Page 31 of Ruthless Redemption

Chapter Thirteen

Houston

Houston lunged at Frank, his fist connecting with the older man’s right jaw. He spun to the left but his security team had already sprung into action and one of them caught him before he hit the floor.

“You sick bastard,” Houston yelled, uncaring about the crowd gathering or the melee of men who were grabbing at his clothes. All he saw was a flash of red as Izzy jumped into the fray. Make that two flashes. One of her dress and the other of his anger as it broke free from its tenuous tether.

He tried to pull her free, but someone grabbed his arm and punched him in the stomach. The move temporarily knocked the wind out of him, which gave his new opponent time to land another blow to his head.

“Jesus Christ,” he vaguely heard a familiar voice somewhere in the distance as he braced for yet another punch. Fortunately, his fighting instincts kicked in and he used his left arm to deflect and his right arm to land his own elbow strike to a chin.

His opponent fell back, stunned, giving Houston just enough time to jump to his feet and deliver a side kick to the gut that rendered the man coming after him temporarily out of commission and probably broke a couple of his ribs at the same time.

“Houston!” Izzy yelled.

He turned to her voice and found her pointing across the room where Frank was running to a side door with a leggy blonde woman at his side. As he tried to assess getting out of this situation and going after Frank, all he could think was what a fucking cluster this situation had turned into.

“Go,” Levi yelled. “We’ve got this. Not sure what’s going on, but I heard some of what that bastard said to your wife. Take his ass down, Reed.”

He barely took the time to register that Levi seemed to have brought his own team of reinforcements who indeed had Frank’s crew tied up before reaching out and grabbing Izzy’s hand.

“C’mon, babe. Let’s finish this together.” She nodded as they ran together towards the door Frank had already disappeared from.

When they slammed through the heavy door, he realized they’d entered the stairwell and he had no idea whether Frank and his companion had gone up or down. Izzy lunged for the railing and searched both avenues as did he.

Apparently, they were smart enough to stay out of sight by keeping to the far edge, but we both heard the distinct sound of heels on the downward climb.

“That way,” Izzy pointed down.

“Yep.” He started forward and stopped. “What about those,” he looked down at the skyscraper heels Izzy had strapped to her feet. “Can you run in those?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “I can and I will.

Izzy didn’t wait for him to respond as she started down the stairs. He had a big grin on his face as he followed. It was nice to see she could handle herself in a crisis.

By the time they reached the first floor, the only sound he heard was his and Izzy’s heavy breathing and his pulse pounding in his ears. Frank and the unidentified woman had disappeared again.

“The only choices are back in the hotel or the garage.”

He looked from one to the other. “My money’s on the garage. Whatever Frank’s faults are, he’s not stupid. He won’t risk getting cornered in the hotel again. He’ll either fall back to a position of his choosing that puts him squarely back in power, or he’s heading towards his meet up with Marco. That money is gone and he’s got to be scrambling for his next move.”

“I’m sure.” Izzy didn’t look as positive as her words, but it was the best they could do without a team to back them up. Most of the club had left the hotel in pursuit of Marco and the missing girl while the rest were probably embroiled in the mess created at the party.

“You still up for this?” He wasn’t sure this was the best course of action at this point. But if they lost Frank in the garage they might not get another chance.

“Stop worrying about me and let’s just get this over with. I’m ready to put this behind me and get on with my life.”

As he pushed through the door that led to the parking garage, he couldn’t help but wonder if her life included him. The options in front of them were changing from one minute to the next and it left little room for clarity.

They’d no sooner pushed through the door when someone grabbed his arms and he lost his hold on Izzy’s hand. She screamed, but before he could turn to her, everything went dark as some kind of dark hood went over his head.

“What the fuck?” he yelled, twisting and jerking until his muscles burned and threatened to tear free from his body.

“Izzy!!!”

When she didn’t respond, he fought like a wild animal trapped with no way out. Whether it was Frank or Marco responsible didn’t matter. They were in this together and they would both hurt her.

His muscles strained to the point of tearing and still he fought to get free. He had to get to Izzy…

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