Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Rhodes

“ W hat do you think about this one? It looks nice.”

I moved over to the case Tristan was standing in front of and bent to get a better look at the ring he was pointing at. When I decided it was time to go ring shopping for Blythe, I knew I wanted her brother to come with me. They shared a special bond no other siblings could understand unless they’d gone through something traumatic together. I knew that from experience with my brothers and sisters as well.

He and Blythe were so close, I knew he’d have a good idea of what she would like. Everything he’d suggested would have worked great. But something didn’t feel right about any of them.

“Nah. That’s not it.”

He let out a grunted curse. “That’s what you’ve said about every one so far.”

And I would continue to say it until I found the perfect ring. None of the ones I’d seen were Blythe. She needed something more than a simple ring. She deserved something special. Something you wouldn’t see on another person.

The jeweler came over. “Maybe if you tell me a little about her, I could help point you in the right direction.”

“She’s fierce and protective. Her three kids are the most important things in her whole world, and the four of them are the most important things in mine. She has eyes the color of the Caribbean on a warm, sunny day. And every time I look into them, I think how happy I’d be to drown right there.”

“This is starting to feel a little uncomfortable for me,” Tristan grunted, but I ignored him, focused on the task at hand.

“I’ve loved her since I was seventeen years old, more than half my life, and I’ll continue loving her, even when I’m no longer on this earth.”

The older man hummed, tapping his chin as he scanned the rows of cases in the store. He was silent for so long I started to feel like I was coming out of my skin. Then his eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers. “I think I might have the perfect ring.”

We followed him toward a case at the back of the store. “Now, I didn’t suggest looking here, because these aren’t complete sets, but if you’ll bear with me, I have an idea.”

He slid the glass panel aside at the back of the case and reached in, plucking a ring from one of the cushions and bringing it out, holding it up for us to inspect. The moment I laid eyes on it, my heart kicked into a gallop, and I knew. Around the prongs for a center stone were four small round diamonds. One for me, Avett, Adeline, and Ainsley. The band was a shiny white gold, solid and strong, lined all the way around with much smaller diamonds. Everything about it screamed Blythe.

“I know it’s hard to picture without the two karat center stone in place. Most people would go the traditional route with another diamond, but based on your description, I was thinking she might appreciate something a bit more creative, say, blue topaz.”

I lifted my gaze to the man who was smiling brightly. “Some say blue topaz looks a lot like the Caribbean Ocean on a summer day. I don’t believe that’s a coincidence.”

I didn’t either. This was the ring meant to be on her finger.

Tristan clapped me on the shoulder, giving me a little jostle. “She’s gonna love that, brother.”

“I’ll take it. With the blue topaz in the center.”

He dipped his head in a nod. “Of course, sir. I’ll get to work setting that personally. It’ll take me a few days, but I promise it’ll be worth it.”

I had no doubt.

The clerk rang me up, and Tristan and I were heading out when my cell started to ring. Pulling it from my pocket, I swiped across the screen and brought it to my ear, answering, “Bradbury.”

“Rhodes, it’s Linc. How fast do you think you can get back to the office?”

My back shot straight, a chill skating across my shoulders and down my spine. “Maybe ten minutes. Why? What’s goin’ on?”

“Need you to get back here as fast as you can, son. It’s about Blythe.”

I was running to my truck before he finished his sentence. Tristan was already on my tail when I clipped, “We gotta move. Let’s go.”

“What’s goin’ on?” he asked as he pulled himself up into the passenger seat.

I threw the truck into gear and slammed on the gas pedal. “Not sure. But Linc said to get back to AO fast. That it has somethin’ to do with Blythe.”

“Fuck,” Tristan hissed beside me, raking his fingers through his hair, the agitation suddenly rolling off him matching the turmoil currently swirling around in my chest.

“What’s goin’ on?” I barked as soon as I pushed through the door into the lobby.

Lincoln was already there, prepared for me to barrel in like a freight train. “My office,” he said before turning to Tristan. “Son, maybe it would be best if you headed on home?—”

“All due respect, Lincoln... but fuck that. This is my sister. If she’s involved, so am I.”

With that, both of us pushed through the lobby and into Linc’s office where a few more of the Alpha Omega guys stood, along with a woman I recalled seeing when I took lunch to Blythe at her work, though I couldn’t recall her name.

“Fill me in. What’s happening?”

Blythe’s co-worker pushed to the center of the room. Her face was white as a sheet and she was wringing her fingers together so tight in front of her, I worried she might hurt herself.

“Um, I’m Merritt. I work with Blythe. We’re... friends,” she explained, that last word coming from her lips like she wasn’t familiar with using it. “There was a situation at work today, and she wanted to bring me here so you could help—” She cut herself off, her eyes darted around the room nervously as she licked her lips and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Whatever she needed to say, it was clearly hard for her, but I could see the fight in her eyes. “She found out my husband’s been hitting me, and she wanted to help,” she rushed out, her cheeks flushing a bright pink as tears welled up in her eyes.

“She told me if there was anyone who could help, it was you guys, and she wanted to bring me over here to talk to you. I was supposed to meet her in the parking lot, but when I got to her car, she wasn’t there. I thought maybe I heard her wrong, and she wanted me to meet her here, so I came over. Only...” Her nails dug into the heels of her palms hard enough to leave crescent marks in her skin.

Tristan moved before I could process what was happening, stepping forward and gently grabbing hold on her hands, using his thumb to straighten her fingers, preventing her from causing any more damage.

“It’s okay,” he said in a low, soft tone I’d never heard him use before. “You’re safe here. Take a breath and tell us the rest.”

Merritt blinked up at him, and whatever she saw in his gaze had her shoulders squaring and her chin lifting in determination. “I asked Mr. Sheppard if she was here, but he didn’t know what I was talking about. I’m worried... I think something might have happened to her.”

I stepped forward, struggling to keep my voice neutral when it felt like a storm was raging inside me. “Why do you think something happened?”

“Because when I was looking around for her, I saw this old, beat up car turning out of the lot and gunning it down the street. I didn’t think anything of it at first.” Her chin began to tremble and her eyes welled up. “This is my fault. I should have known.”

“No, it’s not,” Tristan insisted. “You did everything right. You came here and you told Linc, and because of that, we’re gonna find her.”

“Are you... are you Tristan?” she asked quietly.

He nodded. “I am. Blythe’s my sister, and we’re going to get her back.”

“You promise?”

“I swear.”

Everything moved at lightning speed then. Tristan had no choice but to call Nona and Trick and tell them what was happening. School would be letting out soon, and I needed someone I could trust to get the kids so I could do everything in my power to make sure I brought their mother home.

Nona assured me she would keep them safe, while Trick insisted on coming into the office to help in any way he could.

Thanks to Merritt’s description, we knew the make and model of the car we suspected took off with Blythe inside. Our tech guy, Tony, got busy hacking into the security cameras all around the parking lot, scrolling through hours of footage for the car.

“Got something,” he called from behind a wall of monitors. Tristan and I ran over, leaning in to watch the screen he pointed to. “I got the car pulling into the parking lot a little after nine this morning. Whoever was inside didn’t get out. They sat there for the next three hours, staking the place out.” He hit a button to speed through the footage, slowing it again when it showed Blythe exit the back of the building.

My heart lurched painfully as I watched the woman I loved on the grainy screen. She wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings as she dug around in her purse for her keys. I decided right then and there that we were going to have a fight about this once I got her home safely. Because I was absolutely going to find her, and she was going to be okay. There was no other acceptable outcome. I’d lived without her for twenty years, and I refused to live another minute of another day without her.

On the screen, a man dressed in dark clothes rushed her from behind. He must have said something because she started to turn, but before she could get a look at him, he pulled a gun from the pocket of his hoodie and slammed the butt of it into her temple.

Bile crawled up my throat as I watched her crumple to the ground, then the asshole who was as good as dead dragged her back to his car, dumping her limp body into the back seat of his piece of shit car, and took off.

“Do we have another angle where we can see his face, or even the plates on his car?”

Tony’s fingers flew over the keyboard in a blur, and a minute later we were watching the same footage from a different camera.

“That motherfucker,” I hissed, rage and adrenaline dumping into my blood and making my vision go red.

“You know that guy?” Linc asked from his place behind me.

“That’s Lonny fuckin’ Oswald.”

Tristan’s head whipped around in my direction. “That piece of shit from high school who used to call you Trashbury?”

I nodded as my fingers clenched into fists and my molars ground together. “That’s him.”

“What reason could he possibly have for attacking and abducting Blythe?”

“Pride,” I grunted. “He pulled his shit at The Tap Room a couple months back, and your sister put him in his place.”

Tristan stood tall, slowly pivoting to face me. “Meaning?”

“Meaning, when he wouldn’t take a hint, she insulted him. Then when he started hurling insults my way because she’d bruised his ego, your sister punched him in the throat in front of the entire goddamn bar.”

Tristan raked his hands through his hair in frustration. “Jesus Christ. She’s always been too damn protective of the people she cares about.”

“Well that’s a lecture you can dish out once we find her. Tony, pull up anything and everything you can find on Lonny Oswald. We’re gonna need property records, last known address?—”

My phone buzzed in my pocket as I rattled off instructions, but time slowed to a crawl when I pulled it out and saw the alert on the screen. Despite the hurricane swirling around inside me, my lips pulled into a grin as I clicked on the message and pulled up the map.

“Scratch that. I need a team to go in less than two minutes. I know where they are.”

Tristan shot me a bewildered look. “How?”

I twisted my phone so he could see the screen. “Because your sister just shared her location with me.”