Reclaimed (Powell Sanctuary #5)

Chapter 29

29

Aiden

Floating.

That’s the only way to describe how I move through my morning after Isla and I returned from walking Remy. I feel more relaxed than I have in months and my heart feels like it beats a steadier rhythm. Hearing those three beautiful words fall from her delectable lips changed the course of the rest of my life. There’s no doubt we’ve turned down a different path. One I couldn’t have imaged just a short time ago.

She left to go pick up her final check, and I was needed at Corjan’s before we head over to Mom’s to tell everyone the truth. The anticipation for what’s to come is like cresting a roller coaster. I’m excited, and I can’t wait to see what’s waiting on the other side.

The thought of hurting my family with my lies stings, but I have no doubt they’ll understand.

“You ready?” Corjan’s voice breaks through my thoughts.

“Yep, sorry.” I ready myself to help him guide the fridge out of the kitchen.

Moving appliances wasn’t exactly on my Sunday agenda when I woke up this morning, but when Corjan called for help, I had no desire to turn him down. Not like a few months ago when I’d run in the other direction. As soon as Isla left to get her check, I drove across town.

Once the refrigerator hits the curb, we return to grab the old stove and repeat the process.

“They really wouldn’t take it from inside the house?” I dust my hands off on the side of my jeans.

“They would for an extra hundred bucks. I said nah. I got four brothers to help me with that.” Corjan crosses his arms. “So then they screwed me on the delivery window.”

“How so?”

“Said they’d be here between ten in the morning and two.”

I glance at my watch. “It’s three-fifteen.”

“Exactly.”

I adjust the bill of my hat. “It’ll be worth it. I’m sure Bree will be happy.”

“She’ll be ecstatic. These have been backordered so long, instead of a push present, they’re going to be here in time for Weston’s birthday.”

A crease forms in my brow. “A push present?”

Corjan claps me on the shoulder and we walk toward the house. “Get informed, brother. A push present is what you get your woman after she gives birth to your kid.”

I stop on his sidewalk. “You bought Bree new appliances because she had your baby?”

“Sure did. I’ll be upgrading her car with the next one.”

“You’re planning on more?”

Corjan’s face splits into a satisfied grin. “I’m married to the love of my life, and we’re making up for lost time. I’d have fifteen kids if she’d be up for it.”

“I’m guessing she’s not.”

“I can maybe squeak by with five.” He laughs.

I shake my head, still stuck on the upgrading her car bit. Money isn’t an issue, but I don’t know what Isla would want for a push present. Clothes? Jewelry?

Would she even want me to buy her a new car?

Corjan laughs. “Don’t let it get in your head. Just ask her what she wants you to get her and don’t put up a fuss.”

“Yeah. Of course.” I smirk. There’s an urgency in my chest, prodding me to do just that. I’d give her the entire world if she asked.

The front door opens, stealing our attention. Bree moves onto the steps with Weston on her hip, wearing a look of concern. Charlotte bounces out behind her mom, peeking at us between Bree’s legs.

“Everything okay, sugar?”

“Both of your phones are going crazy.” She holds one in each palm.

We spare one glance at the other before we both hustle up the walk.

“It’s Lee,” Corjan says, immediately hitting the contact to redial.

“I have one from Sutton and a bunch from an unknown number.” The device begins ringing in my hand, that same number flashing across the screen. “Hello?”

The line seems to crackle. “Mr. Powell. This is Manny Aguilar.” Gone is the refined tone of the pretentious club owner. His voice is tense.

“What do you want?” I bark.

“You need to come to the club urgently. The police are on their way.”

The sidewalk seems to fuse with my shoes. My heart jumps violently. “What happened?”

The silence between my words and his feels like an eternity.

“Stella’s been taken.”

The world becomes a blur of color around me. My lungs cease working. “How?”

Another mute beat follows my question, then he quietly says, “I don’t know. One of my workers has been shot, and Lucien is following them.”

The word shot sends acid crawling up my throat.

I ask, “Is she hurt?” When what I’m really asking is, “ Is she alive?”

“I do not know.”

His words only add to the confusion. Nothing makes sense. This morning she was with me, telling me she loved me, safe in my arms, and now she’s gone?

How am I supposed to believe that?

“I’m on my way,” I croak, ending the call. I only make it two steps before I’m spun into a wall, hard and impenetrable. I lash out, striking with the heel of my palms against it. I need to move. I need to get to Isla.

“Stop.” Corjan moves his face in mine and grips my shoulders. “Get in my truck, Aiden.”

“I have to go,” I wheeze. The words rip painfully up my throat.

He shakes me. “Get in my truck. I’ll drive you. Lee and the others are already on the way there.”

At the mention of my eldest brother, a tremble runs through my body and some of the anxiety tamps down. Lee’s the closest I’ve had to a father figure since I lost my own. He’ll know what to do.

Corjan speaks urgently to Bree, kisses her intensely, then climbs into the seat across from me.

“Go.” I fling my seatbelt over my shoulder.

Corjan clicks on his own and reverses onto the road.

“The guys were already at Mom’s. Lee’s halfway to the club with Jack and Jude behind him in Jack’s SUV.”

“How did he hear so fast?”

“Sutton. When you didn’t pick up, he tried Lee’s phone.”

A million scenarios race through my head. Not many of them good. Some unfathomable. My fingers ache with how hard I clench my phone as I fire off texts. I need answers.

Corjan’s tires eat up the pavement. The stretch of greenery out the window is nothing but a blur. We’re the farthest away, but at the speed Corjan’s pushing, I’d be surprised if we’re the last to arrive.

My chest contracts, and I rub my fist against the hollowed spot where my heart is supposed to sit. My torso is aching, gaping, cold. Thinking about how terrified I know she is splinters something inside of me. Isla’s a fighter. She always has been. She’s going to be doing anything she can to keep herself and our baby unharmed.

The love of my life is fighting to stay alive. I nearly gag as the thought crosses my mind.

“The baby isn’t mine.” I admit gruffly to the sound of pavement rushing beneath the tires of Corjan’s truck. “I want him to be. I need them to live so I can have the chance to be his daddy.”

“They’re going to live, Aiden.” Corjan doesn’t even address my admission.

“Do we know who has her?”

Corjan’s exhale is weighted with the truth. “No.”

I nod. Once. Solidifying the facts. “Okay.” I breathe in. Out. My palm crashes repeatedly against the black leather dash. “God fucking dammit!”

“They have someone following them. We’re going to find her.”

“Can you go any faster?”

The engine revs.

“Thank you.”

That helpless feeling slithers back into my veins, inky and impossibly dark, like it never left. I punch a contact in my phone, turn it to speaker. While the ring fills the car, I throw up a shattered plea.

Keep fighting, starshine. I’m coming.