Chapter Twenty-Three
SLOANE
AS I’M pouring the dry beans into the rolling cart, I glance into the grocery bag that I sat on the floor next to me. There is a note at the bottom of the bag.
Meet me at the end of the driveway in thirty minutes or we will burn the house and take the little girl in your place.
I’m so startled that I pour some of the beans onto the floor. No! I can’t let them get Lainey Rai. I quickly slide the beans across the floor to the area of the rolling cart and take the note out of the bag before I fold it.
Avoiding eye contact with Mason, I try to casually walk out of the kitchen to go up the stairs to my room, I feel so guilty about it. Until Kinley brought that pregnancy test to my room, I thought all secrets were behind us and we were just enjoying each other’s company.
But now I’m sneaking away again.
Who am I kidding, I started falling for him before the day he told me that he thinks of me all the time. There has been a part of me that’s been hoping with no secrets between us, our relationship, if I can even call it that, might grow into something more.
But now, he can’t possibly trust me, he will probably think that I am trying to trap him with a pregnancy and that’s the last thing I want. I would never want a man to feel trapped with me.
I set the note on my bed and grab my coat, boots, hat, and gloves to put on before I try to sneak out of the house. Tears prick my eyes as I look around the room that I have called home for the past seven months and realize that I won’t see it again.
What if I am pregnant? Am I walking into a possible death sentence for one or both of us? But I can’t let them get to Lainey Rai. I bat the tears that have started running down my cheeks and turn from my room to figure out how I will sneak out of the house with no one knowing any better.
Mason and his team are in the kitchen, so I can’t go down the back stairs. I walk around to the hallway with the family bedrooms and peek around the corner, all the doors are closed. I tiptoe on the carpet runner to be as quiet as possible as I get closer to the top of the front stairs.
Everyone will be expecting dinner soon, so I need to hurry. Avoiding all the places on the stairs that I know will creak and draw attention, I skip some steps while getting closer to the front door. I would be a liar if I said there isn’t a part of me that’s hoping to get caught.
As I pause on the stairs to watch the arched entryway to the kitchen, I hear breathing behind me, Wilson is sitting on his haunches on the top step looking at me in question. He always looks like he is smiling, and his tongue is lolling out the front of his mouth as he tilts his head to the side.
He’s a trained ranch dog and Gray talks to him like he’s another person all the time, so I scratch his scruff and say what I hear Gray say to him every day, “Go look after Lainey Rai.”
He closes his mouth and tilts his head the other way, he knows something is up, but he also knows he has to follow commands. After a second of looking at me, he turns and trots up the stairs to Lainey Rai’s door.
Pivoting to look down the hall again, I listen for movement. I don’t want to leave; this is the closest I’ve had to a family since my parents died.
Mason’s voice travels down the hall and I freeze and shrink back against the wall.
He walks to the family room and less than a minute later, I watch him walk back to the kitchen, his broad shoulders and perfect V shape that tapers into his jeans is a testament to male strength, and just plain sexy, and my whole chest squeezes as I think that I may never see him again.
My heart aches as I think about how perfect he looks with no clothes, the corded muscles of his arms, and how he feels when he pulls me to him before I fall asleep. I would do anything to lie next to him in bed again with his strong arm around me.
Blinking back tears, I tip-toe to the front door, the rush of my blood in my ears as I constantly looking over my shoulder, and slowly turn the deadbolt.
When I open the door, a rush of cold air blasts past me, and I quickly turn off the front porch light and step onto the front porch before I let in too much cold air and draw attention.
The freezing cold hits me in the face like a slap and I quickly go down the porch steps and start walking down the drive to the main road.
I chance one last look over my shoulder at the house, the only place besides my parents house that I’ve called home, but I need to hurry because the length of the drive to the main road is nearly a quarter of a mile and I’m sure my thirty minutes are almost up.
At the end of the driveway is a black SUV, and my brother steps out of the front passenger side. The feeling of betrayal hits me so hard that I almost fall backward when I stop walking, but he only snarls at me and holds the back door open.
With one last look over my shoulder, the house is too far away and behind the trees for me to see anymore, I get into the SUV.
“Move over.” Austin barks and I scoot over so he can get in next to me. I look down to his hand and he is holding a gun in my direction. “Just in case you brought any weapons, or scissors or something.”
The car pulls away from the end of the drive and I look out the back window, the gate getting smaller each second. I look back to my brother who is looking forward like I’m not even there.
“Why? How could you do it, Austin?”
His eyes slide in my direction, and I see the hatred he carries for me on his face and his lip curls. “Do you know how long our father waited to get married after my mom died?”
I shake my head.
“Within two months your whore mother was pregnant with you, and he was married a month after that. He was fucking your mom while my mom was lying in bed dying.”
“But that didn’t have to come between us, it didn’t have to define us.” I can hear the plea in my voice even though I know nothing I say will make a difference.
“Fucking grow up, Sloane. After Daddy’s little princess came along, he couldn’t wait to get the reminder of his first marriage out of the house. You fucking ruined my life.” The pitch of his voice rises with each word, and he lifts his hand to point-shove the gun in my direction with each word.
The tears that I have been holding back start to stream down my face and I lift my fingers to cover my mouth. The hatred he feels for me is like laser beams to my chest as he talks.
He starts to laugh and settles back into the seat, “The only way to get the money I needed was to get rid of them, but the bastard changed his will, he split the accounts between us and now I need access to your accounts.”
I suck in a sharp breath, “You killed them?”
The sneer on his face is cold as he smiles at me. “It wasn’t hard, the old bastard thought he was untouchable. I just had to make it look like an accident and boom,” he laughs as he throws his fingers open with one hand like an explosion, “problem solved.”
Horror and disbelief must show on my face as I look at him because he throws his head back and starts laughing.
“How does it feel to lose your parents, Princess? I lost both of mine when you came along.”
What do I say to that? Nothing I say will ease his pain or mine.
“Anyway, you’re just another means to an end. I needed money so I sold you just like I sold everything else that bastard owned.” He swipes the back of his hand across his forehead, “I just have to get you back to them so things will be square, and they will be off my fucking ass.”
Another second goes by, and I realize what he said, “Did you say he split the accounts between us?”
His eyes slide to me, “He changed his will, everything was supposed to go to me, but he couldn’t leave his little princess without the posh life she was used to. Once I finally get you declared dead, I’ll get the money from your account.”
My heart sinks. The past seven months with the Harlows have shown me what a real family looks like, no matter what happens, they are always there for each other.
On the one hand, I’m devastatingly envious of what they have, and on the other hand, I’m heartbroken that my only living family hates me so much.
He snorts, “Don’t worry sweetheart, once you get a taste of the shit they pump into the girls, you’ll be thanking me.”
Resisting the urge to put my hand protectively over my stomach, the last thing I want to do is tip Austin off about my maybe-probably pregnancy, I lean back against the seat.
“What’s wrong, princess? You think they might miss you?” He snorts again and rolls his eyes, “Give it a few days and they’ll forget you even exist. Anyway, they have to know how much trouble you are at this point, why would they want to keep you around?”
Tears sting my eyes, he managed to pick the thread of my biggest fear, why would they want to keep me and all my trouble around?
Looking around the cab of the SUV, I try to see who is driving but it’s too dark, and he has a ballcap on that is shading his eyes in the mirror. Anger bubbles up and I look at my brother, “Mason and his team know that you’re involved, he’ll find you when they start looking for me.”
Will he look for me? I think he might.
He looks at me with a smirk, “His team? Team of what? Horse wranglers?”
It’s my turn to look smug and I sit back against the seat, “Mason is Special Forces, they deal with people like you for a living.” I don’t really know that for sure, but bits and pieces of what I’ve overheard have been about being hired to take care of things that regular police can’t handle.
The smirk on his face falls and his eyes look over my face to see if I’m serious, “Then you and I are as good as dead either way, then, aren’t we?
You’ll die while being fucked by the thousandth guy to mount you and bust his nut in you, and your boyfriend will kill me.
” He swipes his hand across his forehead again, “I sure as fuck am not letting you go, I’ll take my chances with your boyfriend if he ever finds me. ”
Turning my head to lock eyes with him, I say, “He already knows where you live in Tulsa, and Vegas, he’ll find you.”
The smug slides off his face when I list both of his homes, and even though I don’t know anything for sure, only bits and pieces of what I overheard while they were talking and I was cooking, I am enjoying wiping the smile off his face.
A phone in the front seat rings and the driver picks it up, “Yep, I’ve got her. It’s clear for inbound.”
My head jerks in Austin’s direction, “What does inbound mean?”
The smirk comes back, “Did you think we would just drive away and leave the coast clear for them to follow us? We have to keep them busy taking care of their own for a while.”
At that point, a car speeds past us in the opposite direction, and I look out the back window to see another SUV moving away from us, “What have you done Austin?”
“Ensured they won’t be following us anytime soon.”
No!
“No, Austin!” I turn and grab the door handle to try and open the door, I’ll jump from this damn car if I have to. The child locks are on and the handle just moves without engaging.
He tips his head back and starts to laugh, “Did you think you could stop what has already been set in motion? They’re all as good as dead.”
No, no, no, no!
I lunge at Austin and start to slam my fists as hard as I can at his head, he drops the gun when he tries to grab my wrists, and I keep hitting him as hard as I can.
He starts to yell at the driver, and I feel the car pull over, but I don’t stop, his hand is tight around one wrist but my other hand keeps hitting his face.
The door on the other side of Austin opens and I see the man who was there that day when they took me, the one that was driving. He lunges at me and pain slices across my face when his fist connects to my cheek.
Seeing stars, I slump back. I can’t focus and my ear is ringing. I feel a sting in my neck, and within seconds I lose control of my body, and everything goes black.