SLAP!Her cheek burned with the sting.
“Shove it up what, Blythe? Would you like to finish that sentence, or would you prefer I hold my hand back?”
She glared at him, wanting to say a hundred different things, but thought of Justin’s baby in her belly and stopped herself. She knew he would hit her again, or much worse.
“Listen, sweetheart, I would have you on my plane and in the air already, but this type of thing—it’s of an inconspicuous nature…you know what I mean?”
His eyes narrowed, and his face got closer to hers. She could feel his heated breath on her lips when he started to speak again.
“So, we’ll be waiting until we can jet off safely in the dark, under cover. My pilot is napping in the cockpit, so he’s ready to fly whenever I give him the green light.”
Max excused his henchmen and reached behind her, untying her wrists.
“There, does that feel better? I’m not a beast, Blythe. Do you really think I could handle watching you stand here for hours, all tied up like that? You’re my fiancée. I could never.”
He moved to kiss her, but she quickly turned her cheek.
“I am not your fiancée. You are not the man I thought I knew, and I hate you.” She glared at him, and his eyes grew more aggravated with each word that came out of her mouth. “You never answered my question… How did you find me?”
Max began rolling up his sleeves and looked at the ceiling. “Oh, it wasn’t hard, really. I just called your dad and asked if there were any close relatives that would be interested in being included in the wedding party. I told him you were so busy with all the arrangements, and that I was taking care of that part. He sent an email, and when I saw your uncle’s name and address, it triggered a memory.”
Max trailed his fingers all the way down her arm to her fingers. She tried not to flinch.
“I remembered you telling me how much you loved your summers in Montana. When I flew up here and confirmed you were, indeed, very much alive and well—I left that rose for you. I knew you’d get the memo. I always come for what’s mine.”
Max took her hand and placed her arm through the crook of his as he began walking her toward the back of the hangar. Whatthe hell did he think this was? He was completely delusional, but Blythe needed to play his game. At least, as long as she could.
She would never get on that plane with him. She would kick his balls black and blue, gouge his eyes out, or whatever she had to. She just hoped someone would find her before she had to go that far.
Where the hell was she? She wouldn’t answer her phone, and that sure as hell wasn’t normal. She always took Justin’s calls. The sun was setting, and he had a terrible, sinking feeling in his gut that he just couldn’t shake. He picked up his phone and called Chris.
“Hey, sir, have you heard from Blythe this afternoon?”
“No, I haven’t. Is she alright?”
“I’m not sure. She hasn’t answered my calls. She said she was running into town for some errands. I’m not even sure where, but I’m heading out to see if I can find her.”
“Okay, I’m going to call Toby and have him come watch TV with the girls. I’m coming with you. She doesn’t have any close friends in town, and she wouldn’t just go dark. How long has she been gone?”
“She left just before lunch. Something’s wrong, Chris. Meet me at Jensen’s. We can start there. If she needed anything from town, that’s where she would go.”
Justin hung up and slid his phone into his back pocket. His truck roared to life, and the tires peeled through the gravel as he sped toward town.
Both men drifted into the parking lot of Jensen’s Mercantile within a few moments of each other. When they got inside, they made a bee-line to the manager’s office.
“Hey, Lenny, could you ask the staff if my niece, Blythe, happened to come in here this afternoon? It’s important. She’s not answering her phone, and we can’t find her.”
Lenny reached under his desk and pulled out a brown, leather handbag.
“You’re in luck, my friend. Someone picked this up out of the parking lot and brought it in earlier this afternoon. I looked at the wallet inside, just to see whose it was, and it's hers. I figured she’d be back in for it soon. I was planning to call you if she didn’t show up. Her phone is in there.”
What the fuck was going on? Justin felt panicked.
Chris took the purse from Lenny. “It’s a damn good thing we live in a small town. It’s a miracle whoever took her was dumb enough to let it drop.”
Justin didn’t need to question why Chris knew she was taken. This was what he used to do for a living, at a top secret pay grade Justin couldn’t even fathom. Chris started to empty the contents of her purse onto a table in the tiny room.
“We’ve got her phone, her wallet, all her girlie shit and—” Chris pulled out a stick with a pink cap.
