“I hear congratulations are in order,” Paul said.
She pulled away and smiled over at the other man. “Thank you.”
“You really want to marry him?”
She nodded her head. “Yes, I really do.”
“Paul, don’t start making her think she’s got any chance to doubt this. I love her.”
“I know you do, brother.”
She looked at Dawg and knew she’d made the right decision. No matter what, she was never going to regret this moment, not ever.
Chapter Ten
A few days later
Proposing to Lori had always been part of Dawg’s plan. He’d loved her for a long time, and preparing for a wedding didn’t make him freeze up. No, he wanted this more than anything.
“I still can’t believe you’re getting married,” Paul said.
His brother had been shocked, but he was getting used to the random comments of how shocked he actually was. Everything had gone back to normal, and in the past few days he’d kept an eye on Ortiz’s gym for any signs that Louis Saint was planning to take over.
“You keep saying that. You’re going to get tired of saying it one day.”
“No, seriously. You’re in love. I mean, wow, you’re in love.”
Yeah, he was. Seriously in love, and there was no way it was ever going to stop. Lori was his life, and she’d been part of it for three years. He’d watched her, waited, and now he finally had her.
When his cell phone began to ring, he got Paul to put it on speaker as he was driving. He’d seen that the caller was Rafe, one of the men he paid to guard Lori at all times.
Before anyone could speak, Rafe started talking.
“He has her, sir. Louis Saint and his cronies snuck up on us as we were getting lunch. Right here, in the fucking street. There’s cops everywhere.”
Paul was playing with his cell phone, and, glancing over toward the device without trying to kill both of them in the car, Dawg finally pulled over.
“He’s got her at the gym,” Paul said.
When he’d pulled over, he grabbed his brother’s phone and saw Lori. They were tying her to a chair. The camera didn’t allow for sound, and that pissed him off. Handing the device to Paul, he pulled away.
He no longer cared about the speed of the road, for his main concern was Lori.
“Get everyone,” Dawg said. “Get them all at Ortiz’s gym in five minutes.”
He swung the car around and headed in that direction himself.
He was pissed off. No, that wasn’t even close to how he felt in that moment. He wasn’t pissed off. He was fucking angry. That man thought he could take his woman and use her as a bargaining chip. That wasn’t going to happen.
“Call Ben,” Dawg said.
Ben was the man on Louis Saint’s team he had placed there to keep him updated.
“Man, I’m so sorry. I had no idea what they were doing, and I was just about to call you, I promise.”
“Anything happens to her, Ben, I will hold you responsible, do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Take care of her.”
He gripped the steering wheel tighter. It was the only thing that he could do. Shit!
He was going to kill Louis Saint. That bastard had it coming, and he was going to make sure everyone knew that you didn’t take anything that belonged to Dawg Hampshire.
“Are you okay?” Paul asked.
“Talk to me when I’ve got Lori safe in my arms.”
He knew the risk right now. She could get killed, or she may decide to call everything off, and he didn’t even want to think of that right now. There’s no way he could think of losing Lori.
It wasn’t going to happen.
By the time he got to the gym, several of his men were already there.
“You go in there, you’re going to get killed,” Ryan said.
“There’s access through a tunnel,” Ortiz said.
“Where?” Dawg asked.
On his cell phone, Ortiz brought up the layout of the gym and directed it. “Several of your men are waiting. They can get to Lori. They’ve placed her in the basement fighting grounds. She’s tied to a chair. They can get to her first while we all deal with this.”
Dawg nodded at Paul. “I want you there.”
“I need to stay with you.”
He gripped his brother’s shoulder. “No, you need to make sure she’s taken care of. Please, brother, I’m asking you for no other reason than I trust you. Bring my woman home.”
He saw Paul wanted to argue, but he didn’t.
With a simple nod of the head, Paul headed off in that direction, and Dawg, with his men at his back, began to walk into the gym. He had his gun in his hand, and he held it at his back. To anyone looking at him from the front, he looked calm, collected, and ready for business.
“It’s about time you showed up,” Louis said the moment he walked in. “I was beginning to wonder if I should even do business with you.”