Billionaire Romance: Spencer's Torment (A Seductive Alpha Billionaire Romance Book 2) (5 page)

I came to a rolling stop by the curb where Crawford and the others waited for me a few blocks down the street. I made a hurried gesture and motioned to my watch as they all gawked at me, thinking I’d completely lost it, I’m sure. I wasn’t going to sacrifice any more time than I had to, considering I’d have to push it to get there within the two hour time limit as it was.

I rolled down my window and jerked my head in Crawford’s direction, “Get in!” Then, to the SWAT team that would be following behind us, I yelled, “We’ll text you the address! We’ve only got two hours to get there.”

Crawford had barely positioned himself in the passenger seat before I shot away from the curb like a lightning bolt, smoke rolling off the tires, leaving black marks in my wake. Under normal circumstances I’d feel bad about such things—especially in the presence of law enforcement. However, these were very extreme circumstances and  Emily’s life hung in the balance, so I figured they’d understand.

Crawford chuckled and gave his head a shake, “Damn. I didn’t know this baby had it in her.”

I half smiled, then, the first time in, I couldn’t remember how long, that I actually felt some semblance of normalcy. The past forty-eight hours had felt like years and I imagined I’d aged ten, or so it seemed, but it would all be worth it. I just had to get Emily back. As I stared out at the dark road ahead, I tightened my jaw to match my grip on the steering wheel and reminded myself,
Failing is not an option.

“
Oh, shit! Radio SWAT and let them know the address before we leave them too far in the dust,” I said, thankful we were only a mile or so down the road.

“Yes, sir,” Crawford replied, reaching for the walkie as I merged onto the interstate, headed north to save the woman I couldn’t imagine my life without. 

*****

We had been cruising along at a good clip, averaging a speed of about 100 mph, ahead of schedule with only about twenty miles to go, when I noticed a car in the rearview mirror coming up on us—and
fast.

At first I wondered if Calvin had been at the house all along, just waiting for the opportune moment to pounce and catch me in a lie. But as the car got closer, I could hear the familiar wail of the siren and a strobe of bright red and blue lights flashed on, sending a panic through me.

“Shit,” I muttered, glancing nervously at Crawford. “What do we do? I can’t stop now. If I do, there’s no way we’re going to make it in time.” I looked to the rearview mirror again and saw that the cop had now wedged himself in behind our Escalade, cutting us off from the unmarked SWAT van.

“Uhhh…” Crawford replied, sounding about as sure as I was.

Part of my brain was screaming at me to pull over, illustrating its argument with a very realistic scene of bullets and gore and our Escalade dramatically flipping over the guard rail before landing in a heap of broken glass and twisted metal as flames engulfed us and burned us alive. Then, still, the other part of my brain was telling me,
NO! You must keep going. Emily’s life is at stake, here. You can sort all this out later! Just lose him.

Before I could decide which fate I would resign us to, the SWAT radio crackled to life and Robbins’ voice came through. “Hey, Rizzoli and Isles—it’s your lucky day. I let the chief know what’s going on,” he said, in his thick, recently-transferred-from-New-York accent. “Just keep going, boys. He’s callin’ off the dogs and puttin’ out an APB to leave us the hell alone—over.”

Crawford grabbed the radio and responded, “Thanks, Robbins. We were a little shell-shocked up here. You all know the plan when we get there?” he asked. Sure enough, as if by magic, the cop flipped off his lights and siren and slipped back into the other lane before disappearing into the night like he had never been there at all. Crawford and I exchanged a quick look of relief.

“Sure do,” Robbins replied, confidence oozing from his voice. “We’re gonna stop about a mile out and hike it in, while you two follow behind us in the Escalade a few minutes later. We’re gonna set ourselves up on the perimeter so that we have eyes on all sides of the hide-out. When your boy goes in, we give it max fifteen minutes and if he hasn’t lured the target out, we go in, no-holds-barred. Over,” he finished.

Crawford glanced at me, trying to conceal the worry on his face. I gave him a reassuring nod and he replied, “Yeah, that sounds pretty spot-on. We’ll run over it one more time once we park. I think we’re only about ten minutes out from the rendezvous point. Over and out.”

As the radio went silent, the air inside the Escalade became a vacuum, charged with anticipation of the unknown. And I had to admit, with the meet-up time drawing closer between Calvin and I, I couldn’t help but feel anxiety forming in the pit of my stomach, twisting and churning with more intensity as each minute passed.

Finally, the GPS chimed and commanded us to
Take Exit 243 toward State Road 10, then keep left.
I did as I was told and as we pulled off the interstate I glanced at my phone mounted on the dash: our estimated time of arrival was now only eight minutes and I felt a surge of panic bubbling up inside of me at how real this was all starting to feel, but I couldn’t allow myself to acknowledge my fear for longer than a few seconds. I had to stay strong and in control.
I am in control. Not Calvin. In a matter of a few minutes I’ll be seeing Emily and soon I’ll get to hold her in my arms and reassure her that everything’s going to be okay.

As I came to the end of the exit ramp, I turned left like the GPS had told me to do. At first, I hadn’t felt very confident that we were in the right place since the end point didn’t seem that far from the interstate. As we pulled onto the main road, however, I realized we were about as rural as we could get. In fact, the main “road” was just gravel with fields of tall grass and dense tree growth on either side, almost close enough that to reach out and touch if the window had been down. The road was barely wide enough for one vehicle and I wondered, briefly, what would happen if two cars met in opposite directions—where would the other car go to make room?

As we drove further out into the country, the thick forest enclosing around us, the night felt darker and an odd sense of lifelessness seemed to surround us, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up on edge.

“Do you feel that?” I whispered.

After a few seconds of pause, Crawford whispered back, “Yes. This place gives me the fuckin’ creeps. Why the hell would there be an interstate exit out
here?
There’s absolutely nothing.”

All of a sudden the high-pitched voice of the GPS interrupted our thoughts, causing us both to nearly jump out of our seats. “Jesus!” I shrieked, throwing my head back against the head rest, attempting to catch my breath.

Crawford laughed, as he tried to recompose himself as well.

I slowed the SUV to a stop at the end of an unmarked dirt road.  According to the GPS we were about a mile from Calvin’s location and this is where we were supposed to turn. I had to admit I didn’t feel great about the whole thing, but we had an advantage: we were about twenty-five minutes ahead of the two hour time limit Calvin had imposed. As we sat there, wondering where the hell we were, the SWAT van pulled in behind us and parked a few yards back, cutting off their lights.

As they assembled their gear and got into formation, Crawford and I climbed out of the Escalade to discuss the details of the plan one more time.

After everyone had been briefed on what to do and what not to do, we broke off again and the SWAT team started down the dirt road on foot, completely enveloped in darkness.

I had been instructed to give them a fifteen minute head start to ensure that they were in position by the time I got to the house. Frankly, though, that meant we were cutting it a little close and I had to admit, it made me nervous.

After only about ten minutes, I turned to Crawford and said, “Alright. Climb in the back. I’m gonna go ahead. I can’t wait any longer.”

Crawford stared at me for a second like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it and climbed into the very back of the Escalade, staying low to ensure he wouldn’t be seen once we were closer.

I put the car in drive and headed, at a crawl, down the driveway. As we moved at a snail’s pace along the winding dirt road, I kept a lookout for the SWAT team to be sure they stayed ahead of me, but I saw no sign of them.
Damn, they’re good,
I thought to myself.

Finally, the GPS’ eerily cheerful voice chirped,
You have arrived at your destination.
As I looked around, I began to wonder if maybe this was all a set-up and Calvin really wasn’t here because I didn’t see anything—just forest and…then, as I rounded a corner I saw a slight clearing in the brush and, yes, there it was: an empty house, or rather,
shack
—lit up only by the bright halogen bulbs of the Escalade.

I allowed the SUV to crawl quietly closer as I held my breath, hoping to go unnoticed, but I was pretty sure he had cameras set up to warn him of any intruders. I didn’t see any other vehicles, which I thought was odd, considering he couldn’t have brought Emily here on foot, but I tried not to let my mind wander too much.

As I sat there in the “driveway,” my headlights pointing towards the shack, my heart began beating out of my chest as I realized I had no way of contacting Calvin, considering every time he’d contacted me he’d blocked the number.

I glanced at the clock on the dash and realized there were only four minutes left of the two hour time limit he’d granted me and I was starting to panic. What would I do if he didn’t contact me in time? How was I going to prove I’d made it within the two hours?

I was starting to feel jittery and I realized, I had no choice, I was going to have to go in blind—radio silence here on out.

Just as I had wrapped my fingers around the door handle, working up the nerve to go inside, my cell phone rang, the caller ID flashing:
Unknown.
As I scrambled to grab it, my finger hovering over the screen, I knew this was the moment that I’d been waiting for—the second chance that I had so desperately pleaded for all those years ago. It was now or never.

And as I held the phone up to my ear, a surge of confidence came over me and I thought to myself,
Let’s do this, motherfucker.

“Where are you?” I snapped as I answered the phone.

“Ah ah ah. Don’t get too cocky. There’s still time for you to fuck this up,” Calvin replied, his tone taking on an edge.  “Now…lucky for you, it looks like you made it
just in time
, so unfortunately that means Emily lives…for now.”

“Let me talk to her,” I interrupted before he could go any further. “I need to be sure she’s safe.” I wanted to believe he was telling me the truth. After all, he was my brother. But given his sordid history and recent events I knew I couldn’t take his word for it.

He let out a dark and sickening laugh that made my stomach turn.

“Calvin,” I warned, setting my jaw and tightening my fist. “Let. Me. Speak. With. Emily.”

“You know, it’s actually endearing that you think
you’re
the one in charge here. Really. And I’d love to keep going in circles with you, but I’m on a time crunch. So let me make this easy,” he replied, his voice clipped. “You do exactly what I say, or I’ll put a fucking bullet in your precious girlfriend’s head and let you hear the whole thing. How does that sound?” he asked.

I knew he wasn’t really looking for an answer. He already knew I had no choice in the matter. It was just a power play to demonstrate he had me right where he wanted me.

And he did. I knew it and he knew it. I had no choice but to do what he commanded, without question, or I’d be toying with Emily’s life, risking her livelihood because of my stupidity. “Emily,” I whispered quietly, shuddering at the thought of her alone in there with him, praying that she was okay. And as I thought about her—her beautiful smile, sparkling emerald eyes, smooth milky skin— I couldn’t help but realize how much her life had been altered for the worse since she’d met me. I wouldn’t blame her, if after all this, she never wanted to speak to me again. But the thought of it made me feel physically ill and I longed to touch her, hold her and protect her. And if I was going to get her back, I was going to have to start playing along with Calvin’s games.

“Jesus Christ, pull yourself together Spencer. You’re really becoming quite weak. It’s pathetic,” he said, the disgust in his voice over-pronounced. “And for fuck’s sake, turn your damn headlights off.”

I did as he instructed, without a word, waiting for his next command—a twisted game of Calvin Says.

“Good. Now, turn off the car and toss your keys out the passenger window,” he said.

I turned the ignition off, staring reluctantly at the keys in my hand, hesitating on what to do. I reminded myself that I still had the upper hand here. I just had to buy enough time to make sure Emily was safe and SWAT could sweep in and take Calvin into custody.

“Do it!” he barked. “Don’t play games with me or I’m gonna blow her brains out. Seriously Spencer, don’t test me.”

“Okay, okay. I’m doing it! Look,” I said, trying to calm him down as I threw the keys out the window. It was hard to say where they had landed since it was now pitch dark. Which made me believe that Calvin had to be watching me through something night vision equipped. I just hoped SWAT was playing it smart and didn’t get their cover blown. That was the last thing I needed. Then, I remembered Crawford, tucked away in the back of the Escalade waiting to make his move.
Shit.
So, to be sure he knew what we were up against I asked, fairly loudly, “Are you using night vision or something? How can you be sure I’m doing what you say?”

“Yes, rest assured I can see your every move so don’t try to fuck with me. Now step out of the vehicle. Slowly. With your hands where I can see them.”

“Alright, alright. You can see me clear as day. I get it,” I said, opening the car door and cautiously feeling around in the dark with my foot to be sure I was stepping onto a level surface. The night was so pitch black that I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face and I pushed away the panic of fear that was attempting to bubble up inside of me. It wasn’t so much that I was afraid of the darkness itself, but more about the symbolism of what the darkness stood for—the unknown of the whole situation—and I had to be honest: it set my teeth on edge.

I shut the car door and stood in the dark, blind and vulnerable with one hand up in the air, the other holding my phone up to my ear.

“Do you have any weapons, Spencer?” Calvin asked.

I shook my head and then said, “No. Of course not.”
But I do have a SWAT team waiting to take your ass down,
I thought silently to myself.

“You better not be lying to me,” he warned.

“I’m not lying. I wouldn’t do anything to fuck this up, Cal.”

“Alright, start walking straight ahead, but take it slow. Don’t try to pull anything. And keep your hands up.”

I started walking, feeling around in the dark as I put one foot in front of the other. I had no idea if I was even headed in the right direction and after another minute or so of walking, I said, “Cal, I can’t see. How am I going to know if I’m in the right spot?”

The other end of the line was eerily silent—no response—and I could feel the energy change in the air around me. Then, suddenly I felt someone’s arm enclose around my neck, forcing me into a headlock as I struggled to untangle myself from their grasp, but it was no use. I had no leverage.
Fuck.
As I fought to stay conscious, the last thing  that flashed through my mind was Emily’s beautiful, smiling face as bright as sunshine beaming down on me, laughter falling like rain from her lips. And then, no sound, no thoughts, no Emily—only darkness.

*****

I woke up to the breathtaking splash of ice cold water on my face, gasping to catch my breath and recalibrate myself to my surroundings. Instinctively I tried to wipe the water away with my hand, but as I attempted to reach my hand upward I was met with resistance and realized I was bound in an uncomfortable position in the floor with my hands restrained behind my back. A surge of panic and anger flooded through me and I looked up at the person who was standing in front of me.
Calvin, of course.

“What the fuck, Cal? What are you doing?” I shouted, incredulous.

“Oh, Spencer. Come on. It’s all innocent. I just really need to have a little heart to heart with you and I wanted to make sure you couldn’t go anywhere. Plus, I had to be sure you were telling me the truth about being unarmed. It was all a precaution, really. You’ll be fine,” he said with a smug grin.

I stared daggers into him. “How long was I out?”

“Oh, not long. Maybe fifteen minutes.” His voice was calm and disinterested and as I studied him closer I realized he was holding a matte black pistol in his right hand, moving it about as he talked, pacing back and forth.

Oh, thank God. SWAT should be arriving any minute.
At the rendezvous point about a mile out, we had all agreed that if I had proved unsuccessful at luring Calvin out of the house, after fifteen minutes they would storm in and secure the perimeter to make sure he couldn’t slip away and he would be taken into custody. Obviously this wasn’t the ideal scenario because they would be coming in blind, but it was all we could manage on such short notice.

“Hey Cal…,” I said, treading lightly. “Where’s Emily?” As I looked around in the tiny space of the shack, I realized she was nowhere to be found. Instead, there were multiple computer screens, monitoring equipment and lots and lots of weaponry.
Holy shit.
It looked like a mad scientist’s lab and the seriousness of the situation truly started to sink in.

He stopped dead in his tracks and whipped his head in my direction, the expression on his face overflowing with anger. “Goddammit, Spence! Can we stop talking about that fucking whore for one fucking minute,
PLEASE!
I’m so goddamn sick of hearing about her and quite frankly, I should have killed her a long time ago. Just like before!” he screamed, as he waved his loaded hand at me, the gun pointing right at my face.

I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head away, bracing for impact.
This is it,
I thought,
this is how I’m going to die.
As I held my breath in anticipation of my imminent death, images of Emily flashed through my mind along with all the other things I would never get to experience—like having a wife and kids and growing old with them, creating happy memories that could maybe make up for my not-so-happy childhood and the scars that I still carried around from my first marriage.

And it was right at that moment that I heard a
pop
and felt a muffled ringing sensation in my ears, along with shards of glass flying in every direction.
Fuck. Calvin shot me. He really fuckin’ shot me,
I realized in disbelief.

As I turned my head to look at him, to ask him why he’d done this to me, the first thing that caught my eye was the blood all over my pants, my shoes, the floor. I couldn’t figure out where I’d been shot. I didn’t feel any pain, but maybe it was just the adrenaline.  But as I shifted my gaze, that’s when I saw him: Calvin. He was hunched over in a pile on the floor, his gun still entangled in his fingers, a vacant look in his eyes, his cheek pressed against the dilapidated wood floor.

I looked down at my body, suddenly realizing that the blood wasn’t mine. It was Calvin’s.
He
had been shot.
But how? By who?

I stared at him in disbelief as blood oozed from his neck, a sick gurgling sound escaping his lips as he struggled to breathe. He stared back at me, with his hand outstretched towards me. As I sat there in shock studying him, I was beginning to think he was dead.

But as I watched him, his lips twisted into the shape of an evil grin and he whispered, “I killed her.” And then, with one final raspy breath, his body went limp.