Bullet ✔️

Chapter 30

I could barely even nod before his lips were on mine. My tears made the kiss wet and salty, but neither of us minded. It was his silent promise to fulfill every other promise he'd given me—a silent plea for me to listen to him and stay.

"I wanna go with you," I said, gripping his shirt as hard as I could when he pulled back.

"I don't want you in danger, sweetheart," he whispered, and every trace of ruthlessness was gone from his body as he stared at me.

"I won't be," I whispered back, "you'll be there."

I could see the debate in his mind as he looked back and forth between my eyes. His features tightened as if he'd made the decision to leave me there, in the house I grew up, where my mother died and my father was kidnapped, but then they softened again and he muttered, "Fine."

"You stay here and call if anything happens," Damian commanded, pointing straight at William as his hand clamped shut tightly around mine. "Anything at all. You have to go to take a shit, call us, if a car drives past, you call us. Got it?"

William's usually soft and gentle eyes were wide with terror as he nodded. "Yes. I got it."

Damian barked some more orders at him as my phone started ringing. I got it out of my picked at my breath stopped dead in my throat as the display shone up with a picture of me and dad from a few years back. It was him. He was okay.

I answered as quick as I could. "Dad? Are you okay? I'm at your house now, we're about to—"

A low laugh cut me off. "Isabelle, right?" The voice was hoarse and annoying, and it gave my whole body goosebumps when I realized it wasn't my dad who had called to tell me not to worry. This was someone else. Damian's eyes were on me again, I could feel them, as my shaking hand pulled the phone from my ear and I hit the speaker button. "I assume you're with your boyfriend? Or has he dumped you somewhere to go get us by himself?"

I looked up, staring straight into those irises of safety. He only nodded, telling me to say what I wanted, as he pulled his own phone out and sent a text, then dialed James.

"I'm with him," I said.

William sat down on a chair, his face had gone pale. Mine was probably too.

"Good," the phone said. "I expect you both to come pick up Mr. car mechanic here. He's been disappointing, he didn't know anything about Damian's businesses, or when Michael's retiring, or anything at all, really. So he's useless."

"Where are you? Tell me and we'll pick him up," I told him, closing my eyes as tightly as I could.

"Now, what would be the fun in that, dear Isabelle?" The same laughter hit my stomach like a bowling ball. "No, we're in the city, but that's all you get. You have three hours, or he'll wash up on the shore sometime tomorrow."

The line went dead and I fell to my knees crying out in pain and sorrow. Three hours, and we were already far away from the city. We'd need at least one of those hours to get back in, and Datoches was big. It would take days to comb every nook and cranny.

"You get that, James?" I heard through my cries.

There was too little time to cry my heart out, so I let everything out through just one or two more cries before I looked back up at Damian, who met my eyes with a slight comforting smile. He held his hand out, and as soon as I took it, he pulled me up and put his arms around me tightly, like he would never let go.

I hoped he wouldn't.

"What, exactly, is going on?" William asked from his seat at the table.

My throat was raw so when I tried to speak it sounded more like a squeal. Damian's chest tumbled as he explained. "Bad people have taken Joel. We're gonna find him. That's all you need to know right now."

I saw him nod, his face still pale. It was the first time I'd seen him an someone else had done most of the talking. It was little weird, and it made the reality that much clearer to me.

"Come on, sweetheart," Damian whispered against my ear, and slowly began to walk towards the hallway again.

He wanted us both there. I had no idea what kind of evil that makes wanted with us, or my dad. Mmmh first thought was that he wanted some intel on the Strac's businesses, or wanted to take over some of it, to become bigger and better. But I couldn't know. I was barely even conscious as Damian got me back into his car, and once he'd swung back onto the road, I was pretty sure the speed limit was nonexistent to him.

"Who was that?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

"Orlov."

It was all spinning, and I realized I still had the gun in my hands as it fell down on my lap over a speed bump he didn't respect. We were out of the small town in minutes, and on the highway back into the city before I could even think to check the time. I didn't know the exact minute we'd be too late. I didn't know where we were going. I didn't even know why yet.

"Will he kill him?" My voice broke. I stared at my hands and the gun in them as we zoomed through the world on our way to what I was pretty sure would be the worst experience of my life.

"No." The answer was slow, but certain. "Not on my watch."