of blood. He looked so pale and terrified. It was easy to be rational when it wasn’t your loved ones on the line, but he had to know it wasn’t so simple. There didn’t seem to be any way out of this that didn’t involve someone getting hurt. Hell, Dad was already hurt.
I wanted to be rational. I wanted to have time to find a solution that didn’t involve bloodshed, but these men had already proven to be brutal and violent. They didn’t care about Frank Stewart. They wanted their money. Going to the police might have been the smart thing to do, but I wasn’t willing to gamble with Dad’s life.
“Okay, okay. I get it. We have to be careful,” Decker finally admitted. I let out the breath I didn’t even realize I was holding.
“We’re on the clock. I don’t want to know what’ll happen if we don’t get there by five,” I added while anxiously checking the time on the dash. We only had forty-five minutes to get there. I didn’t want to think of what else they’d do to Dad if we weren’t punctual. Visions of his bloodied face assaulted my mind once more.
“We’ll get there in time,” Decker assured me before grabbing my hand. I let him hold me tight as he drove, stroking my thumb across his rough skin while staring out the car window. The world outside was a blur.
“And then what?”
Decker turned onto the highway while letting out a slow sigh. I knew his mind well enough to know that he was thinking of all the variables. “Then, I guess we’ll save your Dad.”
“Thank you, Decker,” I whispered.
“Don’t thank me yet.”
33
Blakely
I was expecting a shady warehouse or some secretive criminal hangout, but the address Decker pulled up to was brimming with light and people. We were at a historic hotel in the business district of Memphis about twenty miles away from our loft. It completely contradicted the scary thing we were about to do. A family was sitting outside on a park bench with a mother bouncing her toddler on her knee. I almost doubted Decker and questioned if we were at the right place.
“This is it,” Decker said while staring up at the building. He pulled out his phone and started typing a message. “I’m sending Lance our location with instructions to call the police in twenty minutes.”
Mere seconds after Decker hit send, his phone started vibrating in his palm. I glanced at the screen, noticing that Lance’s name was on the caller ID. “Are you going to answer that?” I asked.
“No. He’s going to ask questions and try to talk us out of this. Hell, I’m trying to talk myself out of this.”
I placed a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to look at me. “You don’t have to do this, you know,” I assured him. This was my battle. This was my cross to bear.
“You’ve always had to do this alone. I know this isn’t the hospital or one of your mother’s ex-boyfriends, or any of the other hard shit you’ve done alone in the past. But I’m going to be here for you, Blakely.”
I leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek, not caring that our relationship was in limbo. We stared at one another for only a second, but I felt forever in his meaningful gaze. “You promise you won’t do anything stupid?” he asked. “We trade the money and get out of there quickly. No hero shit, Blakely. I can’t even stomach the idea of you getting hurt.”
“I promise,” I lied. I’d do anything to protect those that I loved. I loved my father, and I still loved Decker, too. I wasn’t comfortable with him going in with me, but I knew he wouldn’t entertain my request for him to stay in the car.
“Good girl,” Decker replied. We then got out of the car and headed inside, the briefcase full of cash in Decker’s hand.
It wasn’t hard to spot our contact. He stood out like a sore thumb in the hotel’s fancy lobby. With dark eyes and a scruffy goatee, the man looked intimidating in his all black attire and laced up combat boots. I could see the outline of a handgun against his tight shirt, as if he wasn’t afraid to let the world know he was packing. Leaning against a pillar in the hotel, he propelled off and started walking toward us the moment he saw my wide eyes. “What if Dad