Page 19 of Wicked Obsession

His lips twitched, but he didn’t say anything, simply swung her into his arms and put her on the seat. She glanced behind her and saw that the back was loaded with gear. Lots of it. In the next instant, Ryder nudged her over with his hip, settled beside her, and closed the door.

“Let’s roll, Mako,” he said.

As they pulled away, Langley did some calculation. She and Sarah had been kidnapped at 9:45 this morning. It was unlikely anyone had noticed until after ten, when the ceremony had been scheduled to start. How long until the guests had realized it wasn’t merely Sarah having cold feet?

No doubt it had taken a while, but even if they had known immediately and called the police, itwas a five-hour flight to San Diego without any layovers. The very earliest Ryder could have arrived would have been 3 p.m. if he had a private jet fueled and a pilot on standby. Commercial? Not a chance, not with security. A realization dawned—travel time to the airport. No, 3 p.m. was impossible, and 4 p.m. would be optimistic.

According to the dashboard clock, it wasn’t 8:30 yet. Technically, it was conceivable for the men to get here and find her, but her instincts said no.

The timing simply didn’t work.

Langley ran through the timeline in her head again, but came up with the same answer. Then she factored in a second problem—how had Ryder heard about her kidnapping?

The police would have contacted her mom and dad, not her ex-boyfriend, and her father would have hired someone located in San Diego to find her. He’d know time was of the essence—she could be killed before the Green Berets were able to reach California.

So why were Ryder and his three closest friends here with enough gear to invade a small country?

It wasn’t because he knew she’d been taken hostage and he loved her too much to stay in Florida, waiting for the police or someone her father had hired to find her. That was a disappointingrealization—she choked up thinking about it—but Langley was done lying to herself about Ryder. She played through every scenario she could come up with, but only one made sense.

“When did my dad receive the threat, and how serious is it?”

Chapter 8

Langley shimmied her upper body, trying to buy herself another inch of space. She felt stuffed between Ryder and Finn because both had broad shoulders and they were wearing tactical vests. Immediately, Finn shifted, trying to give her more room, but of course, Ryder didn’t move. She jabbed him with her elbow, but he didn’t relinquish so much as a millimeter. She wished she could lean into him and let him comfort her. It saddened her that she couldn’t, but she pushed that aside.

No one had responded to her question. “My dad didn’t know I was kidnapped when you left Tampa, did he? In fact, you didn’t know either until you couldn’t find me, right?” More silence. “How am I doing so far?”

It remained quiet until Finn said, “Damn good.”

Ryder shot a glare at him that didn’t seem to faze the other man. “For God’s sake,” he muttered.

“It’s not like it’s a fucking secret,” Griff chimed in from the front seat.

“Don’t drop the f-bomb in front of Langley,” Ryder said with a growl to his voice. “She doesn’t like it.”

“I don’t like it directed at me. I’m fine when it’s directed at you.”

Nevada chuckled, Jonah turned in his seat and grinned at her, and even Finn’s lips curved. Only Ryder was unamused.

“Someone start talking.”

Ryder shifted, allowing him to look at her face—for all the good that did him in the weak glow from the freeway lights. “Your father received a letter yesterday, threatening you. The FBI didn’t believe it held water, but he asked me to come out to San Diego and protect you until the feds find who wrote it. This kidnapper wasn’t the person who made the threat against you, if I’m reading your questions right?”

Langley nodded. “The man wanted Sarah. I was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“You know this for a fact?”

“When he burst into the bride’s room at thewedding center, he said he was taking Sarah hostage because her fiancé owed him money. She was his leverage and he took me as well because ‘two broads is better than one.’” Langley deepened her voice, trying to mimic the kidnapper as she repeated what he’d said.

“There was only one man?”

“I never saw anyone else.”

After a moment of quiet, Finn said, “It makes sense he was after Sarah, considering what we heard at the wedding center.”

“Yeah,” Ryder said slowly, dragging out the word. “The only reason anyone thought it might have something to do with the ambassador is because we showed up.”

Langley tuned the men out as they discussed what she’d told them. When she’d let her parents know she’d arrived in California, she should have mentioned that she’d broken up with Ryder. It could take a couple of days for the FBI to clear the threat, and until that happened, she’d have to spend time with the man who’d ripped out her heart.

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