"Harrison."
Kaiden's voice was calm, and I watched as Caleb rushed back towards us, pure disbelief and shock clear all over his features as he took in what was happening.
My entire body was trembling as the man tightened his grip around me, pressing the gun harder against my temple.
Harrison, which I figured out was man holding me because Kaiden's eyes were on him, laughed and adjusted his arm around my waist.
"Can't believe I caught one of you off guard. You know, Kaiden, I always dreamed of this day," he drawled behind me and I cringed as I felt him speaking right against the back of my head. "The day I'd have leverage over one of you."
I met Caleb's eyes and his had something similar to fear in them as he stared back at me, his eyes flickering to the gun beside me and then back to my face.
Kaiden didn't look at me once, his face blank, as his eyes drilled into Harrison and the men with him.
"Get to the point," Kaiden said.
The man chuckled deeply again, I felt it against my back. We were near an alleyway, where there was not one person or car in sight, so no one else was around to help or call the police.
"You're just like Elijah," I perked up at my oldest brother's name. "Except that man..." he laughed again. "That man, that brother of yours – hell, I can never catch that manipulative son of a bitch off guard. He ruined my entire life because of one goddamn mistake I made. He took away my wife, my job, my home, my whole fucking family."
I was too busy focused on the gun pressed against my head to process his words. I was shaking so hard, I thought I'd collapse as it remained solid against my temple. Reminding me how one move could mean life or death.
"He's fucking heartless, I tell you. Don't know how he does it. And I've done some horrible, horrible things. So, that should say a lot coming from me, huh?" He sounded amused as he rambled on. "He'd never even let me get close to you. So I guess all of you aren't the same, after all."
Kaiden clenched his jaw, his eyes darkening as Harrison ran a hand down my cheek, stroking the skin. I cringed, trying to jerk away, but his arm tightened around my waist while he brought the gun down to rest it against the side of my neck. I froze, my heart fluttering against my ribcage.
"How about this one? Does she know the truth? Does she know what happened?"
He spoke right against my face, his lips brushing the skin and my eyes welled with tears. I shivered in disgust, trying to push him away, but he didn't let go. Instead, he jostled me once more and I flinched again as he dug the gun deeper so it was more painful this time.
"What about what you did, Kaiden? Does she know?"
My eyebrows furrowed as I took in his words. They didn't make any sense and I looked at Kaiden for answers, but he refused to look back at me. Caleb also looked confused as he stood behind Kaiden.
"I'm gonna take that as a no," he chuckled dryly again, and his head moved away from the back of mine, but he kept a tight grip on me.
"Should I tell her what you do, what you did, Kaiden? I'll let you decide."
Kaiden gritted his teeth."Tell me what you want already."
"Ah, but wouldn't that be too easy?" I didn't know what the man really looked like since he'd snatched me before I could see, but I could hear the smile in his tone. "How about this? You tell her what you do for a living, what all of you do, and I'll give her back to you. How does that sound?"
Kaiden scoffed, his lips twitching into a smirk as he shook his head. "That's why you're here?"
The barrel of the gun dug into my throat and I whimpered as he shoved it deeper against my skin. His finger was resting on the trigger, and I went as still as possible.
"You're playing with her life here, Kaiden. If you don't talk..." Harrison trailed off, and I flinched as he brought the gun to rest right under my chin, the barrel touching my jaw now. He was playing with it like it was some meaningless thing, and that thought terrified me.
"Then, I guess this time the bullet won't miss."
I could feel my heart pounding against my chest as I realized what he was talking about. This was who had shot at us that day; the day the bullets had missed by inches when Kaiden and I had walked out of the movies.
The day everyone told me not to worry about.
So, it did mean something.
Harrison continued, breaking the silence. "Do you want me to put a bullet through her brain? Is that what you want? Because if you don't start talking, that's exactly what I'll do, and I'll make you watch. Just like Elijah made me watch when I was in your place."
"You want money?" Kaiden asked, and he took a small step towards us. I didn't know if anyone noticed. "If that's your goal here, we have a lot of it. I can get whatever amount you want by the morning. Hell, in minutes. Just let her go."
"No, we don't want your fucking money, Kingston. He doesn't want your money. Just do what I said," he growled back and I could tell his patience was running low. "And while you're at it, tell us where Elena Manning is."
My eyes snapped up to Kaiden's at the familiar name.
That was the name – the name on the note I'd found in Sophia's room. Did these men know who she was? I had asked my brothers who she was a while ago, and none of them said they'd known.
"I don't know anyone named Elena," Kaiden said calmly, his expression giving away nothing. I couldn't tell if he was lying.
"Oh, yes, you do. You should know better than anyone else," Harrison replied, and I could hear the smile lacing his words.
I watched the confusion flash through Kaiden's features and I realized he was telling the truth. He didn't know.
Harrison must have realized this because he continued with a dramatic sigh. "Fine, forget that. Tell this one the rest of it then. Tell her everything. Tell her about Elijah and yourself."
Why couldn't Kaiden just tell me whatever this man wanted him to? Was it really so awful that he was willing to risk my life for it?
Kaiden smiled and my heart dropped.
"You're going to regret this, you know that?" A cold smirk tugged at his lips, as his eyes stayed on Harrison. He hadn't looked at me once.
"Careful," he hissed, jerking me against him to emphasize the gun he still held to me. I winced again. "You're in no position to be threatening me."
Kaiden's smile never left his lips and I stared at him in shock. Why was he acting like he didn't care? Like I wasn't being held at gunpoint?
Caleb had gone pale, but Kaiden looked completely unfazed. Was this not as shocking to him as it was to me?
"You sure about that?" Kaiden challenged, and in the blink of an eye, all hell broke loose.
The car came out of nowhere.
It made no sound as it appeared from the road behind us. Or maybe it did, and I was just too distracted to hear it coming. That was why no one noticed it coming except my brothers who were facing that direction. They'd seen it driving down the road, and that's why they'd been so calm.
Harrison stumbled to the side as the SUV screeched to a stop a few feet away from us. His hold around me loosened enough for me to jerk away and Kaiden reacted before anyone else could.
He moved quicker than anyone expected.
I gasped as his fist connected with the side of Harrison's face, sending the gun clattering to the ground. He stumbled and the men around him charged towards Kaiden. The car doors slammed shut and more people who I didn't recognize became a part of the chaos.
Caleb suddenly was next to me, and he grabbed my hand, pulling me towards him. We backed a few feet up.
I watched in disbelief as two other men came out of the car. While they handled the other two that had come with Harrison, I couldn't look away from Kaiden fighting.
Caleb backed us up another step as we watched everything go down. I flinched as Kaiden sent Harrison stumbling back into the glass windows behind them, which belonged to a small shop.
They shattered on impact, and shards of glass rained down on Harrison, who was already in bad condition. He was barely conscious now, and I had to look away from the state of his battered body as bile rose to the back of my throat.
Alarms immediately began going off from the shop, but Kaiden wasn't letting Harrison go despite the injuries he'd already inflicted. For a second, I was terrified that he'd kill him, and I wanted to cry out, but every part of me was paralyzed from the terror and shock.
Since when did he know how to fight like that? And who were all these other men? It was something I'd never seen before.
My mind raced as I witnessed everything going down, and I somehow realized I heard the sound of distant sirens coming towards our direction.
My heart sunk and I snapped my head up to Caleb, who was also watching the chaos unfold in front of us, one of his hands gripping the back of my jacket like he was holding me back.
"Caleb," Kaiden moved towards us, his eyes wild and his voice hard. "Take her back to my place, here's the key."
Caleb didn't hesitate. He grabbed the keys out of his hand, and before I could protest, he began dragging me away.
"Kaiden!" I screamed, and I tried to stay back, but Caleb kept a tight hold on me as he forcefully yanked me away. "Kaiden, the police!"
The police cars were right down the street now, I could see their flashing lights and the sirens were louder than ever. There was an entire line of them and I paled.
He was going to get arrested.
But everyone ignored me, and when I tried to make Caleb let go of me, he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.
The last thing I saw before Caleb turned the corner was the police officers getting out of their cars with their guns drawn.
***