27. Vail

27

VAIL

Sheldon was able to find Forest in the vast yard somewhere. Forest’s cheeks were pink when he came back inside from the cold air. It was still March, and the bite of winter was doing its best to try to freeze us out.

Jordan scowled at Forest when they were back but didn’t say anything. My guess was because Hartley was worried. It didn’t matter the property had cameras and a hell of a security system. Anything could happen to him.

We were saying goodbye to Sylvan and thanking him for his hospitality when my phone rang, Dana’s name appearing on the screen.

“Hey,” I answered. Maybe he heard about the accident and the failed abduction. How, who knew? Jordan could have texted JJ.

“Cat’s been kidnapped,” he rushed out and failed to bite back a cry.

My heart stopped beating in my chest. My veins froze. The world ceased to rotate. Everything narrowed down to this one moment. And I couldn’t speak.

Jordan took the phone from me and put it on speaker. “What happened?” he barked.

“My fucking wife and children were kidnapped!” Dana yelled. “That’s what happened! And I can’t even fucking blame you because I’m positive this has everything to do with Gil. I’m going to murder him if I get my hands on him.”

“Not if I do it first,” Jordan growled. “What evidence do you have?”

“Gil pulling up to my fucking house while I was gone, after Vail and Forest left. He had four guys with him. They broke in and grabbed them. The only reason I know is because Cat was able to hit the emergency button on her phone and the security company called me and the police.”

Tears filled my eyes. It was horrible to think of my sister being abducted but my niece and nephew, no. Turning, I looked at Jordan. Tears broke free and slipped down my cheeks. “Please,” I whispered. I’d do anything for my family. My sister and her children meant everything to me. The kids were too little to be dragged into this. I knew Gil was horrible but to take children… I couldn’t bear it.

“Send me the video,” Jordan said.

“The cops already have it and are working to find them.”

“They won’t,” I said brokenly. “If they haven’t been able to find Gil yet, they won’t now. He’ll have ditched the car or hidden it well.” Gil did this to get to me. He didn’t make it this far undetected by being obvious.

“You do what you need to with them,” Jordan told Dana. “I’ll handle it my way.”

“Get my family back, Jordan. And Vail?”

“Yeah?” I whispered.

“This isn’t your fault. This was Gil and only him. I know you’d die to protect Cat and the kids.”

“Dana…”

“Go. Find them. I can’t…” His words broke off in a sob. “They’re my entire world.”

“I will,” Jordan promised, hung up, and started barking orders at his men then placed phone calls. I heard him talk to Dexen, asking him to do anything he could to help. Jordan had an army at his disposal, but they couldn’t be everywhere at once. Dexen had his own team. Add in the Lynx brothers and those they knew; it was a wider net of people. The more we had, the better.

The police wouldn’t want us doing any of this. I hadn’t been able to trust them for a long time, thanks to how most treated me when I was broken and bruised. So no, I wouldn’t urge Jordan to ask them for help or tell them what he knew. They got us fucking nowhere regarding Gil.

Fresh tears flowed and I couldn’t stop them. Hartley put his arm around my waist and held me close. I soaked in his warmth and comfort as my mind spun. I couldn’t believe this was happening. All this time, I told Jordan not to go after Gil. Not to kill him. Yet Gil was going to lengths I never thought I’d see, just to have me back with him.

“Use me as bait,” I said to Jordan when I lifted my head from Hartley. “Gil’s going to contact me. When he does, I’ll go to him. It’s the only way to find him.”

“Absolutely not!” Jordan yelled. “I refuse to put your life on the line.”

“My family, Jordan…”

“I know, baby.” He firmly gripped me by the back of the neck. “We’re going to find them.”

“Kill him,” I said, the words flowing from my tongue before I could stop them. I didn’t want to. He had to die.

For so long I’d hoped he’d move on and leave me alone. That he would eventually give up. Gil had taken things too far. I wanted Jordan to find him and end him for taking my sister and the kids. Ivy was just a baby. Carson was a small child. They didn’t deserve this and neither did my sister.

“Are you certain?” Jordan didn’t want to do this and have me hate him for it.

“Yes. I told you if a life was on the line, you could kill him. He has three people somewhere, doing fuck knows what to them.” The thought had my stomach turning. All the possibilities of the awful shit he could be doing. “Kill him,” I repeated, this time breathing through my nose to keep myself from throwing up.

“My pleasure,” he growled.

Everything became a blur after that. Sylvan bustled around the house, asking who needed what, offering whatever he could, Hartley and me another cup of coffee. He didn’t know what to do or how to help so he tended to my needs, which weren’t many. All I kept thinking about was my family. How torn up Dana was. While he said it wasn’t my fault, I couldn’t help but feel responsible. If I hadn’t gotten involved with Gil to begin with, this never would have happened.

How many nights did I lay awake, picturing what my life would have been like if I hadn’t run into him on campus? If we hadn’t started a friendship, then a relationship? How much pain could I have saved myself if he was never there that day?

No matter how often I wished my life was different, there was no way to erase the past. It happened. All I could do was move on and be smarter. Here I was with a hot cup of coffee in front of me and Dana’s cries in my mind.

My phone sat on the table to my left. Gil would contact me eventually. After all, he wouldn’t kidnap them if it wasn’t to get to me. When he reached out, I needed to see it right away.

Oleander pulled out a chair and sat beside me. If it wasn’t for the way he held his arm, I wouldn’t have thought he was injured. “V, look at me,” he said softly. Once the guards heard Forest call me V, it caught on and they started doing the same.

My eyes raised to his brown ones with red surrounding them. I wasn’t the only one this affected. Oleander had connected with my family. He would die to protect them.

“We’re going to get them back. Cat’s strong. She’ll protect the kids.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” My sister would have fought until they took her children, then she would have given them whatever they wanted, even if it meant her getting hurt. Cat would do the same for anyone she loved. She was fierce. I worried this would break her. No one would be able to handle having their children taken. At least she was there to be with them.

My phone vibrated. I quickly picked it up.

Unknown: I wish it hadn’t come to this. You could have made different choices. You could have come home to me. Instead, you stay with them. Now, you’ll pay, as will those you love.

Me: Don’t hurt them. I’ll do what you want.

Gil: You always do in the end. Remember when we first started dating and we went to a run-down restaurant where the food was amazing, but the atmosphere left something to be desired? You don’t know this, but I bought it a while ago. I was going to give it to you as a gift. I had it remodeled with the best appliances. It has a dream kitchen.

I didn’t know what to say. Why he was telling me this. It had nothing to do with what he did. Oleander and Hartley both read over my shoulder. A quick yell for Jordan brought him in as well.

Gil: I loved watching you cook. The way your hands moved with skill, even before you started working with Dana. You had this way about you. You didn’t yet recognize the potential you had, but I saw it then and after.

Me: Where’s my family?

Gil: Then there was the time you almost burned our kitchen down. We got so lost in making love you forgot you had food on the stove.

I didn’t forget. He forced me away from it. I paid for the burnt food for hours after until I bled from how hard he fucked me, telling me it was my punishment after he left my lip split and my side throbbing in pain.

Gil: So many memories we had. You’re willing to throw them away.

Me: Where are you? I’ll come to you.

“The fucking hell you will,” Jordan growled.

“You have to let me find him. We won’t be able to unless he wants me with him.”

Gil: Two steps forward, twenty-three back. Forty-seven years on this earth. I’m sorry I missed your birthday. I have a gift for you. Remember, Vail, you’ll always be mine.

Me: Where?

Gil: I love you, darling.

Me: Tell me. I’ll come right there.

He didn’t respond. I let a minute go by.

Me: Gil?

Nothing.

“God dammit!” I yelled and shoved the chair back. Luckily, Jordan jumped out of the way.

When I spun around, I saw Jordan beginning to pace while Oleander studied my phone.

“It’s like he’s talking in a riddle,” Oleander said. “Do you know where this restaurant is?”

“It’s in West Dremest. I thought the Dremests bought it though.”

Jordan lifted his phone. “Dexen, did your family buy a…”

I walked away from them. While Gil did bring that place up, I didn’t think it was where he wanted me to go. He was trying to prove he still cared by buying me gifts and doing what he thought I desired. That was how it worked when we were together. He’d hurt me then make up for it in various ways. Buying expensive gifts wasn’t uncommon, especially when our firm started doing well and money flowed.

“Dexen said it was his, but he didn’t sell it to Gil. Gil must have sent someone in his stead then had it signed over to him.”

I shook my head. “It would have been searched or appeared in records. Gil wanted me to know he bought it for me. He’s putting in place what he thinks I desire. A restaurant of my own is the first step. The next would be a new home, maybe?” Gil talked a lot about where we could retire. A place with a big porch we could sit on and watch the sun set. Where we could hear the birds chirp in the morning and the noise of the city didn’t drown out the sounds of nature.

“It’s a code,” Hartley muttered. “The numbers in the text. Two steps forward. Twenty-three back. Forty-seven years. Why phrase it like that if it didn’t mean something?”