Heart Breaker (Break on Through) (16 page)

“You’re asking if I want Schiller dead.”

Max’s expression was impassive. “He’s a slippery son of a bitch. Got out of jail once. He has friends in high places. And the minute, the
minute
he got out, he went hunting. For
your
woman.”

“Not telling me anything I don’t know,” I bit out.

“Just need to know how you want this to go down.”

I stared at him, knowing this was a moment that I’d remember over and over again for the rest of my life. It would make all the other shit in my overworking memory pale in comparison. I’d be crossing a line I could never uncross.

And I wish I could say I had enough humanity to tell you I wrestled with it. I struggled hard and deep in my soul, with my God, to come to the right answer.

But that would be a lie. Because I didn’t care if it meant I was going to hell. I didn’t care if I lost my ability to practice law or if I went to jail. I needed Samantha back with me and I needed Schiller permanently out of our lives in order for my woman to rest easy again.

“Tell me how to get there,” I answered, looking Max dead in the eye because I knew he would need to see my resolve there in order to give the go-ahead.

He nodded and gave me directions. And it was stone-cold silent in that car.

As I drove up to the tarmac and started toward the helicopter, Max gave my back a slap.

“I’d do the same thing, man.”

I gave a nod and a chin lift but didn’t answer. I just wanted to get to her as soon as possible.

We buckled into the copter, put on the headphones, and we were off. I had never been in the military, but it sure felt like we were going on that kind of mission.

Train threw a camouflage jumper and hiking boots my way. “These should fit you. You’ll have one minute to put them on. We’ll be a quarter mile off the perimeter of the target site.”

I nodded and stared off into the sky. Washington, DC, was quite a sight from high above.

“She’s going to be okay,” Max directed at me. “We’ve got this.”

Without looking at him, I answered, “Never even told her I loved her.”

I heard him groan in response. “Man, don’t do this to yourself.”

I shook my head, trying to remember to breathe. “Best thing that ever happened to me. Never met a woman who could challenge me while giving me a sense of calm, of peace, like I’ve never had before. And what does she get in return for being with me? A psychotic who’s doing God knows what to her.”

“If this is the site he’s taking her to,” Max said while bringing his elbows to his knees, leaning over to me, “he’ll be there in another ninety minutes. And we’ll be there shortly after that. He’s not going to have time to do what he plans on doin’.”

“Let’s hope we’ve made the right call on this one.” I shut my eyes after that, not wanting to talk anymore. Max left me to it and, for the first time since I was a kid, listening to my parents throw plates at each other during another heated argument, I prayed to God. And I begged for her to be okay. To come out of this ordeal as unharmed as possible.

And I prayed for Him to let me be the one to end Derek Schiller. If I was going to hell for ordering a man’s death, I wanted to be sure he was going to be there too.

Chapter Twelve

Samantha

“Makes my dick hard, seeing you like this. Fantasized for a long time about fucking you. Having you at my mercy.
Goddamn,
this is going to be a good time.”

After driving for what felt like forever, Schiller hauled me out of the van and into some log cabin surrounded by woods. Inside the cabin was fairly ordinary looking, except for the St. Andrew’s cross set up where living room furniture should be. He had taken me there and when he cut me out of the bindings from my hands and feet, I tried to get away. I screamed and clawed and scratched. I even managed to nail him in his groin, but he smacked me around a couple of times and knocked me unconscious.

Now I had come to and my wrists and ankles were bound to the cross. I also had a ball gag in my mouth. Derek was sitting in a foldout chair in front of me and next to him was a table filled with an array of instruments. Some of them looked like the stuff you’d find in the BDSM section of a sex shop. Nipple clamps. A flogger. A whip. But he also had a long knife, scissors and a cocked-and-ready-to-go Beretta handgun on the table too.

And that’s when I knew I’d never survive what was about to happen. He was going to rape me. Torture me. Then kill me. It was going to be a slow and painful and humiliating death. But the part of it that broke my heart was what my death was going to do to Jessica and Kyle.

My poor sister would be completely alone in the world. I was the last of any family that meant something to her. And to lose our parents and then me within a year? She was strong but this might break her, especially if she ended up finding out the way I’d died.

And Kyle…the only man I had ever loved with every molecule of my being. And I never told him so. Why hadn’t I told him? Why did I let my pride and fear get in the way? God, I was so stupid. Now he would never know. And he’d also be tortured for a long time, the memory of how I ended looping in his mind over and over again.

Of course I didn’t want to die. I was terrified of the pain this monster was about to cause me. But I was more afraid for the people I loved. So I was determined not to give Schiller the satisfaction of breaking me. Maybe how I left this mortal coil would get back to Kyle and Jessica and they’d gain some satisfaction knowing I was a spitfire ’til the end.

So even with Derek’s lewd comments, I kept my face blank and said nothing. I wasn’t going to give him what he wanted. I would try my hardest to be an empty kill for him.

It was working too. I could tell because as he sat there and spewed his venom with no response from me, the veins in his neck bulged and throbbed, with the muscles in his temple practically vibrating with his rage. He sprang up from his chair, knocking it down in the process, and backhanded me across the face.

It stung like a motherfucker. I could feel a trickle of blood run from the inside of my nose onto my mouth and chin. And still, I did not say a word. I just resumed gazing into his eyes with nothing of myself.

“Such a brave li’l bitch you are,” he sneered at me. He turned toward the table and picked up the scissors. “Let’s see how brave you really are once you’re stripped of your armor.”

He grabbed my sweater by the cowl neck and brought the cold blade against my skin. He licked his lips like a slimy viper, and cut the sweater right down the center. Then the sleeves, leaving me in my bra and jeans. Then he undid the button and slowly rolled down the teeth of the zipper. I swallowed, trying desperately to keep calm, to hold my resolve. But having him cut the clothes off of me, having him touch me was making me sick. The bile from my stomach was rising in my throat. Burning me raw and tainting my mouth with a foul, bitter taste.

“Always wondered if the carpet matched the drapes. If this gorgeous hair color of yours was real.” Then he kneeled down toward my feet and proceeded to cut the legs of my jeans off of me. Then he took off my shoes and pushed down the remaining fabric off my hips, leaving me in my bra and underwear.

When he stood up, I could tell he had an erection because it was straining against his pants. And his breathing was erratic and his pupils were fully dilated. Although, knowing him, that could also be a result of whatever drug he happened to be on at the moment.

His gaze perused me slowly, and he rubbed himself through his pants. Disgusting.

“Seems they
are
a match,” he spewed out, looking pleased with himself, and I realized it was because I had a grimace on my face. He knew he was getting to me.

“So this is how it’s going to go,” he continued, walking over to the table. “First, we’re going to play. I’m going to finally fuck every hole you’ve got and I’m going to do it hard and messy. Then I’m going to…”

Suddenly, I heard the sound of breaking glass, but because I was tied up and he was standing in front of me, I couldn’t see what was going on. He went on immediate alert, grabbed the gun and then took hold of my face.

“You try and escape and I’ll kill you. Understand?”

I just nodded, praying to God that this was indeed a rescue. Just as Schiller walked over to the window, the front door of the cabin flew wide open and two muscled men in camouflage barreled their way in.

“Code four! Code four!” one of them yelled into what looked like a Bluetooth headset attached to his helmet. Both of them carried semiautomatic weapons aimed directly at my kidnapper.

“What the fuck?” Derek was initially stunned before he quickly regained his wits and pointed his Beretta right at me.

“Put your weapon down, Schiller, or we won’t hesitate to shoot,” the other one said.

Schiller started cackling, and it was high-pitched and bone-chilling. The sounds of a madman. “I’m dead anyway. Might as well not go down alone.”

Then the rest happened in a flash. Schiller turned his beady gaze off the two soldiers and gave me the most hateful, ugly stare I had ever seen, all while cocking his weapon.

He may have known he was about to die, but he was determined to take me with him. I stopped breathing and braced. Then I heard a rapid-fire series of gunshots and I screamed.

But they didn’t come from Schiller’s gun. Nor did they come from the two armed men. One shot hit his right hand with the gun in it and the other seemed to hit him in the hip, because he immediately dropped the gun and fell onto his knees.

Looking stunned. And then furious at being denied his revenge.

“Target neutralized, target neutralized! All clear for firestorm entry!” Both men descended upon us, one tying up Schiller and the other releasing me from the cross.

The one helping me was a massive guy. All muscles and hard edges. And there was a faded white scar bisecting his right eyebrow and down past his cheekbone. In spite of looking as if he could decimate a village singlehandedly—and with his bare hands—he was gentle when he loosened the bindings on my wrists and ankles. As he removed the ball gag from my mouth, I noticed his eyes held a combination of sympathy and relief.

“Doesn’t look like he got too far along,” he said to me.

I finally remembered to breathe and let out a huge rush of air. “No, thank God. He Tasered and drugged me, then tied me up and cut my clothes off. But he had wanted to relish hurting me, so he was taking his time.”

“Where is she?” I suddenly heard Kyle coming into the cabin, and he had a gun in his hand. Somehow I knew he had been the one to shoot Schiller through the cabin window. His eyes scanned the room, looking wild and feral. Searching until his gaze locked with mine.

And then there he was. My Kyle. The most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.

He was wearing a camo outfit like the others. The guy who had released me stepped away just as Kyle sprinted over to me, cupped my face in his hands and gave me the deepest, most soulful kiss. His fingers fisted my hair, making my scalp burn, but I didn’t care.

My baby had gotten me.

“Are you all right?” he croaked out, his voice raspy and hoarse.

I nodded, tears finally coming to my eyes, and I started shaking. Crashing from the adrenaline more than from being cold, although I was still only in my bra and underwear.

He looked down at my state of undress and his hands clenched into fists.

“You came just in time,” I rushed to say. “How-how did you find me so fast?”

I fell into him, and he wrapped me in his arms, rocking me back and forth. His face sank into my hair and neck.

“I love you, Samantha,” he said to me, his emotions vibrating into my skin. “Should’ve said it before. Will never make that mistake again.”

I started bawling for real now, deep sobs releasing all my angst and fear from earlier, melting into the arms of the man who loved me.

“I l-love you too,” I managed to get out. “I should’ve…I should’ve said it earlier too. I didn’t want to fr-freak you out. Scare you away.”

He inhaled as if he was about to speak, but Max, all broad shoulders and squared jaw and a goofy grin on his face, came into the room just then. He had another camo jumper in his hand, which he immediately tossed over to Kyle, who gave it to me.

“Reunion time has gotta be put on hold. You two need to be briefed.”

“Who are these guys?” I asked Kyle.

He looked down at me, his palm smoothing my hair. “I’ll explain everything in a bit.”

That was good enough for me. I put on the jumper and then looked over to the other side of the room. Derek was hogtied and hooded, and obviously gagged because all the sounds he made were muffled.

“The West Virginia State police are going to be here at any moment,” one of the armed men said. “You’re going to tell them that Kyle and Max got here and set you free, but Derek must’ve escaped. Meanwhile, we’re going to take care of him the way we do.” Then he pierced me with his fixed gaze. “You did not see us. You do not know us. The chopper is waiting. Max and Kyle came here on their own. You’ll give the statement and then go back with them.”

“What about you?” I asked.

“We’ll secure our own transportation back, after we take out the trash.”

Schiller must have known what that meant because all of a sudden, he began thrashing around. The guy with the scar came over and kicked him hard in the ribs.

“Shut the fuck up!” he yelled, then clocked him in the head with the butt of his gun. The impact immediately quieted his movements, and he slumped over.

I didn’t know how I felt about what they were planning. And I must’ve shown it on my face because Max suddenly chimed in.

“This is not just about you, Samantha.”

“Then what else is it about? Because what you’re planning is murder.”

His eyes narrowed at me, but Max’s voice remained steady. “The Order has had their eyes on him for years. This scumbag has hurt a lot of women, but recently his tastes have run toward underage girls. All of them against their will. You understand?”

I gasped, my hand coming to my mouth while Kyle secured a tighter hold around me.

“Who or what’s ‘the Order’?”

I had heard Max mention that name before. It was the last time I had to deal with Schiller, in my house, and one mention of “the Order” had silenced even a delusional sociopath like Derek. Whoever or whatever it was must be seriously dangerous.

Max gave Kyle a piercing look but said nothing. I turned to my man, who placed his hand on my neck, his way of calming me.

“You need to decide in, like, five seconds how much you want to know, Sam.”

I gaped at him, my brain trying to play catch-up. “Are
you
part of the Order?”

“No, babe,” Kyle answered, giving my neck a squeeze. “But Max is, and that information alone is more than I want you to know.”

“But I don’t understand…” My voice trailed off.

“I’m not part of them, but I know these guys. They do the shit that the law can’t, and I called them in.”

“But you can’t be tied to—”

He got scary angry in a flash. “You think I give a
shit
about any of that? This sick motherfucker tried to take you from me.
Permanently.
I didn’t care how I got you back.”

I just stared at him, trying to absorb everything.

“Masterson, we don’t have time for this,” the scarred guy barked. “You got the story straight?” His eyes ping-ponged back and forth between Kyle and me.

“Yeah, we’re good,” he answered for both of us. “Owe you everything.”

The guy didn’t respond, just hoisted Schiller up like he weighed nothing and left with the other man, leaving me, Kyle and Max behind.

“I still can’t believe you’d risk everything.”

Kyle’s expression was steely determined and dark. “And I can’t believe the police haven’t gotten here yet,” he replied. “Schiller would’ve already been raping you at this point.”

My body shuddered even before my brain understood the full impact of the truth he said. I wrapped my arms tighter around him and buried my face into his chest, taking in his scent. After a couple more minutes, I heard sirens in the distance, coming closer.

“How are we going to explain the broken glass and bullet holes?” I asked them.

“I was standing outside the cabin, covering Kyle’s back when I saw Schiller trying to escape and I shot off two rounds. Will explain the blood splatter on the floor.”

“Babe, don’t worry about the details. You keep quiet. We’ll say you’re in shock.”

“But how did you two get a helicopter out here so fast? And how did you even know where to find me?”

Max walked over, crouched down so he was eye level with me. “The copter’s in my name, but it really belongs to the Order. Learned to fly ’em from my dad.” Then his expression softened and he offered me a small smile. “That’s the most I’m gonna tell you, peaches. Don’t ask me no more, cuz I don’t want to lie to you.”

Five minutes later, the police arrived. We followed the script exactly and a manhunt for Derek Schiller began shortly afterward.

He was never found. Not even his body.