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“I know, and we’ll prove that, but now is not the time. I’m turning the corner now.”
He was closer than I was, so I knew he’d get there first if I didn’t start driving. Switching from park to drive, I sped out into the street, ignoring the beeping horn of the driver I had just cut off with my sportscar. I peeled rubber and arrived on the scene at the same time as the officers. As soon as I put my car into park, I was out and rushing toward the building. Jessie was faster than me, and stepped in my way.
“Move, Jessie,” I ordered, and he chuckled.
“In case no one has ever told you, you’re just like your father. He, too, always allowed emotion to drive him, instead of facts. He was like a bull in a china shop, and you’re a spitting image of him. For as hard-headed as he was, Remington was also smart. He knew when to stand back and let the professionals do their jobs. Be the man he raised in his own image.”
I knew he was right, and finally threw my hands up in surrender. A few of the officers who arrived with Jessie rushed past me, and when the last one had gone, I followed the men. The text message had given me the apartment number, although I heard Jessie on the phone talking to who I assumed was the property manager. She promised to meet us upstairs, and Jessie had a few of his men cover both stairwells before pulling me along with him into the elevator. The damn thing moved at a snail’s pace, and I almost wished I’d taken the stairs myself.
When we got to the fifth floor, the adrenaline was rushing inside of me. I had no idea what we’d be walking into, especially since the bastard who called me wouldn’t answer any of the dozen calls I’d placed since receiving his message. I was prepared to offer money or anything else that’d save her. She might’ve still wanted me banished from her life, but there was no price I’d not pay to make sure she made it through this.
I was about to race down the hall, but Jessie had his hand in front of me to hold me back. There were methods they needed to use, and I was willing to play along with those rules until I saw what condition Nicole was in. As we slowly crept toward the door of her attacker, I sent up several prayers for her safety. I loved her, and I knew whatever God might be up there listening would know that. A Titan always got what he wanted, and all that was for me was her.
Jessie balled his hand into a fist, then rapped loudly at the door. “Chicago Police Department. Open the door!” He then raised his fist and knocked again. There was no response the first or second time he did it, but on the third, we all heard the metal of a chain being put in place. Whoever was in there didn’t want any of us inside, and my blood ran cold as I wondered exactly why. All of my earlier restraint was disappearing, and I was prepared to bust the damn thing down if needed.
“My name’s Helen, and I came as quickly as I could,” a middle-aged blonde said as soon as she rounded the corner.
“Detective Falloray, Chicago PD,” he told the woman, then flashed her his badge, and added. “The occupant won’t come out. He’s barricaded himself inside.”
“Let me see what I can do,” she said, then looked through her keys for the one that would open this particular door. She soon had it unlocked, but when the police went to open the door, the chain was still firmly in place which halted our entry.
Another two officers arrived, and one had a battering ram, with the word ‘enforcer’ in bright letters down the side of it. Jessie pushed me back, then took a few steps to allow the other officer to get into the apartment. The chain was no match for the tool, which could apply more than three tons of force with a single strike. It took two blows to knock the door in, and when the officers rushed inside, I followed in hot pursuit.
When I saw a familiar face sitting on his bed, all alone, my eyes narrowed. “Travis Harrison,” I murmured to Jessie and he quickly repeated the name into his walkie talkie. “Where is—”
I got elbowed in the ribs, as Jessie spoke up. “Where’s Nicole Courtland?”
“Who?” he asked, and when he saw me, that same smirk he’d sported the last time I’d seen him was back. “How the hell would I know? She hasn’t been to school since he’d accosted her in his office.”
If Travis knew that I’d kissed Nicole in my office, it had to have been because he’d been standing there. While I didn’t think she’d put him up to it, Logan’s earlier warning came rushing back. The man had called me because he was worried about something with this kid, and that had been after just sitting through a single dinner with him. I’d always known there was something strange about him, but I’d never thought it was something this bad.
“Well, we’re just going to take a look around, son,” Jessie advised, and Travis seemed very nonchalant about it.
In fact, he never even sat up, and just laid there in bed as the officers rummaged through his things. Time was ticking away, and I was now even more scared for Nicole. She had to be here. I heard her scream, yet the officers did a sweep of the room, and other than a selfie or two of them together at the Santa Monica Pier, there was no sign of her whatsoever. Had I truly been duped? I was about to chalk it up to that, but then I saw something on the floor. It was partially stuck under the bed, but not enough to where I didn’t see the rose-gold butterfly charm on the floor.
“This is cute,” I’d told her the night I’d seen it laying on her nightstand.
I’d picked it up and trailed it along the side of her body, making her shiver until she’d rolled over and grabbed it from my hand.
“My mother gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday.”
“It’s pretty,” I’d replied.
“I love it more for what she said it represented.”
“And what is that,” I’d asked as I peppered kisses over the same flesh the chain had just touched.
“She’d told me that a butterfly is proof that you can go through a great deal of darkness and still become something beautiful.”
I’d also remembered hearing the quote myself over the years.
“You’ve always been beautiful,” I’d responded before flipping her underneath me.
“You never saw me during my awkward phase.”
“Awkward phase? I doubt you’d ever had one of those.”
“At the time, I was about fifteen pounds heavier, wore braces, and had a terrible habit of picking at my skin until it would bleed. I’m surprised I don’t have scars everywhere.”
