Protect Me: Oakville Series:Book Three (35 page)

Liam grabs a small black box off the seat and gets out of the car. What is he doing? I watch as he goes over next to Ray’s car. Bending down on one knee, he places the little black box underneath the car.

“You okay back there?” Beasley questions.

“I will be once I get my wife back.” He nods in understanding. I know Beasley’s been in my shoes before with Amber. And knowing him the way I do, he won’t stop me from a little payback before they slap the cuffs on Ray’s ass.

Liam comes back to our car and slips in with a satisfied grin on his face. He opens an app on his phone and holds it up for us to see. It’s a map with a blinking red dot on it. Oh — he put a GPS tracker on Ray’s car. I never would have thought about that. I’m thankful to have people like Beasley and Liam. In situations like this, I wouldn’t have a clue.

“Here we go,” Liam says, starting the car. Ray comes out of the store and is walking to his car. Again, he looks as if he hasn’t a care in the world. To see him, you’d think he was a normal average guy, not the kind who beats women and holds them against their will.

My stomach is twisting in knots as we follow a few cars behind Ray. I’m terrified he’s going to get away and we’ll be back at square one. I keep my eyes trained on Ray’s car, silently praying this will all go smoothly.

We follow him through town. When we turn onto an old country road, I know where he’s going. There’s an old plantation out here that was turned into a B & B a few years back. They also have about five cabins spread out over the fifty or so acres of land. It’s a popular honeymoon or romantic getaway spot. The cabins are very secluded, so it makes it the perfect place to hide out. I explain all this to Liam and Beasley. This way they know what we’re getting into.

“This is actually a good thing,” Liam states. He sees my confused expression when he glances at me in the rearview mirror. “From a tactical standpoint, it’s good. The woods and the fact it’s secluded will make it much easier to sneak up on him. He’ll never see us coming,” he clarifies. I relax only a little. He’s right, this is a good thing.

Ray turns right onto a dirt road. When Liam keeps driving, I begin to panic. What the fuck is he doing? I scoot to the edge of the seat so I can see them both. “What are you doing? Shouldn’t we be following him?” I ask, my voice laced with a mixture of confusion and panic.

“Relax, Paul. We have the tracker on his car. If we follow him down that little dirt drive, he’ll get suspicious,” he says just as he pulls over in a small clearing. “We’ll go by foot from here.”

He’s right. Again. Taking a calming breath, I exit the car. My legs feel like Jell-O, thanks to being so anxious and nervous.
Please, let her be okay
, I keep repeating over and over in my head as we begin our trek through the woods. We’re careful about how much noise our footsteps are making as we walk. I’m more afraid he’ll hear the rapid thumping of my heart.

The woods are nice and thick, making it easy to hide ourselves. It doesn’t take long before I can see the small cabin. My body begins to shake. This is it. Liam turns to us and holds his hand up, forcing us to stop. He puts his finger to his lips to ensure we don’t make a sound. He stalks ahead just a bit to get a closer view while Beasley and I remain frozen in place. It seems like hours, but it’s only minutes before he comes back to where we are.

“It looked like there was a man trying to help the girls escape. I saw Ray hit him with a gun.” Liam looks at me with worried eyes. “Paul, this is your wife. Do you want to be the one going up against Ray? If so, Beasley and I will get the man and the nurse out. It’s your choice.”

I look to Beasley and he gives me a nod, telling me he’s on board with whatever I choose. I just want Holly safe. But, I also want to make that son of a bitch suffer. Last time, he didn’t get the message. I need to be more persuasive this time around. “I want Ray. Get the other two out and if I’m not out in ten minutes, come help me.” They both agree. My main concern is Holly. I need to keep that in mind and not put her in any unnecessary danger just to get Ray. My daughter is counting on me to bring her mama back to her.

We slowly make our way to the cabin. The front door is now closed so we have no idea what’s going on inside. Liam’s plan is for us all to barge in and take him by surprise so that he’s off guard. He’ll go first followed by Beasley and then me. Makes sense, the two of them have guns and can probably assess the situation a lot faster than I could.

“Ready?” Liam asks. He waits for both of us to acknowledge we are and the three of us sprint toward the cabin. My stomach is filled with butterflies. I’m afraid of what we’ll find once we get inside. Just before Liam turns the knob on the door, I whisper to myself, “Daddy loves you, Hope.”

Liam bursts through the door. I get in and see Liam grabbing a gun from the table. I scan the room and see a very frightened woman curled into a ball in the corner. There’s a young guy laying on the floor, bleeding from a nasty looking head wound. But it’s what I see a couple feet away from him that knocks the air from my lungs. A sharp pain radiates through my chest when I see Holly laying lifeless on the floor. There’s blood seeping through her hospital gown. For a second, I’m frozen in place, afraid of what I’ll discover when I get to her. Beasley is by her side in an instant with his fingers on her neck checking for a pulse. I hold my breath. When he smiles at me, I can finally breathe. Thank God! Liam and Beasley begin getting everyone out of the house.

Knowing she’s okay, my feet start moving again. I lunge at Ray, knocking us both to the floor. I pin him down and slam my fist into his face. Seeing the blood trickle from his split lip fuels the angry fire raging in my belly. I hit him, over and over again. There are moments when I see my father’s face in place of Ray’s.

At first, he’s so stunned, he can’t fight back. It only takes a moment for him to snap out of it. He lands a good punch to my ribs, causing me to roll off him. I stand up as I catch my breath. Ray comes at me and tackles me, sending us falling into an end table and its contents flying across the room. Neither one of us relents. We both keep beating on the other with everything we’ve got. Everything around me is a blur. The only thing I see is this fucker in front of me.

Each blow I deliver has a purpose. I’m punishing him for all the times he laid his hands on Holly. For taking her unborn baby from her. For taking her from me and our daughter. I’m also punishing him for all of the things my father did to my mom and I. After all, he is just like my father and my father isn’t here for me to take my anger out on. Every beating I took, every beating I saw my mom take, and all the beatings Holly had to endure play over and over in my head. I’m making Ray pay for them all. He may not be responsible for some of it, but he is the same type of man.

Out of nowhere, Ray head-butts me hard. The force knocks us both to the ground. My head is spinning and my vision is blurry. I close my eyes, unsure whether I have any fight left in me. I’m bloody and in pain, but I bet I’m in much better shape than my opponent, who has knocked himself out cold. Something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head slowly to see what it is. Panic immediately sets in when I notice a fire has broken out.
Holly!

Dragging myself on floor, I try to make it over to Holly. My head is still throbbing and spinning. Every bone in my body hurts and my strength it totally depleted. I have to get her out of here, though. I have no choice. The flames are spreading. The room is filling with smoke, making it more difficult for me to concentrate. When I get halfway to her, I feel myself being lifted to my feet. I look back to see that Beasley’s helping me. Thank God. When I turn back to Holly, I see her being lifted into Liam’s arms. Relief washes over me. My baby is getting out of here.

Liam lays Holly down on a waiting gurney and the paramedics begin checking her over. Beasley helps me over to another empty gurney. Suddenly, I remember Ray is still inside. As much as I hate the man, I can’t leave him inside a burning house. He should be in jail left to suffer. I wiggle from Beasley’s grasp and start back to the cabin. I know they’ll all think I’m fucking looney, but I don’t think I can live with myself knowing I allowed a man to die. Not even a man as evil as Ray.

I get about twenty feet from the cabin and stumble, falling to my knees. Before I can get up, I hear a loud boom. Instinctively, I cover my head. When I open my eyes, I realize the cabin has exploded. It’s engulfed in flames and debris has fallen all around us. I don’t have time to think about what’s happened because I hear Holly’s panicked scream, “Paul!”

I get up with a little help from Liam and make it over to Holly. “I’m here, doll face. I’m here,” I tell her as I gently kiss her lips. A heart-stopping smile spreads across her beautiful face.

“I love you,” she whispers. “Kelly and Peter? Are they okay?” she asks as she tries to look around.

“They’re fine. How about you?”

“I’m great now. I’ll be even better when I get to see Hope.”

“She’s been waiting on you. She’s so beautiful. Just like her mama,” I tell her and kiss her again.

I’
M SITTING
in a hospital room filled with dozens of flower arrangements from all of our friends. Everyone around us has been amazing. In the ambulance the other day, Paul filled me in on our daughter’s progress and how everyone has helped him care for her. He said Angel barely leaves her side, even when it’s not his turn to be there. He has the biggest heart out of them all. I wonder why he tries so hard to keep that hidden.

He also told me about Ray. To my surprise, I’m not jumping for joy that he’s gone. I hate him for all of the times he’s hurt me, but I had also loved him once. It’s like a double-edged sword. I am happy that I no longer have to wonder what he’ll do to hurt me next, or that he’ll bring harm to my family and friends.

When we arrived at the hospital, I was in worse shape than I thought. It’s been two days now since I arrived back here. Everyone has been in to see me, but I haven’t been able to go visit our daughter yet. Today, I’m feeling much better and the doctor cleared me for travel to the NICU. I’m a bundle of nerves as I sit and wait for Paul to bring me to see our baby girl. What if she doesn’t like me? What if I’m really bad at this whole mom thing?

“Stop that, doll face,” Paul says as he comes in, pushing a wheelchair. How does he know I’m worrying? “I can see worry all over your face.” Damn, he’s good. Maybe he should go into fortune telling on the side. “You are going to be the best mama ever and our daughter loves you. There’s nothing to worry about. Are you ready to go meet our daughter?” I can only nod. It feels like I’ve been waiting my whole life for this single moment.