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“You all right?” Hays called to Easton.
“I’m great. Just been used as a punching bag by an elite SEAL who won’t stop smiling about it.”
“He’s all right,” Walker said. “His mouth is still running. If he shuts that mouth, then we’ll worry.”
Elizabeth smiled at that, but her gut was churning at whatever had happened with her guards. Did they somehow know where she was? Even now, they could be heading their way. Her eyes darted around the picturesque ranch as they ran. Hays steadied her with his hand on her elbow. His presence reassured her, but the fear of her guards coming and killing all these welcoming and loving people, taking Hays to her father so Elizabeth could ‘learn a lesson’ horrified her.
They entered the house through the garage and raced into the laundry room and through the kitchen. Hays shoved the hand wrappings in the garbage. Millie was nowhere to be seen. They approached the security center, and Millie and Jared both spun to face them. Trent, their foreman and head guard, sat at the desk.
“What’s happening?” Elizabeth asked.
Jared pointed at a female blonde reporter frozen on the screen. Trent pushed play.
“Retired Captain Aiden Porter is wanted for questioning in the murder of six men and the kidnapping of Elizabeth Oliver. Currently the renegade Porter is at large. Police have long said Porter thought he was above the law, but this is the first time he hasn’t been on the side of the law, played the ‘good guy,’ and gotten away with a slap of the hand if he used unconventional methods. If you have any information about his location, please call …”
Elizabeth swayed against Hays. He wrapped her up and held her tight. He was sweaty, but she didn’t care. She’d feared she would risk the people who tried to help her. How could anyone believe the famed security expert Aiden Porter, who had protected and helped so many innocent people, would kill six men and kidnap her? This reporter was trying to play up the ‘renegade’ angle. It made her sick. Guilt swirled in her gut. More death at her father’s hands, but it was ultimately her fault. She’d thought the guards deserved some discomfort, but not death.
Two faces came on a different screen, and she was grateful Hays held her up. Her father. And Peter.
Peter was alive while six of her guards were dead. Her father had murdered the other guards for failing him, then used them to frame Aiden and claim she’d been kidnapped.
“We were ambushed,” Peter said stoically, one eye black and blue, his lip split, and a long, thin gash on his cheek. “Porter and his men killed my men and left me for dead. They took Miss Oliver.” He looked ashamed and humiliated. Elizabeth wondered if Peter had given himself the black eye and the cuts, but she could only imagine the scenario.
Peter and his men had likely escaped their bonds and made it back to her father. Her father would’ve made them kneel, expressing his ‘disappointment’ in them. Then his other men would’ve shot them one by one, leaving Peter for last. Peter was evil, but those men had been his ‘team,’ his friends. He would’ve waited for that shot, but Father would’ve had him beat up instead.
Peter had been bested by Hays and let her escape. He’d failed her father. He was lucky to be alive, and he knew it.
“Please.” Her father’s simpering look at the screen made her stomach revolt. He was a murderer hundreds of times over and the most hypocritical devil on earth. “If you have any information about my beloved daughter, please help me find her.”
Trent silenced the television.
“We have to do something to clear Aiden’s name,” Elizabeth said, leaning heavily into Hays’s strength. “I knew my father would come after all of you. He might be coming here as we speak. I have to give myself up.”
“Never.” Hays wrapped her up tighter with his strong arms. His physical strength was unparalleled, but nobody could win against her father’s devious mind.
“Elizabeth,” a voice said through the speakers.
She jolted. “Quaid?”
“It’s me. You need to calm down. It’s a curveball, but we can still swing at it.”
“What are you talking about? Father will ruin Aiden’s life, kill his wife and her royal family to prove a point, a bomb, poisoning the water supply ... He will take apart all of Aiden’s security teams. He’ll come after all of you and take great pleasure in it.”
“Elizabeth.” There was a charming lilt to the voice speaking now. “I would love to see your father try to invade the kingdom of Magna, get past Chalisa’s brother-in-law General Kingston and our men. All travel has been shut down to Magna. No terrorist paid by your father will get in. They are on high alert, and I promise you we will prepare for every eventuality.”
“Aiden! I am so sorry. You should never have tried to help me.” If she turned herself in, her father might stop.
He chuckled at that. “I told you I love a challenge. All this does is expedite our plans. Jarom Love is in. I’ve got a jet en route to pick you and Hays up with plenty of men to make certain you’re safe. Sorry, Colevilles, but you’re out of this one. If we want to keep that fabulous ranch of yours off the criminals’ radar so we can infringe on your hospitality in the future, we need to not have a Coleville name associated with this op.”
“Dang,” Easton muttered, earning a sharp look from Millie. “What? We had to leave with the ‘townfolk’ from Cade and Jacey’s party and miss Hays taking out their top guard.”
“You’ll be fine,” Millie said shortly.
“We’ll meet Jarom at his Aspen home,” Aiden continued, “shoot a video for the media, and then call your father. If he wants you back, he’ll have to play by our rules.”
Tears streaked down Elizabeth’s face. “Not if he quietly starts murdering or kidnapping everyone you love.”
“So little faith in this one, eh?” Aiden teased.
