She was so strong and beautiful it tore Jason’s heart to shreds. He’d never felt so goddamned helpless in his life.
After tasking Tyler with booking a flight, Jason had taken a few precious minutes to call Valerie, requesting that she get someone in charge at FPP to call him, and then dig up anything she could on this Saber character. Immediately after hanging up with her, he’d called his dad and begged him to meet Jason halfway in the car, unable to wait even the thirty minutes it would take to run back to the house.
At the predetermined residential intersection, Dad idled in his aging 4Runner at the stop sign. Jason hopped in and wheezed, “Go.” His throat was tight from running hard. And from fear.
Turning on the left blinker, his dad eased up to the cross street and carefully turned onto the main road before asking, “Are you okay?”
“No.” He put his hands on his head, willing his pulse and breathing to slow as his leg muscles twitched erratically, like the ticks of a cooling engine. “Someone took Emma.”
“What do you mean?” The car slowed subtly as his dad looked over at him. “Like she’s been kidnapped?”
“Yes. Dad, pleasedrive.” He unlocked his phone and checked for messages from Tyler or Valerie.
The car returned to the speed limit and they got another quarter mile before his dad said, “You have to call the police.”
“I know.” Maybe. The guy had said no cops, and assured him he had ways of knowing if Jason talked. But Jason had his own team of commandos, so maybe he could take care of things without the risk. “And I need to get to LA, immediately.”
“You’re leaving?Now?”
A message from Tyler flashed on the screen. He’d booked a four o’clock flight out of Oakland. It would be tight, but traffic through the tunnel would be going the other way, so Jason should be able to make it. “I have to. I’m not doing any good here, and Emma…” He looked up at his father’s familiar face, the dark brows jammed together. “Dad, she’s…everything.” He used his sleeve to swipe at the sweat running into his eyes.
The older man sputtered as he turned the car into their neighborhood. “You spent, what, three days together? During which she got your brother arrested for—”
“Byrondid the crimes. If it hadn’t been her, eventually—hopefully—it would’ve been someone else. Hell, if I’d known before then, it would’ve been me. He deserved this whether you like it or not.”
His dad harrumphed and white-knuckled the steering wheel for another minute. “Okay, fine, but how do you know this isn’t some kind of trap? Maybe she’s pretending to be kidnapped to get money out of you. Did they ask for a ransom?”
Oh, it was absolutely some kind of trap. A trap for Jason. Whether as revenge for working the case against Byron, or something else, he didn’t know. He sighed. “Look, if I have my way, Emma will be a big part of my life moving forward. If you can’t get past her—our—part in Byron's arrest, then you will not be welcome in our lives.”
The words hurt, but he meant them.
His dad gasped, his face turning red. “JJ, you don’t really know her.”
“Actually, I do. She was the best thing that happened to me in college.The. Best. Thing. And I fucked it up, but I’m getting a second chance.” God, please let him get that second chance. “And during the time I spent with her in Lucerne, I got to see who she is when it counts.” His parents still had no idea about most of it. Maybe they never would. “She’s smart, brave, and compassionate.” While her methods weren’t always ideal, her heart was ultimately in the right place. Everything she did was to make sure the injustices of powerful men didn’t go unpunished, even at great risk to herself. She’d sacrificed a normal life to avenge and protect others.That’swho she was at her core. “I love her, and if she’ll have me, I’m eventually going to ask her to marry me.”
Gerard Chin went silent as he pulled into his driveway and punched the button to open the garage. Jason unbuckled his seatbelt, preparing to jump out before the door finished opening, but Dad grabbed his arm and sighed. “I trust you, JJ. If you believe in her, then I do too.”
Jason stared, his jaw going slack as some of the weight on his chest eased. He didn’t want to fight with his parents or cause them more worry, but he hadn’t expected his dad to capitulate so quickly. Maybe the thought of losing another son helped. “Thank you.” He knew he should say more, but then the phone in his hand vibrated and the screen lit up with another message.
VALERIE: Expect a call in five minutes.
He opened the car door and jumped out. “Dad, I have to—”
“Go.”
Jason looked back into the eyes that were so like his own and nodded. He slammed the car door in his haste to get into the house and pack a bag. His parents could ship the rest of his shit later. His mom and dad’s harsh whispers carried down the hall from the kitchen.
When his phone buzzed with a call from an LA number, he pushed his way out the front door and walked to the middle of the driveway for the strongest cell signal. “Jason Chin.”
“Hi, my name is Gretchen,” a woman said, worry ruffling her smooth voice. “I work with Emma at the Free Pen Project.”
“Do you have any way to track her?”
“If she’s not answering your calls that’s her—”
Shit. So her team didn’t know yet. “She’s been taken.” Just saying the words aloud again made his pulse spike. He had to get to her.
The line was silent for several seconds. “I was afraid of that.”
