Forget Me Not

Chapter 23

CHAPTER

TWENTY-THREE

BERLYNN

Flashes of noise in the background invade the peacefulness that the darkness brings me and tries to pull me back into the light. But since I’m keenly aware of what’s waiting for me once my eyes open, I keep them clamped closed and maintain my breathing by keeping it even and steady.

“What are we going to do now, Marcus!” My mother’s screeching voice hits me like nails on a chalkboard as she shouts at my father.

“We find everyone on that list,” my dad exclaims. What good that’d do him I don’t know considering several of those listed things are charities. It’d be implausible to put a hit out on their entire staff—especially since they have silent partners and benefactors that are unlisted on any documentation.

“We can’t logically remove hundreds of people, Marcus!” Mother continues on with her screaming. How adult of her. She always uses her banshee, shrill voice if she doesn’t get her way, and it’s tiresome as well as hard on the eardrums.

“Then what do you suggest, Lucinda? You’re the one who insisted on children, the more the merrier so that our inheritance would be larger,” Dad argues.

I hear my mom stomp her heeled foot onto the ground before grunting, “It was stipulated in the decree. We got an extra five million from my parents and ten from yours for each child we brought into the world. I didn’t know you’d gamble it all away on the thugs you became friends with by financing their illegal activities!”

“Those illegal activities protected us!” Dad roars.

“Against what, Marcus?” Mom asks. “We had a good, upstanding, and fruitful life until you became their patsy!”

“There are things you don’t know, Lucinda,” Dad states. “Things I can’t tell you or you’ll be swimming with the sharks. I made a bad business decision that came back and bit me on the ass and this was the only way to ensure we stayed breathing. That’s all I can tell you without compromising you further.”

“That’s enough, Marcus.” A strange man directs my dad. “You say anything else, and I’ll report you to the bosses.”

The bosses? I’d like them to talk about those people. The more I know, the deeper I can help bury my parents.

I hear an exhaled puff of air before my dad sighs. “I know, and I’m not going to discuss the things I’ve been warned to keep silent on. Believe it or not, I don’t have a death wish.”

Another unfamiliar voice joins the discussion and edicts, “You understand we can’t let her leave here alive, right? She’s seen our faces and can identify us to the police. We have to off her and dispose of the body.”

Fuck. That. Shit.

Aris, where are you? Now would be an outstanding time for you to come in like a white knight and save this damsel in distress.

“You never said she was going to die, Marcus,” my mom chastises. “I would’ve never agreed to this whole charade if that had been brought up. Stop them. Make them go away. I know you’re a cold-hearted bastard, but even you can’t be okay with your own daughter being murdered!”

Well, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black! Dad’s not the only cruel-hearted one. Has she forgotten all of the things she’s done and said to me?

The floor I’m crouching on begins to shake beneath my splayed body. The room’s occupants become freaked out and begin shouting over one another. Not being able to hide the fact that I’m awake, I flick my lids open and immediately begin searching for a hiding place. I haphazardly begin dragging myself across the concrete slab. The dizziness from lifting my head has everything feeling distorted, kind of like a fuzzy picture on the old television sets when there was an outage.

Out of my peripheral vision I notice Dad and the two men run for the front door. His two companions have their guns drawn, but my dad’s hands are empty. Business as usual, letting everyone else do all of his dirty work for him. Then, as if it has been choreographed, the windows shatter and men in black propel through them. I duck my head and cover it with my arms as shards of glass rain down on top of me.

These military trained men don’t take time to orient themselves before going after the enemy. Their feet pound on the ground as they rush toward my kidnappers. When two fingers press down on my neck’s pulse point, I raise my head to see who’s touching me. The black knit cap covers his face so I can’t pinpoint who it is, but then he speaks and I recognize him by his voice.

“You good, girl?” Garrick asks.

“I’m good now,” I respond, relief pouring through me.

“What’s the damage, Berlynn?” he inquires, his fingers moving across me as he checks for injuries.

My throat is scratchy and irritated. But I don’t have any other alternative than to speak, they need to know what’s going on with me before they try to move me and cause further damage. “I have a pounding headache and my ribs hurt. I think they’re cracked. If not, they’re pretty bruised. When I went to crawl for safety, my hip wouldn’t cooperate, I couldn’t lift my body so something’s going on there too. Other than that, I’m peachy.”

Garrick crouches on the heels of his feet and presses a button on his shoulder. “We’re going to need to get her to a doctor. She has an array of injuries that need to be checked out. Aris is going to need to drive her to the emergency room. The police are going to need a report.”

“The Rangers are enroute. Hamburg stalled the lights and sirens until I gave him the authorization for his team to move in,” Kayson states.

“Who’s Hamburg?” I ask, distracting myself from the aching pain radiating through me as Garrick continues to probe and prod on my sore extremities.

“He’s our contact inside the Texas Rangers. He’s been part of the team looking into your dad and his associates. We’ve been working hand in hand with him in order to gather intel and take him down,” Garrick tells me.

“Y’all have a lot of contacts.” I hiss as he touches a sensitive spot on the back of my scalp.

“Sorry, girlie. Your night isn’t going to be a pocketful of sunshine from here moving forward,” he teases.

“And it was before now?” I ask, snorting.

“I s’pose not,” he counters. “Sorry your family is?—”

“Assholes?” I finish for him. “Jackoffs, criminals, morons?—”

“Yeah. All of that,” he chuckles.

“Aris is incoming,” Kayson warns.

“Are you ready for that?” Garrick wonders, looking into my eyes to make sure I’m emotionally stable enough to deal with my overprotective man.

“I’m ready,” I confirm. “He’s gonna freak out.”

“You think?” Garrick asks, raising his eyebrows into his forehead.

“I think that ship has sailed,” Kayson adds, crouching down beside us. “Prepare yourself, Berlynn. He’s past the point of freaking out, he’s angry as fuck.”

“Joy.” I snort, rolling my eyes which has my pounding head intensifying.

I must’ve shown my discomfort on my face because Kayson gives me a tender squeeze on my shoulder. “Just let him rant and rave, don’t cause yourself any more pain than what you’re already in by reacting to his antics.”

I don’t shake my head like I want to because I’m afraid I’ll knock something loose. Instead, I inform them, “He may annoy y’all, but he’s my balm. I’m not worried about it, guys. He’ll pull his neanderthal act then he’ll get all cuddly and go into mother hen mode.”

“That’s what a man in love does,” Garrick announces, smiling down at me.

“Where is she? Get out of my way,” Aris demands, shoving his way through the men who’ve disarmed and contained my parents as well as their buddies. “You!” He stops, pointing an accusatory finger at my dad along the way. “I have enough evidence to bury you for a lifetime. You too, Lucinda. Enjoy your last moments of freedom.”

“That’s my man,” I giggle. “Having to ensure his enemies know he’s got the upper hand.”

My two champions look at me as if I’ve grown a second head. Kayson shakes his head and Garrick rolls his eyes before they help me stand so Aris can see me.

“Steady,” Garrick states.

“Take it easy,” Kayson urges as they grip me underneath my armpits to help me stay upright.

When Aris spots me, he sprints to me and stops just shy of our noses touching. His eyes rake over me as he assesses my trauma.

“I’m okay,” I tell him, trying to appease his stress. “A few bumps and bruises, but I’ll be good as new in no time.”

“Watch for her head, ribs, and hip, Aris,” Garrick laments. “Those are her injury points.”

Aris’ hands raise, they tremble as he reaches out and cups my cheeks. “Don’t you ever do that to me again, Berlynn. I’ve never been so terrified in my life.”

“There wasn’t any other choice I could make,” I argue back. “I had a way for you to track me, Addison didn’t.”

“We’ll talk later about the fact that you don’t see yourself as important enough to not purposefully place yourself in danger,” he growls, causing me to shiver.

“I know I’m important, Aris. But so is Addison. Nobody was answering their phones and I didn’t have a lot of time nor the luxury to sit around and wait. I was given a specific time and location. I didn’t trust them not to do something to your sister, my best friend, if I didn’t comply with my dad’s demands. I’m sorry if that upsets you but seeing that I was on my own to figure it out, there wasn’t another alternative that would get her out alive or keep her from being auctioned off.”

“Kayson,” a man interrupts. He’s wearing the traditional Texas Ranger uniform. Tan shirt with the star emblem on the chest, tight Wranglers that cup his frame like a second skin, and a brown cowboy hat accompanied by the same shade of boots. He’s a western romance novel cover model come to life. He’s so fucking handsome that I’m worried about drooling in front of the man I love.

“Hamburg,” Kayson says, shaking the man’s hand. “Berlynn needs to go to the twenty-four hour clinic. Can she give her report there? I’d like to get her checked out sooner rather than later.”

“That should be fine. Let me make sure their rights have been read and they’re on their way to lockup and I’ll meet y’all there. I want to make sure this is done by the books so they can’t claim we didn’t follow procedure.”

“We’ll see you there,” Kayson claims.

Aris gently swoops me up into his arms and carries me out. I lay my head on his shoulder and breathe him in.

“Come on, baby. Let’s get out of here.”