Page 73 of Too Broken to Love

Forcing himself to calm the hell down, Hudson and Malcolm moved through the hall, steady and cautious, taking turns clearing the area before they advanced to the next point. The only part of this clusterfuck that kept Hudson sane was the pulsing red dot on the phone.

The screech of tires slashed through him as they approached the doors. Feet flying, he raced outside into heavy darkness and raised his gun at the vanishing taillights of a dark van.

Malcolm clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Stand down. We can track her.”

Hudson’s fingers trembled as he lowered the gun. Fuck, Malcolm was right again. He couldn’t risk blowing out a tire and putting her life in danger.

He checked Tessa’s tracker. Her dot wasn’t moving. His heart stopped beating as he tapped on his phone. “Move, goddammit. Move.” He banged the phone against his thigh and checked again.

And again.

The fucking dot stayed still and silent.

Malcolm swept the area with the flashlight on his phone. “Is that…?”

A flash of ruby red caught the thin beam.

Tessa skidded across the van floor. The hard metal ridges smacked against her ribcage one by one. Scrambling to her knees, she backed away from Shadow and another stone-faced enforcer perched on a bench seat in the cavernous van and crawled toward Frank.

Tears streamed down his ruddy cheeks as the vehicle sped off. The jolt pitched her onto her hands. Pain shot up her wrists as she landed in a corner in front of her father with a dull thud. As shockwaves rolled through her, Frank’s body and features, once strong and charismatic, but now frail and weathered, came into focus. Even his once bright eyes and hair the same shade as hers had dulled to indistinct hues.

“Tessa, I’m so sorry.”

Frank spat out a tooth. Bright lights from the ceiling illuminated the yellowed, chipped canine.

“Are you drunk?” She wrinkled her nose at his familiar sweat and beer scent, this time tinged with the metallic tang of blood.

“Giving me all the booze I wanted was the only humane thing these idiots did.” He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and burped. “I didn’t know what they were into, I swear.” Another tooth and a stream of crimson-tinged saliva shot from his mouth. “I tried to leave… really, I did.”

“Thanks for that.” Shadow chuckled, one hand gripping a handle bolted into the doorframe, the other wrapped around his gun. “We’d been looking for a reason to give you a beating, ain’t that right?”

The other enforcer smiled. “We’ve been having fun reminding him to behave.”

The driver howled with laughter. “Sure have.”

Frank thrust his bound hands toward Tessa. Blood stained the white zip ties. “You know I’m good at giving people the slip, but you gotta believe me. I tried to ditch these goons, but they kept finding me.”

Tessa’s heart dropped to the metal floor. How many times had she wished terrible, harmful things upon Frank? He deserved every thought, but this punishment exceeded her most vengeful dreams. “I believe you.”

And for the first time in her life, she did. Even Frank couldn’t fake the raw fear and regret oozing from every fiber of his body. Relief that her father wasn’t working with human traffickers coursed through her so fast her vision blurred. “I believe you. Truly, I do.”

Surprise crossed his swollen features. “I told a cop but…the cop was as dirty as them.” Frank fought for air as more spit dripped from the sides of his mouth. “They found out about you. Said they’d hurt you like they hurt me if I left.” He muttered a curse and turned his head. “See this?”

Tessa opened her mouth to scream. Nothing came out as she stared at the scarred stump where the upper half of Frank’s ear used to be.

He turned his gaze back to her. “They did this a few months ago when I tried to get you a message.”

“You tried to protect me?” Frank had never protected anyone but himself in his life except for when he’d made her arrest record go away.

“Always, Tessa. I taught you survival skills, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough if these guys found you.” He dropped his chin and pushed matted hair from his shoulder as he darted a glance toward the two guns trained on them. “They tortured me. When we got to that Belmarva place, they made me think you were in the house they blew up. I thought you were dead. I didn’t know you were alive until I just saw you.”

Frank’s wide eyes and raw scream popped into her mind with vicious force. He’d yelled at her to run, not to win the game, but to save her.

A sob ripped from her throat. Tears poured from her eyes as love, hate, regret, and every other jagged emotion she’d ever felt for her father burst out of her in a violent geyser.

He’d tried to save her. He’d failed, like he did at most things in his life, but he’d tried.

The van whipped to the left. She pitched into Frank. He caught her with his bound hands before their heads cracked together. She waited for him to tell her to run.