Chapter Twenty-Six
men’s bathroom, locking the door behind her. Six stalls lined the wall next to several urinals. Baldy had already done his business and was washing his hands at the sink. A woman in the men’s bathroom raised warning bells and even as she walked up behind him, he turned toward her drawing his gun with a wet hand.
She kneed him in the nuts.
He grunted, face turning red as he pressed his knees together. Before he could recover, Reggie grabbed his gun from the holster, popped the safety off, cocked it, and pointed it as his head. Guns had been second nature to her since she’d been a small girl. One thing about her past she was most grateful for.
She kept the gun at his temple. He put his hands over his junk, beady blue eyes glaring at her.
“I really don’t have a desire to kill you. Don’t be stupid and we both walk out of the bathroom alive.”
The scenario seemed comical to Reggie. In all her years growing up in the family, she’d never had an altercation in the bathroom, but the venue suited.
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with, woman.” His voice had a slight Russian accent. “Give me my gun and I will make your death quick.”
“Funny, that was my line. The first part, at least.” Using her free hand, Reggie pulled her gun from the small of her back and pistol whipped him. A gash split his eyebrow, and he fell to one knee, barely containing a cry. “Tell me why Emma Fisher is in the backseat of your car.”
He rubbed the blood from his eyes before glowering at her. “That is not your concern.”
“I will hit you again,” Reggie said easily. She never thought herself to be so callous, so easy when it came to threatening people. When her mother wanted her to do it, Reggie always had a hard time. At least on the inside. On the outside, she’d always been calm and collected. There’d only been one time she’d ever been devoid of any emotion. Here, now, knowing Emma’s life was in danger, Reggie could have pulled the trigger and not given a damn. Except she knew that would probably lead to Emma being caught in the crossfire. Reggie had to be smart, not emotional. “Tell me about the girl.”
He grunted. “Her mother took drugs from Crichton. The girl is leverage.”
Reggie clenched her jaw. It didn’t take much for her to put two and two together. She knew who Crichton was. Part of a drug cartel that worked out of Baton Rouge. They’d never worked together, but her mother made sure to know who did what and where.
Bullying her way into this wouldn’t work, even taking Baldy as a hostage. They’d kill him before giving up their leverage for thousands of dollars—anything less and they wouldn’t have bothered to come all the way to Merrydale for. They planned to make an example out of Sonja’s stupidity.
Putting her emotions in check, Reggie narrowed her gaze at Baldy, pressing the gun deeper against his temple. “Pull out your phone,” she said. “Slowly. Then call your boss in the parking lot.”
Baldy clenched his jaw, but then dipped into the inner breast pocket of his jacket, pulling out a touch screen phone. He swiped his thumb over it, unlocking it with his print before dialing his boss.
“Put it on speaker,” Reggie said.
Grunting, he did so. It rang only once before someone answered.
“Yes, Kozlov.”
“Forgive me, boss.”
“Kozlov’s a bit busy bleeding,” Reggie said. “He called under duress. How are you Crichton?”
There was a moment of silence before he spoke again in a calm voice. “I am well. And who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”
“First, tell me why Emma Fisher is sitting in the back seat of that sweet little SUV parked outside.” She kept her guns aimed at Baldy—both just in case he got any ideas.
“Ah, the woman truck driver. I thought our Emma might have just mistaken you in desperate hope of being rescued.”
“No. She’s got pretty good eyesight,” Reggie said easily. “Pretty good friends, too.”
“And does this friend have a name?”
She paused for a brief moment. Reggie knew that if she answered the question, there was no going back. The scar on her belly tingled. She took a deep breath and narrowed her gaze.
Her next words came out smooth as silk and more confident than Reggie felt. “My name is Regina DeLuca. Daughter of Marissa DeLuca.”
She heard the subtle gasp over the line.
“Yes. That DeLuca.“ She smirked at Kozlov, whose eyes had gone wide.
“I see,” Crichton said. “And you know my guest.”
“I do.”
“Unfortunately, her mother has crossed me.”
“I’m not surprised,” Reggie said. “From what I understand, Sonja is a very sick woman.”
She didn’t know if Emma was listening. What Reggie did know was that the girl still loved her mother. There was no way not to love a mother. No matter how much wrong they did.
“As a DeLuca, surely you can understand how I cannot let this go without consequence?”
Her stomach knotted at Crichton’s implication. Even if he got what he wanted, she knew he planned on making an example out of Sonja and Emma.
“Hmm. I imagine you’ve already left,” Reggie said. “So, let’s make a plan to meet. We’ll talk terms and Emma’s release.”
“There are no—“
“Think before you speak, Crichton.” Her hand tightened on the gun involuntarily. “You might have a powerful business, but I have a powerful empire. We will meet and discuss terms. And when we meet, you will present Emma, whole and unharmed. If there is one scratch, I will kill one of your men. If there are five, I will kill five.” She smiled at Kozlov using him as a surrogate. “You get the idea.”
“I believe I do,” Crichton said.
“Good. Then let’s talk terms.”
Josh found Sonja at a local motel just on the outskirts of town. He already knew Joe, the front desk guy. Yeah, it’d been a while since Josh had to come back out this way, but the altercation they had once upon a time imprinted on the memory. For an extra twenty, Joe pointed Josh directly to Sonja’s room. Seeing as how everything was still in one piece, he figured that whoever was after Sonja hadn’t found her yet. Otherwise, they’d have no need for Emma.
With his wallet a little lighter, Josh walked to room 149 and knocked. Half of Sonja’s face peeked out from behind the window curtains, her eyes widening when she saw him. She disappeared into the room and a moment later, the front door opened. She stood there in wrinkled clothes, her hair disheveled, and lip swollen form nibbling on it. An old nervous habit of Sonja’s.
“Josh—what...”
“What did you do?”
She flinched back, confusion contorting her features. “What are you talking about?”
“I know about you staying with my mom,” Josh said through clenched teeth. “I know about her finding your drugs. Now someone has come and kidnapped Emma.” He leaned toward her. “So, I’m going to ask one more time. What. Did. You. Do?”
Anger bristled just under his skin, but Josh knew if he went off on Sonja, she’d flee. It was her way. When things got tough, Sonja ran. She’d go to a bad part of town, or into Baton Rouge. Josh had pulled her out of more than one precarious situation, including one time when she found herself ready to pay for drugs with sex. He’d always forgiven her, always tried to help her, but after the situation with Emma, Josh realized he had to stop trying to help Sonja when she didn’t want it and protect his kids from the train wreck she always left in her wake.
She held up a hand. “Wait, what? What do you mean, someone kidnapped Emma?! Who? What—“ Her face paled, and she stumbled back from the door, sitting heavily on the corner of the bed. “Oh, God.”
Josh walked into the motel room and shut the door behind him. The light dimmed from the cheap bulbs, casting a yellow hue over the room.
“I’m so sorry.” She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Josh, I thought—I wanted to prove that I could stand on my own two feet. I wanted to prove I could make a stable environment for my kids.”
He scoffed. Leaning his back against the door, Josh crossed his arms over his chest. He’d heard her drug induced excuses a thousand times. Even when he’d visited her in prison, she always apologized, always tried to turn the sympathy back to herself, instead of owning up to what she did. It used to make his chest tighten and his stomach clench. She knew how to play him like a fiddle. Now, with Emma missing, the strings had broken.
“I don’t give a damn what you thought, Sonja.”
She flinched back.
Good.
“Our daughter has been fucking kidnapped!” He pushed off the door without realizing it, his steps heavy as he approached her. “Tell me what the fuck you did so I can get her back in one piece!”
“Josh—“
“Don’t!” He pointed his finger in her face. “So help me, Sonja, if the next words out of your mouth aren’t the truth, if they aren’t about concern for our daughter, about getting her back, I will take you to their fucking doorstep and trade you for her.”
Josh meant it. The thought of just doing it anyway crossed his mind, but that wasn’t the kind of man he was. It would make him no better than Sonja, who had already sacrificed her family.
“I went to an old dealer in Baton Rouge,” Sonja said. “I haven’t had any, I swear, but I know a lot of people who still use.” She hugged herself, hunching over her arms. “I thought, if I could sell it, then I could make enough money to get a house.”
“Fuck, Sonja, there are legitimate jobs.“ He glared at her. Somehow, she’d had her head screwed on wrong. Maybe he hadn’t helped. He’d seen the signs early on, chosen to ignore them. Maybe if Josh had gotten her help sooner, the poison wouldn’t have spread so far into their lives.
“But they don’t pay near as well.”
“And they don’t get your daughter kidnapped!”
She turned her face away. “I know! I’m sorry!” She stood up and walked over to the window, closing her eyes. “I didn’t expect your mom to find the stash.”
“Where did you even get enough money to get that amount?” Josh shook his head. From what he figured, no one was going to come after Sonja for a dime bag.
“I stole it.”
“What?”
She didn’t turn to him, but her shoulders rose up and she let out a sigh. “I thought I could make enough, give them their cut plus interest, and have enough left over.”
Finally, she turned to look at him. Her eyes were filled with pain, and her hands trembled. “I just wanted to find a way to be a good mother, to make it up to them.”
Josh frowned, a pang of sympathy hitting his heart. “You should have done that without the drugs.”
Walking over to him, Sonja gripped his hands. Once, he would have relished in her touch. It would have taken barely this for him to remember how much he loved her, grow hard for her, to want to be inside of her. Now, Sonja’s touch felt foreign, and he would give anything to have Reggie with him to help him through this.
“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll do whatever it takes to get Emma back! Christ Josh, I love her too!”
He pulled his hands from hers. “Then show it.”
Something flashed across Sonja’s face. A realization, Josh thought. That whatever she hoped to have with him. It was gone now. Sonja had secured that a long time ago, but Josh knew she’d only just realized it. She sat on the bed, letting her hands fall into her lap, shoulders slumping in defeat.
Then she told him everything.