“Good luck finding your cousin,” Landon said quickly. “I’ll let you know if I see anything.”
He slammed the door, probably in their faces. Shelby whimpered.
Lowell waited only a couple of minutes before saying to Landon, “That’s all the help I’m giving you. They catch you with her now, you’re on your own.”
“Lowell, wait—”
The door slammed and Shelby heard Landon cursing steadily, pacing and slamming his fist on any solid surface. He was angry, scared, trapped by his own stupidity—none of which boded well for her. She was still leaning against the door when he jerked it open and she fell out of the storage closet, landing in an ignoble heap at his feet. For a moment she thought he might kick her, and she drew as far away as she could.
He reached down and hauled her upright. With her feet tied together, she hopped awkwardly, trying to find her balance. He hit her across the face with the back of one hand, almost knocking her down again. Pain exploding in her cheek, she would have fallen had he not roughly caught her. “I told you to stay quiet.”
She glared at him over the tape, trying to express with her eyes all the contemptuous thoughts going through her mind. He looked as though he wanted to hit her again, but instead, he pushed her toward the kitchen. Retrieving the briefcase, he threw the shoulder strap over his arm, then drew a steak knife from a drawer. She eyed it nervously, knowing the blade wasn’t extremely sharp, but also aware that it could do plenty of damage as it was. Leaning over, he slashed the tape around her ankles, freeing her feet. Before she could even take a step, he had the knife at her throat. With her arms still bound behind her back, there was little she could do to ward him off.
“We’re going to walk out to my car,” he said, his face shiny now with perspiration. “We’re driving out of this place. If we make it out without interference, I’ll let you go after we’ve put some distance behind us. If anyone tries to stop us...”
He pushed the blade a bit closer to her throat, letting that gesture finish the warning for him.
She didn’t see how this could end well. Landon or Russ or whatever his name was, was losing control, becoming more irrational by the moment. Her family was looking for her and she couldn’t see them standing back and letting him drive away with her. Not to mention what Aaron might do. Someone was going to be hurt. And she was the one closest to the sharp edge of the blade.
Staying close behind her, he moved her to the door, where he fumbled with the doorknob while keeping the knife close to her throat. A dozen different schemes raced through her mind. She could try to break away and run. She could deliberately fall, buying herself some time while he hauled her back up to her feet. She could try head-butting or kicking him.
In all of those mental scenarios, she ended up with a nasty slice or stab wound.
“Don’t waste time. Straight to the car. You’re driving.” He pushed her ahead of him out the door, using her as a shield in front of him.
He hadn’t accounted for an attack from behind. Though she couldn’t see exactly what happened, Shelby sensed the hit to the back of Landon’s head. He grunted and stumbled forward, his knife-wielding arm jerking outward. Someone caught that arm and swung Landon away from her. Someone else grabbed her and tugged her backward. Reacting instinctively, she started to resist.
“Shelby, it’s me. Maggie.”
The sound of her cousin’s voice in her ear made her go limp with relief. Hearing the thud of a fist, a cry of pain, she stumbled around to look. Landon was on the ground, struggling but obviously overpowered. Aaron straddled him, a lethal look in his eyes as he drove a fist into Landon’s face. Shelby heard shouts, running feet. Her father and uncle and some other men she didn’t immediately identify appeared, surrounding Aaron and Landon, pulling them apart. Someone shouted instructions to call the police. Landon resisted another few minutes, then sagged in defeat as several men restrained him.
Abandoning Landon, Aaron rushed to Shelby. Maggie had been fumbling with the bindings on her wrists. “Let me,” Aaron said, his voice husky.
His eyes locked with hers. She thought he looked a little pale, but maybe that was because she was seeing him through a sudden film of tears. Very gently, he peeled the tape from her face. The adhesive tugged at her irritated skin, pulled at her dry, cracked lips, but she was so very glad to have it gone that she hardly noticed. She tried to speak, but her voice came out a hoarse croak.
“Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”
“I’m okay,” she whispered.
“I’ll get you some water,” Maggie said, turning to dash into the cabin.
“Shelby. Baby, are you okay?” Her dad stood close by while Aaron released her wrists. She moaned in equal parts pain and relief when the bindings fell away and her arms dropped to her side.
Aaron kept an arm around her waist to support her while her dad hovered around her, rubbing her arm, stroking her hair, struggling to maintain his usual composure. Her uncle patted her back. Maggie returned with the water, then fluttered around while her dad held the glass to her parched lips. Pushing the glass away, Shelby looked up at Aaron, giving him a full view of her face.
His stormy eyes narrowed to slits. He lifted a hand to brush the very tips of his fingers against her cheek. He didn’t hurt her, but she felt the tenderness of the area he touched, and realized belatedly that it must be bruised from where Landon had hit her.
Grinding his teeth, Aaron started to turn away, murder in his eyes as he surged toward the man still being restrained by volunteers. Shelby reached out just in time to catch his arm. “No,” she rasped. “Don’t.”
Aaron stood very still for a few moments, almost quivering with a need to avenge her. “Please,” she whispered, not wanting to let him out of touching distance.
Sighing in resignation, he contented himself with one last irate look toward Landon, then he turned his back to the man and drew Shelby into his arms, heedless of the gathering crowd of onlookers. Both her father and uncle were talking into phones; she assumed they were notifying everyone that she had been found. The sound of sirens was growing closer. She braced herself for police interviews.
“The other man. His name was Lowell,” she whispered, her throat still too dry and tight for her voice to sound normal.
“I reported his license number and a description of his car and told them he was a participant in a kidnapping,” Aaron informed her. “He won’t get far.”
She nodded and rested her cheek on his shoulder. Her head was beginning to spin. She was operating on no sleep, still quivering with residual shock. “I think I need to sit down.”