Page 138 of Bling

Chapter Thirty-Four

Garrett’s driver peeled into the parking lot of the warehouse after being let in the gate. The car hadn’t completely stopped when he jumped out and took off in a run.

“Sir, Mr. Oliver, wait!” Jeff hollered as he jumped out and followed.

There wasn’t time. Isabelle was in trouble and he knew it.

They were in the middle of an emergency board meeting when Lance leaned over and whispered that someone had text Isabelle from the same number that had called the office twice. Garrett knew it was Maddox, and after Lance managed to get in and pull out the actual texts that appeared to have been sent from Garrett’s number, he knew he had to get to her.

On his way, his own phone had lit up with a text message from Isabelle, asking her to meet him, but he knew better.

Now he was tearing across the parking lot as fast as he could to get to her.

A hand gripped his arm and he skidded to a halt.

“Let me go, Jeff.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Sir. You need to let us check out the situation. If something is wrong, you don’t want to risk getting Isabelle hurt or worse because you went in halfcocked. What exactly is your plan?”

Garrett’s shoulders slumped. He didn’t have one. He was running on pure adrenaline and a need to save Isabelle.

“I’ve already got Rick and some of the others on their way. Aaron followed her here but stayed back because he didn’t realize what was going on. Let’s do this the right way, Garrett.”

He blew out a breath. “Thank you, Jeff. You’re right. Just keep her safe.”

He leaned against the car and waited while Jeff called in more reinforcements. His eyes scanned the parking lot, looking for signs of Isabelle. She was definitely here because her security detail followed her, but he didn’t see her car or her dad’s truck.

As Jeff was walking back to update him, the side door to one of the storage buildings opened. Garrett jerked in that direction and Jeff pulled a gun from inside his jacket.

“Oh darn. You got here a lot quicker than I thought you would.” Maddox seemed as surprised to see them as they were to see him.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Where is Isabelle?” Garrett snarled, fighting the urge to cross the parking lot and deck him.

“I had no intention of taking your girlfriend or killing you,” he said as he inched closer.

“Stay back or I will shoot you,” Jeff barked.

“You wouldn’t do that,” Maddox said pulling something out of his pocket. “If I don’t get to finish what I have to say, this entire storage building goes up and Garrett gets to watch his girlfriend be blown to smithereens.”

“You son of a bitch. What did you do?”

Maddox gave him a grin. “Like I said, none of this was in the plan. We were just supposed to hurt your business, maybe take the facility out of commission. Just irritate you, that’s really all I wanted. But Darren went rogue after you fired him, and Isabelle pointed fingers so obviously, I had to deal with him. Now that you’re on to my little operation here, and Isabelle likely knows too much from her sister, I just have to clean up my mess and go back into hiding. I’m sure once you’re dead I’ll be able to resume my leadership of the family business.”

Garrett stalked his direction. “What is all of this? Revenge? For what exactly? You nearly drove the business into the ground with your illegal dealings and after your car accident you were never the same. I did nothing to you, and you know it.”

“No, you don’t,” he said, waving whatever device he had in his hand. “I wouldn’t come any closer if I were you. Don’t want to start the fireworks early.”

He felt a knot in his stomach. “Where is Isabelle?”

“Inside. I made sure she was comfortable.”

His brother had gone insane.

“Sir, back up and let us handle this,” Jeff said quietly. “We have confirmation that she’s inside and there are explosives.”

Fuck. The knot turned to a pile of rocks and he thought he might be sick.

Jeff touched the earpiece he wore. “Thanks Rick,” he muttered, speaking low enough that Maddox couldn’t hear him. His gun stayed trained on Maddox.

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