Page 108 of Deserving Lara
The last two weeks had been extremely tense around The Refuge. The relaxed atmosphere she’d learned to love had been shattered. Because of everything Owl and Lara had endured, because Stone was still missing…and because of her betrayal.
Ry knew she could slip away when Tiny wasn’t home, could help find Stone from anywhere, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave until it was absolutely necessary. The men and women here…they were family. At least, that’s how she felt. And even though she was no longer spending time with them, she wouldn’t leave until Stone was found.
The guilt that she hadn’t been able to find himalreadywas eating her alive. She’d spent the last two weeks frantically searching the dark web and using all the contacts she had to find any thread she could pull that might lead her to the man who’d taken Stone out of that hangar in Washington.
“Are you listening to me?” Tiny asked.
Sighing, Ry pushed her laptop away and closed it. She turned toward the man who confused her, scared her, and made her want to curl up in his arms and beg him to hold her as tightly as he could.
“Nothing?” Tiny asked in a quieter tone, glancing at the computer.
“Not yet. But I’ll find him,” Ry said firmly. “Whoever took Stone will mess up sooner or later. I just have to follow the threads back from Ricky Norman. He had to communicate with whoever took him. I’ll find how he did it, and that will lead us to the person who has him.” She paused, closing her eyes briefly as she rubbed at her tense shoulder. “You wanted to ask me something?” she said, opening her eyes wearily, wanting to get this latest interrogation over with so she could attempt to get some sleep.
“I’m wondering what has you so scared that you’d give a stranger a buttload of money, just so you could take her job here at The Refuge. What, or who, are you hiding from?”
Ry’s shoulders tensed even further. His question was amazingly insightful. She never said she was hiding; she told him and the other men that she thought The Refuge was a good place tolay low. Most people would assume she’d done something bad. Or was maybe targeting The Refuge to steal from or scam them in some way. But not Tiny. He’d somehow guessed that she was on the run.
“I’m not scared,” she said belatedly.
The disappointment at her lie flashed across Tiny’s face.
Ryhatedlying to him. But she couldn’t tell him the truth. He’d want to help. Even if he hated her, he wouldn’t let her come to any harm. She knew that instinctively. But he couldn’t help her. No one could.
As soon as she found Stone, she’d be gone. She had to lie for his own good. Foreveryone’sown good.
“Right,” he said, sounding angry. “You didn’t eat tonight.”
Ry shook her head, despite being glad for the subject change. “Not hungry.”
“You can’t find Stone if you don’t eat,” Tiny told her before getting up and going into the kitchen. Ry watched as he made a ham and cheese sandwich, slathered with ranch dressing, before bringing it over to the table where she was still sitting. For a moment, she thought she saw concern in his eyes. But when he practically threw the plate on the table and growled, “Eat, Ryleigh,” she knew she had to have been mistaken.
She wasn’t a prisoner, but there were times, like now, when she felt like it.
Tiny went back to his chair, where he resumed glaring at her. Ry tried to ignore the hurt she felt. She’d find Stone, then get out of everyone’s hair.
The farther she was from The Refuge, the safer everyone would be.
* * *
Ten Days Ago
Stone groaned as he rolled against something hard. His head was pounding and he didn’t know why. He was lying on his side in the fetal position, surrounded by pitch black. Blinking to try to see something, anything, Stone suddenly remembered what had happened.
Well, not everything. They’d been in a hangar ready to sign the papers to take ownership of the new helicopter for The Refuge when everything had gone dark.
Reaching up to his head, Stone felt something sticky in his hair. Blood.
Turning on his back in the small space, he realized that he was in a box.
No…what he thought was the sound of a fan running was actually coming from under him. A road. The wind.
He was in the trunk of a fucking car.
His heartbeat sped up and he suddenly couldn’t breathe. It was almost too hard to believe, but he’d been taken captive—again. Wasn’t once enough?
Why was this happening to him? Where was Owl? Was Lara all right? Was this Carter Grant’s doing?
Stone’s mind spun as his panic increased. He couldn’t stop it. Within seconds, he was hyperventilating.
