Clash (15 page)

Chapter Thirty-One

Dylan

I ripped the IV from my arm and my mother gasped, covering her mouth.

“Mr. Andrews, if you would just give me one moment…”

I gave the nurse a look that made her pause mid-sentence. “Payton may not have another minute. Instead of me sitting around here waiting to be discharged, I need to be out there looking for my fiancée. So whatever it is I have to sign, let me sign it. If you need me to tell someone I’m checking myself out, I’ll do that too.”

She didn’t say anything more before hurrying out of the room.

I grabbed my shirt from the bed and pulled it over my head, wincing from the pull on my bruised ribs.

“Dylan,” my mother whispered hoarsely.

“I’m fine, mom. Just a couple of cracked ribs. They’re wrapped. Other than one hell of a headache, I’m fine. Sitting here in this room is driving me insane. He has her in some building, we know that. I need to be out there too, looking for her.” I turned around and faced her. “I need to find her. Please just understand that.”

She could only nod as tears fell down her cheeks. I reached out and pulled her close, holding her as she cried. I had never been very good about handling my mother’s tears. They always brought back too many memories of when we lost my father. I hated upsetting her but I had to get out of there.

We all had tried to text Payton back without an answer in return. Knowing she had somehow kept her phone from John told us she most likely hid it or turned it off for fear of him finding it. She gave us as much information as she could provide. Now it was up to us to find her.

The doctor who was on call walked in, looking at me with an unreadable expression. I released my hold on my mother and braced myself for an argument.

“Nurse Amy tells me you have decided the hospital is not moving fast enough on your release.” Then I noticed a smirk pull at the corner of his mouth. “I agree on most occasions it takes a lot longer than it should. You’ve checked out, so I think you’re okay to leave.” He handed me my release papers and began to turn around, only to pause once again. “I would tell you to take it easy for a few days and rest, but I know you wouldn’t listen, so that would be pointless on my part.”

I nodded because he was right; it would be pointless.

***

Because my mother lived more than thirty minutes away, everyone had settled at Payton’s and my apartment. I made multiple calls to the police station demanding answers but kept getting the same line of shit.

I was barely hanging on; both worry and anger had taken over and I couldn’t sit still. Everyone was watching me with concern as if they were waiting for me to self-destruct. What they didn’t know was that I was already losing it. In my mind, I was planning my revenge on the man who took the woman I love. He was not her father; a father should protect and love. John Walters was a fucking monster, and the idea of torturing him for every ounce of pain he inflicted on Payton was the only thing still keeping me going.

“Dylan, are you hungry?” Casey asked as she stepped up to my side. I was standing near the doors that led out to the balcony, remembering only a few nights ago when I knelt before Payton and asked her to marry me. The smile on her face when she said yes was something I would carry with me always.

“No,” I replied without looking away from the door.

“You should keep up your strength,” she added.

I took in a deep breath and turned to look at her. I knew she meant well, but right now I couldn’t handle it. “I’m fine, Case. Please just let it go.”

I spun around and walked toward the bedroom Payton and I shared and lay down on the bed, resting my arm over my eyes. The bite of my ribs as I twisted to get comfortable momentarily took my breath away.

Just as I had begun to doze off, Seth came rushing into the room. “Dylan, your phone, man.”

He held it out and I sat up too quickly, forgetting about the pain. Wincing, I took in a deep breath and reached out for the ringing phone.

“Hello,” I said, still trying to get through the pain I felt from my quick movements.

“You’re okay?” Payton’s weak voice came through the phone, and for a moment I thought I was dreaming. “I was so scared when I saw your truck turn over.”

“Baby is that you?” I had to be sure. I looked around the room in a daze as Seth’s eyes grew wide. “Payton, are you there?”

Her soft breaths were the only thing I could hear. “Sweetheart, talk to me. Tell me where you are.”

“I don’t know,” she whispered. She sounded so tired and weak. “It looks like an old abandoned building, with boards on the windows. There was a condemned sign on the door, but it was dark when we got here. The room is dark and there are no windows. I can’t see anything.”

I heard her start to cough and then another sound, like she was gagging. “Payton,” I said in a panic. Seth had left, only to return within seconds with his phone in his hand.

“Baby.” Tears pooled in my eyes as fear washed over me. “Are you okay?”

The coughing finally stopped and I heard her cry out in pain. Standing up from the bed I began to pace the room. I could hear Seth talking to someone but I had no idea who; my focus was only on Payton.

“Baby, please talk to me.”

“I’m tired, Dylan. I just want to rest, okay? I think he left, I don’t hear him anymore.” She let out a deep breath.

“No, Payton, stay awake and talk to me. You can’t fall asleep, not yet. You have to help me find you. Please, baby, just stay awake, just a little longer. Talk to me.” My heart was racing.

“I love you, Dylan, so much,” she whispered, and the tears that were filling my eyes spilled over.

“God, baby, I love you too,” I said, and my voice vibrated and my lips trembled.

“I think I loved you since I first met you. You gave me hope before I even knew I felt something for you. I used to lay in bed at night and dream of what it would be like to feel your love.” She coughed again and my chest tightened. “Don’t ever forget me, okay?”

“Don’t say that.” I no longer tried to hide the anguish I felt. “We’re gonna find you, Payton, I promise you. And when we do, I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

She was quiet once again, and it terrified me. “Baby, can you hear me?” Nothing.

“Dylan,” Seth said from my side. “Detective Billings wants to talk to you.”

“She could still see the water tower. Boarded windows and condemned sign on door. That’s all I have. She’s locked in a room with no windows.”

Seth relayed the information to the detective while I tried to get Payton to talk to me. With each minute that passed I grew more scared.

“Payton, talk to me, sweetheart. I need to hear your voice.” I was begging her to respond, yet still there was nothing. But I refused to give up. I continued to attempt to wake her and even checked the line a few times to make sure we were still connected.

Time stood still as I waited.

At the first sound my body jumped and I began saying Payton’s name over and over again.

A deep sadistic chuckle filled the line and my blood boiled.

“Payton, Payton,” he mimicked me in a sarcastic tone. “Payton seems to be unavailable at the moment, but if you like I could rough her up a little bit. Yeah, now, so you can hear her cries.”

“You sorry son of a bitch—I’ll kill you,” I threatened.

“Didn’t my dear daughter ever teach you anything about me? A panicked reaction only intensifies the situation for a man like me. So by all means, please continue. She’ll be the one that pays the price.” I fisted my hands in my hair and tried to remain calm.

When I heard Payton groan in pain, my heart raced. “Keep your hands off her.”

“Well for that to happen, I need something from you, since she doesn’t seem to want to offer me what I want.” The only thing I wanted to do was beat him within an inch of his life and sit back to watch him choke on his own blood.

“What?” I asked.

“I want Maggie, and I want the son she hid from me.” He had to be fucking kidding. This whole thing was over Maggie.

Payton cried out once more, and I picked up the television controller on the nightstand and threw it at the wall. “I said don’t fucking touch her.”

“Then get me what I asked for,” he replied.

“I don’t know how to reach her.” I wasn’t lying. I had never been given her number. It was on Payton’s phone, but if I told him that he would no longer need me.

“Wrong answer,” he said. Payton’s screams began to fill the other end of the line before he ended the call.

I crumbled to the floor and leaned over, crying into my hands. The pain that shot through my ribs was nothing compared to the pain in my heart.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Payton

I was covered in my own vomit and blood. My left eye was so swollen I could barely see out of it. My body felt like I had been hit by a bus.

I must have passed out after John used my own phone as a weapon and beat me with it. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think, so instead I just stared ahead at the empty wall in front of me, fading in and out. The dirty floor beneath me felt like sandpaper against my cheek.

John left me in this room, caged like an animal. I wasn’t sure I would ever see Dylan or Casey again. That realization made my chest ache with unimaginable pain. I wished I could have just five minutes with them so I could tell them both just how much they meant to me, how much I loved them and appreciated everything they have done for me. I wished I could tell Karen how much her love has changed my life, and even Carter, with his teasing ways, who always made things appear better than they truly were.

Then Maggie and Cooper flashed in my mind, and I was glad I at least got the chance to meet my brother and see Maggie once more. Even though things between us were rocky, she was my mother. The mistakes she made will never be forgotten, but I was willing to try to forgive, for Cooper’s sake.

I heard the sound of car doors in the distance, and fear raced through me like a tidal wave. He had come back to finish me off. This was it; I could feel it.

The door flew open and John rushed toward me with what looked like a pipe in his hand. If I wasn’t so dehydrated I would have cried and begged him not to hurt me, but I was too weak to even make the attempt.

He jerked my body up from the floor and used the bar, positioned at my neck, to hold me back against him. The iron bar began to choke me as he held on to each side and pulled back.

I had no time to ask what was happening before the doorway was filled with policemen.

“Let go of the girl and back away,” one of the officers said as he pointed his gun toward John.

“You step back or I’ll break her neck,” John replied as he applied pressure with the pipe. I tried to stand tall so the pipe didn’t press against me as tightly, but I was so weak and unable to hold myself up.

“I’ll kill her, I swear it!” John yelled, and I knew he wasn’t lying.

I looked at the officer as he inched into the room, followed by two others, both pointing guns in our direction.

“The chances of that happening before one of us puts a bullet in you are unlikely,” the older officer said as a fourth cop came into the room.

John let go of the pipe and wrapped his hands around my neck. “I will snap her neck, I swear. Regardless if you shoot me, she’ll still be dead.”

Silence filled the room. I swear if a pin dropped one could hear it. My heart beat so hard and fast I could hear it in my ears.

The pressure John applied to my neck increased.

Then everything happened so fast. He twisted just as a gun exploded. The pressure on my neck lightened, and John slid down the wall behind me, taking me along with him.

Looking back over my shoulder, I came face to face with his lifeless eyes. I could feel myself breathing heavy as the room began to spin. Tingles throughout my face spread to my neck and then slowly to my chest as things grew hazy.

When someone touched my shoulder I screamed out. My throat felt so hoarse it was barely a whisper.

“Payton, I’m detective Ryan Billings. We’re here to help.” The moment his hand touched me once again I began to panic.

“Let us get you out of here,” he offered. “Dylan’s waiting at the hospital.” At the mention of Dylan’s name, I gave up fighting and allowed them to help me up from the floor.

Just before we exited the room I took one last look behind me, confirming the man who should have protected me was dead. He spent years inflicting pain, and now I was free of him.

I had never felt such relief in my life.

***

On the way to the hospital I fell in and out of consciousness. I felt my body being lifted and then placed once more on something a little softer than the gurney. I had been lying on the concrete floor far too long, and with each bump I felt pain shoot through me.

I cried out as someone lifted my arm, then I heard Dylan’s voice. “God damn it, be careful with her.”

I tried to see him but was unable to find him in the mass of nurses and doctors. I needed to see his face, even if for just a second.

“Dylan,” I whispered. “Please,” I begged as the nurse closest to me looked over her shoulder.

Just then, Dylan appeared at her side and reached out for my hand. The moment I felt him touch me, I relaxed and allowed the medical staff to do what they needed.

I focused on the continued skim of his finger over the palm of my hand.