Page 101 of Protecting Addison
Taking that advice to heart, Ellory began to talk to her sister about all the things they were going to do when they got home. About how happy Artem and Borysko would be to see them. About how their mom would cry. Maybe Ricky too. How they’d get to eat whatever they wanted, sleep in their own beds, put on some clean clothes.
She babbled on and on as she and Yana worked, hoping against hope with every strike of the hammer that she’d be able to break through this stupid metal box before the huge cranes came to haul them away.
* * *
Addison had no idea why Ricky had brought Brady to their house. She wasfurious. At Ricky. At her ex. At everyone and everything. She was at the end of her rope, and all she wanted was for everyone to get out of her house and leave her alone.
But as soon as she had the thought, she felt guilty. Everyone was there because they were trying to help. The women were keeping Artem and Borysko distracted in their room, the men were doing everything in their power to gather the ransom money—and to hopefully find Ellory and Yana before they had tousethe money.
A few of the SEALs were on the phone, talking to the Tex person she’d heard so much about, their commander, and Wolf and the men on his team who weren’t already at the house. Their women were actually out driving around, physically looking for any signs of the girls.
Everyone was helping—and all Addison could do was stand around helplessly.
Ricky hadn’t left her side. When he’d come back to the house with her ex in tow, he’d come straight to her and hadn’t moved since. It was as if he was…guarding her? That couldn’t be right though. Ricky wouldn’t have brought her ex here if he thought he’d hurt her…would he?
For the first time in what seemed like forever, Addison’s brain kicked into gear. WhywasBrady here? He was the one who’d taken Ellory and Yana out of school without permission.
“Ricky? Can we talk?”
“Sure.”
“Alone?”
He looked around at all the people in their house, and then down at her with one brow cocked. She wanted to laugh, but she felt as if that would somehow be inappropriate considering all that was happening.
“Why is Brady here?” she whispered.
Ricky looked around, then with an arm around her waist, he pulled her down the hall toward their room. He ushered her inside and shut the door. “Are you all right? Hanging in there?”
“No, and yes. Why is he here?” she asked again, looking her husband in the eye. “I hate him. I don’t want him here.”
“I hate him too,” Ricky said, surprising Addison. “And he’s here because he knows something. I don’t know what, and he’s putting on a decent show of being a concerned father, but something’s off about him. And the only way I know how to find out what he knows is to keep him close.”
A light bulb went off in Addison’s head. “You think he might say or do something that will lead us to the girls?”
“Maybe. But I’d rather know where he is than have him out there doing God knows what.”
Addison nodded. That made perfect sense to her. “Maybe I can help. Irritate him. Get him riled up. Maybe he’ll slip up and say something useful.”
“I don’t want you to do anything that will cause you pain,” Ricky said.
Addison blinked at him. “Not knowing where my girls are is causing me pain. Not knowing if they’re hurt, or if someone is scaring them, or even if they’re…” she paused and took a deep breath before continuing, “alive, is causing me pain. If I can antagonize Brady enough that he breaks, I’ll do it. I can’t hit him physically, like you guys obviously got to, but I can hit him with words.”
“I love you,” Ricky whispered, putting his forehead against hers.
“I love you too.”
“I’ve been scared while on a mission. When things went south and I thought I might die, or my friends might die. But I’ve never been as terrified as I am right this moment. Not knowing where our kids are? I feel as if I can’t function. I can’t think.”
“I know,” Addison soothed. Amazingly, knowing he was as scared as she was kind of steadied her. Made her feel not so alone. “Do you think he did it?” she asked.
Ricky obviously knew the “he” she was talking about. “Yes.”
“He wasn’t the guy on the phone. The ransom guy.”
“Nope,” Ricky agreed, taking a deep breath. “But that doesn’t mean he didn’t hire someone to make the call.”
“And the texts? Could those be faked?”
