Stolen: A Bad Boy Romance(27)

“Hello, sister.” I’d recognize that voice anywhere.

David.

“What, isn’t this a little bit of a tired routine for you? Kidnapping innocent women?” I asked, fear turned into biting wit. It was my only defense mechanism.

“From what I know, you haven’t been acting like a lady lately.” He grinned. “But you are still useful.”

“What do you plan on doing?” I asked as I reached into my jacket pocket and fished for my phone. I knew some of the buttons by memory. I just had to get a message to Janson.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he said as he reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, but not before I could press send. It was only one word, but I hoped it would be enough. “I’m not as stupid as you somehow think.”

“You got caught once,” I said, still acting smug. “They’ll come and find you again.”

He didn’t strike me, but he looked like he wanted to. “That’s what I’m hoping, but this time… this time, I’ll take their lives.”

“What about Dad? Do you want to piss him off, too?” I asked.

“Oh, child. Who do you think put me up to this? He wants to teach you a little fucking lesson. I’ve been tracking you since you went to Chicago. Who do you think his eyes were?” He grinned, the evil in them sparkling up at me, but what he didn’t know was that this was telling.

I knew exactly what my father saw now. Which meant I had an idea of what David perceived. Knowing what your enemy knew could be quite powerful.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough. But until then, you keep your fucking mouth shut. I don’t want to hear jackshit out of you.” He glared at me. “Father told me not to harm you, but I’m sure he would forgive a few slaps to the face.”

We drove for what felt like forever, up I-95, then along some back country roads until we were lost in the woods and farm fields of what looked like the countryside. I saw that because new developments encroached on them at every turn, the cookie cutter mansions leaving tell-tale signs of the city. We weren't so far away that no one would find us.

It was a matter of time. I didn't know what David was hoping for, but it seemed like he wanted a confrontation. I wanted to ask him, but the look on his face told me that I was better off keeping my damn mouth shut.

We pulled into a long drive and up to an old farmhouse. Was this where he was keeping me?

I was really getting sick and tired of being fucking shuffled around without a goddamn say.

"Get out of the damn car," he said as he opened the door.

"You first," I said, my mouth clenched shut.

"Oh no, not in this place. Ladies first."

"I thought you said I wasn't a lady."

He pulled me up and kicked me out. "I said get the fuck up and go."

It wasn't polite, but it didn't hurt. I tumbled out into the driveway, then stood up, determined not to let this asshole get to me. He might have been a biological half-brother, but he was no family of mine.

This was too fucking far. And at my father's own request.

I was vibrating with irritation. I didn't know how I was going to get out of this, but I promised myself I would.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked.

"That's an easy question. Because it's far enough out of the way and during hunting season, that if I shoot your rescuers, no one will hear me."

"Father wants them dead?"

"Not them, but Greyson. Doesn't want him to be the heir. Not tough enough. Can't say I blame him."

"But the baby."

"Will be raised the proper way. With Joanna and me. Just like I always wanted. He might not be my blood, but I'll raise him that way."

"She," I corrected.

"What?" he asked.

"It's a girl. Don't you know anything?"

"No one told me, I just assumed," he started, but trailed off. "A girl. Even better. Then the legacy can still be mine. I'll fight for her. My Joanna."

I rolled my eyes. "Why in the fuck are you so obsessed with her? It isn't like she wants anything to do with you."

"Maybe not yet, but she will. I've wanted her from the first time I saw her. She was kind to me when she had no idea who I was. I just never got the chance, and then I saw her again, and I knew that I had to try."

"By being a psycho?"

That earned me a smack in the mouth. Fuck. It hurt like hell, but I just looked up at him and smiled. "You think you are going to hold me here? You think this is going to be easy, that I'll just bow down to you?" I asked. "You are an idiot, David. You'll never run this fucking family because you have no idea what it would even take to do it."

He grabbed me by the arm and shoved me into the house. "Shut the fuck up. Tie her up boys. At least for now."

Men that I thought I'd known my entire life grabbed me and tied me to a heavy steel chair, their eyes on me as I struggled. I wasn't going to make it easy for him.

"If she doesn't knock that shit off, I'll fucking knock her upside the head to keep her quiet," one of them said.

"No, we cannot leave any marks or bruises. Nothing permanent," David barked. "Those are our orders."

"Fine," another man said. I swore I knew him, but I just could not remember his name. They called him something. It was on the tip of my damn tongue.

The Butcher.

They brought the fucking Butcher to handle me. How would I make it out of this alive?

"Why is he here?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"Because he is good at killing and your father wants a very tricky man dead. It's pretty simple, really," the first man, the one who threatened to smack me, said. He grinned at me now, leering at me. "She's a pretty one. You sure I can't just have a go?"

"You want Fitzgerald to lop your fucking dick off?" the Butcher said to him. He was serious as he said it, too. Fuck. This was too real.

"You're fucking dicks," I said as I sat there, the binds finally on me. "I fucking hate you all."

"I don't care. It'll work," David said as he grabbed my phone out of his pocket and hit dial. He turned on the speaker.

"Hello?" Janson was on the other line.

"It's a trap!" I screamed, but a hand covered my mouth right away.

"Get your master, dog," David said. His voice was nasty and terrible.

"I'm here," Greyson growled. "What the fuck do you want, David?"

"I'm sure by now you've gathered that I have our sister?" he asked.

"Yes. What do you want?" Greyson barked.

"You and your little minion. Bring no one else. We'll settle our shit once and for all."

They'd be outnumbered. Greyson's two against at least five that I could count of David's men. It would be a fucking slaughter.

I tried to call out, but no one would uncover my mouth.

"We'll meet you, just tell us where," Janson said this time. He sounded positively filled with rage.

"I'll message you the coordinates. Remember. No one else or she dies."

It was a fucking bluff.

"We fight it out the hard way," Greyson said. "No one else?"

"No one else."

"Fine."

It was going to be a damn bloodbath.





Janson



When I got her all to myself, I was going to put her over my knee for sure.

But first, I had to make sure she didn't get killed.

We sat in the 1969 Chevelle and stared out at the farmhouse. It was a little thing, so unsuspecting that I would’ve overlooked it. And it sat back about half a mile off the road. Isolated. The perfect place.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked Greyson. I didn't want to go in there and have it be a trap.

Just like my girl warned. Kathryn was smart and I’m sure that little tip cost us, but we could handle anything they had to throw at us.

"I'm not sure about anything, but I know that we need to do what we can to save her and kill him. That fucking piece of shit deserves to die,” Greyson answered. The man was half feral as he gnashed his teeth.

I definitely echoed that statement, and if I could, I would kill him myself for this. I thought about all the agonizing ways I wished I could inflict pain on him, but I knew none of that would be enough. It brought out the monster in me, the one I fought so hard to be able to control.

"We don't have much of a choice, then, do we?" I asked. I considered exactly what was about to happen. Worst case scenario, we’d walk out of there with Kat and only David would be dead. But that was unlikely. All those men would probably die because of orders. Stupid fucking orders.

Because James Fitzgerald didn’t have enough faith in his son to be his legacy.

We were armed to the hilt, and we had everything we needed as we sat in the muscle car. Greyson drove up, and I double checked everything. Guns, knives, fuck. It was all there.

"You ready to go?" I asked him. I wanted her out of there, and I wanted her out of there now. She was carrying my goddamn baby. It was too much for me to be able to tolerate. I wanted to hang David and skin him alive. Listening to him scream in torment would be the only thing that made up for this.

We had to enter through the front doors, but it was a part of our plan. We were going to take them from the inside out. If we died, we would do it in a blaze of fucking gun fire.

We didn't waste any time. As soon as we were out of the car, we rushed the house and slammed down the door, watching it come right off its hinges. It was a weak piece of shit, and we would've had better security. Hell, we did have better security.