“Never thought you’d be like this, Sadie,” he said into my neck. “Thought of this a thousand fuckin’ times, never thought it’d be this good.”
I felt a shiver flow through me. It wasn’t pleasure, it was fear mingled with repulsion mingled with something bizarrely sad. Jerry mistook its meaning and smiled in my neck.
“Jerry?” I called. His head came out of my neck, I turned my own and kissed him, pulled out the stun gun, twisted in his arms, our lips still attached, I went up on tiptoe, pressed myself against him and my arms went around him.
My thumb searched for the on button as I stuck my tongue in his mouth and tried not to gag.
I found the switch.
I flipped it on.
He deepened the kiss.
I heard the crackling.
I positioned it, pressed into his body and touched the prongs to his back.
One…
His mouth tore from mine, he went still and I kept the prongs on him.
Two…
Three.
He went down.
I bent over him and went back in, touched the prongs to him again, his body jerked and I kept it pushed in, counting to three again for good measure.
Then I pulled away and, without delay, I ran to my sweater on the floor, yanked it on, grabbed my purse, left my shoes and, not looking back, I ran to the door, threw it open, was two steps away before I was nabbed at the waist and pulled back roughly.
I let out a little surprised scream. I twisted and stilled when I saw, to my shock and horror, Glover, another of my father’s henchmen.
“What the…!” he started but I still had the stun gun in my hand and it was on.
I put it to his shoulder, he tensed and I kept it there but a hand curled around my wrist, it was pulled back, Glover sagged against the wall but I didn’t watch, I whirled to see who had my wrist.
It was twisted, I cried out as pain shot up my arm and dropped the stun gun, looking up, I saw Cordell, another of my father’s gentleman army and he looked bizarrely confused.
Really, why, why, why was everything so fucking difficult!
“Damn and blast!” I shouted in his face.
He bent down, put a shoulder in my belly and lifted me, carrying me back into the room.
I had the sinking feeling that, at this juncture, I was majorly screwed.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I’m Sadie
Hector
“Find her,” Seth Townsend said in Hector’s ear.
Hector’s jaw clenched, his eyes on Eddie, his body tight.
“Jerry, Glover and Cordell have been off the radar since we did the raids yesterday. All night, the whole team and half the DPD have been turnin’ Denver inside out. No fuckin’ sign. You got any fuckin’ clue where they’d take her?” Hector, hating his need to make the call, ground out each word.
Hours had gone by since he got the call that Sadie had been nabbed. There was no sign, no word and now the fear was a constant, bitter ache in his gut.
“You boys are supposed to be the best. How’d this fucking happen?” Seth snapped.
Hector didn’t know how to answer him. He’d been asking himself the same fucking question for the last five hours.
“Her cell is tracked, she left it on the table at the club. We planted a device in her lipstick, she must have left it behind. The guy guarding her left his position but warned her he was goin’, explained when he’d be back and told her to sit tight. She was with fourteen people, but walked away from the table alone. One of the girls and men tried to follow but they got held up by the crowd. A witness who tried to help her told us she told him that they roofied her, she was dazed and not in control. He got clubbed on the side of the head with a gun butt, went unconscious and Sadie got taken.”
“Why weren’t you with her?” Seth clipped.
“Because I was huntin’ down your rogue soldiers,” Hector shot back.
“They went rogue because Sadie’s with you,” Seth returned.
Hector lost his patience and his temper. “They went rogue because they’re assholes, Seth. Don’t fuckin’ lay this shit on me. This whole trip is yours, from the Balduccis down. You left her alone, unprotected. You knew the Balduccis were out for revenge, you had boys at your disposal and you left her exposed. You put her in this position and I’ve been workin’ my ass off for six weeks tryin’ to pull her out.”
“Chavez –”
“She’s been raped, assaulted, kidnapped, now twice, once by you, I’ll remind you. She found out her mother was whacked, had her fuckin’ gallery torched and has been drugged against her will. She’s been holdin’ on but she’s gonna fuckin’ break. After all that, anyone would fuckin’ break.”
“Chavez –”
Hector cut him off, his voice had gone low and it shook with menace, “Seth, I find her and they’ve broken her, you’ll pay.”
When he spoke again, Seth’s voice had changed too, it had gone soft. “Hector –”
“No joke. You’ll pay,” Hector repeated.
The door opened to Lee’s office and Lee’s upper body swung in with it but he didn’t enter and he didn’t take his hand off the knob.