He looked at the passenger seat. “Yeah, if she’s in there, I’ll know.”
“Only if she’s in the living room.”
“Yeah,” he gritted out. Neither of them wanted to consider the idea that maybe Valdez had her in one of the other rooms in the house—like the bedroom.
“Are we calling the police to the location?” Wade asked.
They both knew the minute Valdez heard sirens he could panic and kill Deanna. “We don’t know for sure she’s even there. If she is, I don’t want to spook him. I’ll go in quiet.”
“The second the monitor is within range, call me.”
“I will,” he vowed.
They ended the call and Jonas said one more prayer. She had to be okay; anything else simply wasn’t an option. He couldn’t lose her. She was his heart, his soul. He’d rather die than be without her.
In his entire life, Jonas had never found so much happiness as he had when he was with Deanna. She made him laugh and curse both. Her sarcasm sent his heart racing. Deanna loved with every part of her being, and he felt like the luckiest man alive because she belonged to him.
He wanted to marry her. To have babies with her. She made him feel capable of leaping tall buildings. Hell, she made him want to be a better man.
As he turned down the road that would take him to Valdez’s house, Jonas switched off his emotions and went into soldier mode. When he approached Valdez’s driveway, he slowed and turned. He drove up halfway, until the house came into view, then stopped and cut the engine. The first thing he saw was Ray’s dirty-ass pickup.
“What the hell?” Jonas muttered; then realization dawned. Vengeance, Jonas thought, and Ray wanted it.
When Jonas saw Deanna’s car parked next to Ray’s truck, bile rose in his throat. Somewhere in that house, Deanna was trapped between a drug dealer and a vengeful father. He frowned when he spotted something on the front porch, near the door. He was too far away to make out what it was. Jonas reached into the backseat and rooted around on the floor until he found his binoculars tucked beneath the passenger seat. He held them to his face and his heart sank. A pool of blood.
Jonas dropped the binoculars and grabbed the monitor off the seat next to him. He flipped it on and saw a nightmare unfolding before his eyes.
27
Jonas shoved a hand through his hair as he watched the monitor and tried to calm Wade. “Short of telepathy, there was no way either of us could’ve predicted what I’m watching right now.”
“Fuck!” Wade roared.
He heard Deanna’s soft voice through the speaker. “She’s trying to reason with Ray, but judging by his agitation, it isn’t working for shit.” He shook his head. “What are the odds of your sister showing up at Valdez’s at the same damn time that Ray chose to exact his vengeance?”
“One in a million,” Wade ground out. “Is she scared?”
“She looks shaken, but I don’t see any marks on her. She appears unharmed. Valdez is on the floor moaning and pleading. Sniveling bastard. Ray is pacing. Every once in a while, he stops and kicks the hell out of Valdez.”
“She’s alive,” Wade stated. “That’s what matters. I’m still five minutes out. I say you go in. You?”
“Ditto. Ray knows me,” Jonas said. “He trusts me.”
“Will he panic?”
Jonas had been wondering the same thing. “Not if I go in alone. He wants Valdez to suffer the way he’s had to suffer.”
“He’s got a gun and he’s way off the fucking reservation, Jonas. I don’t think reasoning with him is going to work.”
Jonas had already given that one some thought. “His son is the key,” he said. “If something happens to Ray, C
ade’s alone. I’m going to use that.”
“A distraught father can be damned unpredictable. Be careful. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Jonas couldn’t take his eyes off the monitor. The small device was his only connection to Deanna. The only way for him to see with his own eyes that she was alive. “I’m going in the back entrance.”
“Got it.”