(Noah)

“Damn, man, you’re going to set the carpet on fire if you keep pacing that quick.”

I knew Nathan meant nothing by it, but whatever. I turned and punched as I hard as I could, popping his nose open and sending him flying back into - and then over - a leather couch.

“Jesus,” Nathan said. “Noah…”

“He’s fucking got her,” I said. “Erik’s got her. Goddamn this. You…” I ran toward the desk. Two men dove at me, grabbing my arms. “You should have stopped it!”

“Let him go,” Nathan said. “It’s okay.”

The two men let me go. As much as I wanted to get over the desk and wrap my hands around Nathan’s throat I knew better.

“I have men out looking for her,” Nathan said. “We’ll find her.”

“You don’t get it. That guy, Warren…”

“Yes. Very wealthy man. Has quite the profitable, yet questionable, real estate empire.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means we know everything,” Nathan said. “Erik kidnapped Warren’s daughter, Dani. I have men out looking for Erik, for Dani, and for Penny.”

“You better kill him…”

“I explained before how this works.”

“Then I’ll do it!” I yelled and punched the desk. “You find him and I’ll kill him.”

“You sound like a hit man, Noah. Shades of your old buddy, Seth?”

I lost it.

I took a swing at Nathan.

I clipped his jaw, just enough to send him back down to his chair.

A second later, the two men had me on the ground, pummeling me with heavy punches.

Nathan ordered them off me but not before letting them have more than a few seconds with me.

When I got to my feet, Nathan rubbed his jaw. “That’s a hell of a punch you throw.”

“That was from across the desk,” I said. “Come closer and you’ll really find out.”

“I’m going to let that one slide,” Nathan said. “I know your relationship to Seth was close. That was my fault for making that comment. What I’m getting at… you step over that line, Noah, and become a killer, there’s no coming back.”

“I don’t give a shit,” I said. “He’s got Penny. She’s the only woman I…”

I lost my words. I lost my breath.

Nathan nodded with a grin. “Ah, I see. Love.”

“Yeah,” I said. “When we first got together, it was after a fight. We fooled around. Then she was at the next one. That’s why I started booking more fights. It was a little game for us.”

“Well that game turned into something else, didn’t it?”

“I can’t lose her,” I said. “She’s done nothing wrong in all this. Erik can take me out. I’ll offer myself up to him.”

“Uh, sir?” one of the men who had taken me to the ground said.

I didn’t bother to look back.

Nathan smiled bigger. “Maybe you don’t have to offer yourself up so quick.”

“Why’s that?”

Nathan pointed.

I turned, hoping to see Penny.

No Penny.

The guy was holding a cell phone.

My cell phone.

It was ringing.

“Looks like Penny is calling you,” Nathan said. “I’m sure it has something to do with Erik. Why don’t you answer it?”

* * *

“Penny? Where are you?”

“Noah… you… are you okay?”

“Honey, I’m fine. Where are you? The fight…”

“Did Warren hurt you?”

“No. He said Dani’s missing.”

“Oh, shit.”

There’s noise in the background.

What the hell is that?

“Noah… can you save me?”

“Save you? Of course I can save you. Just tell me where you are.”

“Come alone, Noah. Okay? Nobody else can get hurt.”

“What does that mean? Are you alone, honey? What’s happening.”

“Noah. Just come save me. Please.”

“Okay. I’ll come save you. I promise. It’s going to be okay, Penny. I love you.”

* * *

I knew it was a set up from the second she hung up without saying I love you back to me. Her words were faked, forced, and had no true meaning to them.

But what was I supposed to do? Just ignore her and let Erik hurt her?

I still couldn’t fully make sense of everything that was happening, but I knew the second I opened the door to the small warehouse, I would probably end up dead.

When the door shut, Penny appeared, just standing there in the middle of the floor. We looked at each other and I didn’t bother running toward her.

A second later, Erik walked up behind her. He pushed her out of the way and took out a gun, pointing it right at me.

“Got me,” I whispered.

“You fucking murderer,” Erik said.

“Yeah, right. I’m a murderer. That’s right. Now let Penny go. Let Dani go. Take me, Erik. You’ve got me.”

“No. It’s not going to work that way. Penny knows the truth.”

“The truth?” I asked.

I looked at Penny.

She was nodding. “Sorry, Noah. But Erik told me everything. You and Seth were working together? You knew Seth killed my father? You never told me.”

“Christ,” I said. “Penny. I wanted to talk to you…” I stepped forward and Erik jammed the gun into my chest. I swatted him away. “Look at everything going on around us. If you think for second…”

“I don’t believe you,” Penny said.

I froze and then a second later something crashed against the back of my head.

I fell to the ground and saw nothing but darkness for a few seconds. I spread my hands out, touching the floor. Blood started to run forward along the side of my neck.

“Get up,” Erik ordered. “Get up on your feet.”

I got back up. “I’m standing again.”

“Yeah? I’m going to do to you what you did to my brother.”

I nodded. “Fair enough, Erik. I told a lie about your brother and I’m sorry for what I did to him. I had no idea what Seth was doing. Who Seth really was. He got what he deserved. Let Penny go, Erik. Let Dani go. They have nothing to do with this. This is between us.”

“And she’s going to watch,” Erik said. “For her own revenge. For the murder of her father.”

I opened my arms and nodded. “Do what you need to do.”

Erik took the clip out of his gun. He slid the clip across the floor and then tossed the gun over his shoulder. He then put his hands and balled them into fists.

“You’re kidding me,” I said.

“Nope. I’m going to fight you, Noah. I’m going to kick your ass.”

I looked around and felt the back of my head throbbing. “Okay, Erik. Let’s do it. Let’s fight.”

Erik came right at me. He was inches away and then stopped. “I’m going to fight you, then I’m going to kill you.”