She stepped onto the porch, staying behind Rick, not because she felt she needed his shielding but because she didn’t want him distracted with worry. “How did you survive the tunnel collapse?”
“I am a strong man, stronger than anyone gave me credit for.” He hitched his arm harder against the terrified teen’s gut. “I clawed my way to freedom. Revenge can give you more strength than you could imagine.”
She hoped he was right because the need for a slice of vengeance for herself gnawed deep.
At the show of force against Lauren, a vein popped along Rick’s temple. “How did you get to my daughter?”
Chavez tut-tutted. “You two are so predictable. I knew you would send the child away. I am an Internet genius. When you booked her flight, I booked my own on her flight. It was no problem to overtake her in Atlanta when she went to the restroom on her own. I simply waylaid Lauren and told her that her father had been in an accident. Your daughter is truly too trusting.”
Nola rested her hand on Rick’s back in reassurance.
“I do not want to hurt this pretty young child. She has done nothing to me, but you know as well as I that there are casualties in war. It is up to you as to whether she will be one of them. Will you come quietly with me now? Or will you make this a fight?”
Their first order of business had to be securing the safety of Rick’s daughter. Nola knew that. She had beaten this man once before, she could do it again. She refused to think about what the scorpion’s poison had done to her system. Of course that would have been the man’s plan, to weaken her this time. Now it all made sense.
She came level, shoulder to shoulder with Rick, then moved down to the first step.
“I love you, too,” she whispered as she passed, and ohmigod what a time to make this realization.
They should have had more time… She had to think positively. Put one foot in front of the other.
Chavez eased his hold on the girl. Nola wondered if she could trust his word. What if he took them both hostage? But this man had always entertained a twisted sense of frontier justice. Somehow she believed he would let Lauren go. He meant what he said about his vendetta being with her alone. His reasons for killing her were bizarre to say the least, but his obsession was with her alone.
She also knew Rick’s code of honor was unbending. He would not leave with her still held hostage. He would die first. Without question.
Her feet faltered. How could she guarantee both the father’s and daughter’s safety? She couldn’t.
Her heart squeezed.
Lauren walked past her, tears streaking mascara down the young girl’s no-longer-jaded-face. Their hands brushed. Then Lauren ran for her father.
Nola closed the last few steps between herself and the man who’d held her hostage a year ago. Helplessness threatened to swallow her. Her worst fears came to life again. Battling free of him before had been so liberating. Why did she have to go through this again?
She couldn’t let the negativity show through or it would distract Rick.
Chavez gripped her upper arm, his fingers a steely, unforgiving band. “You won’t get away this time.” He jabbed the gun deeper into her waist. “Major DeMassi, I’m sure you have a gun tucked somewhere. Toss it aside. Now please, or I will start shooting.”
Nola watched Rick calculating until finally, he reached behind him and took the weapon from the small of his back and placed it on the porch banister, carefully. She made note of it, hoping one of them could use it later.
Soon, hopefully. She shivered against the stench of Chavez’s breath and the sheer evil and hatred radiating from him. She wanted to fight him again. She assessed the strength of his hold on her. He obviously still worked out. He’d been strong before—and seemed more so now. Getting away from him before had been a near thing with her at full speed. She had to be honest with herself. The scorpion sting had drained her. Even now, lethargy stole over her.
Could Rick hold his own against the man? Would his legs support him? She saw the determination in his eyes as he wordlessly shoved Lauren behind him. She saw the implicit instruction there. He had a plan. He wanted her to see to Lauren and he would take care of Chavez.
Then it hit her. Rick trusted her with his child. Something fluttered to life inside her that she hadn’t even realized was dead. Her ex-husband had refused so many times to have children with her, only to start a family right away with his new wife. That had hurt in a way she’d never fully acknowledged. And now Rick trusted her with his child.
A small moment. A big step. One she would savor later, because yes, she intended to have a later with this man and his child, and her own second chance at life.
Nola looked him in the eyes and let him read her implicit message, her joining in his plan. The communication flowed freely between them in a way she’d never felt with her ex-husband. She hadn’t even known what she was missing.
Chavez yanked her arm. “We’re going to leave now. I am a man of honor and I meant what I said about only wanting Nola.” He nodded to Rick. “However, if I were you, I wouldn’t try starting that car of yours anytime soon.”
Time to put this plan into action. She let her eyelids grow heavy, her body sag ever so increasingly in Chavez’s grip.
“Stop that!” he ordered.
“What? Huh?” She shook herself a little as if trying to shore herself up, then drooped again.
“Damn it, woman.”