“Aw, there’s two of them come to your rescue, girly. Ain’t that cute?” he sneered again, punctuating it by circling the barrel around in her hair. “Which one of ya’s gonna pay?”
“What do you mean ‘pay?’” Canon yelled over my shoulder. “You want money? That’s why you’re doing this?”
A nasty hacking noise came out of the man and judging by the smile on his face, that was his version of a laugh. “Course I want money.”
A movement behind them alerted me to a new presence, but I didn’t look at whoever it was out of fear he’d jerk and shoot her accidentally.
“How much?” I shouted. He could have everything I owned and every single penny I had if he’d just get the fuck away from her.
Everything had been going so well only minutes ago. I’d held Heidi in my arms with Nemi beside us, the knowledge that they were both mine soothing my soul. We’d only been married a matter of weeks, only days and hours in the grand scheme of life, and it’d all tasted so sweet. Now that sweetness threatened to be turned to bitter right in front of my eyes.
The man stared blankly at us, obviously thinking about what he could ask for. In the end, he nodded at the restaurant. “Gotta think a place like that has money inside it. Go get what’s there and bring it back to me,” he ordered Canon.
“But warning: you call the cops or press a button, whatever alarm shit you got inside it, and I kill her. Lived my life hand to mouth, never having a penny, and I’m sick of being looked down on by the likes of you. Gimme what I’m asking for, and this sweetness walks to you. Fuck about…” he shoved the gun hard into the back of her head, making it jerk forward and getting a squeal out of her.
Nightmares usually haunted you in your sleep. Your psyche took control of your dreams and brought the worst things you could imagine to you. The difference was, when you woke up you could shake it off, safe in the knowledge it was just a dream. Well, Heidi had been the best of every dream for me—her and Nemi—but I couldn’t shake off the nightmare in front of me. And I hoped to God that this ended up with her walking to me, or I’d live life a shell of a man.
“Okay, man,” Canon called, sounding reasonable and calm. “I’m going in, and I’ll be back out with it in a minute. No need to hurt her.”
The man shot a glare at my brother and then whispered something else to my wife, making her cringe and squeeze her eyes shut again.
There was more movement to the side of the parking lot, but I continued to keep my eyes trained on Heidi, scared at that moment even to blink.
“Baby,” I called, “remember when you slid my wedding ring on my finger and told me I was yours?”
Her response was so faint I almost missed it. “Yeah.”
“Proudest and happiest moment of my life. It’s not just a piece of metal on my finger to me. It’s almost like a cuff around my heart, locking me to you and our girl. I’m absolutely yours, in every single way, and I wouldn’t change any of it for the world.”
The man snorted, but I didn’t give a fuck. Until you’ve felt the emotions I had at that moment, you wouldn’t know what would come out of your mouth. At least I was telling the truth, letting her know I’d do anything to fix this situation for her. Reassuring her the best way I could, and knowing she was terrified out of her mind. So he could shove his snorts up his ass along with his gun—something I’d gladly help him do.
Anger began to take the place of my fear. I was raw with rage and vibrating now with the need to beat the shit out of him.
Over the top of Heidi’s SUV, I saw a head bobbing toward the back of it, followed by another one, and remembered Canon saying he was calling 911 before I’d come out here.
I needed to get the asshole’s attention directly on me, so he didn’t see them.
Taking a step forward, I ground my foot down on the gravel top of the asphalt, making as much noise as I could. The man’s head whipped around in my direction, his eyes narrowing.
“And what would you be doing?”
Shrugging as casually as I could, I took another step toward him, my eyes darting quickly to Heidi to check on her. She was paler than I’d ever seen her before in my life, but she looked pissed as well as frightened as she stared back at me.
“I’m just checking on my wife,” I told him simply, putting my hands in the pockets of my slacks. “That’s who you’ve got there, you see, and I want to know if she’s okay.”