Twenty-six

TWENTY-SIX

Paxton

Focused.

If there was one word that I'd use to describe myself in work-related situations, that would be it.

In any instance where someone had been kidnapped—whether held for ransom or not—I never had a difficult time remaining alert and clear-minded. My job required me to rescue people who'd been taken under duress, and the situations almost always had a high level of intensity surrounding them. My concentration needed to be top tier in my career.

Never, not once in all the years I'd been working at Harper Security Ops, had I ever felt like this.

While I knew I needed to be engaged in my job, following the specific protocol my coworkers and I always used, this time was different.

My heart was screaming at me to go and get Aria, to ignore what my brain and body knew were the right things to do to rescue her safely. It was the hardest battle I'd ever fought. I could only hope Aria would forgive me for taking the time necessary to do this right.

Fortunately, she wouldn't have to wait much longer. Because I'd come up with a plan—something that needed to be tweaked as we got more and more information and made our way to Birch Creek—and I knew where she was.

I made my way here to Aria's old hometown, remained in contact with her best friend along the way, and went to the spot Britney knew that Aria's father had been conducting business with these men.

The place was empty.

The doors were locked, the lights off.

Unsure I'd find Aria there, I asked Britney about her parents' home. Even if I would only find them there, I had to explore every possible avenue that might lead me to her. And I couldn't imagine her parents wouldn't want to help me locate her once they learned she was missing.

My team didn't hesitate to follow me wherever the search led us, and I was grateful to each and every one of them. I'd managed to round up the entire kidnap and ransom unit with the exception of one guy. Damon, Magnus, Banks, and Hart were all with me, but Nixon stayed back. It was too close to his wife's due date, and we didn't want to risk her going into labor and him being far from her, even if only for a couple of hours.

In addition to those I worked with regularly on cases like this, Jesse, Blaze, and Kane all stepped up to join in.

After Britney had shared the truth about what Aria had been through and the things her father had gotten involved in, I couldn't be sure just how large the scope of the drug operation was. I knew there wasn't anything that was going to stop me from getting to Aria, so I figured it was best to come prepared with as many men as I could get, just to be sure we wouldn't have to delay the rescue.

And now that we'd made it to the address Britney had given me as her parents' place, my body was itching to get moving.

Because I knew she was here. We'd parked a distance away, not wanting to alert anyone to our presence prematurely, and I saw it. The SUV that had been on the camera footage from my house was parked in the driveway.

She was this close to me.

I had to remind myself to remain focused, to hold on to any patience I had left, in order to not screw this up for Aria. On the bright side, I had a team of guys with me who understood. Many of them had already been through a similar situation where the woman they loved was in danger. Although they were allowing me to lead this mission, there wasn't a chance they'd stand by and say nothing if I let my emotions get the better of me and started making foolish decisions about how to handle this.

So far, nobody had needed to step in, so I was reasonably confident I hadn't quite lost the hold I had on my emotions. But I was getting close to that point. All I wanted was to have Aria back in my arms.

"Alright, does everybody know what they're doing?" I asked.

"We're good, Pax," Banks assured me. "We all know where we need to be."

Magnus was quick to chime in. "Yeah. We've done this kind of thing before, so you can rest assured we're going to be fine. "

Nodding, feeling antsy, I agreed, "I know. But there's a lot that's unknown in this case. We have no idea the extent of what we're walking into here."

"We're fine," Jesse assured me. "I don't normally handle cases like this, but I'm confident that all of us have walked into situations where we knew even less about what we'd find when we got inside."

"Exactly," Damon said. "We might be going in with a direct approach and hoping for the best. You've got enough trained men with you, and we're all going in armed. With the number of vehicles outside, even if they were packed with as many men as they could fit into them, I don't think we're looking at more than fifteen potentially armed guys inside. The eight of us can easily handle that."

Nodding my agreement, I said, "Okay. Okay, let's go."

We spent the next few minutes making our approach, doing it discreetly. I couldn't risk a single thing going wrong, not until I had Aria safe and out of harm's way. As we all got into position, I tried to remind myself of what Damon had said. Fifteen men inside this house would be a challenge, but we'd easily be able to handle it. Jesse, Banks, and Hart came with me to the front of the house while Magnus, Damon, Blaze, and Kane moved to other points of entry around the house.

With confirmation everyone was ready to go, I pressed my finger to the doorbell.

Keeping my face out of the line of vision for anyone who might have been attempting to look out the window before opening the door, we waited.

And when the door opened a moment later, I was face to face with a man who didn't quite remember me. But once my eyes were locked on his, I said, "I told you not to test me, motherfucker."

That's when something dawned on his features, and he reached for the gun at his side. I sprang into action against him, feeling Hart lead Jesse and Banks deeper into the house. Ronnie and I got into a bit of a scuffle, him attempting to throw a couple of cheap shots at my face and missing. The truth was, the guy didn't have any skills when it came to defending himself. He might have known how to wield a gun, but being disarmed before he could even manage to take aim made that impossible.

I was vaguely aware of the sounds of other men being taken down elsewhere in the house, but I mostly ignored it.

Although Ronnie had the ability to put up a bit of a fight against me, far more than Aria would have been able to against him and the guy he'd arrived at her place with hours ago, I had him down on the ground with my knee in his back in almost record time. Then I demanded, "Tell me where she is."

"Fuck you."

I brought my gun out, pressed it against him, and repeated, "Tell me where she is."

He remained silent.

"You didn't listen, motherfucker. I told you to leave her alone, and you didn't fucking listen. This is going down. For you and everyone you work for. You should have listened. Now tell me where she is."

Before he could respond, Banks was in my space. "I've got him, Pax. This floor is secure. Five men."

I released my hold on Ronnie, shoving off him as I stood. Jesse and Damon were standing, ready to join me up to the second floor. With guns drawn, we ascended the stairs, crept down the hall and looked around corners into each room along the way. But I had a feeling from the moment we'd made it to the top stair that it was the closed door at the end of the hall that I'd find Aria.

Unfortunately, to keep things safe for her, myself, and my entire team, we had to make our approach the way we were. And it was a good thing we did, because just as we made it to the room right before the one with the closed door, the other guy who'd come to Aria's house had jumped out with his gun. Damon's hand caught his wrist, sending the barrel of the gun up as the man fired off a shot.

I checked inside the room as Jesse and Damon worked together to disarm and subdue the man. Nobody else was there.

And since nobody else came running in our direction after hearing that single gunshot, I was relatively certain we'd gotten all of them.

When I needed to unlock the closed door from the outside, I felt reassured I'd find Aria inside. I just didn't know what state I'd find her in.

Needless to say, of all the thoughts I had about how I might find her, what I saw when I stepped inside wasn't one of them.

When I opened the door, I first scanned the room for signs of anyone standing guard with a weapon. All was clear.

But then I took in the scene and wanted to kill someone.

Aria was sitting on the ground, her ankles and wrists bound. Judging by their looks and the resemblance to her, I could only assume the man and two other women in the room were her family members—dad, mom, and sister. None of them were tied up, and they weren't doing anything to help her.

They stood there, unmoving and stunned to see me. Perhaps they were unsure who I was or who had been shot. I didn't care what they thought of me.

I returned my attention to my girl. Her eyes locked on mine, and there was something I couldn't quite read in her stare. For a few brief seconds, we didn't say anything. But then it happened.

Aria burst into tears.

Instantly, I moved toward her and untied her ankles. As I moved to her wrists, she leaned her body into mine and sobbed. I took her weight, wanting to offer whatever comfort she needed while I worked on releasing her.

"You're okay, Aria. I've got you."

Her body shuddered with the deep breath she tried to take to settle herself.

"Are you hurt?" I asked.

She shook her head.

I lifted her in my arms, one arm around her back and the other beneath her knees. Then I stood, glared at her family, and walked out of the room, passing Jesse as I did.

"Is she okay?"

I gave him a nod. "Yeah. Her family is in there. She was tied up. They weren't, and they weren't helping her, either. Can you make sure they stay where they are until I can get a handle on this?"

"You got it."

By the time I got downstairs, the last of the five men was being cuffed by Hart. Banks was on the phone, likely making a call to the police. Kane moved in my direction.

"All good?"

"Yeah. There's one guy upstairs. Damon's got him. Is Banks on with the police?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I'm taking her out of here for a few minutes. We'll be back in when it's necessary."

"You're good, Pax. Go."

I carried Aria outside, holding her close to my body and feeling nothing but relief as I did. I had no less than a dozen things I wanted to say to her, but all of them could wait. She was safe for now, and that's all that mattered to me.

Of course, I realized she was probably scared and confused, so as I walked down the street toward my vehicle, I filled her in on what she could expect. "I'd love nothing more than to take you out of here right away. Unfortunately, the police have been called, and we need to wait around, so you can give a statement. As soon as I can take you home, I will. For now, you can stay out here."

"Sasha was outside, and?—"

"She's fine. Some of the boys in the neighborhood were playing with her in your driveway when I got home. I took care of her, so she's safe inside your house right now."

Some of the tension eased in her body. "Thank you."

I'd do anything for you, I thought. Instead, I replied, "Of course." We continued down the block, and once we were within twenty feet of the vehicle, I said, "I have a surprise for you."

Aria tipped her head back to look at me, curiosity in her eyes. All I could do was offer a half-hearted smile in return. When she heard the car door open, she looked in that direction. And once her best friend stepped out with tears in her eyes, Aria's body started shaking with the force of her cries all over again.

"You brought Britney," she cried.

"She's the reason I knew where to find you."

We made it to the car, and I set Aria down on her feet. Britney charged forward, wrapping her arms around her best friend. I stood, watching the two of them for a few seconds, but my attention was ultimately pulled away by Banks coming in my direction.

"Aria?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"How about you and Britney get in the car while I handle a few things here? When the police are here and ready to talk to you, I'll let you know. I'll be right here until that time comes."

She sent an uncertain look my way and gave me a nod in return.

Then she and Britney climbed back inside the car.

It was going to be a few hours before we were able to get out of here and back home to Steel Ridge. But the minute I had her alone, I intended to tell her everything I believed she needed to hear.