“Hey,” Brody answered.
“Brody, some of Forrest’s men came for Betsy. They must have had Sunny hostage. We heard a gunshot through the phone. We’re pulling up there now but I need you to check the camera feed.”
“Got it,” Brody replied tersely.
“And find out why he’d come for her now.” For some reason, Forrest had decided to disregard his threat to make public the evidence he had.
“Both of you wait here,” he demanded as he drove into the garage at his warehouse.
“Like fuck,” Royal said. Baron still hadn’t said a word.
“Stay here, I’m not fucking around about this,” he snarled. “Lock the doors. I’ll call you when it’s safe.”
He took the stairs instead of the elevator. When he reached the main living area, he could hear soft crying.
“It’s all right, darling. I have you.”
“Betsy!” he called out, racing into the room.
Stone turned from where he crouched on the floor, revealing the woman he held in his arms. Tears streaked Sunny’s face and the right side of her face was swollen.
“Ink!” she called out, sobbing. “I’m so sorry. They took Betsy! They shot her and…and she fell and hit her head. They gagged me, tied me up and then carried her out of here.”
His entire world started to cave in. Black dots crossed his vision. Get it together, man.
He heard footsteps behind him and whirled. Royal and Baron moved cautiously into the room.
“I told you two to stay in the truck,” he barked.
“She’s our mother,” Royal scowled. Still, Baron said nothing. His face blank.
Ink ran his fingers through his hair. “Sorry. I just don’t want anything to happen to you two as well. She’d skin me alive.”
“We can take care of ourselves,” Royal told him.
He refrained from reminding them they were sixteen. This was all pointless.
“Stone, call Duke.”
“Already done.”
Royal paced back and forth while Baron just stared at the bloody spots on the floor that had obviously been left behind from when Betsy had been shot.
Fucking shot!
Ink crouched down by Sunny who was now sitting on the sofa. Her face was pale and she was shivering.
“Royal, go and get one of Betsy’s blankets.”
“I’m o-okay,” she said, her teeth rattling.
“I know,” he said soothingly. “Duke will be here soon, Sunny-girl. Hold on for me.”
Tears raced down her cheeks and she sobbed. “I’m so sorry, Duke. I tried to fight them off. They got me when I was leaving the mall. I was shopping for Duke’s birthday present. I was trying to do it in secret. I told him I was going out shopping with Jewel. Only she couldn’t make it. I had to beg to get him to let me go out on my own. He’s gonna be so mad at me. They must have drugged me because all I remember was someone grabbing me from behind then a pinprick on my neck. Then I woke up in the back of a van.”
“Shh.” He sat beside her, pulling her in close. He ran his hand up and down her back. “Duke’s not going to be mad. He’s going to be happy that you’re okay. Is there anything they said? Anything you can tell me that might help?”
He took the blanket Royal held out and settled it around her shoulders. Baron handed her a box of tissues. She gave them both a tremulous smile.