FOREVER BELOVED (Billionaire Love Series) (26 page)

They would be too late.

I needed to save myself.

I was already dizzy. It was only a matter of
seconds before I was out cold. I had to do something.

“Come on out, my lady.”

His voice sent a cold shiver through me.
“I’ll be done in a minute,” I called out, stalling for more
time.

Opening the white laminate cabinet underneath
the sink, I searched through the grody trash, determined to find
something to fight with. But all I found were old newspapers, empty
plastic bottles, and mouse droppings. Disgusting.

Feeling woozy, I stood up and frantically
looked around for some kind of weapon. That’s when I noticed the
toilet lid was still intact.

Perfect. It was heavy, but I could swing it
like a bat. With any luck, I would knock him out. I gently lifted
the lid off, trying not to scrape it against the tank as I
struggled to stay alert.

“Okay, I’m ready,” I announced, hiding behind
the door, my world growing fuzzier as I unlocked the doorknob.

I was determined to hold on and fought
against the blackness clawing at me.

My heart thundered in my chest as he walked
in, holding the gun out. After he got past the door, I surprised
him and swung the lid as hard as I could. It cracked against the
back of his skull, shattering as he fell to the ground.

I grabbed the gun out of his hand and quickly
escaped out of the room.

But the drug kicked in, bringing me to my
knees and the world went black.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Beau:

My phone beeped with a message as I got into
my car to drive home. I picked it up and listened to Marla’s
panicked message.

It scared the piss out of me.

No, this wasn’t happening.

I didn’t want to lose her.

I couldn’t lose her now.

For a stunned second, I did nothing as my
heart clutched in my chest in absolute terror. She was everything
to me and if I lost her...I swallowed hard, I couldn’t think about
that.

The phone rang in my hand, spurring me into
motion. “Marla?” I asked breathlessly.

“No, it’s Charlie. Something’s wrong with my
mom. She called me and told me some guy kidnapped her.”

“I know. She’s in trouble.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Sit tight. I’m gonna make some calls and
make sure we get your mom back.”

My gut instinct told me she didn’t have much
time. I raced through the streets of Baltimore, flying to Casa
Oschun, the only place I could think to go, as I called Mitch, my
head of security.

I quickly explained the situation to him and
he promised to get on it.

“Good. I’m calling you back in two minutes.
You better have a location on her phone,” I demanded.

“On it, boss.”

I hung up, out of my mind with worry. Marla
was out there with some deranged lunatic, doing god knows what to
the love of my life.

Fuck! I hit the steering wheel and drove
faster.

I tried to reach her, but all I got was her
voice mail. “Oh, Sunshine. I’ve been a goddamn fool these last few
days, but I promise I will find you. I love you. Don’t give up on
me. I won’t rest till I have you back.”

I ended the call, hoping I was right as I
weaved in and out of traffic.

I hit Mitch up again. “Did you get a trace on
her cell phone?”

“Yeah, it’s triangulated from a cell tower
located in Cherry Hills.”

“Can we track her phone?”

“Yep, we’ve got a team headed to the location
already.”

When you’re rich, a highly trained security
team is a necessity. I always had a team on call, twenty
four-seven. They were already in pursuit with the help of the
Baltimore PD.

“Good. Give me the address.”

“I don’t know, boss. You should let us handle
it. I promise to call when we’ve safely secured Ms. Matthews.”

“Just give me the goddamn address!” I
growled, not messing around.

He sighed into the phone. “All right. You’re
the boss. It’s one eight...” I pressed down on the accelerator as
he rattled off the rest of the address, not caring which traffic
laws I broke.

I couldn’t lose Marla...not now...not
ever.

Damn me and my stupid pride.

I had kept her at bay, for no fucking
reason.

JESUS!

I would never forgive myself if something
happened to her.

I phoned Charlie, anxious to give him the
news. “Where’s my mom?” he asked as he answered in a small scared
voice.

“They’ve pinged her location to an address in
Cherry Hills. There’s already a security team in pursuit and I’m on
my way.”

“Give me the address. I’m coming too.”

I wasn’t going to argue with him. I spouted
off the address and told him to meet me there. Praying all the way
there that we would get to Marla in time, I pulled up as a security
team in full SWAT gear was breaking through the door of a boarded
up house.

I screeched to a stop in front of the house,
ran across the yard, and followed closely behind the team as they
breached the hellhole filled with rank trash and dirty needles.

Within thirty seconds, a call went out on the
operatives’ radio in front of me. “We have the female. She’s alive,
but appears to be drugged.”

I slumped against the wall in the hallway,
the relief so strong, I could barely stand.

She was alive.

Tears sprung up and spilled over before I
could contain my emotion.

Marla owned me, heart and soul.

I was kidding myself, thinking I could hold
myself back from her. As soon as she woke up, I was making her
mine. Pronto.

I walked outside as one of the men brought
her out over his shoulder.

She was pale, but alive.

The man placed her on the ambulance gurney as
she was examined by the EMTs, who had arrived. They checked her
vitals and hooked her to an IV as I held her hand. It was warm and
I willed her to wake up.

She looked so peaceful lying there. I could
only pray she was okay and that the fucker who had taken her didn’t
have a chance to hurt her. I wanted to kill him with my bare
hands.

Glancing up, I watched the Baltimore PD bring
out the mad man, who had terrorized Marla, in handcuffs.

Seeing him made me shake with rage. “You son
of a bitch!” I yelled, making a beeline for him. “What the hell is
wrong with you?”

“I loved her. I wanted her to love me,” he
mewled in a deranged voice.

“You’re fucked up and I will make sure you
rot in prison,” I promised, trying to control my need to kill him.
He would pay for his crimes. I would make sure he would never harm
another woman again.

He bowed his head, unwilling to meet my
eye.

Fuckin’ animal.

It enraged me more. “Get him out of here
before I do something I’ll regret,” I growled at the officers.

They escorted him to a squad car, which would
take him to jail, and he would never see the light of day
again.

Good riddance.

Walking back to Marla’s side, I saw Charlie
hop out of his car at a full run as the EMTs were about to load his
mom into the ambulance.

“Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Is she okay?” he
cried in a panic as he ran to the stretcher.

“Hey, hey, Charlie. It’s all right.” I put my
arm around him. “She’s been drugged and they are giving her
something to wake her up.”

She stirred at that point as her eyes opened.
“Charlie?”

He wiped his eyes. “Yeah, Mama. I’m
here.”

“Oh, Charlie Brown. I’m so glad to see you.”
She held out her arms and he readily bent down and hugged her.

“I love you, Mama. I’m so glad you’re okay,”
he said lovingly, lifting back up.

“Me, too...me, too.”

That’s when she noticed me. “Beau?” she asked
as if she was seeing a ghost.

I grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it.
“I’m sorry, Marla. I should have been there.”

“I thought it was you,” she said, staring
through me.

“What?”

“I got a package at the salon and when I
opened it, I thought it was from you. So I ran outside...it wasn’t
you.” She started to cry, big heaving sobs erupting out of her. “It
wasn’t you...”

Her words twisted a knife through my heart.
“Marla, look at me. I’m not going anywhere. We’ve been through
enough shit. I’m staying, Sunshine. You’ve got me for life.”

“I do?” Her watery glance went wide.

“You do. We’re gonna do it right. Marry me,
Marla.”

“What?”

“I’m done wasting time. You’re the love of my
life. The mother of my child. I need to be with you. Marry me.”

Tears coursed down her cheeks as she tried to
answer me. “Yes, Beau Shepard, I’ll marry you.”

“For real? No backing out?”

“No backing out. You and me forever.”

“Tomorrow, we’re gonna go the
courthouse.”

“The courthouse?”

“Yeah, I’m making you mine as soon as I
can.”

She smiled weakly. “What about celebrating?
Letting our friends see us get married?”

“We’ll do it twice. Once, tomorrow, and then
you can have a big to-do with as big a budget as you want. But, I’m
not waiting anymore, Sunshine.”

“God, I love it when you call me that.”

“You are my sunshine. The light of my life.
My beacon home.”

Leaning down, I let my mouth find hers in a
combination of desperation, hunger, and comfort. She melted against
me and I knew I would never let her go.

I put my forehead against hers as we broke
apart. “I’m not going anywhere. Never again. You can break-up with
me a hundred times, but I’m never leaving you.”

“Even if you get mad at me or we fight?” she
asked, holding my face close to hers.

“I’ll still be here. You can call me on my
shit. I need that,” I admitted reluctantly.

“If it makes you feel any better, you can
call me on my shit, too.”

“Oh, I will,” I promised.

“Forever?” she asked.

“Yes, my beloved Sunshine, forever.”

EPILOGUE

Six
months later

Sunshine poured through the car window,
hitting my arm as we drove to some secret location. Blindfolded, I
was wildly curious about this little excursion planned by my
husband. He hadn’t said much except, “Put on this blindfold. I’m
taking you somewhere cool.”

I loved surprises and played along. Grateful
for the chance to embrace life again. I fought hard to be okay
after my kidnapping. I was spooked for a while, but I had worked
with therapists to regain my sense of wellbeing and heal.

Of course, Beau had helped immensely. He made
me feel safe again and his constant presence in my life had been
nothing short of amazing.

“We’re here,” he announced as he parked the
Porsche.

I listened closely, making out the sound of
water. I figured we were at the beach or the harbor. I didn’t have
to wait long.

Moving quickly, Beau came around the car and
let me out. Looping my arm around his, he escorted me down closer
to the water.

“Surprise!” he said, removing my
blindfold.

“Whoa. What is this?” I asked as I stared at
a large majestic sailboat bobbing up and down in the water, next to
the dock we were standing on.

“Let’s go see the world,” Beau professed
excitedly. “This beauty will take us anywhere we want to go.”

“You wanna travel the world in this?” I
pointed to the boat again.

“Yep. Just you and me. I named it after
you.”

I almost groaned aloud. “What is it this
time?”

“
Sunshine’s Journey
,” he said, kissing
me on the neck.

Now, that got me. In the best sense of the
word.

I turned toward him. “I’m touched. I like
it.”

“I knew you would. Come on, let’s board.” He
grabbed my hand.

“Do you even know how to sail?” I asked, my
practical nature getting the best of me.

“Yeah, it was one of the few things my father
taught me. Plus, it has an engine and a satellite phone, if we get
in trouble. ”

“What about our businesses? Your hotel
project?”

“I’m a billionaire. I buy the best people to
oversee things.”

“Buy?” I cocked an eyebrow.

“You know what I mean. I hire the best people
to manage our businesses.”

“Better. Does Emma know about this?”

“Of course. I have your sister’s enthusiastic
approval for this trip.”

“What about Charlie?”

“Are you kidding? He can’t wait for us to be
gone. I’m a little worried actually, leaving him alone at the
house.”

After we were married, we bought a rather
modest dwelling. I didn’t want to live in a big, empty house where
I couldn’t tell if someone else was around.

I was interested in a more intimate and cozy
home. Happily, Beau agreed and we had settled into a four bedroom
mid-century ranch. It was a cool house surrounded by twenty serene
acres and a lake.

We had turned the basement into a sweet
apartment where Charlie lived. He had his independence, but could
still be close to us. This arrangement also allowed him to spend
lots of time with Beau. Even though they were working together,
now.

They were two peas in a pod and kept me quite
entertained with their projects. Currently, they were learning how
to restore an old Mustang back to its former glory. By themselves.
So, look for the car to be ready sometime in the next fifty
years.

“Oh, Charlie will be fine. We might lose a
vase or two, but he won’t do anything crazy,” Beau tried to
reassure me.

“You sure?”

His blue gaze flickered with doubt. “No, not
really. I guess we’re going to have to trust him.”

“Did you talk to him about your
expectations?”

“I did. You would have been proud of me. But
it can’t hurt to call him and remind our son to be on his best
behavior.” He whipped out his cell phone and pulled up his contact
list.