José looks bored, a true psychopath if I ever saw one, and then puts all of his attention on Conner.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to work for me, and I am going to keep your precious daughter in my possession. I need someone with your skills full-time. I don’t need Emmett and his business. There are plenty of other willing victims to do my bidding for me.”
Conner shakes his head. “I’ll do whatever you want but leave her out of it. She’s innocent in all this.”
“Hmm… no. She’s not. You see, dear old dad, she’s been sleeping with the enemy.” He points the gun in my direction once more. “And I can’t, in good conscience, let someone go who’s been conspiring with a cop.”
I look at Conner and he rightfully looks betrayed and shocked. Something tells me I’m going to need to grovel once this is over. There’s a lot to unpack and very little time, so I plead with my eyes, letting him know how sorry I am.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself, puerco?” I watch his finger move from the barrel of the gun to the trigger.
We’re out of time.
I look at Jordan. “I love you.”
And then all hell breaks loose.
Chapter 29
Jordan
“Ilove you,” Lucas says.
And then the door to the warehouse slams open. “Police, put down your weapons!” a man in tactical gear shouts.
The man named José, loosens his grip on my hair. Enough for me to swing my duct-taped hands into the one that has the gun, trying to get his aim off Lucas. The guard didn’t even realize I had moved my hands from my back to my front and I’m damn glad he didn’t.
Because it works.
The gun goes sideways and then fires. He lets go of me completely and I take the opportunity to duck to the ground. Gunshots immediately echo around the warehouse, making it sound like a warzone, and I try to make myself as small as possible. Not a moment later though, I am being drug up from the ground by my hair.
José pulls on my hair so hard my eyes sting and then puts me in front of his body to use me as a human shield. “Don’tfucking shoot!” he yells, holding his gun firmly to my head. “Or I’ll kill her.”
The gunshots suddenly stop, and I see a dozen men in tactical gear pointing their weapons in our direction.
He’s slowly backing us up. I’m not sure where he plans on taking me, but I pray the men in front of us stop him before we get too far.
I can see my dad face down on the ground with his hands over his ears, and Emmett on his back, pale from his bleeding wound.
I look around but don’t see Lucas and my heart rate picks up. Where the hell is he? Did he get shot in all the commotion?
“You have nowhere to go. It’s over,” yells one of the policemen.
We’re still backing up, moving through a maze of boxes as the men continue forward, following us step for step.
“You won’t shoot me, otherwise you’ll kill her.”
“They won’t shoot you, but I will.” I hear Lucas’s voice from behind us. And a moment later the gun that was being held against my head is gone, along with José.
The men in tactical gear run towards us and I turn to see Lucas, his knee in José’s back, holding his arms in a punishing grip. “You shouldn’t have touched what’s mine,” Lucas growls, pulling tighter on the man's arms.
José is spewing curse words at Lucas, but Lucas doesn’t seem fazed.
“Ma’am.” A man gently touches my arm. I flinch but then realize it’s one of the good guys. “I’m going to take the tape off if that’s okay with you?”
I nod. I had to put the tape back in place so I didn’t look suspicious earlier. It worked, but now I want it gone. If I don’t ever have to see duct tape again, it will be too soon.
He peels off the mouthpiece and then works on my hands. Once everything is off, I rub my wrists and look around for my dad. He’s being looked over by someone else and looks like he’s aged ten years in the last thirty minutes.
