Colters' Gift (Colters' Legacy #5)(79)

“Yes,” she whispered.

“You’re mine, Lauren. You belong to me. You’re my property. I make all the decisions regarding your well-being, your life, your very existence. The sooner you accept that, the more peaceful your life will become.”

Oh God. She couldn’t bear it. She wanted to scream Noah’s and Liam’s names and keep screaming until they came for her. They had to find her.

“Now get down on your knees and prepare to apologize,” he ordered.

Her eyes widened and she stared at him in horror. His face reddened with rage at her reaction and before she could defend herself, his hand was in her hair, twisting the strands in his fist. He yanked her from the couch and she landed on the floor, the jolt sending pain racing through her midsection.

“You don’t learn,” he ground out. “Your defiance will bring you nothing but misery. I guarantee it, Lauren. Now get up on your knees.”

He let go of her hair, his hand going to the fly of his pants. Tears sliding endlessly down her cheeks, she pushed herself upward until he cupped her chin in his merciless grip.

She closed her eyes and forced herself out of her body, to a place where Joel couldn’t hurt or humiliate her. She focused on Noah and Liam and their love for her.

Joel might control her body, but he’d never control her heart or her mind.

For the men she loved, she could and would endure anything Joel forced on her. She just had to hold on and do whatever it took to survive until they came for her.

Chapter 36

NOAH’S cell rang as he and the others were boarding Max’s jet. Recognizing the number as an NYC area code, he hastily answered.

“Noah, this is Rick Castanetti. I have something for you. We just got a huge break.”

“You found him? Did you find Lauren?” Noah demanded. “Is she okay?”

Around him, everyone went completely silent. Liam pushed in next to Noah and put his ear close to Noah’s head so he could hear the conversation.

Noah punched the button to put Castanetti on speaker and then held the phone in front of him so everyone could listen.

“We just got a tip from an informant that Knight’s personal physician got a call to meet Knight at his lake house in upstate New York to treat Miss Wilder’s injuries.”

“What injuries?” Liam demanded. “What the hell did that bastard do to her?”

Noah held up his hand to silence Liam before he blew completely up. “We don’t know if she was hurt in the accident or not. Let’s not assume the worst. He can’t have had her in his possession that long yet.”

“They’re flying to a private airstrip owned by Knight. He typically takes his helicopter and lands it on the property, but this is where you catch a break. The airstrip he owns is a good forty-five minutes from his house. There’s a commercial field ten minutes away you could land at, and it will even the odds on time. With the head start he got on you leaving Denver, there’s a good chance you’ll get there not long after he does.”

“Where is this lake house?” Noah bit out.

“You have to know that you can’t be the first in,” Castanetti said in a low voice. “I have to go through the channels on this one.”

Noah sucked in his breath and hoped like hell he wasn’t trusting the wrong man. “You can’t call this in.”

There was a long silence over the line.

“What the hell?” Castanetti demanded. “You don’t want me to ensure that the police get there to prevent any harm coming to Miss Wilder? Are you crazy?”

“You can’t call it in because Knight would know about it and then we’d lose Lauren. Right now we know where he’s going. That gives us the edge. If you arrange a sting, he’s going to disappear, taking Lauren with him, and we’ll have lost our one chance to get to her and take Knight down.”

“I don’t like what you’re insinuating,” Castanetti said in an angry, pissed-off tone.

“I’m not insinuating anything. I know damn well that he has some dirty cops on his payroll. I’ve seen the information on the disk Lauren copied from Knight’s computer. And this goes all the way to the top. I’m taking a huge f**king risk even talking to you.”

There was another long silence, and then a string of curses from Castanetti.

“I want what’s on that disk, especially if what you’re saying is true.”

“And if we get Lauren back, you’ll have it,” Noah said smoothly. “She’s our top and only priority right now.”

There was a sigh, and then Castanetti mumbled his agreement and provided specific addresses and locations as well as the airport for them to land.

Noah motioned for one of the others to copy down the details as Castanetti gave them.

“He better not be dead when this is all over with,” Castanetti said when he finished supplying the location.

“I can’t guarantee you anything,” Noah said in a low voice.

If Lauren was threatened in any way, Noah wouldn’t think twice about taking out the bastard.

“Just don’t get yourselves killed,” Castanetti said in a somber voice. “Knight’s been responsible for too many lost lives as it is. I hope Miss Wilder makes it out of this okay, and I’m not just saying that because I want her on the witness stand.”