Claiming Felicity (Ace Security #4)(61)

“Grace must hate me.”

“She doesn’t hate you,” Blake said from the foot of the bed. “Not at all.”

“I need to go to her.” Felicity didn’t know if her best friend would even want to see her, but she had to be there for her.

“As soon as the doctor arrives and checks you out, we’ll head over to their house,” Ryder told her.

Felicity nodded. She slumped back against the pillow and closed her eyes. She felt Ryder’s hand grasp hers and felt stronger simply because he was there with her. He didn’t try to tell her everything would be all right. He simply held her hand.

Sometime between when she learned about Nate being kidnapped and the doctor coming in to release her, Felicity’s grief changed to anger. Joseph had no right to drug her. No right to come into her apartment uninvited. And definitely no right to steal a helpless baby. Enough was enough. He’d terrorized her for years. Killed Colleen. Killed her mom. And hurt who knew how many people in his life. She was done.

“I’m done,” she said, wiping the tears from her face.

“What?” Ryder asked.

“I’m done hiding from him. I’m done making him feel like he has the upper hand.” She reached out and grabbed Ryder’s forearm where it rested on the bed next to her. “I’ll do whatever it takes to bring him down. Be bait. Drive to Chicago and march right up to his father’s house. I don’t care.”

“We’re going to find him and get Nate back,” Ryder told her.

“Damn straight we are,” Felicity said firmly.

At her words, Ryder’s lips twitched.

“It’s not funny,” she fumed.

“I know it’s not. Believe me. But I’m so fucking happy that you aren’t crying anymore. I’d much rather you be angry than broken.”

“I’m furious,” she informed Ryder.

“Me too, Felicity. Me too.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but the doctor interrupted by entering the room.

Within an hour, Felicity had been released, and Blake left to go back to Logan’s house. Nathan was already there with Alexis, Bailey, and her brother, Joel.

Now she and Ryder were on their way to the police station. Logan hadn’t wanted to leave Grace’s side, so he asked Ryder to talk to the officer in his place. Since Felicity didn’t want to be anywhere but at Ryder’s side, and she was too chicken to go and see Grace yet, she was going with him to the station.

“How do you feel?” Ryder asked.

Felicity looked over at him. They were in the reception area at the police station, waiting for the detective. “I’m okay.”

When Ryder didn’t respond, but ground his teeth together hard enough to make his jaw flex, Felicity put a hand on his arm. “I’m okay,” she repeated.

“He put enough ketamine and Rohypnol in your water to kill you,” Ryder bit out.

“But he didn’t,” she said, then added, “Look at me.”

Ryder’s eyes met hers, and she almost flinched at the pain and anger swirling in the dark depths. She’d seen glimpses of the mercenary behind his eyes in the past, but at the moment, Ryder looked like he would kill anyone who even looked at her wrong. “He didn’t,” she whispered.

“I handed that glass to you,” Ryder said softly, the anger in his eyes only dimming a smidge. “I served up that poisoned water on a silver platter.”

“Don’t,” Felicity ordered. “Don’t let him get to you.”

“Too late,” he said, barking out a laugh. But it wasn’t a happy sound. It was self-deprecating and filled with so much derision that Felicity nearly choked on the tears in her throat.

She got off the chair and kneeled on the floor in front of Ryder. She reached up and cradled his face in her hands, as he’d done so often to her. “You’re going to kill him,” she said softly so no one in the station could overhear her. “You’re going to find Nate and bring him home to Grace and Logan. Don’t let your anger get in the way of that.”

For the first time since she’d woken up, Felicity saw an emotion in her man’s face other than absolute fury. “He could’ve killed you.”

“But he didn’t. That was his mistake.” She took a chance saying that, but it was what she’d been thinking ever since she realized what had happened. “He could’ve killed me and been done with it. And then taken Nate just to be a dick. But he wants to taunt me with the fact he took the baby. He’s going to contact me, soon. I know it, and so do you. I need you to be clearheaded enough to be my backup. If you’re too blinded by rage, you can’t do that effectively. You hear me?”

Ryder had closed his eyes halfway through her little speech, but at her question, they opened, and he tilted his head into one of her hands.

“I hear you, love,” he said softly. “You can trust me.”

Felicity sagged in relief. It was the first time he’d used the endearment since she’d woken up. She’d half been afraid she’d lost him. But her Ryder was back.

“Good. And you know what else?”

“What?”

“I still owe you that blow job.” She said it to try to lighten the moment. She wasn’t exactly in the mood for sex, and it was obvious he wasn’t either, but her words worked. His lips quirked up in what would have to pass for a smile.