Her Forever Hero (Unexpected Heroes) (31 page)

“What does any of this have to do with me?”

“I want money, Grace. So if you don’t want me to kill you, I need you to give me a nice, fat lump sum of cold, hard cash so I can start over somewhere else and keep living the life I’ve grown accustomed to. I can find me another rich whore to keep me nice and happy, and I’ll be glad to walk away.”

He pulled her from the car, toward an old trailer home sitting on an overgrown piece of land.

“Where are we?”

“Somewhere no one will be able to find you. This is my old friend’s piece of ground, but he’s not here anymore. I come here when I don’t want to be found, when I need a week or two to do whatever I want.”

A shudder passed through her at the thought of what he’d done at this place. She’d figured out very quickly that Jimmy was a thoroughly disgusting human being, but she was beginning to think she’d underestimated him—he gave new meaning to the word
twisted
.

“How do you expect me to get you any money while we’re out in the middle of nowhere?” she asked as she tugged against the ties on her hands. If she could loosen them, he would eventually pass out and she could call for help.

“Once I have you all secure, I’ll go and buy a computer with your credit card. And then you’re going to transfer a nice, tidy sum into a bank account I’ve already set up. Before you can do anything about it, like putting your rich boyfriend on me, I’ll be long gone.”

He opened the squeaking door of the trailer and the stench that came out made her gag. She doubled over as she tried to breathe again.

“Dammit! I think something got in there and died,” he snarled as he left the door open and walked away from it, pushing her so she fell to the ground, twisting her ankle.

Jimmy sat down next to her and then a whole new terror filled her at the look that came into his eyes. “It looks like we have a little time to kill . . .”

He moved closer to her and then yanked her over his lap.

“Don’t do this, Jimmy. This isn’t what you want,” she said, trying to keep the fear and disgust from her voice.

“Haven’t you figured it out, little girl? I can do whatever the hell I want to do.” He stopped talking, but only because he had mashed his mouth against hers, thrusting his nasty tongue inside.

Gagging again, Grace fought him with all her strength, but it did her no good. Her hands were tied, her head was pounding, and her fear was growing by the second. He yanked the hem of her shirt as he pushed her to the ground, and her arms screamed in pain as he pushed down on her with his full weight and crushed them beneath her body.

“Please stop, Jimmy. I’ll give you the money,” she cried out when he released her mouth so he could pull at her shirt.

“I know you will, but since I don’t have my whore lover or my sweet little fiancée anymore, I need someone to help with my needs.”

“You don’t have time for this, Jimmy. If you want to get money from me, you’ll have to hurry. Cam will already be tracking me. We have plans for today,” she told him. She kept her tone calm, her eyes on his, so he wouldn’t think she was bluffing.

“He can’t find you here,” he said, but he seemed unsure.

“Yes, he can. They’ve known someone has been after me for a while now. They’ve been watching me, have placed security all around me. If you don’t think he’ll find me within a few hours, you’re sadly mistaken.”

The more she spoke, the stronger her words became. She needed to believe what she was saying, or there was no way she would get this monster to believe it.

Unsure, he stopped tugging against her clothes as he sat back, looking thoughtful. Grace twisted sideway and then sat up, her fingers tingling as blood rushed back to them. Tears were fighting to break free but she couldn’t fall apart. If she did, she would lose everything.

“Just get the computer. Let me give you the money and then we can both be free.”

“Free? I’ve been a slave my entire life. My entire life!” he screamed.

“I’m sorry, Jimmy. I know that must be hard,” she said, trying her best to sound sympathetic.

“You don’t know anything about it. You grew up rich. I had to fight for everything I ever wanted. I deserved so much more than you and your stuck-up parents. I had to bed your mom for years to earn money. At first it wasn’t so bad, but she kept getting older . . .” His face was filled with disgust.

“You can get the money from me and never have to do anything you don’t want to again,” she told him.

“Shut up!” Reaching out, he slapped her hard enough that she tasted blood and felt her vision blur. She couldn’t pass out again. She had to focus. “Just let me think.”

Grace decided to be quiet as she pulled at her bonds. If she could get free, she’d grab the nearest thing to her and clobber this bastard, take his car and get away, call Cam, and get rescued. And Jimmy could spend the rest of his days as a kept man—in a state prison.

“People like you always think you’re so much better than me. You think your money makes you someone special, that you can buy whoever and whatever you want. But you’re wrong. Yeah, we all need money—it’s what makes the world go round—but I’m smart, Grace, real smart, and I know I’m better than you.”

“You’re right, Jimmy. I know you’re right.” She’d say anything at all to get him to stop this. He stood up and grabbed his gun, and all the blood washed from her face, a tingling sensation taking its place. She was going to die. This would be how her story ended.

“I gotta get that money, Grace. I need it. But if I leave you here alone, you might get out of the binds, and you might run away,” he said, pacing back and forth in front of her.

“I won’t run away, Jimmy. I promise. I don’t know where we are. I would get lost and then I’d never be found,” she said.

“I know you, Grace. I know you,” he said before turning back to her, his eyes wild as he pointed the gun straight at her. “I’m not gonna kill you, though, just shoot you in the leg so you can’t run away. But don’t move, okay? I’m not a real good shot, and I’d be awfully upset if I killed you before I got my money.”

“Please don’t do this, Jimmy. Please,” she begged.

“I have to,” he said before smiling. “But don’t worry. I’m going to enjoy it.” He cocked the gun and Grace finally allowed a tear to fall.

“Has anyone seen Grace? We were supposed to get coffee, but she’s been gone for half an hour now.”

Cam turned, immediately focusing on Sage. “What do you mean?” he asked as he glanced quickly around the hospital waiting room.

“I had to talk to the nurse, but Grace was going to meet me in the cafeteria for coffee,” she said, and then concern filled her eyes. “She’s safe, Cam, right? You solved the problems with her being harassed.”

“Nothing has happened for a couple of weeks, but I don’t like this,” Cam said, and his brothers immediately tuned in to what was going on.

“Let’s find her,” Jackson said. “Something’s wrong.”

“Sage and I will check the back areas,” Spence said.

“Hawk and I will check the south exits,” Cam said.

“I’m going to talk to security and see if the cameras picked up anything,” Jackson told them before moving in that direction.

“Everyone else, search the grounds. We all have our cells. If you find anything, send out a group message,” Bryson said.

Cam tried to hold in the panic that was threatening him, but when he and Hawk checked the doors and found no signs of Grace anywhere, he was consumed with worry.

When he found her purse behind the Dumpster near the parking lot, he went cold inside. She hadn’t left this hospital willingly.

His phone rang as he picked up the purse, praying that her phone wasn’t in it.

“She was assaulted by the south entrance by a man wearing black about thirty minutes ago, and the footage on the camera shows her being stuffed into the back of an older blue sedan,” Jackson said.

“Why in the hell didn’t they alert us?” Cam yelled into the phone.

“The guard was away from the monitor when it happened. I rewound the feed,” Jackson growled.

“I have her purse. Get everyone out to the parking lot now!” Cam hung up and dumped out the contents of the purse, nearly sobbing with relief that her phone wasn’t there. If it wasn’t in there, then there was a chance it was on her.

Bryson arrived in less than a minute. “Is her phone on her?”

“I hope so,” Cam said.

Bryson picked up his phone and dialed. “I need a trace.” There was a pause, then Bryson read out the number twice, and waited.

The rest of the group surrounded Bryson in silence, waiting for him to finish his call.

“We’ve got a location,” he said after hanging up, “and a chopper is on its way here. We can only take three total.”

“I’m coming,” Cam told them.

“I didn’t doubt it. Axel and I are coming with you.”

The chopper landed and the three men climbed aboard. The next fifteen minutes were the longest ride of Camden’s life. They had to land a far enough distance away from the location of the cell phone not to alert the assailant to their presence, but that meant they had to run a few miles across the terrain.

“She’d better be here,” Cam said as they made their way toward their target.

“She will be,” Axel said, his eyes focused and deadly.

That’s when they heard Grace cry out, and all three of them picked up their pace. They came around the corner and what Cam saw made his blood run cold. Jimmy Wells was holding a gun and pointing it directly at Grace.

“I’m going to kill him,” Cam snarled.

“Quiet. Don’t let him know we’re here. She’s smart, Cam. She’s holding it together. Let’s get into position,” Bryson said, and he and Axel moved in opposite directions, while it took everything inside Cam not to run forward. But he had to trust his friends who did this for a living.

“Hold still!” Jimmy yelled as Grace twisted on the ground.

“Don’t do this, Jimmy. If you miss and kill me, you won’t see one red cent,” she yelled at him, finally getting to her feet.

Jimmy stalked forward, but she sidestepped him.

The crazed look in the man’s eyes scared the hell out of Cam. He was going to shoot her. Cam couldn’t wait any longer. He leapt from the bushes. “Jimmy!”

Moving much more quickly than Cam liked, Jimmy turned and faced him, then reached out and grabbed Grace, wrapping an arm around her and hiding behind her like the pathetic excuse for a man that he was.

“Don’t come one step closer, or I swear I’ll shoot her in the head and then shoot you next,” Jimmy yelled.

“Let her go, Jimmy, and you just might live through this. We have you surrounded. Sure, you might get off a lucky shot before you’re taken down, but I guarantee I’ll survive it and then I’ll make sure you get sent to the worst prison in this state for the rest of your miserable life.”

“I’ll kill you before you can ever do that!” Jimmy yelled.

“Then do it, Jimmy. Point the gun at me and fire,” Cam taunted him. He needed to get that gun away from Grace’s head. He had no doubt Axel and Bryson were in position, but there was no way they’d take a shot if there was any danger of hitting Grace.

“Go, Cam. Now. I don’t want you getting hurt!”

“Shut up, Grace!” Jimmy yelled, his hand shaking, his finger still on the trigger.

“It’s easy to take down a girl, Jimmy, real easy. Let’s see how you do against a man,” Cam shouted at him.

“I can take you anytime, you worthless officeworking piece of crap. I’m the one who’s always had to think on my feet. I didn’t have a daddy to pay for me to be a lawyer,” Jimmy said.

“You’re talking a whole lot, Jimmy, but I don’t see you coming after me,” Cam replied, and moved closer.

“If you take one step closer, I swear I’m going to shoot her. I don’t have anything to lose.”

“Then I’ll rip you apart limb by limb.”

Cam watched the shift in Jimmy’s eyes, watched the fury, and he finally got what he wanted. Jimmy pulled the gun away from Grace’s head and he aimed it directly at Cam . . .

Three shots were fired.

Almost in slow motion, Grace watched Cam’s body fly backward and blood start to spread out on his shirt. At the same time, Jimmy’s body jerked behind her and she felt a splatter of moisture cover the side of her face.