A/N: Thank you for all of the awesome reviews. And thanks to my beta: Leeese! There's also a poll in my profile for readers to vote on the next story after this one is complete.
Disclaimer: Don't own OTH
Chapter Twenty Three
"I still don't think this is a good idea," Lucas told Nathan as they parked in front of the jail.
"Do you want Mom back or not?" Nathan asked him. Lucas didn't answer. "Stay here. I'll go in and talk to him."
"Yeah, he'll tell the truth to his favorite son," Lucas muttered.
Nathan turned to him. "I may be his favorite son, but that doesn't mean I've enjoyed it. After all, you were able to do anything that you wanted to. Manage the family restaurant. Go out on dates. I could never do that. I was always doing jobs for Dan."
"It's not like you were forced to do it. You had a choice," Lucas pointed out.
Nathan wasn't convinced. "Did I? Because I don't see it that way. Dan has always expected me to help him out. Especially when it came to carrying out jobs. I didn't mind it at first until they started to get riskier. The only thing he didn't ask me to do was to kill."
"I wouldn't be surprised if he did," Lucas replied before Nathan climbed out of the vehicle. "Good luck."
Nathan nodded before he hurried into the building. A few minutes later, he was sitting in a chair, watching through the glass as Dan was brought in. He looked surprised as he saw his son sitting there. Dan sat down in his chair and picked up the phone. Nathan repeated the action. "Hello, son. I didn't expect to see you here."
Nathan knew that there was no time to lose. "I'll get straight to the point, Dan. I want you to take Brooke off of your hit list."
Dan gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"
Nathan glared at him. "Don't give me that shit, Dan. Mom is missing. We think that she has been kidnapped and is being tortured to tell your men where we hid Brooke." Neither he nor Lucas had told their wives that part as they had thought that it was best to keep that a secret.
"Your mom is missing?" Dan asked him. Nathan was about to respond, but his father didn't let him answer. "Look, I may have wanted Ms. Roe killed before, but I decided that her murder wasn't worth losing my son over."
"Do you mean me or Lucas?" Nathan snapped.
Dan knew that he had a point. "I've already lost one son. I wasn't ready to lose another." He then looked straight into Nathan's eyes as he continued. "So I'm telling you that I do not have anything to do with your mother's disappearance. She may be my ex-wife, but I still love her."
Nathan could tell that he was telling the truth. "Do you have any idea who could have kidnapped her?"
"No, I don't," Dan admitted. He wished that he did. He was dying to know who had kidnapped his ex-wife. "I have many enemies. It could be any one of them."
"You don't think that your men could have done this on their own?" Nathan asked him. "To finish the job that you asked them to do?"
Dan was thoughtful for a moment. "It was every man for himself if we ever got caught," he replied. "Cooper was the second in command while I was gone. But he is in jail and there is nobody left to give orders."
"So you weren't planning on making me take over the business?" Nathan asked surprised.
Dan shook his head. "No because I knew that you weren't planning to do that job forever. And I wasn't going to force you to."
Nathan was confused. "You threatened me that I would lose Haley if I didn't do the jobs that you asked me to. But now you're not making me take over the business? Why?"
"Because I know that you wouldn't be able to handle the job," Dan replied. "I didn't want to admit it, but you're more of a family man."
Nathan couldn't argue with that. They talked a little bit longer before Nathan headed back to the car. Lucas waited impatiently for him to tell him the good news. However, he shook his head. "Dan says that his men don't have Mom."
Lucas raised his eyebrows in disbelief as he asked, "And you believe him?"
"Lucas, he looked straight into my eyes and told me," Nathan exclaimed. "If Dan's men have Mom, he doesn't know anything about it."
"So if it's not Dan who has Mom, who is it?" Lucas asked.
Nathan thought for a moment. "Maybe we should drive over to Mom's place and see if we can find any clues."
"I've already called Peyton about that while you were talking with Dan," Lucas replied. "She said that she had found a cell-phone on the ground outside. Just out of curiosity, she was checking the text messages and found the final text message that the person sent to their boss about Mom. Guess who their boss is?" Lucas asked his brother.
Brooke was busy scribbling on a piece of paper when Haley joined her in the living room. She looked over her friend's shoulder and raised her eyebrows. "Wow, you really have been thinking about baby names and you don't even know if you are going to have a boy or girl," Haley said amazed.
Brooke smiled proudly. "Well, I've always wanted a family. And I hope that I will be able to find out early like you did so that I can narrow down the list." She then turned to Haley. "Speaking of names, have you and Nathan came up with any names for my nephew?"
"We haven't really have had time to sit down and discuss names," Haley reminded her. "But I'm thinking of James, after my dad."
Brooke tried not to laugh as she looked down at her list. "That's funny because I have 'Jayden' as a possible name."
"Maybe they can be Jamie and Jayden, the Scott cousins," Haley suggested with a smile. "Of course, that will only work if you are having a boy. Not to mention have our husbands' approval."
Brooke gave her a smile in return. "I'm sure that I will have no problem convincing Lucas that our son should be named 'Jayden'. It's just the middle name that I'm not sure about."
"So I guess you think it's a boy then?" Haley asked her.
"I hope it is," Brooke replied. "I would love to have a son who is exactly his daddy. I just wish that Dan wasn't his grandfather." There was then a short pause. "I do hope Deb is ok. I feel that it's all of my fault."
Haley looked at her. "You have nothing to feel guilty about. It's Dan who pulled the trigger and killed Daunte. You just got caught in the middle of it. Everyone knows that including Deb. She doesn't blame you. So you shouldn't." Brooke was about to protest when she stopped her. "Deb will be fine, ok? Trust me."
Brooke wasn't convinced, but she didn't have a chance to say anything as they heard a nearby pop. They exchanged worried looks as Rachel rushed into the room. "Was that what I think it was?" she asked them.
"It was a gunshot. I know it," Brooke replied. She recognized the sound from the night that she had watched Dan shoot Daunte. "It sounded like it came from next door."
Rachel nodded in agreement. "You two stay here. I'm going to go check it out," she said. "Lock the doors and don't let anyone in. If I'm not back in ten minutes, call the police."
"What if it's a distraction to have you leave the house?" Haley pointed out as she got up from the couch. "So that whoever's after Brooke can come in?"
"I can leave you my gun," Rachel suggested. Haley gave her a look. "Look, I'd rather go unprotected than leave you two without any protection. You should have it just in case."
Haley wasn't convinced. However, Brooke knew that Rachel was right. "I don't feel comfortable with a gun in the house either. But we do need something to protect us while Rachel's gone."
Haley sighed. "Fine, but it's just while you're gone." She didn't say anything until after Rachel left to get the gun from her glove compartment of her car. "Maybe I should go instead of her. That way, Rachel can stay with you."
Brooke gave her an incredulous look. "I'm not letting my pregnant best friend go out there alone in the dark."
"But it's my neighbor," Haley pointed out. "And I don't like the idea of any of us going out there alone. Even Rachel. So why don't we all go?" she asked. "I don't care if Rachel objects. I'm going to go anyway."
Brooke sighed. "Alright, we'll tell Rachel when she comes back in." She then got up from the couch and they waited for her to return. However, the minutes ticked by and nobody came through the front door. "I wonder what's taking her so long."
"Maybe she changed her mind about leaving the gun with us and went to check that house anyway," Haley said. "I wouldn't put it past her if she did. She probably doesn't want to deal with two hormonal pregnant women."
"Maybe one of us should go check up on her," Brooke suggested. "She's been gone too long."
"Be my guest," Haley replied as she settled back down on the couch and started reading a magazine. "Come back in if she's not by the car."
Brooke nodded as she headed out the door. She walked over to the car and immediately noticed that she wasn't there. She sighed as she headed back into the house. She opened the door and walked into the room before she closed and locked it. "Well, she wasn't there," she told Haley as she headed into the kitchen.
"I told you," Haley said, not looking up from her magazine. "Do you think you could get me more pretzels or chips? My wacky cravings are coming on again."
"Yeah, I'll get them," Brooke promised. "Which ones do you want?" she called. "Pretzels or chips? Because whichever bag that you don't want, I'll eat. My wacky cravings are finally acting up too."
"I don't care," Haley called back as Brooke grabbed both of the bags from on top of the fridge. "I just want a snack."
"You're getting the chips then," Brooke called. "Because I'm in the mood for pretzels." She started munching on the pretzels when she felt a hand go over her mouth and a gun cocking behind her.
"Don't scream," the man warned her. As he spoke, she realized that his voice sounded familiar. She wished that she knew where she had heard it before. She nodded as he let go of her mouth. "Get back in the living room," he ordered in a low whisper.
"I'll do anything as long as you don't hurt my friends," Brooke whispered back as she turned around and was surprised to see the delivery man who had delivered her flowers the night that she had been kidnapped. Before she could say anything, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back into the living room.
Haley was confused by the sight. However, she stopped the minute she saw the gun in the man's hands. He pushed Brooke on the couch as another man came in. He too had a gun, but he kept it at his side. However, he also had a couple of several long cable ties in his other hand. "Sorry to interrupt your evening, ladies, but we have some business to discuss," the second man said while the two men tied Brooke and Haley up.
"Look, I know why you are here. You can take me. Just spare Haley and Deb," Brooke begged them.
"Wow, I can't believe that my plan actually worked," another familiar voice said as the person walked into the room. Both Brooke and Haley were surprised when they saw Carrie standing there. "Of course, it helped that Dan went after you the first time."
"So Nathan was right! You are the one who is after Brooke!" Haley exclaimed angrily.
Carrie just smirked at her. "Actually, you're wrong there. I'm not after her." There was a short pause before she spoke again. "I'm after your husband."
"Wait, you were talking about Nathan this whole time?" Brooke exclaimed. Carrie had always talked about a guy who she really liked, but couldn't have because he was already taken.
"That's right, Beth. I thought that his wife would leave him after she found out his dirty little secret, but I guess I was wrong. But it's not a total loss. I'll get Nathan and your baby."
Haley glared at her. "I'll never give my baby to you," she exclaimed angrily.
Carrie nodded in agreement. "You're right. I'm sure you won't. That's why I'm going to make sure that you die from complications during childbirth," she said.
Haley looked at her hard, unable to believe what she was hearing. "You're not going to wait until my due date, are you?" she asked her hesitantly.
"Of course not. I don't have that type of patience," Carrie replied. "Besides, I don't want Nathan and your brother-in-law to find you before then."
"What are you planning to do to me? And Deb?" Brooke asked. "I assume that you have Rachel too."
Carrie didn't answer as she turned to the second man. "Owen, take Haley to the van. And have Jason and Nick bring Deb and Rachel in." Owen nodded and forced Haley to stand up and walk. Brooke wanted to go after her, but the delivery man was still pointing his gun at her. She watched helplessly as he pulled Haley through the front door. Carrie then looked back at Brooke. "As for you, I'm afraid that our so-called friendship is over. Although, I don't think it really began."
Brooke glared at her. "What are you planning to do to me?" she repeated.
"I'm going to finish the job that Dan's men were sent to do in the first place," Carrie replied, making Brooke speechless.
