Savage Seduction

by J. Woods

  “It’s a silly best friend’s thing, I have the other half. I gave it to her when we were ten. It was on her keychain.” The sob that tore from Rachel’s throat mirrored the same feeling inside his chest. He pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her as he kissed the top of her head in comfort. “We’ll find her. I promise.” One of the officers got his attention handing him the radio that was in his hand. “It’s the Detective.”

  “Ashbrook, Zoe’s missing. I have Rachel, meet at the Barn. Now.”

  “Logan, there are certain steps and precautions we have to take in this situation. Come down to the station, bring Rachel. There are some things we need to discuss moving forward.”

  He handed the radio back to the cop and taking Rachel’s elbow he put her in his truck. Gripping the wheel he had to get control of the shake in his hands. That bastard had her. He had his woman and god only knew what hell she was enduring. He should have been there; he should have never let her out of his sight. Maybe if he hadn’t allowed his pride to take over she wouldn’t be in the hands of a deranged stalker.

  Fuck!

  Walking into the station he turned back at the sound of male protests, “What the hell is this all about? I need a lawyer, this is so fucked up. Let me call my lawyer!” Logan saw red. Fury and rage took over until he couldn’t see anything but his target. With large, heavy strides he threw Alex Sullivan heavily against the brick wall. The sound of his head hitting the hard surface echoed with a sickening thud as he pressed his forearm against the other man’s neck effectively cutting off his air supply. “Where the fuck is she?” he yelled in the man’s face.

  “I... don’t... know,” he gasped out. Logan didn’t care that the other man’s face was turning an alarming shade of red, all he cared about was Zoe and if she was okay.

  He knew everyone in the station was watching including the arresting officer. “Logan!” He heard Ashbrook’s voice distantly in the background. “Savage, come with me. I have something you need to hear.” The hard urgent tone in the detective’s words was the only thing that was able to pull him away. He removed his arm from Sullivan’s throat and watched as the man dropped to the ground gasping for air. He crouched down in front of him, “If I hear you touched a hair on her body... I will kill you.” He watched underneath the red of his skin, the blood leave his face with his very promising threat.

  “Son, you need to calm down. I understand it is very personal for you but what just happened out there isn’t helping anybody.” Logan gave the other man a hard stare walking into his office.

  “Just tell me you know where she is.”

  “I don’t know where she is, not yet. But the one thing you do need to know is that Alex Sullivan wasn’t released until early this morning. After Zoe disappeared.” The weight of the words after Zoe disappeared threatened to knock him on his ass. Alex Sullivan didn’t have her. She was somewhere, with someone and it wasn’t Alex Sullivan.

  “I know how to find her,” Logan stated, turning to walk out of the police station and to his truck. He needed to get back to the Barn.

  Now.

  “How?” Ashbrook demanded following him out with Rachel hot on his heels. “I never took out the GPS in her phone,” he remembered pushing through the double doors and into the afternoon light.

  “Barn?” Ashbrook asked.

  “Barn,” he confirmed.

  Logan had called his brothers on the way finding out Max had already riled the troops and they were waiting for his direction.

  Walking into the meeting room he found his brothers sitting around the long table discussing with his sister who sat behind a laptop. Cameron was the one who had built their entire computer system and she often worked out of the Barn with them. They always made sure she was kept behind the computer and not out in the field. Without having to look at the screen he knew she was tracking Zoe’s phone. She glanced up to see he’d walked in, “I have the original location, downloading the rest of her movements.”

  “Good. What else do we have?”

  “Not much,” Luke chimed in. “The bouncers at the bar remember seeing her and Rachel going in, apparently they’d gained a lot of male attention while inside...” Logan turned to confirm with Rachel. His fists were balled at his sides, his teeth aching from clenching them so hard. She nodded her head in confirmation, shifting her stance having the decency to look uncomfortable. “The bouncer saw her exit the building alone but didn’t see her after that, lost her amongst the cars in the lot. He did say he saw a dark haired male walking to his car around the same time.”

  “License plate?”

  “No.”

  “I have a route,” Cameron chimed in.

  “Good, print it out. Let’s get going.”

  “Savage, I have to call this in and get my men on board. This is a police investigation.” Logan turned to the detective. “Fine, call them in. But I’m doing this, Ashbrook. That is my woman this fucker has and I’m getting her back. With or without your consent.”

  Logan didn’t see the knowing smile Cameron shot Max as he charged out of the room.

  She spread out the map in front of her, a semi circle of men surrounding her as she explained what her system relayed. “Okay, she started here,” she explained pointing to the wine bar. “Her phone travelled along this road, turning here and continued the distance for a while taking her out of the downtown city core and into a more rural area. This point here is where her movement stopped and is still at a standstill, has been since 2:32 am.”

  “And what’s here?” Logan asked pointing to where Zoe’s phone had stopped moving.

  “Nothing. Where the system says her phone lies right now is the side of a dirt road, the closest building is within this town here, about five kilometers away.”

  “He threw it out the window.”

  “Most likely.”

  “Good job Cam. Rachel is going to stay here with you. I’m going to leave Axel as well. I want you protected and you do not open that door for anyone. Understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” He leaned in and kissed his sister on the forehead. “Good work today.” She beamed at his praise before guiding Rachel toward the back of the building with Axel following close behind.

  Meeting his brothers at the trucks, they were already strapping on their vests, Nate handing him his. Fixing a gun to his thigh and his knife to the other he looked up to see everyone in preparation, not knowing what they were walking in to. “Let’s go get your girl.”

  “Let’s do it,” Logan agreed taking his place behind the wheel.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Driving to the spot Cameron at sent to his GPS, he looked in his rear view mirror noticing his brother’s matching truck behind him and a handful of cop cars in line. Cameron was right, there was nothing here. He, Nate and Luke climbed out of his truck while Max and Aiden did the same. They waited for the cloud of dirt to disperse; Ashbrook walked through, six officers flanking him. “We’ll your sister sure didn’t exaggerate.”

  “Fan out, find the phone,” Logan commanded ignoring the detective’s comment followed by the hard stare with his direction.

  After ten minutes of searching and finding nothing in the fading daylight Logan called Cameron. “Can you sync my GPS with the one on her phone and tell me if I’m close?”

  “Does the sun shine?” Short moments later Cameron’s sweet voice broke through the fast clicking of her fingers against the keyboard in front of her, “Okay, you’re close. Walk north.” Logan did as she said, listening to every command. “Turn right... Stop.” He stood completely still, scanning the ground around him. “The phone should be a couple steps to your left.” He took the necessary steps and saw the glint of something in the dirt.

  “Got it! Thanks little one.” He ran over to the spot, the weight of whatever she had in her small purse weighing it down within the soft sand.

  “Don’t touch it,” Ashbrook commanded from behind him. Just when Logan was going to snap on him he
was handed a set of white latex gloves. Pulling them on, he grabbed the black leather from the soil. Opening it he found Zoe’s phone and the few cards and money she’d brought with her. Her phone still had battery and he noticed a text message started to Rachel; SL

  “Get Rachel on the phone,” he demanded to no one in particular.

  “Did you find her?”

  “No, I need to know if the letters SL make any sense to you. We found Zoe’s phone and there is a text message started to you with only those two letters.”

  “SL... what the hell could that mean?”

  “Think Rachel. Could it be a place that you would know, maybe a person?”

  “Fuck Zoe,” Rachel cursed. “I have no idea Logan,” she almost sobbed.

  “Okay sweetheart, calm down. I want you to think about it, maybe Cameron can help. Ashbrook is going to send the phone in for prints and I’ll call you back in a little bit.”

  “Okay.” Hanging up the phone, he placed Zoe’s into the Detective’s hands. He looked up into the early evening sky, “Come on Zoe, where are you baby?”

  ***

  Zoe felt the warm trickle of blood run down into her palm from where her wrists were tied. She didn’t feel the pain anymore, her hands were almost numb but she wasn’t going to stop trying to free herself from the tight bonds. She continued to look around not seeing anything that told her Steven was going to kill her other than the pruning shears he was using to trim the rose bushes. He walked around humming a happy tune and she felt like she was in the twilight zone. She remembered waking up in his car, it stunk of decaying flowers, and tried to text Rachel. He saw her attempts, throwing her purse and phone out the window before landing a heavy punch to the side of her head rendering her unconscious. What the hell was she going to do? She knew she had to get him talking; she knew Rachel would be looking for her and she had to bide her time. “Steven?”

  “Yes my love?” Zoe almost gagged at the term of endearment as his head popped up from behind one of the large bushes. She felt the sweat soaking her back through her shirt from the humidity in the greenhouse. She knew she had to play along with his delusions, her swollen temple reminding her of that.

  “You have me in suspense,” she started, trying not to allow the tremor in her voice to show.

  “That’s the plan,” he grinned with a deranged look in his eye. It was the same look she remembered, when she was locked away in his father’s greenhouse the first time and he smiled on at her screams, staring through the window. She ignored the stinging behind her eyes, trying to push the dark thoughts of what was going to happen to her toward the very back of her mind.

  “Can you give me a hint?”

  “Well I don’t want to ruin the surprise, darling. It has been ten years in the making.” Ten years? Her panic escalated, the threat of impending doom hanging like a heavy cloud over her head. “What do you mean?”

  “I’ll show you!” he breathed with excitement. He moved behind her chair and started pushing her toward the back of the building, leaving her sitting in the doorway of what he must call his office. The place was a disaster. There were empty coffee cups scattered over top of the paper littered desk and across the scuffed up floor, his computer had to be dated back to the early ninety’s, a big clunky, off white piece of junk.

  But as she lifted her head she felt the breath leave her lungs with the words, “Oh God...” Thousands of photographs and drawings of her covered the walls like wallpaper. Each one messily layered atop each other, she realized they had a time frame of ten years. He’d been keeping track of her for ten years - newspaper articles with her photo, her business logo, pictures of her at her high school graduation to pictures of her last week with Logan. In her apartment.

  “I told you,” he started quietly, watching her response to his shrine of her. “You’re mine.” The cold finality in his words pierced Zoe’s heart. She felt the warm stream of a tear track down her cheek. “Why are you crying my love?” he asked with concern, crouching down in front of her, his hands resting atop her thighs.

  “Because I’m so happy,” she choked out past the bile rising in her throat. “Because I’ve been thinking about you too.”

  “You have been?” he asked surprised. Zoe nodded her head earnestly, hoping to be convincing. In a quick movement the back of his hand landed with striking force against her cheekbone. Her eye immediately started to swell with the impact causing her to cry out against the pain. “Don’t lie to me, Zoe.”

  “I’m not!” she persisted.

  “Then how come I had to witness this?” he screamed at her, shoving a picture in her face of her and Logan in a sensual embrace, her lips locked to his, the look of pure pleasure crossing her features. What she wouldn’t give to see him right now. To see anybody right now. If she was going to die she did not want Steven Ledestski’s twisted, unhinged face to be the last image she took with her.

  “Because,” she started to explain in desperation. “Logan was sent to me by the police. I thought it was Alex who was sending me the flowers. He was just part of the plan. It didn’t mean anything.”

  “Yes, framing Alex was genius wasn’t it?” he gloated.

  “How did you do it?” she asked, actually wondering the answer to her question.

  “Easy. You’re office didn’t prove to be a difficulty to break in to and so I took his fingerprint and transferred it to one of the cards with the flowers.”

  “You were in my office?” Her stomach roiled at the thought of him being in her office, touching her things, just being in her space.

  “Oh yes. Many times. It was too simple really, he wasn’t part of the plan but fell in nicely I think.”

  “But if I knew it was you, I wouldn’t have gotten the police involved. Why didn’t you just come find me, ask me out?”

  “Because I see the scumbags you go out with, Zoe. None of them are good for you! I am the only one that is! They want to flaunt around their money. Everything about them is fake - why do you go out with them?” he yelled. Zoe flinched with his tone. She had to calm him down.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered through a sob. She didn’t know if she was saying it to him or to the people she would most likely never see again.

  “I didn’t mean to yell Zoe. I’m sorry. It just frustrates me so much when I see you with one of those guys. Promise me you won’t do it again.”

  “I promise. I don’t have to because I have you now.”

  “That’s right, sweetheart. You do.” He walked toward the back of the office where he pulled open a concealed door. Zoe felt her chin trembling realizing the extent of her situation. She was going to die in a greenhouse full of her nightmares. Clenching her jaw she vowed not to go down without a fight. She was never one to lay there like a wet blanket while the world moved on without her and she wouldn’t start now. He wanted drama; she’d give it to him. She just had to figure out a plan. She could see he had something in his hand and when he turned around she no longer felt the blood dripping down the side of her face or from her wrists, nor did she feel the hot sweat that now covered her entire body. She felt cold. “Where did you get that?” she whispered.

  “From your closet silly!” he chuckled shaking his head. He moved the hanger side to side, the dim light of the office bouncing off the shimmer of her red prom dress.

  “But that was in my closet at my parent’s house,” she breathed, her mouth dry with fear.

  “Exactly!” He stepped toward her; it took everything she had in her not to pull away from him. “We’re going to recreate the day it all started,” he smiled, leaning in to kiss her cheek. She closed her eyes feeling the uncontrollable streaks of wet roll down her face. “Would you like that?” he asked pulling away to look into her eyes. She nodded her head yes, unable to force any words past her trembling lips. “Good. Let’s get you up and dressed.” She swallowed a gasp as he pulled out a large, deadly looking blade. Her eyes didn’t leave the glint of metal as he placed it precariously close to her skin a
nd with one swift movement sliced cleanly through the ties holding her hostage.

  ***

  Logan’s phone rang, Cameron’s number showing on the screen. “What’d you come up with?”

  “Logan!” Rachel’s voice was high with excitement. “Cameron showed me the map of where you are. The next town is where we grew up.”

  “It is?”

  “Yes. I think the letters SL are initials. Steven Ledetski, we went to high school with him.”

  “The letters SL are initials, Steven Ledetski,” Logan repeated aloud for Ashbrook and his brothers to hear. He heard the detective repeat it back to his men, no doubt looking to get a lead on the son of a bitch. “Zoe and I ran into him last week, his background check came up clean.”

  “I don’t know what he’s been doing, we didn’t really keep in touch with anyone from high school, but Cameron is saying she has some information. Here she is.” Logan put his phone on speaker so he wouldn’t have to repeat the information his brilliant sister had dug up. The faces of the men circling him had become hard with the knowledge of a name.

  “Okay,” Cameron’s voice broke through the growing, itching urge to rip Steven Ledetski’s head off. He could tell this wasn’t just personal for him. Zoe had worked her way into each and every one of the hardened hearts around him with her warmth and light. “Ledetski’s father owns a floral shop in town. In the past couple of years he has fallen ill and Steven has taken over the business. His father currently owns the family home, the floral shop as well as the piece of land behind it which seems to hold a structure, what I would assume to be a greenhouse. Ledetski still lives in his family home. He has no criminal background although he was suspended from school in grade eleven after being caught in the girls change room. He has no record of employment although I suspect he’s been working with his father. Or he’s just a lazy prick.”