Trouble in Miami (Trouble, Tennessee 4)

“I knew there was something wrong here,” Heather muttered, slumping against the leather seat.

“You want to kill us,” Serena said, tears slowly rolling over her sunken cheeks.

“And to think I was told you were the tough one.” Seth clucked and then leveled a glare on Serena. “Drop the act, bitch.”

“It’s okay,” Sable said, patting Serena’s arm and putting on a brave front. Then again, Sable was gutsy as hell.

“You’re Heather,” Seth said, clucking and shaking his finger once more. “Which means you’re Draegan’s girlfriend?” He swung his gaze to Serena again. “Get comfortable, ladies. We’re only staying one night in Miami, but we have a bit of a drive ahead of us. Bar is stocked. Enjoy your refreshments.”

As soon as the privacy glass rose again, Sable whispered, “Hurry. Fire off a text to the group number or one of your guys.”

“She’s right,” Heather said, stuffing her hand in the top of her purse.

While the others clumsily fumbled their phones, attempting to send out text messages, Heather sat there calmly with her hand in her purse, looking straight ahead.

“Heather!” Sable snapped, punching in a text message while the others did the same. “Do something!”

“I am,” she whispered, lifting her phone slightly above the leather.

“You got Trouble? Who’s calling?” A somewhat muted voice filled the car.

She ducked her head, speaking into the top of her purse. “This is Heather Powers—Bradley’s sister—Gabe’s, Justin’s, and Curt’s girlfriend. We’re in Miami.” Her voice trembled. “We need help. I don’t know who’s on the other end but please listen. I can’t put the phone to my ear. We’ve been abducted. We were separated at the airport and—”

The divider window slid down again and the women wrestled with their belongings, trying to hide their phones. Seth aimed an automatic in the back of the car. “I can go ahead and do this now or you can hand over the cell phones.”

“He’s got a gun!” Ellie screeched, hoping whoever was on the other end of the line would now know they were in a dangerous situation.

“What do you want with us?” Sable asked.

“Hand over the phones, ladies.” Seth kept a steady hand on his weapon, a firm finger near the trigger.

“If you’re gonna kill us, get it over with,” Serena said, sliding to the edge of the curved limousine seat. “I spent half my life running from abuse and will not be tormented by a man I don’t know, facing a monster who doesn’t even know anything about me or my past. If you want my phone, you come take it. I’m not giving it to you.”

She lifted her cell then and just as brazen as hell, took a snapshot of Seth. She then calmly sent out her text message, undoubtedly with the man’s photo as an attachment.

“Pull over!” he screamed at the driver.

The car crossed four lanes of traffic then, swerving in between two semis and finally coming to a stop on the busy expressway. Heather crawled forward, cradled her phone in her hand and yelled, “Is anyone there?”

“Heather, it’s me baby. It’s Justin. Where are you?”

Heather wailed, “I don’t know. Listen to me, Justin. We’re on the expressway. We just left the airport. You have to get in touch with the guys. This has something to do with the Vance brothers.”

“Are you sure?” How do you know? Where are you? What do you see?” There was too much commotion on Justin’s end and the front car door had now been slammed. In a second, Seth would appear there.

“Nicholas has Draegan on the phone. He’s receiving messages from Serena. Is she with you?”

“We’re all here—me, Serena, Ellie, and Sab—”

Seth jerked the backdoor open. “Give me the phones! I will not ask again!” He cocked the gun.

Ellie’s heart raced. She shook her head, already convinced she would relinquish her phone but first buy them some time. “Why are you doing this?”

“Pays well,” he replied, clearly aware of Heather talking to someone.

He waved the gun at her next. “Get up here, you little bitch!”

“Tell the bastard, he’s dead,” Justin said, still on speakerphone.