CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The trailer had stopped and started so many times, April and the others barely even noticed it much anymore. They had no idea if Ryan was screwing with their heads with so many stops. No clue how much time had passed since April had been taken out of the trailer, then returned with the food and blankets.

By April’s estimation, it had been at least two days. They were out of water once more, and the food that was left held no appeal. The women were exhausted, cold, and scared out of their minds.

But none of that really mattered—because June was definitely in labor. Her contractions had increased in intensity and number, and there was no denying that baby Max was determined to come into the world, whether they were ready or not.

“Breathe, June. That’s it. You’re doing so good,” April said from behind her. She was leaning against the side of the trailer with June using her as a backrest. Carlise was next to her, holding one of her hands in a death grip, and Marlowe was kneeling between her legs, occasionally checking to see how far along she was.

Thank goodness they had the flashlight. Without it, this experience would be utterly terrifying and far more difficult than it was already.

No one was prepared for the trailer door to open. The sun wasn’t shining. The overcast day looked extremely gloomy and depressing.

“Out,” Ryan ordered.

“June can’t walk. She’s having her baby!” April barked, way more harshly than she might’ve if she wasn’t so worried about her friend.

“If she doesn’t walk, I’ll shoot her right now,” Ryan said, lifting his hand and pointing that fucking gun right at June’s midsection.

April had a few choice words for the man she hated more than she could remember hating anyone in her entire life. She was hungry, stressed, thirsty, sick of peeing in a bucket, and so freaking worried about June having her baby in such unsanitary, remote, and unsafe conditions.

“Please! June needs a doctor. She’s in labor,” April tried again.

“I don’t care. No, strike that. I do care. I’m glad. It makes everything about my plan even better. I bet Prettymon will be reduced to a sniveling child when he learns what’s happening. Get out. Now!”

April turned to her friends, trying to ignore the man still holding the weapon pointed at June. “Girls . . . let’s do this. Marlowe, you scoot down to the end first. Carlise, you help hold June up. I’ll get her to the opening, and we’ll all help her walk.”

No one moved.

“Please, Marlowe,” April whispered.

“We’ve got this,” June said weakly, surprising April. “Just think of the story I’ll have for Max.”

“Right, okay,” Carlise said as she lowered the blanket back over June’s lap. It was the only usable blanket they had left. When June’s water broke, they’d used the other one to soak up the liquid, and it was currently under her.

Ryan had watched without comment as they’d had their discussion, and now he took a step back as Marlowe scooted toward him and slowly got out of the trailer. She swayed on her feet, and a look of pain crossed her face as she stood fully upright for the first time in days.

Carlise held June as she helped her move toward the opening. April hovered behind them with a hand on June’s back and one on Carlise’s arm.

When all four of them were standing behind the trailer, April looked around. All she could see were trees. The truck and trailer were backed up near a dilapidated cabin. There were no other houses in sight, and only the sound of the wind in the trees and the occasional bird.

Surprisingly, they were quite a distance from the cabin. Maybe about thirty yards, despite a trail leading right beside it, easily wide enough for the truck. April figured it was Ryan’s petty way of torturing them just a little more.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he said as if he was talking about the weather and not pointing a gun in their faces and threatening all of them. “You’re going to walk in a straight line toward the door. If you take one step to the left or the right . . . let’s just say getting shot will be the least of your worries.”

April tilted her head as she studied him, even as a sick feeling made her stomach cramp. “Why?” she blurted before she thought better of it.

“Glad you asked,” Ryan said gleefully. “Because every inch of the ground around that cabin is rigged with explosives. Trip wires, IEDs, land mines . . . you name it, it’s there. If you don’t walk exactly where I tell you, if you lose your balance, if you try to run . . . KABOOM!” he yelled.

All four women jerked in fright at his exclamation.

“So you,” he said, jabbing his gun in June’s direction. “You’ll walk, by yourself, or you and that brat will die. There will be arms and legs raining down like confetti. How do you think your precious prince will like that?”

April felt June shaking. But she couldn’t have been more proud of her when she straightened her spine and said, “I think Cal is gonna kill you slowly and painfully, until you’re begging him to put you out of your misery.” Her menacing tone was even more impressive, knowing how much pain she was in.

Instead of getting mad or looking concerned, Ryan simply laughed. “The only ones begging will be the soldiers. Now get going. Time is ticking.”

Despite knowing she and the others were bait, April had still prayed that Jack and the guys would find them. That they’d figure out her lame clues and swoop in like the heroes they were. Now, for the first time, she actually didn’t want to be found.

She had no idea if Ryan was lying about the explosives or not, but it was obvious he had something horrible planned. Whatever sick game he was playing, the women weren’t his focus. He’d used them, and would continue to use them, to hurt the guys.

She wouldn’t let that happen. She didn’t know what she could do to prevent it, but she’d rather die herself than sit back and watch Jack walk into an ambush.

“See those pink circles on the ground?” Ryan asked as he motioned toward the cabin with his head.

April and the others turned to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, there were circles on the ground, about two inches wide, bright pink, leading from the back of the trailer to the front door of the cabin.

“If you step precisely on each of those, you won’t blow up. But if you miss, or try to be a hero and run, you’ll die. There are explosives to each side and between the marks. And to show you that I’m not bluffing, that I’ve rigged this entire area with enough charges to blow up anyone and anything that steps in the wrong place, let me give you a little demonstration.”

April held her breath as Ryan bent down to pick up a fairly large rock on the ground. For the third time, she wanted desperately to run. She was the only one who had even a remote chance of outrunning this asshole. But she wouldn’t. Because Ryan would shoot her, or shoot one of the women out of spite.

And it didn’t look as if anything was in the immediate area. She’d probably have to go miles to find help, and she wasn’t exactly a good outdoorswoman. Oh, she could camp, and didn’t mind hiking, but cutting through the woods without a trail and with no idea where she was or where she was going didn’t sound like the smartest idea.

Not to mention, June was having a baby. She needed all the help and support she could get.

Ryan grinned at them before he heaved the rock to their right.

All four women let out various sounds of shock and fright when the rock landed near the tree line to their right—and the earth around it immediately exploded with a loud and scary boom.

Ryan laughed maniacally. “And that was a small charge,” he told them. “Not enough to set off the others . . . but just think what that could do to a leg or foot. It would blow it clean off, that’s what! There would be blood and guts everywhere.”

April turned her back on the rocks and dirt still settling and stared at the pink circles on the ground. As he’d said, they were in a straight line to the cabin door.

She had the terrifying thought that maybe Ryan was messing with them, that the pink circles actually represented bombs, and as soon as they stepped on one, they’d be blown to bits.

So she blurted, “I’ll go first.”

Ryan chuckled. “So noble. And such a fucking martyr. Go right ahead.”

She wanted to reach back and grab hold of Marlowe’s hand, but if she was about to die, she didn’t want any of the others to be anywhere close to her.

Taking a deep breath, she walked toward the first circle. Her mind cataloged everything about those pink marks, embedding every detail into her consciousness. She counted her steps—it was eight from the back of the trailer, which was backed up precisely between two large trees—to the first circle.

Her gaze shot up, and she paused just long enough to quickly count the pink marks. Twenty-five, each an average step apart.

Her gaze lifted to the cabin, then went back to the circles. There was very little grass around the circles Ryan had placed on the ground. The soil was also loose and uneven, as if the ground all around the cabin had been dug up . . . probably to bury the explosives, just as he’d claimed.

With her gut roiling, April fully understood how meticulously Ryan had planned everything. It had to have taken him months. She turned her head and looked back at their kidnapper, the truck, and trailer. “How long did this take you?” she blurted.

He smiled and looked pleased at her question. “Years,” he said with a shrug. “Although the last few weeks have been the most fun. Watching my targets. Fucking with them . . . and you.”

“In what way?” April asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

“Well, first was your accident. The amnesia was a bonus. I was going to fuck with your tires when you got to that ski resort so you’d have an accident on the way back, but the moose did all the hard work for me.”

“You were there?” Carlise asked in shock.

“Yes. I watched her car flip, then left her to suffer,” Ryan said without any trace of remorse.

“Oh my God,” Marlowe gasped.

“And the spider? The nails in the tires? The box falling off the shelf? All me,” Ryan boasted. “I wanted to scare you but not necessarily kill you. That would take all the fun out of my plan. Besides . . . I didn’t want to alarm the soldiers. I needed them unsuspecting. And it worked.” Ryan cackled in glee.

“Why?” Marlowe whispered.

“Because they killed my brother!” Ryan screamed abruptly, his face a sudden mask of rage, making April and the rest of the women jump in surprise.

“When they were rescued, my brother and his friends were slaughtered. They didn’t stand a chance. And it’s all their fault!”

April’s mind spun. Jack didn’t like to talk about his time as a POW, but he’d told her a little bit about that awful experience. How helpless he’d felt when they sliced into Cal’s body. How they all had to watch each other get tortured over and over. About the rock paper scissors game that decided their move to Maine and the decision to start Jack’s Lumber. How weak they all were when they were finally rescued. How frustrated he was that he couldn’t help the Navy SEAL and Delta Force teams take out the terrorists.

“But they didn’t kill anyone,” April couldn’t stop herself from saying. “They were too injured. All they could do was lie there and listen to the fighting around them.”

Ryan stalked toward her. Before she could do more than blink, he backhanded her.

She fell to the ground with a hard thump, actually surprised when she didn’t set off any explosives. Ryan leaned down and jerked her up by her shirt. April heard some of the seams tear, but she grabbed his wrist and otherwise stayed as limp as she could.

He held the gun to her head, and his voice trembled as he spoke.

“My brother was my entire world. The only person who gave a shit about me! We were poor. So fucking poor, we sometimes added dirt to our soup to thicken it. He always gave me the bigger portions, made sure I had clothes on my back, and he was trying to build us a better life. And if it wasn’t for Jackson fucking Justice and his three friends, he’d still be alive today! He has to pay. Has to lose the thing he loves most in this world. As do the others. You and your friends are gonna die. Mark my words—your men will feel their hearts bleed just as I did that day.”

April’s mouth had gone dry as dust. She didn’t dare breathe. Didn’t move. All she could do was pray his hand shaking in rage didn’t make him accidentally squeeze the trigger of the gun pressed against her temple.

She didn’t want to die. Not today, and definitely not at this psycho’s hands. But she was oddly satisfied to finally understand why they were there. He couldn’t have been more than a young teenager when his brother was killed. Young enough to have trouble coping, to let anger fester inside him.

Ryan glared at her for a moment longer before shoving her away from him. Once again, April fell to the ground. Her face throbbed where he’d hit her, but she didn’t dare take her gaze from him or even reach up to touch her cheek.

“Get up,” he said, before spitting on her.

His spittle landed on her jeans, but April ignored it. She slowly got to her feet, not wanting to make any quick moves around their captor. He was on edge, and she didn’t want to test his control any more than she had already.

“Walk, bitch. And make every step count . . . or don’t. I don’t give a shit.”

Very slowly and carefully, April turned and stepped on the first pink circle.

When nothing happened, when she didn’t blow up, she released the breath she hadn’t known she was holding . . . and took another step. Even though it was cold outside, a bead of sweat rolled down her temple. She ignored it as she concentrated on stepping on each of those damn pink circles.

She was vaguely aware of some of her friends starting their journey toward the cabin behind her, but she kept her eyes trained on the ground. She counted the circles as she went. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. They seemed to go on forever. Twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five . . .

She’d arrived at the single doorstep of the cabin. She reached for the doorknob and turned it, pulling the door open. It almost knocked her off her feet as it swung toward her. The inside of the cabin looked just as bad as the outside. The floorboards were broken in places and covered in dirt and debris. Looking up, she saw a small hole in the roof in one corner, and a mouse scurried away into another hole in the floor.

Her nose wrinkled in disgust, but she was honestly surprised to also see two plastic tubs in the room. She could see water bottles and cans of food inside one of them.

The sound of someone swearing behind her made April turn. She held her breath as Marlowe neared. She had her arms out to her sides for balance and was biting her lip as she did her best to step exactly on the pink circles. When she got close enough, April reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the relative safety of the cabin.

The two watched June’s every step as she slowly and painfully made her way toward them. She stopped after every other circle to pant. One hand was on her belly, and she had a look of agony on her face.

“That’s it, June. Slow and steady. You’re doing great,” April encouraged softly.

“You’re almost here. You’ve got this,” Marlowe added.

April’s gaze went past her friend to Carlise, who was currently still standing next to the trailer. For a moment, she was afraid Ryan was going to snatch her up and drive off with her or something. They seemed to be having a very intense conversation, with Ryan doing most of the talking. But then their kidnapper handed something to her and shoved Carlise toward the circles.

April’s gaze once more swept the area carefully. She studied where the pink circles were in relation to the trees and other landmarks. She supposed somewhere in the recesses of her brain, she was trying to memorize where to step in case they needed to flee from the cabin. She wasn’t sure what Ryan was going to do once they were inside, but if he left them alone, she was sure as hell going to make a run for it . . . miles of wilderness be damned.

Marlowe grabbed June as soon as she got close, and April helped her mostly carry June into the cabin. They got her to the floor in one of the few unbroken places, then April turned back to the door. Carlise had arrived while they’d been moving June, but to April’s surprise, Ryan was also closing in. He walked much faster than they had, obviously sure about the placement of his explosives.

When he neared the door, April instinctively backed away, grabbing Carlise’s arm as she went. They stood between June and Marlowe and their kidnapper. But Ryan didn’t say a word, simply slammed the door shut.

It felt as if the entire cabin shook when the door closed—but it was the sound of hammering that surprised April.

“Stay here,” she ordered Carlise as she crept toward the door. There was a hole in the door about waist high, and she leaned over to peer through it. She could see Ryan’s hips, and that was about it. But it was clear what he was doing. April had seen the long boards propped up next to the cabin when she’d approached but had been too busy worrying about where she was putting her feet to do more than absently note their presence.

Without thought, she reached for the door and tried to push it open. As expected, the boards Ryan was hammering across the doorway kept it from opening.

She heard him chuckling from the other side. “Don’t want my little birdies fleeing their cage,” he told her as he continued to hammer. “And don’t bother trying to get out any other way, because, remember . . . explosives,” Ryan said. “They’re all around the cabin. There’s nowhere you can go to escape. So just sit tight and relax. I’m sure the soldiers will be here soon. No matter what you tell them, they aren’t going to survive.

“And when I detonate the huge bomb I’ve put under the cabin and they realize all their efforts have been wasted and you are dead anyway—including the new brat, if you’ve managed not to kill it—I’ll end them too. I’d say it was nice knowing you, but I’d be lying,” Ryan finished.

He pounded on the boards for a few more minutes before silence filled the cabin.

April risked peeking through the hole in the door, devastated when she saw Ryan walking away from the cabin—picking up the pink circles as he went. He even had a small hand rake, which he used to carefully brush away the footprints from their trek to the cabin, leaving the path looking almost the same as its surroundings.

“April?” Carlise said tentatively.

Wanting to cry, but forcing the tears back since crying wouldn’t help their situation, April turned.

Carlise was still standing in front of Marlowe, who was kneeling on the floor holding June’s hand. They were both staring at her with wide eyes, as if waiting for her to tell them what to do. As if she could magically save them from this messed-up situation.

“Are you all right?” Carlise asked. “He hit you pretty hard.”

“I’m okay,” April said, even though her cheek throbbed and she could still feel the barrel of that gun against her temple.

“He told me to give this to you,” Carlise said, holding something toward her.

Looking down, April blinked in disbelief. “That’s my phone,” she whispered.

“I know. He was adamant that I give it to you as soon as we got in here. I’m sure it’s part of his game.”

April nodded. She was sure too. Ryan hadn’t done anything without a good reason. The food, letting her call Jack while they were on the road, the pink circles. Everything had been devised down to the smallest detail.

This was just another part of his master plan, but April couldn’t have stopped herself from reaching for the phone in Carlise’s hand if her life depended on it. And the shitty thing was, it probably did.

She expected this to be another trick. For the battery to have been removed or the phone to have very little charge. To her surprise, the cell looked exactly as it had when she’d last seen it. She unlocked it with her thumb, and the main screen appeared, the battery still three-quarters charged. He’d either plugged it in at some point or it had been off for most of the drive.

The latter guess clicked in April’s brain. Yes. He’d turned it off so it couldn’t be traced, but now that he had his bait where he wanted it, he’d turned it back on and didn’t care if she called Jack, because he needed the guys to come. Wanted them to race in like the honorable men they were.

For a second, she wanted to turn off the phone again, bury it. Anything to keep Jack from coming here to save them. But it was too late. Ryan had already turned it on, and if she knew Jack and his friends like she thought she did, they’d already picked up their location. Notcalling Jack would be stupid at this point. She needed to warn him. Tell him about the explosives.

Again, she had no doubt that was all part of Ryan’s plan. He wanted them to know everything, because she had a feeling it would make killing them all the more satisfying.

June let out a half groan, half scream, taking April’s attention away from the phone. Turning, she saw her friend grimacing, tears streaming down her face.

Her own pain disappeared in a flash. April glanced to Carlise. “Check those bins in the corner, see what we’ve got. Marlowe, get behind June to support her back, like I was before. June, you’re doing great. We’re going to be fine.”

“How . . . can . . . you . . . say . . . that?” June asked between breaths.

“Because compared to what we’ve already been through, this is child’s play. We have a roof over our heads, that asshole is gone, and we’ve got each other. And women have been giving birth like this, with nothing but their friends around them, for thousands of years. Piece of cake.”

“Easy . . . for . . . you . . . to say . . . ,” June said with a small grin.

April went over to June and knelt down. She grabbed one of her hands and squeezed hard. “I promise you, June, you’re going to see Cal again. And when you do, you’ll get to introduce him to his son. His healthy and beautiful baby, Max. Prince Maximilian, heir to the Liechtenstein throne.”

June laughed, but it turned into a grimace as she bore down as another contraction hit. When it passed, she looked up at April. “Max doesn’t have a chance in hell of being king.”

“Doesn’t matter, he’s still royalty, and so are you.” April leaned down and got into June’s face. “Whatever happens, don’t you give up. Understand? You fight. For Max. For Cal. For us. For you.”

June took a deep breath, and the look of determination that came over her made April relax a fraction. “I won’t.”

“Good.” April turned to the other two women. “You guys either. We’re gonna get through this. Ryan won’t win. Love wins. Always.”

Carlise and Marlowe nodded.

“What did you find?” April asked Carlise.

She turned back to the plastic tub she’d been poking through and pulled out a sheet and a cheap, threadbare blanket.

“Perfect,” April said as if she’d shown her a fully loaded first aid kit. “Bring the blanket over, and we’ll put it under June.” She took the sheet from Carlise and wondered how they could cut it up to use as swaddling for Max and to clean him.

“There’s also water and some cans of tuna, green beans, and some other veggies,” Carlise said.

“Please tell me there’s a can opener too,” Marlowe said dryly. “I wouldn’t put it past that jerk to give us food but no way to open it.”

Everyone laughed a little at that. It was a good way to release some of the tension that was thick in the room.

“Right? But they’re pop-tops, so no can opener needed,” Carlise said.

“I think we could all use some water right about now. You too, June. Even if you don’t feel like it, you and Max need it,” April said firmly.

June nodded, and soon they were all gulping down the water, trying to slake their thirst. April wanted nothing more than to sit and snarf down one of the cans of food, but there wasn’t time. Not only was June going to have her baby sooner rather than later, but she needed to call Jack.

It was weird to want to hear his voice so badly while dreading it at the same time. Ryan was out there waiting and watching, and she hated to do anything that might play right into his plan. But hearing Jack’s voice would go a long way toward soothing her nerves. And the others needed to talk to their husbands as well. They all needed the boost.

After checking on how far June’s labor had progressed and feeling slightly alarmed that she seemed to be way more dilated than the last time she’d checked while in the trailer, April knew she’d run out of time. She needed to talk to Jack, warn him, tell him everything she knew. The sooner she did, the sooner they could get out of here.