Chapter 9

Chapter

Nine

February 16th

2:10 P.M.

"You sure you want to do this, man?" Rock asked.

"Never been surer of anything else in my life," Panther replied.

"You know he was cleared as a suspect," Tank reminded him.

"I"m aware." He was also aware that the cops and the FBI had made a huge mess of this entire case. From wasting too much time looking into Elle when it was clear she already had a stalker months before her daughter was kidnapped, to focusing too deeply on the security company to the exclusion of everything else.

If they had done their jobs properly, Ruthie Cavey might not still be missing. The little girl's cries for her mother had been echoing in his mind ever since the phone call Elle had received. That precious little girl should be home safe and sound with her mom right now, instead of in the hands of a madman with an obsession that wasn't going to die.

Waiting for the psycho stalker to make his next move wasn't an option. He was already strung out and could only imagine what Elle was going through. She had put her faith in the police and the FBI and both had let her down.

Not him.

Panther had no intention of letting that woman down.

"We here because you honestly believe the man could be involved or for personal reasons?" Trick asked.

They were here because they had refused to let him come alone. They were a team, meaning they supported one another whether or not they agreed.

And no one on his team had thought this was a good idea.

But his mind had been made up. Panther was coming with or without them.

"Mostly personal," he admitted. There was the smallest of chances that Bobby Beck was involved in the disappearance of his seven-year-old daughter, but Panther didn"t believe he was. Jimmy Hillier had been stalking Elle, and had the skills necessary to bypass her security system and get access to her personal photos on her computer.

This wasn't really about finding clues to Ruthie's location, it was about attempting to understand how a man could walk away from his own child so easily. And maybe making sure there was no competition for Elle's heart.

Panther had grown up the child of a broken home. He knew what it was like to be bounced about from parent to parent, watching as they moved on, new partners, new kids, new families, leaving him out in the cold alone. If he was going to attempt anything with Elle, he had to know that he wasn't going to be the guy who broke up Ruthie's family. The child had been through enough, and as much as he liked Elle, if there was even a chance that Ruthie could have both parents together then he wasn't going to stand in the way.

"At least you admitted it," Scorpion muttered.

When they pulled up outside a construction site, it didn"t take him long to spot the man he was looking for. Half a dozen guys were working, one was leaning against the fence, a can of soda in one hand and his cell phone in the other.

"Don't do anything stupid," Tank reminded him as they all piled out of the car.

"Don't intend to," he assured them. He hadn"t come here to defend Elle's honor and beat up her loser of an ex. He had to make sure that Bobby wasn't in any way involved in Ruthie's kidnapping, that he hadn"t wanted his family back and decided to go about it any way he could. No stone was being left unturned in his hunt for Ruthie, and if her father was responsible for hurting the child and her mother, he would make sure that Bobby was punished to the fullest extent of the law.

It wasn't until he was almost upon the man that Bobby even looked up from his phone long enough to register that someone was approaching him. A glint of nervousness in the gray eyes told Panther that even if Bobby wasn't involved in Ruthie's abduction, he was up to no good, and he was glad the man was out of Elle's life so he couldn't drag her down with him when he eventually crashed and burned.

"Who are you?" Bobby asked, straightening and casting a nervous glance toward his colleagues who were all now watching with interest.

"Your worst nightmare if you"re involved," Panther growled, letting every ounce of disdain and contempt he felt for this man seep into his voice.

"Involved?" Bobby repeated, clearly nervous.

"Are you?" he demanded. While he hadn"t really believed the man was involved, his cagey attitude sparked all sorts of concerns in Panther. If this man had put the fear and pain in Elle's eyes that made his stomach fill with lead every time he looked into them, then Bobby would be lucky if Panther left him to be handled by the law instead of inflicting his own breed of punishment.

"I'll p-pay it b-back, I s-swear," Bobby stammered, his gaze darting from Panther, to each of the five huge, intimidating men standing at his back.

"Pay it back?" Panther repeated. That's what Bobby was worried about? The man probably had a gambling addiction and had resorted to taking money from loan sharks to feed that addiction. If Ruthie had been taken and a ransom demand made then he would have been positive Bobby was the cuprite, but the man didn"t even seem to care that his young daughter was missing. "That's what you care about right now?"

Confusion swirled in the man's eyes, eyes he knew from studying her pictures that were the same as Ruthie's. All the little girl seemed to have inherited from the man who couldn't have cared less that she was in danger, alone, scared, and suffering.

"You"re not here to collect?" Bobby asked.

"Do you even care?" Panther snarled.

"About what?"

"Ruthie!" he bellowed. "You know her? The child you created, your seven-year-old daughter who was kidnapped and has been missing for a month."

If there was one thing the man could have done that would have set off Panther's temper like nothing else, it was relax at the outburst like he'd just been let off the hook. Any man who thought his own problems were more important than those of the child he had fathered was no man as far as Panther was concerned.

Just before he could pull back and slam his fist right into Bobby Beck's relieved face, Axe caught his elbow, stilling him. Panther knew he ought to be grateful that his friend had stopped him from doing something that would have tied up his time dealing with the cops when it could, and should be better spent searching for Ruthie, but he couldn't seem to find it in him.

"You are a despicable excuse for a man," he snarled. "She's your daughter, don't you care about her at all?"

"I signed away my parental rights," Bobby said as though that explained everything.

"Doesn't change the fact that she's your daughter," he growled, completely unable to comprehend the man's blasé attitude to his young child's abduction. Regardless of whether he was legally Ruthie's father, she shared his DNA, she was a part of him, and he seemed unable to dredge up even an iota of concern.

"I told the cops I didn"t have anything to do with it," Bobby said as though that was what they were here for.

"Did you also tell them that you're up to your eyeballs in debt from illegal gambling?" Panther sneered. Given the man's attitude, he wasn't above going home, getting on his computer, digging up proof of Bobby Beck's illegal gambling activities, and handing it over to the cops.

"I … I … you can"t … I"m not … there's no …"

Disgusted, Panther shook his head. "You know what? She's too good for you, you don't deserve that little girl. I"m glad you walked away from her, showed her and her mother what kind of man you are. They need a real man. One who puts their needs first, takes care of them, and protects them. They need someone who isn't so wrapped up in his own problems he can"t spare an ounce of sympathy for what his own child and her mother are going through."

Obviously taking more offense to being told he wasn't good enough than in being called out on not caring that his daughter had been abducted, Bobby stiffened. "What? You think you"re better than me? You think Elle and Ruthie would be better off with you?"

"I don't think it. I know it," Panther said. Because he really did want to put Elle and Ruthie first, he turned his back on the man who had thrown them away like they were nothing instead of the precious gifts they could have—should have—been.

Beating up this lowlife loser, while satisfying in the moment, wasn't what was important. Finding that child, bringing her home, and helping her and her mother heal, that's where his focus needed to lie.

February 16th

8:28 P.M.

"Elle, you do the best voices. I wish you could read to me every night," Andy said, giving her a sleepy smile as she set the book on the nightstand and made sure the covers were tucked up to his chin.

She cast a quick glance over her shoulder to where Rafe was sitting on the floor of his son's room, listening as she read bedtime stories, to make sure he wasn't going to call her out for overstepping. Try as she might, Elle couldn't seem to shake the worry that Rafe would think she was using his son as a substitute since she couldn't have her daughter.

While she couldn't deny that being with Andy helped a little when it came to soothing the ache in her heart because of her missing child, it was more than that. She genuinely liked the child. There was real affection there, he was a great kid and she enjoyed spending time with him. Would still enjoy it even if Ruthie was there with them.

"Couldn't agree more, kiddo. Elle's voices are second to none," Rafe agreed with a lazy smile as he pushed to his feet and walked over to kiss his son's forehead. "Sweet dreams, my favorite son."

"Sweet dreams, my favorite daddy," Andy said on a yawn.

Tears stung her eyes. Their sweet bedtime routine made the ache in her chest grow as she thought of her own bedtime routine with her daughter, and the pain that came from knowing she wouldn't be tucking Ruthie in tonight.

Or maybe ever again.

"Sweet dreams, my favorite Elle," Andy said.

A single tear leaked out before she could stop it. "Sweet dreams, my favorite Andy," she replied before hurrying out of the room. How could spending time with this child feel so good, and yet hurt so much all at the same time? Ice-cold fear and sweet warmth warred inside her, and suddenly exhausted, Elle sank back to rest against the wall.

That was where Rafe found her a minute later when he closed the door to Andy's room and turned to face her.

"Reading him bedtime stories is always something I do when I"m home, it's my favorite part of the day with him," Rafe said.

Guilt lanced through her chest.

She'd intruded on his special time with his son.

"I'm sor?—"

A finger to her lips silenced her. "I don't want an apology, Elle. He asked you to read to him, and I loved every second of listening to you do it. It may be my favorite part of the day, but the way you read to him, it's obvious books are your passion."

"Mine and Ruthie's both," she said, another tear trickling free and winding its way down her cheek.

"Oh, honey, I"m so sorry."

Rafe scooped her up, and she didn"t fight him as he carried her downstairs, just curled into him and clung on like he was the only thing keeping her sane. Because it was absolutely true that without this man and his son, she would have lost it by now. There was no way she could have handled that phone call from Ruthie without their steady, comforting presence.

"Seeing you with my son makes my heart hurt for you. You"re such a good mother, and you've been doing it all alone, I hate that I haven't brought your baby home to you yet."

Something in his voice told her he'd met her ex. The hatred simmered beneath the respect as he mentioned her raising her child alone. "Today, when you went out, did you go to Bobby?"

"Not going to lie to you, Elle. Yeah, that's where I went."

"Because you thought he was involved?" Elle sighed, hating to admit the truth about the man she had married and intended to spend her life with. "He's not. He doesn't care enough about Ruthie to want to be part of her life or mine."

The arms wrapped around her tightened. "He's a loser and a jerk who threw away the two best things to ever happen to him. Your ex is something else, I wouldn't have believed his complete apathy in relation to his abducted child if I hadn"t seen it with my own two eyes. But I didn"t go because I thought he was involved."

"Then why?" she asked, unable to come up with another plausible reason.

"Are we going to beat around the bush or be upfront and honest?"

Rafe's blatant question surprised her, and she lifted her head to meet his serious golden-brown eyes. The fact that he wasn't going to beat around the bush and confront the elephant in the room warmed her. With her ex, it was always about lies and half truths, now that she was free of the situation and looking back, she knew he had put in just enough work to keep her happy without ever giving her all of himself. That would have been too much work and Bobby was all about avoiding effort whenever and wherever he could.

"Up front and honest," she whispered. Honestly, they were both too old and had too much at stake to be anything but. Elle knew she was taking one gigantic leap of faith here, laying her already bruised and shredded heart out on the table where it could so very easily be broken beyond repair. But if Ruthie's abduction had taught her anything, it was that life was way too short to hold back anything.

Relief filled his eyes and the sweetest smile she'd ever seen curled up his lips. "I went because I wanted to make sure there was nothing between you and your ex."

"There's nothing," she said quickly. It had been over between them for long enough that even her resentment and anger had faded. Now she was just relieved she'd dodged a bullet and was no longer married to Bobby, and grateful he'd given her the single best thing she'd ever had in her life in their daughter.

"Needed to be sure because I don't think I"m imagining this thing between us." Although he was being open with her, she detected the tiniest bit of doubt in his eyes. Rafe had been hurt, too, and like her, he had a child to protect.

"Not imagining it," she assured him and felt his entire body relax like she had lifted a weight from his shoulders. After everything he was doing for her and Ruthie, it felt good to be able to do that one teeny tiny thing for him.

"What are we going to do about it?"

If Ruthie had never been kidnapped, and she wasn't terrified that she wouldn't get her back alive, that would be an easy question to answer. But right now, with her life how it was, there was no way she had the mental or emotional energy for anything other than focusing on Ruthie. "Rafe … it's not that I don't like you because I do. Andy too. But right now, with Ruthie?—"

"I know she's your priority at the moment, honey, I would never ask or expect anything different. I"m not asking you for any sort of commitment right now, I just hope that you'll keep letting me and Andy be there for you, that you won"t shut us out when we want to be there for you. And when Ruthie comes home, you'll let us continue to be there for the both of you. After my ex left, I thought Andy was all I needed. I didn"t think anything was missing from our lives, but these last few days with you here, I realized something was missing. You. You filled a hole here I didn"t even know existed."

Everything inside her went soft and warm. Never once in their four-year relationship had her ex ever said something that sweet to her. Dating hadn"t been off the table, she'd just never had the time or inclination to do anything about it. It all seemed like too much work, but the thing was with Rafe it didn"t feel like work, it felt effortless. They just seemed to slot together so very easily.

"Thank you," she whispered, touching her lips to his jaw in a featherlight kiss.

"For what?"

"For understanding that Ruthie is my priority. For taking care of me, sharing your son with me, and offering me a future I thought had died when I got divorced. For knowing and embracing that a future with me doesn't just come with me but with a traumatized seven-year-old. For doing more in a few days than the cops and the FBI combined was able to do in more than a month. For caring enough to track down my ex just to make sure you wouldn't get in the middle of anything. For caring more about my daughter than her father ever has. For being here right now not just holding me in your arms but holding me together."

Placing a finger underneath her chin, he nudged her face up so he could brush his lips across hers. "Thank you for giving me a chance. Thank you for trusting me to find your little girl and bring her home to you. Your faith, your trust, your willingness to still believe in happy ever afters, it's humbling. I promise you, Elle, I won"t let you down like your ex did. I won"t walk away from you unless its your choice. From you or Ruthie."

Thing was, she believed that wholeheartedly.

Offering her damaged heart up to anyone was a huge gamble, but she believed Rafe would never take advantage of that and hurt her.