Page 64 of Seized by the Lawman

“Hey, Nix. It’s Hope. Is Melly okay?” Something urgent in her tone made the hair on Nix’s nape stand.

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m sitting on the road just outside of Shy Brooke. I was coming to see Randy and, I saw her car. It’s sitting alongside the ditch. There’s no one inside, but one door is open. I thought it was odd.”

Nix was on the move before he finished the call with Hope. It took him a record breaking ten minutes to reach Shy Brooke by taking the back road and curves like a racecar driver. Just as Hope had said, the Lexus was sitting in the grass and the passenger door was wide open, but he found no clues.

His phone rang from his pocket and he reached for it, hoping it was Melly, but instead his screen read “unknown number”. “Cade here,” he said into the speaker.

“Come to the junkyard on Trego. Come alone or she’s dead.” The phone clicked off.

Nix recognized Claire’s voice. Racing to his truck, he jumped in and was off before he even had his door shut. By the time he reached the location, he was infuriated. Stopping at the end of the gravel drive, he made a quick inspection of the area. Parking in front of the shack that had a crooked swinging sign that read, “Office” he saw Claire’s Honda. Taking in as much of the scene as he could as he moved, he pulled his gun from his waist and headed to the empty vehicle. The driver’s side door was open. Without touching anything, he leaned in and looked around. On the passenger side floor he found Melly’s keys and a shirt smudged with blood. The backseat had clothes strewn out all over the seat as if someone had been living in the car.

Taking a step away from the Honda, Nix clenched his teeth. He hoped that wasn’t Melly’s blood he found inside.

Knowing exactly what Claire wanted, he hoped he could convince her to let Melly go and take him instead.

Either way, he would do his best to end this peacefully, but when it came to Melly and his child, he had no patience. He’d do what he had to for the people he loved.

Stopping at the door into the office, he listened but heard nothing. The one room building was empty.

His gut ached. He prayed Claire came to her senses and didn’t hurt Melly.

No one fucked with his family.

“I’m glad you made it alone.” The voice rang out over the speaker of a radio sitting on the floor of the office. It was Claire. Nix swore vehemently.

He picked it up and pushed the button. “Yeah, I’m here. Now what?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you. Be patient. But in the meantime, I want you to look around you. This was where Spider had been staying, so close to you, and you had no clue.”

“I always said trash had its place,” Nix grumbled.

“Behave yourself, Nix. I have something very precious. One wrong move and I’ll do to her what you did to my man.”

“She has nothing to do with this, Claire. I put Spider away and I was the one who shot him. I’ll take her place.”

There was a long hesitation and then she came back on the radio. “You’d like that wouldn’t you?” There was humor in her tone. “That would be too easy.”

“Go on,” Nix encouraged. All the while he was looking closely at the area around him. Every hiding spot. Every piece of junk car. He had a feeling she was close.

“You took him from me. An eye for an eye. Isn’t that how you believe, Nix?”

“No, it’s not, Claire. I had no choice but to shoot him. He had a knife on Melly. Is she hurt? I saw blood…” His throat ached with each word.

“She’s fine. Her wound is seeping, but she’ll live…maybe. Maybe not. Probably not. Just don’t try anything foolish.”

As each second passed, Nix’s respect for the woman’s ruthlessness grew. There was no match for a scorned woman. “You’re not like Spider, Claire. He manipulated you into believing that he loved you, but he planned to leave you. He had a plane ticket—just one ticket.”

“That’s not true. We were going to get married.”

“He was on his way to Mexico. I bet you heard a different story and had no clue that he planned to disappear. He had a fake ID. Everything he needed to start over.” He hoped he could talk her down.

“You’re lying,” she clipped.

“I wouldn’t. You’re not so deep in that you can’t get out of this. So what that you broke into my desk and computer and sent an email. No one was hurt. And you haven’t hurt Melly. You can put the gun down and walk away. It’s not too late. Let me help you.”

Another long hesitation. “Don’t play with my head, Nix. If I walk out, you’ll take me to jail. Spider told me I’m not the kind to last behind bars.”

---