7. Risk Averse
Risk Averse
Dante
It feels like I just passed out when banging on a door wakes me. My first instinct is to reach out and draw Sara against me, but my hand only finds cold sheets.
“Wake up or I’m going after him myself.” Drew’s voice gets me to sit up in my bed.
I scrub my hand down my face and sit on the edge of the bed for a moment. The dream I was having about Sara was so real. I honestly thought she’d be in my arms when I woke. The dream wasn’t even sexual. We were just lying in bed in each other’s arms, talking, laughing.
My chest aches at the reminder she’s not here.
The pounding starts again, and I realize Drew isn’t pounding on my door. Fuck. I go out into the hallway and grab Drew’s fist before he can bang on Wyatt’s door again.
He raises an eyebrow at me, but I release him and gesture to the door.
“Allow me.”
He nods.
I use the extra key and open Wyatt’s door.
“We have Serendipity’s location,” Drew says, walking into Wyatt’s room and grabbing the covers to pull them off the bed. Wyatt isn’t there, just pillows.
I step into the room as Drew barges into the bathroom. He shakes his head as he comes out. No Wyatt. What the fuck? Did he go off on his own?
“Are you ready to go?” Wyatt walks in behind me and offers Drew a to-go coffee cup.
“Where were you?” Drew narrows his eyes but takes the coffee.
“Couldn’t sleep. Took a walk. Got the notification, so grabbed coffee so we’d be ready to go.” Wyatt shrugs but his whole demeanor is tense.
“What notification did you get?” I ask, pushing my hair out of my face. I haven’t even looked to see what time it is, but I’m sure my alarm will go off soon.
Drew takes the cup and walks out into the living room. “They’re docking at a port first thing in the morning. They radioed ahead to confirm a time. I have a private jet lined up to take us there. We should arrive right around when they finish going through customs.”
Tom.
They found him. A fresh surge of anger flows through me. His actions have put Sara through all this… for what? Wyatt told me last night he thinks it’s for Natasha. That Tom wanted her, but Daddy didn’t approve.
If this was all for a fling, it’ll take more than an hour in the boxing ring to settle this between us.
If Wyatt and Drew find Tom, then we’ll have the bargaining power to get Sara back. Our plan to rescue Sara isn’t simple and could be dangerous. Not just for Finn and me, but for Sara as well. Any of us could get hurt.
Do we need to risk her to save her if the guys bring back Tom?
Fuck.
“Should we go through with our plan to get Sara back or just wait to trade, I assume, his daughter for her? We don’t know what kind of people he’ll have guarding her or how they’ll be armed.
It’s risky. She could get hurt. But if we’re going to have what Peter wants, then maybe a trade makes sense. ”
“We’re going after Sara.” Finn comes up behind us. He’s already dressed in black and ready to go. “We can’t trust Peter to honor his deal. We can’t just give him Tom in exchange for Sara because we don’t know what he’ll do with him. Sara won’t let us.”
I press my lips together. He’s right, but Tom got himself into this mess, not Sara.
“If we have both of them, we can figure out what Peter is really after. We’ll know how to fix this.” Wyatt runs his hand through his hair. Did he sleep at all? “You two rescue her. We’ll find Tom and Natasha.”
That causes another issue.
“You can’t bring them back here.” I blow out a breath. “They’re watching us, obviously.”
“Take them to the clubhouse and we’ll meet you there.” Finn glances at Drew, who looks confused.
The clubhouse is what we used to call Wyatt’s family estate.
It’s held in a trust for when Wyatt turns thirty, along with all the assets from his father’s will.
His father was declared dead five years ago, which was when Wyatt learned about the house.
No one has been able to find him since he was last seen when we were nine.
We never met him, but Wyatt knew about him.
Not his mother’s husband, who gave Wyatt his name, but Wyatt’s biological father. Most people aren’t even aware that his mother was pregnant when she married Hawkins. It’s a closely guarded secret, but the house is the perfect place where no one can find us.
It will give us time to regroup and come up with a strategy. It’s also the first place we looked when Tom disappeared. But this time, he wasn’t there.
“Got it.” Wyatt grabs Drew’s shoulder and steers him to the door. He turns to look at both of us. His lips pressed in a grim line. “Radio silence for the next twenty-four hours. No phones. Get our girl.”
“Is she?” I ask. Is he going to make the stand to keep her?
His dark eyes lock on mine. Resolve shines through them.
“If she’ll have me,” Wyatt says.
They leave and I release my breath. I don’t know what he thinks will drive Sara away. Maybe Tom will try to influence her against us, but she’s ours now and that’s the way it’s going to be. Tom will get over it or he won’t, but if it means losing Tom to have Sara—
My chest tightens.
“We should notify Bitsy.” Finn adjusts his belt and thrusts some black gloves into his pockets. Sara’s mother.
I cringe, knowing that’s going to be my job. “On it.”
I head back into my room and take a quick shower. Dressed in head-to-toe black, I make the call I’m dreading, but it’s time. Bitsy would be here on the next plane, but that’s the last thing we want. So I call the more level-headed parent.
“Dante? Is everything okay?” Roger sounds like he’s outside. I hear Caitlyn giggling in the background and Bitsy saying something to her.
“We’re going off-grid. All of us. We’ll check in, but keep Bitsy and Caitlyn in Europe. When we have everything sorted, we’ll give you the all clear.” I sit on the edge of the bed. Roger was a marine. He’s more than capable of keeping those two safe.
He came into Bitsy, Tom, and Sara’s lives when they needed someone. And he took over the role of father figure to us three, like Tom’s dad had been.
Roger must step inside somewhere because I can’t hear Caitlyn’s giggles anymore. “What’s Tom done this time?”
I close my eyes. It’s not always Tom’s fault, but this time it is. “We’re not one hundred percent sure, but you know how to reach us if you need something.”
“Got it.” Roger pauses. “Sara?”
“With us.” That’s all I’m going to say for now.
I can’t tell him she’s been taken. If I did, Liam Neeson would seem lazy in comparison to what Roger would do, but hopefully, we’ll have her back before he could even get here.
Adding them to the chaos wouldn’t be good right now. Peter doesn’t need more targets.
“I’ve got mine.” Roger steps out and laughter once more lightens my heart. “Keep her safe.”
“Always.”
* * *
Wyatt
Drew is surprisingly quiet on the flight to the Bahamas. He doesn’t pester me at all.
“You were right.” I break the silence.
My eyes are closed as I lean back in the armchair on the plane. It’s a nicely decked out Gulfstream GVI. We’ve cruised for a couple of hours already. Just another hour to go.
“I usually am,” Drew says. I can hear the smugness in his voice. “What was I right about this time?”
“She deserves a choice.” I open my eyes and meet his. On my walk, I thought about a life without Sara and what that would mean.
Nothing. It would mean nothing.
He nods and settles back into the seat.
Besides, it will be easier to leave her alone if she hates me, and Tom won’t have our secret to hold over me anymore. If she’ll still have me, Tom can go fuck himself. I love him as a brother, but if he can’t get over me being with his sister, then I’ll make my choice. Just like he’ll make his.
It won’t be easy, but it will be what it will be.
If she doesn’t want me, I may lose my whole family, Sara, Finn, Dante, and Tom. But if she does… That’s all I can cling to right now. That no matter what, she’ll still want me as much as I’ve always wanted her.
“They haven’t reached customs yet.” Drew’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts.
“Good.” I straighten and check the time.
“We’re beginning our descent.” The flight attendant walks past us on the way to his seat at the front. “We’ll be landing in about twenty minutes. Do you need anything else, gentlemen?”
“No, thank you.” Drew leans back and closes his eyes for a moment.
My hands are clammy, and I’m wondering how the others are doing with their mission. They should already be on their way to Peter’s estate. For all we know, she might not be there. We have no way of telling.
The others won’t even notify us they have her. We can’t tell them if we succeed or fail. Until we’re all back together, no one will know what happened to the others.
Communication is more of a risk than not knowing.
“Do you think Tom will be difficult?”
I turn to Drew. “He loves Sara. He’d do anything for her.”
“Are we sure about that?” Drew arches an eyebrow. “He set you up with Verity and knew Sara needed protection from Peter but didn’t give you any specific information that might have helped us keep her protected.”
I rub my hand down my face. “Yeah. If he wants to be difficult, I’ll deck him and we’ll drag him back kicking and screaming.”
“That won’t hurt your friendship?”
I smirk. “It won’t be the first time we’ve hit each other and it won’t be the last. I still have to tell him I’m fucking his sister. If I don’t come away bloody from that encounter, he just didn’t catch me.”
Drew chuckles. “You don’t mind if I help with the decking or drop him a few times en route?”
“Feel free.” On this, we can agree. Tom’s been an ass. Leaving us blind and unable to actually protect his sister. That week she stayed alone in the townhouse has me in a chokehold. She did that because she didn’t want to be near me.
Not that I can blame her. I was a fucking asshole, but I’ll make it up to her forever if she’ll let me. I swallow and rub my hands on my jeans.
If she’ll let me.
After we land and go through customs, we walk out of the airport where a car waits for us. The driver drops us off down by the docks. We have the location of where the ship will dock once it gets through customs.
My chest is tight as we walk to the slip. This is the first time Tom left us in charge of Sara, and she got kidnapped. But he also didn’t give us all the information we needed to keep her safe.
He didn’t give us anything. We were fucking blind to the danger she was in.
We stand at the empty slip and wait for them to guide the yacht in. The hull proclaims it the Serendipity.
They moor the yacht and a few of the crew step off. They glance at us before walking past. A woman’s voice drifts on the wind. All I can think about is how scared Sara must be. How I wasn’t there for her when she needed me most.
Dante and Finn will rescue her. They’ll do everything in their power to get her back.
I wish I was with them to carry her to safety, but I’m doing my part by being here. By finding the other piece to this puzzle so we can make sure she’s safe.
“Were they going to meet us here?” a woman says. She holds on to Tom’s arm as they step off the deck onto the dock. She’s dark haired and dark eyed and smiles up at him like he’s her hero.
When I look at Tom, he’s smiling. That fucking bastard is smiling.
“No—” Tom cuts himself off as his green eyes meet mine. When he stops, the smile melts off his face as fear settles in. He glances at Drew and surges forward. “Wyatt, what’s happened?”
I don’t even think. All the energy that’s been bottled up inside me since we woke to find Sara missing explodes. I step in before I even realize it and punch him in the jaw.
When he stumbles backward, Natasha grabs him as he falls on his ass.
“What the fuck is that for?” Tom’s eyes narrow on me.
“She’s gone, you asshole. And it’s your fucking fault.”
Natasha covers her mouth as her eyes widen.
“What?” Tom’s face is caught between worry and anger. Like he has any right to be angry when he caused this mess.
Drew glances around and offers Tom his hand to help him up. “Perhaps we can take this somewhere more private to discuss your sister’s disappearance.”
“Where’s Sara?” Tom bats Drew’s hand away.
“Inside.” Drew reiterates and crosses his arms, standing between me and Tom.
I don’t know that I can keep from hitting him again. When he rises to his feet and brushes off his pants, Natasha takes his hand. Her eyes flit between all of us and she puts her hand over Tom’s heart.
The glint of a diamond on her left hand catches my eye. For fuck’s sake. I can’t help saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Wyatt, can we please take this inside?” Drew glances around again.
I step forward and Natasha moves in front of Tom to fucking protect him from me. I laugh. “You put Sara in danger for her?”
Tom shakes his head. “You don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand, Tom? How it feels to want someone so much you’d give almost anything to have them? Please tell me how I wouldn’t know how that feels?”
Tom’s eyes burn into mine, but fuck him.
“Can we talk on the ship?” Drew blows out a breath as he asks Natasha.
She focuses on him. “Yes.”
“Good. Take him. I’ll bring Wyatt.”
She nods. Drew steps up to me and puts his hand on my shoulder as Natasha and Tom return to the yacht.
“I’m glad you did that because I don’t think I would have made a good impression if I’d been the one to deck him.” Drew smiles and he searches my eyes. “Do you have it together? We need him. We need her. Let’s figure out what’s happening here. Okay?”
I nod and narrow my eyes on Tom’s hand in hers. Yeah, it’s time I got some answers.