Chapter Thirty-Six

Antoine

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I can’t drive the damn SUV fast enough. The app I installed on Kristen’s phone is sending me a location. She’s moving along a narrow road that cuts across a field I saw on my way to the grove.

Fucking Eddie. He wasn’t interested in conversation, or even in hurting me. After all, if I were hurt badly, maybe I wouldn’t be able to impregnate his sister.

No, he only wanted to delay me. It was laughably easy to take the Taser away from him. People think a weapon can equalize everything. But against a guy who’s trained…and at close range? Not a chance.

Eddie did get what he wanted, though. He bought Tessa enough time to grab Kristen. If anything happens…

It’s all your fault. You should’ve told Kristen to stay away from your family.

Eddie said Kristen came as Nicolas’s guest. If he’s together with them in this, I’ll bury his body where nobody will ever find it.

I push for more speed. I still can’t believe I didn’t realize the depth of Tessa and Eddie’s madness. What wouldn’t I give for a gun now? I’m sure Tessa’s carrying. That’s the only way she would’ve been able to force Kristen to go with her. Kristen’s been studying self-defense ever since the incident with Andy. And unless things have changed, Tessa is as soft as they come.

Finally I spot a Maserati, parked by the side of the road and standing out like a jewel against the ranchland. It’s gotta be Tessa’s car. The passenger-side door is ajar. I stop my SUV and jump out with my phone. It indicates Kristen is about two hundred yards away in a field with wild grass and a few trees.

I stick the phone in my back pocket and start running. It doesn’t take long before I spot Tessa dragging Kristen. I duck behind a tree and listen to them, cursing myself for leaving my gun at home. I have to figure out what kind of weapon Tessa has. She’s crazy enough to use it, and she’s entirely too close to Kristen.

“What the hell do you eat? You’re so fat!” Tessa whines.

“Can’t walk,” Kristen moans. Her words are slurred, and my heart lodges in my throat. Something is very wrong with her.

“You have to!” Tessa’s voice is shrill.

“You shouldn’t have made me drink that mimosa!” Kristen makes a gagging noise.

“It wasn’t that much. I didn’t want you passed out, just a little loopy.”

“You did it wrong,” Kristen says.

The tension in my gut eases slightly. She isn’t hurt, just drugged.

“If you don’t start moving, I’m going to shoot you,” Tessa says.

“If you do, I won’t be able to crawl. You’ll have to carry me for real.”

Tessa lets out a frustrated scream.

A gun. I have no idea precisely what kind of condition Kristen’s in. I’m guessing Tessa’s close to Kristen, if she’s semi-dragging her.

Tessa’s unhinged, determined to live in a fantasy world where people do as she wants. I have to play this right if I want to get Kristen out unharmed.

“Tessa!” I call out, jogging out from behind the tree. “Babe, what are you doing out here?”

“Antoine, help me,” she says, waving a revolver.

I recognize that gun. It was her dad’s. Guess the old man left it to his kids after he passed away. If he’d known how insane they were, he might not have.

“With what?” I come up to the women and do my best not to stare at Kristen, who’s on her hands and knees, panting softly. I might lose it if I start taking inventory of her injuries, and I can’t afford to be anything but calm.

“Her! This fat cow!”

Tessa isn’t that much smaller than Kristen. “What are you doing out here with her?”

“She wouldn’t come to the yacht. I had no choice.”

I have no idea what she means, but whatever. I can play along. “Is it about the wedding?”

“Yes. You’re going to marry me, right?” Tessa stares at me, eyes wide. “You owe me. You owe me!”

I want to lunge and grab the gun, but the way she’s waving it in Kristen’s direction makes me hesitate. “I wanted to marry you, but I thought I made you unhappy, babe.”

“But being poor is worse. You don’t know what it’s like. Banks won’t extend credit anymore. My Maserati is more than five years old, Antoine. It’s awful.”

Jesus.

“It’s so unfair! Daddy lost everything before he died, and he never told me. I would’ve done something about it if I’d known.”

It’s a good thing he never told her. Mr. Maxim was a good man. He didn’t need to know his kids were deranged, entitled brats who seriously believe kidnapping people is how you get what you want in life.

Tessa starts waving the gun again. “I don’t want to hurt anybody who doesn’t hurt me, Antoine, but this girl? She needs to feel it. She got in my way. Didn’t get the hint. Why does she think she can have what I want? She’s nothing. She should go into that hole.”

Gun lowered, she gestures at a hole she must’ve dug earlier, before coming to the grove. Not big and not that well dug, but it’s obviously supposed to be a grave.

This is my chance.

I lunge forward, grabbing for the revolver. She gasps, stepping back. My hand closes around it with enough force to break her fingers. I don’t give a shit.

I wrest it from her and she loses her balance, her arms windmilling.

On her hands and knees, Kristen extends a leg and kicks Tessa in the hip, hard, her foot connecting with surprising force. The accompanying kiai yell would have made Bruce Lee proud.

Tessa falls into the hole. Then promptly explodes into expletives.

I run to Kristen and cradle her as she plops onto her side. “Are you all right?”

“No. My head is spinning again. And I feel like throwing up.” Her skin is damp with sweat.

“Hospital,” I say, my voice hoarse. Now that it’s all over, my belly feels jittery. Jesus. I’ve never felt this bad before. “I’m sorry.”

“Why? I knew you’d come for me.” She closes her eyes.