A Prince's Ransom: Kidnapped by the Billionaire (53 page)

It took only a few minutes longer to find the stairs, and then he was hurrying up them, finding another doorway that was open and hiding in the darkness there as he heard footsteps behind him. Sebastian’s eyes narrowed as they started passed him.

“C’mon! C’mon—he must’ve gone this way!”

“You’re out of your damn mind. He went this way, I heard him!”

“You didn’t hear shit.”

Once they were beyond his doorway, he stepped out. “Actually, you’re both wrong,” he answered, and shot them both in the back before they had the opportunity to react. One of them, as he hit the ground in pain, wrenched around and fired his own gun, the shot zooming past Sebastian’s arm, narrowly missing him, and he growled and slammed his foot into the guy’s face. The gun snapped out of his hand and clattered a few feet down the hall.

“Hurry up, you imbeciles! We don’t have time for this!” That was Capozzi’s voice. Sebastian’s head snapped up in the direction it came from, and without giving any more care for if the two he had just shot were still alive or not, he ran down the hall, his hand tightening around the gun.

“Capozzi!” he shouted furiously, making sure that he was heard this time, no longer giving a damn about stealth. This was going to end, now.

Sebastian turned a corner and saw the older man with two more men, trying to run and carry large crates at the same time. Immediately, two bullets were fired at each of them, so that they shouted and hit the ground while he grabbed the other gun from the waist of his pants. One of them was still where he fell, while the other dropped his crate and turned around, firing at him—unloading his clip. His head jerked around, but this time there was no cover, and he let out a furious cry as a pain erupted in his thigh. For a second, his knee giving out, Sebastian hit the floor hard, looking back up at them, before his eyes narrowed as he saw what was in the crates that had broken open.

“Meth labs, Capozzi? That’s your next business scheme?” he growled, his eyes flashing dangerously as he looked up at his former boss.

Capozzi’s eyes widened in horror. “Sebastian—NO!”

But he didn’t listen, instead aiming his next bullet at one of the car batteries that had fallen out of the crate. Instantly, there was a deafening blast that slammed him against the wall behind him, and a sudden, searing heat that made his mind go numb for a second. Smoke burned at his eyes, and he shook his head before lifting it and looking into the room beyond. It was in complete flames, the fire searching for anything to sustain itself. One of Capozzi’s men was on fire, but Sebastian wasn’t paying attention to him, instead looking toward his boss where he was sprawled against another wall, trying to tell if he was still alive or not. His eyes narrowed through the smoke when he moved, reaching for his cane, though it had broken against the cement.

Coughing, he looked up, furious. “You idiot!” he shouted over the roar of the flames. “All of this—all of this, for what?! Some stupid girl?! You would give up everything we built together for some bitch!”

“I should have given it up a long time ago, Capozzi! I never wanted this—I never wanted any of this, and you damn well know that! You took advantage of me when I was a kid, and you take advantage of everyone to get what you want! It ends, right now!” he yelled back, shaking his head. His leg was killing him as he got to his feet, advancing a step.

“You really think you can kill me, Sebastian? You really think you can change any of this?”

“You threatened the girl I love—and you made me shoot your own nephew. And you’re a coward who can’t do a damn thing for himself!” He lifted his arm, pointing the barrel at whatever shriveled up husk Capozzi had in place of a heart. “This is the easiest damn thing I’ve ever done.”

“And in other news, since the death of known crime boss Antonio Capozzi, who had headed the dangerous underground mob known as the Family, more than a dozen of the Family’s illegal underground operations have been identified and shut down. These operations have proven to range from prostitution rings to drug production, and witnesses tied to these crimes have led police detectives to discover the unfortunate fates of a number of missing persons cases.

“Antonio Capozzi was found three months ago after the fire department put out a raging inferno at a factory outside of the city limits. In addition to the crime boss, at least seven bodies were found, each with massive burns from what has been identified as a methamphetamine production accident. Despite this, however, police have said that the causes of death of most within the building were gunshot wounds. As of yet, there have been no leads as to who is responsible for these deaths, but—”

Tobin picked up the remote off the coffee table and turned off the television. She took a deep breath and turned back to the box sitting on her couch, half-unpacked, and reached for the next stack of books and DVDs that were inside. As she did, though, she realized that her hands were trembling, and she drew back immediately, her throat tight, sinking into the couch and shutting her eyes.

Moving, she had decided, had ended up being essential after everything that had happened. The police who had questioned her for hours about what had happened that night had determined that with Capozzi gone and most of the Family’s operations in ruins, more being exposed practically every day, they had much more to worry about than a veterinarian who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was almost strange, actually, how quiet her life was now that it was all over. That was part of why she had decided to move, though. Everything had felt strange in her apartment, almost wrong. Safety was still some fleeting, insubstantial idea that people who didn’t know better convinced themselves that they had. So she had found a cute little house in one of the nearby suburbs. It was quieter here than it had ever been in her apartment—and Oliver had a backyard to roam around in now. He was happy about that. Her cats were adjusting.

Jesse had managed to hotwire the car they had found despite how much pain he had been in, and she’d been able to make it to a hospital in time to save his life. The police had been called, of course, and she had explained… well, everything, at that point. There was no explanation that made sense by telling half-truths and hiding things, and both of them knew that there was no sense in pretending things hadn’t gotten as bad as they had. He had been shot in the chest. She had been abducted, hurt, frightened. Things could have gone a lot worse for her.

He had gotten better, after a few weeks. Of course, considering everything, he would still have to pay for his part in the jewelry heist, in her first abduction, in whatever else he had done for his uncle and the Family. Jesse had seemed alright with that, though, in comparison to the fate he would have had if Sebastian hadn’t thought as quickly as he had to save all three of them. Or at least…

When she had told the detectives about Sebastian, they hadn’t exactly believed her. Maybe they hadn’t wanted to believe her, ultimately, because it was ludicrous and she had been an idiot, and… and she didn’t know where he was. They hadn’t found his body in the factory once the fire had been put out—a lot of the bodies had been unidentifiable from burns, but they had had his DNA in the system from a previous crime, and… he hadn’t been there. Tobin didn’t know where he was, though the detectives asked her that almost every other day. Reporters had it wrong. The police knew exactly who had killed everyone in that building, they just didn’t know where he was. And she knew that they didn’t believe her about him—that he was different, that he wasn’t going to do it anymore. They couldn’t believe that. Once a criminal, always a criminal. The detective she had spoken to most had tried endlessly to convince her of how bad he was, how dangerous he was. Like she didn’t know that. Like she didn’t know there was so much more to it than that.

But it didn’t matter now. Just because he hadn’t been in the factory didn’t mean that he hadn’t taken a fatal bullet and died somewhere else, trying to get away. There was a part of her, as awful as it was, that would truly prefer that being the truth. Because the alternative was that he was alive, but he hadn’t come back. Yes, it was undeniably dangerous for him, when she didn’t think he deserved to be punished for what he had done. Those men had been the real criminals, and Capozzi had been a monster. The Family was in shambles because of what he done, dismantling everything they were because he had wanted to protect her. She wanted him to come back, though. She wanted him to be here, because there was no one else now who would understand what she had gone through. What she was trying to live with. It would have been so much better if she had been able to talk to Kate, but that was something she had to deal with on top of everything else.

Yes, moving had been essential. Away from that place where things had stopped making sense, and away from the memories. She had interviewed veterinarians to fill the vacancy at the clinic; Lisa had gotten engaged to her girlfriend; her father was working on getting his cholesterol levels down. Things would get better, in time. Time was a luxury and a curse, after everything.

Tobin shook her head and glanced toward her phone when it started ringing, sitting on the kitchen counter. Standing up and straightening herself a bit, she moved over to it, checking the number. Very slightly, she made a face when she saw it was her dad; she knew he was worried about her, with all that had happened, but he had called her at least four times a day for the past two weeks. She knew that if she didn’t answer, though, all she would accomplish was him driving over here to make sure she was alright, so she hit the answer button. “Hi, Dad,” she answered as she put her cell to her ear, unable to hide the exasperated note in her voice. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to see how things were going, sweetheart. I mean, it’s a new place and everything. You’re all by yourself…”

“I’m not all by myself. I have my cats, and Oliver.” And they were better company than he was lately.

“Alright, you lack human company. I can come over, give you a hand with unpacking.”

“No, thanks, Dad, I’ve got it handled. Things are no different than when you called”—she glanced toward the clock on the microwave—“an hour and a half ago.”

He was quiet on the other end for a moment. “I’m just worried, Tobin. You can’t blame me for being worried.”

“I don’t blame you for being worried, Dad, I blame you for being clingier and more paranoid than you’ve been in my entire life.” Her doorbell rang, and she moved toward it. It was probably just something else forwarded from her old address. Not thinking twice about the assumption, she opened the door, and froze.

“Tobin.” Sebastian’s voice was filled with something she couldn’t identify, as she stared up into his face almost without comprehension. He was tired—he hadn’t been sleeping for who knew how long, and she could see evidence that he hadn’t gotten away from the fire unscathed. But he was here, standing in front of her, and she felt tears start to well in her eyes.

“Tobin?”

“I gotta go, Dad,” she told the phone, barely loud enough to be audible.

“Tobin? What’s going on? Tob—”

Ending the call, she stepped aside, and he was moving into her home, looking around. He was stiff and tense, almost avoiding looking at her, and she swallowed hard, trying to think of something to say. Anything at all that wouldn’t sound like absolute nonsense and stupidity. Before she got the chance, though, there was a little yip from the top of the stairs and they both looked up. Tobin smiled to see Oliver, his tail wagging, as he zoomed down the stairs toward Sebastian. She glanced at him, her heart hurting to see that he was smiling too as he bent down to pet the excited dog.

“Hey, Ollie. Good to see you too,” he murmured to the Bichon as the dog jumped on his leg. “He seems to be doing a lot better.”

“Yeah, for the most part,” she agreed softly. “He’s been adjusting pretty well. He’s glad to have a backyard now, though.”

“Heh, I’ll bet.”

She could’ve let the dog-distracted silence last for a while longer, but… “Why didn’t you come back?”

Sebastian jerked his hand slightly away from Oliver and then stood, turning to face her slowly. He looked a lot like he had done that night. Darkened by the mistakes of his past and trying, desperately, to right them. “I realized that Capozzi being dead wouldn’t eliminate the threat. Not all of it. There were other things I needed to do to make sure the Family never came near again. I couldn’t drag you further into it,” he explained quietly.

Her brow furrowed. “The other underground operations? You exposed those?”

“Yes. As many as I knew about, I led the police there—they don’t know it’s me, of course, but—”

“Why? Sebastian, if you gave them this information in their custody, they’d go easier on you, and you might not need to—”

“Tobin, a crime boss and very guilty men are still people, who I murdered. And the jewelry store owner, and kidnapping you, and… the several dozen other things I’ve done that I wish I could take back. They won’t go easy on me,” he interrupted with a resigned firmness and shook his head.

She bit her lip. “Then why did you come here, if you just have to keep running? They ask me all the time if I know where you are, and up until now, I haven’t, but now you’ve been here, and—”

“I needed to see you.”

Her throat tightened painfully. Tears stung at her eyes. “Sebastian, I… I missed you. I thought you might have… been killed in the fire, and…” Instantly, he surged toward her and wrapped her in his arms, tugging her against his chest and crushing his lips down onto hers. She didn’t resist, her nails twisting into his shirt as she kissed him back fiercely, desperately, for every second he’d been gone since the moment she’d told him she loved him.

“For a while longer,” he gasped as he pulled back after a long, long moment, “you still won’t know where I am—until some of this blows over. But I’m not leaving, Tobin. You think after all I did, all of it for you, that I’d be able to leave you behind? No, that’s not my plan, I just need to keep you safe first and foremost for a while longer. I’m not going anywhere, and I… I needed to see you.” Sebastian was almost speaking against her lips, and every brush sent a jolt of electricity tingling down her spine maddeningly. She hadn’t even realized he had been pulling her toward the couch—he didn’t know where her bedroom was, she thought with a soft giggle.