Not You It's Me (Boston Love #1) - Julie Johnson Page 0,127
up.”
“Can we at least drop Chrissy off at the hospital? This isn’t about her. It’s about me. The hospital isn’t far from here. And, if you let me drop her off, I’ll go with you, wherever you want to go. Just let me—”
“Do you think I’m some kind of idiot?” he sneers, glaring at me.
Kind of, yeah.
“You really think I’m stupid enough to let you stop at a fucking hospital?” he continues.
I mean… a girl can dream.
“Just drive.”
My hands tighten around the steering wheel as I meet Chrissy’s eyes in the rearview mirror. Her face is flushed and she’s breathing heavy — telltale signs she’s in pain. My eyes ask a question; she mouths the answer back at me.
I’m okay.
Even if she’s not lying, she can’t hold up for long. I’m not sure how fast her labor’s progressing, but I’m relatively certain we should get to a hospital, pronto.
At Ralph’s direction, I drive a while longer, until we’re well out of Chrissy’s neighborhood. I’m going as slow as possible, looking for opportunities — a police station, a security guard on the street, anyone who might be able to help — hoping Ralph doesn’t notice my crawling pace. I start to get nervous when we pass through the city limits and he tells me to keep driving — away from Boston proper, away from the hospital.
Chrissy’s breaths have intensified to full-on pants of pain, and even Winnie is looking distressed, the longer we drive in utter silence.
I’m about to try reasoning with Ralph again, when the sound of buzzing shatters the quiet.
“What the fuck is that?”
I don’t answer him.
The buzzing continues, loud and insistent, until Ralph leans forward and grabs my purse off the passenger-side floor. Reaching inside, he pulls out my sparkly blue phone and sneers at the screen.
“Chase Fucking Croft. That bastard has half the BPD on my ass, not to mention that private contractor fucker who’s been tailing me. Haven’t been able to go home in days, thanks to Croft.”
“Your new partner hasn’t been taking care of you?”
The words fly from my mouth before I can stop them.
His gaze, cold with fury, slides to mine. I think he’s going to ignore me, but he doesn’t.
“Brett?” Ralph laughs bitterly. “He took my information. Said he had some grand plan, to bring down his cousin. But he cut me out. Used me. Should’ve known — he’s a fucking Croft, too.”
If he’s working alone, we might just have a shot. Ralph isn’t the smartest kidnapper on the block. In fact, Ralph isn’t the smartest — period.
“It doesn’t matter, though.” Ralph’s trying to sound tough, but I can hear undercurrents of anxiety in his tone. His eyes never waver from my phone as he tosses my purse into the backseat, watching as the screen flashes CHASE CALLING over and over. “I’ve got a new partner now. She’s smarter than both of them, combined. Not to mention a fuck of a lot better to look at. Together, we’re gonna make that whole fucking family pay. Literally.”
She?
There’s only one she I can think of, who’d want to hurt me and Chase, but it’s almost too ludicrous to consider she’d stoop low enough to work with Ralph.
It can’t be her.
Ralph grins to himself. “Guess we’ll find out how much you’re worth, Gemma. Me, I wouldn’t pay a goddamn cent to get you back.” His grin widens. “For your sake, I hope your new boyfriend doesn’t feel the same.”
“Chase will be looking for me,” I say, attempting to reason with him. “He’ll suspect something’s wrong, if—”
My words are cut off when Ralph’s hand flies out, clipping me across the cheekbone with the butt of his gun. Stars of pain burst behind my eyes and, for a minute, the road in front of me disappears entirely. I feel the car lurch, swerving out of its lane as my hands momentarily lose control of the wheel. A sharp horn blares from the car driving beside us. Chrissy’s shrieks echo from the backseat. Jolted roughly in his booster, Winnie starts to cry, little hiccupping sobs of distress.
I register it happening, but it all feels distant as my head swims with pain.
“Stupid bitch!” Ralph yells, grabbing the wheel and yanking us back on course.
When my head stops spinning, I blink away the stinging ache and steady my hands on the wheel, trying to stay in control.
Your godson is in the backseat.
Your best friend is back there, too, with an unborn child in her belly.