chair up off of the ground.
“I don’t understand. You were kidnapped,” I say as I try to piece everything together.
“I only needed Jaxson to think I’d been kidnapped,” she snaps. “So he’d turn to me, where he belongs. Instead, you kept getting in the way.” She moves around in front of me. “It’s always ‘Margot this, Margot that.’ Ugh, it’s exhausting!” Bending over, she lifts the syringe her mom dropped. “You would think he would’ve noticed me, but no, he was always only looking at you.”
“This is about Jaxson?”
“Are you really this slow? No wonder Chad left you.”
“He—you shot Chad!” I say to Patty.
“He had it coming.”
“You taught us math in high school. You were our teacher!”
“Which is how I know he deserved it.”
“But the cards. The B&B. The fire. It was all you?” I ask.
Lanetti smiles at me, but the girl who used to babysit my son, who served me coffee at the diner, is nowhere to be seen. “The card thing was clever, wasn’t it? It took some deep digging into Jaxson’s background to find that. Of course, I hadn’t been looking for that in particular, just something I could use to get him to notice me, and when I read about the cards, I thought it was brilliant. After all, he stole my heart, so using them to capture his seemed fitting.”
“The girl wasn’t supposed to survive, though. I’m just glad they didn’t find the card.”
“What? What girl?”
She arches a brow. “No need to worry, we got the dose right this time. Just needed a little more.” She steps forward .
“We need to handle this,” Patty says. “We can’t risk getting caught.”
“Well, we can’t risk her surviving and getting away now, either.” Lanetti moves closer to me, then comes around behind me. “So, how should we do this? Straight to the jugular?” Something pinches against my skin, and I close my eyes, whimpering as fear takes a bite out of my soul.
Is this really it?
“Please don’t,” I tell them both. “Please don’t take me away from Matty.”
“Matty will be fine. We both know your parents will take him in. Probably better off, too. If you couldn’t keep Chad around, what makes you think you can keep Jaxson? We wouldn’t want little Matty growing up with an unhealthy outlook on relationships, now would we? Besides, Jaxson and I will watch over him.”
“You can come back from this, Lanetti. It’s not too late.”
“It is too late,” she replies. “Because I want Jaxson and you’re in the way. None of them could see it either. None of them know just how perfect he is for me.”
“Okay, we can talk about this later. Maybe at the diner. Over some food.”
Lanetti snorts. “Why, so I can serve you dinner while you two play googly eyes over the table? He’s mine!” she yells. “You had your chance, this is mine!”
“Lanetti,” Patty scolds. “Do it so we can leave.”
“You never let me have any fun.”
Footsteps above us silence both women. “Down—” I can’t finish because Lanetti wraps an arm around my throat and squeezes, pressing the needle against the side of my throat. “Shut up or I’ll do it now.”
Please, God, let that be help. Please don’t let me die down here. Tears stream down my cheeks as I struggle to breathe against the hold on my throat.
More footsteps just outside the door.
Patty raises her gun.
And fires.
A man groans, and the door splinters open. Three men dressed in tactical gear rush in, their weapons aimed.
Jaxson.
Michael.
Silas.
And behind them, Elijah is down, a hand pressed to his side. No!
“Let her go, Lanetti,” Jaxson says.
“I’m doing this for us, Jaxson. Don’t you see it? With Margot around, we can’t be together. Not really.”
“We can talk as soon as you put that needle down,” Jaxson says. “Come on, you’re not a killer.”
“I could have been. If that brat Kleo Finch had gone down and stayed down like she was supposed to. And I can do it now too. I’m not afraid. Then you’ll see. You’ll see.”
“Lanetti.”
“Drop your weapons,” Patty orders.
“Not a chance,” Michael snaps.
“Then— ”
A gunshot sounds, and Patty yells in pain as she falls to the side. I slam my head back into Lanetti’s face and she screams, jabbing the needle into the side of my throat.
Everything moves in slow motion, and I stiffen. Did she push the contents of the syringe into my veins? Am I going to die? Even now that Jaxson has found me?
Daniel and the lions. I can do this. It’s going to be okay. Jaxson is here.
Michael lunges for Lanetti, taking her to the ground as Silas tends to Patty. Jaxson comes straight for me, setting his weapon down beside him as he kneels at my feet.
“Hey, stay still, okay? You’re going to be okay.”
“I don’t know what’s in it,” I tell him. “She was going to kill me, though.” I’m barely keeping it together, barely managing to keep myself from trembling as he reaches up and tugs the needle from my neck.
“She didn’t inject you, okay? It was just a stick.”
I nod, tears streaming down my cheeks, because I know that speaking right now is not going to lead to anything but me losing it altogether.
Jaxson uses a knife he’d tucked into his tactical boots to cut the ropes binding my legs and arms. As soon as I’m free, I fall forward, both arms going around his neck. I bury my face against his chest, my entire body trembling from the adrenaline.
“See! It’s always about Margot! It should be me!” Lanetti roars.
“Keep all questions and concerns to yourself until the end of your prison sentence,” Michael snaps as he marches Lanetti out of the room.
Silas reaches down and lifts Patty, carrying her out, and soon it’s just Jaxson and me.
He pulls away and cups my face, leaning his forehead against mine. “Thank You, God. I thought I’d lost you, Margot,” he says.
“I wasn’t sure I was making it out of here, either. I kept thinking about Daniel and the lions though,” I choke out. I’m rambling as my body begins to tremble. “Jaxson, I—how did you know? How did you know where we were?”
“Lanetti told me her dad had a fishing boat she wanted to take me out on. Then, when your abductor called, they told me to have fun fishing. We raced back to the house and discovered that Bianca had been drugged and Lanetti was gone.”
“I’m so glad you found me,” I choke. “Thank you for finding me.”
“I will always find you. Do you hear me? I love you, Margot Anderson. With everything that I am and everything that I will be, I am yours. And this might not be the best time to tell you, present circumstances and all, but there is no one else I want to be with. It’s you. I think it’s always been you.”
He kisses me, not waiting for a response. But if he had waited, I would have told him the same things. That I love him with everything I am. With all of my heart and soul. He’s my person. My promise of love in this world .
“I love you, too, Jaxson,” I reply, leaning my forehead against his. “I love you, too.”
“How are you feeling?” Jaxson asks as he sits up from the couch he’s been sleeping on for the past two hours. We’re still in the hospital since Doc wanted to watch me overnight just in case. And even though I sent Matty home with my parents, Jaxson insisted on staying around.
“Hopeful.”
“Yeah?” he asks.
“Yeah. It’s funny, but it took being abducted for me to realize that everything is going to be okay. I’ll find a way to open the B&B again, and it’s going to be better than ever.”
Jaxson gets up and crosses over, then leans down to press a kiss to my forehead. “You amaze me, Margot.”
I beam up at him, unable to even put into words how he makes me feel. Like my heart can’t help but beat fast and slow all at the same time.
Someone knocks on the door.
“Come in,” I call out.
It opens, and a man walks in wearing jeans and a leather jacket, his hair longer on top and shorter on the sides. I’ve never seen him before, nor do I recognize the redhead walking in alongside him, her belly swollen.
“Hey, heard she was up,” the man says.
“And you thought you’d come interrogate us?” Jaxson hugs the man and the woman, then turns to me. “Margot, this is my former partner, Alaric, and his wife, Wrenley.”
“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you both.” I sit up a little straighter and offer a smile. “You’re here all the way from LA?”
Alaric nods. “Flew out when Jax told us you were missing. There’s not much we wouldn’t do for the man. After all, it wasn’t too long ago he was helping me track down my lovely wife.” Alaric smiles and wraps an arm around his wife.
She beams up at him.It’s adorable. Utterly and completely heart-melting.
“How far along are you?” I ask her.
“Four months,” she replies. “But I look like I’m going to give birth tomorrow. This is our third.”
“Congratulations, that’s amazing.” I glance over at Jaxson. Will he want more kids? Should we talk about that? Getting ahead of myself.
“Thanks. We met your son before, he’s a great kid.”
Pride swells within me. “He is a pretty great guy.”
“He is. Anyway, we just wanted to pop in to meet you. We’ll be heading out tomorrow, but I told Jaxson that I’d love for the three of you to come visit us in LA. Whenever you’re up for it.”
“You’re leaving so soon?”
“Wrenley runs a women and children’s shelter,” Jaxson tells me. “They have their big annual event coming up soon, so she said she needs to get prepared. ”
“That’s so wonderful. It must feel so good to help others like that.”
“It’s a blessing, to be sure.” Wrenley steps forward and squeezes my hand. “Take care of Jaxson for us? He’s not as strong as he pretends.” She winks at Jaxson, who rolls his eyes.
“I will,” I promise.
They embrace then step out, but before I can say anything, Chad is wheeled into the room. His chest is bandaged, his face pale. But he’s alive. And even though they’d told me he was, seeing him makes me feel a bit better.
“I needed to see that you were okay,” Chad says. “I just—I was scared for you.”
“Thank you for trying to stop them from taking me.”
“I didn’t do enough.”
“You tried,” I tell him. “And that’s enough to me.”
“You don’t need to thank me.” He smiles softly, then turns to Jaxson and holds out a hand. “Thank you for taking care of Margot and Matty.”
Jaxson hesitates a moment, then takes Chad’s hand. “I’ll always take care of them.”
“I’m counting on it,” he replies. “Margot’s always deserved better than me. I’m glad she found it.”