Dangerous Abduction (O'Connor Brothers Book 2) (18 page)

“I told him not to talk to the man, Daddy.” Mason sobbed.

“It’s okay, buddy. Everything will be okay,” James whispered into Mason’s ear as he hugged him tightly. He glanced at Marina, and she held up her hands.

“Mason, honey, come sit with me and Mrs. Ray while we wait.” Marina seemed to need to hold Mason as much as Mason needed to be held. James put him down and Marina pulled him onto her lap and he clung tightly to her.

“Mary, are you okay?” James asked.

“I’m fine. I just feel sick about all this, and that young man is still out in the park searching.” James regretted asking because the older woman began to sob again. Marina wrapped an arm around her and motioned for James to look behind him.

Kurt was headed towards them, and the tense way his jaw was set told James that Kurt was about ready to snap. His uncle made it pretty clear how frustrated he was because Marc was eluding them. James heard him call Marc some pretty out of character names over the last couple of weeks. Kurt didn’t like not getting the bad guy.

“Do you want me to handle this, Marina?” James asked her because he didn’t want her to think he was trying to take over. She nodded as she hugged Mason tighter.

Kurt motioned to his office and stomped off ahead of James. The man was pissed.

“I’ll be right back.” James told her as he followed his uncle.

“What’s happening?” James closed the office door.

“I’m pretty sure the youngster’s father has him.” Kurt slammed a file down on his desk.

“I had a feeling you were going to say that.” James knew in his heart it’s what everyone suspected, including Marina.

“Mason told Greg Harris a man took Danny,” Kurt explained.

“Fuck!” James growled through clenched teeth. “If that bastard hurts him, I swear Uncle Kurt, I’ll beat him within an inch of his life.” That probably wasn’t a great thing for a police officer to say in the presence of the police superintendent.

“James, watch what you’re saying,” Kurt warned. “We’ll find him.”

Kurt’s phone rang, and his uncle snatched it from the desk. As he fired off a series of questions to the caller, James left the office to check on Marina and Mason. His son was still wrapped in her arms as she held Mary’s hand. She was slightly rocking Mason side to side and his eyes were closed. James couldn’t believe she’d pulled herself together so quickly to soothe Mary and Mason. Her son was missing and she was trying to help them.

“Any news?” His father said from behind him. He hadn’t seen them come in, but there his father stood with his mother next to him. As always, his parents were there to support him.

“Nothing yet. How did you guys find out?” Hopedale was small, and the tiny police station that worked both in and out of town. It had been Kurt who’d gotten the small department open in Hopedale because the town was growing so fast. So it shouldn’t have surprised him that his parents had found out so fast.

“Kurt called us. He thought with Marina’s family out of town she needed the support,” his father explained while his mother had already moved next to Marina. Marina lay her head on his mother’s shoulder, but she didn’t let go of Mason or Mary. His mother wrapped her arms around Marina’s shoulder and kissed the top of Mason’s head.

“They think Marc has him,” James whispered so Marina wouldn’t hear, although she probably knew. His father nodded and James plowed his hands through his hair in frustration.

“I know.”

“This is all my fault.” He swallowed to dislodge the lump that was beginning to choke him.

“Why would you say that? This isn’t your fault.” Sean grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side.

“I promised I’d protect her and Danny. How could I be so stupid?” He squeezed his eyes closed to stop the tears. Jesus, he needed to get hold of himself.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not like he was in the park alone.” He needed to get it off his chest, and he knew his father wouldn’t judge.

“What is it?” It was as if his dad read his mind.

“Marina and I... we were... we slept together while Danny was at the park.” James stammered over his words as he avoided his father’s eyes.

“I see,” was all the man said.

“I let Mrs. Ray take Danny and Mason to the park instead of keeping Danny where Marc couldn’t get him.” He wasn’t blaming Mrs. Ray because she didn’t do anything wrong.

“It’s not like you knew he was watching Danny, or whether he’d know Mrs. Ray would take him to the park. I’ve got to say the man is pretty cheeky to take him out from under the nose of that guy that works for Keith. We stopped by the park before we came here and he is ready to rip someone’s head off.”

He knew his father was right, but the guilt was killing him. “Dad, I’m falling in love with her. I haven’t felt this in a long time. I should’ve been making sure her son was safe not.... well, you know.”

“James Charles O’Connor, doncha dare blame yarself fer followin’ yar heart. Danny’ll be found. Den ya can tell dat lovely girl how ya feel.”

Shit
! Nanny Betty was behind him.
Fucking great!
Now he’d never be able to face his grandmother again.

“Now get over wit dat girl. Yar brudders are out lookin’ fer dat angel. So are Kurt’s girls along with de entire town and those overgrown goons that work for Keithy. It’s already on de radio.” She walked around in front of him and reached up to cup his face in her tiny hands. “Now ya stop yar regrets ‘bout bein’ wit da first woman ta put light back in dem eyes since Sarah left us.” His grandmother always had a way of putting things in perspective.

“Nan, you don’t understand. I let this happen so how can anything happen between us after this?” He swallowed hard as he stared into his grandmother’s blue eyes. “Her son is missing and it’s my fault. I never should have let him out of the house. I promised to protect him.”

“Lord, dine, Jesus, Jimmy. Dis is not yar fault,” Nanny Betty snapped. “Ya stop blamin’ yarself. Dere’s nothin’ ya did wrong.”

“You’re telling me not to blame myself, but Marina’s going to blame me. I promised I wouldn’t let anything happen to her son.” The sting of tears burned his eyes. “I finally find someone I can see spending my life with, and I let some idiot take her son.”

“Mudder.” James glanced up to see his father looking behind him. He turned and Marina stood behind him with her hands clenched against her chest. Nanny Betty kissed James’ cheek and hurried to where Mary, Mason and Kathleen were sitting.

“James.” Marina moved towards him and he backed up until he was against the wall. “This isn’t your fault.” She stood in front of him and pressed her hands against his chest. The tears in her eyes were tearing at his heart. “I heard what you said to your grandmother, and you need to know I’m not blaming you for any of this or Mary or Trunk. It’s Marc who did this.” She wiped his cheek. It was the first time he realized the tears had started. “Just help me find Danny.” James pulled her into his arms and buried his face into her neck as they both sobbed.

“I swear I’ll make sure you have your son back if it’s the last thing I do.”  He lifted his head and pressed his lips against her forehead. He loved her and the ache in his heart when he thought about Danny told him he’d fallen in love with her son, too.

“I’m going to get Mom and Dad to take Mary and Mason home.” Mary had been through enough and Mason didn’t need to be around all of this.

“That’s a good idea. He’s so confused.” He held out his hand and she clasped it.

It seemed as if Danny had been gone for days, but in reality, it was only three hours. Time had seemed to come to a standstill. Kristy and Jess arrived at the station to support Marina and his coworkers were probably ready to string him up for harassing them. He’d called his brothers constantly for updates, but to his dismay they’d found nothing. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he answered it without even checking the caller id.

“Hello.”

“Why in the fuck didn’t you call us?” John snapped.

“I didn’t want to upset you guys until we knew more.” James really didn’t want to upset Stephanie and there was really nothing they could do from Hawaii.

“We’re boarding the plane now. We left Hawaii yesterday because we wanted to spend a few days in New York.” John sounded pissed.

“I’m sorry you had to come home early.” James’ fuck up was screwing with everyone’s lives.

“Fuck the vacation. We need to be there.” John said. “Is there any news?”

“Nothing but everyone’s still searching.” James explained. “I want to get out there but I can’t leave Marina. So you’re in New York now?”

“Yes, and we’re about to board. We’ll see you in a few hours.” The call ended before James could say anything else. He shoved his phone back in his pocket and turned as he heard a voice behind him yelling.

“They found him.” Isabelle ran up behind him.

“What? Where?” James hurried over to Marina while they waited for Isabelle to catch her breath. She bent over and held her side while she gasped for air.

“A.J. was driving by your house and Danny was sitting on the step.” Isabelle took another intake of breath. “He told A.J. the man dropped him off and told him to wait on the step until someone got home.” James wrapped his arms around Marina and she sobbed into his chest. They’d found him, but James wasn’t going to relax until Danny was in Marina’s arms again.

Why the hell was it taking Aaron so long to get from Marina’s house to the station? A person could drive around Hopedale twice in the time it was taking his fucking brother to get there. James yanked his phone out of his pocket and was about to tap Aaron’s number when the doors of the station opened.

Aaron sauntered in with a grinning Danny in his arms. Marina ran to them and Danny jumped into her arms, giving James that familiar lump in his throat again. He scanned the lobby of the station and apparently he wasn’t the only one getting emotional. His cousins were wiping tears from their eyes and even his youngest brother was getting misty. The only thing bothering him at the moment was separating Danny and Marina so he could be interviewed.

He walked behind Marina and Aaron met his eyes because as a police officer his brother knew what had to happen next. Marina was kissing Danny’s head and his arms were wrapped around her neck. He didn’t appear distressed, but nobody knew exactly what happened.

“What took you so long?” James asked Aaron.

“Danny said he had to go to the bathroom, so I let him in your house to use before we came here. He was taking forever so when I went to check on him he was in his bedroom kneeling by the bed. He said he was looking for his car,” Aaron told him.

“Marina, I’m sorry to interrupt, but we need to ask Danny a few questions.” Kurt said from behind them. Greg Harris was next to one of the interview rooms and it made James relax since Greg was one of the best with kids. Somehow he seemed to be able to gain a kid’s trust faster than any other officer he knew. Marina didn’t say a word. She just nodded as she followed Kurt and Greg. James met Kurt’s eyes with a silent plea to let him stay with Marina and his uncle nodded but raised his eyebrow in a silent warning to keep his mouth closed, or at least that was what James assumed he was saying.

Inside the office, Greg sat across the table from Marina and Danny as James and Kurt stood next to the door. Greg introduced himself to Danny, and the little boy shook Greg’s outstretched hand. For a few minutes Greg just asked him some of his favorite things and what he liked to do. Then got to the questions they really needed answers for.

“So, buddy, you gave your mom quite a scare,” Greg said.

“I’m sorry.” Danny glanced at James and then at Marina.

“We’re just happy you’re back.” Marina hugged him.

“Danny, can you tell us where you were?” Greg asked but Danny seemed confused by the question.

“I went with my daddy, you ‘member.” Danny turned to Marina.

“Danny, mom didn’t know where you were.” Greg tried to keep Danny’s attention. “What makes you think the man was your daddy?”

“’Cause he said mommy told him to pick me up because there was a bad man in the park and he was gonna bring me back to mommy.” Danny jumped down from Marina’s lap and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and gave it to Marina.

“What’s this?” Marina asked.

“My daddy said to give it to you.” Danny shrugged and climbed back into Marina’s lap again. James was relieved Marc hadn’t seemed to traumatize him, because Danny didn’t think anything was wrong, but James was pissed the asshole pulled this shit. He watched Marina open up the paper and her face lost all color. He crouched down in front of her, and she tried to pass him the note. He knew he couldn’t touch it because it was evidence and the less people that touched it the better. James motioned her to lay it out on the table. Marina dropped it like it was burning her fingers, and she pulled Danny into a tight hug.

James, Greg and Kurt bent over the table to examine it and when he read the words, he could actually feel his blood pressure rising as his temper started to rage.

If I could get him this easily, then it proves you’re an unfit mother. I’m going to have my son and there’s nothing you can do about it. Don’t think you can stop me.

Marc

James clenched his jaw so hard that it was surprising he didn’t crack his teeth. He had to keep his temper in check in front of Marina and Danny, especially when he noticed her shaking. Danny was squirming in her arms because she was holding him so tightly. James was going to kill the fucking prick if he ever got his hands on Marc O’Reilly.

He turned and walked out of the room closing the door behind him. He pressed his fists against the wall and took several deep breaths to calm himself. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned his head. Keith, the calm level-headed brother stood behind him.

“You need to control this, bro,” Keith said. “You don’t want to scare Danny and the last thing Marina needs to see is your temper.”

“That’s why I left the room.” He turned around and pressed his back against the wall. “I just want to beat that fucking bastard within an inch of his life. Not only did he put her through hell when they were married, now he’s doing it again.”