Page 6 of One Hellion of a Christmas

“Turn off your phone,” he’d instructed, putting an arm around me so he could better hide the gun he had pressedpainfully into my ribs. I could smell his cologne. Something smoky and masculine. Not the worst scent combination, but it immediately triggered another rush of acid.

Apparently being pregnant meant heartburn city. Not a fan. Why had no one told me about that part?

“Fuck off,” I hissed at him, my gaze shifting toward the bathrooms where Abi had disappeared five minutes before.Please don’t come back yet. Please don’t come back yet.

“Turn your phone off,chica.”

I didn’t move, my eyes locked on where Abi had disappeared with her mini-me earlier.

“Turn the fucking phone off, or no one in this place is going to make it home for Christmas. Do you want to be responsible for that? So many families losing loved ones mere days before the most joyous holiday of the year?” He tsked, the click of his tongue hitting the roof of his mouth triggering the urge to stab him with something. Anything. But all I had was my phone with my wallet clipped to the case and the two bags with presents.

After a quick internal debate on the pros and cons of testing the creep’s threat, I switched it to silent instead of powering it off, taking my time to make the motherfucker think I was complying with his demands.

“Good girl,” he praised, and I had to swallow the urge to vomit all over his shoes.

Yeah, that wasn’t sexy. When my men said it to me, I melted. Those same words from my apparently psychotic stalker? Disgusting.

“Now, without making a fuss, we’re going to walk together over to that trash can. Throw everything away.”

After another sharp jab of the gun into my ribs to nudge me into action, I walked with him practically glued to my side toward the nearest trash can. “Do you know what’s in this bag? It’s worth thousands. If you need cash, you can just takeeverything and sell it. Or I can find an ATM. There’s a daily withdrawal limit on my cards, but I can give you a few grand. Just don’t hurt anyone.”

He kept his chin lowered so I couldn’t make out much of his face. “Trash, now. Or I find the little girl.”

Scared and angry, I shoved the bags and my phone into the trash bin, shaking from the threat to my little mini. I had no idea who this idiot was, but I couldn’t wait for Sammy or Vaughn to slice and dice the sonofabitch.

My men were going to go ballistic when they found out I had been kidnapped. Jamie would lose his mind. Sparks would go dark. Ky would be lost. I swallowed a sob, refusing to think about what might happen if I didn’t make it back to them.

Abi.

Amala.

Fuck.

I closed my eyes. They would be fine. Vaughn had so many trackers on her, it wouldn’t surprise me if one of them monitored her blood pressure and heart rate at all times. As soon as she started freaking out when she discovered I wasn’t waiting on her with the promised cookies, he would be alerted. Probably Sammy, too. All that mattered to me at that moment was that they were safe.

He walked me toward an exit sign on the opposite side of the bathrooms then down a flight of stairs down to the ground floor. All the way out to a nondescript car that was parked in a handicap space, I tried to keep my cool. And fight the freaking stomach acid playing chicken with my gag reflex. I didn’t make a sound, terrified he would actually go back and do something to harm Abi and Amala. I had a strong suspicion he wouldn’t touch them, but I couldn’t chance it. It was me the creep had been stalking. Me whom he was desperate to get alone.

The entire walk to the car, we passed person after person who didn’t give us a second glance. Not a single one of them noticed the gun that was digging into me through my hoodie.

When we reached his car, he opened the back door and pushed me forward. As soon as I was inside, the driver’s door opened, and another man with a baseball cap got behind the wheel.

“I thought stalking was a solo gig,” I snarked as my kidnapper got in beside me. I was ready to fight him now that he was out of the same building as Abi, but he grabbed a handful of my hair, jerking my head back sharply. Definitely not the fun kind of hair-pulling I liked so much with Jamie.

He shoved the gun into my belly, and every maternal instinct inside me stood up and screamed at the threat to my precious baby. I wished I had Sammy’s super-sick assassin skills. I would have disarmed the motherfucker and shot him right between the eyes without a single moment of remorse.

“Try it, and I’ll empty this magazine into your gut,chica.”

“Would you, really?” I taunted, trying to look at his face. But he kept his head ducked, the cap shadowing his facial features from me, even up close. “Don’t stalkers typically want their prey alive to do depraved things to them first? Killing me so soon after you caught me seems anticlimactic. But I have a feeling that’s what all the ladies say about you.”

Another check in the stupid decision box. He backhanded me so hard, my ears rang, completely stunning me for a moment. By the time I blinked back into awareness, I tasted blood on my tongue and the driver had pulled into traffic. The guy next to me had put on the cable ties while I was momentarily out of it and then pressed the gun to my temple.

“Another word out of you and your brains will be decorating this back seat.”

Swallowing the acid that was boiling in my stomach as hot as the rage in my blood, I kept my mouth shut. Instead of smarting off, I tried to focus on where they were taking me. If by some miracle I found a way to get free from them, I had to know how to get back to Abi.

I needed to stay focused. Not only so I could get away, but because I needed to keep the baby growing in my belly safe. And more than anything, so I could return to Ky, Sparks, and Jamie. I needed to be smart so I could at least tell them how much I loved them one more time.

Holding back the emotions that overwhelmed me, I sent out a silent prayer to all of Emmie’s gods. Maybe one of them would actually pay attention and give me the Christmas miracle I desperately needed.

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