Mastering Will (3 page)

Ethan walked in, a gun in his hand. He moved with the confidence of a man who knew how to use the weapon he was holding. He’d changed out of his shiny shorts and into a plain pair of denim pants, a white T-shirt and black biker boots. Ethan’s generic outfit would be hard for a witness to pick out in a crowd. Will’s stomach fluttered with swooping eagles at that sort of forethought. Maybe his kidnappers weren’t such idiots after all.

“Planning on shooting me?” Will eyed the pistol.

Ethan smirked. “Not unless you rush me. Your boyfriend has made it difficult for us to continue. He got our forger arrested, so we think he should pay for that. We’re going to sell you to him for the amount we would’ve received on the forgeries. It seems fair enough to me. What do you think?”

Will sighed. “He’s not going to give you any money unless I talk to him.”

He didn’t comment on the fairness of the entire thing. If life were fair, Will would be at home and Lindi would be whipping him until he came. Knowing Lindi’s protective streak, he must be going out of his mind. His master wouldn’t take Will’s abduction well.

Ethan pulled a phone out of his pocket. Balancing it in one hand while clutching his gun in the other, he took several pictures of Will. “That should put his heart at ease. We wouldn’t want him to think we killed you off and decide not to pay.”

“He might not pay anyway,” Will felt compelled to mention. No plan was foolproof.

“Oh, he’ll pay for you.” Ethan’s eyes glowed with a maniacal glee. “He’s going to lose his shit when he sees these pictures.”

Ethan pushed several more buttons until a soft ping told Will the message had been sent. A scant minute passed before Ethan’s phone rang.

“Ooh, look who’s calling. Your Master wants his pet back. It would be a shame if we had to return him soiled goods.”

Will bit his lip. He had to balance the urge to beat the crap out of Ethan with making sure he stayed safe for Lindi. He couldn’t take any chances. A stray shot from an inexperienced gunman could kill him just as easily as a bullet from a mobster. He needed to find out how many guys were around.

“Hello, art dealer,” Ethan purred into the phone.

Will could hear shouting but couldn’t make out the words. Still, the thought of his lover on the other side of the line had his heart pounding. He had to get back to Lindi—failure wasn’t an option.

Ethan held the phone out from his ear. “Now, now, let’s not lose our temper over a simple business agreement. We’ll return your boy to you as soon as you wire us five million dollars. We’ll even give you forty-eight hours to come up with the cash before we start sending your pretty thing back to you in pieces.”

While Ethan taunted Lindi, Will thought over how to get a message to his lover. If Lindi called Will’s father and brothers, they would come help Lindi get Will back. He didn’t want to contemplate the price of their assistance, but unless Lindi wanted to get his Fed friends involved, Will’s family was his only choice.

“Here, he wants to talk to you. Don’t forget to tell him you love him,” Ethan said in a singsong tone. “I already told him if he called his buddies in the FBI, I would kill you.”

It wasn’t so much Ethan’s tone but the joy in his eyes that worried Will. Ethan might not be a professional killer, but his expression told Will he wouldn’t mind killing him if he thought he was justified. Will wasn’t confident he’d be the first person Ethan had ever killed, either.

Will’s hand shook as he accepted the phone. “Master, I’m fine. Please don’t be mad at me. Don’t make me sleep in my bed alone, not when you just started letting me sleep with you. Just pay them, and we can be together.” He infused more fear into his voice than he was feeling. He knew most kidnap victims wouldn’t be calm, but most of them weren’t raised by mobsters either.

“Calm down, Pet. I’m coming for you.” Lindi’s deep voice eased Will’s minor anxiety.

“I’ll be fine. Just remember what I said. I love you.”

There was a long pause, and Will knew Lindi was trying to decipher his words. “I love you too.”

Ethan snatched the phone back and glared at Will. “Pathetic. You shouldn’t give him that much control over you. He’s just a guy who likes to belittle others to make himself feel like a god. It’s disgusting.”

Will shrugged. He didn’t care about Ethan’s opinion; he just needed Lindi to get his message. Ethan didn’t have to approve of Will’s lifestyle as long as he didn’t shoot him because of it.

“Now let me tell you my terms.”

Was Ethan the mastermind behind the forgeries? Will had thought it was the guy who’d stopped him at the club, but the biggest guy didn’t have to be the one in charge.

“I’ll call you with details for Will’s return when you have the cash,” Ethan said, then hung up. “Don’t worry, pretty pet. We’ll get you returned to your Master soon. How about we just think of you as a mongrel who strayed too far from his owner. Maybe the worst thing you’ll get from your Master is a whack on your nose with a newspaper.”

Throwing his head back, Ethan laughed at his own joke.

Will silently planned Ethan’s death as he smiled back.

Lindi stood from the table.

“What’s going on?” Carlyle asked. Carlyle and Victor were sitting at Lindi’s dining table. They’d followed him home from the club after Lindi had been certain Will had gone missing. Ralph kept calling and apologizing for not being at the door. Apparently, the second of Will’s abductors was the club’s new bouncer. Greg had also called and apologized for hiring members from the forger ring. Lindi didn’t hold him accountable. If they could forge art, it would be nothing to fake references. Greg couldn’t have known.

“They said I have forty-eight hours to produce five million dollars,” Lindi confessed.

Victor leaned back in his chair. “Maybe it’s time to talk to your agent friends.”

“No. If I fall in with the Feds, they will kill him.” Lindi paced back and forth. “I think Will was trying to send me a message.”

“Why do you say that?” Carlyle asked.

“He kept saying he didn’t want to be sent back to his room.”

Victor shrugged. “So? Don’t you usually send him there to think on his misbehavior or something?”

“First of all, Will doesn’t misbehave. He’s the most obedient sub I’ve ever met. Secondly, he hasn’t slept in his bed since almost the third night we were together. I’ve never banished him from my bed.”

Lindi enjoyed Will wrapped around him too much to kick him out of their joined room.

Victor stood. “Will’s smart. He’d know you wouldn’t blame him for his abduction. I think you’re right; he’s trying to tell you something. Let’s go check out his room.”

Victor and Carlyle followed Lindi into Will’s room. The bedroom had the air of disuse—not dust, because his baby wouldn’t allow that sort of mess, but the feeling of being abandoned from regular usage.

“What were you trying to tell me, Pet?” Lindi mused, looking around the bare space.

“He doesn’t have any personal things at all?” Victor asked, glancing at the empty desktop and blank walls. “Even Stephen has some crap he throws in his room.”

“Your sub is a nester. Mine is a minimalist,” Lindi said.

“Or he’s looking for a quick escape route,” Carlyle said. “I’ve seen motel rooms with more decoration.”

Victor snorted. “And you’ve seen a lot of motel rooms.”

Carlyle smacked Victor in the back of the head. “Not recently.”

He knew they were trying to make him feel better, but Lindi’s heart still ached for his missing sub. “Will kept mentioning his bed.”

Lindi dropped to his knees and peeked underneath the bedframe.

“There you are.” A small plastic box had been shoved far beneath the bed. Lindi reached as far as he could. His fingertips brushed the top of the box. Curling his fingers, he pulled the container toward him.

As soon as the object got close to the edge, Lindi pulled the box the rest of the way. Lindi lifted the container, then sat on the bed.

“Your boy seems to have some secrets,” Victor said.

Lindi wiped his hands on his pants. “I guess I found what he wanted me to.” Printed on the top of the plastic lid were the words, “Open in case of emergency”. “Oh, Pet, what did you do?”

“You won’t know until you open it,” Carlyle pointed out.

Lindi took a deep breath. Somehow, he knew his life would change after he opened the box. He popped off the lid. A phone sat on top of a pile of paperwork. One of the disposable kind with pre-paid minutes. Lindi picked it up and set it aside. A passport, birth certificate and driver’s license were all in the name of William Finn. The picture showed his Will on the identification.

“Hmm, sweet, pretty Will is hiding from something,” Carlyle mused.

Victor picked up the phone. “I think Will wants you to make a call.”

Something had frightened his pet enough for him to go into hiding. Doubt filled Lindi, what did he really know about his boy? Will never talked about his past. Maybe there was a reason.

A piece of paper taped to the back of the phone listed the name Aengus Finn and a number.

“I’m thinking it’s time to call your boy’s family,” Victor said.

“Great. I always wanted some in-laws,” Lindi drawled, trying to hide his unease.

Lindi didn’t want to call the very person Will might be hiding from, but if this wasn’t an emergency, he didn’t know what was. Turning on the disposable phone, Lindi dialed Aengus Finn’s number.

“Hello?” A deep voice with an Irish lilt answered the phone.

“I’m trying to reach Aengus Finn.”

“Who’s this?”

“My name is Lindi Samms.”

“How did you get my private number, Mr. Samms?”

Lindi took a deep breath, hoping he wasn’t betraying Will. “My partner has been kidnapped. Your number was in his emergency kit.”

“Why would he have my number?”

“Because his name is William Finn.” Lindi’s hand shook with anger and fear. He needed Will back with him. He could worry about the repercussions later.

“Tell me what happened, Mr. Samms.” It wasn’t a request. The soft lilt took on a surprisingly sharp edge.

He thought about it for a moment, then spilled everything he knew. Will had wanted Lindi to call Aengus. Now wasn’t the time to back out.

“So these forgers are after you and have taken my son.”

“Yes.”

“We’ll be on the next flight out. We’ll find you in the morning.” Aengus hung up before Lindi could comment.

Great.

“Aengus Finn is on his way.” It wasn’t until later that Lindi realized Aengus had said we. Who else was he bringing with him?

Lindi woke in pain, his hand cramped from clutching the phone in his sleep—the only possible lifeline to his beloved. Gone was the usual warm body and adoring eyes; instead, he had a cold, hard spot in the middle of his stomach and an ache in his chest. His friends had left late last night, promising to return in the morning or sooner if he needed. While he had the support of Carlyle and Victor, Will was out there alone and scared.

Agreeing to testify against the forger had turned out to be the biggest mistake in Lindi’s life. Now some idiots had his beloved. Apparently, they didn’t care about Harkinson because the forger wasn’t part of their deal. Maybe they figured after they got their money they could disappear.

The doorbell rang.

Since no one had been cleared to come up to his condo, Lindi climbed out of bed quickly. Carlyle and Victor were probably back. The doorman knew them well enough to just let them up.

He pulled on the pair of pants he’d tossed on the floor the night before. Will would’ve been appalled at the disarray of their bedroom. The thought made him smile. Lindi grabbed a fresh T-shirt from the dresser and jerked it over his head.

His visitor rang the bell again.

Lindi rushed over to open the door.

A large man with miles of muscle and a hard expression in his eyes stood on the other side. He looked vaguely familiar, but Lindi knew they’d never met. “Can I help you?”

“Are you Lindi Samms?”

“Yes.” Lindi arched an eyebrow at his visitor. “And you are?”

“Will’s brother, Brian.”

Lindi scowled at his visitor. “Where’s your father? I thought he was coming.”

“May I come in?”

Lindi growled in frustration. Stepping back, he waved Brian forward. “Make yourself at home.”

“Thank you.” He scanned the large condo, taking in the water view. “Nice place.”

“We like it. Would you like some coffee? Mine isn’t very good, Will usually makes it.” Lindi blinked back the sudden onslaught of tears. He wasn’t the crying type. He wouldn’t start now when Will might be in danger.

“Sure, I’ll take some.” Brian settled on the other side of the bar. “Da says some guys snatched Will. Why?”

“For money.” Lindi repeated the situation with the art forger.

Brian narrowed his eyes. “So you have Feds watching your place?”

“Yes. Is that a problem?” Lindi did some research last night after he talked to Will’s father. He had a good idea why Will tried to hide his past. When he got Will back, they would be having a long conversation about keeping secrets. There were apparently too many between them. Will wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week when Lindi was finished with him.

Brian hesitated before answering. “No, but it might make it difficult to retrieve Will.”

“How many of you are coming?”

“Three. Me, Da and my other brother Cain. Will is the youngest of us.”

Lindi held back the urge to pounce on Brian’s words. He yearned to hear more about Will’s childhood and what led to him hide from his past, but Lindi wanted to hear about it from Will, not from his brother.

“I don’t know how many people are in the counterfeiting ring. I can find Will, but I don’t know if I can extract him on my own.”

“How can you find him?” Brian asked.

Lindi poured two cups of coffee from the brewing carafe and slid one over to Brian. He wasn’t ready to confess how to find Will quite yet. He had to make sure they were both on Will’s side before he told them anything.

“Tell me about your father. Why isn’t he here?” Aengus had said they were all going to be there in the morning.