31. Kane

“We should call the police, right?” Liam stood near Sawyer’s desk, rocking slightly back and forth. “That would be the right thing to do. The sane thing. They’d have protocols for this sort of thing, wouldn’t they?”

Our search for Callie had brought us right back to Sawyer’s office, full circle, and there’d been no sign of her. There was no answer from her phone, not even when Bianca called her. It was like she’d vanished into thin air after seeing her mother, and we were at a loss of where to look.

Until Eli called us from her phone.

He had her. And his threat was clear. Sawyer was to meet him, alone. Fuck knows what would happen to Callie if we didn’t listen, but as soon as those words came out of Sawyer’s mouth, I knew I wasn’t letting him go anywhere by himself.

“No,” Sawyer replied after a few long seconds of thought. Seated in his chair, his brow was pulled deep over his eyes and he rhythmically tapped his fingers against the desk. “No police.”

“Why the hell not?” Liam snapped. “This psychopath has kidnapped our girl! I don’t give a shit about anything else. I don’t care about the patent or the stealing or any of that bullshit. I care about her!”

“So do I!” Sawyer snapped his head up, and he leveled Liam with a firm look. “So do I, Liam. And when I get my hands on that bastard, there won’t be any police around to help him.”

“I agree.” My words were quieter but caught both of their attention. None of us would say it directly, just in case something went wrong, but I agreed. No police. The things I wanted to do to Eli would be better done without the police involved. No witnesses. That vile snake wasn’t getting away this time.

“Oh…” Realization melted across Liam’s face. “So, no police.” He glanced between Sawyer and I. “So, what, we just go to the river and make him tell us where Callie is?”

“That’s the idea.” Sawyer combed one hand through his hair. “When I’m finished with him, he’ll be lucky if he can tell us. As long as he can write it down.”

Liam nodded slowly, then spun on his heel and headed out of the office. All the worry clinging to his features melted away when he ran to Marie. She was playing with Bianca at Callie’s desk, and luckily, Bianca had agreed to watch her for as long as we needed.

I turned back to Sawyer. “Did he say when?”

“A few hours.”

“Do you think she’s alive?” It was the loudest question in my mind, and no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, I simply couldn’t. Eli had already gone to extreme lengths and now he was backed into a corner. I didn’t trust myself to envision what he was capable of.

Sawyer’s gaze was low, hair falling across his forehead. Gone was the pristine look he favored so much.

“If he has hurt her,” Sawyer said slowly, lifting his gaze to me. “I will kill him.

The wait for nighttime was excruciating. Each hour dragged by like claws down a chalkboard and not even calls from our lawyers could do anything to distract us. Despite the slow passing of time, the last hour seemed to fly by, and we were rushing out of the office to head to the river. Liam was last. Leaving behind Marie for a second time today was hard for him, even if she was in good spirits.

He would be back with her in no time.

I hoped.

The spot Eli had chosen was rather secluded. A stretch of the river tucked behind an old Bistro that had closed its doors more than six months ago. The inky water glittered ominously in the moonlight as we approached. The alleyway opened into another dirtier alley with a small set of stairs leading to a higher platform.

There, Eli stood with a twisted smirk on his face. His features appeared sunken in the shallow light of the lone streetlight. That smirk widened at the sight of Sawyer, then faltered when Liam and I stepped into view.

“Well, I shouldn’t be surprised,” Eli remarked, sliding one hand into the pocket of his suit jacket. “Unable to meet even a simple request? Maybe you care for Callie even less than I anticipated.”

It took every ounce of my restraint not to charge forward and tackle Eli down those stone steps. Holding myself back was a challenge, and my muscles all over burned from how tightly I was tensing. Reacting so suddenly would do nothing to help Callie.

“I’m not stupid,” Sawyer snapped. “You wanted to talk. So talk.”

“Straight down to business?” Eli’s smirk returned. “Alright. Give me the patent.”

“Fine,” Sawyer answered so quickly that I didn’t even have time to be surprised. “Tell me why.”

“Why? Because you’re sitting on a gold mine and you know it.”

“To you,” Liam remarked bitterly. “If you want to inflate prices and kill people for profit, sure.”

“Down boy,” Eli sneered. “If I want an opinion from you, it’ll be about how to get black-out drunk. Until then, shut up.”

Liam’s hands curled into tight fists, and his teeth clacked together when he snapped his jaw shut.

Asshole.

“I’m tired of you, Sawyer. I’m tired of working my ass off only to bow down and play second fiddle to fucking Crane Enterprises because your rebrand put you right in my crosshairs. I’m hurt, you know, that you didn’t at least call me to let me know you’d be knocking me off my pedestal. Not even a gift basket.”

Sawyer remained stoic, his face a picture of calm. “A boot does not have tea with an ant before crushing it,” he remarked. “If you’d been any real kind of competition, you wouldn’t have bowed so easily.”

Heat crawled up my spine. I wanted to reach out and warn Sawyer not to antagonize the asshole but I couldn’t. It seemed Sawyer had a plan, and trusting him was my only option. Other than tackling Eli into the river but the outcome of that fantasy wasn’t meaningful.

“You watch your tongue,” Eli snapped. “You stomped your big fucking boots over everything, shoved me aside, and I was always scrambling to keep up, and why? People were blinded by this faux moral compass you shouted about from the rooftops. I never believed it for a second. And you!”

Eli’s narrow eyes slid to me.

“There was no way in hell I was going to play second fiddle to Golden Dov, a company led by a man with more money than sense.”

“Despite that,” I snapped, unable to remain quiet for a second longer. “I’m still above you. And you’re never going to get your hands on that patent because you wouldn’t even know what to do with it even if it did just fall right into your lap?—”

“You can have the patent,” Sawyer cut in, effectively silencing me. “Where is Callie?”

It struck me then that in all our hours of waiting for nighttime, we really should have agreed on a plan of attack. In truth, I was willing to do anything to get Callie back but the game of toying with Eli was known only to Sawyer. Following Liam’s lead, I fell silent and gritted my teeth as smugness burst across Eli’s face.

“You really do care about her, huh?” Eli said slowly. “Or is it simply a desire to punish her for betraying you? I can’t imagine how that must have felt, learning that she was the one that screwed you over.”

“Did she?” Sawyer tilted his head slightly. “She gave you the wrong patent. Looks like it wasn’t me that got screwed.”

Eli’s jaw tensed, sharpening like a blade. “Whatever. I’m not telling you where she is. I’m not stupid.”

“No Callie, no deal,” Sawyer replied and his shoulders rose an inch.

“You’ll get her,” Eli remarked. “After our deal is signed and dated, and that patent is mine. I’m not stupid enough to give you my only bargaining chip. Soon as you have her, you won’t sign shit. So I’m keeping her until my name is on the dotted line.”

Fuck. Our limited options continued to decrease, and with no hint as to what condition Callie was in, were we at a loss?

Realistically, what could we do to him? A threat to Eli was a threat to Callie.

“Bullshit,” I snapped. “You’re not getting a single thing until we know Callie is safe. Until one of us has verified it for ourselves.”

“Why, do you think I’m carting around her dead body to puppet for you?” Eli snorted.

A chill stole around my heart, and to my left, Liam shifted his weight between each foot. The thought of Callie dead was too much to bear, even as a threat and I stepped closer.

Sawyer, it seemed, shared the same distress. “The longer you keep her from us, the more hell that is going to rain down on your pathetic little head. Did you forget that we have the money? We have the power, we have the patent and we have the motivation. And you, you fucking snake, are all alone with us.”

For the first time, apprehension crossed Eli’s face. Even though he straightened up and stuck his chin out slightly, his eyes lingered on the mouth of the alleyway.

“Did you really think we would come here and just roll over for you?” Liam snapped.

“You forget one thing,” Eli sneered and he took a half step backward.

“And what’s that?” I demanded.

“I hold all the cards. You’re here to protect Callie and her baby, so whatever you want to do to be, you can’t because I’m the only person who knows where she is.”

Wait… did he say baby?!

Callie was pregnant? Since when?

“You won’t get within a State of her because?—!”

His threats died in a strangled cry as Sawyer launched himself forward and body-slammed into Eli with a roar. Tangled together, they both toppled down the platform and rolled down the stone steps, trapped in one another’s grip.

I glanced at Liam. My own confusion was mirrored in his own eyes.

Callie was pregnant. The how was obvious but when? And by who?

All questions that could wait given Sawyer’s murderous intent. They both landed in a heap at the bottom of the steps. Sawyer was quick to get on top and throw the first punch. The blow forced Eli’s head to the side with a cry, then he threw an elbow into Sawyer’s gut and knocked him backward.

“Where is she?!” Sawyer roared, scrambling back up and climbing on top of Eli. “Where the fuck is she?” Blow after blow rained down on Eli until the rat was able to punch Sawyer square in the face. As Sawyer fell, Eli scrambled upward with a ragged gasp but he immediately met my own fist.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“You can’t do this!” Eli screamed, then he grunted as I punched him in the stomach. He doubled over and Liam’s knee rose quickly, smashing into his face.

Blow after blow landed until I had Ely by the collar. I dragged him to the mouth of the alley and tossed him down next to a dumpster. The stink of trash was eye-watering.

“You had one chance,” I growled, bringing my foot down on his hand. Eli whimpered and grabbed at my ankle but with blood pouring from his face and one eye rapidly swelling shut, he had nothing. Shoes scuffed along the ground as Liam and Sawyer came to stand behind me.

“Think of millions,” I hissed, leaning my body weight forward onto Eli’s trapped hand. It won’t take me long to find out every move you made today, and I will track her down. I don’t need you alive to do it, and frankly, I am tired of you.”

“You hurt the woman we love,” Sawyer muttered behind me. “Fuck the patent. This stopped being about business the moment you threatened Callie.”

“And the stink here?” Liam scoffed. “No one’s gonna smell you until you’re a bag of bones.”

“Okay!” Eli gargled through the blood in his mouth. “Fuckin’— fucking hell. Okay!”

A small rush of relief flooded my chest and I leaned backward as the static sensation swept up my throat. I was not a violent man, and I had never harmed someone like this before, never mind killed them. But in those few seconds, when Eli threatened Callie and her baby, I understood what I was capable of.

What I would do for Callie.

“You’re all fucking psychos,” Eli coughed. Blood poured from his nose and several splits along his face.

“Where is she!?” Sawyer roared, suddenly leaning past me and punching the wall a hair”s breadth away from Eli’s face.

“She’s close!” he yelped. “She’s at a hotel nearby. I swear!”