“I wondered if you were going to call. You’re cutting it close,” he said when he answered the phone.
Taryn gripped the steering wheel tightly and kept her eyes on the road. “I have the money.”
“I had no doubt.”
Just the sound of his voice made her want to hit something. “We both know you had me followed.”
“Well, I couldn’t exactly let my best seller get away, now could I?” he asked with a chuckle.
“You have my sister. You know I’ll do whatever you want.”
Boyd made a sound, and she heard the rattle of ice cubes as if he were taking a drink. “I do hope there will come a day when I don’t have to use Payton to get you to do what I want. You could make a fine living working for me. I treat my people well.”
“I would disagree.”
“Now, Taryn,” he admonished with a click of his tongue. “You know that isn’t true. Have any of my men laid a hand on you? Have you been raped? The answer is no. Trust me, I could make your life so much worse than it is.”
She didn’t think she could hate anyone as much as she did Boyd. “You kidnapped my family and me. Took Payton away and made me work to pay off my father’s and brother’s debts. And you want me to be thankful? I can’t. I won’t.”
“You and Payton have been treated well.”
“I need your word that you’ll have Payton there as agreed. I’m returning with five hundred thousand dollars in exchange for my and Payton’s release.”
“I gave you my word. I won’t go back on that. Your sister will be here, and you’ll get to talk to her like you’ve longed to do.”
Taryn shook her head, even though he couldn’t see it. “You’re going to have my sister beside you, right? Not have me looking at her through a window. I want to see Payton. I want to hug her, touch her. She’s all I have left.”
Boyd sighed dramatically. “You want to make sure she’s still here, and you haven’t been doing all of this for a sister that’s been dead. Admit it.”
“Of course, that’s what I want!” The minute the outburst happened, Taryn regretted it. She winced and drew in a steadying breath. “I watched my father and brother be killed right before me. I just want to make sure Payton is fine.”
“She is.”
“Can I talk to her now?”
“I would absolutely allow that, but I’m not near her right now. You’ll have to take my word for it. She’s hale and hearty. Shortly, you’ll get to see for yourself.”
Taryn went to hit the steering wheel but stopped short of doing it. She was worried that she had gone too far with him, and he wouldn’t bring Payton tonight. “I’m only a few hours out. I’m really looking forward to seeing my sister.”
“Then you’d better hurry.”
The call disconnected. Taryn blew out a breath. She didn’t call Jace. There was no need. Cash had put a tracker on her phone that let them know where she was and allowed them to hear any calls she made and see any texts. She wanted to call him, to hear his voice, but she didn’t. He was likely loading up and heading out.
Taryn sat up straighter in the seat. “I can do this. I will do this. Because I don’t have a choice. But also because my husband”—she paused and smiled at the word—“my husband and his friends are risking everything for Payton and me. So, yes, I will face the man who killed off my family one by one and held me against my will. I will face the man who forced me to sell drugs to keep my sister safe. Hold on, Payton. I’m coming. We’re going to be free of Boyd this night.”
The words helped greatly, but as she drove, her mind began to wander. It thought up dozens of different scenarios where Brick killed Jace and the others. It wasn’t until her imagination created a scene where Boyd killed Payton that Taryn reached over and turned up the radio. She searched until she found a song she liked, then she turned it up even more and sang along. If she didn’t, she would drive herself insane, thinking of all the different ways things could go wrong instead of going over the plan like Jace had told her to do.
The drive seemed to take an eternity. Forty-five minutes from the city, Taryn turned down the music and began saying the plan out loud over and over again. She went through it in her mind as if she were already at the warehouse. She even went through the backup plans and locations they’d discussed. She was calm and ready.
Or so she thought until she slowed the car and pulled into the gated drive for the warehouses. A fence encircled the entire property. It had five entrances, and each of them had a guard shack with at least one man on duty—all armed. These weren’t your everyday rent-a-cops. They were ex-military. But Taryn wasn’t worried about Jace and the others running into them. They were getting onto the property another way.
She pulled up at the guard post and rolled down her window so he could see her face. Taryn recognized him, though she didn’t know his name. He was of Polynesian descent with dark skin, eyes, and hair. Tall with bulging muscles. Not someone anyone messed with, which was why he stood guard.
He jerked his head toward the back seat.
Taryn rolled her eyes. “It’s a bag of money. As I’m sure you know, Boyd is waiting for me. Open the gate so I can go in.”
He stared at her for a long minute before he jerked his head to the bag again.
Taryn unbuckled and twisted around to grab the bag. She dragged it into the front with her and opened it to show him the cash.
“The other,” he bit out.
She went through the bag for him. He even made her go through the bag she had left with. Once she had, Taryn dumped everything in the back seat again and then faced forward to put the vehicle in gear.
“Open the trunk.”
Her head snapped to him. “Excuse me?”
Instead of replying, he quirked a brow.
Taryn blew out a breath and put the car in park again before pressing a button on the door to pop the trunk. That’s when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see a man walking around her car with a mirror attached to a long pole, the kind they used to look for bombs. She chuckled to herself. If she had actually thought that would work, she would’ve done it a long time ago.
“Clear!” the guard said after he closed her trunk.
This time when she put the car in gear, the guard opened the gate. Taryn didn’t look at him as she drove away. Once through, she glanced in the rearview mirror to see the guard speaking into a phone. No doubt he was alerting everyone that she had arrived.
The closer she got to the warehouse, the more her hands shook, and her heart raced. When she finally parked the car and turned off the ignition, she was breathing as if she had run a marathon.
“I can do this,” she told herself as she closed her eyes.
When she opened them, Boyd stood in front of her car, wearing a smile. And beside him was Brick.
Chapter 24
By the time the helicopter with Jace, Cooper, and Cash flew to Fort Worth, Jace was ready to get boots on the ground. After the chopper landed atop the building and they’d disembarked, the three of them gave a wave of thanks to the pilot—Clayton’s friend Doc. He would remain on standby in case there was trouble, and they needed out of the city quickly.