Dream (Rosewood Bay Series Book 4) Page 14

Before Andi could consider what to do next, her cell rang again with an unfamiliar number. Tingles ran up her spine as she answered, no doubt in her mind who was on the other end. “Give me my son, you bastard.”

  “Give me my money,” Billy shot back.

  That was a no-brainer. “Fine.”

  “Meet me in the park at the tree where we engraved our names.”

  The tree was in a secluded part of the park, nowhere near the gazebo where people met and congregated. Her heart pounded so hard she could hear it in her ears. But with fear for her baby lodged in her chest, she had no problem agreeing to his terms. “Fine but let me talk to Nicky.”

  “No.”

  “I’m not giving you anything unless I hear he’s okay. From Nicky himself.”

  Billy cursed and she heard fumbling.

  Then the best sound she’d ever heard. “Mommy?”

  “It’s me, baby. Are you okay?” she asked him, her hands shaking so hard she could barely hang on to the phone.

  “I’m scared,” he admitted.

  “I’m coming for–”

  “That’s enough. You got what you wanted. Bring me every penny your old man stole from me if you want to see him again,” Billy said, clearly confident she’d do as he asked. “I’ll call you with a time.”

  “Don’t lay a hand on him or I’ll–”

  He cut her off, ending the conversation by disconnecting them. She hit end and, on autopilot, made a few calls. To her boss, to tell her she was closing up shop for a family emergency. To Kane because he had Billy’s money.

  And to Kyle because she needed him.

  She asked them both to meet her at home.

  Petrified, she still managed to think. To realize she was doing the one thing she’d never done back when Billy had terrorized her before. She was relying on other people. Trusting them to have her back. Doing what she used to think was weak and realizing instead it was making her strong.

  Before she could ask Kyle or Kane their opinion, as she drove home, she called the police. Because she refused to let Billy get away with kidnapping her son.

  Chapter Ten

  Kyle arrived at Andi’s to find Kane running out of his car, a black bag in his hand, and a police car parked in front of him as he pulled in.

  He’d gotten a call from Andi. “Meet me at my house. I need you.”

  That’s all she’d had to say. He’d dropped the papers he’d been grading and headed over to her place. Now he knew something serious had happened and panic set in. He ran up the lawn, not bothering to walk around and up the driveway and front walk. The door was open and he stepped inside.

  A uniformed officer talked on his phone and Andi practically flew across the room and into his arms. Kyle held her tight and looked over her shoulder to Kane, who was pale. “What’s going on?”

  “Billy took Nicky.” He went on to explain how his father had won money from Andi’s ex at a poker game. Big money that the man wanted back. “Fucking irony is, I was going to contact the bastard if I could find him. No one wanted that money on our hands. We just got it from Dad last night.” He shook his head in frustration.

  Kyle wanted to strangle her bastard ex himself, but he stayed calm for Andi’s sake.

  Because she’d reported a kidnapping, he realized now, the state troopers had gotten involved, taking the case from the local police.

  The dark-haired officer listened to the call and hung up, glancing around the room, his gaze landing on Andi.

  She stiffened but straightened her shoulders and Kyle pulled her in tighter, proud of her for holding it together. Glad she’d called him instead of opting to handle this alone.

  “Whoever was on duty when you reported the harassment at your local precinct dropped the ball,” the man said. “He should have run a check on your ex. He’s wanted in New York City for assault.”

  Shit. Bile rose up in Kyle’s throat.

  “And he has my son.” Instead of falling apart, Andi pulled free of him and said, “I need to take him the money. That’s all he wants. The money.”

  “Hell no,” Kane said, looking to the cop for support.

  It took everything inside Kyle not to join Kane and tag-team Andi, insisting she not be the one to show up with the money for her son. But if he’d learned anything during their time together, he knew that if he didn’t support her now, he’d lose her forever. It was going to kill him, but he was going to let her be the independent woman she’d struggled so hard to become.

  The officer shook his head. “Ma’am, I think we need to be there when he shows up to collect the money.”

  “And I think she needs to be the one to hand him the cash. Get her son and you can take him in after,” Kyle said, showing her all the support he could.

  “What the hell?” Kane asked, glancing at Kyle.

  He’d just have to explain himself to the other man when this was over.

  Andi shot him a surprised but grateful look.

  “Think about it,” Andi said. “The police will set him off. He might hurt Nicky,” she said, her voice trembling. “If it’s me, it’ll go like he expects. There is no way he thinks I’d call the police. I never did when we were married. He thinks I’m too afraid of him. I can drop the money, get Nicky, and then the police can take him before he suspects a thing.”

  The officer frowned. “Tell me about the meeting point.”

  “There are trees all around. You can hide without a problem. Get there now, before he calls me with a time. I know I can handle this,” she said, imploring the man.

  “Let me talk to my superiors,” he said, picking up his phone again. “A detective should be here any minute and we’ll need reinforcements anyway.”

  The officer left the room to make plans and Kane glared at Kyle.

  “She needs to do this,” he said to her brother. “She needs to face him one last time and to show him she’s not afraid. She’ll have police backup. I don’t like it either, but I understand it.”

  Andi walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “You’re welcome,” he said and he hoped like hell he was doing the right thing.

  * * *

  Kyle sat in the back of a police cruiser hidden from where Andi was meeting Billy. An officer sat in the driver’s seat, waiting for the call that would let them know the situation had ended safely.

  Kane sat by Kyle’s side, glaring at him the entire time. He didn’t blame the other man. Kyle had taken Andi’s side and encouraged her to be involved in a dangerous situation. And as he waited anxiously for things to be over, he decided he must have had rocks in his head for pushing for her to take the money and confront her ex.

  Billy had texted her earlier with the time to meet him, nine p.m., well after dark. And during the time in between, they’d found out that the assault charge he was wanted for had been on the woman he’d been dating since leaving Rosewood Bay. She’d been found beaten and unconscious on her apartment floor.

  Kyle blew out a nervous breath.

  “If anything happens to her, I’ll kill you,” Kane muttered.

  “Thanks. Way to make me feel better.” He turned to face Andi’s brother. “Do you really think this is what I wanted?” He gestured out into the dark night, the moon barely visible in the sky above the trees.

  “I know.” Kane shook his head and grumbled, “But my sister’s a damned stubborn woman. First she has to handle an abusive marriage alone and in secret and now she has to take a stand against him in the most dangerous situation, surrounded by police with guns ready.”

  His stomach churned at the word guns. “But it’s her son,” Kyle reminded Kane. “She’d do anything to get him back and I have to support her.” Because he loved her.

  Sitting in the back of this vehicle, petrified for Nicky and Andi, he was well aware of the fact that the people he wanted to be his family were out there alone and in danger.

  He wanted to be there and felt fucking frustrated that
he couldn’t be. “I’d have made the drop myself if there was any way it would have resulted in Nicky’s safe return. But we both know what Billy would have done if he’d seen me instead of Andi.”

  More grumbling from the man beside him that ended in another begrudging, “I know. I’m just scared to death for her.”

  “Join the club.” His heart was out there with Andi, and until she returned, safe and sound, he wouldn’t get it back.

  “She’s been through a lot in life,” Kane said, glancing at Kyle. “If you don’t treat her right, you’ll answer to me.”

  He had no problem with her brother’s posturing. He wanted nothing more than to treat Andi like gold for the rest of their lives.

  * * *

  The air around Andi was cold as she stepped out of her car, bag in hand, yet she was sweating beneath her jacket. Fear lodged in her chest, but she told herself that Billy had never had any interest in his son before. All Nicky was to him now was a means to an end. As long as she handed over the money, he wouldn’t hurt him. He hadn’t hurt him. She’d tried to convince herself of that fact since the phone call telling her that her baby had been taken. If she didn’t force herself to believe he was safe, she wouldn’t be able to breathe. She wouldn’t have the strength to help him now.

  She walked toward the tree she and Billy had carved their names on when she was young and naïve and thrilled the high school quarterback was in love with her, and forced herself to pull in calming breaths as she waited for him to show up.

  She knew there were two policemen waiting on opposite sides of where she stood by the tree, waiting to close in on Billy once she had Nicky out of the way.

  Suddenly the sound of a car engine broke the silence around her. Although it was hard to make out in the dark, she assumed it was Billy and waited until he climbed out of the vehicle and she could be sure.

  “Andi?” he called out.

  “Right here.”

  He started toward her and she spoke into the night. “Bring Nicky or I’m not giving you the money.” She tried to hang on to her composure and not sound as panicked as she felt.

  “Do you really think you’re calling the shots?” he asked.

  “I have a gun.” She blurted out the lie, wanting only to see her child. “Now bring Nicky with you and you can have your money. I don’t want it and never did.”

  Despite the darkness, she held out the bag she and Kane had stuffed the cash into for him to see. She kept the other hand in her jacket pocket. Her pretend weapon.

  “Fine. Though I don’t think you have the balls to actually use it.” He flung open the back car door. “Come out here, you pain in the ass.”

  Her heart eased when she saw her baby boy, but nausea filled her as Billy grabbed his arm – a move Andi knew would leave bruises – and pulled him toward her and his bag of money.

  Her brave boy didn’t say a word. He just looked at her with wide, fearful eyes. She hated Billy for this. If she hadn’t hated him before, she was filled with vitriol for what he’d done to her son.

  “You’ve always been a pain in the ass and your father is no different. He cheated me out of my money. Hand it over.”

  She swallowed hard and held out the bag. “Let Nicky go.”

  Billy shoved Nicky hard in the back, sending his frail frame flying toward Andi. She released the bag, letting it drop to the ground, and grabbed her baby boy in her arms. She dropped to her knees, pulling him down with her, sobbing at the feel of him, safe and sound.

  Billy picked up the bag. “Don’t get too comfortable, you stupid bitch. I’ll be around when you least expect it.”

  “Go to hell,” she spat at him.

  He’d already turned and started for his car.

  Andi held her breath and her son, as the police, who’d been behind the trees, had quietly snuck around and surrounded Billy at his car.

  “Police. Hands up and don’t move,” Andi heard one of them say.

  “What the hell?” Billy, stupid man that he was, tried to run only to find himself tackled by one of the officers.

  Crying, Andi focused on her son. She pulled him away from her, wanting to examine every inch of him. “How is my brave boy?” she asked. “Did he hurt you?”

  “He pushed me around and grabbed me hard a couple of times. But I’m okay, Mom.” His bright eyes shone with unshed tears.

  “It’s okay to cry,” she told him, knowing he was trying to hold it in because he thought she was scared for him. “I cried when I found out he came and took you from Michael’s house. And I’m crying now because I’m so happy I have you back.”

  His bottom lip quivered. “But you’re a girl.”

  “And you’re a brave boy. And brave men can cry and still be brave.”

  He sniffed and a tear fell from his eyes. She wrapped him in her arms and let him have his moment.

  Finally, they rose and together started toward the police officers, who had subdued and cuffed Billy. He was yelling at the officers and causing them trouble.

  At the same time, another cruiser pulled up and her brother and Kyle jumped out of the car. Nicky took one look at his uncle and ran into his arms. Andi smiled at the two constant men in her life and breathed in deep.

  “Andi.”

  She turned and Kyle pulled her into his embrace, his arms strong and comforting. “Jesus, I died twenty thousand times waiting for this to be over.”

  She clung to him. Because now that the time to be strong was over, she needed to fall apart and he was the only one she trusted to be there for her as she did. He held her as she cried tears of relief. He didn’t judge her, he didn’t do anything but be there. As he’d been there for her from the minute they’d reconnected.

  He’d believed in her enough to let her handle Billy and for that she’d be eternally grateful. He’d proven himself to her in so many ways. He was everything she wanted… and, dammit, everything she deserved in a man. But before she could tell him how she felt, she had a past to put behind her.

  She stepped out of his arms. “I need to do one more thing,” she told him.

  Kyle looked into her eyes and nodded. “But I’m coming with you.” He obviously understood what she needed to do.

  She walked over to where Billy was cuffed and standing beside the police car. He was quieter than he’d been before, the seriousness of his circumstances obviously settling in.

  When Andi discovered Billy had beaten his ex-girlfriend unconscious, leaving her bruised and bleeding on her apartment floor, she’d known how lucky she’d been to escape that fate.

  “Can I have a minute?” she asked the officer.

  “I have nothing to say to you,” Billy said, belligerent and nasty as usual.

  The officer nodded. “Go ahead. Before I put him in the car and take him away.” He took two steps and turned away.

  She met the gaze of the man who had tormented her for years and come back to do it again. Except this time she’d stood up to him. She’d held on to her family, her friends, and Kyle.

  She straightened her shoulders. “You’re a small little man,” she told him. “You pick on people you think can’t fight back. You’re a bully and a bastard.” She drew a deep breath. “I would say I wish I’d never met you, but you gave me one good thing in my life and that’s Nicky. Other than my precious boy, I’m going to forget all about you, Billy. You’re less than nothing to me.”

  “You stupid bitch. You think he won’t get tired of you the way I did?”

  She grasped Kyle’s hand. “I know he won’t,” she said, head held high. “You’ll be rotting in a jail cell and Kyle and I will live our lives. Together,” she said, just to let him know that he didn’t get his way.

  Whatever he said next, she didn’t listen. She turned her back on him and walked away. She only wished she’d had a chance to kick him in the balls before she’d left but with the police officer standing next to him, she’d refrained.

  “We’ll be in touch, Ms. Harmon,” the officer said. “We’ll n
eed your statement and testimony if it goes to trial.”

  She nodded. “Whatever you need, I’ll be available.”

  She walked over to Nicky and Kane, Kyle by her side, and together, she and her family headed home.

  * * *

  Andi worried about her son and the experience he’d had with his father. She had every intention of taking him to see a child psychologist because he needed to talk through what had happened to him and the fact that his own father could treat him the way he had. But she also knew her son was loved. He knew his mother would never leave him and always put his needs first. That had to count for something.

  He’d fallen asleep but she couldn’t help but check on him again. The light from the hallway illuminated the angry red marks on his arms and she closed her eyes, wishing she could have spared him the pain. She shut the door with a quiet click.

  “Hey.” Kyle came up behind her and put his arms around her waist. “Is he okay?” he asked quietly.

  She nodded. “He’s sleeping. I was just…”

  “Watching him?” he asked knowingly.

  She sighed. “Even knowing he’s safe, it’s hard to walk away.”

  Kyle stepped around her and opened Nicky’s door wide enough that they’d hear him if he called out in his sleep or woke up and needed her. “Better?”

  “Yes, thanks.”

  He took her hand. “Can we go into your room and unwind? Talk?”

  “Of course.” She wanted nothing more than to crawl into his arms. She had so much to say to him. So much to explain.

  They walked down the hall and into her room. “Leave the door open so you can hear him,” Kyle said.

  She loved him for that alone.

  They curled up together in her bed, Kyle’s arms around her. “Can I talk first?” she asked.

  “Could I stop you?”

  She elbowed him in the stomach and laughed, appreciating him lightening the mood. But she immediately sobered, the events of the day… heck, the events of her life calling for a more serious conversation.

  “I’m not sure where to begin,” she said, pulling away from him so she could curl up on one side of the bed and meet his gaze.