“I don’t care, they can take it all as long as I get Mel back,” he stated, the money meant nothing to him if he didn’t have her. “She’s the only thing in this entire world that’s not replaceable. It won’t matter whether the company succeeds or not if she’s not there with me.”
“Then let us help,” Ford told him. “She’s our daughter and she’s brought so much happiness to our family. We’re not going to let you sacrifice everything you’ve worked for, made on your own terms because these men think I wronged them. I can take a loss like this and that’s the last we’re going to hear about it. I love you Jordan and I know you’re scared, we all are, but you need to trust me. I promise Mel is going to come home.”
“She will,” Tate agreed. “She’s got her phone on her, right?”
“Yeah, it was in her pocket, but it was off,” Jordan said catching his emotions back to think.
“As long as the battery has charge, I can find her,” Tate told him. “I might have installed a remote access pinpoint on it. It’ll let me get a location on the GPS as long as it can get a signal to it.”
“Do it,” Jordan stated as Tate began the search.
“It might take a bit,” he warned.
“We have until six tomorrow, right?” he said.
“Right,” Tate agreed sending a prayer up for Mel to walk back through the doors.
Chapter 16
Mel woke up groggy. Her mouth tasted like cotton and her head hurt. She opened her eyes and blinked trying to see in the darkness that surrounded her. She lifted her hand, but her arm wouldn’t move and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness she saw the ropes tied around them and the arms of the chair. The memories hit her, and she struggled against the confinement as panic welled up inside her.
Her heart raced as the sound of a door opening came to her and she looked around trying to find where it came from in the darkness. A light flickered on, and she saw Devon walking towards her as Kevin stood in the doorway with an evil grin on his face.
“The bitch is finally awake,” Kevin stated and the light glistened off the barrel of the gun he held making her breath stall in her chest.
“Don’t call her that,” Devon said turning towards his brother. “She wasn’t a part of it, so back off Kev.”
Mel had felt fear before but not even the attack had left her this shaken and terrified. Her instincts were screaming for her to run but she couldn’t, and it made her start to hyperventilate.
“What do you want?” she asked pulling at all of her reserves to keep her voice steady.
“What do you think we want?” Kevin said with a glint in his eye as he surveyed her. “Dev wants you, but I want your money, all of it.”
“Devon, please just let me go,” she said trying to get through to him. “This isn’t you.”
“You don’t know Dev, not the real Dev anyway,” Kevin laughed coming into the room aiming the gun at her. “Tell her.”
“Mel, I’m sorry,” he stated and Kevin slugged him in the gut.
“Don’t try and turn on me little brother,” Kevin said and her breath stalled again.
No way. They couldn’t be brothers…
“Devon, please,” she tried but he turned away from her, and she knew the truth was right there. “Why?”
“Because your father destroyed ours,” Kevin answered for him. “He went to jail and we had nothing. Not me and my mother or Dev and his. It was fate when we saw you and Jordan looking around the dealership last summer. A few inquiries and there we were, right beside you in class, not to mention destroying your Jeep. If it weren’t for that damned storm, I’d have already had what I wanted, but Dev wanted you.”
Mel felt her throat tighten even more as the fear took her to a new place she didn’t like, didn’t want to be, remain. “So what…what are you planning on now?”
“I plan on taking the money and running. Dev can make his own decision once the ten mil’s in my pockets,” he replied. “What do you say little brother? Want to test out the merchandise with me?”
“Leave her alone Kev,” Devon stated stepping between them as Kevin used the barrel of the gun to lift a strand of her hair off her shoulder. “Go send the instructions for the drop. I want to spend some time with Mel—alone.”
“If you even think of crossing me Dev you’ll see how far I’m willing to go to protect myself,” he warned before sauntering out of the room.
“Devon please don’t do this,” Mel said blinking back the tears as he neared her. “Take my jewelry, anything else, just please…”
“I’m not going to hurt you Mel,” he replied bringing a chair up to sit in front of her. “I only went along with this to make sure you stayed safe. Kev’s nuts. I swear, I won’t let him hurt you.”
