Roped In (Armed & Dangerous, #2)(47)

A phone rang. My pulse spiked when I saw who it was. “Logan. Got any news?”

“Do I ever,” he exclaimed. “Are you sitting down?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, hold on. I’m sending over a video.” He clicked away on his computer. “You’re never going to believe this shit. I was having trouble with the clarity, but I had one of my friends clean it up for me. Let me know when you get it.”

Heart racing, I grabbed my computer back from Nick and logged into my government email. “I have it. Clicking on it now.”

“All right. It’s dark, so we had to look at it through the night vision sensor. Tell me when you see the crash.”

Taking a deep breath, I held it in as I watched the car slam into the tree. I’d been in car accidents before and knew that hit shouldn’t have incapacitated them.

Nick gasped. “No f*cking way. That’s it?”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand how they couldn’t have gotten out.”

“Who’s with you?” Logan asked.

I rolled my eyes and huffed. “Nick Myers. He followed me out here. The idiot thinks he can help me.”

“Prick,” Nick mumbled, flipping me off.

Logan chuckled. “I bet that has to be interesting.”

“You have no idea.”

“Well, things are about to get crazy. Tell me what you see now.”

Focusing on the video, I couldn’t believe my eyes. We watched as the driver door opened and Connor stepped out like nothing happened. “What the—”

“Exactly. Now watch. They aren’t alone.”

A car pulls up behind them and another man gets out, slapping Connor’s shoulder in passing. What the hell was going on? Connor proceeded to open the back door and lift Hadley into his arms, while the other guy dumped something into the front seat.

“Is that what I think it is?” I growled in disgust.

Logan sighed. “I think so. I don’t know where they got the ashes, but what else could it be? That guy dumps a container into the backseat as well.”

I watched Connor carefully place her into the backseat of the second car, as the other guy set flame to hers. “She’s alive,” my voice creaked out.

Nick fell to his knees. “Thank f*cking God.”

Logan cleared his throat. “You know what this means, right?”

The car with Hadley inside of it sped away. “She’s out there and I’m going to find her. I don’t care how long it takes or what I have to do. I won’t rest until I have her back.”





Hadley

Cinnamon apples. I loved the smell of cinnamon apples so much that I had a candle in every room of my house. Was I home? How could that be? Footsteps sounded on the hardwood floor below me, but I wasn’t the one doing the walking. A set of arms held me tight and I sighed, thinking it was Blake but the cologne was different. I recognized it.

“Connor?”

“It’s me. I’m moving you to a different room,” he murmured. Ever so slowly, I could finally move my arms and my legs. My muscles ached across my chest; especially when Connor laid me down in the bed. By the time I could open my eyes, I watched him walk out the door.

“You’re awake,” a voice called out to my right.

Groaning, I turned my head to the side. “Dad?”

He smiled at me and grabbed my hand. “How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been run over by a train. What happened?” I glanced down at my arm where a bandage covered the inside of my elbow.

My father glanced down at my arm and cleared his throat. “You were in an accident. They just took you off the IV.”

“Where am I?” It looked like a house instead of a hospital. A really nice house, as a matter of fact.

“Connor brought you here and had a private physician check you out. We didn’t want the media attention. They can’t touch you here.”

“Accident? What kind of accident? I can’t remember anything.” All I could remember was being in the car and then . . . nothing.

He squeezed my hand and stood. “Connor lost control of the car and ran off the road. He’s fine and so are you.”

“Where are we?”

For a split second, he hesitated and then answered. “In Canada. Connor knew you’d be safe up here.”

“Canada,” I shouted incredulously. “That makes no sense. Where’s Blake? He was coming for me. I have to let him know where I am.”

“Shh, it’s okay,” he uttered gently, kneeling down by the bed. “Blake knows where you’re at. The media is following him around, hoping he’ll come to you. Don’t worry, you’ll see him soon.”

I glanced around the room. “Where’s my phone? I need to call him.”

“It was lost in the accident. We’ll get you another one.”

“I can use yours,” I said, holding out my hand. “I don’t care if the media is following him around or not, he can still talk to me on the phone.”

Sighing, he leaned over and kissed me on the head. “My phone’s in the car. I have to head back to New York for a bit. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“How long do I have to stay here?”