“No! Fuck, no!”
The words exploded from Christian’s throat like machine gun fire, hard and sharp, ricocheting in his head. They repeated over and over. No. No. No.
“Christian, let’s just talk about this…” his father started, still looking more haggard than he’d ever seen the old man.
It didn’t matter. Christian shook his head.
“Not going to happen. That’s all that needs to be said. Fuck. NO!”
“Please, Christian.”
“Fuck. No! What don’t you understand about that? Is it the ‘fuck’? Or the ‘no’?”
Fury beat at him with violent wings of rage. He wanted to scream and shout. He wanted to break something. He wanted to grab that gun of Hub’s, track down Enrique himself, and end it once and for all.
Christian hated that Bianca was in that asshole’s hands, but he was not about to let him get Melody too. Especially when she was carrying his child. He wouldn’t let her take that risk. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t’ survive it if anything were to happen to her. He would just curl up in a ball and die.
He looked over at Hub, pleading with his father to understand.
“You have to know why I can’t let her do this,” Christian said softly when he felt anything but soft at the moment. “She’s my life.”
Hub stared at him for so long he wasn’t sure the old man had heard his words, but when he spoke his voice was just as soft, just as sharp.
“Bianca is my life, too,” Hub sighed, and his face crumpled, and he looked away. “So, yeah, I understand it. All too well.”
Hub turned slowly to Melody and patted her on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry. We’ll find another way. There has to be another.”
All Melody could do was stare back, to-and-fro between the two men, in complete shock. Christian sat back when she jumped to her feet in anger.
“What the hell are you two talking about! Bianca is in danger! Enrique is going to kill her if I don’t turn myself over to him. I am not about to let that happen.”
“Out of the question,” Christian shot back at her, fighting to keep his fear and temper under control, but it was damned hard.
Especially when Melody turned on him. That same anger flared in her dark eyes and was riding high up on her cheeks, and she was so god-damned beautiful that it made him want to cry. And scream. And rage.
Because he couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t let her go. He just couldn’t. It went against every single instinct inside him that was shouting at him to keep her safe. To protect their child.
He didn’t know how to make her understand as his father had. It wasn’t out of the question, because he would go insane if anything happened to her. It would break him apart and he knew that would be a mortal wound that he would never be able to recover from.
“Please, Mel,” Christian begged her. “Just sit down and we can talk about it.”
“Not until you agree to let me make the trade. Once Bianca is safe…”
“No,” Christian interrupted, and Hub nodded, butting in before Melody could explode again.
“Christian’s right, Melody. We need to talk about this. We’ll get Bianca back,” he said softly, and reached out to take her hand.
Christian was surprised at the gentle gesture from his normally gruff father, but it seemed to help calm Melody, and she reluctantly sat back down.
“We will get my Bianca back,” Hub went on. “But it won’t mean a damned thing if we lose you in the process. And you know Bianca would never let me live it down. I’d spend the rest of my days in the doghouse if I let anything happen to you or that baby.”
“Alright, so what do we do?” Melody asked after a long moment.
Christian let himself relax, just a little bit. At least he knew now that she wasn’t completely hell-bent on going forward with a suicide mission.
“I’ll call Craig. He always has some trick up his sleeve, and I know he was released from the hospital last night. Apparently, he was driving the hospital staff crazy,” Christian muttered, grateful to be doing anything.
“I can call Bones. We’ll get some back-up in place, once we figure out where he’ll want to meet.”
“Wait a minute, we’re still going to meet with Enrique?” Melody asked, shooting them a confused look.
Hub just grinned, and it wasn’t a pleasant expression.
“I think our best bet is a weasel.”
“Excuse me?” Melody choked.
Christian nodded his head as he explained.
“It was something gunslingers and crooks used to do in the wild west. They would go to the drop off with a bag of money, get the goods, hand over the bag and ride off as fast as they could.”
“Except what was in the bag wasn’t money at all. But a weasel or a snake. Something damned mean. The other guys would be too busy dealing with their new problem to give chase, by which time it would be too late.”
Melody nodded her head, her eyes lighting with understanding and a small grin.
“So, who’s going to be my weasel?”
“That’s my girl,” Hub said with a mean chuckle. “I have a few ideas but need to run it by Bones first. We’ll find someone mean as hell, but about your size. We have a few smaller guys in the crew. We’ll put a bag over his head, so Enrique won’t know it’s not you until it’s too late. Then, while they’re still recovering from the shock, we can send in the ambush and finish them off.”
Melody nodded and then her brows furrowed.
“So, we need to know where we’re going to meet and when.”
Christian nodded slowly.
“That means we need to call him.”
All three of them stared at the cell phone in the middle of the table as if it had just turned into a viper.
Hub drew in a deep breath, grabbed the phone and hit the call button. He put the call on speaker so they could all hear it as it rang. On the third one, it was answered.
“Hello, Melody,” Enrique’s smooth, greasy voice sounded from the other end of the line.
Christian saw red, but he clamped down tight on his anger. This was no time to lose it. Too much was at stake.
“This isn’t Melody. It’s Hub.”
“I won’t speak to anyone but Melody. I know she’s there. Put her on the phone now or Bianca dies.”
Muffle female screams echoed in the background, and Hub flinched.
“I’m here!” Melody said quickly, her own expression just as pained. “I’m here Enrique. What do you want?”
“I want you,” he purred.
Christian thought he was going to throw up.
“I want Bianca back.”
“She’s all yours, angel. You just have to do one little thing for me.” Enrique laughed, “Just come back home, sweetheart. I miss you.”
Melody swallowed hard, fighting back her fear, and Christian had never been more proud of her.
“Okay, Enrique. Let her go first, and then I’ll meet with you.”
“NO!” he growled, turning so suddenly that Christian was even a little surprise. “I know what a bitch you can be. I want you home, with me first. Then I’ll let Bianca go. You know I would never hurt you, sweetheart. Not you, or my baby.”
Melody sucked in a breath.
“We’ll meet somewhere. Neutral,” Hub interrupted. “You give us Bianca, and we’ll bring Melody. Deal?”
Enrique rattled off an address for a location well outside of town.
“Tomorrow. Three o’clock. If anyone else shows up, Bianca dies. I would slit her throat right now, but… I’ll wait. For Melody,” Enrique said, his voice smooth and purring once more. “You belong to me, Melody. I own you. Never forget that.”
Christian couldn’t stand one more minute, slamming his hand down on the phone to end the call.
Finally, he looked over at Hub.
“Well?”
The old man grinned.
“We couldn’t have planned it any better than that. He’s ours. Now, let’s go get my woman back.”