Claiming Felicity (Ace Security #4)(71)
His words made her squirm, but she wasn’t feeling the least bit ready to make love. “Do you think Garrick will find him?”
Ryder sighed. “I don’t know. I just don’t know. If he couldn’t control his son when he was alive, I’m not sure he’ll be able to figure out what Joseph had planned now that he’s dead. I wish Black could’ve gotten his hands on him. We would’ve found out for sure if Nate was alive or dead.”
Ryder paused, and after a couple of minutes said, “Don’t take what Grace said to heart.”
Knowing exactly what he was talking about, Felicity said quietly, “I’m trying not to. I mean, really, Nate being kidnapped was my fault. I was looking after them. Joseph was in town because of me. And he wanted to get at me by hurting those I love.”
“Felicity,” Ryder said gruffly, “don’t.”
“But be that as it may,” she went on quickly, “I know that ultimately I did the right thing all those years ago in calling the cops on Joseph. He killed Colleen. He’s an abusive asshole who likes to hurt women. You heard him. He doesn’t think we’re equal by any stretch of the imagination. If it wasn’t Nate, he would’ve hurt someone else. Joel, maybe. Or Bailey or Alexis. There’s no telling what he would’ve done. I’m not sorry he’s dead,” she said fiercely. “Don’t think I am. I only wish he would’ve died slower and more painfully.”
“I think that’s why Garrick did what he did. He knew if the Mountain Mercenaries got our hands on him, we would’ve learned everything about his operation there in Chicago. And Joseph was his son, even if he was a pain in his ass. So he killed him the most merciful way he could.”
“Ryder?”
“Yeah, love?”
“I want to stay here until Nate comes home. But I know that you probably don’t—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” Ryder said harshly. “I go where you go. If you’re here, so am I. I’ve slept next to you for the last month or so. Don’t make me stop now. Not when you’re free to be mine without any barriers whatsoever.”
“Okay,” Felicity said softly. “Ryder?”
He chuckled, relaxing now that she said he didn’t have to leave her side. “What?”
“You’re going to marry me, right?”
“Yes. But you’re not allowed to propose to me. Remember?”
Felicity nodded. “I remember. But I only picked the name Jones because it was generic, and there are so many people with that last name, I figured it would be harder for Joseph to find me. I’m not attached to it. Frankly, I hate it.”
“How do you feel about Sinclair as a last name?” Ryder asked, tightening his arms around her.
“I love it. Felicity Megan Sinclair.”
“Beautiful,” he murmured.
“So?”
“So what, love?”
“So are you going to propose?”
“Yeah. When we find Nate and things calm down. You’ll get your proposal. Then we’ll go and get married at the courthouse. No long, drawn-out waiting. Okay?”
“Sounds good to me. I’ve wasted enough of my life on the run as it is.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
“Go to sleep, love. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We need to track Joseph’s movements from the time he took Nate until today. He disappeared after he took him, and that had to have been when he was stashing him somewhere. Rex and my teammates will find out everything they can. I’m thinking Logan and Grace will need to do some interviews and maybe some press conferences. The more attention we can bring to their missing son, the better. Detective Baker said he’d get an Amber Alert going as well. Grace is going to need you more than ever.”
“Yeah.” Felicity hugged Ryder harder. “I love you.”
“Love you too. Now sleep.”
Felicity didn’t think she’d ever fall asleep, but she was out within ten minutes, the excitement of the day catching up with her.
She never knew that Ryder stayed awake for more than two hours, simply holding her. Never knew about the tears that leaked out of his eyes. Or about his whispered words, “Thank fuck you’re safe.”
Chapter Twenty
Thousands of miles away, in a rundown and dangerous part of San Antonio, Maria Gonzalez sat in a tiny, cramped bedroom inside a small apartment. Her bedroom door was usually locked from the outside, but after Maldad had left, he hadn’t chained it closed behind him.
The man who had made her life a living hell hadn’t ever told her his name, and Maria had begun to call him Maldad in her head after her first week in her prison apartment. Evil. It fit the man in every sense of the name.
He’d left a thousand dollars along with his “present” and told her to go home.
Home.
She wasn’t sure how long it had been since she’d left her hometown of Fresnillo in the Zacatecas state of Mexico, but she estimated at least five years.
She’d been so stupid. Thought she knew everything there was to know about the world at eighteen. She was tired of looking after her younger brothers and sisters, not to mention her cousins, and had wanted more than working in the mines like her parents, aunts, and uncles did. When she’d read the advertisement in the paper for girls needed to move to the United States to work in a new and upcoming industry, she’d ignored her mamá’s warnings and had slipped out of their rundown house in the middle of the night.