Here Without You (Red Hook 4)

Liam pulled into her driveway. He got out of the car and entered the house first. He did a quick sweep through. “Okay, it seems quiet and safe.”

“Thanks, Liam. I will be so glad when all of this is over,” she told him. She went into her bedroom and got some clothes out of her closet, then threw them in a large purse. She sat on the bed for a minute and looked around her room. She missed Matt, and she missed sleeping with him at night. How quickly she had gotten addicted to feeling his arms around her.

A loud thump interrupted her thoughts. She grabbed her purse and stood up.

“Liam? You okay?” she yelled out, going into the living room.

Liam was lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding from the forehead. Holly dropped her purse on the floor and gasped. She looked behind her. A strange man stood with a gun in his hand. He was dressed in a dark suit and his black hair was slicked back. He was smiling at her.

“Who are you?” she asked, feeling the tears roll down her cheek. She looked at Liam. He wasn’t moving and that worried her. “Why did you hit my brother?”

He looked at Liam and shrugged. “I don’t have a lot of time to mess around. The boss wants me to bring you to him.”

“Me? Why?” She was confused. She had no part of this drug business.

“Gerald was so obsessed with you that the boss got curious.” The man pointed his gun at her. “Now come with me quietly, or I will be forced to shoot your brother.”

Holly nodded. She remembered Alicia describing the man with icy eyes, and she had a feeling this man was the same one. She looked into his brown eyes and they were ice cold. She was scared. He grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him. He had his nose buried in her hair. “Mmm, you smell delicious. If the boss doesn’t want you, I’ll keep you myself.”

He pulled her outside and down her stairs. His black SUV was parked down the block, and she knew all her neighbors were at work. She got in with him and thought of her sister and Matt. Would she get to see them again?

* * * *

Noah hung up the phone, looking grim. “That was Faith. Holly and Liam went to Holly’s house. They never came back, and neither one is answering their cell phone.

“Shit.” Matt stood up, feeling angry. He looked at his watch. “She called me to let me know she was going. That was an hour ago.”

They all took off running out the door. He heard Noah telling Helen to call Adam to get to his house, and why.

“You think Novak is responsible?” Tony asked, jumping in the car with Matt.

“I’d say so. Gerald told him all about Holly,” Matt replied. His gut was tied in knots and he was scared. An hour was a long time. What if they harmed her already? He just got the courage to admit how he felt about her. He couldn’t lose her now. He arrived at her house within minutes with Drake and Noah behind him.

They found Liam unconscious on the floor. Noah cursed and kneeled by his youngest brother. He put his fingers on his neck and looked relieved.

“He’s alive.” He pulled out his cell phone while Matt checked Holly’s room. It was empty. Everything looked neat, so he guessed the struggle had taken place out in the living room.

“Is this her bag?” Tony asked, seeing the pink object on the ground with clothes hanging out. Matt looked at the purse on her floor and nodded grimly. Why take her? Gerald had been the one obsessed with Holly. It didn’t make sense. He said so out loud, and Noah agreed with him.

“All of her neighbors are at work, so I doubt we’d get any leads there,” Drake muttered, looking frustrated. “These assholes are going down.”

An ambulance came and took Liam away. Noah was on the phone with Adam, giving him an update.

“Where would they take her?” Tony wondered, as if thinking out loud. “If they were in town, someone would have reported it by now.”

“Maybe the outskirts of town,” Drake guessed. “I am having Jack take his ATVs and do a search.”

“I’ll help him,” Tony volunteered. He looked at Matt and patted him on the back. “I know Holly is a strong woman. Stay strong and together we will find her.”

Tony left after Matt handed him the keys to his police vehicle. He was going to meet Jack.

Matt took in a deep breath. His brother was right, he had to stay strong for Holly and think. “What about Gerald’s house? These men had to know Gerald bought it. We put some tape across it, but we haven’t gone back out there in a few days.”

Noah looked conflicted. “I need to check on Liam.”

“I’ll go with Matt and check out Gerald’s house,” Drake offered. “I’ll have Greg and Sam canvas this neighborhood. We might get lucky. You go to the hospital, man.”

Noah nodded and left.