Chapter 138 Impatience
Chapter 138 Impatience
JAXON’S POV
“We need to leave right now.” Nathan turned to me, voice quivering with undisguised rage.
It pulled me out of my thought, but it still took a moment for me to react to what he said, because I took in a deep breath myself.
“No.”
His face twisted.
“No?”
“What do you mean by no?”
“You just saw the video. Nancy’s crying; he’s hurting her!
He moved as though he wanted to return the iPad to Orion, but then he flung it onto the sofa before Orion could reach for it.
“I’m done waiting around; I need to return to New Jersey.” He said, beginning to pace around the room like he was already mapping out his plan of action.
“Nathan?” I called to grab his attention a couple of times, even before he looked at me.
“It isn’t the right time yet.”
“When the fuck will that be exactly? What the hell are we waiting for?! He exploded, staring at me as if I’d lost my mind.
I inhaled deeply once more.
“I told you earlier, we can’t act rashly or it’ll put her in danger…”
“Are you sure that’s it? Or are you just hesitating?” he cut me off to say.
The words stung quite a bit, especially when read with deeper intent. It somehow made it seem like I was intentionally stalling in saving Nancy when that wasn’t even my intention.
I was just as anxious as Nathan. The only difference was that his anxiety was on display for all to see.
“Nathan, don't say that. You know Boss has been trying to ensure we bring her back safely. That’s what we all are trying to achieve,” Orion interjected, glancing at Nathan, who ran a hand through his hair messily.
“Well, the longer we wait, the more danger she’ll be in. We have to act now!”
“No, we can’t,” I insisted.
Irritation was flickering to life within me at how impulsively Nathan was trying to act, but I shoved it down because I understood him.
He had every right to be anxious; after all, it was his twin sister who had been taken, and it didn’t make it better that my daughter had been the reason for her unexpected return to New Jersey.
“Why not?” Nathan snapped.
“What the hell are we waiting for?”
“You don’t understand, Nathan,” Orion cut in again. “Boss is waiting for him to make a mistake and create a gap we can exploit to get her…”
“We won’t find a gap unless we create one. You think Hudson’s going to wait around like we are? He wants Nancy for fucks sake, and now that he has her, you think he’s just going to put her on display?”
My mind circled his words, then trailed back to the feed from moments ago, to his hands around her waist.
My forehead throbbed, but I held on to rationale. The last call with Hudson had given me all the information I needed to guess at his thoughts and figure out where this was going. I’d based my plan on that, and I was struggling and warring internally to not let my actions be swayed.
“No,” I said flatly. “If we move now, we’ll be playing right into his hands. This is exactly what he wants.”
Nathan’s brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
I gestured to the iPad he’d thrown on the sofa. “Do you think being able to find this is a mere coincidence?”
It was obvious that the charity event wasn’t exactly a public one. Yet, the video had managed to make it out. If Hudson hadn’t given his approval, could it have?
Nathan was too blinded by anger to give in-depth thought to the contradictions being presented, but I wasn’t.
His brows pulled tighter. “That’s bullshit…”
“He knew we’d see it,” I said with even more certainty before he could question my derived logic.
“He intended for us to see it, and all along, he has been acting with purpose.”
“Boss is right,” Orion chipped in, nodding slowly. “The feed wasn’t easy to get, but it also wasn’t as locked as it should have been. There seems to be something fishy about it, and that’s why I wanted to show Boss.”
Nathan looked between us. “So what? This is a trap?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t mean we should just sit here!” Nathan responded, refusing to back down.
I stepped closer to him and let my voice drop. “I know how hard this is for you, but if we go in there blind, it’s not just Nancy who will be in danger; we all will.”
“If we are all injured or….” I swallowed, unable to let the word out. “There will be no one left to save her.”
Nathan’s breathing slowed but remained uneven. “So what do we do? Do we just wait for him to kill her?”
“He won’t kill her,” I responded firmly.
“How do you know that?”
“Because he called me.”
That shut him up for a second.
He blinked. “He what?”
“He wants me there.”
Orion’s expression sharpened. “New Jersey.”
I nodded once.
Nathan let out a disbelieving laugh. “Then we shouldn’t be waiting anymore!”
“No,” I said again, more firmly this time.
“We have to prepare.”
He dragged a hand through his hair again. “Jaxon, this isn’t a business deal; this is Nancy!”
“I know exactly what this is.”
My voice came out colder than I intended, but I couldn’t help it. Nathan’s growing frustration was heightening mine. I didn’t like that.
“Hudson’s plan is to bait me. If we leave without adequate preparation, we’ll fall right into his trap, and either way, Nancy will remain with him.”
I couldn’t let either of those scenarios play out, and I needed Nathan to understand that.
“So what’s going to happen? Do we just let him be? Do we just let him be?”
I held his gaze.
“No, we’re going to win.”
Silence stretched between us.
Nathan’s fists clenched. “What if something happens to her before then?”
I didn’t answer immediately because the truth was that something had already happened.
My mind returned to the feed, to Nancy’s face staring back at me, frozen in a moment of pain I hadn’t been there to stop.
Letting her go was a mistake, one I wished I hadn’t allowed to happen.
Nathan was still watching me, looking like he would explode from the intensity of his emotions.
I couldn’t avoid his gaze, so I called out to Orion.
“Orion.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Get me everything on that venue. Entrances, exits, security rotation, blind spots.”
“Also, have our men be on standby; we leave for New Jersey soon.”