Page 65 of Holding Out For A Holiday Hero

He’d snuck in the back door. True had been so focused on Jake and his brother that she hadn’t even realized the intruder had been in the condo, not until it was too late.

He’d had the gun on her, so she hadn’t been able to risk calling out a warning to Jake. One of the jerk’s hands held the gun, and the other gripped her left shoulder. His fingers curled around her, digging into her skin.

“Are you hurt, True?” Jake asked softly.

“No.” Just angry. And scared. Correction, terrified.

“You shouldn’t have come back to town, True,” the man in the mask said as his fingers bit deeper into her. “Things were fine. No one cared about the old shit at the museum. I could pick up a few pieces whenever I wanted. Could take a few jewels from old necklaces or earrings and fence them. Who the hell was gonna know?”

“Dylan Dunn. He knew.” Jake nodded. “Did he help you fence the stuff you took? Was he working with you?”

“That guy—all he had to do was scare True away. So freaking simple. She was going to start hauling all kinds of shit out in the new year. The thefts were bound to be found then! I had to do something—scaring her out of town seemed like the best plan.” An angry exhale. “But the closer he got to True, the more Dylan started liking what he was doing. Too damn much. Liking her.”

He kept his voice a rasp, but it was still familiar to True. Her heart galloped in her chest as she stared at Jake. His face showed no emotion. But his eyes glittered with an absolutely lethal intent. She knew he was just waiting for the moment to attack.

She had to give him that moment.

First, though, the man in the mask needed to get the hell away from her. Was he holding the same gun that had been used to shoot Dylan Dunn?

“I did you a favor,” the man beside her revealed. “He was waiting in that house for you. Dylan would have hurt you.”

“You have a gun to my head,” True pointed out in what she thought was a surprisingly steady voice. “Doesn’t that mean you’re going to hurt me, too?” Sure seemed that way to her.

He lifted the gun from her head. And pointed it at Jake. “I need the computer. Thought I’d taken care of that problem already when I smashed it, but then you whisked the parts out of the museum. You aren’t fixing shit. I need the computer.” A rush of air. An angry exhale. “True, get your boyfriend to turn it over, and I’ll disappear.”

The computer wasn’t there. They couldn’t turn over what they didn’t have.

“It’s in the bedroom,” Jake said. “I’ll go get it.”

And he took a step forward. One, then another. Toward them. Not toward the bedroom.

Her captor barked out a laugh. “You think I’m an idiot? You’ll just go for a gun if you head in the bedroom. And dammit, stop! Stop or I will shoot!”

Jake’s gaze cut to hers. “Did you like the gift, sweets? The one I gave you tonight?”

He wasn’t talking about the tree. She nodded. “Best gift ever.” Her hand rose toward her left shoulder. Then, in a flash, she grabbed her captor’s gloved pinky finger. She yanked it back and out and heard the snap with a savage satisfaction.

Her attacker screamed. Filled with growing fury, her elbow rammed back into him, as hard as she could ram it, and True leapt forward.

Jake grabbed her. Practically threw her across the room. “Get out!” he roared at True.

And he leapt for her attacker.

True whipped back around. She saw the gun come up as the masked man took aim at Jake. “No!” The scream tore from her as the world seemed to stop. The man in the mask was going to shoot at Jake. He was going to kill Jake.

No, no, no! “Braden!” True yelled the masked man’s name. “Don’t!”

His head whipped toward her. His hold on the gun seemed to loosen.

Jake ripped the gun from him. Slung it so it soared over the couch. Then Jake was grabbing the masked man—it’s Braden, I know it’s Braden. Even though he’d disguised his voice, she’d still recognized it.

Jake pummeled Braden. Swung his fist at the younger man over and over again. Braden tried to fight back, but his swipes were pitiful. True scrambled around the couch and picked up the gun. She clutched it with shaking fingers and took aim.

Just as she took aim, Jake swung out hard and hit Braden with such stunning force that the masked attacker slammed into the Christmas tree. The whole tree wobbled, then crashed to the floor, taking Braden down with it.

Braden let out a low groan. He didn’t get up.

Jake grabbed the Christmas tree lights that were in a brown box near him. He looped the lights around their attacker’s wrists. Then his feet. Jake bound him completely. When the intruder was secure, Jake grabbed the ski mask and ripped it off the other man’s face.

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