Finding Happiness Read online

“Do you mind putting some of these bags in your car and dropping them off to the clothing drop? I have an appointment in Central Valley at five thirty, and I can drop Candice off at the shelter,” Leeann asked Autumn as she finished up with one of the last orders on her shift.

  “Sure, that shouldn’t be a problem. I was going to run into the supermarket to grab some stuff for dinner. Hill said Aldreck loves chicken cutlets, and I thought maybe a nice homemade dinner would cheer him up.”

  “Didn’t like everyone send over food the past two weeks?” Candice asked.

  “He put a stop to that pretty quickly. Thanked everyone but said the food chain could stop and that they had things under control. He isn’t exactly a good patient,” she said and winked.

  “I bet you put a smile on his face somehow,” Leeann chimed in.

  Autumn laughed. “Let me just text the guys and let them know. Manderine is getting off from work soon, too, so maybe by the time I drop that stuff off and grab dinner he’ll be done and we can head to the house together.” She texted him. When she didn’t hear back, she figured he was busy. Maybe got a call he was on for work. They all said good-bye to Molly and her husbands as well as the other waitresses who came in for the evening crowd. When they got to the parking lot, Autumn put the bags of clothes into her car and then said good-bye to the girls. She headed to the spot by the parking lot behind the storefronts in town and started to put the bags into the container. She got a funny feeling, like someone was watching her just as her cell phone rang. “Hello?” she answered.

  “Hey, baby, sorry, I was on a call. What was that text about?” Manderine asked.

  “Oh, no big deal. I needed to drop off clothes by the donation bin for Leeann, and then I’m going to the supermarket. Thought I would make chicken cutlets with spaghetti and sauce for Aldreck since it’s one of his favorites.”

  “You know how to cook a lot of things for someone who said she didn’t cook a lot,” he teased.

  “Well, I like to cook, just didn’t really have anyone to cook for or who would appreciate it. You seem to like my cooking a lot.” She then closed the bin door.

  “I do, almost as much as sweet cream.” He shocked her.

  “Manderine!”

  He chuckled. “I’ll be getting some of that real soon. Hurry up to the store. By the time you’re done I’ll be passing through that way and can follow you to the house.”

  “Okay, I’ll be waiting.” She ended the call, and as she lowered her phone she heard a noise. It was too late when the strong arm came around her waist and the fist knocked down her phone. She kicked and screamed as some man grabbed her.

  “Stop squirming around,” he said, and she felt the gun against her side.

  “Oh God, what do you want? Who are you?”

  “Give me the money you made at the café. All of it. It was fucking busy,” he said, and she realized this was Dell, Candice’s brother. Holy God, he had shot at the police. He shot Aldreck.

  “It’s in the car in my purse,” she said, and he pulled her closer to her car. When she heard a car speeding toward them and then skidding out, she screamed. He pointed the gun and fired. She struck him in his side and went to go run, but then heard the gunshots, and turned to look. It was Connor. Her eyes widened. Her heart felt like it stopped beating, and he was on her in a snap.

  He grabbed her arm. “You’re so fucking lucky I was here, Autumn. He was going to rape you and kill you. Those fucking dicks you’re fucking can’t protect you like I can,” he said, and Dell moaned as Connor dragged her toward his car. He shoved her against it, then turned her around and handcuffed her.

  “Connor, no. No, don’t do this. Please, Connor,” she screamed at him, and he turned her around and struck her across the mouth.

  “You fucking whore. Four men. Four!” he screamed so loud, so wildly she closed her eyes and wasn’t able to see the strike coming.

  The hit to her face shocked her and then the punch to her stomach. She cried out and bent forward, when anger hit her insides. She didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to leave her men. “No, damn you,” she screamed at him as he yanked the car door open and tried to push her into the back seat. He kicked at her and kept hitting her, and she screamed and kicked at him.

  “You stupid bitch! You forgot who owns you. You forgot the rules!” He yanked her out of the back seat by her ankles. She fell to the ground, her forehead hitting the metal of the car on the way down. As he lifted her up, her head spun, and her vision blurred. The trunk opened up, and he threw her into the back and then slammed it closed. She thought she heard yelling and then gunfire. A moment later the car started moving, speeding away, making her tumble to the right and then the left. She was in so much pain everywhere. Her head throbbed. Her face did, too. It was dark in the trunk, and she felt her eyes, her lips swelling up, and her ribs, they had to be broken again.

  “Oh God, please. Please.” She moaned and rocked, closed her eyes, and wished the pain would go away. “I’m going to die. He won. Conner won.”

  Manderine had just driven by the shopping center when the call came over the radio. He spotted the sheriff and multiple officers running from the sheriff’s department at the same time and to their vehicles.

  The radio dispatch called for assistance of state police. A man was shot by the back building of the shopping center and a woman was beaten and thrown into a trunk. He thought right away it was Autumn. “No! Fuck, no!” he roared and then gunned the car toward the shopping center. One other deputy arrived and then him, his brother, and others including the sheriff. People were starting to come out of the back building who worked there. He ran from the car.

  “Autumn? Was it Connor? Did he get Autumn?” he yelled.

  “What? Autumn? Why would she be here?” Kane asked as they were all gathering around. Other cops were taping off the area of the crime scene.

  “She was dropping off clothes for Leeann, and then I was meeting her at the shopping center. She was going to get food to cook. I just got there when the call came over the radio. Fuck!” he yelled and ran his fingers through his hair.

  “We got a description of the vehicle. Running it now and the store owners have surveillance cameras from all directions,” Deputy Montana O’Rourke said to them.

  “Let’s get a look at those. State police and Texas Rangers are on board and an APB has gone out,” Sheriff McCabe said, and then a few of them headed into the store through the back door and to the storage room where the camera recorder was.

  “I’ll get it up right away, Sheriff,” the young guy said and started to press buttons. They all watched as the scene took place.

  “She was on the phone with me,” Manderine said.

  “Hey, she didn’t know until it was too late,” Lotus said as Dell came out from behind the dumpster and attacked her.

  “What the fuck?” Deputy Montana said. They were in shock at what transpired. How Dell appeared to be robbing Autumn, forcing her to her car with a gun to her side. Then as she bent down into the vehicle and pulled out money toward him, a car sped up next to them. Connor jumped out with a gun in his hand. Dell fired, missing him, and Autumn lowered her head as Connor shot Dell.

  Connor grabbed Autumn and started striking her repeatedly.

  “Jesus Christ!” Deputy Faris Montgomery whispered, and the others made remarks about how hard Connor hit Autumn, and how she kept trying to fight. When they couldn’t see what was happening in the car and then him strike her and throw her into the trunk, Manderine felt sick.

  “I’m going to kill that fucking asshole. With my bare fucking hands,” Manderine said and walked out the door.

  “What the fuck do you mean taken?” Aldreck asked and stood up from the couch. He had to grab the arm rest as he teetered a little. Hill had the phone to his ear. “I’ll get Bridget to come over and stay with Aldreck,” Hill said.

  “The fuck you will. I’m in. I can fucking shoot. Tell me what the fuck happened,” he yelled.

  “You he
ard him. We’ll be ready.”

  Hill took a deep breath.

  “What?” Aldreck asked through clenched teeth.

  “A fucking mess. Flex will be here in ten minutes. He said he grabbed our hunting shit. Autumn was attacked by Dell as he tried to rob her.”

  “What?”

  “It gets worse. The quick rundown from Flex is Connor showed up, shot and killed Dell, and then took Autumn but not before he beat her and threw her into the trunk of the fucking car.”

  He said the last words with his teeth clenched. “Oh God,” Aldreck said and Hill shook his head.

  “I’ll grab our shit. Are you sure you’re up for this?”

  “She’s our woman. He dies for doing this.”

  “Okay, the car was abandoned down the road from this convenience store. It’s one of the last little places before exiting the highway and hitting the forest area. Thing is because this store is small and right off the highway, the owner has surveillance cameras. Connor parked another vehicle, a black small pickup truck off the road a ways. Montana and those fucking sniper eyes picked up on it, and we were able to get some friends to zoom in closer and get a license plate. With everyone pitching in and using their resources, the truck was spotted heading toward an area of private cabins. The truck is parked outside of one. A rental,” Sheriff Kane told the men as they all gathered around the one vehicle where he had a map on the hood of the truck.

  “What’s the plan of action?” Faris asked.

  “Like Shay is saying, we need to do this more like a military operation. We have to assume that Autumn is badly injured from the surveillance video. Connor is mentally unstable. He killed a man and shot at other people. He’s holed up in that cabin, and we don’t know what other weapons he had or if he’s planted any traps along the way. The feds are on their way, and we got state police, Texas Rangers, and the fucking media circus in Cherry Hill right now because the story blew about the corruption in the police department in Connecticut. It’s a mess. I’m going to let Flex and Hill lead us on this with Chase and Fox heading another team,” Kane said and looked at his brothers Chase and Fox.

  “Okay. Team one is doing a sweep of the perimeter of this property. Connor Row is retired Marine, and actively practices at the gun range and weekends military maneuvers and operations at a place in Massachusetts. He has abilities, so we need to remember he will cover his bases. The good thing is that he doesn’t know the types of men we all are. Our capabilities and our specialized training. Our goal is to eliminate the threat to Autumn. Her life is priority. I could care less if this guy lives or dies. He’s a killer, holding a woman hostage. Now, these are the two teams,” Fox said and then started to name names and separate the men. Chase grabbed his men, and Aldreck, Manderine, Hill, and Flex were split between the two teams.

  “Let’s be smart and move quietly,” Chase said, and the men got into position as evening was rolling in and the woods were already getting darker. They could use the light, as well, in seeing any traps along the way, but as they got closer and heard the screams it became a desperate race to get to Autumn in time.

  Autumn could hardly breathe. Every little bit of breath hurt her chest and Connor wasn’t stopping. He slashed her clothes with the knife, cutting her skin. She looked at the bed. The gun laying right there.

  “Please, Connor, please don’t hurt me more,” she begged. She could hardly see, her eyes were swollen nearly shut, her lips swollen, her cheeks throbbed, and her ribs were definitely broken. She felt weak, yet she didn’t want to die. He slashed the knife at her again and cut her skin. “Please.”

  “On your knees. Beg for forgiveness!” he yelled at her, and she screamed as he grabbed her hair and threw her against the bed.

  She was trying to catch her breath. The pain in her body, her chest, was so bad she thought about giving up. As he inhaled against her hair, ran his hands along her body, and cupped her breasts, she tried to move away from him only for him to pull her back. He squeezed her broken ribs and she cried out. As he pressed her mouth to the bed she closed her eyes. She thought about dying. About giving up, and then her men popped into her head.

  She loved them with all her heart. They came out of nowhere and healed her, empowered her with their strength and support. She couldn’t give in. She would make them proud. If and when they found her they would know that she hadn’t given up but fought to live. To be with them again.

  He grabbed the back of her neck and shoved her face hard against the bed again, nearly suffocating her.

  “You will never see those men again. You never should have left me, Autumn. You belong to me and only me.” He was breathing heavily against her neck. She felt his teeth scrape her skin and then his tongue, grossing her out. When he lifted her up, she thought she might get a reprieve, but instead he slapped her in the back of the head the way he used to when he was angry with her or thought she wasn’t paying attention to his threats. It was then that something came over her. That fight. That desire to make her men proud and to die if necessary so she wouldn’t be conscious when this sick bastard raped her. She heard him unzip his pants. She looked at the gun lying on the bed. She had to try. She had to take this chance. She lifted slightly.

  “I’m going to remind you who is in charge, and who you belong to forever,” he said, and as he reached for her head with one hand and started to tear her skirt and panties lower, she screamed at the top of her lungs as she lunged forward, grabbed the gun, turned, and shot him, screaming the entire time. The shock on his face, the way he reached down to his boot for something. Just then her vision began to blur. The pain making her unable to move away as she had exerted all of her energy into that move to shoot him—that had been her mistake. He reached lower to the floor as he roared and then raised the knife, stabbed down with the blade, and hit her shoulder. She screamed out in pain, raised the gun again with what little strength she had left, and pulled the trigger and kept pulling and pulling. She didn’t even hear the door break open or see the men through swollen eyes. She just kept squeezing the trigger as everything echoed around her. A large, warm hand covered hers. She couldn’t let go of the gun. Connor’s body was pulled off of her, her finger moving on the trigger until the gun was squeezed from her hand. She was panicking for breath, wheezing, and could hear the mumbled curses and then the sound of sirens, just chaos around her. Images of Manderine, Hill, Flex, and Aldreck, Sheriff Kane, Shay, Deputy O’Rourke, and others. Her body began to shake profusely, hands caressed her skin, and then there were paramedics there and pain in her shoulder. She turned to the right, saw tears in the men’s eyes.

  When she was being moved, she cried and screamed. “No, no, no, no, no.” She just kept repeating it until she felt the lips against her cheek, the warm breath, the familiar scent. Aldreck?

  “It’s going to be okay, baby. It’s all over now. Connor is dead, and we need to get you to the hospital. I’m not going to leave your side. I’m right here, Hill, Flex, and Manderine, too.”

  “Pain. Everywhere. Can’t breathe,” she said.

  “I know, baby, it will pass. You’re so damn strong. You got this. You fight and keep fighting. We aren’t going anywhere. We’re waiting right here for you. Come on now. We’re going to go.” As they lifted her she panicked and screamed, but then Aldreck caressed her hair. “I’m right here.”

  She closed her eyes and leaned her cheek against him. “Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me…don’t leave me.” Darkness overtook her vision.

  Epilogue

  The waiting room was packed with people. Aldreck looked ready to pass out, and Bridget and Molly got pillows for him to rest his arm and his head on. Flex kept checking on his brothers. They were all a mess, plus the other deputies and the sheriff. That scene in the cabin brought emotions to all of them that they couldn’t even discuss. The media was there. Autumn’s Aunt May and cousins were flying in. The feds were waiting to talk to Autumn, too. It was a fucking circus.

  Autumn was still in surgery, wi
th specialists coming in to help remove the knife that was in her shoulder without making things worse for her. She had several broken ribs, they thought a punctured lung and other internal damage, never mind what her face and body looked like all bruised up and swollen. It brought tears to Flex’s eyes. He was now talking to a friend of one of his and Hill’s associates who had connections in the government. When he heard their names connected to a federal investigation, he got involved quickly.