by Katie Reus
When her doorbell suddenly rang, they both froze, but he moved into action first, a smooth and lethal predator. “Are you expecting anyone?” He stepped around the countertop as if to go answer her door.
“No, but do you really think it’s a good idea for you to answer my door, a wanted felon?”
He froze and she could see him fighting the urge to take charge.
“I’m answering the door. You’re either here when I get back or you’re not.” She knew there was a good chance he might run. Maybe that would be easier in the long run, though she still had no idea what to do about the knowledge of those bank accounts.
Instead of waiting for a response she turned away, because she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to stay or not. Yes, she wanted answers but he was on the run for his life. Wasn’t like he was doing so well for himself. Maybe she’d be better off reaching out to…someone. She wouldn’t talk to the local cops, but one of the guys at AA had a brother who was a Fed.
When she looked through the peephole of her front door, she froze for a moment. What the heck? Opening the door, she stared in surprise at her stepfather’s assistant, Zach Foster. Though after seeing the pictures and short anecdotes on Ellis’s whiteboards, she didn’t think Zach was an assistant at all. More like a hired criminal, from all accounts. Even if he didn’t look like what she thought a criminal would. And yeah, she knew that was stereotyping but he wasn’t covered in tattoos, his blond hair was cut military short and he had an easy, affable smile that made him seem approachable. He even wore khakis and a polo shirt.
“Is everything okay? Is it my stepfather?”
He nodded. “Your stepfather called you multiple times yesterday. And texted you. You didn’t respond and he got worried. Since I was in Miami, I told him I’d stop by to check on you.”
Okay, this was beyond weird. She raised an eyebrow, not bothering to hide her confusion or annoyance. “I’m fine, as you can see.”
“Did you just get in?” he asked, making her frown again.
“Excuse me? Why?” A little tingle started at the base of her skull. Something weird—well, weirder—was going on. Why would he even ask that? Had he been watching her house or something?
He lifted a shoulder. “Your stepfather is just worried about you.”
The truth of that statement wasn’t reflected in his eyes.
So she sighed, wanting to deflect any more questions at this point. “Look, I’m dating someone new. I stayed over at his place last night and I turned off my phone.”
The tension in his shoulders eased. “You have a new boyfriend?”
“I wouldn’t call him that. I just started dating him. He’s a teacher too. It’s very new so I didn’t want to mention anything to Vitaly.”
He nodded and took a small step backward, now half-smiling in understanding. “Just make sure you text your father so he knows you’re okay. I told him it was no big deal, but you know how he worries.”
She wasn’t so sure it was worry, but more of a need for him to control everything. He’d been like that with her mother too, but her mom hadn’t cared so Arianna hadn’t either. Now…she wondered if he really was into money laundering and drug running—and murder. Bishop had her questioning everything, and the truth was, she’d always suspected that Vitaly had been capable of…
She cleared her throat. “I will,” she said, though she had no doubt that Zach was going to call Vitaly immediately anyway. She also wanted to tell him not to stop by her house without calling but it would be rude and she just wanted him gone. They talked only a few more moments before she made a quick escape and shut the door behind him.
As she stepped back into her kitchen, she saw that Ellis was gone. She stopped and listened but didn’t hear him moving around anywhere. Shoving out a sigh, she stepped toward the island. She wasn’t sure how she felt about him being gone—or what she was going to do with her new knowledge.
“Is it normal for him to stop by your house unannounced?” Ellis’s deep voice sounded right behind her, making her bite back a scream.
But she couldn’t stop from jumping in shock as she turned to face him. “I thought you left.”
“Still here. So?”
Her heart was still racing but she shook her head. “No, it’s not normal. It’s very, very out of the ordinary. It’s not like he lives in the city and I don’t buy that he just happened to be in Miami. I actually didn’t realize he knew where I lived, to be honest.” So today was just getting more and more concerning.
“If I had to guess, your stepfather has some sort of tracking software on your phone, and when you turned it off—well, when I turned it off and took the battery out—he wasn’t able to track you. Foster is his second in charge. It matters that he sent him and not some other jackass.”
She stared at him as he so casually mentioned tracking software. “There’s no way…” She trailed off, realizing that right about now she couldn’t afford to just ignore this. “How can I tell if he’s got tracking software on my phone?”
He pulled out her cell phone and put the battery back in, then turned it on. He held it out for her thumbprint, then, holding it out for her to see, he pulled up the settings and went into some random files and found what was definitely tracking software.
“I should have checked for this before,” he muttered to himself in disgust.
She stared at it in horror. “Oh my God!” She grabbed for her phone, ready to uninstall and delete it, but he shook his head.
“If you get rid of it, he’ll know you’ve done it. Better to leave it.”
Swallowing hard, she shoved her phone away, not wanting to touch the thing. The tension headache was back, spreading around the back of her skull. It would be so damn easy to have a drink right now, to just ignore what was going on. But the urge to drink wasn’t there, for now at least.
Because it wouldn’t help her. No, it would only make things worse. Right now she needed answers and going down the rabbit hole again would only create a new set of problems. “Okay, let’s do this,” she said crossing her arms over her chest.
He blinked at her. “Do what, exactly?”
“I want to see the account in the Caymans.” From the paperwork she’d looked at, the bank was in Grand Cayman. “I want to go down there and see if all this is true. And if it is…I’m going to close the account.” She wasn’t sure what her next move would be, but if her stepfather thought he could somehow use her name to launder money for him, use her for whatever? Hell no. For now she wasn’t going to think about if he would actually hurt her. Vitaly had loved her mother, had been heartbroken when she’d died of breast cancer, but…Arianna wasn’t so sure that would stop him from hurting Arianna if she crossed him.
Ellis’s blue eyes darkened slightly “Are you serious?”
“What else am I going to do right now? It’s pretty clear that someone is trying to set me up for something, though I’m not sure what. Your own people have set you up.”
He looked stunned. “You believe me?”
“Should I not?”
“I just don’t know if heading down to the Caymans is a good idea.”
Was he kidding her right now? “What, now that I’m a willing participant and not a hostage, my coming along has lost its appeal?”
He blinked in surprise. “You’re kind of a smartass.”
“I’m aware. It’s a defect of mine.”
“I wouldn’t call it that.” The barest hint of a smile pulled at his lips. Or she thought it might be one. It was impossible to tell since she didn’t really know him.
“Why are you fighting me on this?”
“I don’t like involving you in this anymore.” He sat down at the center island, looking almost sullen.
“Then what are we going to do? I don’t even know who to turn to at this point. If my stepfather killed your friend, he needs to pay for his crimes. And why is someone setting up random accounts in my name? None of this is good!” And the only way she could really know if the
accounts were real was to go to the bank herself. Afterward she’d have to figure out if her stepfather was behind opening them—and what to do about that. She had no clue who would have jurisdiction over money laundering either. The FBI maybe?
“You don’t seem to be having a hard time believing he’s capable of murder.” There was an odd note in his tone.
“If I’m being honest, I’ve always suspected his businesses might not be on the up-and-up. But I never suspected drugs or guns! Never in a million years. I just thought he was sort of maybe a middleman who bought and sold art and antiques and stuff like that. He has way too many security guys around his Orlando estate and he’s always got random pieces of fine art popping up in his office or his home. And now to find out he or someone close to him potentially set up a bank account in my name? Screw that.” She tempered her anger and forced herself to think clearly, to go over her options. Not that she was even sure what they were at this point.
“We can find someone in law enforcement for you to talk to—”
“And then what? Someone seizes those accounts? Who’s to say I won’t go to jail for some kind of crazy fraud or something? I’m not going to trust some random cops with the rest of my life. No, I’m going to help you. You seem to understand what’s going on here better than anyone. And I’m going to help myself. I’m not going to jail for something I didn’t do.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face, looking exhausted.
“How much sleep did you get last night?” she asked suddenly. He looked as if he might fall over at any moment.
He frowned at her. “Like three hours. Once you were out, I biked back to the church and grabbed my SUV.”
So that explained how he’d gotten the SUV, because he’d kidnapped her in her car originally. “Biked?”
“I took your bicycle from your house before we went to my safe house—I put it in your trunk in case I needed it.”
The image of him riding around on her teal and yellow beach cruiser was absurd and she found herself fighting a laugh because it would have come out manic and crazed-sounding.
She rubbed a hand over her face. Her gut instinct was telling her that he was being honest with her about everything. He’d been on the run and in hiding for months trying to clear his name. She couldn’t even imagine what kind of existence that was, the kind of toll it would take on someone. “So are we going to do this or not?”
There was a long pause as he watched her. His thick arms were crossed over his chest, his pale eyes intense. Finally he sighed, shoving a hand through his dark, slightly unruly hair. “I can get us out of the country. You’ll need to bring your passport and another ID for the bank, but we won’t be traveling through standard channels. We’ll be entering another country illegally, so think about whether or not you want to do that.”
Yeah, like that was the worst of her problems right now. “Okay. How are we going to get to the Caymans?”
“First we’re going to get out of here by boat—a yacht. Then we’ll take a private plane once we’re out of the States. Coming back we’ll likely just fly straight to Miami, but that could change depending on anything that happens down in Grand Cayman.”
“What are the chances of us getting caught?” She figured small, considering he was trying to stay off the radar of anyone in law enforcement.
“Very small, but shit happens. That said, if anything does happen and we get caught, I’ll just take the fall for kidnapping you. You won’t get in trouble for anything.”
“I can deal with that.”
He watched her carefully, as if trying to read her mind. “We’re also going to have to trash your house a little bit. Make it look as if I took you by force, because I’m betting your stepfather will come here once we do this. We’re going to have to leave your cell phone behind.”
That all made sense. “I can mess up my house effectively if you tell me what it needs to look like.”
He gave her the side-eye. “You’re handling all of this remarkably well.”
She snorted. “I’m glad I’m convincing, because I’m not handling this well. I’m freaking out right now. So let’s do this before I change my mind.”
Chapter 7
“Thank you for doing this,” Ellis said to his sister Evie as he stepped out into the main cabin of Dylan’s yacht. Arianna was getting settled into the master stateroom where they would be hiding out for the next couple hours.
Evie’s jet-black hair was pulled back into a high ponytail on her head, her makeup was an overdone “glam” look and she wore a weird-looking bathing suit she said was “trendy” as part of her own cover today. She and Dylan, her billionaire husband, were taking his yacht out for the next few days and Evie was posing as his pretty socialite wife who wanted a quick getaway.
In reality, she was a former CIA agent and Ellis was damn glad to have her on his side. Because of her, he was able to easily get out of the country.
“You don’t ever have to thank me for this. I’m just glad you finally reached out. I rarely say this, but today should go off without a hitch. This crew loves Dylan and won’t ask any questions.”
Arm wrapped tightly around Evie’s shoulders, Dylan nodded. “We’ve got this.”
Ellis still couldn’t believe his little sister was married—or that he’d missed the wedding. He was just glad she’d found someone she loved, and who would do anything for her. The man was sticking his neck out for Ellis as well and he didn’t have to. If anything, Ellis would have understood if he’d said no. “Well thank you anyway. Both of you. You’re taking a risk,” he said, looking at Dylan.
Of course the other man just brushed it off.
Evie grinned suddenly, reminding Ellis of the mischievous teenager she’d once been. “Evan’s going to be so pissed when he finds out he wasn’t asked to help out with this.”
“You sure as shit aren’t going to tell him,” he growled. He didn’t even like bringing Evie into this. He didn’t want more people he cared about getting involved.
“We’ll see.” She glanced over her shoulder toward the back of the big yacht, as if she could see past the doors and hallway to the master stateroom. “How is she settling in?”
Arianna. “Good, I think. I still don’t understand why she’s doing this.” And part of that was giving him pause. She was certainly making everything so much easier for him right now. But she’d jumped into all of this headfirst.
“I get it,” Evie said. “Deep down she probably doesn’t believe the accounts are real. She’s probably thinking that once she gets there, she’ll discover it’s all a big mistake and that this was a misunderstanding. Or she’s just pissed and wants to fight back at whoever is trying to tie her to fraud or money laundering. I’d be pissed if someone did that to me and you better believe I’d make them pay.”
He snorted because his sister was more likely to just shoot someone who tried to mess with her. But maybe she was right. Arianna had admitted that part of her had always suspected her stepfather was into less than savory dealings. Ellis had a feeling that was a big part of her decision to do this.
And she didn’t seem to trust cops. She’d told him why she didn’t, but he had a feeling that there was more to it and he wanted to know everything. He’d dug into her background and he hadn’t found anything that should warrant such a mistrust of law enforcement. Yeah, the way her brother’s death was handled mattered but…his gut was telling him there was more.
“I’m going to head back there,” he said, wanting to see how Arianna was doing.
“You know what to do if you hear a knock on the door,” Dylan said, glancing over his shoulder toward the main doors. “Now get out of here. I don’t want any of the staff to see you.”
He nodded and clasped hands with Dylan before pulling his sister into a tight hug.
He must have taken her off guard because she let out a little squeak before squeezing him back just as tight.
Ellis turned and headed toward the glass and wood doorway to the
hallway. He and Arianna were staying out of sight and the crew had strict instructions not to go into the master stateroom. It was kind of a weird request, but considering Dylan owned this yacht and he was Midas rich, no one was going to question his eccentricities.
Ellis quietly slipped into the stateroom and locked the door behind him. The room was huge, with heavy dark wood paneling but bright white and blue bedding that seemed to brighten up the place. There was a sitting area with two cream-colored tufted chairs, a table with a tray of food and a huge flat-screen TV over an electric fireplace. There was also a little desk area and a fairly large closet. All in rich wood tones. With the big bay of tinted windows, however, it didn’t feel as small as it should, given all the wood. Even so, he was very aware of being in this space with just the two of them for the next couple hours.
“Everything okay?” Arianna sat on the bed in dark jeans and a green T-shirt, her knees pulled up to her chest. A navy blue throw blanket was rumpled next to her.
He nodded as he glanced at the spread of food that had been in here when they’d first arrived. “Yeah. We’re good to go. Should be setting sail in the next ten to twenty minutes.”
“Good.” Stretching her legs out, she moved the mostly empty plate of food she’d grabbed earlier to the side. Her feet twitched back and forth every few moments, her actions jerky.
He stepped farther into the room and made a small plate of food for himself. “Having second thoughts?”
“Well, yeah. I mean I’m doing this, but…I’m still nervous. This feels surreal. I feel like someone else has taken over my body and my life.”
“Welcome to the club,” he said half laughingly, though there was no humor in his voice as he went to join her on the huge bed. He sat on the opposite side, giving her plenty of room. “Trust me, I never envisioned this being my life either.”
She grabbed a little square of cheese and popped it into her mouth. Her feet still twitched back and forth in a fast rhythm.
“We can turn around now. We can stop this whole thing if you change your mind.” It was clear she was keyed up and he didn’t want to pressure her into anything. After this, there was no turning back.