Love Inspired Suspense April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Laura Scott (speed reading book .txt) 📖

us either way. That’s what you had in mind all the time, isn’t it?” Paige asked.

Reva shrugged. “Would you rather die now or later? Makes no difference to me either way.”

“I’d rather not die at all.”

FOURTEEN

Paige made her move. She rammed her elbow up and back, catching the man who held her in the chin. The crack of bone told her she’d made hard contact. Blood spurted, then sprayed, its warm stickiness coating her shoulders and neck. Couldn’t be helped.

Taken by surprise, he released her.

She spun so that she now faced him. The hate-filled glare in his eyes promised retribution. Too bad. She wasn’t going to give him time to exact it.

“I ain’t gonna take it easy on you ’cause you’re a woman,” he said as he wiped his chin.

“I don’t expect you to.”

She struck out with her foot, aiming at his chest. When that didn’t faze him, she followed up with another kick, this one to his knee. That brought results as he clutched his injured leg.

He gave a guttural groan.

He moved in, and she danced away, sparing a glance to see how Liam was doing with his opponent. Liam was well over six feet, rangy with lean muscle, but his opponent had bulked-up shoulders and arms thick as tree limbs.

“Worried about your man?” her opponent taunted. “You should be. He’s no match for Cable.”

The Cable in question was at least six four, with arms ropy with muscle and sinew. He probably outweighed Liam by fifty pounds or more. The glint in his eyes said he was relishing the fight.

Paige put it out of her mind. Right now, she was too busy ducking fists the size of Virginia hams. A blow from them could easily knock her out.

He had a tell, a muscle in his jaw twitching, when he was about to throw a punch. She used that and came in hard and fast before he struck her, catching him in the gut with her own fists. Though she lacked his power, she had speed and agility on her side. The stunned expression in his eyes when she hit him gave her a fleeting satisfaction, but he wasn’t down.

Neither was she.

She looked up, expecting to see Reva hightailing it out of there. Instead, the woman stood to one side, avid gaze riveted on the fights, reminding Paige of spectators watching battles to the death in ancient Rome.

She’d deal with Reva soon enough. Right now, she had to make her man angry enough to lose control.

“Big guy like you ought to be able to take on one puny woman. Guess you’re not so tough after all, huh?”

Nostrils flaring with insult, he charged. She was ready and reversed the energy of the attack in a move known as irimi nage. He went down hard, his head hitting the concrete floor with a reverberating thud. She wasted no time in securing his hands in flex ties.

Liam had disabled his opponent and had him on the ground, a knee in the man’s back. “Was it you and your partner who vandalized my house and threatened my son?” He yanked up the man’s head.

“Yeah. So what?”

“I’m going to take special pleasure in seeing both of you put away for a long time.” As Paige had with her man, Liam bound the man’s hands.

The two men were out, but Reva was still very much a force to be reckoned with.

She broadened her stance, her .357 Magnum held on Paige and Liam. “Bravo. You are both to be congratulated on taking out those two fools. It’s a good thing I stuck around to make sure the job was done right this time. If I’d done that earlier, you wouldn’t still be around getting in my business.” Without further fanfare, she fired.

Liam fell to the floor.

Paige’s heartbeat faltered at seeing Liam fall. Rage such as she’d never known filled her. She advanced toward Reva when she saw Liam wink. Reva had missed the shot. Renewed hope gave her the energy she needed, so when Reva raised the revolver again, Paige didn’t give her time to use it but kicked it from the woman’s hand, then delivered a right cross to her jaw.

Reva was down. For her own good, Paige hoped she stayed that way.

Paige secured Reva’s hands behind her. She pulled out her cell and punched in 911, gave her name and the address.

“Where’s Jonah?” Liam asked.

“I’ll get him.” Minutes later, she returned with a frightened-looking Jonah in her arms. She set him down, and he ran to his father.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, buddy. It’s me. How ’bout a hug?”

Jonah wrapped chubby arms around Liam’s neck. “You won’t send me away again, will you?”

“Not on your life. I can’t get along without you. You’re my best buddy.”

“The bad men told me that you weren’t coming,” Jonah said, a break in his voice, “but I knew you would. I told them that, but they just laughed.”

Upon hearing that, Paige wished she could put a hurt on the men again. Wanting to give father and son time together, she gave a statement to the police when they arrived. Reineke showed up shortly after the locals. Predictably, he wanted to know why she and Liam hadn’t called him when Liam first received the call regarding the kidnapping. Paige soothed ruffled feathers and explained that they weren’t certain Jonah was being held at this location and that they had had to act fast if they were to save him. It was a feeble excuse at best, and she flushed. But when Reineke continued to harp on their going off on their own and not involving the police, she’d had enough.

“What would you have done if it had been your son, Detective? Would you have called the cops for backup or would you have gone after him yourself?”

That quieted his objections.

Liam, Jonah and Paige were finally allowed to leave the factory. After they had Jonah checked out at the hospital and his rope burns were treated, they returned to the house. By tacit agreement,