Page 21 of Spade

“Why should I believe you?” Melissa spat. She swung her gun around in the air while talking with her hands, and Cynthia tugged at the ropes that bound her to the chair. She was afraid that Melissa was being careless and would end up killing them both.

“Because it’s the truth,” Cynthia insisted. “When Eric broke up with me, I left and went to California. And when I got back to town, I found out that you two were married, and I left you both alone. I went on with my life and found a new path that didn’t involve Eric. He’s yours now.” Melissa lowered her gun and stared Cynthia down as if trying to decide if she believed her or not. Cynthia hoped like hell that she did because there was no way that anyone was going to find her in the abandoned house that Melissa had dragged her to.

“He is mine now, and you’re getting in the way of our happiness. I know that he’s been sneaking out to meet with you.How does it feel to sleep with another man’s wife, knowing that you’re breaking up their family?” Melissa palmed her belly, and Cynthia noticed the tiny bump for the first time.

“You’re pregnant,” she whispered.

“I am, and I know that Eric would be happy about the baby if you weren’t feeding him lies about me. You and your cop boyfriend told everyone that I was the one to roofie you at the bar. You ruined my life. Eric won’t answer my calls, and he won’t come home to me. You’re plan to get him back worked, whore.” Melissa could call her every name in the book, and it wouldn’t matter to her. She was unstable and arguing with a crazy person was usually fruitless.

“So, what’s the plan here, Melissa?” Cynthia asked. She was pretty sure that she wasn’t going to like her answer.

“Well, first, I’m going to call Eric and let him know that I have his precious girlfriend,” she spat. “And then, I’m going to call your boyfriend and fill him in on you having an affair with my husband. I’m pretty sure he’ll be interested to find out that bit of information.” Cynthia wasn’t worried about Melissa telling Spade the lie about her and Eric. She knew that he’d never believe her, and it might clue him in on what was going on. But the last thing she wanted was for Melissa to figure that out. If she thought that it was really upsetting Cynthia, Melissa would follow through with her plans.

“Please, don’t do that,” she begged, pasting on her best upset face. Melissa seemed to buy her performance because Melissa just stood in front of her, smirking down.

“You should have thought about the consequences before sleeping with my husband,” she insisted.

Melissa seemed so sure that Eric was fooling around on her. She even said that he was sneaking out of their house. So, if Eric wasn’t sleeping with her, who was he cheating on Melissa with? There was no doubt that Eric was cheating on his wife—on thatpoint, they could both agree. But there would be no convincing Melissa that she wasn’t the whore that Eric was sleeping with now.

“You just sit here and keep quiet while I make my calls,” Melissa ordered. She pulled a rag out of her pocket and shoved it into Cynthia’s mouth as she tried to protest. “There,” Melissa said, standing back to admire her work. “That’s so much better.” Cynthia tried to plead with her to take the rag out, but she pulled her phone from her pocket and walked into the other room. There was no way that Melissa was going to just let her go after spreading lies about her, and if she wanted any chance of getting out of there alive, she was going to have to come up with a damn good plan, and fast.

Spade

Spade knew that time was of the essence when it came to finding Cynthia. His training had taught him that. He had worked many cases where hostages were involved, and there were times when he and his team were too late to save the person. It was a fact that he had to live with, and knowing that to be the case, he wanted to find Cynthia as soon as possible. But that would involve his Captain, Razor, signing off on his request to be involved in the search. He knew Razor well enough to know that he would tell him that he was worried that he was too close to the situation. He’d be right too; Spade couldn’t get any closer to Cynthia’s kidnapping—she was the woman he loved. Telling her that had scared the hell out of him, and he foolishly kept that secret to himself. But now, all he could think about was finding Cynthia and telling her how much he loved her. Hell, he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and there was no way that he’d let a crazy woman take that dream away from him.

Getting Mace and the Blaine brothers involved to help him find Cynthia might not have been his best idea. He asked his club’s Prez to keep things quiet, but he didn’t take ordersapparently. He called in the rest of the guys for a meeting, including Ink and Razor, and when they both volunteered, he knew that things were getting out of hand. The good news was, with Razor being in on the case, he approved Spade’s involvement. Razor was his club brother, but out in the world, he was Spade’s boss, and he needed to keep that in mind.

“You didn’t have to go behind my back about finding Cynthia,” Razor insisted. His old partner could be a bit dramatic sometimes, but that was one of the things Spade liked about the guy. Razor liked to say that he was passionate, not dramatic, but even he had to admit that wasn’t always true.

“I wasn’t going behind your back,” Spade insisted. “You were my next stop. I was going to ask your permission to go on this little mission before actually doing it.”

“And if I would have said no?” Razor asked. “Would you have still gone?” There would be no lying to Razor. The guy knew him better than most of the guys in the club. They were partners for many years, going undercover together and enduring some of the worst circumstances. Spade owed him the truth.

“Yeah, I would have still gone,” he admitted.

“Well, I can understand that,” Razor said, surprising him. “Because if I had a woman as great as Cynthia, I would have disregarded my boss telling me that I couldn’t go find her.”

“Thanks for that, man,” Spade said, pulling Razor in for a quick side hug. “So, we’re doing this then?” he asked.

“Yep, but where do we even start?” Razor asked. Spade held up his cell as it was ringing. He knew exactly where to begin looking for Cynthia.

“I’m guessing we start with the woman who roofied her the first time. It’s just a hunch since she’s calling me now,” Spade said.

“Shit,” Razor grumbled, “put the call on speaker.” Spade did as he was told and answered the call.

“Well, hi there, Spade,” she said into the other end of the call. Her voice grated on his last nerve—like fingernails on a chalk board.

“It’s Melissa, right?” he asked, pretending not to already know exactly who he was talking to.

“Yep, and I have a bit of news that you might be interested in knowing,” she insisted. He couldn’t possibly be interested in any news that Melissa had, besides where she was keeping Cynthia.

“Oh, well now I’m curious,” he lied. He needed to keep her on the phone because Razor had called the office and told them to put a trace on the call that had just come through Spade’s cellphone. They’d need to keep her talking for just a few more minutes, and then they’d know exactly where she was. He just hoped that Melissa was a novice at kidnapping people and wouldn’t know that little bit of information.

“I thought that you might be,” she said. She seemed smug and he was sure that she had no right to. “Your new girlfriend has been sleeping with my husband. They used to have a thing, and when Eric broke up with her to be with me, she went crazy. I’m betting that she was plotting this the whole time. She wants Eric back and she can’t have him.” Slade knew that Cynthia would never get back together with her ex. She hated the guy and said that she was happy that he was out of her life. But like a bad penny, the guy kept turning up.

“Is that why you roofied Cynthia at Road Reapers?” Spade asked.

“I was actually trying to get her a little tipsy so that I could convince her to get out of that dive bar. I wanted to talk to her, face to face about what she was doing to my little family. Eric and I were happy. We are having a baby, and Cynthia took that all away from us.” Melissa actually believed that Cynthia was the bad guy in the situation. From what Cynthia told him; Melissa was the one who broke up her and Eric.

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