Rush of Redemption (Rush Series #2) (21 page)

She stared at him for a
long moment before rising. Color rose in her cheeks when both men stared
unabashedly at her nakedness. She closed her eyes in her humiliation. She
opened them when 
Tiko
 pressed something
into her hands; a newspaper. She lifted confused eyes to his.

“Hold it up so they can see
today’s date, if you don’t mind. Then smile pretty for the camera,” 
Tiko
 said with another smirk as he lifted his
cellphone to take the picture.

Her lips quivered at the
thought of a picture like this being sent to Rush to extort money from him for
her and Blake. She’d done this and didn’t deserve any consideration. She only
prayed Rush would pay for their son… save their son.

She’d been inside the shed for three days and was well into her
third night. The days were so hot it was nearly unbearable, but once the sun
set, the night became so cold and was just as unbearable. Her
chest felt tight and she had a killer headache. She had a persistent cough, and
while she was constantly covered in sweat, she shivered uncontrollably, both
during the day and night. Her breasts were painfully swollen with the need to
nurse. They were so engorged, the slightest pressure hurt.

She no longer cried – she
was past that point. Now, she just waited for the inevitable end. Her continual
prayer was that Rush would pay them whatever they wanted and save their darling
boy. She didn’t deserve any better than this, so she’d endure it without
complaint.

Her captors brought her a
bottle of water and a sandwich once a day, but otherwise she saw no one. On her
first day, when left on her own, she tried to get out of the chain clamped to
her ankle but it was locked. So she waited.

As she lay shivering, her
mind repeatedly went back to Rush and Blake. Rush had turned out to be the man
he’d told her he would be. And she had failed him. She thought about his face
the night of their engagement party when he’d given her the sapphire necklace…
remembered his sweet, sweet words, 
I hope in the future, when you wear
it, you’ll always remember how much I love you… right now… in this moment
.

But she hadn’t really
believed his words – not really. On the first night they’d made love after
Blake was born, he’d told her, 
Love isn’t enough of a word to describe
what rips through my body when I look at you. You give my life purpose and
meaning. I didn’t even know I was missing those things before I met you. You
own me, Trinity. I would lay down my life to protect you and our son.
She endured
now only because of those words. She knew he really would lay down his life for
his son. She didn’t think he would do the same for her anymore, and that was
okay as long as he saved Blake. He was what mattered.

She was jarred awake by a sharp
jab of a foot to her ribs. Trinity groaned and tried to roll herself into a
tight ball. She stopped, however, when she heard an astonishing familiar female
voice above her. She opened her eyes slowly and had to blink against the light
illuminating the area from a single bulb hanging in the center of the room. The
light bulb must have been low wattage, as while it lit the area directly below
it, it left the outer edges still in shadows.

“Never send a man to do a
woman’s job. It was never truer than now,” the woman said.

“
Marlena
?”
 Trinity
asked as confusion crashed around her. It made no sense. Trinity thought maybe
she was losing what was left of her mind. “How did you find me?” Trinity asked
as she lay shivering.

Marlena
 Franklin stood in front of her, dressed in uncustomary jeans
and a pair of cowboy boots. “It wasn’t easy. You were supposed to be dead.
Imagine my surprise when your father happened to mention that Rush Drayton had
received a ransom demand. You just can’t trust a man. The greedy bastards! It’s
a hard lesson to learn sometimes,” 
Marlena
 said
with a laugh.

“I don’t understand,”
Trinity said as she lifted her confused eyes to the other woman’s.

Squatting down, 
Marlena
 patted her face. “What’s so difficult to understand?
I didn’t want you breathing anymore. You have made my life miserable for the
length of your entire existence.”

Trinity blinked her eyes
rapidly as she tried to comprehend 
Marlena’s
 meaning.
She begged her clouded mind to concentrate on 
Marlena’s
 words.
“How?” she finally asked.

Marlena
 stood and moved away from Trinity, rubbing her hands up and
down her arms to stave off the cold. She glanced back at Trinity’s nudity. “It
really gets cold up here at night, doesn’t it?” she said with a malicious grin.
Her grin faded as she looked at Trinity. “You look so much like
your mother.”

Trinity flinched at the
words she’d heard twice in the last few days.

Marlena
 walked around the small enclosure as she spoke slowly, as if
telling a tale. “Did you know I once dated your father?” She glanced at
Trinity, and when Trinity didn’t respond, she continued. “No, you probably
wouldn’t. It was before your time, but not much before. You see, your sainted
mother stole him from me.” 
Marlena
 paused
and stared off vacantly. “
Ahh
, Arthur caught one
whiff of that woman and nothing would do until he got her. Her and all her
father’s money, that is. They were probably together two months when your dear,
sainted mother came up pregnant. Your father refused to see me for months when
that happened.” An evil grin crossed her lips. “But once your mother’s body got
all lumpy with her pregnancy, your father couldn’t run back fast enough. But by
then I was already involved with James – not that it stopped us, mind you,” she
said with a sharp laugh.

“You and
my father?”
 Trinity murmured
inanely.

“Don’t sound so shocked. He
would have left your mother long ago if he could have figured out a way to keep
her money. The Embassy Fund scheme was supposed to have been our salvation, but
then when they killer her, your father felt so guilty about that, and
felt 
sooo
 sorry for his young daughter,
that he broke it off with me. He… broke it off with 
me
. I couldn’t
believe it. But I was married to James and had to sit back and say nothing. And
while James wasn’t much, he was mine… until you killed him. Now what do I have?
Nothing! I have nothing. You’ve stolen everything. My greatest disappointment
is that your son won’t meet the same fate as you. You should know what it feels
like to lose everything you loved!”

Trinity’s fever-filled mind
tried to comprehend what 
Marlena
 was
saying. “Blake is okay?”

Marlena
 looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Yes, the
all-powerful Rush has him. There’s no way anyone can get into that fortress.”

Tears filled Trinity’s
eyes. Rush had been able to rescue Blake. Her chest burned even hotter now. Her
baby was home with Rush. Trinity sat back against the shockingly cold metal of
the building and wrapped her arms around her knees. What happened now didn’t
matter.

“That stupid 
Tiko
 thought he could double-cross me. I paid him to
kill you and your little brat. But no, he decides he can take my money, then
make even more money by offering you to Rush. But that little plan has
failed.” 
Marlena
 paused, as she pulled her
cellphone out of her pocket and looked at its face.

“Where did you get the
picture of my mother?” Trinity asked.

“I know how to use a
computer. I just cropped her face onto someone else,” 
Marlena
 smirked.

Trinity’s
heart seized in her chest.
 It
was true then, Rush hadn’t wanted to save her. Sadness filled her heart that
he’d not tried to save her as well. But she understood it. Blake was what was
important. She didn’t blame him. Trinity lowered her scalding forehead against
her knees.

“Well, I’m not
stupid,” 
Marlena
 continued. “I just
followed his merry band of men to where they had you stashed. Men are so
ignorant. 
Tiko
 won’t see one thin dime of
that ransom money. I refuse to let you live that long. Maybe then Arthur will
understand how important I am to him. He’ll be a grieving father and I’ll be
there to offer my comfort,” 
Marlena
 spat
venomously.

“He won’t care,” Trinity
said softly.

“What? Arthur will be
beside himself. He’ll come to me… he always does.”

“Just do it then,” Trinity
mumbled wearily against her knees.

A loud explosion within the
small enclosure had Trinity jerking her head up. 
Tiko
 Mars
stood in the entrance of the small enclosure with a gun in his hand. Trinity’s
muddled mind looked around the room for 
Marlena
.
It took a moment for it to sink in. 
Marlena
 Franklin now
  lay
 face-down on the concrete floor, blood
pooling out from underneath her.

“Stupid
bitch!”
 
Tiko
 spat.

Trinity’s eyes flitted
between 
Marlena’s
 body and 
Tiko
. Her body began to shake at what had just happened.
She blinked when a flash went off suddenly. For an instant she wondered if he’d
just shot her also.

“Now we’ll see if he’ll be
more inclined to pay,” 
Tiko
 said savagely.

As comprehension dawned,
she lowered her head once more. “You’ve gotten all you’ll get from him.”

Moving to her, 
Tiko
 lowered himself to her level. “Don’t cut yourself
so short. I’ll bet Mr. Drayton will be panting to get you and your son back now
that he sees how serious… and deadly I can be.”

Trinity raised confused
eyes to his. “I thought… I mean… 
Marlena
 said…
where is my son?” she asked fearfully.

“No worries. We have him.
He’s safe and sound for now,” 
Tiko
 said as
he rubbed the barrel of his gun suggestively up and down her arm.

Trinity’s chin began to
wobble. 
Marlena
 had lied to her. She’d said
Blake was safe with Rush. With tears streaming down her face, she begged,
“Please don’t hurt my baby. Kill me, but please don’t kill my baby.”

“I’m not the one to beg.
The decision is out of my hands. But I wouldn’t worry. I think he’ll pay now.
He just needed… a little more incentive, which I will give him,” 
Tiko
 said as he waved a hand in the vague direction
of 
Marlena’s
 body. “It shouldn’t be much
longer,” 
Tiko
 said as he rose. He waved in
a couple of men she hadn’t noticed at the door. “Remove the garbage, please.”
The men came into the building and dragged 
Marlena’s
 lifeless
body away. “I’ll be in touch. Now, don’t go anywhere,” he said with a smirk as
he closed the door behind him.

Trinity’s body began to
tremble and then shake violently as she thought about her poor baby being in
the hands of people so ruthless. She’d brought him here and he’d surely die.
She only prayed they would be quick and not make him suffer. He was just so
little. She slumped over as sobs racked her body. She curled herself into a
fetal position and cried until she couldn’t cry anymore. Exhausted and worn,
she drifted off to sleep.

~*~

She was wearing a pretty, flowered sheer dress and was running
through a field of flowers. The flowers were so soft; it was like running on
top of clouds. She glanced down and saw, a young boy of about four or five
running beside her, holding her hand. He had dark hair and when he raised his
smiling face up to her, she saw his brilliant sky-blue eyes. She smiled back
down at him. She looked across the field and saw Rush standing waiting on them.
He was wearing the same power suit he’d worn the very first time she’d ever
seen him at the gallery. He was so striking and he was smiling so sweetly at
them.

Her face hurt from smiling
so big. Rush opened his arms to them and they began to run towards him. Love
exploded in her chest. She was going home. They would be a family and build a
life together. She began to run faster, wanting to get to him as fast as
possible. She’d learned from the past not to procrastinate. But it seemed the
faster she tried to run, the slower she became. It was like she was running in
quicksand. Looking down at her feet, she saw that it wasn’t quicksand, but
thousands of hands pulling at her, causing her to stumble.

As she fell, she glanced
over at her darling boy and tried to let go of his hand so he could run to
safety, but he refused to let go. She tried to shake his hand off and begged
him to run to his father, but he wouldn’t let her go. She tried to call to
Rush, but he just stood at the edge of the meadow with his arms opened wide,
waiting on them. When the hands began to pull her boy from her hand, she opened
her mouth to scream, but no sound would come. A loud buzzing filled her ears…