“As soon as I can.” Adam pulled himself away, determined to make his exit while she was no longer crying, a state he knew wouldn’t last long.
“I love you!” she exclaimed, the first time the words had left her lips.
He stilled in the doorway for a moment. “I…” Taking a deep breath, he walked out of the room and started down the hall, the sound of her sobbing echoing in his ears.
7
Adam had been gone for more than a week. He had called late in the evening the day that he left, but it was brief and he sounded distant. Leah spent the first few days in bed despondent, only rising to eat. It had been getting easier for her since they started video chatting daily once he’d gotten settled in. He still wouldn’t tell her what was going on and she was afraid to ask, fearing that he wouldn’t want to talk as often if she did. What did it matter anyway? He assured her he would be back soon and there was nothing she could do to make that day come faster.
The old woman that had been with her on the ship was in charge of her care. It seemed like ages ago now. Her name was Ramira and she actually spoke English, so Leah had someone to keep her company. Adam must have instructed her to be more amiable because her attitude changed abruptly one day, becoming warm and friendly. It was such a comfort to have someone to talk to.
Leah came down the stairs, hungry for the delicious breakfast Ramira was making. Leah’s heart leapt into her throat as she quickened her pace as she heard voices coming from down stairs.
“Miss Leah isn’t up yet, should I wake her?”
“No, she needs her sleep,” Adam’s voice answered over the speaker. “Has she been eating enough?”
“Oh, yes, her appetite came back a few days after you left.”
“Good. Tell her that I’ll call back this afternoon.”
“Adam!” Leah shouted as she ran down the stairs. “Wait!”
“Wait Mr. Adam, she’s awake now.” Ramira shot her a grin and walked into the kitchen.
“Adam!” Leah flopped down in the chair at the computer desk.
“Hi, baby.” He smiled at her through the screen and she started to tear up. “Leah, don’t cry, baby.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her tears away. She normally retained her composure while they talked, but she was too sleepy to summon her resolve. If he knew she cried for at least an hour after seeing him, she thought that he’d start calling less often.
“Oh, I miss you so much.” He was sitting in front of a white wall as he always was, making it impossible for her to figure out what he was doing.
“I miss you so bad, but I’m doing alright.” Leah put on her brave face even though she was dying inside.
“Good. I hope you’re taking good care of yourself.” His smile dropped for a moment and she clearly saw that familiar sadness in his eyes. “And my baby.”
“I am. Ramira is taking great care of us both.” She smiled bigger at him in an effort to make him feel better.
“That is so good to hear.” He looked so sad. It was always hard not to ask him if he was okay.
“Do you want to see my belly?” That always lifted his spirits.
“God, yes,” he breathed, the sadness in his eyes mingling with lust.
“Here,” Leah giggled, angling the camera a bit so her back would be toward the kitchen as she opened her robe. She made sure that her full breasts would be in the frame as she stroked her belly.
“Oh, Leah.” His eyes widened as he squirmed in his chair, making her giggle.
“We miss you!”
“Sweetie, I’ve got great news.”
“You do?” She pulled her robe together and sat back down.
“I’m coming home in a few days.”
“Really?” Leah couldn’t stop herself from crying, but they were happy tears so hopefully he wouldn’t mind.
“Yes, just a few more days.” He looked happy and upset at the same time. “Oh, baby, don’t cry. I’ll be back soon. I promise.”
“Okay.” Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to stop, knowing that she’d only be able to hold out for a minute.
“I have to go. I’ll call you again tonight.”
“Take care of yourself.” She choked on the words, determined to stay strong until they disconnected.
“See you soon, baby.” They smiled at each other and she quickly turned off the camera.
Ramira approached her as she lay with her head against the desk, sobbing uncontrollably. Leah regained her composure as well as her appetite and headed into the kitchen to eat. She knew that she should be happy; he was coming home soon. For some reason, she had a feeling that it would still be a while before she saw him again and told herself not to get her hopes up. Despite having slept well the night before, Leah felt exhausted immediately after breakfast. She dragged herself up the stairs and fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up, it was well after sunset. Something was wrong. Adam insisted that she eat 3 times a day so Ramira always woke her up for lunch. Leah went out to the balcony to look out over the property. None of the cabana’s lights were on, as if the doctor and all of the bodyguards were already asleep. She heard the sound of the bedroom door closing while she was still on the deck. Maybe Ramira had come to get her after all. Her jaw dropped as she turned around and looked at an unfamiliar face.
He was of medium height and build, with dark blond hair and blue eyes that blazed with rage. Leah had never seen him before. He stood silently with his hands at his sides, clenched into fists. For a moment Leah considered running down the stairs off of the balcony, but she was too scared. It was dark, she was barefoot and it seemed like the security would not be available to help her. The intruder stepped further into the room, a crooked grin on his menacing face. Her heart started to pound as she tried to scream, but nothing came out.
“Hello, Leah,” he hissed at her as he stepped onto the balcony. “Adam will be calling soon, won’t he? We don’t want to be late.”
Leah said nothing, her mind swirling in confusion and fear. The intruder stepped forward and grabbed a handful of her hair, dragging her back into the bedroom. She struggled against his grip as he led her down the hallway but he was very strong. When they reached the top of the stairs, he thrust her forward like he was going to push her down and laughed cruelly.
“No, I can’t let you fall now can I?” He began to drag her down the stairs roughly as she struggled to stay on her feet. “We don’t want to damage that precious cargo.”
She shrieked when they got into the great room and saw that Ramira was laying face down on the floor. Was she dead? Leah began to panic and kicked the intruder in the shin, but he merely growled at her, not letting go of her hair. He pushed her into the chair in front of the computer.
“Let me guess, you can’t call him. You have to wait until he calls you.” Leah said nothing back to him, but he seemed to take her silence as confirmation.
The intruder placed a closed manila file folder in front of her and then took a seat on the desk beside her. Leah wasn’t sure what time it was or how long they would wait until Adam called. The silence was unbearable as the minutes slowly ticked by. Obviously irritated, the intruder let out a sigh, rising from the desk and glancing towards Ramira. She knew how to get in touch with Adam. If he was looking at her, he was probably thinking about trying to wake her up, which would mean that she wasn’t dead.
Just then, Leah heard the telltale beeping that she was receiving a video message. The intruder gestured to her to take the call while he stood outside of the viewing range of the camera.
“Hi, baby, sorry I’m late.” Leah stared at him blankly and swallowed air. “Leah? What’s wrong?” She looked to her side where the intruder stood over her.
“Hello, Adam,” he said in a cold voice as he stepped behind her chair and leaned down so that his face was next to hers.
“What the…” Adam’s eyes widened in horror as a look of recognition crossed his face. “Thomas!”
“It’s a
very nice place you have here, Adam.” Thomas smugly looked around the room. “And you know, it wasn’t that hard to find.”
“I am going to fucking kill you.” Adam’s jaw was clenched, his eyes raging in fear and hate.
“And look what we have here.” Thomas traced his fingers along Leah’s neck, making her stiffen. “She is really beautiful, isn’t she?”
“Don’t you fucking touch her.” His eyes locked with Leah’s as she whimpered. “Leah, it’s-”
“I want you to see this, Adam.” Thomas flipped open the file and gripped Leah’s hair. “I want you to see her face.”
He held her head so that it was slightly forward, but still upright enough that her expression could be seen in the camera and she had to use her eyes to look down at the desk. Her brow furrowed as she spotted a picture of a younger Adam standing next to a blonde woman in a wedding dress. Thomas spread more pictures out on the desk. There was one of Adam with his arm draped across the shoulder of a teenage boy that looked remarkably like him, and another picture with both of them and the blonde woman along with a teenage girl.
“A handsome family, don’t you think?” Thomas snarled into Leah’s ear.
“Adam?” Her voice quaked and he couldn’t look at her.
“Do you think your baby will look like his other son, his legitimate son?”
Leah felt sick and lightheaded as Thomas brought the picture of the two of them closer to her face, turning it around for a few seconds to show Adam. Her lip began to quiver as she looked at Adam’s guilty face through the screen.
“I’ve got to say, you’re a lot better looking than his wife.” Thomas showed Adam the wedding photo before turning it around and holding it a few inches below her chin as he pushed her closer to the camera.
“You’re married?” A teardrop rolled down Leah’s chin and splattered across the picture of the smiling couple.
“Leah, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” He brought his hands up to his face and closed his eyes for a moment.
“Oh, isn’t that sweet. He’s sorry!” Thomas teased her, his breath on her ear. “Do you think that you and your bastard would fit into this picture?” He held up the one of the happy family to the camera.
“Leah, I’ll explain everything.” His voice was apologetic and she started to cry harder. “It’s not what you think.”
“Yea, don’t worry Leah, he’ll explain everything later,” Thomas snarled. “And I’m sure he’ll get around to explaining this too.”
He reached over her shoulder and pulled a small stack of papers out from under the photographs of Adam’s smiling family. It looked like a personnel file of some sort with a picture of her clipped to it. She saw that it listed her name, birthday, employers, and other basic information on the first page. Fumbling through the rest of the document, she read all sort of details about her personal life, things that would have been very difficult to find out. There was a list of all of her closest friends going back to grammar school and every hobby she’d ever taken an interest in. She glanced up at Adam with her mouth gaping open. His face was confused.
“Oh, I’m just showing her the file.” He grabbed the first page on turned it toward the camera. Adam’s face dropped. “You know, the one you paid Madam Carlyle for. When you bought the rights to Leah.”
“What?” Leah looked at him, desperate for some kind of explanation, but his eyes were down.
“The last page is really interesting. Leah, you should look at that one closely.”
She rifled through the papers until she got to the last one and her heart dropped into her stomach. It was a list of all of her boyfriends, lovers, basically every sexual encounter she’d ever had, complete with dates and type of activity. There was a picture of her long-term boyfriend from senior year in college, the one who’d shown Leah how much she liked sex when men took control. There was a synopsis of their relationship, apparently written by him, detailing their time together, how easy it was to convince her to do things, comments on her temperament, and even a list of her likes and dislikes in bed. Leah was shocked beyond words and stared up at Adam bewildered.
“Did you ever wonder how he knew so much about you, Leah?”
“I don’t understand…” Her voice was steady now. She was no longer crying, just staring at the monitor, baffled.
“He had everything planned out before you even met. He purchased all of your information from a service that looks for people like you.”
“People like me?” She asked the question to Adam, who finally looked at her with sad, regretful eyes.
“Nice compliant woman.” Thomas finally released her hair. “Woman who’d make good little fuck toys.” Leah stared at Adam, her expression twisted in pain and betrayal.
“Leah, baby, it’s not what you think.”
“It’s exactly what you think, Leah.” Thomas started gathering up the papers and photos, putting them back neatly into the file folder.
“Adam?” Leah looked into his eyes though the screen.
“I am so sorry.” He stared at her, his own expression bewildered and tormented.
She was too shocked and confused to be angry. When Thomas wrapped his arm around her neck, she realized that she didn’t have the luxury of resentment at this moment. She started to whimper and he slid his hand under her robe, dragging it down until it was just above her breast.
“Listen asshole, I think you know what I want.”
“You’ve really fucked with the wrong guy this time, Thomas.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t kill your son, and you’ll be luckier if I don’t kill your little concubine here.” Adam’s eyes narrowed as his brow furrowed in a perplexed expression. “Yea, that little accident wasn’t an accident. How is Taylor?”
“I am going to fucking kill you, Thomas.” Adam’s eyes were hard now, filled with resolve as he stared at the intruder from thousands of miles away.
“Adam!” Leah screamed as he pulled her back from the desk and reached toward the camera.
“Leah, baby, I am going to find you, I promise.” Adam looked at her longingly and she found some sense of reassurance in his eyes. “I lo-”
“That’s enough.” Thomas disconnected the call, cutting Adam off. “Let’s go upstairs.”
Leah’s hands started trembling and started looking around the room for an exit as she scooted the chair away from him.
“Oh, don’t flatter yourself,” he chuckled, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her up out of the seat. “I find pregnant women revolting.”
“What do you want?” she asked, unsure if she wanted to know.
“I want you to get dressed because we are getting the fuck out of here.”
He started dragging her towards the stairs past Ramira, who was still lying there unconscious.
“He will not find you where we are going. And you’d better hope he does love you, or at least wants you enough to give me what I want. Or I am going to kill you.”
8
Adam stared at the blank screen. He knew he should be making a phone call, that there was no time to waste, but he felt trapped inside his body, unable to take action. There was a soft knock at the door, one he did not answer. After a few moments, it opened and a tightly coiffed blonde head poked inside.
“Adam, are you busy?” she inquired, tentatively stepping into the room.
He didn’t answer, but her presence allowed him to move his head. Patricia read the acknowledgement as an invitation to proceed.
“I was wondering when you were leaving, now that Taylor is on the mend,” She took a seat on the corner of the desk. “If you have the time, I’d really like to do something together, preferably something that would make a good photo op. Maybe we could…”
Adam pulled his eyes away from the computer screen and looked at her, doing his best to understand the words that were coming out of her mouth. The numbness had faded away and was being quickly replaced by anger. Patricia waited a moment in his strange gaze, looking to him for
a response.
“I’m sure you’re anxious to get back,” she said, her spine stiffening. “It’s just that it has been a long time since we’ve been seen in public together, and my publicist is already starting to worry about the next election…”
He knew she was talking about her career, but the words weren’t forming phrases that he could decipher. There was a pounding in his head that he soon realized was his heartbeat made louder from his skyrocketing blood pressure. Patricia noticed that his face was getting quite red and his fists were tightly clenched.
“Adam? Adam, are you all right?” She jumped to her feet as he pounded his fist loudly on the desk.
“I have to leave. Tonight,” he hissed. “Please tell Taylor I’m sorry that I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.”
Patricia watched as he stormed out of the room. For a moment, she was tempted to look at his computer, but she knew that he wouldn’t invade her privacy that way, so she shut it off and hurried out of his office. The front door was hanging open and he was already gone.
A few hours later, her house was crawling with strange men. Gustavo she recognized and he entered first, which made the invasion less frightening. Most of them looked like security guards, a few were toting large assault rifles. Adam came in behind the swarm, talking to a group of men that looked very out of place compared to the others. They were nerds, though she would never say it to their pale faces. Her husband led them into his office. The look on his face reminded her of when he’d seen Taylor hooked up to all those tubes less than two weeks ago and she shuddered at the memory.
She had never been tempted to ask him what he was doing down in Brazil until tonight. Whatever had gone wrong must have been very bad for him to bring his second life into their home. It had always been hard for her to understand what drew him to the place. When he had purchased it years ago, she went down there once with him and the kids. There was a tribe there, one of those primitive peoples that you pity when you see them on a documentary. Apparently, Adam had bought their territory to keep it from getting logged, a move that was so unusually altruistic it made her wonder who she was really married to. Her publicist loved it.
Captured by the Billionaire (Omnibus Edition) Page 6