“Caleb,” she said, pleading with her brother. “Please.”
“Please what? What could you possibly have that I want beside Eric’s money? You’ve already made it abundantly clear that you don’t intend to help me, so I had to take matters into my own hands.”
“She has something I want,” said Mustache Guy.
“Shut up. This isn’t about that,” said Caleb.
“Maybe not for you.”
“Please don’t do this, Caleb,” she begged, looking from one man to the other. Mustache Guy was clean shaven and wearing a dishwasher’s apron but it was definitely him. She’d know him anywhere.
“Come on,” said Mustache Guy. “You’re going to come with us and then we’ll see if we can motivate your boyfriend to come through with the cash.”
He jammed the barrel of a gun into her ribs and tears stung Julie’s eyes. Not again. This couldn’t be happening to her again.
“No,” she said, making up her mind. She left the last time, and it made things worse for Eric. This time they’d have to shoot her. “You can kill me, but I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Don’t be stupid,” said Caleb. “No one is going to hurt you. I just want what I deserve. We’re family. That used to fucking count for something.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Mustache Guy, jamming the gun hard enough into her ribs to leave a bruise. “I’m going to hurt her if she doesn’t get moving.”
He gave her another sharp jab, and she couldn’t hold back the cry. Caleb winced, but he didn’t move to help her.
“I’m not going to let you take me back to Balducci,” said Julie, bracing for the next jab.
Caleb’s expression shifted to a nasty smug smile. “Well, we don’t have a problem then. I’m not working for Balducci. When he found out about your boyfriend’s security team, he didn’t want anything to do with this. Pussy.”
That was the only good news in all of this. At least she didn’t have to deal with Balducci’s ruthless calculation. Caleb’s hatred and selfishness was easier to figure out and despite everything else he’d done, she didn’t think he’d actually kill her. Although if push came to shove, she doubted he’d stop Mustache Guy from doing it.
“We don’t have time for this.” Keeping the gun pressed tight against her side, the man she hated most in the world grabbed her arm from behind and tried to shove her forward. “Get a fucking move on.”
“No,” said Julie, digging the low heels of her boots into the carpet. Carpet that would have to be replaced if they shot her here. “You can’t ransom me if I’m dead, and you can’t shoot me now. Somebody will hear you.”
Maybe they wouldn’t have to shoot her for someone in the kitchen to hear her and get help. She sucked in a breath and opened her mouth to scream.
“He…” was all she managed to get out before Mustache Guy clamped his fat fist around her throat and squeezed. She clawed at his fingers, managing to take in thready bits of air so she wouldn’t pass out.
“Fucking bitch,” he said, shaking her by the neck like a doll. Her teeth rattled and she squeezed her eyes shut against the pain and the grayed out edges of her vision.
“Easy man,” she heard Caleb say from what sounded like far away.
“Fuck that. I’m done being easy.”
Julie felt a sharp blow to the back of her head, and then she stopped feeling anything as the black closed around her.
ERIC HAD SEEN Julie’s number come up on his phone in the car on his way to meet Luke, but he’d let it go to voicemail. He’d been so messed up about the pictures and her not telling him where she’d been. He’d just wanted some time to sort out his feelings before he talked to her again. Face to face this time so he could read what she was feeling. He made it all of a half hour. He hadn’t even reached Luke’s before he went crazy and had to listen to her message.
Hearing her voice, so light and full of love, telling him everything including why she’d omitted explaining things to him earlier, sliced at his heart.
Right behind that feeling came ice cold fear. Julie didn’t know what he’d learned about her brother. He hadn’t wanted to tell how exactly how involved Caleb had been in the kidnapping because he knew it would break her heart. Except now she was going off to meet him without her security because she thought she was safe in his building, and not knowing the truth about her brother might get her killed.
His driver turned the car around at the next light and headed back to Comme Ci as fast as traffic allowed. Eric punched in Jackson’s number and growled when the call got routed to another line.
“Mr. Auxtres,” said a man’s voice he didn’t recognize. “Mr. Jackson is unavailable. How may I help you?”
“I need security to my building right now.” Eric jumped from the car before it came to a complete stop and bolted through the door to his building. He jammed his finger into the elevator button and then thought better of it, heading to the stairwell. “Send them to the entrance of Comme Ci. I think Julie’s in trouble.”
“They’re on their way. Would you like me to stay on the line with you until they arrive?”
