“It’s almost too beautiful to cut into.”
My brother nodded as he checked out the other cakes, squinting to read the cards in front that detailed what they were.
“The new menus arrived this morning. Albert’s going to—”
He was interrupted by my little girl running in. “I forgot to give you your phone back.”
I hadn’t even noticed. My attention had been so focused on her and Heidi that I probably wouldn’t have realized until I went to get my shit together to go to these meetings.
Holding my hand out, I only just caught it as she thrust it to me.
“Thank you for returning it.” Glimpsing around behind her, I frowned when I didn’t see my wife anywhere. “Where’s your mom?”
“She’s in the parking lot still, silly.”
Holding my hand out, I said over my shoulder, “I’ll be back in a minute. I’m just going to walk the girls to the car.”
Canon shrugged and nodded but then frowned as he looked out the window that overlooked the parking lot. Whatever he saw had his eyes widening and his hand shooting out to catch my arm.
“Casy,” he bellowed, making Nemi jump. “Come and get the princess.”
Casy appeared quickly through the door leading to the bar from the kitchen and held his hands out for Nemi, not even asking why he was needed. She didn’t care either. Nemi was just happy she was staying here for a bit longer, so she skipped up the side of the bar and held her hands up for him to pick her up and lift her over it.
I was just turning to see what the problem was behind me when Canon leaned in next to me.
“If you go out there right now, you’re going to scare the bastard and potentially cost Heidi her life.” It felt like everything inside of me turned to ice as I slowly moved my head to look through the window at where she was.
It felt like I couldn’t breathe as I saw where Heidi was standing, with a man dressed in dirty clothes, his hair everywhere, holding a gun pressed against her head. Heidi looked scared as she stared straight in front of her with her arms up either side of her head.
Instinct dictated that I run out there and beat the ever-loving fuck out of him. The only thing stopping me was the mental image of what Canon had just said. But fuck me, it was so hard not to do it.
“I’m calling 911. You keep an eye on her.”
“Nemi—” I croaked. There’s no way she should see this.
In the background of the buzzing in my head, I heard Canon say something gently to someone, and then a door squeaked slightly as it opened and closed. Presumably, he’d told Casy to take her to the office, keeping her far away from this.
That was good, we had a television in there now, and I’d downloaded her movies for her onto it. She also had her own small desk with a ton of coloring books on it to keep her entertained. Nemi would be safe while she played with the things she loved.
It seemed like everything behind me was under control, while everything in front of me was a raging storm, swirling so out of control it left behind a trail of complete and utter destruction.
There was no way of hearing what the man was saying to her, but the more he spoke, the more frightened she looked as he leaned over her shoulder, his front pressed to her back, but never moving the gun from its position against her head once.
Her eyes squeezed shut like she was bracing for him to shoot her, and I lunged forward toward the door, making a desperate grab for it, and yanking it open. Behind me, I heard Canon curse and the sound of his footsteps on the wooden floor as he followed me outside.
“Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you. Just take the gun away from her,” I called, doing the best I could to disguise the fear in my voice and make it authoritative enough for him to listen to me.
He might have looked like a hobo who’d lived rough on the streets his whole life, but the calculating gleam in his eyes and expression assured me this wasn’t a stupid man. He knew exactly what he was doing. I wasn’t sure what was worse now that I was faced with it.
“I don’t think I will. See, you got that nice restaurant and I seen her with her nice car. I figure I’ll keep this gun on her a while longer until I get what I want.”
“Bond?” Heidi’s voice was shaky, and it sounded like she was begging me with just that one word.
I’d never felt so powerless in my life. My gun was in the safe in the office, and another one was in the special bedside table at home, also locked safely in the drawer. If he decided to shoot, I had nothing to protect us with.