To her credit, Daisy didn’t ask me why or balk at the fury in my voice.
“His number?” she simply asked and when I gave it to her, I heard her typing. It took several long seconds before she gave me the information. I hung up on her and looked at Mace.
“He’s still in the building.”
Since we’d both been covering the main entry and exit, I strode to the fire door and shoved against it. Raw panic settled in my gut when the alarm failed to sound. And for the second time in my life, I completely froze.
Mace snatched the phone out of my hand and dialed. I instantly heard Seth’s ringtone but I knew in my gut that it wouldn’t be that easy. We followed the sound down several flights of stairs, but when I saw the phone in front of the door that led to the parking garage, I couldn’t stop the anguished cry that tore free of my lips.
Chapter 28
Seth
The first thingI noticed when I came to was the pounding in my head. It hurt like hell, but it was bearable. What wasn’t bearable were my hands.
Because they were tied behind my back.
I tried not to panic as I struggled to get my bearings, but the coppery taste of blood in my mouth had me desperately trying to yank my hands free. I could feel that whatever I was tied up with was plastic and there was absolutely no give to it. I forced my eyes open and cried out when everything remained cloaked in darkness.
“Shut the fuck up!” a sharp voice yelled a second before someone kicked me in the stomach. I was already laying on my side, so the blow didn’t knock me down, but the pain did have me folding in on myself. My sobs were muffled because of something that was stuffed in my mouth and tied around my head. My brain flashed back to the night I’d been in nearly this same position as masked men beat my father and mother before turning on me. The only difference was that I didn’t have something over my head like I did now. The smooth material had me thinking it might be a pillowcase.
I tried to bring up my most recent memory, but the only thing that came to me was sitting in the meeting sending Ronan suggestivetexts. Stan had caught me staring at my phone on more than one occasion as the men we’d been meeting with spoke and he’d finally nudged me and sent me a dirty look when I couldn’t hide the grin on my face as I imagined the expression on Ronan’s face when he saw my suggestion that he bend me over the couch as soon as we got back to the hotel.
Stan.
An image of Stan pressing a gun to my side hit me hard and then everything came flooding back in a rush.
After the meeting had ended, Stan and I had remained in the conference room to wrap up and I’d told him that I’d already made the decision not to pursue the sale of the company or even discuss the possibility of a merger. The bottom line was that I wanted to run my father’s company myself. And the merger hadn’t been an option when I’d learned about all the safety and equal rights complaints our competitor was being investigated for.
I’d known Stan would be upset with me and I’d allowed him a few minutes to try and talk me out of it. We’d been interrupted by the receptionist knocking on the conference room door, but I hadn’t heard what she’d said to Stan. Once Stan had returned to the table, he’d ripped into me about how I was making a mistake and that our company would go under if I didn’t reconsider. But I’d been adamant and he’d finally relented. When we’d gotten up to leave, he’d told me that Ronan had asked the receptionist to have me and Stan meet him and Mace downstairs in the parking garage where they had the car waiting. I hadn’t even considered questioning the change, nor had I thought it strange when Stan told me we could take the stairs because the fire alarm wasn’t working.
But when I’d gotten my phone out at the bottom of the stairwell to let Ronan know we were there, I’d felt the cold metal of a gun pressed against my side. Stan had taken the phone from me and tossed it on the ground and then he’d ordered me to open the door. As soon as I had, a man waiting on the other side had hit me with something.
The pain in my body began to ease somewhat as I lay perfectlystill and tried to quell my rising panic. I knew Ronan would come for me. I just needed to stay alive long enough for him to find me.
I could hear muffled voices, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. But as heavy footsteps drew closer to me, the voices became clear and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that one was Stan’s.
“I told you, I am not doing your fucking dirty work again,” the stranger snapped.
“I’ll double what I paid you last time,” Stan said.
“No! The only thing that keeps me from going down for your shit is if your hands are as dirty as mine.”
I felt a brutal grip wrap around my arm and then I was yanked to my knees. The covering over my head was ripped away and it took my eyes a second to adjust. But when I did, I froze. Because standing in front of me was Stan, the gun in his shaky hand pointed directly at me.
“I’m sorry,” Stan suddenly whispered as his eyes connected with mine.
“What the fuck are you apologizing to him for?” the other man snapped. “Just fucking do it already.” The stranger was in his early thirties and was wearing a pair of black jeans, a black shirt and heavy work boots. His hair hung well past his shoulders in greasy hanks and I could see several teeth missing as he railed at Stan. I didn’t recognize him, but I let out a strangled cry when I saw the suddenly very familiar snake tattoo that went from his elbow to his wrist.
“You happy?” the guy snapped. “He’s recognized me.”
Tears began to streak down my face as it all came together for me. The man in front of me had been the same man who’d tortured me and slit my father’s throat. And since Stan was in the middle of it all, it meant he’d had a hand in it.
“I’m sorry, Seth. I didn’t mean for it to happen like that. You and your mom weren’t even supposed to be there!” Stan was waving the gun around as he spoke. “I needed the money and your father…I knew he’d figure out that I’d taken it from the company. I loved him like a brother, Seth. But I was going to lose everything I had!”
“What the fuck are you explaining it all to him for?” the man yelled impatiently.
But Stan rattled on as if he hadn’t heard the other man speaking. “I took care of you, Seth. I kept the company going for you. But…but you were supposed to sell it, not run it. My share of the profits wasn’t enough…I needed the buyout to square away all my debts, to start over.”
