Changing Affection

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ezra walked into his room and reached under his bed. He pulled out a large container and placed it down on the bed. Opening it up, he looked at the six handguns inside of it. He had multiple clips beside them filled. He grabbed a gun and loaded the clip into it before placing it on his waist holder.

A knock sounded on his door before he heard it open. He turned around to see Aubrey standing in the doorway. A worried look was plastered on her face. Her hand was still on the doorknob, hanging on tightly. Her eyes kept darting back and forth between his guns and him. He knew that she didn't like them, but they had to have them. It made him feel better if anyone was to come and try to take her away from him again. 

"Aubrey?" He took a step towards her. "What's wrong?"

"Have you seen Dad?" Her jaw kept clenching. 

Ezra shook his head slowly, growing worried. "Not since he showed me the room yesterday." He grabbed her hand off of the doorknob and held it tightly in his hand. "Let's go and look for him. I'm sure he's here somewhere."

He led her out of the door and through the house, looking in each of the rooms. They stepped outside when they couldn't find him in any of the rooms. Asher was standing outside the door with a large AK-47 across his chest. He turned around to look at them, his eyebrows raising in question. 

"What are you doing out?" he asked them ruffly.

"Have you seen Dad?" Aubrey's voice was extremely worried now.

Asher's eyebrow rose again as he slowly shook his head. "No, I haven't."

"He's not in the house," Ezra added.

Asher shrugged. "He hasn't walked out either. I've been at this door all morning and Rylan was out here at night." He motioned around him. "He didn't say anything about Decan leaving."

Aubrey snapped her head up to Ezra. "What if Jearon came and took him?" Her hand tightened around his. 

"I'm sure that isn't what happened," Asher spoke up quickly. "No one has been on this property besides us." He looked firmly at Aubrey. "Jearon is not getting onto this property."

Ezra wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her protectively close to him. "Let's just go back inside, princess. He's somewhere in there. We could have just barely missed him." He nodded thanks to Asher before turning Aubrey back into the house. Once they were inside, he started to have a strange feeling about where Mr. Hallquist could have gone. He had this weird, gut feeling that he wasn't here, but he didn't leave because he was forced to. He left on his own. Now, Ezra needed to figure out where he was.

If someone had taken him, he would have figured it out or heard it. There were four other men walking around the perimeter of the property keeping an eye out for anyone who might try to come in or out.

He left on his own. He had to. 

---

Jearon smirked and leaned forward as he watched Mr. Hallquist walk over to the front of his desk. Mr. Hallquist crossed his arms and gave him a stone-cold look. "What do I owe this visit, Mr. Hallquist?" He tried to hide the amusement in his voice, but he wasn't very good at it. 

"You promised me that he would be dead, Jearon," Mr. Hallquist sighed impatiently at him.

Jearon shrugged. He winced when he forgot about the hole in his shoulder which caused pain to go down his arm. "I told you it was going to be hard to kill him."

"I even handed him right to you," Mr. Hallquist continued. "I even gave you permission to have my daughter."

"You'll get your share of my kingdom, Mr. Hallquist," Jearon leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll have Ezra dead, your daughter as my wife, and you as my business partner. I assure you." He looked up at Mr. Hallquist. "I didn't expect this behavior from him, honestly. I thought that I had put the best man in charge of bringing your daughter to me so we could finalize our agreement. I hadn't known that he would become a traitor and take her away."

Mr. Hallquist was silent before he spoke up. "I can show you where I took them. The men I have there will be easy for your men to kill if you're careful."

Jearon's smile lifted. "You've been gone too long, Mr. Hallquist. You need to head back before your daughter figures out that you're missing." He waved his hand to one of the tatted men in the room and watched as he ushered Mr. Hallquist out of the room. Before Mr. Hallquist left, Jearon saw him hand the man a piece of paper before walking out of the door.

"Is that the address?" Jearon asked when the door was completely closed. The man nodded. "Let's get ready."

—-

Ezra led Aubrey into his room and locked the door behind them. He sat her down on the bed and loaded the rest of the clips into the guns.

"Ezra?" Aubrey's small voice called out to him.

He ignored her as he looked out the large window watching the men circle the house. He didn't hear her move across the bed and touch his back. He spun around quickly. Shaking his head, he tried to clear his thoughts. Something was wrong. He knew it but didn't know what was going to happen.

Aubrey ran her hands up his chest and locked her fingers behind his neck. "Ezra," her eyes searched his face. "What's wrong? What's going on?"

He started to shake his head and open his mouth when she interrupted him. "Don't give me any bullshit, Ezra. What's going on?"

He hesitated before he answered her. "Something's going to happen, Aubrey."

She cocked her head to the side and gave him a confused look. "What do you mean? Do you think it has anything to do with Dad?"

Ezra nodded slowly. "I do. I don't know what he did, but he did something." He paused.

Aubrey unlocked her fingers and slowly sank down to her knees on the bed. "Do you-" She paused. "Do you think he went to Jearon?"

Ezra didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think that this whole kidnapping scenario was planned by both Jearon and Mr. Hallquist. He knew that his silence was causing her to freak out, but he didn't know what to say to her. He didn't want to lie, but he wasn't about to tell her the truth of what he was thinking. He watched as she sunk further onto his bed and laid down.

"He is," she whispered. She wrapped her arms around herself. "He is." She looked up at him with big, scared eyes. "He went to Jearon. Do you think that all of this is because of Dad?"

Ezra bit his lip as he sat down next to her. "I'm going to ask you something, Aubrey. Was your dad having any financial problems?"

Aubrey scooted closer to him. "I don't know. He never talked to me about any of that." She sat up and faced him. "If he was having financial problems, do you really think he would run to Jearon?"

Ezra shrugged. "If he was having financial problems, he probably would." Ezra wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her onto his lap. "Jearon has a large operation that brings in thousands of dollars every shipment. If your father is having financial problems, he could have turned to Jearon for help."

Aubrey picked at her nails and wouldn't look at him. "Do you think he sold me to Jearon?"

Ezra tensed up causing Aubrey to look up at him quickly. He looked over at the window and tried not to think about her father selling his only daughter for money. After a couple of moments, he felt Aubrey's head rest in the crook of his neck.

"Tell me I don't have to leave this room," she whispered to him.

Ezra held onto her tighter and placed a soft his on her forehead. "You never have to leave this room, princess."