by Sandi Lynn
“Home, Carl.”
“Yes, sir.”
I reached over and grabbed hold of her hand, interlacing our fingers together and staring at the ring Samuel gave her. She looked over at me with a small smile. She was playing me, but in the end, she’d be the one to lose the game.
When Carl pulled the limo to the curb in front of my townhome, she leaned over me and stared at it through the window.
“Is this it?” she asked.
“Yes. Is there a problem with it?”
“No. I just figured a man like you would be living in a penthouse in a high-rise luxury building.”
“I like my townhome. It’s cozy.” I smirked.
I opened the door and helped her out of the limo. Grabbing her bag, I held out my arm once again and walked her to the front door. Once we stepped inside, I let her look around.
“Wow. This is beautiful, Gabriel.”
“Thank you. Like I said, it’s cozy. Shall we go upstairs?” I held out my hand.
“Of course.” She smiled. “How many floors are in this house?”
“Six. My bedroom is on the fifth,” I lied.
My bedroom was the entire fourth floor and the fifth floor consisted of three guest bedrooms, each with their own adjoining bathroom. I led her to the room that was decorated in gray and plum colors.
“After you.” I held out my hand.
She walked into the bedroom and looked around. Setting her purse on the dresser, she spoke, “This seems awful small for a master bedroom.”
“I need to run downstairs and grab something. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay. I’m going to freshen up in the bathroom.” She smiled.
I set her bag down on the floor and grabbed her purse from the dresser. Walking out of the bedroom, I shut the door and locked it from the outside. Running down to Carl, I handed him her keys from her purse.
“Go back to her apartment and grab the briefcase that’s on her bed and bring it back to me.”
“Sir?” He cocked his head.
“No questions, Carl. I will be giving you a large cash bonus for doing this.”
I could hear the pounding on the door coming from the fifth floor. Rolling my eyes, I went back up and politely asked her to stop.
“Let me out of here, Gabriel!” she screamed.
“No can do, sweetheart. Your first mistake was stealing from me, and your second mistake was trusting me.” I smiled as I walked away.
****
Kate
I couldn’t believe this. He tricked me and I fucking fell for it. Damn it! I needed to get out of here. I pulled on the knob and continued to pound on the door, yelling obscenities. Walking over to the window, I lifted it up, but it stopped a few inches above the sill. Damn those fucking child safety windows. I could scream out the window with the hopes that the neighbors would hear me, but if they called the cops, I’d go to jail with him. He’d send them right to my apartment and they’d find all my fake passports. I was trapped in this beautifully decorated room with nothing but a TV for my entertainment. I was tired. So tired and exhausted by the events of the night. He couldn’t leave me in here. He’d be back in the morning to let me out. I knew he would. I decided to make the best of the situation I was in and take a hot bath in the oversized Jacuzzi tub to plan my next move.
****
Gabriel
The pounding and relentless yelling stopped. She called me every name in the book and then some. I sat on the couch with a bourbon in my hand. What was I going to do with her? I wanted my watch or the money back. This little con artist was going to learn that it wasn’t nice to steal from people. As I sat there sipping my drink, I wondered what she was doing. Why did I care? Was she crying? Doubted it. From what I could tell, she didn’t have a sensitive bone in her body. It was apparent she made a living by conning people and Samuel Coldwater was her latest victim. She was smart; incredibly smart, and it was a shame she wasted her intelligence by doing what she did. Actually, it made me sick.
****
Kate
Before climbing into the tub, I pulled off my wig and let down my long blonde hair. When I took out my colored contacts, my eyes returned to the blue color they were. I leaned over the sink and pulled off my latex prosthetic nose and set it on the counter. Looking in the mirror, I stared at my natural self. The men I dated never saw the real me. They only saw what I wanted them to see. But come tomorrow morning, I would reveal my true self to Gabriel. Wouldn’t he be surprised when he found out I wasn’t his type at all. Long brown wavy hair and rich chocolate eyes. It didn’t matter. He already hated me for what I’d done and I hated him for locking me up in this room like a prisoner.
****
Gabriel
I tossed and turned all night waiting for the pounding and screaming to start again, but it didn’t. She kept quiet. I was worried. Would she do something stupid? Nah. She was too strong of a woman to do that. She was plotting her escape. A woman like that wouldn’t just sit back and take what I’d done to her lightly. I grabbed the key to the room off my nightstand and went to check on her. I needed to be careful because she could be hiding behind the door waiting to hit me over the head with something and escape. We needed to talk.
After unlocking the door, I slowly opened it and stood in the doorway and stared at the woman who was sound asleep in bed. I smiled at how her long blonde hair lay over her shoulders as she slept soundly on her side. The sad part was that she was beautiful no matter what color her hair was.
I turned around and headed downstairs, leaving the door open so she could come down when she woke up. She’d try to leave, but I had the place secured so leaving wasn’t an option. I called Grace last night and told her not to come today. I first needed to assess this situation with Hannah or whatever her name was. Walking into the kitchen, I grabbed some eggs and vegetables from the fridge and began to cut them up for an omelet. As I was chopping away, my phone rang. It was my secretary, Lu, calling.
“What’s up, Lu?”
“Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Quinn, but you missed your meeting this morning.”
“Shit. I forgot about it. Reschedule for another time and I won’t be in the office today. If anything comes up, have Thaddeus handle it.”
“Yes, sir. Enjoy your day.”
“Thanks, Lu, you too.”
I went back to chopping the vegetables and heard a voice enter the kitchen.
“You do realize you left the door open, right?” she spoke.
“Yes. I know,” I replied as I looked up and stared at the beautiful woman with the long blonde wavy hair and blue eyes staring back at me. I gulped as my eyes raked over her from head to toe. She was wearing a nightshirt. Short sleeved, navy blue, and not long enough to cover her toned sexy legs. “Have a seat.”
“Why?” she asked as she stood there.
“Do you want breakfast or not?” I arched my brow.
“Coffee would be nice.”
“The Keurig is right there and the pods are next to it. Help yourself.”
“And the cups?”
“In the cabinet above.”
She walked over to the cabinet, made a cup of coffee, and began to walk out of the kitchen.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked.
“Upstairs to the lovely room you provided for me last night. You know. The same one where you’re holding me prisoner.”
“I told you to sit down.” I cracked the eggs in a bowl.
“I don’t care what you told me. I don’t want to sit anywhere near you.”
She was testing me. Seeing how far she could push me. Playing me.
“I said sit down!” I spoke in an authoritative tone. “We have some things to discuss.”
“Like you letting me go home?”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that just yet. Not until your debt to me is paid off.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she snapped. “You can’t hold me here against my will. In case you didn’t know
, Gabe, that’s called kidnapping.”
My blood started to boil at the fact that she once again called me Gabe. I hated that name and I wouldn’t stand for her calling me that.
“It’s Gabriel for the last time!” I shouted.
She snickered. “Someone has a deep-rooted issue.”
I inhaled a sharp breath.
“The omelets are almost ready. Please sit down.”
Chapter Nine
Kate
I was hungry and his omelets did smell good, making the growling in my belly intensify. I took a seat at the table in the kitchen as he placed an omelet on my plate and set it down in front of me.
“What? No toast to go with this fine omelet?” I asked.
“Do you want toast?” He cocked his head at me.
“Yes.” I smiled.
He huffed and took the bread from the cabinet and placed it in the toaster that sat on the white and black specked granite countertop.
“What do you like on your toast?” he asked.
“Nutella.”
He sighed. “I don’t have any Nutella. What else?”
“I only like Nutella.”
“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, sweetheart. I have peanut butter, jelly, or butter. Take your pick,” he spoke in an irritated tone.
“Forget it. I don’t want toast.” I silently smiled to myself.
The toaster popped and he took the two pieces out and threw them on my plate.
“Too bad. I already made it. Eat it dry, then. I really don’t give a damn.” He scowled.
He took his plate, sat down across from me, and began eating his omelet. Fuck, he was so sexy. It could be worse, right? One way or another, I was getting out of here today and leaving New York.
“So, Gabriel, do you have a last name?” I bravely asked.
“Do you have a first?” His brow raised at me.
“I have many first names.” I smirked.
“No shit. Judging by all those passports, you must have what? Twenty or so?”
“About.”
“Name?” he asked.
“What name do you want me to have?” I slyly smiled.
He slammed his fists down on the table and I flinched.
“Damn it! Why can’t you answer a simple question?” He got up from his seat and threw his plate in the sink.
He walked over to me, turned my chair around, and gripped my arms tightly with his hands. His face was mere inches from mine.
“You want to play games. Fine. I’m in. This is how it’s going to work. You stole thirty-thousand dollars from me and I want it back. Since you seem to con so many rich men, you must have a huge bank account or stashes of money hidden somewhere. Until I get paid, you don’t leave this house. I have a high-tech security system, which will remain on at all times. If you even think about opening a door or a window, it will go off and I’ll be alerted. I have security in front of the house and in the back. You try to step one foot out of this house, they will stop you.”
“First chance I get, I’m calling the police,” I spoke.
“Go ahead. I have your briefcase full of your aliases and the keys to your apartment. I’m sure somewhere around this world you’re wanted and your ass will be going to jail for a very long time,” he spoke deadpan.
“I don’t have thirty thousand dollars.” I looked away. “I can give you the ring Samuel gave me as partial payment.”
“No. You’re giving the ring back to him. You will not screw that poor man over. I’m sure he’s devastated enough over the fact that he can’t get hold of you. So what you’re going to do is write him a letter of apology and tell him you had to leave town, put the ring with the letter, and I will have someone deliver it to his office.”
I couldn’t help it. It was a gut reaction. I spit in his face. I hated people telling me what to do. I expected him to go into more of a rage, but he didn’t. He just grabbed the napkin off the table and wiped his face with it.
“Do that again and you’ll be sorry,” he spoke in a calm tone.
“Why is Samuel so important to you?” I asked.
“Because he’s a friend and I don’t like people fucking with my friends. Now I’m going to get you a piece of paper and a pen and you’re going to write that letter. Understand?”
“Computer,” I spoke.
“What?” His eye narrowed at me.
“No handwritten letter. It must be typed. He could have the handwriting analyzed and it could come back to me.”
“How?” he asked in confusion.
“I don’t know. But I’m not taking any chances.”
“Fine.” He grabbed my arm and led me out of the kitchen.
“Let go of me.”
“And take the chance of you running? No thanks.”
“You already said I have no chance in hell of getting out of here, so where would I run to?”
He led me to his office and set me down in his high back burgundy leather chair. Opening his laptop, he pulled up a Word document.
“Type.”
“What the hell do you want me to say?” I asked.
“I don’t know. You’re the expert at lying. You can steal from people without them knowing, but you can’t type a simple letter?” His brow arched.
Rolling my eyes, my fingers began clicking across the keyboard.
“There. Good enough for you?” I spoke with an attitude.
“Good enough.” He hit the print button and the letter spewed from his printer.
When he went to grab the paper, I stopped him.
“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”
“What? Why?”
“He could have it analyzed for fingerprints. And if he does, how would you explain your prints all over the paper? Common sense, Gabriel.” I smiled.
“So what the hell do I use?”
“Do you have a pair of gloves?”
“In the closet, I do.”
“Then I suggest you get them, and we’ll need to wipe the ring clean before you stick it in the envelope.”
“Wait a minute. Wouldn’t your fingerprints be all over his place?”
“Liquid adhesive bandage.” I held up my hands to him and wiggled my fingers.
He took in a deep breath, closed his laptop, and spoke, “Are you serious?”
“Yes. I’m very serious.”
He slowly shook his head. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”
Within a matter of seconds, he returned to his office with a pair of black leather gloves on his hands. He folded up the letter, put the ring in a small plastic baggie, and retrieved a long envelope from his drawer. Pulling out his phone, he made a call.
“Carl, I need you to deliver something for me.”
“Wait,” I spoke.
“Hold on, Carl. What?” He looked at me.
“You need to put it in his home mailbox because he’s going to interrogate every person in that building until he finds out who delivered it. If you use a delivery service, he’ll contact them and they’ll describe you or whoever you send. It’s too risky. But wait; he has security cameras inside and outside his house. He’ll see you.”
“Forget it, Carl.” He sighed as he ended the call. “Now what?”
“Let me take it to a delivery service.”
He laughed. “Hell no. You think I’m stupid? You aren’t leaving this house, sweetheart.”
“Fine. Then mail it for overnight delivery but type his address on a label. No handwriting.”
His eyes narrowed at me. He was either delighted that I knew so much or disgusted. I couldn’t really tell. As he prepared the label, I looked around his office. Pictures of him and his dad, I presumed, sat on a bookcase that was filled with books. On his desk sat a picture of him and a younger guy, someone who was as equally as handsome as he was.
“Who’s this?” I asked as I picked up the picture.
“My brother, Caleb.”
“He’s cute. I bet he’s a real lady’s man like his brothe
r.” I smirked.
“Put it down.”
When he moved me out of the way to open the top drawer of his desk, I caught a glimpse of something. A stack of post-it notes that read: From the desk of Gabriel Quinn. How the hell did I know that name?
“Oh my god. You’re Gabriel Quinn of Quinn Hotels,” I spoke.
“I wondered how long it was going to take you to figure that out.”
“Yeah. I’ll admit that I’m a bit disappointed in myself for not figuring it out sooner. Well, well,” I leaned back in his chair, “Mr. Gabriel Quinn is a kidnapper.”
“I’m no kidnapper. You stole something of mine and I want it back. I’m simply keeping you around until that happens.” He pointed at me. “I’m not taking the chance of you hopping on a plane to god knows where and me never seeing my watch or my thirty thousand dollars again.”
“You have all the money in the world. Thirty thousand dollars is change to you.” I rolled my eyes.
“Believe it or not, thirty thousand dollars is a lot to me, and when someone decides to steal something of mine, I don’t take it very lightly. Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Out of my office. In fact, you need to go back up to your room. I have to go out for a while.”
“Seriously? You’re going to keep me locked up in that small room while you’re gone? There’s nothing to do up there.”
“Watch TV. Same thing you’d do if you were down here. Now let’s go.”
“But the kitchen is down here. What if I get hungry or thirsty?”
He took hold of my arm (I was really getting sick of him doing that) and led me to the kitchen. Opening the pantry, he grabbed a bag of chips and some almonds. Then he walked over to the refrigerator, grabbed two bottles of water and an apple and handed them to me.
“There, you have your snacks and drink. You’ll be fine until I return.” He grabbed my arm again and took me up to my room.
“You know what? You’re a real asshole, Gabriel Quinn!” I shouted as he shut and locked the door.