Meant To Be (Heaven Hill Series) (27 page)

“I’ve never wondered if someone wouldn’t come home. How weird is that? I’ve always believed Dad and Liam can handle themselves. Does that make me odd?”

Denise laughed. “Not at all. I wish I could be like that. I’ve never been the type of person that just let life be. I always want control of it. I’m scared of the unknown – always have been. I guess that’s what happens when you get pregnant with twins as a teenager.”

She watched as her friend looked back into the clubhouse where her mom sat on a couch by herself. It was obvious from the look in her eyes that she wanted to go sit next to Lauren, offer her comfort of some sort. Possibly work on their relationship in a way that Liam didn’t want to do.

“You don’t have to babysit me, ya know? Why don’t you go spend some time with your mom while the guys aren’t here? You can do it with no animosity or looks of death from Liam.”

Roni smiled. “Maybe you can soften him up. But until then, I think I’m gonna take you up on that.”

Denise watched as the other woman went into the house and again sighed. She was keyed up and unnerved. She didn’t want her kids or anyone else to see it, but she was feeling wild with nerves. Walking to the edge of the porch, she wrapped her arms around her body. It was a warm night, but there was a chill she felt from somewhere else. She looked up at the night sky, amazed again by how much she could see out here in the middle of nowhere. Knowing that Liam could look up and see the same sky calmed her a little. When she tilted her head back, a fist wrapped in her hair and pulled it sharply. She made the motion to scream, but a gloved hand went over her open mouth. She inhaled, a sweet smell making its way into her nostrils, lethargy immediately claimed her body and she went limp.

“Can’t believe the VP left you out here with no protection. Denise Cunningham, you’re coming with me.”

Later, members of the club arrived back at the clubhouse, all pissed.

“Is it over?” Roni asked, hope in her voice.

“Not even close. It apparently hasn’t even started. When we got there, no one was there. The lock wasn’t even broken. I saw that damn lock break on the video. I don’t like the feel of this,” Liam grunted, getting off the bike.

He strode through the clubhouse, frustration apparent in every step he took. This man was playing with them all, and he couldn’t expect for it to continue.

“Where’s Denise?” he asked Roni. He wanted to bury his feelings in his woman for an hour or two. She took away the tension he always seemed to feel.

“She was out back on the porch when I last saw her. Mom and I have been talking for a while.”

Panic seized him and cold seeped into his muscles. “You left her out there by herself?”

“Yeah, she’s a big girl and we
are
safe here, remember?” She didn’t like his tone, didn’t appreciate the implications of it.

“Safe is a motherfucking relative term with this asshole. You better hope she’s still out there.”

Dread curled up in Roni’s stomach. For some reason she felt scared, and her breath came in short gasps. She watched as Liam went out to the back porch and then turned around, ice in his eyes.

“She’s not out there, Roni. Where the fuck is she? How long have you been in here?”

Roni tried desperately to remember what time she had come back inside the building. The conversation with Lauren had been exactly what she needed and time had flown by. “A few hours maybe?”

“You don’t know where she’s been for a few hours? After I deal with him, I’m gonna deal with you. Sister or not. Let me guess,
you
probably had something to do with it,” he pointed his eyes towards Lauren. “I’m sure you’d pay off anyone who wanted to hurt me.”

“No,” Lauren shook her head, but he cut her off with a glare.

For the first time in her life, Roni was scared of her brother. She saw the murderous rage in his eyes and the look that made other men cower. Roni tried to pull him into her arms, just like she had a million times before, but he shrugged her off and went in search of William. He saw Steele on the way and shouted.

“Track that motherfucker’s cell phone right now. He’s got Denise.”

His brothers had heard him shouting, they had heard the fear and panic in his voice. Everyone had come running. In the corner of his eye, he could see Mandy and Drew. For the first time in his life, his mother did something that helped him. She herded them back into the kids’ area. It wasn’t quick enough for him not to see Drew’s eyes. The disappointment in those eyes killed him. He always swore when he’d had his own children that he’d never see that in their eyes. He’d be damned if it happened now. Walking over to that room, he motioned for Drew and Mandy, the creak of the leather gloves covering his fingers loud in the quiet room.

“Something’s happened to your mom,” he bent down so that he was more on their level. “But don’t worry, I’m gonna bring her back.”

Drew’s eyes were always the more serious of the two. “I’m counting on you.” He sounded so much like an adult that Liam did a double take to make sure he hadn’t grown a foot and sprouted a beard. “We’ve never counted on anybody before,” he told Liam, putting his arm around Mandy.

“He’s right. Nobody’s ever been there for us besides Mom, so we’re counting on you to bring her home.” Mandy was not usually the serious of the two, but her eyes were as somber as he had ever seen them.

The words those children spoke to him tore at his heart. He knew that he couldn’t let them down. He couldn’t let Denise down. Now that he’d finally found something worth living for, he couldn’t let it slip through his fingers. Liam would not be a quitter the way his mother had quit on him. He would find Richard Joyce and tear him apart limb by limb. Vengeance would be his, and they would never worry about him again.

War had just been declared.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“Y
ou know Liam will come for me.”

Denise said it in a sing-song voice because she had no doubt that he would be there soon, guns blazing, pissed the hell off, and ready to take her home. She did it to deliberately taunt the man who had taken her. It pissed her off that he had come into
her
backyard and taken her unwillingly.

Richard glared at the woman, his hard eyes telling her to shut up. Since she had awakened from the chloroform an hour ago, she had not stopped talking. He had listened in the beginning because he hoped that she would say something he could use. Instead, what she had spoken about were things that he already knew. It was now getting on his nerves, and he was starting to get sick of it.

To throw her off, he smirked at her, giving her a wink. “I’m countin’ on it darlin’.”

The skeevy way he smiled made her want to puke. Was this the man who’d raped Meredith? Was he the one who caused all the issues that were going on with the club right now? What else could she find out? Maybe she could help the club in the way a member’s girlfriend normally did.

“Are you gonna rape me the way you raped Meredith?” Her eyes were clear, and she showed no fear as she asked him the thing she wanted to know most.

That question took him aback. “Let’s get one thing straight. I didn’t rape, nor did I have the reporter raped. I’m surprised that you came right out and asked me that though. Maybe you do have the backbone that I originally didn’t think you had. That’s pretty ballsy Ms. Cunningham.”

Her gut told her that he might be telling the truth, but for some reason she just couldn’t let this go. She wanted to do something to help her friend, and at this moment in time this was all she had. “But you know who did? You probably ordered it. Have you been watching us? I mean how else would you know who I am?” The questions poured from her mouth, all things she wanted to know, and all things she felt that he could answer.

“Jesus Christ, how does Liam put up with all your fucking questions? Does he fuck you all day and night just so he doesn’t have to listen to you? Shut the fuck up.”

The glint of anger in his eyes made her obey him. This man was capable of things she had probably never imagined. She could see that in the way he tightened his fists at his sides. Maybe it would serve her best to do what he said and just wait for the rescue she knew would be coming.

“What does he hope to do taking her?” William asked the group of officers.

“My bet is that he needs money. If he ordered the hit on her and the hit on Meredith, he owes somebody for that. Richard is not one to get his hands dirty,” Tyler said quietly.

“So what’s he gonna do? Ransom her?” Liam asked.

“Possible,” Tyler was thoughtful in his quiet way, probably going over every scenario that they would be faced with.

“I feel like an asshole just sitting around here, not doing anything. We need to be going to where that GPS says she is and get her out. There’s no telling what he’s done to her,” Liam growled. He wanted vengeance, and he wanted it now. He was sick of sitting around, waiting on something to happen. He would be damned if what happened to Meredith happened to Denise when he could prevent it.

“We need a plan.” William argued. It was obvious in the way his members were looking at him that he was losing them. Liam was becoming much more of a vocal leader, and they were beginning to follow him without question. William knew that, son or not, he had to get this shit under control.

“Fuck a plan. It’s obvious he’s getting desperate, which means he’ll get sloppy.”

William held his hand up. “
We
don’t want to be sloppy.
We
want to do this right.”

Liam fumed. “None of this has been done right. None of this has been handled. We have one woman missing. We have another lying in a bed beaten, raped, and scared of her shadow. Fuck a bunch of this shit. I’m going. Who’s with me?”

He stood up and watched for the other members. Many of them stood up, obviously wanting to be with him. All battling the bloodlust inside them, wanting to do something to make a difference.

Fighting to keep hold of his club, William banged on the table. “I have not dismissed this meeting yet.”

“It’s not yours to dismiss. It’s
my
old lady he’s got, not yours. This is my problem, and I’ll fuckin’ take care of it.” Liam had never openly defied his president at the table, but he felt strongly about this. No one cared more about Denise than he did, and if anyone was going to get her back it would be him. He would crawl through a desert with no water, walk barefoot over a road of glass, but nothing was going to stop him from getting her back to her family where she belonged.