Page 58 of Avenging Azalea (California Made Men #2)

Chapter

Forty-Five

TITUS

I was reaching for my phone to call Fawn and let her know that I was running a few minutes late when it rang. I smiled at her name.

“Hello, beautiful. I was just about to call you,” I said.

“Titus? It’s Matt.”

What the fuck! I sat up straighter. Not only because it wasn’t Fawn, but because Matt sounded panicked, putting me on high alert. Something was wrong.

“Matt? What’s going on? Why are you on Fawn’s phone?”

“How far are you from the clinic?”

“Less than five minutes, why?”

“As soon as you get here, come inside. Fawn was taken. Sheba has been shot, and I need to get her into surgery. I have to go.”

The line went dead. “Matt? Taylor? Fuck!”

My foot hit the gas as I flew down the street and weaved in between cars. Horns rang out as I cut people off, but I didn’t give a fuck.

I sped through the yellow light and skidded as I pulled into the driveway. Throwing the car into park, I jumped out and spotted a wet puddle that was obviously blood. There was no controlling the panic that was making me see red.

Pulling my gun, I ran inside and heard Matt yelling out orders. I followed the sound of his voice and found him pulling on an operating gown.

“Matt!” He spun in my direction. His eyes dropped to the gun in my hand. “Where is Fawn?”

“I don’t know. I heard gunfire, but didn’t think it would be in our parking lot, so I waited a few minutes before I checked to see if someone needed help.

I was walking outside when a car sped out of the parking lot with Fawn fighting in the backseat.

Sheba was bleeding on the ground. If she has any chance of making it, I have to get in there and operate.

Go up front and tell Doreen that I’ve sent you to look at the security footage for the parking lot. ”

Matt pushed open a door with his back, keeping his hands clean. I could just make out a surgical table with Sheba on it.

“Matt?”

He paused and looked at me. I tore my eyes away from her still body.

“Please.”

Matt nodded before the door closed behind him.

Darting toward the front of the clinic, I stopped at the front desk. The woman sitting behind the counter was crying and let out a scream when I suddenly appeared.

“You’re Doreen?” She nodded. “Matt told me to come see you so you can show me the parking lot security video.”

“I was just about to call the police,” she said.

“No police. They’ll just slow me down. I’ll get Fawn back. Show me the video,” I ordered.

The older woman hesitated but then waved me around the desk. She hit some keys on her keyboard and then opened footage from the camera.

“This was just as Fawn was leaving work,” Doreen said, and then stood so I could sit down.

My heart pounded like a drum, the thumping loud as I gripped the edge of the desk to avoid putting my fist through the screen as the scene unfolded.

I cringed when Sheba was shot trying to protect Fawn, and even though I knew she would run back to try and save her, I wished she’d gone into the building and locked the door.

But that wasn’t Fawn when it came to animals.

It was part of the reason I loved her so fiercely.

Fawn’s phone dropped to the ground, her bag left behind as she was dragged into a car.

The entire abduction took less than three minutes, but it felt like an eternity as I watched.

Pulling out my phone, I took a photo of the car as it was leaving. The license plate was as clear as day. I was ready to murder as I turned to Doreen. The woman shrank away from me, looking terrified.

“No police. I swear I’ll get her back, but I need to do this my way,” I said, and she nodded.

With shaking hands, I burst through the front door and hit Nathaniel’s number.

My brother had a gift for tracking people who didn’t want to be found.

He was the best I’d ever met at cornering them and making them vanish without a trace.

It was why he’d always been trusted with the messiest cleanups.

Now, I needed him to find Fawn. Because if something happened to her…

No. I can’t even finish the thought.

Nathaniel picked up on the second ring. “Hey, I was just about to head into a meeting?—”

“Drop it,” I growled, my voice rough with panic. “Someone took Fawn. I need you. Now.”

A beat of silence filled the interior. “Fuck. Alright. Come get me. I know who to call.”

The line went dead. I was already in the car, engine roaring as I raced toward the other side of town, one hand dialing Naji. My vision tunneled, and my heart—my entire fucking soul — screamed for her.

“Gather the men,” I told him when he answered. “Fawn is in trouble, and we’re going hunting.”

Whoever took my Little Bird was about to find out just how brutal I could be when someone touched what was mine.

No warnings. No mercy. The only thing they’d get from me was a slow, agonizing end.

And if she is hurt…

God help them. They would beg for death, but it wouldn’t be granted until the hellhounds tore their souls from their bodies and dragged them to their master.

FAWN

Splash.

I jerked, shivering as cold water hit me square in the face. The icy assault was as painful as a punch. My eyes snapped open and then blinked the water clear. I was sitting in a weathered yellow tub with my wrists and ankles taped together. More of the silver tape was over my mouth.

“Finally. Thought Tony might’ve killed you,” Neil sneered.

I glared up at the smug twist of his lips that I used to fear in the dark. He’d changed over the years. Hardened, meaner, or he just didn’t care if I saw the evil now. But I’d never forget who he was, or what he’d done.

I stopped calling Neil my stepfather long ago. Whatever family ties he imagined between us had long since rotted. Now, when I looked at him, all I saw was the monster who’d stolen my innocence…who’d scarred me so deeply I’d spent years pretending those memories belonged to someone else.

“You don’t look happy to see me, Peanut,” he said with a grin that made bile rise in my throat. “Thought you’d be pleased as punch to see your old man.”

“Phuk eww,” I mumbled against the tape.

He crouched beside the tub, setting the dented metal bucket on the edge near my head like a warning.

“You’ve changed. What happened to the sweet little girl who was so eager to please?”

I was never eager. Never sweet. I was scared.

“I hate you. I’ve always hated you,” I growled, but it was too muffled for him to understand.

He reached out, and I jerked my head away, but it wasn’t fast enough. He tore the tape off in one vicious pull. My eyes watered from the burn across my cheeks.

“There. Say it again.”

“I said,” I hissed, staring daggers into his evil eyes. “I hate you. I’ve always hated you.”

He smiled like it was a private joke.

“You didn’t hate our time together. You loved it.”

His hand smoothed the damp hair from my face.

“Don’t fucking touch me.”

His fingers clamped around my jaw, pinching hard enough to make my vision blur. Pain bloomed up to my temple where I’d hit my head on the car door.

“You’ve grown a mouth, living with the rich and famous. Fancy clothes, big house, must’ve felt real nice.” His voice cracked with bitterness. “I sold you and got nothing. You? You got treated like royalty.”

I glared, hatred steady and wild behind my eyes.

“But that’s about to change,” he said. “You took George from me. You owe me.”

He dropped his hand to my chest and cupped my breast. Reflex overruled fear, and I jerked my arms up to push his away.

“I said, don’t fucking touch me. I owe you nothing . You will pay for taking me. Titus will find us, and when he does he is going to make you beg for mercy.”

He laughed, the sound cruel and matching the darkness in his soul.

“Oh, you think someone’s coming for you?

” He leaned in, breath sour with alcohol.

“No one knows where you are. We’re in the middle of nowhere.

Face it, Peanut, you’re back where you belong.

” His voice dropped, chilling me to the bone.

“Soon enough, you’ll be back on your knees, begging for my cock like you used to. ”

There was no pause. No hesitation. I spit in Neil’s face, and the leer on his lips fell away.

“Fuck. You.” My voice shook, but I didn’t flinch. “I’ll never do anything willingly for you again. Not now. Not ever. You’re a fucking piece of shit. Pathetic, rotting, and already forgotten. I don’t fear you anymore. I pity you.”

I meant every word despite the tremble in my limbs and my heart pounding like a drum. Because this time…I wasn’t the little girl crying in the dark.

I’d found myself. I’d bled, and broken, and rebuilt myself one second, one minute, and one day at a time. I would never be his or anyone else’s victim ever again.

Neil’s hand cracked across my face hard. My head slammed against the tile. Dazed, blood pooling in my mouth, I stared at him. Unblinking, despite the pain.

If looks could kill, his body would already be cold.

The bathroom door creaked, and another man stepped inside.

I didn’t recognize him, but the gang tattoos inked along his throat and jaw made my skin crawl.

I’d seen those markings on the news, linked to shootouts or body dumps.

Usually, the killing was contained to rival gang members, but there had been many innocent victims who had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Hey!” The new guy snapped. “Stop touching the merchandise. Grave will be back any minute, and he doesn’t want her all bruised and bloody.”

Neil snorted. “And here I figured Grave as being the type of man who liked his women a little bloody.”

“He won’t care when he fucks her. But he still needs to sell her, and she won’t be worth shit if her face is all messed up,” the new guy said.

Cold dread raced down my spine. They didn’t just plan on using me.

Now they were going to sell me. I’d escaped being trafficked once, but like it was deemed my fate, here I was again.

Neil hesitated, staring down at me like he still expected me to cower. But I didn’t flinch.

Let him stare. Let him burn in hell because they would have to kill me. I would never be a willing participant in my own suffering again.

“Fine,” Neil muttered, standing. He left with the other man, slamming the door behind them.

I let out a breath that had felt lodged in my lungs, unmoving. My body trembled, not from defeat, but fury. Raw, primal rage fueled me.

I closed my eyes for one moment. One heartbeat. Just long enough to shove the fear back down and let strategy rise in its place.

I had to get out. Titus would come. But would he get here in time? There was no way to know. But if he didn’t…I’d die before I let them take one more piece of me.

My gaze locked on a small window near the toilet as I scanned the room for a way out. It would be a tight fit, and I wasn’t sure I could climb out that way. A long shot…yes. But it was something.

No more waiting. I started working on the bindings around my ankles, fingers aching, but determined.

Please find me, Titus.

Please.