Page 102 of Free to Fall

Liam:

LOL! I’m telling him you said that.

Laura:

Wouldn’t be the first time ;)

I just parked the minivan behind my Pilot before asking Bailey, “Want to see my home?”

Bailey frowns down at her casts. “How?”

I tug one of her braids. “Well, now that I can carry you, I can pick you up and bring you through the front door. Then you can wait for me while I run upstairs.”

Bailey lets out a happy gurgle of agreement.

I shut off the engine and dash around the back of the car. Opening her door, I wait for her to climb onto my back. Once I have a good grip on her legs and her little arms are tight around my neck, I bound up flagstone steps similar to the ones that are in front of Liam’s home.

Seconds later, I regret the decision.

I regret everything.

“She can’t stand,” I shout.

The feel of the smack across my face comes as no surprise. My head whips to the side. I manage to hold in my shriek of pain, but Bailey cries out. The bitch who has one arm wrapped around her waist grips her by the chin brutally. “Shut your fucking trap, brat,” before she flings her face away.

There are red marks where her fingers were, but as much as they hurt her, I’m being savaged by the pain in Bailey’s eyes.

The same bitch snarls, “Get me a chair to strap this brat to. And who the fuck didn’t realize she’d have a kid with her?”

No one volunteers.

“Who did the research on the good doctor,” she sneers.

Out of the ten or so people in the room, two raise their hands.

Seconds later, two shots are fired. I jerk beneath my own captor’s grip as the two men fall with bloody holes between their eyebrows. But Bailey? My sweet Bailey can’t be blamed for not keeping it together.

She screams, “Nooooo!”

All the oxygen leaves the room when the monster holding her twists her and shouts, “Did I not say to shut the fuck up?” Only this time, she uses her gun to thump the side of her head next to where her braids begin.

Silence immediately descends on the room, like someone lifted the needle off a record. Bailey’s lip quivers and her eyes roll back in her head before she faints. There’s a thunk when her head hits our hardwood floors because the whore doesn’t bother to catch her.

Instinctively, I leap forward to grab her, but I’m hauled back by the chokehold the behemoth behind me has on my neck. “Please, let me go to her.”

A silver circle arcs in my direction. “Fine. While you’re checking out your ‘patient’ you can also tape her up for us.”

Knowing my options are limited, I catch the tape one handed. Dully, I agree. “Fine.”

A chin jerk from cunt to asshole releases me. Once I’m released, my knees give way. Crawling over to Bailey, I check for a pulse and lay my head on her chest to make certain she’s still breathing. Thank the lord, she is. She’s just passed out from shock and pain. As carefully as I can, I begin to bind her two casts together.

Then I feel it—cold carbon steel pressed against the base of my neck. I still. The cruel voice dictates, “Unless you want her screaming to necessitate her death, Doc, I suggest you start with that fucking loud mouth of hers. I don’t want to hear another fucking sound made by a voice that isn’t yours. You got me?”

Even as I rip off pieces of duct tape, I demand answers. “Who are you? What do you want? If it’s money, I’ll get it for you.”

She leans against the side of my sofa. “Well, isn’t that accommodating, Doc. You’re much nicer than your daddy, aren’t you?”

I try to bluff. “My father? What does my father have to do with this?”

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