Chapter 30
Belle
The soughing of trees lulls me back into consciousness, and I become aware of sunlight flickering across my face. I can feel warm grass beneath me. Why am I lying on the grass? Someone pulls at my eyelids, and light stings my eyes. It hurts. Oh, god, everything hurts. Where am I? I need to get up.
“Don’t move. You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
It’s Ash. I saw his plane land, but I was too busy looking… I was looking for…
My eyes snap open and I lift my shoulders off the ground. “Piper! Where’s Piper?”
The blurred face of a man with deep brown eyes hovers in front of me. “Try not to move. You’ve had a fall.”
“Get off me,” I moan, fighting the pressure of his hand on my shoulder. “I have to find my daughter.”
“Belle, keep still,” Ash says, his tone deep and commanding, but just as easy to ignore.
When I continue to fight, he curses under his breath and puts an arm around me to prop me up.
“Her vitals are strong,” the other man says. “But we should get her to a hospital to rule out concussion or a spinal injury.”
“No,” I say, blinking hard to clear my vision. “Give me some Advil and I’ll be fine. I have to find Piper.”
More figures swarm around us, and now that I’m upright, I’m horribly dizzy. I try not to let it show.
“He took her?” I ask Ash. He’s already told me, but I’m hoping for a different answer this time.
He nods. “We’re getting ready to take off again.”
The thought horrifies me. “No, I don’t want to go. I can’t leave without Piper.” My chest heaves, but I won’t sob. I have to stay strong.
“She’s not here, sweetheart,” Ash says.
The softness in his voice is almost my undoing. “Tell me we’ll find her,” I beg.
His lips skate across my temple. “We’ll find her,” he promises.
“Listen to me, Belle. I might not be the same man you met, but I’m grateful for every wretched thing I’ve ever done.
Believe me when I say I’m someone who’s more than capable of doing unspeakable things to bring our daughter back. Barrett’s a dead man.”
A shudder runs down my spine. “Good.”
“Is there anything you need from the house?” he asks.
I go to shake my head, but I’m hit with a wave of nausea. “No.”
“We should get her phone,” someone new says. “I can switch the sim card to a new device, in case someone tries to call her.”
“Is there anything of Piper’s you need, Belle?”
I recognize this voice. “Jake! You’re not dead,” I choke out, blinking back tears of relief and guilt. “I couldn’t get to you. They took Piper.”
“I’m so sorry, Belle. I should have got to you sooner,” he says, grim-faced. “I’ll kill the whole fucking lot of them for hurting you and touching our girl. Assuming Ash leaves any of them for me.”
There’s so much talk of killing, but that isn’t why I frown. I’m looking at the bandage on his thigh. And his pants have only one leg.
“It looks worse than it is,” he says.
“You’ll help get her back?”
“We’re all going to help.” It’s someone else.
I’m losing track of all the shapes milling around me, but it’s clear they all want to help. I’m the one that’s delaying things by sitting here, moping. Ash is right. We need to go.
“Can someone get Piper’s chess set?” I ask as I try to use Ash as a prop to stand. “She left it on the kitchen table.”
“Leon, I don’t like how she’s squinting,” says Ash, holding me down. “Check her eyes again.”
My head spins as a light flits across my vision.
“Equal and reactive,” Leon says. “Oh shit, she’s blacking out again.”
“She doesn’t look comfortable. I’ll get some more pillows.”
“Here, I found some wipes to wash off the blood.”
“Don’t you think she looks too pale?”
Three different voices float above the hum of a jet engine. I can’t place any of them, but they’re familiar. A better description might be familial. These are the men that Barrett described as wicked and wretched.
“Can you three just fuck off? What she needs is some peace and quiet,” says Ash. “I’m looking after her.”
A wet cloth brushes against my cheek, and my eyes flutter open.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” Ash whispers.
I see enough to know his eyes are bouncing between mine, checking my pupils. I have a throbbing headache and I don’t dare move. Simply breathing hurts. “Is there any news?” I ask, ignoring the question.
Ash is kneeling on the floor in front of the plush bench seat that’s become my bed. His face creases in pain. “Not yet, but we’re working on it.”
“Have you called the police? Can they track him down?”
He shakes his head slowly. “He’s Piper’s adopted father,” Ash reminds me. “It’s going to be hard to argue kidnapping, especially if we have to explain the damage at the estate. All Barrett has to do is make out we’re the threat.”
My lip trembles. “He said…” What did he say? “He said he could get sole custody.”
“No court in the land will grant custody to a dead man,” Ash says simply. “Now keep still while I clean you up.”
“It’s not my blood,” I tell him. “I elbowed Barrett in the face and his nose was bleeding when he was over me.” Ash grinds his jaw. He won’t ask, so I add, “He didn’t touch me.”
There’s no relief in Ash’s expression as he holds up the wipe he’s been using. It’s covered in rusty red smears. “It’s your blood, Belle. You’ve been smashed up pretty badly.”
It’s a delicate maneuver for my brain to piece my memory back together.
If I think too hard about how frightened Piper was, I’ll start spiraling, and that won’t do her any good.
I take a shuddering breath. “We were boarding the plane. I tried to push Barrett off the steps, but I lost my footing. He grabbed hold of me. And then he let me go.”
That’s when I’d screamed at Piper to run. She would have seen me fall. She would have seen my blood.
“What if Piper thinks I’m dead?” I ask, the horror of it crushing the air from my lungs. I want my baby. I want her back in my arms so much. “Barrett won’t try to comfort her.”
Mace appears in my periphery. “I’ve set up Belle’s new cell. She could try phoning him.”
He tries to pass the phone to Ash, but Ash ignores it. “She’s not speaking to that fucker.”
“I agree,” says Hunter, who appears next. He drops pillows on the chair opposite. “He’ll want to use Piper as a bargaining chip. And he can’t bargain with Belle if she doesn’t give him the chance to talk.”
“It’s my decision,” I tell them. “And I want him to know that I’m still alive. I need Piper to know I’m alive.”
“He’ll want something from you, and you won’t be able to refuse,” Reid says, the last to appear. “The Russians did the same to Quinn, and Barrett seems eager to pick up their tricks.”
“I know what Ilya did to Quinn, and I’m still going to phone Barrett,” I say, reaching for the phone in Mace’s hand.
Ash tries to pull my hand back, but I slap him away. It’s more of a gentle flopping motion, but it works and I take the phone.
“Thank you, Mace. Now, can someone help me to sit up?”
Six arms reach for me and are all brushed away by Ash. “Leon, can you help?” he calls out. His eyes never leave me when he adds, “And I want you to check her over before she does anything.”
Jake hobbles behind Leon, and my every move is monitored as I’m eased into a sitting position. It hurts like hell, but I grit my teeth. I fix my gaze on the phone in my lap, willing the blackness not to overtake me again.
“Do you need a drink?” Ash asks, and I manage a nod.
“We shouldn’t give her anything until she’s been cleared by the hospital,” Leon says.
“I’m not going to any hospital. Not until I have Piper back.”
“You are going, and that’s final,” Ash pushes back. “A doctor’s meeting us when we land, and we’ve made arrangements for you to have a CT scan. If you can be treated without being admitted, then I’ll take you home. Home being Chicago with me, in case you were wondering.”
I don’t have the energy to argue, and I know concussion can be dangerous. I’ll be no good to Piper if I’m dead. “Can I at least have some water?”
“Tiny sips,” Leon concedes.
“I told you we should have put an IV in her,” Mace says, and there’s a mutter of agreement from Jake.
“She’s in pain,” Hunter says. “She isn’t raising her head.”
Reid prods Ash’s shoulder and hands over a bottled water. “I think she should lie down again.”
Willing the wave of dizziness to recede, I lift my chin to look at Ash. “Are they always like this?”
“They’re usually louder,” he says with a soft smile. “But if you insist on making the call, they’re going to be as quiet as fucking mice.” He turns to glare at his brothers. “Got it?”
They back off, but only a step. Jake and Leon retreat too. Mace has managed to upload everything onto my new phone, and I bring up my list of contacts. As I dial Barrett’s number, Ash sits alongside me and I settle into the crook of his arm. Barrett may not answer…
“Hello?”
“Hello, Barrett,” I say with a cold fury that gives no hint of my weakened state. “Surprised I’m alive enough to call you?”
“Belle! How lovely to hear from you.”
“Mommy!” Piper calls out and relief floods my body, washing away the pain faster than any drug.
“Don’t be scared, honey,” I call out. “I’m doing fine, and I’ll see you very soon.”
“Marina, get her out of here,” Barrett hisses.
I need to rethink my first impression of Marina. She’s been coerced into going along with this, and I hope she’ll be Piper’s ally until I can get my daughter back.
“I’m so glad you called,” Barrett says a moment later. “We really do need to plan our reunion, not to mention your deprogramming after being taken in so easily by the Griffins’ lies.”
“Barrett, I have only one thing to say to you.” I hope he can hear my smile down the line, when I say, “He’s coming for you.”