Chapter 30
Mike dropped to the ground and scooped Lynn into a hug.
“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
Lynn shook her head. “No, I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”
He squeezed her tightly. The emotions were rolling in now. When he’d first found the cabin, he was still in a state of panic. He had no way to be sure that it was the right place, or who was inside, but the GPS coordinates pointed there.
Really, he should’ve waited for backup. He knew that.
But he couldn’t wait. When he peeked into the window and saw Lenny, he was ready to kick the door down. He didn’t have to, of course. When he tried the doorknob, it was open.
The rest was a blur.
Holding Lynn now, the mixture of relief, and fear, and regret overwhelmed him. Mike felt like he was going to cry, which was anextremelyunusual situation for him. He held onto her, hiding his face until the feeling passed.
When he was finally able to pull away, he loosened his grip and looked at her. “I’m so sorry, Lynn. I had no idea, I – ”
She smiled. “It’s okay! It’s not your fault.”
“Yes it is.”
Lynn smiled at him, eyes shining with tears. “You found me.”
She was still sitting on the floor. What was he thinking? Mike offered a hand to help her up and walked her over to the couch. “I had that trace on Lenny’s phone. I didn’t know anything was wrong. I was focused on Benzini closing the deal. But after Lenny had been missing for a while, I decided to see what he’d been up to. That’s when I saw that he drove to Bellingham.”
“Yeah,” Lynn said, rubbing her head. “That’s how it all started, I guess.”
He’d let Lenny out of his sight for one night. One. Night. “Yeah.”
“He has a gun,” Lynn said, pointing down at Lenny’s increasingly active body. He was starting to groan and shuffle his limbs. “He pulled it on me right before you came.”
A fresh plume of rage erupted inside of Mike. He walked over to Lenny and pulled the gun from his suit jacket.
Typical Lenny, dressed like an idiot. It was one of his ultra-tight suits that he thought made him look tough.
There was a bullet loaded in the chamber of the gun. For a terrifying moment, Mike had the urge to pull the trigger and make sure that Lenny never woke up again.
But he knew it was wrong, no matter how angry he was. Disgusted, he dumped all of the bullets out and put the safety on for good measure.
“Do you think he’s going to wake up soon?” Lynn asked.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never actually knocked anyone out before. He’ll have a stiff concussion.”
“There’s tape over here, in case you want to, well…you know.”
Lynn started to get up, but Mike held up a hand. “Please, sit and rest. I’ll get it.”
He walked to the kitchen to grab the tape. Clearly, Lenny had been using it on Lynn. Mike could see the marks on her wrists. His stomach churned every time he looked at the bruises.
After securing Lenny and adding a large piece of tape over his mouth, Mike returned to the couch.
“Your arms are all scraped up,” he said, gently surveying her bloodied forearms. “What happened?”
“Oh, that.” She laughed and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I tried to run off, but I didn’t make it. Lenny caught up to me.”
“He knocked you down?”
