"Where's Amy?" he demanded, swinging his leg over the top of his bike. He left his SUV behind in case Amy needed to use it.
"She ran inside your house a few minutes ago. She’s safe."
"I want you to put eyes on her right now. Find her and put her on the phone," Jared shouted. “I want her voice.”
Avery's hand came down on Jared’s shoulder. Jared whipped around to glare at him, but Avery just shook his head. "Let's take my car. You're not gonna be able to talk to your guy on that bike."
Jared jerked his head in a nod, hopped off his bike and ran toward Avery's car, a 1967 Firebird, restored to original condition. Though Avery loved the beautiful car, he wasn’t a car person, something the guys teased him about.
As the car roared to life and Avery hit the gas, taking them out of the job site at speed, Jared waited, his heart in his throat. Finally, Enrico came back on the line. "Can't find her, she's not inside the house.”
A rush of fear and anger hit Jared hard and it took him a few seconds before he could speak again. "Search everywhere. Her father has her and he's unstable. He could kill her."
"Gotcha. We're on it, boss."
Jared hung up and shouted into the car, "Son of a bitch, motherfucking hell."
Avery didn't say anything. Something else that made him a good man. He kept his nose out of it until invited.
Jared was impressed with Avery's driving. He took the corners at the highest speed he could, hitting the gas as soon as he was on the other side and racing up the street until they were at Jared's place. Jared was out of the car before it even rolled to a stop. He spotted his guy standing on the front lawn with several firemen whose hoses were aimed at Amy's house.
Even though Jared was sure that Amy wasn't inside, his heart froze at the sight of those giant flames leaping out of the roof of her house. It was going up fast and she was missing.
He shouted for Avery, who started to turn around. As Jared was passing his garage the door started open. Jared leapt back, bringing his fists up, when Amy came hurtling through the door. Tears were streaming down her face and she didn't immediately see Jared, nearly running past him. He reached out to catch her arm, but she screamed in pain and jerked away from him.
"It's me, baby, it's me."
She stopped, looking around in confusion, trying to see him through her tears and the smoke streaming from her house. As soon as she spotted him she flung herself into his arms. He noticed that she was cradling her arm. He held her tight, careful not to squish her arm, which he suspected was broken.
"Talk to me, baby."
"My… my… f-father …" She couldn't get the words out, but Jared got the gist.
"Enrico." Jared jerked his head toward the garage, the door was now completely open.
Enrico stalked inside, his big body blocking their view as he raged toward a figure huddled on the ground. He leaned down and gripped Amy's father by the back of the neck, yanking him to his feet. He turned and dragged the older man from the garage, tossing him into the driveway.
Michael Funk rolled over, showing them his face, which was spray-painted completely silver. His eyes were closed and his features were twisted in a grimace. He was shouting obscenities at Amy.
"You stupid little bitch, you've ruined everything again."
Already enraged, Michael's comments pushed Jared over the edge. Gently he set Amy aside and then launched himself at her father, dropping down and punching him in the side of the head so hard that the man's skull cracked against the pavement, bouncing up and then back down again. Jared knew that he only had a few seconds to finish this before cops and firemen were crawling all over him. He didn't hesitate and he didn't look at Amy. He launched his fist into Michael’s face, then followed it up with a flurry of hits to the chest and stomach.
When he was done, he leaned over Amy's broken, bleeding father and growled, "If you want to survive the night, you stay down and you keep your mouth shut. I got people on the inside. Not even a prison cell will keep you safe."
Jared stood and turned to look at Amy, half afraid that she’d be horrified by his actions. So far, Amy hadn't seen him do anything illegal. He wanted to keep it that way. There were certain parts of his life that she didn’t need to know about, and his ability to beat a man to death was one of them.
He didn't need to worry though, the second he freed himself of her father she launched herself back at him and wrapped her good arm around his neck, clinging to him and soaking his shirt in tears.
Sure enough, the police surrounded Amy's father and separated him from Jared. Jared shrugged; if he wanted to get at the older man, he would.
Jenna came over to reassure them that she would make sure the girls and Teagan were picked up from school. Jared nodded his gratitude and told Jenna to do whatever he she thought was right in the situation. Amy was in no condition to make any decisions. His heart broke for her, for her present and her past. He vowed that he was going to make sure nothing like this happened again in her future. After everything Amy and her siblings had gone through, they deserved the best of everything for the rest of their lives and he was going to make sure they got it.
Jared rushed Amy to the hospital where she was told that she had a hairline distal radius fracture. She was treated with a short cast on her forearm that would stay on for six weeks. Jared told the doctor to check for smoke inhalation, but Amy was declared perfectly healthy, except for the fracture, and able to leave.
When they returned home, it took the fire department two more hours to completely extinguish the fire in Amy's house. Though they couldn't tell her much, they did tell her that the house probably wouldn't be salvageable. Amy cried over the loss of her home, the few things that had been left inside, and all the memories, good and bad, forged inside that home.
Several hours later, once Amy calmed down, Jared was sitting with her on the couch, running a soothing hand down her back and massaging the spot just above her butt where she tended to carry tension.
"Is there anything I can do?" Jared asked her.
She twisted around to look at him, her beautiful eyes still swimming in tears. She shook her head. "No, we'll get over it. We'll move on. It just hurts… you know?"
Jared gathered her against his chest and smoothed a hand down her hair. "Yeah, I get it. Enough is enough. No more death, no more fires."
She nodded miserably. "Exactly."
Jared tipped her face up so that she was looking at him, so that she could see how serious he was. "I promise that I will never let anything like this happen to you again."
She gave him a watery smile. "You can't make a promise like that. It's impossible to predict the future."
Jared smiled down at her. "That's where you're wrong, baby. I got your future all mapped out and I can promise with absolute certainty, nothing bad is gonna happen again."
She looked at him seriously, the smile fading from her lips. Then she nodded. "Okay, I believe you."
Twenty
"Let me take care of the Ghost situation."
Jared was on the top floor of one of the job sites, wearing his hard hat and directing the rest of the project.