“And it’s Jackson’s daughter, too. She became his responsibility the day he fell in love with her mother. He cannot properly track her if he’s worried about Abigail. Abigail will be his chief concern, and that is not what she needs. She needs her husband to be an animal with one thought and one thought only—find Lexi, bring her home.”
Sam shook his head. “Damn it. I have to agree. I’ll be in the doghouse, too, now. I hate logic. I’ll pack a bag for her. It’s the least I can do.”
Sam walked out, and Benita followed, the shotgun on her petite shoulder. Dani looked at Julian. She was with Sam. Logic sucked.
“I’ll stay put. I’ll go with the guards. I won’t make trouble.” She would go quietly and then figure out what the hell she would do with her life from there.
Julian stood staring as though judging her truthfulness. He finally nodded. “See that you do. I’ll contact you as soon as it’s safe. Finn, make sure you’re both ready to go when the car comes for you.”
He turned and left without another word.
“Give him time,” Leo said with a sad smile before he turned and followed Julian.
Finn’s hair fell over his eyes, and he pushed it back, much as he had when they were kids. The gesture made her heart soften and then clench a bit. Would he be mad that she’d gotten them tossed out? Would he want to go with Julian or stay with her?
“Baby, don’t look like that.” He reached out, tentatively at first, and then more forcefully, as though he’d made the decision to take the lead. He grasped her arms and brought her close. “It’s going to be all right. You’ll see.”
Dani let him hold her for a moment but then pulled away. She couldn’t do this right now. She needed to keep it together. Later, when everything was over, she could fall apart. “Can you go grab my bag?”
Finn kissed her forehead and headed out to the guesthouse to retrieve her bag. It was the only thing she owned anymore besides that ramshackle house she shared with her sister.
Dani’s cell trilled. She pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at the display. Val. Speak of the devil. Dani hit the answer button, perfectly ready to spew some venom at her sister. Finn’s near death experience had taken precedence over her sister’s much-needed ass kicking, but now seemed like a good time to at least tell Val that hell was coming her way.
“Val, you have a lot of nerve calling me, little sister.” Dani kept her voice low. She meant to say a lot of things to her baby sis that she didn’t want anyone else to hear.
“Dani? Is that you, Dani?”
Val sounded strange, as though she’d been crying. The words were muffled and almost hard to understand.
“Val, where are you?”
“Dani, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go this far. Please, please” Val’s voice was abruptly cut off.
“If you would like to see your sister alive again, you’ll do exactly what I tell you,” a low voice said.
Dani went cold. She turned and looked for someone, anyone, but she was alone. She’d been wrong, and Julian had been right. Jeremy was coming for her.
“Don’t even think about going after your little boyfriend. I have a gun to your sister’s head, and I bribed a guy at Barnes’s security company a long time ago. I can see everything that’s covered by his security cameras. I know Julian and Leo left with my traitor bitch sister. I know your boy is in the guesthouse, and I know Sam Fleetwood is pacing on the porch. You’re going to do exactly what I tell you, or I kill your sister. I would kill the other one, but I really want old Lucas to watch her die, so Valerie it is. Are you going to do as I ask, or should I pull the trigger?”
“Please!”
Dani could hear Val crying. She wailed, and then something thudded, and Val went quiet. Dani didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t sit here while her sister was killed and Lexi waited to die. She had to act, even if it meant she was the one to go. It was better than living with the consequences of inaction. “What do you want me to do?”
A low chuckle vibrated over the phone. “Well, Danielle, I want you to walk outside and take the Master’s car. He keeps a spare key in a magnetic box over the driver’s side wheel. I know my Master well. You will take his car and drive to your family homestead, which I have also rigged with cameras. You will get the instructions I placed in your mailbox and follow them to the letter. Oh, and before you leave, I expect you to look at the camera just outside the back door and drop your cell phone. You’ll find another in the mailbox with your letter. You have ten seconds to comply.”
There was a click, and Dani took off. She didn’t think, didn’t debate, simply ran for the back door. When she opened it, she turned and found the small black camera that looked out over the back porch. She held up her cell phone and dropped it to the ground before running toward Julian’s Audi.
The key was right were Jeremy had said it would be. Dani slipped inside the car and thanked the day Finn had taught her to drive a stick shift. Tears clouded her vision. She might never see him again. Or Julian. How angry would he be? Would he even understand?
It didn’t matter. She had to go. Her soul demanded it. Dani put the car in drive and took off.
Chapter Sixteen
Finn zipped the bag closed and glanced around the small bedroom looking for anything he might have lost there.
He felt a wide grin split his face. He’d actually lost a lot in this little house. He’d lost his shame. He’d lost his fear. He’d lost his freaking heart.
Love for Dani pounded through his system. It was so different now that she was his. He felt more than he’d ever thought he could. Making love with her had changed something fundamental inside him. Watching her embrace her sexuality had helped him to accept his own.
And then there was Julian. Julian thrilled him in a way he never could have imagined. Even when Julian scared the crap out of him, and he did when he turned that icy stare on him, Finn had never been more attracted to a man. Julian pushed his boundaries like no one had before. Julian didn’t try to coax him along. Others had tried, and it hadn’t worked. In his mind, Finn had come up with one excuse after another to hold on to his shame. Julian left no room for anything as useless as shame.
Despite Julian’s poor handling of Dani, Finn felt an optimism he hadn’t felt before, maybe ever. He was in a good place. As soon as Julian took care of this Jeremy person, he had the feeling he’d have no real trouble getting Dani to move to Dallas with him. Julian would insist on it. They could see him, date him, whatever they wanted to call it. They would, the three of them, work it all out.
He would have a family. He would have Dani. He would have Julian. He would have it all.
After they survived this apparently crazy dude.
Finn jogged down the stairs carrying his suitcase. He had all the things Julian had bought for Dani over the last few days. It was only the essentials, toothbrush, a couple of pairs of jeans, T-shirts, moisturizer, anal plug, and lube. When they got wherever they were going, Finn would see that he expanded her wardrobe. Julian would more than likely expand the toy selection.
He couldn’t wait to see The Club. Now he was certain he’d made the right decision in not accepting Lucas’s offer to visit the underground BDSM club. It was better to experience it for the first time with Julian and Dani.
Lucas. God, what must he be going through. Finn felt for his friend. He would do anything he could to help him find Lexi. Lucas would do the same for him if Dani was missing.
He wasn’t even going to think about that. His stomach rolled at the idea. He needed to focus on something else or panic would take over.