The Devastatingly Beautiful Series (22 page)

1

Molly

2 months ago

When I see him standing there staring at me with that beautiful yet creepy smile on his face, I know it’s not going to end well for me. He has that predator look in those black as night eyes, the one that tells me I’m not getting away. I see the bride’s purse, but unfortunately he’s standing right next to it. Shit.

“Well Ms. Ward. Where in the world is your bodyguard?” he chuckles as he moves closer to me.

Double shit.

I ignore his asshole comment and point to the purse.

“Hey, your future cousin in-law needs that,” I say pointing towards the purse. “I’ll let her know that you found it for her,” I say, then make a move to leave. As fast as I can I haul it back to the doors I walked through moments ago, but before I can make it out them, my bodyguard that was assigned by Tatum’s dad stepped in.

“Miss Ward,” He nods, then looks over at my shoulder and nods at Rob. Son of a BITCH! He’s in on this!?

“Excuse me,” I say with a smile on my face, trying to act totally oblivious to the fact that they’re about to take me and I know it. Don’t ask me how I know, but I do. The air is charged and I’m just waiting for something to happen.

“Mr. Delany needs to speak with you. It’d be in your best interest to turn around and hear what the man has to say.” He glares at me, crossing his arms over his broad shoulders like an unmoving boulder. Tatum has a good dad, one whom would do anything for his family, but he sucks at background checks. This asshole is the second of his father’s men in just a few months that infiltrated his business to get to us.

I turn in place and look at Rob. His jacket is gone, his shirt sleeves rolled up again. The tattoo’s peek out of his sleeve and the stubble on his chin gives him an edgy look. Hell, any red blooded women would find him incredibly attractive. As it is, though, the looks are just a show to me. They don’t mean anything anymore. When I first met him I admit I felt something between us, the way he looked at me, but now that I know how cruel he can really be all I feel towards him is hatred. Hatred for hurting Tatum and hatred for playing me. The whole time it wasn’t my business he was paying for, it was just to get revenge. I have a moment of clarity before he speaks again. Two can play this game, Mr. Delany.

“Molly, please. Come closer. Sit with me for a moment.”

I begrudgingly decide to do as he asks. Maybe, just maybe, I can play him the way he has been playing me. He doesn’t know how much we have figured out about him in the last few days, all he knows is what I told him when Tatum left. And that wasn’t much. I walk slowly towards him, eyes never leaving his. Chills run down my spine as he takes my arm and helps me sit next to him at one of the elegantly decorated banquet tables. His hand doesn’t leave me when he sits, though. Instead, he slides it down to grasp my hand in my lap.

“You feel it too, don’t you?” he whispers. What the hell is this guy’s problem? All I feel is the immense urge to punch him, but I push that down and focus on the task at hand. Play it right and he’ll believe everything I say and do. Fuck up and he’ll kill me, this much I know.

“I can’t, Rob.” It comes out barely a whisper. I’m not able to look at him so I stare at my lap. He’s insanely intense and looking into those deep, dark eyes will lead to nothing good right now. I’m not attracted to him by any means. My mind keeps screaming to move away from his touch. It’s my body that is telling me otherwise. I hate it, but my body is reacting to him like my mind reacts to Tatum.

His hands leave mine and I breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe I can’t play this game. I’m not hard enough to play with someone’s mind. I’m not tough enough to play games with other people’s emotions. Needless to say I would never make it in Rob’s world, and I’m not sure what I was thinking when I decided to play this game with him. I was trying to find an easy way back to Tatum, but I should’ve just booked it and ran out of the closest door that wasn’t blocked. I was trying to find my way out of this mess, and I thought that If I could fool him into trusting me then I’d be able to make a run for it when he least expected it. It’s as if he can read my mind, though, because suddenly his hand reaches over and tightens around my wrist. I jerk my head up and look at him, my eyes wide with an emotion I hate: fear. His face is tense, his eyes showing no emotion.

“You will, Molly. Just wait,” he growled.

Standing, he slides back on his jacket and smirks down at me.

“One day, Ms. Ward,” he grins, then strides out of the room like that wasn’t the most bizarre thing he’s ever done.

What the hell?

I let out a sigh and close my eyes before returning to the party with the Bride’s purse.

2

Tatum

Present Day

Fucking asshole. The lead that sent me here to Florida was a dead end. Those fuckers are going to seriously be hurting when I get a hold of them. Seven times now I’ve traveled to a city where I thought I would find her, getting my hopes up just for them to come crashing down around me. I’m starting to lose faith in my father’s men and how clearly they can take directions. Hell, it was one of them that ratted out our plans to Brian in Washington and it was one of them that willingly helped in the kidnapping of the woman I love. Needless to say, those two are well below ground right now, never to speak another word to anyone, but it still doesn’t sit right with me.

The only thing holding this crusade together at this point is Eddie. He literally sits at his computer for over twelve hours each day, scouring everything he can to try and find her. He’s been a huge help in keeping my head on straight during this whole ordeal.

I’m sitting in the airport, ready to board when I hear my phone from inside my bag. I haven’t turned it off yet, so I grab it before they call my plane number.

“Hey Eddie, what’s new?” I ask, knowing the answer is going to be the same as always.

“Ah, Tatum. Are you sitting down?” What the shit?

“Yes, what?” I snap.

“Dude, we just intercepted a package that was heading for Molly’s… er… your house. Our guys opened it at the warehouse….” He trails off.

“What the fuck is in the package, Eddie!?” I practically scream in my phone, feeling my blood pressure rising with every minute of this phone call. I hear Eddie take a deep breath before answering.

“Her fucking panties this time, man…and photos…”

“What the hell do you mean photos?” my skin starts to heat as the meaning of his words sink in.

“You know damn well what type of pictures this sick fuck sent, dude. I don’t want to have to spell it out to you, and I sure as hell don’t want to look at them again. Ain’t my cup of tea, looking at other dude’s packages.”

Mother. Fucker.

I throw the phone back into the bag, not even worrying about hanging up. He knows the drill by now. Don’t hang around to hear my outrage, especially after breaking something like that to me. FUCK!

The packages have been coming for about a month. Once a week. For the first month we heard nothing. Silence from the Delany camp on all ends. No crazy news stories about the recent wedding, no news about Robert’s busy party life, nothing. Then one day it all changed when I got a delivery. It was her shirt she was wearing the last day I saw her. It was bloodied, but not too terribly. I lost it. Practically tore the town apart asking who delivered the box to my house, but no one could tell me anything. That night I got completely shit faced and almost gave up. Had it not been for Eddie I may not have stopped drinking. He talked sense into me the next day when I could think straight. We handed the shirt over to my father’s men who confirmed it was Molly’s blood. It made the rage inside me boil to levels I never knew possible. Not even when Brian was about to do God-knows-what to her was I as angry. It’s these mind games that have kept me on edge these two months. We’ve since received her pants, her shoes, locks of her hair, and now her fucking underwear.

The entire plane ride home I spend in silence, imagining ways to torture Robert Delany. Physical torture won’t be enough for this sick of a bastard. I don’t care if he hasn’t touched a hair on her head, he still took her. That’s enough to make me want to murder. Once I see those pictures, though, I’m sure I’ll have a whole new reason to murder Robert Delany. If he did things to her, things that are irreversible, I’m not sure I’ll be able to control myself once I get my hands on him.

When I finally make it back home, I walk in to see Eddie’s sub-station he set up in the living room unmanned. The house looks like a bunch of college kids have been staying in it, but I can’t bring myself to clean it. I don’t want to take her smell out of the house.

I yell for him and he answers from upstairs. Heading up, I leave my suitcase on the landing. I’ll probably be using it again soon the way things have been going. I walk into Molly’s office to see papers everywhere. Eddie’s a self-proclaimed computer nerd that looks like he could kill a man with one arm. He’s the hardest guy I’ve been around and he comes by it honestly, given his past. I keep telling him he needs to focus on his future to forget his past, but he shoves it off every damn time. Apparently I’ve also turned into a sap since losing Molly.

“Hey man. How was the flight?” he asks, knowing the answer. I grunt and sit on the couch across from the desk he’s working at.  This was supposed to be my office when I first moved in. Now it’s turned into the main hub for trying to find Molly. The boxes have been moved downstairs to another office so that we can have room to spread out every lead we get in, and a few more chairs were brought in so we all don’t have to sit on the floor while spending hours on end searching for anything that will bring her back to me.

Eddie silently nods his head and turned back to the computer screen. He and I have gotten close this last month and a half. Coming from the family that I do, making friends was always incredibly hard. No one wanted their kid to befriend a Savage. Even in the upper grades no one wanted to be associated with me, and if they did it was because of my money. My brother was the only best friend I really had until he was taken from us too early. It’s weird being able to talk to another guy like I’d talk to my brother, but Eddie knows everything now. He is truly the closest thing I’ll ever have to a brother, and I thank the heavens every day that he puts up with my bullshit. I haven’t been the nicest person to be around the last two months, but he puts up with it.

“I’m starting to lose hope, dude,” I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. I need a haircut, I need to shave, but I need her back more. I’m tired of this. I just want her back in my life. My body aches without her. I need her body against me, I need to feel her warmth. I need to smell her again. I need her, and it’s starting to really take a toll on me. I’ve lost weight since she’s been gone, lost some of my muscle definition I used to have. She’d be ashamed in me if she knew how bad I’ve gotten, but I can’t live for myself if I can’t live for her. Hell, we should have been well into wedding planning by now, but instead she’s out there somewhere and I’m apparently not good enough to find her.

“Don’t. Don’t you do that Tatum. I see you over there. Whatever mood you’ve gotten yourself into, get the fuck out of it. You’ve worked too hard to give up now. We will find her.” He seems dead set on that. I’m not so sure anymore.

3

Molly

2 months ago

As soon as I can I hightail it out of there. The first day of the wedding adventure is over and I just want to get back to Tatum. I grab my camera bag and start my car from across the parking lot. It’s crazy humid and I need a cool car for the drive home. I really need a drink to calm my nerves, but that will have to wait. Before I can make it to the car, though, a black Hummer pulls in front of me and the back door opens. I hear his voice before I see him.

“Get in.”

“Move, Rob. I need to get home,” I hiss, then attempt to move around the massive car. Before I make it, the same guard from before comes around from the back and lifts me into the car with ease, even through my struggles and kicking. My senses are on full alert when the door clicks shut and I hear the locks engage.
Fuck!
I try to control my breathing, sensing a panic attack on the rise. Collecting my thoughts, I try my best to catalogue all of my surroundings. I can’t see out of any of the windows they’re tinted so dark. Rob is in the front seat, the guard is driving. The car starts moving and even though I try with all my might I can’t get the door to unlock and open.

“Let me out, Robert!” I scream. “I don’t know what the FUCK you are doing, but this is ridiculous!” My breaths are coming quicker now and if I don’t watch it I know I’ll black out. If that happens I’d never know where we’re going. If I don’t know where we’re going I won’t be able to find my way back. I have to get out of here!

He laughs from the front seat and turns up the radio to drown out my screams. Classical music fills the cab as I continue my assault on the door. The car is slowly driving towards the street and I’m quickly losing my cool. Once I give up on the door, I figure my next best option is to get to the driver. With nothing on me and my camera bag being left in the parking lot, all I have is my strength and my two hands. I go for his eyes fist, reaching over the seat, trying to pry his eyes out of his head. I don’t stop my attack until I heard the telltale click of a gun coming from Robert’s side of the vehicle.

“You should probably stop that, Molly. I know how much you value your life,” he grinds out, obviously pissed that things weren’t going as easily as he hoped. Well fuck you Rob! I’m not an easy person to deal with!

“Screw you Robert Delany! You are one fucked up piece of entitled bullshit. Let me out of this car right FUCKING NOW!” I’ve had enough of this. Obviously, my outburst is funny to Rob, as he starts laughing from his seat.

“God, Molly. I love that about you. Never willing to give up without a fight.” He sighs “This is going to be interesting. I love a good challenge.” He smiles, the gun still aimed at my head. Fighting a gun is pointless. I sit back in my seat and put on the seatbelt. Pissed at myself for getting into this mess, I sit there not making another sound. If he wants a challenge he’s about to get one.

The car starts moving again, pulling into traffic. With as dark as the windows are I can’t tell where we’re headed. I try to memorize turns and what I can see out of the front window but it’s useless. All I can do is pray they don’t kill me before Tatum finds me. He came for me before, I know he will come again.