Twenty-four

TWENTY-FOUR

Paxton

It was funny how fast life could change.

One day I was going about my business, leaving work, and turning on the music the second I hopped in my vehicle to head home.

Not anymore.

Now, I left work, hopped in my vehicle, and felt undeniably content to not have any noise in the car except for my own thoughts. I couldn't deny how much my life had changed over the last few weeks.

Aria had never been a thought in my mind mere months ago. I hadn't even known she existed. She was all I seemed capable of thinking about now.

And although we'd made great strides in our relationship recently, I found that there was something about her that was gnawing at me, leaving me feeling a touch unsettled. Aria and I had been spending a lot of time together, and there was no question just how much of a fondness we had for each other.

But she was holding on to something painful from her past. I hated that for her, and I wanted nothing more than to be able to fix it for her. Sadly, I had no choice but to remain patient with her.

If Aria needing some time to get to a place where she felt comfortable enough to share the full story of what led her to Steel Ridge was the biggest hurdle we had to overcome, I'd consider myself lucky. Over the last few years, I'd seen how trying things could be and actually had been for a majority of my coworkers. If all I needed to do was exercise some patience with Aria, to give her time to understand and accept she could trust me, I could give her that.

And why wouldn't I?

Except for that, everything else between us was great. Even this issue didn't exactly pose a problem for us. It was simply that I'd had it on my mind more now over the last several days, since she'd shared what she had when we were out at the fall festival last week. Given that I was really beginning to develop deeper feelings for her, it affected me to see her experiencing that distress.

I turned onto our street and made my approach toward our driveways. I knew she only had to work at the deli earlier today and would have the evening off. I was hoping the two of us could have dinner together and maybe take the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood.

Just as I pulled up, I noticed three of the kids from the neighborhood were in Aria's driveway with Sasha, their bikes laying a few feet away from them. Though I found it odd that Sasha was outside when she didn't normally do that, I noted Aria's open garage door and assumed she had to be working on unpacking again.

I parked in my driveway, exited my vehicle, and immediately moved toward Aria's house, so I could say hello to the kids and kiss my woman.

But as I crossed the land between our properties, the kids—Jason, Ryder, and Ryan—looked up at me with concern in their expressions.

"Hey, guys. What's going on?" I asked them.

Ryder stood, pointed at Sasha, and answered, "We were out riding our bikes, and we saw her out. We knew you had cats, but we've never met her."

"She's not my cat. She's Aria's cat," I explained, pointing toward Aria's open garage door, thinking it was even more strange that she allowed Sasha to walk outside without going up to the boys and introducing them to her.

"But she left," Ryder said.

"Yeah, she left," Ryan confirmed.

I glanced behind us and noted her car was still in the driveway. "What do you mean?"

Jason stood with Sasha in his arms. "We were all the way down at my house when we saw her leave."

"You mean, she walked somewhere?"

They all shook their heads, but it was Jason who answered, "No. She got in a car."

I tipped my head to the side, something twisting in my gut. The last thing I wanted to do was scare these kids, so until I knew exactly what was happening, I had to keep my cool. "How long ago did she leave?"

Jason shrugged and Ryder said, "About fifteen minutes, maybe."

Her car was still here; Sasha was outside. It was far too unsettling. "Okay. She'll probably be right back, then. I'll take Sasha inside for her. You guys did an awesome job watching her, and she seems to like all of you."

All three boys wore proud smiles. "Thanks, Pax."

"No. Thank you." I took Sasha from Jason's arms and turned toward the house as the boys hopped on their bikes again.

Once inside the garage, I quickly assessed the situation. There were multiple canvas paintings strewn about, and I immediately recalled seeing these the last time Aria was attempting to unpack her things still in storage containers. I would have thought she was interested in hanging them up, but from the way they were tossed together, that didn't seem likely.

"What happened here, Sasha? Where's your mom?" I murmured as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and moved to walk inside, still holding Sasha. I was almost there when I noticed Aria's phone sitting on one of the shelves. I picked it up and carried it inside with me.

Once there, I set Sasha down, but she didn't walk off. She stuck close to me while I pulled up the footage from the cameras outside my house. There was one that captured the last twelve or fifteen feet of Aria's driveway, and I was hoping I'd be able to see who she left with.

It didn't take long to find the footage I needed, and when I did, my stomach dropped. Because not only did I see two men get out of a car and walk up her driveway, but I also recognized one of them. He was the same guy who'd stalked Aria and followed her home from the pub that one night.

Bile rose in my throat.

I fast-forwarded through the footage until I saw the men walking back toward the vehicle, Aria with them. And when she turned her head to look back at my house—the look on her face almost like a desperate plea to help save her—I could no longer remain calm.

With my pulse pounding in my ears, the blood rushing in my veins, I found Aria's keys, hit the button to close her garage door, and moved to the front door. Sasha followed me, clearly distressed.

I crouched down at the front door, brought my hand to the top of her head, and promised, "I'm going to find her. I'll bring her back soon."

Sasha meowed in response.

Unable to waste any additional time, I stood and walked out, locking the door behind me. As I made my way over to my place—my dogs still needed to be let out, and I had no clue yet where to go to get Aria back—I found the number in my phone I needed and tapped on it.

"This is Landen."

"Landen, it's Pax. Thank God, you're still at the office."

"What's going on? Are you okay?" he questioned me.

I got inside my house, my brood meeting me at the door, and answered, "I'm fine, but Aria's not. Long story short, she's my neighbor and my girlfriend, and she was kidnapped about twenty-five minutes ago."

"Shit. Any idea who might have taken her? What can I do to help?"

Landen worked in the private investigation unit at Harper Security Ops, so I hoped he was going to be able to help me figure out where to turn next. I certainly didn't intend to waste time driving all over Steel Ridge in hopes something was going to pop up and tell me where to find Aria .

"She was followed home from The Steel Pub a couple weeks ago," I explained, opening the back door to let the dogs out. "I intervened that night with the guy, but apparently, he didn't heed my warning. The camera footage from my house shows that guy and another one leading her away from her place and into their vehicle. I can't be sure if it's the same one he was in that night, but it's the only start we've got. Any chance you can reach out to Jesse and find out what camera footage is accessible from the pub that night? He'll know the exact date."

"Yeah, man, absolutely. What kind of car did she leave in today?"

"It was a newer model SUV. Black. Possibly a Suburban."

"I'll check into it and let you know what I find."

I'd moved to the kitchen to work on getting the food situated for the pets. "I'm fifteen minutes out; call me if you find anything in the meantime."

"Will do."

After disconnecting the call with Landen, I made quick work of taking care of the pets and was out the door in a flash. The moment I was in my car and racing back to work—no distraction of pets to take care of and kids to shield from horror—it pressed in on me.

Aria was missing. She'd been kidnapped. And I had a crummy lead, at best.

What if I couldn't find her?

What if the worst happened?

The more I considered all the possibilities, the more my thoughts ran wild. And I couldn't shake the notion that this was something more than just a random guy showing up again, because he didn't like being turned down and humiliated that night.

If that's what it was, why would he have come back with someone else?

Something cold and hollow settled in my stomach. The bad vibes slithered across my skin and along my spine. I had to find her. I had to get her back safely.

It was only by some miracle I made it back to the office, because I'd zoned out on the drive. Images of Aria with her beautiful smile, gorgeous dimple, and stunning green eyes filled my vision.

As I'd driven home earlier, I'd been mulling over this issue that seemed to be plaguing Aria, telling myself it bothered me because I was starting to develop deeper feelings for her. But now that I knew something nefarious was happening, I realized just how wrong I'd been.

I wasn't just developing deeper feelings for Aria. It had already happened, and I needed her to know the truth about how I felt. What if I didn't get that chance?

If I couldn't locate her before something bad happened, I'd never forgive myself.

I raced through the parking lot and didn't slow down until I reached Landen's office. Jesse was there with him, and they both sent sympathetic looks in my direction. "Anything?" I asked, the desperation in my tone unmistakable.

"Without knowing if this is the car we're looking for, we did find one on the footage from the pub that matches the description you gave me," Landen shared.

"Great. Do you have any info on the owner?"

"That's the thing, Pax. The car is registered to a location that's hours outside of Steel Ridge. "

As soon as he said it, my body tensed. "Is it Birch Creek?"

His brows drew together. "How did you know that?"

"Birch Creek is where Aria's from," I explained. "Fuck. I had this feeling on the way over here. When that guy followed her home from the pub, I had assumed it was random, but when I saw him on the camera footage this afternoon, and he was with another guy, something wasn't right. I think she was a target."

"What are you going to do?" Jesse asked. "Any idea who would want to harm her? Is this guy an ex?"

I was about to shake my head when a phone rang in my hand. But it wasn't my own. I still had Aria's phone, and the display indicated Britney was calling. "This is her best friend."

"Maybe she knows something," Jesse and Landen reasoned simultaneously.

Halfway through the second ring, I answered, "Britney?"

"Uh… yeah. Who's this?"

"This is Paxton."

Confusion turned to surprise and excitement. "Oh, Paxton. Hi. Is Aria in the shower right now?"

"Aria's missing. And I need your help."

"What? What do you mean, she's missing? I just talked to her about an hour ago."

I inhaled deeply, trying to keep my cool, but I was on the very edge of hopelessness. "I know. It just happened within the last half an hour or so."

"Oh God," she croaked.

"I have reason to believe that the men who took her are from Birch Creek," I shared. "You're her best friend, Britney. She's talked about you several times. Do you have anything you can tell me about who might have come here from there for her, and why she might have willingly walked to their car?"

My words were met with silence.

That's when I knew.

Britney didn't have a doubt in her mind about who had taken Aria. There was only one thing left for me to do. "Britney?" I called.

"Yeah?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"I know Aria wasn't just feeling adventurous when she decided to move to Steel Ridge," I began. "Something happened. She told me she needed to get away. But she never gave me the full details, and I foolishly assumed it was simply some family problems, like she'd hinted at. She indicated there was more to the story, but I didn't suspect anything that would lead to this."

"I told her she should have shared the truth with you," Britney cried. "She was terrified to do it. She didn't want to risk losing you."

This was bad.

Worse than I could have imagined, and I didn't even know what I was dealing with yet.

I wanted to believe Aria knew the kind of guy I was. She had to know I wouldn't walk away from her. Didn't she know how I felt about her? I couldn't get through an hour of my day without thinking about her.

Unless she'd done something truly heinous, which I didn't believe Aria had the kind of evil inside her to commit a crime like that, there wasn't a chance I'd leave her. She'd made me the happiest I'd ever been.

"You've got to tell me what I'm dealing with, Britney. "

"She'll kill me if I tell you."

"She might not survive if you don't," I warned her.

There was an extended pause. I thought I was crawling out of my skin with impatience. If Britney didn't help me with this, I'd be heading into a town I didn't know, trying to find a woman who meant everything to me. I pressed my palm against the wall, grateful for the support it provided. Maybe I needed to sit down, because the despair I felt was almost too much to stomach.

I couldn't lose this woman. I'd do anything to protect her.

Just as I was about to make another demand for Aria's best friend to help me, Britney said, "You have to promise me you're going to give her the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know what was happening."

The benefit of the doubt?

I pushed off the wall and raked my fingers through my hair. Why would Britney ask me to do that? Had Aria really believed I wouldn't understand whatever this was? Did she think that I could so easily pretend I felt nothing for her?

Aria had turned my world upside down in the best way imaginable. There was so much to like about her, so much more I wanted to explore with her. She'd effortlessly wormed her way into my heart and my life.

Needing Britney to understand where I stood, so I could tell Aria exactly what she meant to me, I declared, "I don't need to do that. I love her, Britney. Whatever this is, I'm not going anywhere. But I need to know what it is, so I can help her."

"It's her family."

"What? "

"Her dad, specifically," she clarified. "Aria's mom got sick, and things got bad at her family's store. Between the medical costs and the downturn at the store, things got really bad for them. They were going to lose everything. Aria's the reason they didn't. She made it possible for them to keep their home, pay off the creditors, and get the medical debt cleared."

My stomach was twisted in knots at the endless possibilities of what Aria could have done to fix a situation that seemed so grave. "What did she do?"

"She painted."

I had a lot of ideas in my head about what Britney was going to say, but it was safe to say that wasn't one of them. "She painted?"

"Yes. And she's phenomenal at it. So, when her father came home from the store one day, probably one of the darkest days next to learning about Florence's cancer diagnosis, and he told the family that an art dealer had come into the store, seen one of Aria's paintings, and wanted to buy it and the three others in the collection for twenty-five thousand dollars, they sold them. Those paintings had so much sentimental value, and they all agreed to sell them. It crushed her. But she did it for her family, to save them. And once those paintings sold, more were commissioned. Aria was ecstatic, and she painted nonstop for years. Even after her mom was better and the bills were all caught up, she continued to paint and take care of her family. But then about a year before she moved, Aria learned the truth."

"What truth?"

"The paintings were never in an art gallery. There was never an art dealer. "

My stomach pitched. "They were a cover for something," I stated, quickly determining the direction this story was headed.

"Yes."

"What was it?"

Following an extended silence, Britney replied, "Drugs. Aria was devastated, Paxton. You have to believe me. She told her father she was done, that she was never going to paint again, but he told her they couldn't just quit like that. He needed time to get them out. She gave him a year, never telling her mom and her sister the truth about what was happening."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "He never got them out, did he?"

"No. And Aria never told her mom or her sister the real reason she left. They called her selfish for not continuing to paint and take care of them. They don't know what her dad did. Worst of all, since she's moved, her father has been trying to get in touch with her. She told me he was frantic, pleading with her to come back, or at least tell him where she was. I don't know. I think things likely took a turn. Aria was always the strongest of the bunch when it came to taking care of them, but that's because she loves fiercely. My guess, if what you're saying is the truth and she walked willingly into a car with these people, her family's got to be in trouble. They hurt her, betrayed her, and she'd still risk herself, her morals, and the possibility that you might not ever speak to her again just so she can protect them."

Aria always said things to make it seem like I was the most compassionate person she'd ever met. Yet here she was, doing this, to save her family again .

I took a few seconds to consider my options. With my mind made up, I said, "I'm putting together a team, and I'm coming out there. I can't go into this blind, and I won't screw it up, especially if she's at risk and there's a chance this is going to come back on her. I need to work out some details here, and I'm going to need more information from you, Britney. When I call you back, you need to answer."

"Of course. You're going to save her, right? That's what you do."

I didn't know how this was all going to go down or the scope of what we were dealing with, but there was one thing I didn't have any doubts about. "I'm going to save her."

The moment the words were out of my mouth, I set about doing what I had to do to make that a reality. And when the dust settled, and she was safe again, I prayed that Aria would realize she never had to worry about me walking away from her ever again.