Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
I rip the knife from the side of Owen’s neck and shove his body.
The chair tips with him, the metal scraping against the concrete before he hits the floor.
Blood spurts from his wound, and I tip my head to the side, watching as he gasps for air like a fish out of water.
The color drains from his face. His attempts at breathing slow, and the life leaves his eyes, replaced with nothing but darkness.
“See you in hell, you fuck.”
Maverick steps forward first, nudging Owen’s limp body with his boot.
“Brother, huh?” he turns to me, arching a brow.
I shrug. “True or not, it doesn’t fucking matter. Blood doesn’t mean shit to me.”
My blood abandoned me at my most vulnerable, and left me fighting for my life. Some people want to know where they came from, I couldn’t care less.
Stepping next to Owen’s body, I drop down and wipe the blade clean on his shirt before folding it and putting it back in my pocket.
“Now he can go be with his precious mother in hell where they both belong.”
Cole comes over and starts untying him from the chair.
“You know where to take him?” I ask.
“River out back. I got this,” Cole answers. He grabs Owen by the ankles and starts to drag him out of the room. Without a word, I turn and head for the exit.
I shove through the warehouse door and into the cool morning air with Mav trailing behind me. The sun’s higher now, burning through the gray. Rolling my shoulders once, I try to shake off the lingering adrenaline.
Getting in the car, I turn over the key.
“Any idea who wants her?” Maverick asks.
“Probably Melissa and Jack. They won’t get to her though,” I say and put the car in gear.
As we merge onto the highway, my phone vibrates in the cup holder.
“Parker,” Maverick says, and he answers it on speaker. “Hey, sweetheart. We’re on–”
“She’s gone,” Parker cuts him off, her breaths sharp and ragged.
My world stops. The air in the car gets sucked out and my ears ring as her words register.
“What do you mean gone?” I snap.
“I went to pull the car in front,” Parker says, her voice shaking. “She had gotten discharged and was waiting for me in her room in a wheelchair with the nurse. When I got back up there to wheel her down, she was gone. The nurse said a man wheeled her out.”
Maverick’s gaze snaps to me.
“What man?” he asks this time.
“I don’t know.” She’s holding back tears now. “They said that she waved bye at them as they left. Karson–”
She breaks.
“I can’t find her anywhere.”
I press the gas pedal to the floor. “We’re on our way. Flag down security. I want to see the cameras when I get there.”
“I’m on my way there now,” she says, her hurried footsteps in the background.
“Get them to lock the building down, we’ll be there soon,” Maverick adds and they hang up.
I push my Camaro to its limits, Owen’s words slamming into the sides of my psyche.
I wanted you, someone else wanted her.
We make the hour drive in half the time and abandon the Camaro half crooked at the curb.
Pushing through the sliding doors, we move past the front desk.
Security scrambles around the first floor, their radios chirping nonstop.
Parker stands near the nurses station, face pale but controlled.
Good. She’s not hysterical. She’s pissed.
She looks up as we get closer and she runs for Maverick.
He wraps his arms around her and lets out a deep exhale.
“They’re pulling the footage now,” she says, looking at me.
I nod once and move behind the desk without an invitation.
“Do we have a timeline?” I ask.
“She left seven minutes before Mrs. Cain came back to the room,” the guard tells me.
Seven minutes.
It doesn’t sound like much, but in this situation, seven minutes is a lot. Add in the time it took us to get here, you can cover a lot of ground in that time.
I lean in to get a better look, causing the guard to shift uncomfortably as I invade his space. The squares on the single monitor flicker with hallways, elevators and entrances. A nurse stands off to the side, flustered, repeating herself.
“She didn’t look scared–”
Maverick shuts her up with a look.
“Play it.”
The screen jumps to the second floor. Ashlynn comes into view first, exiting the room in a wheelchair, her head slightly bowed.
She’s bruised, exhausted and pale. Too pale.
A man steps into the frame as they turn down the hall headed for the elevators.
He’s tall, lean built with darker colored hair, but his back is to the camera.
Ashlynn waves toward the nurses station, and one looks up at her then goes back to her business.
My gaze slides to the nurse that’s standing here, guilt washes her features as she shifts on her feet. My teeth grind as I picture myself wringing her neck for letting my life leave her sight, but I keep my composure.
Back on screen, the man keeps his back to the camera as they wait for the elevator. It opens, and he walks backward inside of it, pulling her in after him, and the doors close.
“This place needs more fucking cameras,” I grit out. More to myself than anyone else, but the guard nods in agreement.
My jaw clenches. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I open the tracker app.
That night that I found her again, I had Elias bring me some supplies.
One of those being a small, barely noticeable tracker that I placed in her right side, just under her breasts into her rib cage.
She wouldn’t have felt it unless she was looking for it, and why would she?
Her location loads, spinning, then a dot appears on the screen.
“They’re moving,” I say. “Heading north.”
Maverick’s brows furrow for a second, before he nods in understanding.
Give it time, he’ll have one on Parker soon enough. If he doesn’t already.
“Here,” the guard says.
Looking back at the monitor, the elevator slides back open on the ground floor. Ashlynn sits limp in the chair. Her head tilted at an odd angle. She’s unconscious. They exit the elevator and the guy pushing the chair takes a different hallway that leads to a less used side entrance.
The screen shifts to the camera above the entrance door, clear and unobstructed. He lifts his head to look in the direction of the door.
“There,” someone behind me says.
The image freezes. Clear as day.
“There’s your someone else,” Maverick says.
My spine snaps straighter. The hair on the back of my neck rises as I take in the face of the person who’s trying to take her away from me.
Parker pulls away from Maverick, her fists tightening, rage simmering in her eyes. The two start moving for the door as I round the desk.
Looking down at my phone, the tracker keeps heading north on the highway. He doesn’t know it’s there. Probably thinks he’ll get away with it.
But, Tristan Andrew Pierce just made a lethal mistake.