Chapter 35 #2
But did she even want him, let alone love him back?
He wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t. He’d violated her privacy.
She had every right to tell him to go to hell, but he wasn’t going home without her in his arms. Too bad if she was mad at him.
She’d have to deal with his attempts to make it up to her for the rest of her life.
The General jerked the SUV around a corner. Hudson didn’t stop his body from swaying toward Nathaniel. The dickhead had the good sense to cower against the door. “Talk, asshole.”
Malcolm shot his head through the seats again and glared at Nathaniel. “My boy is in love with the woman you put in danger. It’s in your best interest to spill your guts like your life depends on it, cause it does.”
Nathaniel rolled his eyes. “I already told you. I arrived at a room in the Washington Square Hotel for what I thought was a meeting with a wealthy investor. When I walked in, I was tied to a chair and interrogated like I was a criminal.”
Hudson growled as he yanked off his seat belt and slid next to Nathaniel. “You are a fucking criminal. If I were you, I’d dig deeper into your memory for more details because if we don’t find her in the next five minutes, I’ll be digging a hole so deep your body will never be found.”
“Okay, okay.” Spit flew from Nathaniel’s mouth. “I refused to tell them why I was looking for Frank because they seemed shady as hell, and I was right. The sadistic bastards kept hitting me for fun even after I said I’d tell them everything.”
Hudson choked on an inhale. An image of Tessa, tied to a chair, her beautiful face bloody and beaten, and her clothes—
No. Fuck no.
He speared his fingers into his hair. Tessa was strong.
A survivor.
His pretty little thief who could pickpocket a knife and take down a man twice her size. She could hang on a bit longer.
She had to.
Curling his fingers into his palm, he brought the ruby to his lips.
Pop had said the ring was a reminder not to wait for when the time is right, or safe, or ideal.
Dammit, he shouldn’t have let Tessa run off to the restroom.
He should have pulled her into his arms and told her he loved her.
Should have held his breath waiting for her to say it back even though he knew she would because, fuck, Pop had known what he was doing.
Tessa wasn’t just the woman who held the power to heal his broken parts—she was his future.
His forever.
The General tapped his earpiece as he met Hudson’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Fifteen minutes out from the marina. My team reports a sizable yacht not registered with border patrol. They’ve alerted the authorities.”
Hudson punched his hand into the back of the General’s seat. “We don’t have time to wait.”
“Didn’t say we were.” The General caught his attention in the mirror again. “In the meantime, what do you suggest we do next, Doc?”
Hudson smothered a flinch.
Shit.
The General’s blunt reminder to think with his head, not his heart, hit its mark.
Keeping his emotions out of this mission wasn’t possible, but digging to the root of the problem by asking the right questions was a tactic he could manage.
Pounding his fist into his palm, he whipped his torso toward Nathaniel. His ribs burned in sweet, fortifying pain. “What else happened?”
“They said they wanted to get rid of Frank because he was a liability but couldn’t because they had some important client they needed to keep happy who liked him.”
“Why was Frank a liability?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Last time you told this story you said you didn’t know. Which is it?”
“I…”
Hudson’s pulse hammered at his temples. Screw the rational approach. “Every second it takes for you to remember is another second your family is unprotected.”
The General cleared his throat. Hudson got the message and forced himself to think of Nathaniel like a patient and not a hostage.
“Look, I’m just as worried about Tessa as you are about your son and his family.
I don’t want any of them to get hurt.” He tapped the back of the General’s seat. “Make the call.”
The General handed Malcolm a phone. “You know what to do.”
Malcolm tapped random keys. “Done. A security team is five minutes out. Surveillance reports everyone is safe.”
“Thank you.” Nathaniel slumped into the leather seat.
Hudson refused to say you’re welcome. “Now close your eyes and think back to that day. Did the Passage enforcers say anything about Tessa?”
Nathaniel’s breathing evened out. “No, not that I remember.”
“How about why they wanted to get rid of Frank?”
Nathaniel shook his head and peered at him.
Hudson clenched his jaw. “Close your eyes.”
He forced himself to take a deep breath instead of lowering Nathaniel’s lids for him—permanently. “How did you feel when the enforcers were interrogating you?”
“Pissed. They beat the shit out of me. And hungry. It was supposed to be a lunch meeting and I hadn’t eaten.
To make it worse, the bastards kept teasing me with a glass of single-malt scotch, holding it up to my nose and mouth and snatching it away.
” Nathaniel’s lips twisted. “They kept saying how much easier it was to take a beating when you were—”
“When you were what?”
Nathaniel closed his eyes without being told. “Drunk.”
That single word packed so much pain, Hudson should have felt sorry for him. He didn’t, but he forced sympathy into his voice anyway. “What happened next?”
“One of them smashed the bottle on the leg of my chair.” Nathaniel’s eyes gathered with tears. “Oh God. I’d forgotten about this part.”
“You’re safe here. Go ahead.” Hudson ignored Malcolm’s snicker about the safe part. “Are you experiencing nightmares?”
“Yes.” Nathaniel’s shoulders shook. “Every goddamn night.”
Good. Hudson forced a professional response up his throat. “Talking about it is the way to make the nightmares stop.”
Nathaniel’s whole body quivered as he nodded. “He held the jagged bottle up to my throat. He said if I told anyone about our meeting, or the deal they were about to propose, he’d find me and slice open my guts.”
Hudson’s hopes rose with each word. Every new detail led to another. He could feel a clue forming from Nathaniel’s memories as sure as he felt Pop’s strength seeping from his ruby and into his blood. “Stick with me. What happened next?”
“I think I passed out. I don’t know.” He pressed his palms to his eyes.
“I remember them laughing. Saying that despite beatings and threats to his life, Frank kept trying to get out of the country, and that thank God they’d found the perfect leverage to keep him in line—his pretty daughter in the states. ”
“Motherfuckers. How long had they been tracking her?”
“I don’t know.” Nathaniel jerked his head up. “Wait. You said tracking. They talked about tracking too, but I can’t…I don’t…” He pressed his fingertips into his temples. “They said something about always knowing where Frank was.”
Hudson grabbed the front of Nathaniel’s shirt. “Did they know where Frank was because they put a tracker on him?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
The General slapped the steering wheel. “Nice work, Doc.”
“Can your people track the signal?”