Claiming Felicity (Ace Security #4)(59)

He didn’t bother pulling into the parking lot at the back of the gym. Ryder parked right in front of Rock Hard Gym. He was relieved when everything seemed exactly like it had been when he’d left earlier, but the hair on the back of his neck was still standing straight up.

He was unlocking the front door of the gym when Blake pulled up behind his car. Cole had given Ryder a key to the gym with a smirk and a smack on the back the other week. Had told him that he owed him the world after he’d convinced Felicity to stick around. It had made Ryder feel good that he’d been so easily welcomed by Felicity’s friend, but now he was even more thankful because it meant he didn’t need to wait for Cole to arrive to unlock the door.

He’d tried to call Felicity once more on his way back to her, but once again the phone just rang and eventually went to voice mail.

His heart in his throat, Ryder ran through the deserted reception area to the hallway at the back of the space. He took the stairs two at a time and burst into the hallway at the top. He fumbled with the key for an uncomfortable amount of time before he finally got the door to Felicity’s apartment open. He ran in and stopped short at the sight that greeted him.

Everything looked normal.

Felicity was on the couch. Sleeping.

He gulped. He hoped she was sleeping.

Ryder strode over to her, and, as if watching someone else’s hand move toward her throat, he checked for a pulse.

It was there. Slow and steady.

He let out a breath. Thank fuck.

He heard Blake and Alexis enter the apartment, but he ignored them. Reaching a hand down, he shook Felicity’s shoulder lightly. “Wake up, love.”

She didn’t even flinch.

Ryder frowned. He knew Felicity was tired from their day, but she’d always been somewhat of a light sleeper. She’d spent the last decade on the run—of course she was.

He shook her again, harder. “Felicity,” he said, louder this time.

She slept on, oblivious to everything going on around her.

“Stay here,” Blake ordered.

Ryder looked up to see he’d been talking to Alexis. He had a gun out and was creeping down the hallway to the bedrooms. Ryder put his hand back on Felicity’s throat, her pulse reassuring him that she really was just sleeping soundly and not dead.

Blake returned after less than a minute carrying baby Ace.

Ryder frowned. “Where’s Nate?”

Blake stopped in his tracks. “Nate?”

“Yeah. Felicity was babysitting both kids while Grace and Logan went up to Denver to that show she’s been wanting to see.”

“He wasn’t there,” Blake said softly.

And there it was.

Ryder’s stomach flipped, and he pressed his lips together to keep from throwing up.

He looked back down to Felicity and frowned.

“The cops are on their way,” Blake said.

But Ryder wasn’t hearing him. His eyes were roving around the room, looking for whatever had been used to knock Felicity out. Because she was definitely out. There was no way she would’ve slept through Joseph coming into the apartment and kidnapping Nate otherwise.

Ryder knew he hadn’t been gone that long. Maybe Joseph had conned his way into the apartment somehow and used chloroform to disable Felicity. He mentally shook his head. No, she wouldn’t have opened the door to anyone.

His eyes landed on the pictures he’d encouraged Felicity to display out here in the living area. She’d put up a few pictures of Grace and her. Grace with the babies. A group picture of Alexis, Bailey, Grace, and herself. Every single picture was lying facedown on the shelves they’d been sitting on.

Then he noticed something he hadn’t seen before. Her giraffe. Her beloved stuffed giraffe was lying in the middle of the floor, its head ripped from its body. Ryder couldn’t take his eyes away from it for a long moment.

“He’s been in here,” Ryder whispered.

“How did he drug her?” Blake asked, coming up next to the sofa. He’d passed Ace off to Alexis, who was now standing at the door to the apartment waiting on the police officers to show up. “Could he have gassed the place? Put a hose through the air-conditioning duct or through a window somehow?”

“Ace is fine,” Ryder said through clenched teeth, indicating the now-awake baby babbling in Alexis’s arms.

“Could he have drugged something then? I mean, you’re fine. What did she eat that you didn’t?”

Ryder’s eyes went to the glass on the coffee table. The empty glass. The one he’d filled with water for her. Twice. “Fuck. The water. It’s her ritual. She drinks a full glass every night. Every night. It’s her thing.”

“And you don’t?” Blake asked, eyeing the water dispenser.

Ryder shook his head. “No.”

“How’d he know?”

Ryder shook his head once more, even as his eyes swept the room once more. He didn’t know what he was looking for. “I have no idea. Cameras? Watching through the windows? I have no fucking idea.”

The brothers looked at each other for a long second before Blake said, “We need to call Logan. Tell him about his son.”

Ryder took a deep breath and looked down at Felicity. Not only had he failed her, but he’d failed his brother and sister-in-law too. He felt the hate well up inside him. He’d hated before, but not like this. Never like this.