This Is Love, Baby (War & Peace #2) (27 page)

“War and I will always take care of you,” Land assures me. “You’re our family now, Baylee. Got it, kid?”

His last words are playful but I know he’s serious. I can feel it deep inside my heart. Knowing I have at least two people in this world willing to love me and look out for me lessens the burden that has been weighing my mind down.

“Thank you, Land. You have no idea how much that means to me.” And with a smile, I add, “So will you take me to get my belly button pierced?”

He chuckles loudly and then feigns a deep, fatherly voice. “I don’t think so young lady. Not while you’re living under this roof.”

We both laugh and my heart feels lighter.

One day at a time.

We can do this.

Together.

War runs his fingers through his hair and huffs in frustration. “Nothing. Fucking nothing.”

I’m curled up in the chair in his office, needing to be close to him. “No money trail?”

“Nothing that will hold up in court. They’re all meticulous as fuck,” he grumbles and slams his fist on his desk, startling me.

He continues clicking on webpages but doesn’t turn around to regard me. My mind drifts to that night. The night I encountered that horrible man.

“I bid one point two million,” an amused voice says from beside me.

I jerk my gaze over to a man who reminds me of Brandon. His dark hair is cut short and spiked on top. He has an easy, charming smile.

“That’s a lot of money,” I squeak out.

He winks. “That it is. And you’ll be worth it.”

I chew on my lip and cast another glance out in Gabe’s direction. Nowhere. My gaze falls back to the man who seems harmless in his nice suit and disarming grin.

“Thank you,” I murmur.

He steps toward me. “And so polite. You’ll be a great addition to my girls.”

“You have more than one?”

“I come here every month and buy more. It’s an addiction.”

I swallow. “What do you do with them?”

His eyes flicker with something dark and evil. He’s nothing like Brandon. “I hurt them. Just like I’m going to hurt you,” he says in a matter of fact tone. He winks and grins at me as if his words aren’t awful. “Your pale skin is so perfect and untouched. I’m about to come just thinking of all the nasty words I’ll carve into your skin. You’ll wear my name and other words like cunt and whore on your flesh for the world to see.”

I stumble back away from him and gape at him in horror. “You’re a monster!”

He sneers. “Where’d you think you were, sexy? A fucking fundraiser?”

“I, but, I…”

“You’re in the den with some of the biggest monsters on the West Coast. You are nothing but a meal purchased to be devoured with greed and no restraint. Some of us are into sex. Others are into more deviant acts. I’m into the deviant with a side of sex. They won’t recognize their precious beauty by the time I finish with you. But then, it’ll be too late. You’ll bleed out all over my Persian rug and I’ll drag your ass outside to dump you in the goddamned ocean.”

Tears stream down my face and I start to bolt from him. His tight grip is around my arm before I can move though. “The name’s, Edgar Finn. Remember it because you’ll take it to your grave,” he threatens. “See you soon, Gardenia Lee.”

He releases me and I push through the crowd away from him at breakneck speed. I need to make my escape now. There’s no way I’m going home with that lunatic.

As I hurry away from him, I try not to make eye contact with the leering men along the way. They’re all the same. Monsters just like Gabe. I’d been an idiot to believe otherwise. There is no finding the nice side of this world. The only thing I need to worry about finding is the way out of it. Now.

I shudder at the memory. “Do you think he really kills them? Edgar Finn I mean.”

War swivels in his chair and stares at me, the worry over me written all over his face. When I’m being closed off, which is a lot of the time, he pours himself into his work. His weary gaze skims over my face and he frowns. “I wouldn’t be surprised. All of them are monsters.”

Licking my dry lips, I sit up in the chair, suddenly eager for his undivided attention. “He bragged to me about killing those girls and dumping them in the ocean. Do you really think he does that? Wouldn’t people find their bodies? Do you think it was all an act to terrorize me or was he for real?”

His eyes zero in on my mouth as I speak and a shiver, the first sign of life in nearly a month, courses through me.

“You’re so beautiful, Baylee,” he murmurs, completely ignoring my questions. But I don’t care. I’m too enthralled in the way my body that seemed to be slowly dying has shown some real signs of life. My heart is beating erratically inside my chest and my breathing picks up. His mouth barely moves and I can tell he’s counting. Counting my beats, my breaths…he’s counting me. The smile on my lips is immediate.

And it makes me so damn happy.

“How many?” I question after what feels like a minute.

His cheeks turn pink and he smiles sheepishly at me. “Nineteen blinks, fourteen breaths, and one big smile I haven’t seen in a long time.”

Tears well in my eyes before one spills out and streaks down my cheek. His eyes follow its path and he stares at it as it hangs from my jaw. With a shaky hand, he reaches out and touches it, wetting his fingertip. The breath I seemed to have been holding rushes out quickly and I jerk my eyes to his.

I can see it in his eyes. He craves to kiss me. To hold me and caress away my pain. But I don’t know if I can handle it. Each time he attempts to touch me in a way that is more than just friendly, I shy away.

I’m too fucked up for him now.

When I lean back his face falls, and with it, my heart plummets to the floor. I want to push through this thick wall in my head. To climb over it and into his warm, waiting arms. Why can’t I just get the fuck over it?

I rub my hand over my belly and vow that tomorrow I’ll call the therapist Dr. Daniels suggested. I need to get better for the three of us. This baby
will
enter this world in a happy, loving environment.

“Edgar Finn seems like a braggart. He seems the type to want to show others his handiwork. People like him are narcissistic,” I spit out in equal parts disgust of the monsters in this world and the lingering thought that War and I are still worlds apart. The latter my entire doing.

His eyes glaze over as he gets lost in thought. I watch with sick satisfaction as he rolls the pad of his finger and thumb together, smearing my tear over his flesh. My heart pumps with overwhelming joy that he seems obsessed over touching a part of me.

Just give yourself to him.

But then he snaps out of it, used to my constant denial, and swivels back around. His fingers fly over his keyboard like a man possessed. I chew on my lip and try not to burst into full on tears at not being able to be the woman he deserves.

“You’re a genius,” he mutters over his shoulder to me. “I was so fixated on his financials, I didn’t think about his house. Stark may not be able to get inside without a warrant, but we can get inside. He pays a monthly fee to Pacific Security each month. All I need to do is access their database and locate his account. A rich bastard like him is sure to have cameras on his property. Maybe we can find something.”

Disappointment fades away as I hurry to my feet and watch in awe over his shoulder as War flies through the programs with ease. He’s a natural born hacker and there’s not a firewall that’s impenetrable when it comes to him. I just wish he knew how to hack inside my mind and tear down the wall that divides us.

“Bingo,” he says with a satisfied growl.

Without thinking, I slide into his lap to get a closer look. His strong arms wrap around my waist and his lips find my neck. Hot, quick breaths tickle my flesh and my heart rate thumps to life for the first time in weeks. The feeling is exhilarating and I missed it so damn much.

“God, I’ve missed you,” he murmurs against my skin and then presses a kiss there. I want his kisses everywhere. All over me. Inside me. Owning and taking every inch of my broken being.

I’m about to completely give in to his eager touches when I freeze in his arms. I had momentarily zoned out but he’d just found something. Something important. Tugging away from his love that burns so bright it scalds me, I look up at the monitor. “Oh. My. God.”

Eight squares fill the screen. There’s no movement on six of them. Just empty rooms. But one reveals a room with several women huddled together on the floor, they seem to be comforting one another. It’s not that room that’s so terrifying though.

As if reading my mind, he releases my waist to reach for his mouse and then opens the eighth square to make the visual on that room full screen. There’s no audio but the visual is crystal clear.

Edgar Finn.

He stands next to a bed wearing nothing but a pair of pants. His chest heaves as he takes deep breaths. Other than the small movement he makes breathing, he’s otherwise unmoving and fixated on the girl on the bed. Her stomach and thighs have been crisscrossed with bleeding cuts. Something, a rag maybe, gags her mouth and she’s bound with an appendage tied to each post of the bed.

A bloody star fish.

Just waiting to be released back into the sea.

“
You’ll bleed out all over my Persian rug and I’ll drag your ass outside to dump you in the goddamned ocean.”

But she’s not bleeding out all over his rug. The blood slowly seeps from her wounds and runs down, soaking the comforter beneath her. Her eyes look past him and straight into the camera.

I recognize the look in her eyes. A look of despair and resignation. One that has come to the realization she’ll never see her family again.

“We have to save her,” I mutter, my voice barely audible as I jump to my feet. The room spins and his strong hands find my hips to steady me. He tries to pull me back into his lap but I start pacing the room. “Warren, you have to save her.”

When Edgar Finn starts moving closer to her and the glint of his blade shimmers in the light, I feel bile rising in my throat. Bolting from the office, I run as fast as I can to the guest bathroom and barely make it to the toilet before throwing up.

That girl. Nothing more than a commodity. Something for him to consume and then discard.

“
You are nothing but a meal purchased to be devoured with greed and no restraint.”

I’m haunted by his words and it does nothing to help my nausea. I wish Land were here this evening instead of catching up on some work at the office. He could bring me a cold rag and some ginger ale. Land would take care of me like Dad would have. Instead, I’m left to deal with the sickness, the rage of what Edgar is doing, and the demons of my past all alone.

But you’re not alone.

War wants in. You have to let him in.

He will save you from yourself, Baylee.

War’s voice comforts me as he shouts at Stark over the phone, no doubt telling her to save that girl. His heavy footsteps can be heard as he paces around his house. He may not be able to physically comfort me right now, but I steal any comfort I can get. And just hearing him sound so powerful and strong has my nausea settling.

Let him in.

On shaky legs, I stand and quickly brush my teeth. After I wash my face, I make my way over to the guest bed and crawl onto it. Curling into a fetal position, I let my emotions take over. I cry myself to sleep hoping and praying they can save that girl.

Someone needs to save her from the monster.

And one day she can move on and be free again.

I just hope she doesn’t turn out like me.

Drifting.

Lost.

Alone.

She
deserves
to be free.

I
STARE AT
my phone.

With each second that ticks by, the next slower than the last, I grow more and more impatient. It pisses me off but I can’t speed things up. So, instead, I just stare at my phone willing Stark to call me back. But the call never comes. Finally, at just after midnight, I receive a text.