Page 47 of Daddy's Claim
“What’s going on? Where’s your car?” Too late, alarm bells rang in the back of my mind and I backed away from the SUV. “What the fuck, Rissa?”
“Don’t be stupid Nora.” The light from the streetlamps glinted off something metal inside the car and I realized with growing horror she was holding a gun. Pointed straight at my chest. “Be a good girl and get in the car. We have so much to talk about.”
Gathering all of my courage, I lifted my chin. “No. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You always did have to do things the hard way. That’s fine. There’s always plan B.”
Before I could ask her what the hell she meant by that, there was a sharp prick in my neck and the world slowly faded to black. The last thing I saw before everything went dark was my best friend grinning down at me like a hunter who’d just bagged a prize buck.
Mikey
“Fucking hell. What now?” Yanking his phone from his pocket, Cole scowled at the screen before hitting the button to answer the call. “Marissa. What can I do for you?”
From my spot on the floor with my laptop I froze, watching Cole’s expression harden at whatever he was seeing on the screen. Why on earth would Nora’s friend be calling Cole?
“I have something that belongs to you.” Marissa’s smug, sultry voice came through loud and clear over the speaker and in an instant I was on my feet. Cole held a hand out to stop me, and I felt my blood run cold.
Nora.
Pulling my own phone from my pocket with shaking hands, I opened an app I’d installed on both of our devices that would allow me to mirror his call to my phone. Marissa wouldn’t be able to see me, but I would be able to see and hear everything Cole could. The cold in my veins turned to white-hot rage at the sight of my wife, bound to a chair, her eyes wide and glazed as if she’d just woken from a nap.
Without waiting for Cole’s signal, I raced for the door, my heart pounding like a jackhammer in my chest with every step. Thank god I’d given Nora that bracelet, the one with a tracker cleverly hidden in the bright red heart.
Time seemed to crawl to a stop as I waited for the app on my phone to pinpoint her location. The second it did, I was peeling out of the parking lot, racing toward her.
“If you so much as touch a hair on her head, I will hunt you down and tear you apart.” The deadly threat in my cousin’s voice echoed the fury pounding in my own veins.
Marissa’s laugh filled the car, a low, evil sound that made me want to tear her throat out with my bare hands. “I don’t think you will, actually. Want to know why?”
“Why?” Cole growled, low and fierce.
“Because if anything happens to me, the message will go out to every family in a hundred-mile radius that the DeCostas have a pig in their midst.”
It took a moment for her words to register. How the hell had this bitch found out about Adele?
And another moment for the answer to come to me.Nora. “Oh, princess,” I muttered as I took a turn fast enough to tip the SUV up onto two wheels. “What did you do?”
“Nothing but gossip,” Cole said with far more calm than I imagined he felt. “Rumors.”
“Really? So Adele’s real name isn’t Marie Dupont, formerly of Interpol, confirmed dead after a shootout in Paris? Convenientlyenough, a fire destroyed the body, so there was little more than dental records to go by. Easily faked if you have enough money. And you certainly have enough money, don’t you, Cole Porter?”
“Enough.” The word was a whip crack, echoing with authority and command. “What do you want with Nora?”
“Money. Power. The usual.” Another one of those cartoon villain laughs echoed around my car. “Let’s see what my bitch of a bestie is worth to the DeCosta family, hmm? We’ll start with control of the docks. And your smuggling contacts. Give that over, and we can begin negotiating her release.”
“Don’t.” Nora’s voice was raspy, her words slurred. “Not… worth… it.”
“Oh, princess. You’re going to regret that.” How the hell could she possibly think she wasn’t worth everything? Didn’t she know I’d move fucking heaven and hell to keep her safe?
Maybe if you’d told her that, asshole, she might know.
As I raced toward her, I could only pray I got the chance to show her how fucking wrong she was.
“Hold on, baby. Daddy’s coming.”
Nora
Moaning quietly, I let my head fall back, closing my eyes against the blinding lights of… wherever the fuck I was.