Chapter Text
“Fucking kidding me.”
Jake twisted his arms in desperate attempt to free himself. No one looking at him would guess he had served on an elite team of the Special Forces; a tech specialist with master combat training. No. Not when this was Jake’s second time getting kidnapped in the same number of weeks. Second time, y’all. During the fucking Christmas holidays too.
The first time, Jake had gotten roughed up. The culprits this time around were different, he assumed because they hadn’t hurt him. Even the ropes twisted around him, though tight, had a silken feel. Jake had spent a hot minute forcing himself to just sit still and breathe. To wrack his brain for possible perpetrators.
Terrorists? Someone connected with the Bolivian crime group that The Losers busted a couple years ago? Had the Lithuanian warlord managed to escape from prison?
But why the back and forth? There hadn’t been much talking when he was kidnapped the first time. This time, he woke up alone, blindfolded, not a whisper of another presence near him. His wrists were bound behind his back and knotted to some kind of wooden pillar; he had barely any reach to explore his surroundings.
Jake stiffened in place. He could hear a door sliding open, feel frosty air sweep his way.
~
“Oh my god.” You dropped everything you were holding. You only barely caught your name falling like a question from Jake’s lips.
Sight returning to him, Jake gasped in relief at your appearance before him. Like a guardian angel, you were tugging at the ties on him and looking so beautiful and fierce Jake could have kissed your right then. It wouldn’t have been the first time he was compelled to do so.
Busy trying to undo his bindings all the while swearing quietly to yourself allowed Jake to take you in more fully. A pinch in his wrist snapped him out of his dopey admiration for you.
“Shit, did they get you too?”
You glanced at him and kept working until he was free.
“We gotta figure out where this place is. I don’t know who these people are but” –
You took a deep breath. “Jake.”
He looked around for his glasses. “You got a phone on you?”
As a matter of fact, you did. And it was time to give a strongly worded call to Narin.
“Yeah. I’ll grab it.” Reaching into your bag, you asked, “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
He peered through the glass of his glasses and put them on.
“I’m good.” He watched as you dialed and held the phone to your ear. When he tried to speak you held up your hand, gesturing for a moment. You did a double take at him and Jake’s eyes grew wide seeing you march right up to him.
You yanked him by the front of his shirt down and stared at his forehead. How had you missed it?
You were so close to him, your breath feathering against his mouth as Jake blinked back at you, confused. “What”--
You pulled away and huffed as the call connected. “MOTHER. This is not happening.”
~
You had endured a stressful drive in the snow because your mother insisted, begged, for you to join her for a holiday getaway to the upstate cabin. You had encouraged your driver to book it back to civilization without a second thought because the road conditions were getting more than iffy.
What the fuck.
“This is not it. I cannot believe you!”
“Darling, I explicitly promised you a most satisfying gift. You know how special Yuletide is. You used to love baking and decorating with me.”
“This isn’t at all the same” – You sucked in another breath, face warming with embarrassment in front of poor Jake. “I am calling Narin to pick us both up.”
“Sweet girl, Narin’s not driving all the way there. She already helped me stock up the cabin and tied a beautiful bow around your gift. Besides.” You could hear the clinking of glass in the background and just knew she and Narin were celebrating the success of this torture they were putting you through. “Nicholas swore the storm would hit upstate right about now. Within the hour. There’s nowhere for either of you to go. So get cozy and enjoy. You work too hard, dear.”
“Nicholas?”
“My favorite weather reporter.”
The one with the eye patch. May heaven help him in the hands of your mother.
“This is unacceptable,” you said.
“What’s unacceptable is that you haven’t given me grandbabies yet.” She sighed dramatically. “So I had to bridge the gap between you and”--
“Mother. You will send a car to us as soon as weather permits I don’t care if they drive here at ten miles per hour I am not”--
“Oh, no dear, the storm must be messing with our phone lines. I…can’t…hear–stay there…”
Your eyes rolled upward, listening to your mother’s version of a spotty connection.
“Oh, and we’re shutting down your phone for the next forty-eight hours. Love you so much, darling!”
You looked at the phone in your hand. No amount of swipes and presses brought it back to life. That would be Isak’s work, your mother’s hacker.
Jake called your name gently. You looked over at him.
“I’m so sorry, Jake.”
“What’s going on?”
You sighed before seeking those crystal blue eyes of his, gentle now and patient. Then you looked just above his brow and grimaced. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
~
Jake peered at his reflection. In the mirror, the writing was now visible to his eyes.
Printed clearly in black ink on his forehead: SON-IN-LAW