Melody looked from the photo to Christian, and then back again, but she flinched away from the image. She couldn’t stand to see Bianca like that, tied and beaten.
“One of Enrique’s men must have grabbed my phone during the scuffle,” Melody said numbly. “They must know about the money.”
“I don’t think this is about the money,” Christian growled.
Melody stared at him. She’d never heard such anger in his voice before or seen it in his blue eyes. Right now, they were as hard and dusty as the morning sky outside.
“What else would it be about?” she asked.
He flicked her a glance but didn’t answer. He was already moving, rushing about the room and packing everything he could. He tossed her a bag that she hadn’t seen him carry in last night.
“Go pack up the money. I’m going to call Hub and… tell him what’s going on.”
Melody could hear the reticence in Christian’s voice, and she didn’t envy him that job at all. Hub would go ballistic at the news.
Come to think of it, if she’d learned that Enrique had taken Christian and beaten him, had him tied up, she would go ballistic too. She would be out for blood.
But she didn’t say any of that as she rushed downstairs. The money seemed like such a trivial thing to her now as she shoved stacks of bills haphazardly into the bag.
She knew what Christian thought. He thought they could make a clean break, use the cash to get out of town and disappear. But none of that mattered to her. Not now that Bianca’s life was in the line. No amount of money was worth that.
Melody rushed to finish packing, and she felt like she hadn’t drawn a breath the entire time. It was just too hard, thinking about Bianca, worrying what terrible thing Enrique and his men might be doing to her.
It drove her into a tizzy until she couldn’t stand still. They had to move. They couldn’t wait around.
She nearly cried in relief when Christian sprinted down the stairs and told her they were going.
“We are going to meet up with Hub at Bianca’s farmhouse. He… didn’t take the news well.”
Melody snorted, sure that was the understatement of the year. But she didn’t blame him one bit. She would be doing exactly the same thing. Actually, she would be planning for an all-out war, but she had no doubt that Hub was practically doing the same.
“Let’s go. I have everything packed,” Melody said, rushing towards the front door. “I can’t stop thinking about her, Christian. I know how cruel Enrique can be, especially if he let’s go of his temper.”
“Hush, Mel,” he said, giving her a quick but fierce kiss. “We are going to get her back. No matter what we have to do. We aren’t going to give up on her.”
“Heck no, we’re not,” Melody said, just as fiercely, and Christian gave her an odd look before tossing her a helmet.
“Alright, my bloodthirsty little warrior. Let’s go get Bianca back.”
Melody didn’t say another word. She just climbed on the back of Christian’s motorcycle and held on to him as tight as she could as it flew into the early morning mist.
Honestly, she held on to him tighter than she strictly needed to, but just the thought of Christian being at Enrique’s mercy made her break out into a panicked sweat. Because Enrique had no mercy.
He was cruel and manipulative, and he would do anything to get what he wanted. He had a massive superiority complex, and if he thought that somehow Christian had been able to steal the money right out from under him, he would be out for blood. He wouldn’t be able to stand thinking that anyone was better than him.
They arrived at the ramshackle farmhouse quicker than Melody could believe. She was just grateful that they hadn’t passed any cops on the way, because she knew that Christian had broken nearly every speed limit to get their as fast as he possibly could.
Christian leapt off the motorcycle as soon as he had it parked at the end of the driveway, stopping to help Melody to her feet, which she was also grateful for. After that ride, her legs were so shaky it would take a moment or two before she could take a step on her own.
She gave Christian a comforting smile as they turned towards the rundown looking old farmhouse.
Suddenly, the crack of gunfire brought them both up short, and then Hub’s voice hollered across the yard at them.
“I know you’re that asshole’s man! What did you do with my woman? What did you do with Bianca!” Hub shouted, sounding crazed and more than a little unstable. “I want her back, do you hear me? Don’t make me shoot you again!”
“Dad, it’s me! It’s Christian. And Melody,” Christian shouted back, trying to keep his voice as calm as he could, as he kept his hands in the air, though he moved to stand in front of her, blocking her body from any more pot shots. “She’s carrying your grandchild, remember? You really don’t want to shoot her.”
“Christian? Is that really you?”
“It really is. We’re coming up to the house now, just put down the gun for a minute.”
Christian held her hand, careful to keep her behind him as they made their way cautiously closer to the door.
When they got inside, Melody’s heart went out to Hub, even though he had just shot at them. His eyes were red-rimmed, from either lack of sleep, tears, or booze. Or some combination of all three of him.
He looked haggard and fearful, and for the first time since she’d met him, he looked like an old man, beaten and broken down.
Hub was pacing around the small house, still holding a loaded shot gun.
“I thought she was just working a late shift at the bar,” he said, speaking into the air, not directed at either Melody or Christian. “And then she didn’t come home. And I thought, well, maybe she just stayed at a friend’s house closer to town. She does that sometimes if it’s too late when she gets off of her shift. Says it’s safer than trying to drive these country roads in the dark. But she never came home.”
Hub turned to them then, the old man looking lost, and Melody’s heart broke for him all over again.
“She always comes home.”
Just as suddenly, Hub’s expression changed again, and back was the hard-faced, mean-countenanced man she was used to.
“Let me see the picture,” he demanded, his voice gruff.
Melody turned to Christian to stop him, but she didn’t need to. He was already shaking his head.
“You don’t need to see it, dad. I already told you what it was.”
Christian turned, heading into the kitchen, and Melody followed. But so did Hub, and she could see the determination in the old man’s gaze.
“Show me the god-damned picture, Christian.”
Melody glanced back over her shoulder at the odd note in Hub’s voice, and gasped when her gaze landed on the shotgun that he had raised and pointed straight at Christian’s chest.
“I’m not joking around Christian. I deserve to know.”
Christian didn’t flinch. He just let out a soft sigh, grabbed his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and slid it across he kitchen table towards where his father was still standing with the gun.
Hub leaned forward, grabbed the device, and stared at it in horror.
“They hit her. That son of a bitch hit her.”
Melody let out a scream, ducking and covering her ears as the shot gun fired. Hub had released the rest of the bullets into the china cabinet in his rage, and the plates shattered into a spray of porcelain shards and fine dust.
“Jesus, dad! Give me that damned thing before you actually shoot one of us,” Christian yelled at him, taking the gun out of his hands.
But Hub didn’t even seem to notice. His gaze was locked on the image on the screen of Christian’s phone.
“He’s a dead man,” Hub finally ground out, the words like broken glass in his throat. “You hear me? Dead.”
“I hear you, dad.”
Melody nodded in agreement. She wasn’t normally violent, but this time Enrique had gone too far. This time he’d messed with her family.
“Come on. Let’s just all sit down and figure out what the hell we are going to do next,” Christian said, trying to calm the situation as he placed the gun well out of Hub’s reach and gestured for them all to take a seat and the kitchen table.
No one spoke for a long moment, and Melody clasped her hands in her lap, trying to keep her fear and panic under control. She wasn’t doing a very good job and jumped when Hub spoke next.
“Any idea what he wants?”
Christian shrugged.
“Not yet. I expect he’ll let us know his demands soon enough though. He’s not the type to be able to wait when there’s something that he wants.”
“Actually,” Melody chimed in softly, swallowing hard when two nearly identical sets of blue eyes turned to stare at her. But she forced herself to go on. “Actually, I think I know why.”
“I’m telling you, Mel. It’s not the money.”
“What money?” Hub demanded.
Christian just sat back, his arms crossed over his chest and a surly expression on his face. When it was obvious he wasn’t going to say anything else, Melody sat forward and explained.
“There’s no use keeping it a secret. At the meeting, during the shoot-out, Craig snatched the bag of money from Enrique. The money that was supposed to pay off his debt. It’s… a lot of cash. Craig gave it to Christian and told him to take it. That’s what Enrique wants back. He wants his money.”
A tense silence fell between the two men, only interrupted a few minutes later by another text message.
With a hard curse Christian opened his phone and looked at it. His face went so pale Melody was worried he was about to pass out.
“Well, what does it say?” Melody asked.
But he didn’t answer. It was like he couldn’t even hear her words.
“What does it say, son?”
Christian didn’t speak. He just put the phone on the table, so they could both read it.
Melody gasped in shock. Enrique didn’t want the money. He wanted her.