Steele Hearts Redemption (21 page)

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,” I said, shaking my
head at him, “I can get a bullet in her head faster than you can
get one in me. Drop the gun buddy and kick it over to me.”

Knowing his precious Tessa could be harmed he
did as I asked without question. I then had the two old birds move
over to where the big hunk stood and made them all sit on the
floor. I could feel Tessa trembling against the gun but she hasn’t
said a word as yet.

“Nothing to say Tessa?” I asked with a
snicker.

“Let them go Alexis. You don’t need to hurt
them. I’m who you want, I’m who you’re mad at. They did nothing to
you.”

“I know little sister, but sorry, I can’t let
them go. Not yet anyhow. But if you play nicely and do as I say,
they can live.”

I saw the hunk glance to the back door and
knew he was hoping his friend would come in and rescue them.

“Oh sweetheart he’s not coming to help,” I
said, drawing his attention to me. I saw the anger flash in his
eyes as the impact of my words struck.

“You bitch, I am going to kill you,” he spat
at me.

“Can’t have that happening now, can we,” I
said before pulling the trigger.

**********

Chapter
24
.

“Lucas,” I screamed, jumping off the sofa,
only to be yanked back down by my hair.

“Move again and you’re gonna have three dead
bodies in front of you,” Alexis snarled at me.

I watched the tears flow from Mavis’ and
Betsy’s eyes as Mavis cradled Lucas’s head on her lap. I saw the
blood gushing from him as Betsy did her best to stop it with her
hands. Grabbing a throw blanket from the chair next to her she
pressed a small part of it on the wound and I prayed that it was
enough to help slow the bleeding.

“Shit,” I heard him curse as Betsy pressed on
his shoulder.

“Sorry son,” she apologized, brushing back
his hair from his face.

“It’s okay, it’s only a flesh wound,” he
said.

Relief coursed through my body. I knew he was
stronger than that. Showing that he was weak was his weapon against
Alexis.

“Alexis, what do you want?”

The gun was back at the back of my head,
preventing me from turning around.

“It’s simple. You call Ally and get her here
so you, Ally and I can have a small conversation and I’ll let these
three go. You don’t get her here in the next hour and this time
I’ll kill someone. In fact someone dies every hour for the next
three hours until she gets here. Then it’ll be your turn. You can’t
let her know that I’m here though. Make something up to get her to
come to you.”

“I assume you knew they were waiting for you
at the penthouse and Ally’s there. She’s not going to just up and
leave if I ask her to come.”

“That’s why I said make something up you
dimwit. Tell her something’s wrong with the baby. That’ll get her
here.”

“She’s right Tess. If you tell her you think
something’s wrong with the baby, she’ll be here in no time. But,
she knows you can’t leave here so she’ll insist on bringing Dr.
Maxwell with her. In fact she’s going to think it odd if you don’t
ask her to bring him along,” Lucas said, his voice sounding
pained.

“He’s right Alexis and I can’t ask her to
bring another innocent person into this,” I said.

“Oh for fuck sake make the call and have her
bring your doctor with her otherwise one out of these three gets
it. I swear they all get to leave as soon as she gets her. I’m
warning you though if she comes without the doctor this isn’t going
to end well.”

I grabbed my cell phone off the coffee table
in front of me and called my sister.

“Hey Tess….”

“Hey Butterscotch,” I said cutting her off
just as Alexis grabbed the phone and put it on speaker.

“Butterscotch, are you alone?” I asked.

“No, but hold on I’ll head into the bedroom,”
she quickly said before a minute of silence from her end.

“Okay Butterscotch, what’s up?” she
asked.

“I don’t feel so well Butterscotch, and I’m
bleeding. I can’t leave here until I get the all clear from you
guys so do you think you could get Dr. Max and drive up to Betsy’s
house as soon as you can? Preferably before the next hour
Butterscotch?”

“I’m on my way Butterscotch.”

Alexis pressed the end button before I could
say anything else.

**********

“What the hell is going on Ally,” Connor
roared as soon as the call ended.

“Alexis has Tess.”

The second she called me Butterscotch I knew
something was wrong. After she said to bring Dr. Max with me I knew
Alexis had her. It was a race against time now because if I read
what she said correctly I had less than an hour to get to her.

*********

“I love you,” Gabe said, gently kissing me on
the lips.

“I love you too baby.”

“Promise me you’re going to be careful in
there, not just for you but for Tess and everyone else as
well.”

“I promise babe. Hopefully this ends
today.”

He helped me out of the car we rode in as
Connor came up to me. His eyes were bleak and he looked as if he
aged twenty years in the past thirty minutes. I went into Connor’s
arms and held him as tightly as I could. He kissed me on the head
before whispering in my ear,

“Please be safe and bring my family back to
me.”

“I promise,” I whispered back.

“Okay boys and girls it’s go time,” Max
called out. The agents gathered all scattered, making their way
into the woods that lined this quiet suburban neighborhood. It was
going to be a short hike to Betsy’s house but we needed to know the
house was surrounded before Max and I drove the short distance up
to the house. We had twenty-two minutes left and I prayed they made
it in less than fifteen. After Tess’s call all hell broke lose when
everyone realized what had happened. Max was instantly on the phone
with his superior. After a brief conversation with me, to assure
himself I was equipped to deal with going into this situation, he
gave Max the “okay” to do whatever he felt needed doing to get
Alexis once and for all.

“Perimeter secured,” a voice said over the
radio, “Perimeter secured. We have one body on the back deck. Photo
I.D. says Andrew Topper. Four hostages in the sitting room, over
the front, far right of abode. One male, looks wounded, two elderly
females sitting next to wounded male on the floor, last hostage,
pregnant, young female, sitting on sofa with gun pointed at her
head, subject standing behind female hostage holding gun.”

Max and I didn’t hesitate after hearing that.
I jumped into the driver’s side of the awaiting SUV and Max jumped
into the passenger side. Everything we did we did for appearance’s
sake in the event Alexis decided to look out a window. We
approached the house and I skidded to a halt in the driveway. She
had to believe I was panicked at the thought that something was
wrong with Tess. I rang the doorbell and an obviously shaken and
nervous Betsy answered.

“Where is she? How is she doing?” I asked
frantically.

“Come, she’s in the sitting room,” Betsy
replied.

We followed her and I came to a sudden stop
when I saw the scene in front of me. The gasp that left my mouth
was purely for Alexis. Max came up behind, stopping as suddenly as
I did, his fake doctor’s bag slamming me on the side.

“Welcome to the party Ally,” Alexis greeted
me with a big smile.

I nervously looked around the room, my sharp
eyes taking in everything. Lucas was sitting up, his right hand
pressed against his the wound on his left shoulder. He was smart.
He positioned himself in such a way that his body covered Mavis,
who was sitting behind him.

“Come in, come in. Everyone.” Looking at Max
she motioned for him to step forward. “You must be Dr. Maxwell.
Please have a seat. You also,” she said pointing to Betsy.

Max took Betsy’s hand and led her to Lucas
and Mavis. He helped her as she sat down before sitting directly in
front of her and as close as he could next to Lucas.

“Ally why don’t you have a seat next to this
piece of trash,” she said gesturing to Tess.

I made my way over to Tess and sat down,
taking her trembling hand in mine. “Are you okay Butterscotch?” I
asked.

“Hellooo, none of that. You want to talk, you
talk to me, otherwise shut up,” Alexis screeched.

“Alexis, what the hell do you think you’re
doing?”

“What? I thought we could have a nice chat.
This house seems as good a place as any.”

“What do you want to talk about Alexis?”

“About what a betraying, backstabbing bitch
you are Ally. Is that a good enough topic for you?”

Keep her talking. That’s what I had to do.
Distract her long enough so that the agents lurking at the back
door could enter unseen. Get her to focus on me, take the attention
and hopefully the gun away from Tessa.

“Alexis, whatever it is you think I did, I’m
sorry. I never meant to push you this far and I sure as hell didn’t
want mom to end up in prison. Tell me what I need to do to make
this up to you.”

“Oh Ally. I don’t give a fuck about mom. She
was pathetic and if she did as she was told she wouldn’t be in
prison right now.” Her hand wavered a bit and she continued. Her
rant started on how I ruined everything by going to Connor with the
truth about her. Why couldn’t I let her have him. I always favored
Tess over my own flesh and blood and now I had to pay. She really
wanted to kill the entire Steele family so that Tessa could suffer
in the most unimaginable way knowing they all died because of her
but then I ruined that plan of hers. She had no choice and got no
enjoyment by ending things now before disappearing. She was so
caught up in her rant she didn’t realize the hand she was waving
around was the hand she held her gun in. This was the one
opportunity we need. I looked at Max, who quickly looked at me
before focusing his gaze on something behind me. I saw the subtle
nod and threw myself on Tess just as hands grabbed Alexis, forcing
the gun in her hand to fall to the ground. She screamed and
hollered and I looked up and saw two very large men bringing her
down to the ground.

“You fucking bitch. You fucking bitch, you
set me up,” she screeched at me, “I’m going to fucking kill you,
both of you.”

The sitting room was flooded with the agents
from outside as soon as Max gave the all clear. Alexis was
screaming at any and everyone at the top of her lungs and Tess was
in my arms sobbing. As soon as Alexis was placed in cuffs, Max read
her rights and ordered her taken away, with the specific
instructions that she was not allowed to talk to anyone but him.
They dragged her out and Tess flew out of my arms and went to
Lucas, refusing to leave his side. Less than ten minutes later Gabe
and Connor followed by Cane, Dell, Sterling and the two agents they
were left with came running in. Connor went straight to Tess, sat
down on the floor next to her and pulled her in his arms. I was too
numb to run into Gabe’s arms. Instead he sat down next to me and
his strong arms circled me. I trembled in his arms and felt the
need to break down but I held back. I inhaled his scent and looked
at the chaos around us as he just held me, never saying a word.

Lucas was soon placed on a stretcher and
taken to the hospital and most of the agents cleared out.

“I’m sorry you lost one of your men,” I heard
Max say to Connor and Sterling.

“Thank you,” Connor replied.

“He was a good guy,” Sterling said, “Did
three tours in Afghanistan, came back and married his high school
sweetheart six months ago, before joining up with us. God how am I
going to tell his wife this.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Connor said, “Whatever
she needs we give to her. If you don’t need us here anymore Max,
could we all leave?”

“Yeah, I’ll come by later this evening or
tomorrow and update you guys.” Max then turned his attention to
me.

“How are you holding up Al?” he asked.

“I’m fine Max,” I replied.

“You did good kid. I know it must have been
hard on you, after all she is your sister, but you did good.”

I hugged him and knew from the look in his
eyes he was worried about me. “I’m fine,” I whispered.

**********

“Thank you,” I said before kissing him softly
on the lips. He looked at me, a puzzled expression on his face.
“Thank you for having the faith and confidence in me. I know how
hard it was for you letting me go in there today, but it was your
faith and confidence that gave me the strength I needed to do what
I had to do.” And that was the truth. Knowing Gabe loves me and had
the faith and confidence in me to do what I had to do to save the
people we love was the strength I needed when I saw the gun pressed
against the back of Tess’s head, Lucas bleeding and Mavis and Betsy
scared out of their minds. It was the difference from me being
reckless to me being calm and rational.

“Baby I love you more than I could ever say,”
he said, dipping my head back so he could have full access to my
lips.