Page 130 of Between Never and Forever
“Izzy, your brother seems to want to fight.” He said it to my sister but then his eyes cut back to mine. The devil was in them, ready to unleash on me. I didn’t shrink away though like most would have. I lifted a brow and he just grunted out, “You’re looking for chaos, brother. I’m not pissing my wife off tonight by handing it to you.”
“You’re not the one I want to rip apart anyway…” Everyone knew I was volatile in that moment. My voice drifted off as I stared at the different investments on the screen, at what Ezekiel had been doing. Small record labels, different newer businesses we wouldn’t pay attention to, had invested in our rival casino. It’s how he’d probably gotten access to their drone area. Everything he was doing was under private names that weren’t accessible to the public.
Had I just stopped playing by the rules, I’d have found it out before this happened. “Ezekiel invested six months ago.” I was already pulling up facial tracking on him as Cade and Izzy worked alongside me.
“He’s a block away. Motel. Second floor,” Izzy said as she stood up, ready to go immediately. My whole family stood up with her.
“How did you—” Cade looked over, equally pissed and proud that she’d beat him at finding Ezekiel’s location.
“Cade, you should know by now, we don’t send men to do a woman’s job. I’ll always be faster than you.” She kissed his cheek, but I was already getting up to leave.
“Dex, hold on.” Dom stood with me and grabbed my arm. As the oldest, Dom was probably the voice of reason. “Let’s call 911 to—”
“Go home. Call the cops. I’m going there myself now though. This is my fight.” I shook my head, yanking my elbow from him as I headed toward the door. “And it’s going to be messy.”
“You can’t make a mess,” Dante warned, but I was already running out and down the hall. I didn’t have time. She’d been gone too long. Minutes felt like hours. Hours could feel like days.
I didn’t stop to see who was behind me, but I heard Cade say, “Let us do the rest. You ladies go home. Keep up appearances.”
And into the night the Armanellis and Hardys went. My brothers walked beside me, as well as Dante and Cade. No one at the motel even questioned us walking in. No one cared with the run-down setup they had going on. The lighting flickered, and the silence of the night felt stifling.
I’d have rather heard her screaming from inside that hotel than nothing at all. I didn’t knock on the thin white door. I kicked it in immediately.
And there stood Ezekiel, pacing back and forth in front of my bride. Her beautiful wedding dress was still on. The color of lilacs. And she looked so peaceful as she slept, as if her stalker hadn’t kidnapped her.
Ezekiel’s eyes were wild when they jumped to mine. The recognition happened quickly, from the dominance he felt to the fear that filled his veins. “Dex. Mr. Hardy… I flew in to see her. She called me. She just… We wanted some time alone—”
“What did you drug her with?”
“Drug?” He laughed maniacally. “Oh, nothing. She’s just asleep.”
I turned to Dante. “Check her vitals.”
My eyes flicked to my brothers and then to Dante and Cade. “Leave now if you don’t want to be involved.”
Not one of them moved. Even Dom, who had said we should call the cops before, didn’t take a step back toward the door.
Cade cracked his knuckles. “Call one of our doctors. We can’t have cops here.”
“Oh, yes. There’s no need for cops.” Ezekiel’s eyes widened. “Like I said, I just… She’s really mine, you know? She sometimes finds herself straying to other men and—”
My first punch to his face to shut him up was fast and hard but not enough. Still, he fell backwards as he screamed, “What are you doing? Do you know who I am?”
I knew exactly who he was. He was a predator and a kidnapper. I knew he was probably more than just that too.
“How did you get the letters to her? The pictures of her? Want to explain?” I murmured close to his face.
That’s when his eyes turned angry, like he knew he was cornered and wouldn’t get out. So, he wanted to dig the knife deeper. “I could take pictures of all your wives. They’d probably like it just like Keelani does.” His eyes darted to her and then back to me. “Money can buy drones and teams to help with just about anything. The drones aren’t trackable from the company I use, and the letters were such a nice touch because you all rely so much on your technology.”
“We tracked down that you bought into the casino that allowed you to fly your drone though, Ezekiel. You didn’t evade us long enough.”
“Whatever.” He spit blood on the ground. “So you can have this bitch. I’ll keep on doing what I want with the other women who are mine.”
Maybe I’d been too meticulous in my life, too Type A. I could put everyone into a category, I knew that. Yet, here, standing in front of this man, I knew right then and there, I was going to stick with putting people in categories.
I’d made up my mind.
There was only one place people like him belonged.
