“Turner, you can’t walk out of here with her,” Kaeden said, trying to get the man to realize his best course of action was to let his wife go and surrender while they were all still alive.
The officer walked up then, his hand already reaching for his sidearm. Kaeden didn’t want it to come to that. Not with Jane’s mother in the way.
The officer tried to negotiate next. “Sir, let’s talk about this calmly. Whatever’s happening here, I’m sure we can work it out.”
“My wife is going home with me,” Turner called out. He seemed to look around then, as if finally taking in the reality of the situation. Fuck, this was going to get bad if Turner panicked. “She’s coming home with me,” he said again, this time more firmly as though simply saying it could make this all go away.
Kaeden saw Chad and Jack come around the other side of the building, moving slowly so they didn’t draw attention to themselves. He pushed Jane behind him and shifted closer.
“Sir, we want everyone to walk out of here. I’m sure that’s what you want, too, isn’t it?” the officer called out. Then he did the worst thing possible. He called attention to Jack and Chad by gesturing for them to move back. “I’m going to need you folks to stand back.”
Jane’s stepfather spun, wrenching her mother along with him to face them, before spinning back to face the officer again. Kaeden heard sirens in the distance.
He felt the burning need to get Jane’s mom out of there before this escalated.
“Let her go, Turner,” Jane said. “I’ll go with you if you let her go. You can hold onto me until you get out of here. No one will stop you.”
Kaeden’s gut churned at her words. No way could he let her walk away with Turner. He couldn’t stand back and let that happen.
The officer glanced her way. “Stand down, miss. No one is going anywhere with this man.”
Kaeden couldn’t blame her for trying. If his mom was the one in danger, he’d want to do the same thing.
Time seemed to stretch as they faced what was looking to be an insurmountable problem. They couldn’t get to her mom and Turner was showing no signs of giving up. The only good thing here was that he didn’t seem to have a weapon, but Jane’s mother was so frail looking, Turner wouldn’t need one to do serious damage to her.
As Kaeden watched the man’s face, he seemed as though he was digging in, deciding to fight his way out of there. Digging in and getting ready to make the kind of decision that would lead to a lot of loss for Jane and her mom.
Kaeden caught Chad’s eye behind Turner and knew without being told Chad was about to make a move. The former Army Ranger wasn’t the kind of guy to sit by and let things turn pear-shaped without doing something about it. And when Chad moved, Kaeden was going to be ready to move, too.
Chad shouted at Turner, getting him to spin his way again.
Kaeden moved, going for a punch to the back of the man’s head, hoping like hell they could take him down before he could hurt Jane’s mother.
The officer was shouting at them, but Kaeden didn’t care. He saw Logan race in and grab Jane’s mom giving Kaeden and Chad a clear path to Turner.
Kaeden didn’t hesitate. He hit him, then hit him again until the man went down. Turner fought back, hitting Kaeden in the side of the head with something. From the feel of it and the pain that crackled through his skull, it must have been a rock. So much for the guy not having a weapon.
Kaeden felt the blow and went whoozy with it, but he kept at Turner. With Chad and Kaeden together, Turner didn’t stand a chance. They had him pinned and rolled onto his stomach with his hands at his back in no time.
He was cursing, face red as he told them all they’d be sorry for this. That his lawyers would be suing everyone. God this man had paid his way through life, buying everything he wanted, paying off those he needed to, and punishing anyone who didn’t do what he wanted with lawsuits or threats.
Kaeden shoved back as the officer came in and cuffed Turner.
Jane ran to her mother, but then spun to Kaeden, putting her hand to the side of his head. Kaeden winced at the touch.
“You’re going to need stitches,” she said, then she turned back to her mom, trying to hold her mom and Kaeden at the same time.
Angry bruises were already forming on the older woman’s throat, but she was holding Jane’s face, kissing her cheeks.
Both women were strong. So damned strong. Kaeden couldn’t imagine what it had taken for Jane to stay away from her mom all this time, knowing she might be in danger, but also knowing if she was with her it might be worse.
Chad pulled Debra Carson’s wheelchair around for her and Jane helped lower her mother into it.
There were more police units pulling up on the scene and by now, people had begun to gather in the parking lot to see what was happening.
“We need an ambulance here!” Jack called out. He was kneeling by the man who’d been injured before they arrived and Kaeden could see blood beneath the man’s head on the sidewalk. He had a feeling that man had felt the blow of a rock, too, only he seemed to have gotten it much worse than Kaeden.
He was groaning and seemed to be coming to, but Jack was telling him not to move.