Page 19
brEN
Who’d have thought being an Old Lady and getting engaged would make such a difference to our relationship. As soon as his ring was on my finger and his name on my back, Alec relaxed and became more confident in our relationship. Until that moment, I hadn’t realised he’d even been worried about it.
For me, I still couldn’t believe that after all this time we’d made it past the rough and were moving forward.
“What’s happening today then?” Ellie wants to know as I park in front of Crow Garage. We were only here long enough to drop Lexi off with Bev, and then Ellie and I are going to the factory. It was so good to be able to go about our business without first having to check who could shadow us.
Switching the engine off before I reply, “We’ll be at the factory most of the day. We have the test results coming in for that new face cream, and I want to check on the production team to make sure that everything is running smoothly for the new client we’ve just signed on. They’re using all our products in their spas, and as they are nationwide, I want to make sure that it all goes off without a hitch.”
“When you started this business, did you ever think it would get this big?” Ellie asks.
Shaking my head, I open my door and step out, “Nope, but I’m happy that it is and that I get to work with my little sister.”
I’m just about to close my door so that I can get Lexi out of her car seat when Ellie calls my name, “Bren?” Something in her voice has my attention. “What’s wrong?” I demand.
Ellie starts to laugh, “Nothing, I just wanted to say thanks.”
Frowning in puzzlement, I ask, “For what?”
“For looking after me since the day I was born, for always having my back, and for being the best big sister a girl could want. I know if it wasn’t for you, Ben, and the sacrifices you made, I’d have a much worse life, and I’m not sure that I’ve ever really thanked either of you for loving me the way you both do.”
“Oh Ellie,” my voice cracks slightly, “you never have to thank me for that; our lives are much better for having you in them. I love you, little sister.”
Ellie smiles at me, and I’m shocked at how grown-up she looks now. Like most, I guess I’m guilty of forgetting that she’s an adult and no longer needs me to look after her, but as I’ve done that all my life, it’s hard to switch off.
“Love you back, Bren. Now, Alec is standing at the doors with his arms folded and scowling,” she chuckles. “Go give him your daughter and get your kiss so we can get on with the day.”
Turning my head slightly, I look over my shoulder and see Alec standing exactly as she described. A smile breaks free, and I blow him a kiss that he pretends to catch, making me want to swoon. Who’d have thought that Alec could be so sweet. Opening up the back door of my car to get Lexi out, I unclip her seat and am about to take her out when a familiar arm wraps around my waist, moving me gently out of the way.
“I’ll grab her, baby; you get the diaper bag,” Alec rumbles in my ear, goosebumps erupt on my arms, and I shiver slightly. He chuckles and presses a kiss to my cheek before scooting me out of the way to pick up our daughter, greeting Ellie as he leans in, “Hey, Ells, you doing good?”
“I am, Alec, thanks. Looking forward to getting back to work at the factory today.”
“Awesome,” he responds before turning his attention to our daughter. “Hi, my Lexibel, you ready to spend some time with your dad and Granny today so Mummy can go earn the big bucks?” he croons. Lexi babbles back at him, making him chuckle and me swoon a little more at how easy he is with her. He picks her car seat up and turns towards the garage. I collect her diaper bag and the small cooler box from the footwell, telling Ellie, “I’ll be back soon, Ells.”
“No problem,” she waves me off, holding up her phone, “I’m going to read a bit while you do your thing.”
Shutting the back door of my vehicle, I follow Alec into the office where Bev already has Lexi out of her car seat.
“Morning, Bev,” I say as I walk in.
“Morning, baby girl,” Bev responds, walking over to me and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Thanks for letting me have Lexi today.”
“No problem,” I reply, poking Lexi gently in her belly, making her laugh. “You be good today for Daddy and Granny, young lady.”
Turning towards Alec, I hold out the cooler. “There’s enough milk in there for today, but if you need me to, I can come back earlier. I guess I’m going to have to think about weaning her if I’m back at work full-time now,” I say a little sadly.
“Hey,” Bev brushes my hair away from my face, “you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. You do what you feel is best for the both of you. If you want to feed her until she’s older, you do that. We’ll all work around you.”
“I know,” I reply, “I’m luckier than most; she can stay with her family during the day. I mean, even the nursery is run by us with staff we specifically chose. A lot of women don’t get that choice.”
“Maybe so, baby,” Alec says as he closes the fridge where he’d been putting away Lexi’s bottles. Walking up to us, he wraps his arms around me and hugs me. “It’s one of the reasons we live like we do. Support and backup. You do what you think is best for you and Lexi. I’ll support you no matter what.”
Hugging him back, I lean my chin on his chest and look up at him. “Thank you,” I reply, before rolling up to my toes and kissing him quickly. Giving him one more squeeze, I leave the comfort of his arms and turn towards Bev, who’s watching us with warm, happy eyes.
“I have to go,” I tell her, kissing Lexi’s cheek. “I’ll see you all this afternoon. Have a good day,” I tell them as I leave with one last wave.
Opening my door, I get in, making Ellie jump and me laugh out loud, “Good book, Ells?”
“I gave up reading, I just wasn’t feeling it; I was texting with a friend.”
“Mmh, and is that friend tall, dark, handsome, and a little older than you?” I tease as I ease the car into the flow of traffic and head towards the factory.
Pink tinges Ellie’s cheeks as she tucks her phone back in her bag before she responds with, “Maybe.”
Not wanting to tease her too much, I leave her to her dreaming and drive us towards the factory where we spend the entire day. We arrive to chaos as one of the machines in the factory is down, the supervisor is on the phone with the engineers already, but it is going to put us back by a few hours. He didn’t seem to be having much luck with the company. I motion for him to hand me the phone, which he does with a look of relief on his face. It isn’t often I throw my weight around, but I’d spent a lot of money over the years with this company, and what most didn’t know was that I was a silent partner in the company, having bought into it when they were looking for a cash injection just over a year ago.
I listened to the person on the helpline waffle on until I had enough, “I’m going to stop you right there. Give me your name and your supervisor’s name because what you’ve just spieled off isn’t in the process, and I’d know because I helped write it. I’m not sure if you’re a new hire and haven’t been trained, or if you just don’t give a shit about your job. We have processes in place for emergency engineers to be on site within two hours, and I know we have enough because I hired most of them. It sounds like you can’t be bothered to fill out the forms and follow our process. Name, please.”
They waffle and splutter, but I eventually get the names I need. Putting the phone down, I call my partner. He doesn’t waste time in answering and is fuming when I tell him what’s happened, assuring me he’d take care of it and have someone at the factory within the hour.
Thanking him, I end the call and let the supervisor know. “Thank you, boss,” he says, sighing in relief. “I’m glad you were here.”
Patting him on the shoulder, I tell him, “Anything like this happens again, you let me know and I’ll deal with it. Now, is there anything else I need to know?”
When he shakes his head that no, there isn’t anything, I tell him, “Good,” before motioning for him to follow me. “Let’s do a quick walk-through, then show me the new packaging.”
We walk the floor, and I reconnect with my staff, wanting them to know I’m grateful for them having my back the last few weeks and thanking them for keeping things going. Most I’ve known for years as I’ve always tried to hire from within the village, but some are new hires, and I always like to keep an eye on them to ensure that they are fitting in. Deb had been keeping me updated, but I was anal enough to want my own finger on the pulse. When everything seemed to be fine and the engineer arrived, I left them to it and went to find Ellie.
She was where I expected her to be, and the fact that she was chewing out a supplier had me raising my eyebrows in surprise, but I left her to it knowing she’d come to me if she needed to.
Which she did not even twenty minutes later, slapping an invoice on my desk with a growl, “We need to find a new supplier for these oils. He’s a dick and he’s overcharging us. I checked our contract before I called, and he’s doubled our prices to what we agreed. Deb brought it to me after the accounts team picked up the discrepancy. I’ve authorised that they only pay him the old price, and I’ve pushed it onto the lawyers to deal with as he’s breached our terms of agreement, and I refuse to do business with a liar, so I’ve told them to break the contract.”
“Okay,” I agree as I look over the costings. It was going to be one of those days, I could just tell, where everything that could go wrong went wrong.
Ellie hustles back to her office when Deb lets her know the lawyers are on the phone. Opening up my laptop, I want to cry when I see the number of emails waiting for me, making me wonder why I ever decided that I wanted to own a business.
At four in the afternoon, the production manager calls to let me know they still had probably three hours’ work to get the order out and if I would authorise overtime.
I was happy to do it and gave him the go-ahead. Knowing I was going to get home late, I call Alec, and he answers straight away, “Hey, baby, you nearly done?”
Sighing, I rub the bridge of my nose, “No,” I groan tiredly. “Remind me again why I wanted to be my own boss.”
Alec chuckles, “Because you’re a control freak who likes to be in charge of her life and you’re amazing at running a business. What’s going on?”
“Thank you, Alec, I needed to hear that today, well maybe not the control freak part, but the rest I definitely needed to hear.” I heave a deep sigh before continuing, “It’s been one of those days that if something can go wrong, it has.”
Filling him in on what’s been going on and why I’ll be late tonight. I’m going to miss putting Lexi to bed, and my heart hurts; at least she has Alec, though. Finishing off, I tell him, “Give Lexi a kiss for me and tell her I love her; you should have enough milk in the fridge.”
“Okay, baby. Be safe, call me or text me before you leave so I know what time to expect you.”
“I will, love you, Alec, see you later.”
“Love you too, Bren.”
Ending our call, I get up and walk to the door to find Ellie and let her know we’ll be going home late tonight.
It’s hours later, but the order for the new client is on the truck and out for delivery for the next day as we’d arranged. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ellie and I wait while Deb closes up, only getting in our vehicle when she is in hers.
Taking my phone out, I type out a quick text to Alec.
Me – Just leaving the factory now xxx
Alec – OK, baby, see you in twenty xxx
We’re the last ones to leave, Deb having left while I was texting Alec.
“God, I’m so glad the day’s over. I can’t wait to have a long, hot bath with a glass of wine and a book,” Ellie sighs tiredly as I drive out onto the main road that will take us home.
“Only twenty minutes and we’ll be home. A bath sounds like bliss,” I agree, just as tired as she is.
We’re about ten minutes from home; we haven’t passed a car in a while. There are headlights coming up fast behind us. I tap on my brakes, knowing that there is a sharp bend coming up. When the headlights get closer, showing no signs of slowing down, I frown and tap my brakes again.
Ellie sits up straight in her seat, “What’s wrong?”
“There’s a car behind us coming up fast. I’ve tapped my brakes because we’re coming up to the sharp bend, but he’s not showing signs of slowing down,” I explain as I tap my brakes again. Whoever it is, is now on my rear bumper.
“It’s like he wants me to speed up,” I mutter. Ignoring the blinding lights, I flip my rearview mirror button to stop the glare. I can’t lie, though; I’m getting a little worried.
“Ellie, call Dad,” I instruct urgently. Something isn’t right. Ellie does as I ask, and she’s on the phone with Dad, explaining what’s happening when the car suddenly revs its engine and overtakes us. Both Ellie and I breathe a sigh of relief as she fills Dad in on what’s happened.
I’ve relaxed slightly and take the sharp corner slowly, then shout out, “Oh, shit, Ellie, brace,” just as the vehicle that overtook us comes barrelling out of the darkness straight for us, clipping the corner of my vehicle. I try to correct, but we’re on a straight trajectory for the trees lining the side of the road. I manage to turn the wheel, narrowly missing one, but can’t miss the next one, and we hit it hard enough that both our airbags deploy; Ellie loses the phone, and the last thing I hear as blackness takes over is Alec shouting my name.
When I gain consciousness, my head is throbbing, and my stomach is roiling with nausea. My shirt is sticking to me where I’ve leaked milk. I take comfort from the fact that I still have my clothes on. Keeping my eyes closed, I listen, but all I can hear is one other person breathing. I’m hoping it’s Ellie. I try to move my hands, but they’re restrained, and when I move my feet, I find they’re also restrained. Knowing that panicking won’t help, I try and recall everything we’ve been taught over the years. Slowly opening my eyes, I look around trying to assess where we are. The one window is boarded up, but there is a little bit of light coming through.
It’s just enough light allowing me to make out some of where we are. It looks like some sort of office by the looks of the desk and chairs; the walls look like they were once white but are now streaked with dirt.
Sitting up, I slam my eyes shut again as the room spins. Leaning to the side, I lose what little I’ve eaten today, grimacing slightly as the stench hits my nose. I shuffle over a bit away from the mess I’ve just made, bumping into something soft. I’m relieved when I realise it’s Ellie. Nudging her, I whisper, “Wake up, Ells.”
She lets out a groan, so I whisper her name again. Ellie jerks slightly as she wakens. Whispering to her, I say, “Come on, Ells, wake up. We’ve got to find a way out of here.”
Luckily, my hands are tied in front of me. Reaching into my shirt, I pull my necklace out and press on the tiny button that will alert the MC as to where we are.
Ellie slowly sits up next to me before leaning slightly against me. I’m starting to feel a little better, even if my head is still throbbing. Relieved that whoever has taken us hasn’t stripped us, I inch my trousers up so that I can get to my boot. I’ve never been so relieved as I am now that Aunt Noni had gifted us with them on our eighteenth birthdays. Slipping my fingers into the edge, I slowly work one of the knives out of the hidden compartment and go to work on the rope they’ve restrained us with. I’m glad they didn’t use handcuffs. We’d have got out of them too, but it would have taken longer. Next to me, Ellie is now sitting up, “Press your tracker, Ells.”
“Already done,” she replies and takes her knife from her boot and starts cutting her restraints.
“Good,” I reply, standing as the last of the rope falls from me. “Means Dad and the brotherhood will know where we are.”
Going to the window, I use my knife to remove one of the nails holding the board to the window and grimace when I see the bars covering the opening. It’s still dark out, so we haven’t been missing for long. The light in the room has come from the outside security light. It looks like we’re on some kind of industrial estate.
Leaving the window, I join Ellie, who is at the door studying the lock.
“Can you open it?” I want to know.
Ellie shakes her head, standing up slowly, her face pale in the dim light of the room. It’s only then that I notice she’s cradling her arm to her stomach. I see straight away it’s broken.
Hissing, I reach for her, “Ells, why didn’t you say anything?”
“It’s okay,” Ellie whispers. “Can you help me see if there is anything in here to strap it up?”
“Sit,” I tell her softly, pointing to the one chair left in the room. Quietly, I open drawers to see if there’s anything we can use. If there isn’t, we’ll have to use one of our shirts. I hit pay dirt in the second desk when, in the bottom drawer, I find an old rusty first aid tin. Opening it up, I’m relieved to see that the sling is still in there. I’d been hopeful because I remember Lana telling us a few years ago that it was the one thing that was hardly ever used. Taking the triangle of fabric from the disintegrating plastic bag, I shake it out and walk back to Ellie. Hurriedly, I strap up her injured arm, noting that, like me, she still holds her knife.
Nodding to it as I tie a knot in the sling, I ask, “Do you have both in your boots?”
Ellie nods, the tension in her face relaxing slightly now that her arm is somewhat secured. “Okay,” I inform her, “I’m going to try and unlock the door.”
“Okay, I can talk you through it if you want.”
“You may have to,” I reply. “We both know it’s not my strength.”
And it wasn’t; I’d always been rubbish at picking locks, whereas Ellie had excelled at it. But I knew if we wanted to get out of here, I’d have to try before whoever had kidnapped us came back. With Christian in custody, the only other person I could think of was his father.
Kneeling in front of the door, I study it, wondering if I could open it with my knife or if I should use the bobby pins I’d stuck in my bun this morning.
“Bren,” Ellie whispers, wheeling her chair closer. Turning to look at her, I raise a brow in query, “You can do this.”
“I can,” I agree, and eventually, I did. It took me nearly ten minutes and a lot of swearing and a sliced finger, but finally, the door unlocked. Opening it slowly, I look out. The office we were in was on a mezzanine. I stood still, listening, but nothing seemed to be moving. There was industrial machinery on the floor of the building. “Come on,” I whisper to Ellie, “we need to get away from the office before whoever took us comes back.”
I cringe at the noise the stairs make as we take them, but for now, it seems that we are alone in here. We’re on the last step when the shutter doors go up. Grabbing Ellie’s hand, I pull her along with me until we’re behind the biggest piece of machinery that I can see. I push her down to the floor out of sight. We hear them before I can see them, and my eyes widen in surprise when I recognise the one voice.
‘How is that possible? He’s meant to be in custody,’ I think to myself. The overhead fluorescents come on, and my eyes widen again when I see not only Christian but an identical man with him. How did we not know he had a twin brother? Both are covered in blood; they’re laughing and joking. Ellie tugs on my trouser leg, and I sink down next to her.
I hold up my fingers, showing that there are two. We sit quietly as they laugh and talk. Christian finally asks, “Did you get her?”
“I got both of them, brother,” he replies gleefully, “one for you to play with and one for me.”
“Fucking awesome, that bitch is going to pay for disrespecting us,” Christian laughs manically. I shudder slightly, knowing that without a doubt there is no way I can allow them to get hold of us. I just hope that the brotherhood isn’t far away.
“Where are they?”
“In the office, tied up and ready for us to do whatever we want to them.”
We hear them clattering up the stairs, and Christian sings out, making my blood run cold, “Bren, oh Bren. I’m coming for you, little bird. I’m going to enjoy teaching you a lesson.”
His brother laughs just as manically. We know as soon as they realise that we aren’t in the room because Christian lets out an unholy scream. Picking up the corner of the tarpaulin covering the machine we are hiding behind, I look under and see there is enough room for both Ellie and me to hide. Ellie shuffles over, holding back a gasp of pain as she bumps her arm. It’s a tight squeeze, but I’ll take the discomfort over whatever the two of them have planned for us.
The two brothers are fighting, and Christian is demanding to know where we could have gone. They come pounding down the stairs again. His brother mutters, “They have to be around here somewhere; we’re in the middle of nowhere. They weren’t on the road; we would have seen them. Spread out and make sure they’re not hiding in here before we look outside for them.”
The two of them are loud as they start to throw things around the warehouse, but what chills us is the name-calling and the taunting, “Bren, Bren, I can’t wait to fuck every hole you have, then do the same to your little sister. We’ll make you watch as my brother and I use her. Then when we’re finished with her, we’ll slit her throat. It’s so satisfying watching the light die in their eyes. It makes us cum hard every time.” His brother laughingly agrees.
“Then when we’re finished with you, we’ll let our guys outside have you before we get rid of you,” he continues.
‘Fuck, they’re not alone and we have no way of letting Dad and the rest know,’ I think.
They’re getting closer and closer to our hiding place; I’m praying that the MC makes it here before they find us, but I know we’re running out of time. Gripping my knife tight, I brace as they pull the tarpaulin from the machine next to us. We can see their shoes under the edge of ours. Next to me, Ellie slumps against me; alarmed, I peer at her in the darkness. Her eyes are closed, and she has a small smile on her face. The tarpaulin is ripped from our machine and Christian’s grinning face is there.
“Tut, tut, Bren, you’ve been a bad girl,” he smirks. Fisting my hair, he pulls me up, and I go because the alternative is to have him rip it out. I hold my knife down by my side, waiting for the right opportunity to use it. “I warned you, didn’t I?” he growls, licking my neck all the way up to my ear. I shudder in disgust. “Kris, get her sister, and we’ll have some fun.” Behind us, I hear Ellie’s cry of pain as she’s pulled from our hiding place. Rage, like I’ve never known it, comes over me, and I turn in Christian’s hold. Not caring that a hank of my hair is pulled out of my head, the only thing I care about is getting to my sister. I thrust my knife upwards as hard as I can, hoping that it hits something important; all our lessons on the best placements of a blade leave me. All I can think of is getting to my sister. I must hit something, though, from the look of shock on Christian’s face as he lets go of my hair and staggers back, falling with my knife deep in his chest. He’s still alive but blood is pooling around the knife.
Turning towards Ellie, I find her fighting to get loose from Kris’s hold. Bending, I take my second knife from my boot and rush towards them. She rips herself away from him just as I get to them. He’s staring with a stunned look at the body on the ground, as if he can’t believe that his brother is lying there, a puddle of blood pooling around him. Taking advantage of his inattention, I go low and tackle his legs, my only intention to get him away from my baby sister. He falls backward, hitting his head hard on the machine behind him. When he doesn’t move, I turn to Ellie and wrap my arms around her. I’m not sure who’s shaking the most, me or Ellie. Through chattering teeth, she manages to whisper to me, “Dad and the guys are here.”
Relief fills me that we aren’t alone; we can hear sounds of fighting outside. The pedestrian door cut into the roller shutter bursts open, and then Alec’s there shouting my name. Behind him come Dad and Beau. A sob breaks free; dropping my knife, I stumble towards Alec, and then his arms are around me, and I start to cry.
“It’s okay, baby, it’s okay. I’ve got you,” he whispers, picking me up and carrying me away. Looking over his shoulder, I see Beau doing the same with Ellie. Alec stops when Dad puts a hand on his shoulder, “Bren, baby girl,” his eyes are filled with tears, and it’s humbling to see. “I’m okay, Dad,” I assure him. “Ellie needs to get her arm seen to, though.”
“Okay, Alec and Beau are going to take you to the hospital; we’ll clean up here first. I’ll let your mum and Bev know. Love you so much, baby girl,” he whispers, kissing my forehead before turning towards Ellie and Beau. My brothers are there to make sure I’m okay, and then it’s just me and Alec. My head falls to his shoulder, and I close my eyes when I notice the carnage around. We get into the back of a vehicle, Beau deposits Ellie next to us before getting in the driver’s seat. I take the hand she holds out, squeezing it tight.
“Love you, Ells,” I whisper as another tear rolls down my cheek. “Love you too, Bren, you were so brave,” Ellie replies, resting her head on Alec’s shoulder. He lifts his arm and wraps it around her shoulders, pulling her closer to us, knowing that I needed to have her close.
“You’re my little sister; there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you,” I reply fiercely.
“Proud of both of you,” Alec says, resting his lips to the crown of my head. “God, I’ve never been so scared in all my life,” he whispers brokenly. “Remind me to send Noni a huge bunch of flowers for gifting you those boots.”
I let out a small wet laugh and sniff away my tears. Resting my head back on his chest, I’m lulled to sleep by the sound of his heart beating under my ear.
Asleep, I miss the explosion behind us and the small smiles on Alec and Beau’s faces as they watch the fire burning in the background.