Gaffe Out Loud

by Christy Barritt

  I tried to move, but it was no use. My arms and legs were bound to an old rickety chair.

  Who had done this? Why?

  It had to be Adam.

  Was he mad because I was talking to his wife?

  I shook my head. No, I didn’t think that was it. There was something I was missing, and my subconscious seemed to realize it before my conscious did.

  I’d have to think about those details later. For now, I needed to try and figure out a way out of this place.

  I tugged my arms again until they ached, until my wrists felt raw.

  Whoever had tied me up had done a good job. The ropes were tight.

  I let out a sigh and glanced around. Maybe there was another way. Because I wouldn’t be getting my hands out of these ties without some help.

  The kitchen wasn’t too far away—maybe eight feet. If I could scoot there, maybe I could somehow grab one of the knives from the butcher block on the counter. Then I could saw my way out of these ropes. It seemed like a decent idea.

  With a little effort, I managed to hop in the chair across the carpeted floor.

  Nothing sounded around me, so I assumed no one was here. Maybe that meant I had a little time to figure this out. A little time until the culprit returned.

  I prayed that was the case, at least.

  Was Jackson looking for me? Or was he so upset that he didn’t care anymore?

  My heart panged at the thought. I hoped that wasn’t true, but things had felt rocky lately. And they’d probably only be getting rockier. Maybe Jackson was realizing he should cut his losses now.

  My heart panged again. I couldn’t think like that.

  Finally, I made it into the kitchen. As I stared at the counter, I wondered exactly how I was going to do this. It was considerably higher than my hands, which were bound behind me, were. And even if I stood, the chair still attached, my fingers still weren’t high enough to reach that butcher block.

  I glanced around. There were drawers. I might be able to reach into them. Maybe there were some steak knives in one.

  I had to find out. It beat sitting here and doing nothing.

  I still had no idea who had done this or what this person planned on doing with me.

  When he or she came back, would it be my final moments?

  Was this the person who’d sent me the blackmail picture?

  Jason?

  Jennifer?

  Michael Mills? No, he was still in the hospital. No way could he do this.

  But what if his father was working with him? What if that whole my-son-is-guilty thing was a ruse?

  No, I didn’t think that was it. I was abducted inside Adam and Annie’s home. Adam was the most likely suspect.

  And what about Annie? She’d been on the deck when all of this happened. Had Adam grabbed her as well? Had he hurt her?

  My head pounded harder. I had no idea.

  Instead, I stood. I strained to reach the knob and finally my fingers connected. I jerked the drawer open. Craning my neck, I spotted silverware inside.

  But not sharp knives.

  With a groan, I shut it and moved on to the next drawer.

  Serving utensils. No knives.

  This wasn’t looking good. There was only one more drawer, but it was near the corner. My chair would make it nearly impossible to reach it.

  I stretched my hand upward, trying to do the impossible, but it was no use.

  The last drawer wouldn’t be opening.

  I sighed and glanced around. There had to be something else I could do.

  I thought back to all of my episodes of Relentless. What would Raven Remington do?

  I remembered one show where she’d managed to bust the chair she was tied to. With the chair in pieces, she freed her hands and feet and later escaped.

  Did I dare try that?

  I glanced at the linoleum floor beneath me and shuddered.

  It would be painful. I could break a bone.

  But at least I’d be alive. It was worth a try.

  I placed my feet on the floor and rose, the chair rising with me.

  Trying to gather all my courage, I closed my eyes and lifted a prayer.

  I could do this.

  I could do whatever was necessary to survive. It was what every strong heroine did.

  But before I could enact my plan, the front door opened.

  I froze where I was, and adrenaline caused my heart to jerk an extra beat. I couldn’t see the door—I could only hear it as I faced the kitchen cabinet.

  And I wasn’t sure I wanted to look.

  “I don’t know what you’re planning, but I wouldn’t. I just wouldn’t.”

  My gaze fell on the person who’d stepped inside.

  “Adam,” I muttered, placing the chair back on the floor. “You’re behind all of this?”

  I wasn’t entirely surprised.

  He jerked someone in beside him and shoved her in front of him.

  Annie. Her eyes were wide with fear and her posture was slumped.

  “I’m sorry, Joey.” Annie’s voice shook with each word. “He told me I had to get you inside or he’d kill me.”

  Adam extended his gun. “And if you don’t cooperate, she’ll die.”

  He’d hurt Annie? That took all of this to an entirely different level.

  “No one needs to get hurt,” I muttered. “I’m sure we can find a solution here.”

  “I hope we can.” Adam shoved Annie until she landed on the couch in a crumpled heap.

  “What’s your endgame?” I asked, straining my neck so I could see him from my position facing the counter. I quickly tried to formulate a plan using all of my non-training.

  He smirked as he walked over. “You wouldn’t have to be involved with this at all—except you had to get nosy. You didn’t think I saw you following me today?”

  I swallowed hard. Maybe I needed to get a different car. Maybe my bright red Miata wasn’t the best for tailing people.

  “I was just trying to look out for your wife,” I said. “You should let her go and start a new life. There’s no need for more people to get hurt because of your actions.”

  He smirked again. “I read the articles about what happened between you and your husband. At least your maid came forward and verified your story, right? Verified that he’d left you for dead. I can’t imagine what you went through.”

  He jerked my chair around. My neck snapped and the pounding in my head became more prominent. When I finally pulled my squinting eyes open, I saw Adam loosely holding his gun toward me, as if it were a toy.

  “Where are we?” I asked, my teeth clenched with anger, fear, and pain. My arms hurt. My wrists hurt. Even my ankle had started hurting again.

  I would break my thumb, I decided. That’s what people did on TV. How hard and painful could it be? Then I could slip my hands from the ropes and escape.

  I tugged at my thumb until pain rippled through me.

  It wasn’t broken. Not even close. How did people do that? Or was it just another Hollywood ploy?

  “I rented a second place, just in case I needed a getaway,” Adam said.

  “A getaway from your wife?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Everyone needs their own space so they can do their own thing.”

  “Just go and have your flings,” I told him. “There’s no need to take this too far.”

  His smirk turned into an all-out smile. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you? I tried to get you to shut up. I rigged your deck so it would break and keep you quiet. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.”

  There was something I was missing here. This wasn’t just about a bad marriage and an affair.

  The breath left my lungs as a theory formed in my mind. Could I be right?

  I let out a dry laugh.

  I felt certain I was.

  There was so much more to this, wasn’t there? And I’d been blind to it all.

  But Adam had killed Desiree.

  It all made sense now.
r />   Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “You killed Desiree, didn’t you?” I muttered, disgust roiling in my stomach. I was dealing with a man who would destroy as many lives as necessary to get what he wanted.

  I glanced behind him at Annie, hoping she might do something to help. Grab a lamp. Try to sneak away.

  But she remained curled in a ball, almost comatose.

  If we got out of this situation, it would be up to me.

  The thought was horrifying—but I couldn’t let that hold me back. Someone had to be the hero here—or die trying.

  I tried not to think about the dying part.

  “Desiree was a little too . . . too . . .” Adam pressed his lips together in a dramatic, overblown thinking pose. “I can’t think of the word. But believe me, she had to go. I didn’t want to do it. But she kept pushing, and I knew she would only get in the way.”

  I thought about the picture of Sam and me. The blackmail demand. I remembered Jason and his situation. “But this isn’t just about your relationship with Annie, is it? It goes deeper than that. You’re the one who’s been blackmailing people.”

  Adam’s gaze lit with impressivication. Yes, I’d made that word up. But it was fitting. And I loved it.

  “And here I thought you wouldn’t live up to the character everyone keeps mistaking you for,” Adam muttered, glowering down at me. “I was wrong.”

  “I’m assuming you took the photo of Desiree with Jason as well?” The picture continued to grow clearer in my head. Adam’s scheme was far-reaching, and I was probably just skimming the surface here. “You put Desiree up to it. You told her it was a quick way of making money and that no one would get hurt—that was a big fat lie. Then you blackmailed Jason and took his money.”

  “Very smart, Ms. Darling. Go on. Let’s hear what else you came up with.”

  “I’m guessing Desiree started having second thoughts.” At least if I died, I would die with answers. Sadly, that brought me a small measure of satisfaction.

  “That’s right. She felt guilty. Said she loved her boyfriend. One thing led to another, and she became a liability.”

  “I’m also guessing that you do this all the time.” Adam was no amateur at this. His lack of anxiety clearly showed that. He was experienced.

  “Maybe.”

  “How do you find your victims?” I asked.

  “You’d be surprised at how easy it is. All you have to do is be a student of people and you can read the misery on them—hotels and the beach are great places to gather information. It only takes me about a day of watching someone before I know if they’re good victim material.”

  “What a talent.”

  Adam shrugged as he stood in front of me, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world. “I think we’ve talked enough. Let’s get down to business. You need to transfer ten thousand dollars into my offshore bank account. If you don’t, I’m going to kill you . . . and Annie.”

  I sucked in a gulp of air and glanced at Annie. She still stared blankly to the distance.

  “Why kill your wife?” I asked. “Why don’t you leave her out of this?”

  His nostrils flared. “Because she has some lessons to learn also. I told her to mind her own business, but she didn’t obey.”

  Adam must know that his wife had seen him with the other woman today. Then again, this probably wasn’t the first time he’d cheated.

  “Now, about the money . . .” Adam locked his gaze on mine.

  “It’s going to be a little hard to transfer money since I’m here with my hands tied. Literally.”

  “Don’t worry—I thought that through.” Adam shoved his gun in his waistband and grabbed a laptop computer from a bookshelf in the distance. He pulled up a chair and sat down in front of me. “Give me your password.”

  “What?”

  “Give me the name of your bank and your password. I can do the rest.”

  If I gave him that information, he’d see what was in my bank account. He’d transfer all of it. And I’d be broke again. Financially ruined. I’d have nothing to fall back on.

  Annie living was more important, of course. I just didn’t want Adam to win. To get what he wanted and kill us.

  I only wished I could think of a way to get out of this.

  But I had nothing.

  I was at Adam’s mercy. And so was Annie.

  I swallowed hard before blurting, “I can’t remember my password.”

  Adam’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean exactly what I told you. I can’t remember my password. It’s a chronic problem I have. Ask anyone.”

  “Then how do you usually check your bank account?” His voice rose with agitation. This hadn’t been part of his plan.

  “Easy. I have an app on my phone, I put my thumbprint there, and ta-da! I have my information.” Didn’t he know anything about modern banking?

  “I guess it’s too bad you don’t have your phone right now, isn’t it?” He scowled and stared at me, as if I’d planned this mystery.

  “I try to make things as easy as possible for the criminals in my life.”

  “You think you’re funny, don’t you?”

  “People say that’s my best quality.” Stop talking, Joey. Stop talking.

  “I’m sure we can think of a way to get around this.”

  “If I guess the wrong password too many times, my online account will freeze and I won’t be able to do anything.”

  This apparently wasn’t the way Adam normally did business. No, he usually asked people to leave cash in garbage cans. He might be experienced, but he was simple-minded.

  “Are you stalling for time just to mess with me?” His voice came out as a growl, and he shoved his laptop closed.

  “Why would I do that? I’d just be delaying the inevitable. I’m telling the truth.” I tugged against the ropes around my wrists. They still didn’t budge.

  “Maybe you’re hoping your knight in shining armor will come rescue you.” A malicious grin spread across his face. “Don’t worry. I sent the picture to him also.”

  I sucked in a breath. “You what?”

  Adam grinned, looking entirely too satisfied. “I decided to have some fun with Photoshop. And since I have you right now, which is an even better way of getting money, what does it hurt?”

  Anger surged up my spine, and I struggled against my binds again. “How can you even live with yourself? All you do is go around ruining people’s lives to try to better your own.”

  “I can live with myself just fine—as long as I’ve got cash.” There wasn’t even a hint of regret in his voice.

  That realization turned my stomach. “You’re despicable.”

  Adam shrugged, unaffected one second and the next instant in my face. He squeezed my jaw and forced me to look at him. “Now we’re going to stop talking, and we’re going to get this figured out.”

  “I already told you. I don’t know my password.” Pain traveled up my face, but I tried not to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

  “Then we can call the bank. There is a password recovery system.”

  He let go of me by shoving me back. My heart beat harder as the direness of the situation hit me.

  I stared at him. He seriously didn’t get it, did he? “You think they’re going to let me transfer that amount of money over the phone?”

  “I do.”

  “It will take at least twenty-four hours to go through.” That was if he was lucky.

  “That’s okay. As long as I get it.”

  That meant Adam wasn’t planning on letting me walk away from this. Then again, I already knew that, didn’t I? The confirmation wasn’t one that I wanted.

  I needed to think harder about finding a way out. But my hope was beginning to fade.

  “Look, aren’t there better ways to earn money?” It was a long shot, but I had nothing except my words.

  Adam rushed over toward me and leaned down until our noses practically touched. I shuddered
at his close proximity. At the feeling of his uneven breath on my cheek. As I could sense the anger pulsating from him.

  “This is the way I’ve chosen, and stop trying to convince me otherwise. Now, enough talking.”

  He stormed across the room and grabbed Annie. She snapped from her stupor, and terror filled her face as Adam squeezed her arm.

  My breath caught.

  This was not how I wanted things to go. No, no, no!

  “If you don’t figure something out, I’ll shoot her,” Adam growled. “Don’t test me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “I’ll do whatever you want,” I finally said, my voice quivering with fear. “Give me the phone. I’ll call the bank about my password.”

  I’d do anything to ensure Annie was safe from her maniac of a husband. Why? Partly because I wished someone had done it for me.

  “You think I’m stupid? I’m not handing over a phone to you.” Adam shoved Annie back onto the couch.

  “How else do you propose we go about this, then?” I really had no other ideas.

  He paced a moment before pausing and turning toward me. “You’re going to send an email to the bank. And I’m going to watch you.”

  That wasn’t going to work. But I needed to explain it to him in a way that wouldn’t set off his temper. “But I’ll need to log onto my email account in order to get the new link for my new password.”

  “And that’s a problem?”

  “Sure it is. I can’t remember my password to sign in online.”

  He growled again. “I should have figured. You’re a piece of work, Joey Darling. You mean to tell me you memorize pages and pages of scripts?”

  “Numbers are totally different.”

  He growled again.

  “Look, I’m trying to think of a solution here.” Sadly, I wasn’t lying. I couldn’t remember passwords to save my life.

  He shoved the gun into his wife’s side, causing Annie to gasp with pain. “You’d better think harder.”

  Panic surged through me. Why couldn’t I have left to begin filming early? Then none of this would have happened. Or if I’d minded my own business.

  But it was too late for that now.

  I had to think and quickly.