Page 95 of Beautifully Broken Control

Doug’s grip on the bottle tightened as his mouth pulled into a thin line. “Not you. Your boyfriend.” He said the term as if it were a dirty word.

Cain. He’d made the demand of Cain. A man who’d sent me packing less than twenty-four hours ago. A man who wanted nothing to do with me. But he was a good man. He’d probably pay them anyway, and then I’d owe him even more than I already did. “We’re not together anymore.”

Surprise flickered in Doug’s eyes, maybe even hope, before he shut it down. “It doesn’t matter. He’ll pay.”

Tears burned the back of my throat. “Why?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking the question again. I never could wrap my head around people’s desperate need for more. How someone could hurt another human just to raise themselves up.

Doug didn’t meet my eyes. He was weak, unable to look at the truth of what he’d done. “I got an offer that was too good to say no to.” His gaze flicked up for a brief moment. “No one’s going to get hurt.”

I let out an ugly laugh, the action sending shooting pains through my head and down my spine. “No one’s going to get hurt? What about stealing money from someone who’s worked hard for it? What about me? Do you really think whoever you’re working with is just going to let me ride off into the sunset after seeing your face? They’re going to kill me.” My voice hitched on the word because it wasn’t until that moment that I knew my fate. There was no way these people, whoever they were, would just let me go.

Doug’s face hardened. “Cain has more money than he deserves. It’s not like he’s going to miss a few million. And no one’s going to hurt you. I made them promise.”

I wanted to laugh. He’d made them promise. Like the word of a kidnapper and extortionist could be trusted. We were both going to end up dead. As soon as whoever this was got their money, we were done for. Tears filled my eyes. It wasn’t even about being scared of the pain that was surely coming. It was about what was being stolen from me. The possibility of life that was mine and mine alone. One that I could shape into whatever I wanted it to be. One where I shared a moment in time with a beautifully broken man, even if I didn’t get to keep him. I’d always take those beautiful moments, despite the pain they left in their wake. I’d hold on to their memory as long as I could.

“Please.” I sat up, inching towards Doug. “Please, don’t do this. Whoever is in charge is going to kill us both. You have to let me go.”

The bedroom door swung open. “Really, Kennedy. Stop being so dramatic.”

No way. There was no possible way that voice belonged to who I thought it did. I had to be hallucinating. Maybe I’d fallen and hit my head and was still unconscious. But as the figure stepped into the room, I knew I was wrong. The betrayal sliced bone-deep. I didn’t think my family could hurt me any more than they already had. But I was wrong. So very wrong.

42

Cain

My fingers flewover the keyboard as the chatter around me dulled to a low hum. There was only one thing that mattered now. Finding out who had Kennedy. Tuck was the tracker on land, but I was the tracker in digital space. And I was going to chase this bastard down with keystrokes. I’d use the same to dismantle his life once I found out who he was.

“What’s he doing?” Tuck’s voice permeated my haze.

“Trying to trace the email,” Walker answered. He cleared his throat, and my gaze flicked briefly in his direction. “We’ve got a trace on your cell and landline. If they call back, try to keep them on the phone, talking. Ask for proof of life.”

“They won’t call.” I kept typing. The call I’d gotten was a recording, nothing more. The email demanding money transferred to an account in a country that had practically zero banking laws had told me almost nothing. “I asked for proof of life when I emailed back.”

“You sent an email back?” Walker clasped my shoulder. “Would you stop what you’re doing and look at me? You can’t correspond with the kidnapper without running it by me first.”

The hell, I couldn’t. I wasn’t waiting on Walker to get what I needed, and what I needed more than anything right now was the knowledge that Kennedy was safe. “Check my phone. You can see what I wrote.” I went back to typing.

Walker strode to the counter and started tapping the screen on my phone. “Cain. You can’t give them the money. They’ll kill her. We need to buy some time.”

I shot to my feet, the chair I was sitting in at the kitchen table flying back and toppling to the floor. I fisted Walker’s shirt, practically lifting him off the ground. He did nothing to fight it. “Don’t you say that. She’s not fucking dying. She’s going to be fine. We’re gonna get her back.”

Firm hands gripped my arms, pulling them back. “That’s enough, Cain.” Tuck squeezed harder, and I released my hold. He clapped me on the back. “We are. We’re going to get Kennedy, and whoever the fuck is responsible is going to pay. I promise you that.”

I nodded, then headed back to my computer to get back to work.

Tuck spoke to Walker in hushed tones. “Watch your word choice, would you?”

There was silence for a minute before he answered. “We might have to put him down when we figure out where she is. He’s one second away from losing it. He could compromise everything.”

Like hell, he would. If he stood in my way, I’d tear him apart, brother or not.

Jensen called out from the foyer of the house. “Walker?”

“In here, J.”

Jensen appeared with Anna, who twisted and untwisted her fingers in front of her body, looking around the room before her gaze landed on me and caught. She was ravaged, too. Anna loved Kennedy, and this was killing her.

Jensen eyed me and then turned to her brother. “One of your officers went to the shelter to ask some questions, and Anna says he didn’t really listen to what she had to say. We wanted to tell you directly.”

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