Chapter 29

“NO!” JANIE LUNGEDaway from Matias, only to have him yank her back against his body. “Sawyer!”

Maria’s brother tightened his hold until his grip was excruciating and would leave bruises on her upper arms. “Stop fighting or I will kill your man. Do you want to watch him die?”

She froze, horrified. “No. Please, don’t hurt him.”

“We need to go,” Lorenzo muttered. “The sun’s coming up, and these bruisers won’t be out for long.” He kicked Sawyer in the ribs.

Maria rolled her eyes. “So kill them and be done with it. We won’t have to worry about them if they’re dead, will we?”

Fury at the situation and terror for Sawyer and Jesse exploded inside Janie. She thrashed violently enough to break free of Matias’s hold and raced to Sawyer. Dropping to her knees beside him, she cupped his beloved face with her hands while scanning his body for a small weapon with which to protect him, Jesse, and herself.

When she realized none of his visible weapons were small, her heart sank. “Sawyer,” she whispered. Janie released his face and ran her hands over his jacket as though checking for further injuries.

She touched a small lump in his inner pocket. What was that?

“Get her up, Lorenzo,” Maria snapped. “This is pathetic. Don’t you have a spine, Janie? You’re a disgrace to strong women everywhere.”

“Sawyer, please wake up.” Her voice sounded choked as she lowered her upper body to cover his chest. Her hands roamed over his ribs until she could slip her left hand into the pocket and grip the object.

“Up.” Lorenzo grabbed her right arm, yanked Janie to her feet, and toward him.

She kept the hard object in her fist and shoved her hands into her hoodie pockets. If she was lucky, they wouldn’t search her before they took her away.

Before she could evade the blow, Lorenzo slapped her. “My cousin isn’t the only one who knows how to tame a woman,” he murmured. His gaze slid over her body. “Keep pushing me, and I’ll ask the boss to give you to me first.”

First? Janie’s eyes watered from the pain of the blow. She didn’t know what to make of Lorenzo’s statement, but it couldn’t be good.

“If you say another word, your man will pay the price,” Lorenzo said, his voice almost a growl. “Do you understand?” His grip on her arm tightened.

She nodded.

He glanced at his cousins. “Let’s go. He’s waiting.”

“What about Sawyer and Jesse?” Maria asked. “We can’t leave them alive. They’re too dangerous.”

A snort from Matias. “Forget them. Let Janie’s man suffer, wondering what she’s enduring.”

“Are you crazy? They work for a security company.”

“Wannabe cops. No threat, Maria. Besides, they have no way of tracking her. She could be anywhere in the country by the time they figure out which direction to go.” He smirked at Janie.

Janie remained silent. Let them think she had no hope of escaping. She would never give up trying to get away from Maria and her cronies. Sawyer and his teammates would find her.

Lorenzo shifted his hold from Janie’s arm to her neck. He squeezed, his eyes lit with amusement at her struggle to breathe. When her vision started going dark, he eased the pressure. “Very good,” he murmured. He stroked his thumb along the side of her throat. “You have a cell phone?”

Again, she nodded. She hated to give up her satellite phone, but if she tried to hide it, they would check her for it and might find the weapon she’d taken from Sawyer.

“Leave it here.” Lorenzo watched as she complied, then said, “Now remove all your jewelry. Let your man think you’ve run off without him.” He smiled. “Another twist of the knife to his heart.”

No, no, no. No GPS trackers for Zane and the others to use to find her. But what choice did she have? Janie removed the jewelry and the watch and laid them beside the phone.

“Look at your man.”

She complied. Sawyer was still out cold, his skin pale.

“That is the last time you will see him. Come.” He used his hold on her throat to force Janie to the back door of her shop.

In less than a minute, Lorenzo shoved Janie into the back of a large black SUV with tinted windows. He followed her inside and closed the door. His left arm circled her neck and anchored her to his side. “If you cooperate, you may live another day.” He leaned down and bit the side of her neck.

Janie cried out as pain flashed through her.

“Don’t damage her too much,” Matias warned. “He won’t be pleased if you do.”

“You worry too much, cousin.”

“And you should have a care for your life.” Matias started the engine and drove away from Natural Bliss. “Keep her under control. I don’t want her attacking me while I drive.”

Lorenzo chuckled. “Don’t worry. We’ll get to know each other until we arrive at our destination. She’ll be too busy to cause you trouble.”

“For pity’s sake,” Maria hissed. “At least wait until he gives you permission to do what you want with her. I’d rather not lose you because of that tramp.”

Tramp? Maria had a lot of nerve calling Janie a tramp after what she’d done to David.

“Are you going to fight me?” Lorenzo whispered. “I love it when my women fight.”

“I’m not your woman,” she said, voice cold.

He smiled. The sight chilled Janie to the bone. “You will be soon. If you’re holding onto hope that your man will find you, don’t waste your time. The world is an enormous place. It’s easy for one woman to disappear. No one will find you until it’s too late.”

She refused to answer him. What was the point? Lorenzo, Matias, and Maria didn’t know the Fortress operatives, especially Sawyer, like she did. They would never give up. Sawyer would tear the world apart to find her. She knew that like she knew the sun would rise tomorrow morning. Whether she would be alive to see the new day dawn was anyone’s guess.

Lorenzo laughed. “Oh, this will be fun. You’re a stubborn one.”

He had no idea.

Throughout the drive, the man held her pinned to his side and continually trailed his fingers through Janie’s hair and along her neck, circling the bite mark he must have made. Although she showed no outward sign of the revulsion she felt, Janie’s skin crawled everywhere he touched her. An intimidation tactic, one designed to make her feel helpless and hopeless. She refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing he scared her. More than once on the drive, Lorenzo bit her neck in the same place and whispered in her ear how she tasted like his favorite candy.

Ninety interminable minutes later, Matias turned off onto a side road and followed a winding gravel and dirt path deep into the countryside.

Despite Janie’s attention to her surroundings, she wouldn’t be able to find her way out of this area without help. Hopefully, Maria and her brother and cousin wouldn’t check her for weapons. If they did, she’d lose every advantage she had to protect herself until the Texas Team found her.

Another thirty minutes passed before Matias exited a forest to stop at the gates of a large compound.

Janie stared at the dense bars of the front gate and the thick concrete walls surrounding the complex of buildings. Even if she escaped her captors, she had nowhere to go unless she found an unguarded exit.

Her resolve hardened. She wasn’t giving up, no matter how bleak the circumstances seemed. Holding on was the only option. She wanted a future with Sawyer Chapman. He’d promised, and she was collecting on it.

Two guards at the gate peered into the vehicle. Satisfied, they opened the gate and allowed the vehicle to pass into the compound. Matias drove to a large building in the center of the compound and parked. He and Maria climbed out. She hurried into the building, leaving Janie on her own with the two goons.

Matias opened the back door, reached inside and hauled Janie out. Lorenzo joined his cousin. Each of the men grasped one of her arms and marched her toward the building.

Inside, they headed down a long hallway and stopped outside a closed door. From inside, Maria’s laughter sounded muffled.

Lorenzo knocked on the door and turned the knob when told to enter, and pushed the door open.

Inside the room, Maria’s arms were twined around a man’s neck. She sneered when she saw Janie. “Look, sweetheart. Your guest has arrived.” She lowered her arms.

The man turned to stare at Janie.

Her blood ran cold at the sight of Diego Hernandez.