Triple Beat-nook (14 page)

“Child lock. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to come open the door and you’re going to get out of this car and walk inside with me. If you scream, I’ll not only kill you, but I’ll take down anyone who comes to help. You got it?”

She nodded as she looked around the street. She saw two older ladies talking at the corner, a young mother pushing a baby stroller and three middle-school-aged boys roughhousing and laughing. None of them deserved to die.

“Good girl.”

Her father quickly climbed from the car and she watched helplessly as he crossed in front of it to her side of the vehicle. She clenched her hands into fists, trying to hide how badly they were shaking when he opened her door.

“Now, we’re going to take a little walk together.” He reached in and pulled her out of the cab. His hand wrapped painfully tight around her upper arm as he directed her toward a rundown building. New Orleans had always possessed an abundance of dark alleys and sketchy streets. This area certainly ranked right up there on the scary-as-shit scale.

Dani’s mind whirled over her options. Running was the smart thing to do, but her dad was too strong. Though she struggled as he dragged her toward the building, she couldn’t break free of his grip. Her attempts infuriated him as he shoved her against a wall just inside the building. The back of her head slammed into the cinderblock painfully.

“Stop fucking around. You’re not getting away from me this time. You wanna walk on your own or should I shoot you here?”

“Where are you taking me?”

He gave her a grin that was nothing short of malevolent. “Home. You and me got loose ends to tie up.”

She stiffened, and then found a brazenness she didn’t know she possessed. “Shoot me here.”

He laughed, though the sound was cold. “Let me put this another way. I’ll shoot you. Then I’ll go over to that fancy apartment of yours and put a couple bullets in those men you’re fucking. Always knew you were a slut.”

“You wouldn’t make it there. The cops would catch you first.”

“Look around, Dani. You think a gunshot is going to draw much attention around here?”

The sound of doors slamming outside, babies crying and people shouting filled the air. And while she didn’t think a gun going off would be unnoticed, she couldn’t be sure anyone would dare to investigate it too closely. The hallway of the apartment building was filled with garbage, and dimly lit. She wasn’t even sure anyone would see her body amidst the filth.

And if they did find her body, would they find it before her dad made it to the apartment? It wouldn’t take him long to get there. Aiden and Bryson didn’t even know there was a threat or that they were in danger.

She’d been a coward, guarding her heart instead of opening up and letting them in. Now they would never know how much she loved them.

Her cell rang, but Dani made no move to pull it from her pocket.

Once the ringing stopped, her father held out his hand. “Give it to me.”

She hoped to distract him from taking it. “How did you get my cell number?”

“You gave it to me, you stupid bitch. Didn’t see me sitting at the bar when you had breakfast with that arrogant, little prick of a writer, did you?”

Dani thought back to the morning she’d reconnected with Jett upon arriving in New Orleans. They’d laughed when they realized he only had her home number. Then she’d rattled off the number for him as he plugged it into his cell.

Her father had been that close to her and she hadn’t realized? Granted she’d been super tired that morning, after driving all night, and stressed to the max.  And her dad looked a lot different nowadays, his face covered in a bushy beard streaked with gray. His face was puffy. No doubt he was still a drinker and there were defined lines, deep wrinkles around his eyes and grooved into his forehead. She could just make out a scar cutting a jagged red line across his cheek, before disappearing beneath the beard.

He hadn’t aged well. The face that had haunted her dreams for years looked much younger than this one. Of course, his eyes were still the same. Cold and angry. 

“Give me the fucking phone. Now!”

Dani reluctantly withdrew it, knowing she was losing her last hope for being saved. He grabbed the phone from her, smashing it against the brick wall.

Prison had made him stronger.

Dani tried to fight down the panic threatening to consume her. She needed to keep her wits, to keep calm. If she gave in to the terror, she was lost.

“You finished fighting me?”

She didn’t respond.

“I know their names, Dani. First and last. And I’ve got their address in Nashville. You give me what I want and I’ll spare Aiden and Bryson. Keep resisting and I’ll make their lives a living hell.”

He was more than capable of carrying out his threat. She knew that well enough.

While she was helpless to defend herself, there was at least one thing she could do. Protect the men she loved.

“I’ll come quietly,” she said at last.

Her father smiled evilly, and then dragged her up the stairs.

Aiden sat on the couch, watching as Bryson made his twenty-eighth trip across the room, pacing from the baby grand to the kitchen and back again.

“Where the hell is she?” Bryson asked.

They’d woken up half an hour earlier to discover the sun setting and Dani gone. Aiden had called her cell half a dozen times, but she must have turned it off. It kept going to voicemail.

“You think we came on too strong?”

It wasn’t the first time Bryson had asked that question.

Aiden’s answer didn’t change. “No, Bry. She liked it. She wasn’t afraid of us or what we did. Something’s been upsetting her. We both know it’s not us. It’s whatever brought her back to New Orleans.”

“She was going to tell us.”

Aiden lifted his head. “What?”

“You passed out right after you came. Dani told me she wanted to talk to us later, that she had something to tell us about her past. She’s ready to open up to us.”

Aiden prayed that was true. Dani’s uncharacteristic moodiness, the distance she’d put between them the past few days, had eaten at him like a cancer.

They both jumped when the penthouse phone rang. Aiden got to it first.

“Dani?” he said as he answered.

“What? No. It’s Jett.”

“Oh, shit. Sorry, Jett.” Aiden sighed. He’d really hoped it was Dani.

“Dani’s not there?” There was no mistaking the concern in the man’s voice, which sent a chill through him.

“No. We’ve been trying to call her but she’s not picking up.”

“Fuck,” Jett muttered. “I’ve tried too. I was hoping her cell was dead. That’s why I called the apartment complex. Manager was only too happy to patch me through to your penthouse.”

“Why would that be a problem? What’s going on, Jett?” It was apparent from the man’s tone he was worried and that he knew something.

“I think her dad took her.”

“Her dad?”

Bryson scowled. “I thought her parents were dead.”

Aiden raised his hand as he repeated the same query to Jett.

“No. Her mother died when she was twelve but her dad’s still around. Listen, he’s bad fucking news. If he’s got her…”

Jett paused and Aiden sensed he didn’t want to finish his statement, didn’t want to admit how bad it might be.

“Where can we find him?”

“I got his address from Blake. You got a pen?”

Aiden gestured for Bryson to bring him a pen and paper. Once he did, Aiden wrote down the address Jett provided.

“I’m on my way there, but you guys are closer. Blake’s on his way too, but he was on the other side of the city when we talked. It’s going to take him time. If you get there before me, be careful. Her dad’s been in prison a couple times. He’s mean as a snake.”

Aiden forced himself to ask the most important question despite his desire to get to Dani immediately. “What does he want with Dani?”

“Revenge,” Jett said. “She was the reason he went to jail the first time. He tried to rape her when she was fifteen.”

Aiden slammed down the phone and dashed for the door. He didn’t even have to tell Bryson to follow. Once they were in the elevator, Aiden related everything Jett had said. Bryson’s expression morphed from fear to murderous rage within seconds.

“We have to get to her,” his friend said before the elevator doors opened and they ran through the apartment lobby. Mercifully, there was a taxi parked by the curb. They gave the man the address and promised him an extra fifty if he could get them there in five minutes.

The driver accepted the challenge. Aiden held on as the man made one sharp, fast turn after another. Fear of a car accident was nothing compared to the terror he felt for Dani.

“We’ll get her,” Bryson said, his voice deep, determined.

It calmed him. Aiden wouldn’t be any good to Dani if he gave in to panic. He shut down the part of his brain that kept replaying Jett’s words.

He tried to rape her. Her father tried to rape her.

Suddenly he understood Dani’s reticence about coming back to New Orleans, but something must have compelled her to return. Something she hadn’t told him and Bryson. Once they got her back—please God, let them get her back—they were going to sit down and have a long talk.

He’d never said, “I love you.” That regret would burn in his gut forever if anything happened to her before they could get to her.

***

The first thing Dani noticed when her father opened the door to his apartment was the stench. She saw a rat scurry across the floor when he turned on the light and she had to swallow down bile. Then she wondered if vomiting all over the floor would disgust him enough to keep him away from her.

Given his willingness to live in this filthy apartment, she ventured to guess it wouldn’t bother him at all. In her mind, she tried to decide how long it would be until someone missed her. If Bryson and Aiden had woken up, they’d probably tried to call. But she was notoriously bad about charging her phone, so they wouldn’t immediately worry if she didn’t answer. They also didn’t have any phone contacts for Jett or any of the Lewises.

She had promised to call Jett later, but he was expecting her to have a long chat with the guys. And if she didn’t phone, he’d most likely assume they were having sex. Chances were good he wouldn’t try to contact her until tomorrow at the earliest.

Which meant she could be on her own for quite a while.

Her father took off his jacket and tossed it on a chair, well away from her. He’d put the gun in the pocket of it when he’d gotten out of the cab. She felt a weird sense of relief now that it was out of reach.

“Take a seat. Make yourself comfortable.”

Now that he had her where he wanted, her father was smug, looming in front of her looking far too pleased with himself.

She looked at the shabby, stained couch. “I’m fine standing.” She didn’t pretend for a moment this was a social visit as she glanced toward the door, searching for some way to escape.

“Sit down, Dani. Now.”

In the past, she’d responded to his demands instantly because that was the path of least resistance, the best way to avoid getting slapped.

However, pain was a given. She wasn’t going to get out of here unscathed no matter what she did. The child she’d been—the one who always cowered—had grown up and developed a backbone. Maybe it was the height of foolishness, but she refused to tremble before him ever again. Even if it did mean he’d hurt her.

“No.”

He didn’t move for a moment and it looked as if he was trying to decide if he’d heard what he thought he had.

“Did you tell me no?” His deep voice promised retribution.

She decided for diversion. “What do you want from me?”

The abrupt change of subject worked. Briefly. “You’ve changed, baby girl. I don’t like it. Go sit down.”

Again, she refused to acknowledge his demand. “Money? Is that what you’re after?” She threw the offer out, hoping he’d take the bone. It was obvious from his living conditions he needed cash. Maybe she could buy her way out of this place.

“You know what I want, Dani.”

She laughed mirthlessly. “Seriously? After all this time. What’s the matter, Russell? Run out of women in New Orleans to rough up?”

She’d gone too far. The second she called him by his real name rather than Dad, she knew it was over the line. It just felt too good to face down the bully, to call him out for his cruelty rather than hide in the corner.

His hand connected with her right cheek before she even realized he’d raised his arm. The fucker still packed a wallop. Her vision went black for several seconds as her head twisted sharply with the impact.

The pain wasn’t new. It had been years since she’d been slapped like this, yet the sensation was as familiar to her as if it had only been yesterday.

But the blow didn’t have the same effect it used to, didn’t do what her father expected. If he’d thought the slap would snap her out of it, make her the properly fearful girl she’d been in her teens, he was destined for disappointment. She wasn’t going down without a fight.

Once she found a way to shake off the pain, to beat down the flames erupting along the side of her face, she straightened up and looked him in the eye again.

He didn’t like her lack of tears or pleas. And he sure as fuck did
not
like that she wasn’t afraid. “Think you’re tough, don’t you, Dani?”

She snorted, the sound catching him unaware. “You made sure of that, didn’t you, Russell?”

He reached up, his hand gripping her tightly around the neck. “Call me by my name again and I’ll break your fucking neck.”

She didn’t respond. Couldn’t answer. He was cutting off her air supply. She struggled to pull his hand away, but it was abundantly clear that her only weapon in this fight was bravado. All the physical strength was on his side. For a moment, pure, unadulterated panic clawed at her chest. She was in way over her head.

Dani pushed the fear away. Maybe she couldn’t win. But at least she could lose with dignity. She went limp, refusing to continue the struggle.