Page 11 of Christmas Wedding
Lorna felt like an eternity had passed since she left the house earlier. Her face felt like it was on fire from where Joe had smacked her, and her shoulder hurt like hell. She was in so much pain, she passed out, only to wake up to find her mouth covered in duct tape. She panicked every time she thought about the baby, wondering if he or she was okay. She knew that Joe spoke to Sawyer, even sent him a picture of her bound and gagged. She was worried that Sawyer would figure out where she was and storm in playing the hero and get them both killed. There was no way that she wanted to give Joe the chance to meet with Piper. It was her job to protect Piper, and now she would be the cause of Piper’s pain.
“Well, your boyfriend has five minutes until time's up. I have to be honest, Lorna, I’m hoping that he doesn’t make hisdeadline. I’d like to spend a little quality time with you to get to know you better.” Joe’s smile was mean, and Lorna shivered. The thought of him touching her made her sick, but he would have to untie her if he wanted to play, and that might give her a chance to escape. Lorna’s cell phone rang, and she could see Sawyer’s picture on the screen. Joe picked up her cell and put it on speaker.
“Just in time. I was telling Lorna that I almost wished you would defy me. She’s beautiful, and I wouldn’t mind spending a little time with your woman. So, tell me—will I be getting to know Lorna a little better, or will Piper meet with me?” Lorna felt warm tears sliding down her cheeks. She hoped that Sawyer wouldn’t put Piper in harm’s way; she would do anything to keep her niece safe. Sawyer’s shouts filled the room. Hearing his voice was like a balm to her aching body. She knew that he was going to fight like hell to keep both her and Piper safe, and that made her love him even more.
“You keep your fucking hands off Lorna, you sick bastard! Piper has agreed to meet you at her cabin.” Lorna tried to scream, but only a muffled groan came out. Joe laughed at her efforts.
“Your little Lorna doesn’t seem too happy with your plan. I think she wanted to spend some time with me.” Joe chuckled to himself. “I’ll meet with Piper at her cabin in one hour. She'd better be alone up there—no husband, no cops, and you better not be with her. If I feel like I’m being set up in any way—I’ll kill Lorna,” Joe taunted.
“I got it. Only Piper will be at that cabin. She will have the five million with her.” Sawyer sounded defeated, and that just about gutted Lorna. She needed him to keep fighting. Using Piper as bait wasn’t a good plan. In fact, it was a fucking awful one. There had to be another way, one that would keep Piper safe.
“Good, I’m glad to see that Piper is a reasonable girl. She knows that her family owes mine, and she’s willing to pay up. As soon as I have the money, I will text your cell to let you know where to find your girlfriend,” Joe offered.
“Fine,” Sawyer barked into the phone, and Joe ended the call. Lorna closed her eyes, praying that Piper wouldn’t be anywhere near that cabin. She knew that Sawyer was a damn good bodyguard and cop, and he wouldn’t let Piper just walk into a dangerous situation alone.
“Now then, let’s get you settled, and then I’m going to finally meet that pretty niece of yours.” Joe untied Lorna’s legs and forced her to stand. She felt woozy and was afraid that she was going to pass out again. “If you agree to be a good girl, I’ll take off the cuffs. Can you make me that promise, honey?” Lorna nodded her head. She would agree to just about anything to get those cuffs off. Joe released her hands, and sharp pains shot up her arm and into her shoulder. It was definitely dislocated—she had to use her good arm to support it. He tore off the masking tape, causing her to scream in agony.
“See, now we can be friends again. I’m going to need you to get into the pantry. I’ll lock you in there for safekeeping and then, if all goes as planned, your boyfriend will be here before you know it,” Joe said.
“Please don’t hurt Piper,” she sobbed. She wasn’t above begging Joe, and he certainly seemed to like making her cry.
“That’s up to her.” He shrugged, “If she plays nice and gives me what I want, she will be fine.” Lorna gasped as he shoved her into the kitchen pantry. She wanted to fight, but every movement had her reeling in pain. Joe shut the door and locked it, and she heard him dragging what she assumed was a chair across the floor to wedge it under the doorknob. There would be no getting out of the closet until either Joe came back to finishthe job or Sawyer found her. She slumped back against the wall and said a little prayer. She rubbed her tummy.
“We’ll be okay, your daddy will find us soon.” She just hoped like hell that was true.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Sawyer watched as Joe left Maddie and Jack’s house and drove right past where he was hiding. He just hoped like hell that Lorna was all right. Thankfully, he didn’t see any sign of her in Joe’s car. He waited for Joe to disappear, heading up the mountain to where the entire Harvest Ridge Sheriff’s Department waited for him, along with Tag. He hoped that Tag would be able to keep his cool and not do anything stupid. They were all ready for this nightmare to be over, but Tag took Joe’s interest in hurting Piper seriously. Sawyer called in a favor and stashed Piper at the station with Torren guarding her. He knew that she couldn’t go back up to that cabin and face Joe. He also didn’t want her with him when he went in to rescue Lorna. He wasn’t sure that Joe didn’t have a partner watching Lorna, and he was also worried about the condition he would find her in. Piper already went through enough, and she was still under his protection, so he made the call to keep her safely tucked away.
He sent Tag a text letting him know that Joe was on his way and then sprinted to Maddie’s house. He knew that he needed to be cautious since Joe might not be working alone, and Sawyer didn’t want to walk into a trap. The smart thing would havebeen to wait for backup, but that would have required him to have more patience than he did. He decided to go in alone. He needed to make sure that Lorna and their baby were alive, and waiting wasn’t something that he was willing to do. Sawyer slipped past the side windows and carefully made his way to the back door, hoping that would give him the element of surprise. He noticed that the back door was already kicked down, which was probably the way Joe broke in earlier. He pushed the door open, gun ready, praying that he didn’t make noise as he entered the kitchen. Inside, he found a chair propped up against what he assumed was a closet door. He wanted to shout Lorna’s name to tell her that he was there and she was going to be okay, but he knew that he needed to clear the house first. He searched the entire building, room by room, and found no one there. He ran back to the kitchen and moved the chair to find Lorna in the pantry. She was huddled in the corner and curled up in a ball. He softly called her name and lifted her into his arms, and a soft sob escaped her chest. Lorna groaned in pain as he assessed her injuries. She needed to go to the hospital and be checked out. Her shoulder was dislocated, and her face was badly bruised.
“Lorna, honey, can you open your eyes for me?” Sawyer pulled her into his lap, carefully cradling her limp body against his chest. He pulled out his cell and dialed 911. He gave the operator Maddie’s address and all the details. He couldn’t chance moving her, not with her shoulder. “Lorna, help is on the way. Can you open your eyes, baby?” She groaned again, her eyelids fluttering as she attempted to open them.
“Hurts,” she moaned. “The baby?” She covered her tummy with her good hand as if she was protecting their baby, willing him or her to be all right.
“You’re okay, honey. I’m going to get you to the hospital and get you both checked out,” Sawyer promised.
“But Joe—” Lorna started to protest, but Sawyer shushed her. He didn’t want her to worry about that asshole.
“Joe is gone, baby. He’s on his way to Tag’s cabin, and I have the entire Sheriff’s Department waiting for him there. He won’t ever touch you again.” She tried to sit up, but he held her firmly against his body.
“He can’t get to Pipe,” she slurred. “He will hurt her if he doesn’t get the money.” Sawyer kissed the top of her head. She was going to be such a good mother. She was already that to Piper. Their baby was going to be the luckiest kid in the world to have her.
“Piper is safe. I have Torren guarding her down at the station.” Sawyer could hear the sirens as they got closer to the house. He worried about Tag. He knew that his team could handle Joe, but a part of him felt guilty that he wouldn’t be there to help take him down. There was no way that he was going to leave Lorna’s side. He left her unprotected and underestimated Joe once, and he wouldn’t let that happen again.
The EMTs knocked at the front door, and Sawyer yelled for them to come around to the back. He wouldn’t let go of Lorna until she was safely in the ambulance. The two EMTs entered the broken back door and found their way to the pantry.
“She’s pregnant,” Sawyer barked. He knew that he would have to give them more information, but he had a damn knot in his throat from the emotions that were rolling through him. Lorna and their baby were his entire world; he didn’t want to think about his life without either of them. He wouldn’t want to exist in that world because he loved her too much. Loving someone could be a blessing and a curse. Most days, he felt like the luckiest man alive, finding Lorna and making a life with her. But it scared the shit out of him to love someone so completely. It took away some of his control, and he hated that.
After he was discharged from the military, he tried to control every aspect of his life. It was crazy how one petite woman turned his world upside down. The EMTs worked on Lorna and got her comfortable in the ambulance while Sawyer checked his phone for any updates. He was starting to worry that his plan wouldn’t work. If Joe felt like he was walking into a setup, he might run, and they would never catch him. He couldn’t let that happen, but he needed to have Lorna checked out and be with her. She was his top priority—her and the baby.
Joe got about halfway up the mountain and pulled over to the side of the road. He knew that he might be rushing into a trap, but he also held some pretty good cards himself. If all else failed, he could just head back to where he had Lorna locked up and use her as bait to lure Piper to him. He knew that Piper and her aunt were close from the way that Lorna talked about her. There was no way that Piper would let anything bad happen to Lorna—at least that’s what he was banking on. Still, he had a bad feeling about heading up to Piper’s cabin. Her giant husband and bodyguard would never let him get that close to her. He turned off his car to give himself a few minutes to think. If he drove up there, he would essentially be giving up the element of surprise. He could hike the rest of the way up, but then he would put himself in danger of being captured on the way back down to his vehicle. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind.
He was usually good at thinking things through. That’s how he survived after getting out of prison, especially since no one wanted to hire an ex-con. So, he relied on the talents that he learned while serving his time, doing odd jobs for people who didn’t want to get their hands dirty. He prided himself on nevergetting caught, and he wasn’t about to break his stride now. This score would set him up for the rest of his life. He would never need to dirty his hands again; he could just disappear and live off Piper’s money. He knew that five million was just a drop in the bucket for the heiress; he read that she was worth at least a few hundred million with the money that her grandmother left her.
She owed him that five million for sending an innocent man to jail. The prosecutor who went after both his brothers lumped him in on the charges. He didn’t have a chance, and no one believed that he knew nothing about his older brothers’ plans to rob the convenience store or kill those three people. He was guilty by association. In the wrong place at the wrong time. Yeah, she owed him. He was about to start his car and finish his trip up to Piper’s cabin when he heard sirens. For a moment, he thought that they were coming after him, but they headed the other direction into town. He didn’t think it was a coincidence that they were headed to where he had left Lorna. Did they figure out where he left her? If so, this was all a setup, and he wasn’t foolish enough to walk into a trap. He turned around and headed back into town. Better to be safe than sorry. His day would come, and he would get to Piper one way or another. They couldn’t guard her twenty-four-seven for the rest of her life. Her bodyguard would fuck up, and he would be there waiting for his chance.
Lorna hurt all over, but she refused to take any pain medication. She didn’t want to take any chances with the baby. Once she got to the ER, they admitted her and hooked her up to a fetal monitor. The sound of her baby’s heartbeat was overwhelming. Both she and Sawyer sat and cried, holdingeach other. They had to reset her shoulder, which hurt like hell, but once they put it back into place, she felt some relief from the pain. She would have to wear a sling for a couple of weeks, and they were keeping her in the hospital for at least a night for observations. Since she blacked out, they wanted to make sure she didn’t have a concussion. She was exhausted when they finally moved her to a private room. Sawyer never left her side, but she didn’t miss the way he kept checking his phone as if waiting for an update. Lorna needed to find out what was happening with Piper, but first, she had to prove to Sawyer that she could handle the news. He was in full-protection mode, and while she loved the way he took care of her and the baby, she also needed to know what was going on with Pipe. Sawyer was standing at the room’s only window as if keeping watch.
