Page 27 of Hunted Temptation (Alpha Nights: Unlikely Heroes #4)

Chapter Twenty-Six

ELODIE

“I’m going to go to the restroom,” I murmur.

Nadine and Lucille have been making plans for dinner tomorrow after the wedding. They want to have a whole private celebration. They’ve even ordered a last-minute cake, but I can’t concentrate on anything at all.

I’m going to be physically ill.

Slipping out of the surveillance room, I start to make my way toward the bathroom, but I stop in front of the door. I can’t stay here. I can’t just let whatever it is that’s going on happen without me.

I need to know that Vaughn is okay.

The main problem is I don’t know where he’s at.

But I do know someone who does. I hope to hell he’ll tell me where Vaughn is or at least give me some information.

I have a feeling it would take me a long time to figure it out on my own with no phone and no information to go off of other than he’s on a jobsite in Raleigh.

Merrick .

Instead of taking the elevator down, I reach for the handle of the door that leads to the staircase. I move quickly down the stairs, stopping when I reach the main level and the entrance to the street.

I reach for the handle but stop. I don’t twist it. I don’t push it open. I freeze. My heart races as panic begins to consume me. I don’t let it happen, though. I don’t let it take over. Inhaling and exhaling even and calm breaths, I open the door and step out onto the sidewalk.

The sun is beginning to set, though it’s still warm. Thankfully, not overly hot, though. I don’t have to go far to find Merrick. He’s leaning against the wall, his gaze focused straight ahead.

“You’re supposed to be upstairs,” he murmurs without even looking in my direction.

I hum but don’t say anything immediately, mainly because I don’t know what to say. I know what I want, but I don’t think Merrick is going to go for my haphazard plan. Which is less than haphazard and more like… nonexistent.

“I know I am…” I say, my words trailing off.

Merrick turns his head and finds my eyes. “I haven’t heard anything.”

He says this, states it really, like that is supposed to be enough for me. I open my mouth to tell him that it’s not enough, that I need more, but the words don’t come out, because how can I demand something like that from him?

He needs to stay here and protect the others. I can’t drive, so it’s not like he can lend me a car so I can go to Vaughn. And if he hasn’t heard anything, then what am I going to find out? He would probably know something before anyone else.

“What do you know?” I ask.

He arches a brow. “I think you should go back upstairs.”

Shaking my head a couple of times, I let out a heavy exhale. “No, Merrick. I don’t think I can go back upstairs.”

He pushes off the wall, then shifts to face me completely. Inhaling a deep breath, I hold it as I wait for him to say whatever it is he’s about to say to me.

Clearly, he has something he needs to tell me, but he doesn’t say it right away. Instead, he dips his chin, his eyes focused on mine and nowhere else. He leans forward slightly, his expression serious, before he speaks.

“I fucked up once, almost got someone killed. I won’t be doing that again, so please go upstairs. Vaughn would never forgive me if something happened to you. I can’t live with any more guilt, babe.”

Nodding once, I clear my throat. “Okay,” I say.

Whatever plan I thought I could create on the fly, I cannot. Vaughn is right. I’m too young. I’m inexperienced and stupid. So damn stupid. I should never have come with him. I should never have fallen in love with him.

“I’ve had a bad feeling all day long about Vaughn. I don’t know what it is, but he shouldn’t have gone to Raleigh. I shouldn’t have let him go.”

“You couldn’t have guessed something would happen. We don’t even know what happened, if anything. Could be nothing.”

“It’s been too long for nothing,” I whisper.

His lips twitch into a smirk, but it’s not because he thinks something is funny. It’s more of an ironic smirk. “Yeah,” he says. “I know it’s been too long.”

“I just need some fresh air, I think, and I’ll feel better. Can I take a walk around the building?”

He lifts his head, turning to focus somewhere across the street, then shifts his attention back to meet mine. “A quick one, but if you’re not back in five, I’ll come looking for you.”

I give him a grin and dip my chin before I step a little farther out onto the sidewalk. The building isn’t very big, and the parking lot is empty save for Nadine, Lucille, and Merrick’s cars.

My feet move as I let the setting sun’s warmth wash over me. One step in front of another. I close my eyes as I just breathe. Inhaling and exhaling as I continue to move down the sidewalk, turn the corner, and then I slam into something hard.

A body.

Opening my mouth, I start to scream when a hand muffles the sound. “Shut the fuck up,” the voice growls.

My eyes pop open, and I am met with dark eyes that I don’t recognize. “Someone has been waiting to meet you. If you make a sound, your boyfriend is dead.”

Then he lifts his hand and shows me a picture of Vaughn. He’s tied to a chair, a man standing next to him holding a gun to his temple.

“Come on,” he grinds out, wrapping his fingers around my wrist before he drags me away and toward a car.

He opens the back door before he tosses me inside and slams it closed behind me. As much as I want to believe that I’ll be able to get out of this unscathed, I’m wondering if this is it.

My fate was and will always be what my father made me. The fact that I could get away from it for even the short amount of time that I did should feel special, like I accomplished something.

I met a man and fell in love. I paid to have bad guys killed so that other girls wouldn’t succumb to the same fate I did. I did something with my life, even if I only had a few weeks to do it.

I did something.

These are the thoughts I repeat over and over until the car stops.

VAUGHN

“He’s on the way with her,” Lucius announces.

I’m awake but not running at full capacity yet. I couldn’t fight this guy right now. I’m still too weak. I don’t even have half my strength back. If I did, I could handle him, but I’m probably a quarter strength at best.

“Once I have her, this is all done. I walk away with what I paid for, and you live your life with your little company.”

“Why her?” I ask.

“Why her?”

“Yeah,” I grunt. “Why her? It’s not like she’s the only woman you could buy, could pay for, could abuse.”

“You would know all about that, wouldn’t you, Vaughn McCrae?”

He asks the questions with a laugh. He thinks this is funny. I’m guessing he runs around in circles where it wouldn’t have taken him long to look into me, to know who I am, to know who we are.

I’m not going to confirm or deny anything, not a damn thing. He doesn’t get that part of me. Nobody does, at least not unless I allow them, and this motherfucker is not the one. My brothers and Elodie—they are the only ones who get that from me.

“That’s not an answer,” I grind out. “You wanna talk about Pointe Industries?”

He laughs again, and if I were strong enough, I would kick him in the balls. But even if I made contact, he wouldn’t be down long enough for me to be able to get away. So, I decide I’m going to conserve my energy. I will fight this bastard.

“What do you want to know?” he asks.

I’m not surprised that he’s willing to talk about it, mainly because he clearly thinks I won’t survive this. Out of the two of us, I’m the only one who will be walking out of this.

“Who runs it?” I demand.

His lips twitch into a smirk. “You’ll never find the owners.”

“Because it’s not a single person?”

“It’s not a single person,” he confirms. “And it is linked to no one. You’d better just let it all go.”

The doorbell rings, and Lucius’s head whips up. “What the fuck?” he hisses.

I hear another noise in the house, but I don’t think he does. If I know anything, I know that these are my men. My best friends, my partners and my brothers, coming to get me. Lucius slips out of the room, giving me a wink before he goes.

I hear him move down the spiral staircase and try to get out of the confines of the rope that’s holding me to this stupid fucking chair. My fingers begin to move, but it’s too tight. I’ve almost given up completely when the door opens.

I turn my head to the side, and my lips part in surprise when I see the woman from earlier standing in the doorway. She doesn’t say a word and doesn’t dally. She rushes toward me, then disappears behind me. I feel her fiddling with the ropes, and then I’m free.

“Go,” she whispers.

Standing, I turn around to look at her. “Come with me,” I demand.

She shakes her head, her listless hair flying around her shoulders. Then she sucks in a breath and holds it for a moment before she lets it out slowly. “I can’t do that,” she whispers. “This is my life.”

“Fuck that,” I grind out. “This is no life.”

Her eyes are haunted, but she doesn’t say why. She doesn’t have to. I understand now. I know who she is, what she thinks she is. And I know that she believes there’s nothing left in the world for her.

“I’ll help you,” I say.

She shakes her head a couple of times. “No, just go. Don’t let him get her, too.”

Moving past her, I make my way into the hallway, and that’s when I see Boden coming up the back way. He must have found a back entrance and staircase, thank fuck.

I hear shouting from the front of the house, Hale’s voice, but I don’t head in that direction. I don’t have a piece with me. Which is stupid as fuck. I should have had one on me. I should always have one on me.

“Come on,” Boden hisses.

Turning my head, I look back at the girl. She’s watching me, but she is stoic. I want to grab her and drag her along with me, but I can’t make the decision for her. She has to make it for herself, and she’s not ready.

She may never be ready, but she’s been forced into enough by men, so I won’t be forcing her into anything.

“Are you sure?” I ask.

She dips her chin, and I do the same. It’s mutual respect, even if I think she’s wrong.

“Go out the back and get in my car. I need to back up Hale.”

He doesn’t have to tell me a single fucking thing. It may be a pussy move, but I do what he orders. I make my way toward the back staircase. Finding the back door, I slip out. I’m not sure where Boden’s car is parked, but I’m not going to stand around looking for it, either.

I move as quickly as my still-weak legs will let me, and it takes me a few moments, but I find the back driveway just as a car pulls up, driven by the PI. He turns his head, looking over to me, and then he smiles.

What the actual fuck is going on ?