Beautiful Innocence (20 page)

“Shh, I’ll take you home. Let me talk to the nurse okay?”

I nod, praying he’s telling me the truth.

When Josh comes back he’s smiling as he rounds my bed. “Don’t worry, they’re kicking your butt out soon, anyway. You’ve been in for over twenty-four hours.”

I try to sit up, thinking about my lack of medical insurance and how much it’s all going to cost.

He lays me back down. “Nope, don’t even think about it.”

“Josh, how much?”

He pecks my lips softly. “It wasn’t much. It’s all squared away.”

It’s been two days since I came home and not once have I had a minute to myself. Everyone made it up to the Halifax hospital after hearing about my kidnapping and they all stayed at a hotel nearby until my release. That has to be the nicest thing people have ever done for me. I realize that’s sad, but it’s true.

I’ve become Josh’s personal prisoner, but I don’t mind. He’s keeping me safe the only way he knows how. If Josh needs to scoot out for a few hours someone replaces him. I know he’s keeping something from me by the way the he glares at Dane or Jason whenever they come over. Also, it’s hard not to miss their hushed tones when I excuse myself to be alone.

Josh hasn’t touched me since I left the hospital. He holds me tightly in his arms at night and strokes my hair until I’m asleep, but nothing more. Maybe it’s for the best. I’m emotionally and physically drained, and he knows it. A piece of me thinks it’s the sweetest thing for him to do, but there’s another piece that is overriding the sensible one. I need for him to touch me like he used to when I was curled up into his chest. He would glide his hand down my waist, over my hip and then stop at my thigh for a quick second before hauling me to him. He’d kiss my shoulder before he nestled in for the night. I needed him.

Apparently Sam is my designated babysitter for a few hours on my fourth day. I find this weird, since it’s always the same rotation. Dane, Jason, Johnny or Josh. So seeing Sam sitting at my counter, drinking coffee like it’s just another average day, strikes me as odd.

“Hey, there she is.” He rises and heads over to the coffee pot and pours me some. I watch him in a daze, confused as he pours the right amount of cream and sugar—just the way I like it. “Josh had a few things to do today. He should back by lunch. He called me last night.” He steps over and places a chaste kiss on my cheek and then hands me the mug.

“Thanks.” I smile and hold up the mug and then take a small sip. I make my way to the refrigerator to get bread to make toast, and the whole time I can feel his eyes burn right through me. “You want some toast?”

“No, um, hey can we talk for a minute?”

“Sure, Sam.” I drop the bread on the counter and then walk over, slipping my arm in his, and pull him toward the couch.

“Ava, I know I apologized before, but I want to make sure you know just how sorry I am. I hate myself for putting you through that. If I had been on time it would never have happened.”

I shake my head and take his hand in mine. “Sam you don’t know that. He had a gun, and if you’d been with me he might of used it on you. I’ve been thinking about it and maybe it’s better that he saw me and knows about Josh. Maybe if Roger or Alex find out about what happened with David they’ll cut their losses and move on.”

He bobs his head up and down as he listens. “Yeah, I know, but I still feel like shit about it.”

“Please stop worrying, okay? I don’t need anyone else worrying about me. I’m afraid Josh is never going to let me out of here ever again.” When I stand up and start toward the kitchen to pop some bread in the toaster he comes up behind me.

“Speaking of all this, what are you gonna do? Are you going to help nab them?” I slowly turn on my heels at his question, really, really caught off guard. What the heck is he talking about?

JOSH

“What the fuck is he doing?” I scream to Dane, who is sitting beside me watching and listening to the cameras and microphones in my apartment. And Ava’s face, shit, it just changed three different shades of white.

“At least he has the balls to bring it up. They’ve given us only forty-eight hours to make a decision. We’re running out of time, so you need to ask her what she wants to do—today, Josh. Stop fucking around.”

“No,” I shout. “I can’t ask her to do it. It’s too dangerous, and I refuse to take that risk with her.”

“It’s not your choice. It’s hers. This is all her decision.”

“The fuck it is. I can’t believe you, of all people, would ask this of me. If this was Ashton you would never in a million years put her in harms way.”

“You’re wrong. I wouldn’t want her in harm’s way, but I’d give her the option knowing that nothing, and I mean nothing, will happen to Ava. You and I will be right there with her every step of the way. She’s totally safe.”

Mindless, I fall into the chair and hang my head in my hands. “I can’t. Something could go wrong.” I draw in a deep breath and let it out as I raise my head to look at him. “Man, you were right all those years ago when you told me that someday I would fall hard, and how you would love to be there to see it. Well, I have finally someone I want to love for this life, and now you and those emotionless fuckwads at the bureau are asking me to risk that.”

His hand comes down on my shoulder. In the back of my mind I can hear Ava bombarding Sam with questions, but now that he’s dropped the hint, he’s not following through with any answers. The only reason he knows about it is because he was like a leech at the hospital and overheard a bit of a private conversation.

I glance at the screen and feel bad for the poor chump. He’s hanging his head low and refusing to look up at her as she rattles off question after question. “I’d better go. Damage control.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No.” I don’t want him there, because I know he’ll push me to do the hardest thing in my life.

He holds up his hands in defeat. “I promise I’m just coming for support. The rest is your call.”

I blow out an exasperated breath and tip my head for him to follow me out.

As we pull into the parking lot of my apartment complex the first thing I notice is the cop car sitting curbside with one of the agents leaning up against it. “This day just gets better and better.”

If I could kill someone with one look they’d all be dead when I realize they’re in my apartment already, without my permission or my approval. I push through the two men outside, and make my way indoors. Ava is sitting down on the couch with Sam and he has his arm around her.

Quickly I make my way to her. “Thanks a fucking lot, Sam,” I spit out with enough condemnation in my voice that he knows I’m not happy with the shit he just pulled. If she didn’t love him so much as a friend I’d be doing a helluva lot more than throwing words.

She looks up at me, and right away I can see the disappointment in her eyes. I squat down and rub my hands over her knees.

“When were you going to tell me?”

Oh, how the tables have turned on me.

“I wasn’t, babe,” I fully admit, not wanting to keep any secrets from her.

“Mr. Woods?”

I crank my neck to look over my shoulder, glaring, trying to make it clear how pissed off I am. “What are you doing here? I told you we’d call you.”

He clears his throat. “We need her statement in order to keep David locked up. It’s been long enough.” He’s right. I know he is. I refused to let them rehash it all in the hospital where she didn’t feel safe. But now I have no excuse, no reason to stop it all from happening. I want David gone forever more than anyone else, except probably Ava.

I give her a quick peck on her lips. “You ready to do give your statement?” This one I can manage. What the others are asking, I’m not so sure.

“Absolutely.”

“Ma’am, if you could start at the beginning?”

“Sure. Yeah. I was meeting Sam at Olga’s for lunch.” She stops and glances to Sam then swings her eyes back to the cop. “He was running late, so I was just minding my own business and playing a song on one of those little players, when I realized David was there. Before I could react he sat down next to me. He was surprised I was alone and told me that he’d been working undercover for the FBI. He even gave me a phony name. I don’t remember it, just that he said he was an agent. Anyway, he told me that Josh sent him to pick me up because Alex and Roger were coming for me. He was so convincing, but something told me to hide my phone.” She looks to Dane. “I think it was something you said, Dane, about not going anywhere without it, ever. It was in my back pocket, and I was wearing one of Josh’s shirts, so it was big on me and it covered the phone. I hid it in my underwear just in case. Once he had me in the car and started driving, I knew I’d made the right decision, but before I could do anything about it he stabbed me with a needle. I don’t remember anything after that.”

She looks to me and mouths, “I’m sorry.” She takes my hand and grips it tightly in hers. “Then I woke up in a chair, tied up. He hit me a few times and made me say my good-byes to Josh. He threw me back into his car and we drove for a few hours. I was tied up and gagged in the backseat. Once he got me in the room, he placed his gun on the nightstand and then turned to me and told me he was going to finally do what he always wanted to do to me. I felt the needle as I tried to move away, but like I said, I couldn’t stop it, I was tied up.”

“That’s when we broke in,” I add quickly, not wanting her to go on. “Obviously he wasn’t expecting us and left his gun by the bed while he was in the bathroom. We got lucky there. A few hours later I found her cell still tucked in her underwear. He never found it, because he never followed through on his promise, or he never got the chance.

Once the cop has all the information he leaves, but Agent McCourt, the man I am keeping her from stays behind. “Not. Right. Now,” I roar.

“You’re down to thirty-six hours. We need a decision.”

Ava scoots around me and tries to let go of my hand, but I am not having it. I yank her back and wrap my arm around her.

“Josh…” Dane starts.

“I want to know what’s going on?”

I pull her over to the couch and sit her down. I get on my knees and push her legs apart so I can scoot in closer. “I’m going to tell you everything, but first I want you to know that you can say no. Do you understand?” My heart is on permanent pause while I wait for her to answer me.

When she nods my heart kicks back in.

“The cops have David in custody, as you know. Now they want Alex and Roger and this George guy. They basically want to use you as bait to catch the scum and put them away. Roger is holding David’s little brother and has threatened to kill him if he doesn’t show up with you by the end of the week. There’s only two days left in that week.”

I look up at Dane watching Ava like a hawk, but she just sits there fiddling with her thumbs. “David knows this and has been in touch with Alex and he has them believing that he’s still looking for you. The FBI was right there, listening to their call, taping it. We have him pretending he’s still on the loose and that you are never alone to nab. He has less than two days to bring you back to Maryland. If he doesn’t show, his little brother dies.”

I swallow and take a deep breath before I drop the next bomb. “We haven’t been able to find your mama, but some of her items have been found. We don’t know if she’s alive. If she’s not, it was most likely Roger. This guy George that you told me about, well, he’s a huge player in the financial industry. He’s an international banker that they’ve been keeping an eye on for a really long time, babe. This is their chance to finally nail his ass.”

“Who is he?” she asks.

“George Giroux. He’s a husband, a father of four. He has three daughters and one son. He’s had claims filed against him numerous times by different girls, all claims were pulled within twenty-four hours and nothing stuck. They all backed off. He lives in the South of France, but has a vacation home here in D.C. and one in Costa Rica.”

“Do you think my mom is gone?”

“Baby,” I shake my head. “I don’t know.”

She sits for a minute, her hands trembling in mine as I hold onto them. She looks at me, then to Dane. Finally they land on Agent McCourt. “I’ll do it.”

“Babe…no. I don’t want you to.” I drop my head into her lap. I feel her fingers run through my hair.

“We’ll get you fitted for a wire. I’ll be back by dinner to go over everything with you and Woods Securities.”

I don’t know what’s happening, but I don’t let go of her. Dane is on the phone talking to Johnny and telling him to tap into every resource he has, and then he’s talking to Jason explaining the deal she just agreed to.

“Baby.” She lifts my head. “I have to do this. I have to save that little boy, and I have to prevent anything from happening to other girls like me. I need you to understand and support this, because I need you to be the smart one right now and promise to not leave my side and keep me safe while I do it. I can’t do this without you, Josh.”

I run my hand over my face, still in shock that she agreed. I can possibly lose her over the course of the next forty-eight hours. “Yeah, I promise. I won’t leave you.” My gut ties itself in knots. “No one will touch you.”

AVA

I know he’s scared for me. Hell, I am, too. But if there’s one thing I have faith in, it’s him and how much he wants to protect me. I know he’ll keep me alive or die trying. I’m not a know-it-all when it comes to love and I don’t pretend to be, but what we feel for each other is special. Loving him and his loving me back is like winning the Powerball.

Completely unexpected.

We’re alone for the first time all day. He’s been here with me, but not really here. His mind is on the game we’re about to play instead of me. Tomorrow everything is changing and I need to be with him, feel him one last time in case things go wrong. But I can tell from the permanent scowl on his face his mind is elsewhere.

I get up from the couch and hold my hand out to him. He just stares at my gesture like he’s not quite sure what I’m asking. “I want to take a bath.”

“Go ahead, baby. I just need to think some more.”