He doesn’t even make it four steps before he’s jerked up by his arm by Preston. Rhett screams out, not even thinking I throw myself at him, causing him to drop Rhett. The sound of his little body hitting the pavement echoes in my brain. I’m unable to check on him because Preston has his hand around my throat as he backs me up to what I’m assuming is his vehicle.Glancing over his shoulder I see Rhett hoist himself up silently. He’s favoring his right leg and arm, and his face is scraped up. His watery eyes come to mine and he signs“I love you”before he takes off to the tree line at the edge of the gas station.
Too focused on making sure he makes it into the woods, I don’t see the needle coming. It pierces my skin and my limbs become insanely heavy, before I lose consciousness he leans in and whispers to me, “I’ll kill you before I allow you to be with anyone else, Slut.” My fear and anxiety wrack my body as the darkness takes over.
My head is pounding, what was I doing last night? My body feels heavy, but not the kind of heavy that means Rowan’s laying with me. Speaking of, where is Rowan? Moving my arms to sit myself up they jerk backwards. What was that sound? Oh, it’s freezing in here, and why am I nauseous? Deciding to peel my eyes open slowly, I survey the room. I’m instantly jolted back to yesterday. Preston, Preston took me. I’m in some sort of cold damp room, I’m assuming a basement somewhere. Rhett, holy shit, RHETT.
Please God let Killian and Rowan have gotten to him. Letting out a loud sob, I’m too heartbroken to even care. My poor baby, what was I thinking? Sending him away yesterday. What if something happened to him? How’s Rowan supposed to even know we’re gone? Feeling myself beginning to hyperventilate, I close my eyes and send up everything I have to whoever is listening that my baby is found safe, and returned to Rowan. I’ll give myself up willingly as long as they’re safe.
I’m unsure of how long I’ve been sitting here on this old scratchy cot when the door creaks open. Making myself as small as I can, while also shielding my vital organs with mylimbs his manic laughter echoes throughout the space, “Oh Clara, how fucking stupid did you think I was? You thought you could hide from me? You stupid, stupid whore.”
Trembling like a leaf but knowing the question needs to be asked I use all my backbone that Rowan taught me I have, “Where’s Rhett?”
His smirk is the most evil thing I’ve ever seen and I’m terrified of his answer, “Oh, that little fuck up? He’s gone. Don’t worry though we’re going to make another one, and another until we get a normal son. Then I’ll kill you and raise him by myself.” My eyesight begins to dim and my ears buzz. My body moves just enough that when I throw up it misses the cot. A scream rings out through the small space, it’s heartbreaking and filled with anguish. A few seconds go by before I realize it’s coming from me.
No, he has to be lying, this can’t be the truth, not my baby. His laugh rings out over my sobs, “Oh, we’re about to have some fun, it’s time I remind you where you belong and what happens when you try to leave.” His shoe meets my ribs before his fist hits my temple. I’ve never been more thankful to be knocked out before so all this pain dissipates.
23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rowan
***Twenty Hours Earlier***
Walking through the front doors you can instantly feel the emptiness. It’s not a home right now, just four walls and a shell. The life that lives here feels like it drained away with Clara and Rhett gone. I have no time to dwell on that though, the six of us make our way through the house and up to Mac’s tech room. Thankfully this room is huge and we can all fit in here comfortably. It’s a large room with monitors, keyboards, and other things with wires coming out that I couldn’t even guess the function of. Mac sits in the center of a desk on the far wall and instantly starts clicking and typing things as at least fifteen screens come to life. Each one is playing a different security camera footage angle, howhe’s doing this and what he’s even looking for is beyond me.
We all look around at the monitors when Declan finally gets impatient, “ Mac, what are we looking for? We can’t help if we don’t know what the fuck is going on.”
Mac sounds like he’s more talking to himself than us, “It’s right on the tip of my finger, I know who it is. I KNOW, where’s the fucking proof though? It’s here I know it is.” His fingers are flying as he’s scanning all the monitors.
I’m about to suggest we take a break because he seems like he’s about to have a nervous breakdown when he yells, “There! I’ve got it!” Enlarging the image on the screen so we can see who’s been working with Preston we get the first clear image of their face. My heart drops to my feet as a wave of nausea takes over. My brothers collectively gasp and I hear a few muttered ‘No fucking way’s but I’m too stunned to speak. Grabbing my phone out of my pocket I call Killian. Waiting the most anguishing twenty seconds of my life the phone cuts to his voicemail.
My wild eyes fly to Mac’s “Find them. Find them now.”
It took Mac less than five minutes to pull them up on his phone. I had been feeling guilty about having a tracker on them, but I’ve never been more thankful for being an overprotective prick. Mac hands the phone to me confusing the fuck out of me, their trackers aren’t together. Kieran, who’s looking over my shoulder, says aloud what I’m thinking.
“They aren’t together? No, that can’t be right.” Yet both trackers are moving and it’s clear ones in a vehicle and ones on foot.
Looking to my brothers feeling so broken for the first time since my parents died, “What do I do? I can’t be in both places at once.”
Flynn grips my shoulder as Dec speaks up, “We have to pass the first location to follow the second tracker. We’ll go to both, and we’ll get them back safe, I promise you Roe. If it’s the last thing we do, we’ll get our family back together.” Nodding, I slide the stone cold, no mercy, ruthless killer mask in place. I’m not going to save my wife and son by being the crying husband and dad. No, I’m going to get them and I dare anyone to step in my way.
* * *
Pulling into the old gas station and skidding into a spot my eyes are laser focused on my phone and the dot blinking. We all have the same app pulled up right now. The hard part about finding Rhett, hopefully unharmed? He can’t hear us yelling for him. Heading straight for the woods I look to Kie, “He’s in the woods?”
Kieran shrugs, “Or Safe is in the woods. Rowan, he may not be with the bear, have you thought about that?”
Have I thought about that? What kind of stupid fucking question is that? I’ve spent the past almost two hours thinking of nothing but every single situation we may be walking into. However, snapping that response at him would be counterproductive so I just nod and continue moving into the woods.
Leading the six of us, I’m moving as swiftly and quietly as possible just in case he isn’t in here alone. As we approach the blinking dot that stopped moving around forty-five minutes ago I find myself holding my breath. My eyes scanning all over the area, we’re right here at the dot. Come on Little Bear.Where are you? I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and break off into a full sprint, sliding on my knees and stopping directly in front of my boy’s crumpled form.
Yelling out, “Got Him!”, my hand slowly reaches out to brush the curls out of his face. As soon as I make contact he’s letting out an ear piercing scream, his hazel eyes fly to mine with so much fear. He’s trembling, clutching the bear I gave him, instantly I’m noticing the left side of his face is scraped up and swollen.
“Daddy? Daddy!”He throws his arm around me and I scoop him up while also grabbing Safe and standing up. Surrounded by my brothers, holding him, and knowing that at least from a physical standpoint he isn’t life altering hurt, I can’t hold back anymore. Tears flood my eyes and free fall, this is relief like I’ve never felt. Pulling him back slightly and taking note of the way his left arm and leg aren’t wrapped around me with even a fraction of the strength his right are, I shift my arm to support him more on that side.
Sully stands beside me and signs what I’m thinking but don’t have free hands to ask,“Bear, we need you to tell us what happened? How’d you end up out here?”Rhett does his best to relay what happened, although he’s not even five yet and his mobility in his left hand is limited. Regardless we get most of the picture; they stopped to go to the bathroom, Preston showed up, he threw Rhett across the parking lot (which he’ll be skinned alive for), Clara told him to run somewhere safe and wait for me, and he hid in the woods until I got here. He hasn’t seen Killian, or anyone else for that matter, which I guess is good all things considered.
Tucking him tight into me we make our way out of the woods. Declan insists on examining his injuries when we getback to the SUV, after some back and forth I relent as long as he can stay in my arms. Declan used to swear he was going to be a paramedic when we were younger. So much so that he researched everything he needed to know and would make us quiz him on ailments, injuries, and the best ways to treat them. That was before we were smacked with the reality that all we could ever really be is working members of the family. I’m holding Rhett while Declan examines him.
