by Jillian Dodd
“When he swung the laptop around I saw a blur of colors and images. Pictures, I think, on the walls.”
“That would make sense. Wherever he’s holding Brooklyn is his base. The place where he keeps his obsession hidden from the outside world.”
“Like a secret apartment or something?”
“Yes, and we’ve got to find it. If we find it, we’ll find Brooklyn. We’re meeting with a judge in the morning to request a warrant to search all of his properties.”
“Technically, I own some of those properties now, right? The business ones?”
“Yes, we’ve already scoured the county records and have compiled an extensive list of both personal and business real estate holdings.”
“You have my okay to search anything owned by the company. He is obsessed with making the movie, so it would make sense that he might do it somewhere there’s already a set.”
“We’ll start searching the company’s properties now. On one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You go to Eastbrooke while we do.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I quit and you can let the police handle it.”
“You’re not serious.”
“Oh, yes. I am. And just so you know, if you decide to accept my resignation, even with your family connections, it would be at least 24-48 hours before you could get another firm on board. Do you want to lose that time?”
“No.”
“Then here are my terms. You and Cooper are going back to Eastbrooke. You will give me seven days to find Brooklyn before you threaten to come to Malibu. And you promise that during those seven days you will not set foot off campus. No getting your nails done. No pizza dates. Nothing. I will be sending additional guards to the school’s entrance. They will be under orders not to let you leave. Am I clear?”
“Seven days is a long time, Garrett! Why don’t I just come home? I’ll let Vincent find me. Take me to where Brooklyn is. You can rescue us both.”
“Keatyn, I can assure you it would not be that easy. A simple case of kidnapping would quickly escalate into a hostage situation.”
“Then get some special forces to come in the middle of the night. Kidnap Vincent. Save us.”
“I’m wasting precious time right now, Keatyn. You know my terms. Seven days or I quit.”
“What if you don’t find him in seven days?” I ask, hating that the words even came out of my mouth.
“Then we’ll do it your way.” He sighs. “Look, Vincent has been planning this for months, maybe even years. I know seven days seems like a long time, but it really isn’t in the scheme of things. You said Vincent told you that he has Matt, right?”
“Yes.”
“So, in a warped way, Brooklyn has agreed to play the role and signed a contract. Vincent won’t hurt him until he has you. That’s the main reason I want seven days. If Vincent gets his hands on both of you, his plans will accelerate. And when they do, I can’t guarantee that either one of you will survive. If you want to keep Brooklyn alive, you will give me seven days.”
I nod, knowing that he’s right. Vincent will keep Brooklyn alive until he’s able to redo the movie his way.
And he can’t do that until he has me.
I let out an audible sigh. “Fine. I agree.”
“Thank you. I’ll keep you posted every step of the way.”
As I hang up, Cooper says, “What did you just agree to?”
“We’re going back to Eastbrooke,” I say.
Aiden wakes up when I get out of bed.
“You go back to sleep. I’m going to check in with Garrett.”
“I’ll get up too. I want to hear if there’s any news.”
I throw on a robe and go out into the living room, where Cooper is already up, dressed, and on the phone.
“No news,” he says as Peyton and Damian wander out in matching robes.
“You know, Cooper. I promised to go back to Eastbrooke, but I never promised to go to class.”
“Not go to class?” Aiden asks. “How’s that going to work?”
“I’ll sneak onto campus, but I won’t check in. I’ll call the school and say that I’m staying with my family and will be there later or something.”
“Will you just sit in your room all day?”
“I’ll just sneak in with Damian and stay with Cooper. I can’t go to class. I don’t even have my uniforms. They’re all at my loft and I can’t go back.”
“You can wear mine,” Peyton suggests sweetly. “My parents are meeting us at school with all our stuff.”
“It’s not just that. I don’t want the other students to know I’m back. I can’t deal with that right now. I can’t deal with homework or teachers. I’ll go crazy. Besides, it’s silly. I’ll be going back to Malibu in six days.”
“I thought it was seven?” Cooper asks.
“Seven started yesterday.”
“Technically, when you agreed to seven days, it was today.”
“Fine. Whatever. It’s silly to go to school for even a few days when I know I’m leaving.”
“It will give you something to do,” Aiden suggests, kissing my nose. “Keep you busy. And it won’t be bad. The first two days of classes will be getting back into the swing of things. We won’t have homework. There’s a basketball game on Friday night and a dance. Saturday we’ll hang out and watch football. It will help pass the time.”
“Brooklyn is lying on the floor somewhere, helpless, Aiden,” I snap. “I’m not going to a damn high school basketball game and pretending I give a shit about it.”
Aiden gives me a glare, gets up, and walks out of the room.
Cooper watches him go and says to me, “I’d like you to be enrolled in school. If you want to pretend to be sick, you can.”
“Thanks. Um, Cooper, can I talk to you in private?”
“Sure, let’s go downstairs to the lobby.”
“That’s not exactly private.”
“Why don’t I take my brother and Damian down to the restaurant for breakfast?” Peyton offers.
I give her a hug and say, “Thank you.”
“We’re all trying our best to help you get through this,” she says quietly. “Especially Aiden.”
Her words just add to my guilt.
And my guilt is piling up higher than the Empire State building.
They clear out and Cooper sits on the edge of a chair. “Shoot.”
“I can’t do it. I can’t wait seven days. We need to come up with a new plan to present to Garrett. Or I just need to go myself. I’m stronger than Vincent thinks I am. I’ll attack him when he doesn’t expect it, like you taught me to. It worked on the guy in the club. Or I could take a gun, a knife, and some pepper spray.”
“Keatyn, he’d check you for weapons. And a wire. And trackers. He’s not stupid.”
“I think he would be so shocked I showed up that he’d forget.”
Cooper just stares at me.
“Okay, he probably wouldn’t.”
“Wait! I know. What if I Skype him? Garrett said if I could record him confessing that the police could arrest him.”
“They can’t arrest him if they can’t find him.”
“I’m a mess, Cooper. And every single time I look at Aiden, I just feel guilty. Like I’m somehow cheating on Brooklyn.”
“I don’t know all the background on the two of you. So, before you got sent to Eastbrooke, you and Brooklyn were dating?”
“We spent the summer together in Europe. When we got back, he found out that his dad had gotten him a few sponsors and he was going out on tour. He was leaving me. He thought we should date other people.”
“You were young. You were going to be apart for long periods of time. That sounds like the mature thing to do. My high school girlfriend and I did that when we went to different colleges.”
“How’d that work out for you?”
“She met someone else. Fell in love. A year later she was pregnant and getting mar
ried.”
“Do you wish you would have stayed together?”
“I don’t think it would have mattered, Keatyn. She fell in love with someone else. If our love was meant to be, she wouldn’t have.”
“I fell in love with Aiden. Does that mean I’m not meant to be with Brooklyn?”
“Was it the same situation? Were you and Brooklyn dating each other but also free to see other people?”
“We weren’t dating each other. I thought we were over.”
“What do you think now?”
“I feel like I’m holding a live grenade and if I make the wrong move, everything around me will explode.”
“You need to try and be patient. At least for the next few days. Garrett said there are a lot of properties to check and that it’s going to take them the majority of the next three days just to do it right. Last night, Garrett told you something that made you agree to wait. What was it?”
“That Vincent won’t hurt Brooklyn until he has me. And that seven days in Vincent time isn’t that long, considering he’s been planning this for months.”
“Do you still agree?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s get you back to school.”
The rest of the day is spent traveling, moving stuff into our dorms, saying hello to our friends.
Although, really, that’s what everyone else is doing. I’m hiding out in Aiden’s room.
I don’t want to talk to anyone. Not even Damian.
I’m a wreck.
“Why don’t I go get us some hot chocolate?” he says.
I lie on his bed and stare up at the twinkle lights while he’s gone.
They take me back to that night on the beach. When I made a wish on the moon. When Brooklyn told me I was desirable.
I decide I can’t wait any longer.
I call Garrett.
“You told me you’d keep me updated. I haven’t heard from you,” I say when he answers.
“Sorry, we’ve been all over. Trying to get search warrants. Searching the production company’s properties.”
“And?”
“We’ve been through about a third of the holdings. Have come up empty.”
“And the warrants to search Vincent’s properties?”
“I’m afraid they were denied.”
“How?”
“To get a warrant, you need probable cause. Often, we can get that probable cause based on the word of another person. But the judge has to decide if the person’s word is credible. You are a seventeen-year-old living out of state. We also had bad luck and got the same judge who refused both the plea to charge Vincent with attempted kidnapping and our request for a restraining order, back in August. He said that Vincent is an outstanding citizen and community leader who doesn’t even have an unpaid parking ticket. Then, off the record, he told us that he didn’t want to see us again or he’d charge us with harassment.”
“Garrett, you have friends in high places. Can’t you get a different judge? Don’t you think it’s a little odd we keep getting the same judge? Could Vincent have paid him off?”
“It’s possible. But, regardless, what’s done is done. We can’t file for a new warrant unless we come up with something new. Evidence. A witness who saw Vincent and Brooklyn together. Besides searching properties, we’re also trying to find the abduction site and combing the area for witnesses.”
“So, should I try to Skype him? Get him to admit he kidnapped B? Record it this time?”
“Let’s finish the search of the company’s property first. If we don’t turn up any new evidence or find Brooklyn, I’ll consider it.”
“How long will that take?”
“We’ll discuss it Friday evening. How’s that?”
“Okay.”
“And, Keatyn, no news is good news,” he says as I leap off the bed when Aiden kicks the door open with his foot—scaring the shit out of me—because his hands are full.
“What does that mean?” I ask, trying to calm myself down.
“It means no one has found a body.”
I grab my stomach and start to cry. Then a wave of nausea hits me, and I run in the bathroom and throw up my dinner.
Aiden picks me up and carries me to his bed, cradling me in his arms as he sits down.
“What happened?” he asks, running his hand soothingly down my arm.
“Nothing,” I say, not wanting to repeat what he said. It’s easier to stick to the facts. “There’s no word. They’ve searched about a third of the studio’s properties, been scouring the area around Buddy’s, and tried to get a search warrant. They’ve come up empty.”
“Why did you throw up?”
I cover my face with my hand, lean against his chest, and start crying again.
He doesn’t say anything.
Just holds me tightly.
I can’t stop crying. It’s like, now that I’ve finally let it all out, it won’t stop.
“Shhh, baby,” he says, smoothing down the back of my hair. “Tell me what happened.”
I take a breath, shuddering, trying to stop crying.
“Garrett said no news is good news.”
“What did he mean by that?”
“That’s what I asked him. He said that it meant they . . . they . . . they . . . hadn’t found a body yet.”
Aiden takes a sharp breath. “That’s an awful thing to say.”
“I know. It was supposed to make me feel better, but the thought of a body showing up. I don’t know why that never really crossed my mind. I just pictured him kidnapped, not dead. You know?”
Aiden pushes my chin up and kisses my forehead. “It’s because you’ve been listening to your heart.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s like, through this all, you’ve known, somehow. Were you and Vincent close? Like, before he tried to kidnap you?”
“Part of me wants to say yes. Part of me wants to say no.”
“Tell me about the part that wants to say yes.”
“We sort of instantly connected. He looked into my eyes like he knew me. He was nice. He caught me one night when someone pushed me. He noticed things about me that other people didn’t.”
“Like what?”
“Stuff about me. My posture. My expressions. How I bite my lip when I’m trying to tell a lie. That I have a very expressive face. Granted, I wanted to be an actress, so I loved hearing those things, but it never felt like he was just blowing smoke up my ass or trying to impress me. He seemed sweet and sincere. I mean, he did flirt with me, but it was playful; the kind of things that could have dual meanings.”
“Did that bother you?”
“No. I liked it. I liked him. I had little fantasies about what being with a man would be like. And when he took me to dinner to thank me . . .”
“Thank you for what?”
“Oh, one day I came home from school really mad. I was pissed and walking down the beach and ran into him. He was upset. Told me that his grandmother had passed away and he was supposed to spread her ashes on the beach. He was having a hard time doing it. He didn’t really have anyone special in his life, I guess. And I was there. And I could relate because I had lost my dad. So I said some things that I hoped gave him comfort. He told me all about his grandmother, who was a famous actress, and her life. How she had met the love of her life on the beach. It was all very romantic—the kind of love I dreamed I would have with B. You know, we met each other on the beach, and it was love at first sight just like hers. He told me about his bad childhood at some point, too. About how his grandmother had taken him in and given him a better life. How he went to an exclusive prep school and how if you told yourself something enough, eventually, you’d believe it.”
“Like what?”
“Like being good enough. Being strong. Stuff like that. Anyway, he told me his grandmother would love that he spread her ashes on the beach with me. Because I was special. That he was going to make this amazing movie with me and every m
an who saw it would fall in love with me. Anyway, I held his hand and said a few words, and then we sprinkled her ashes and tossed the urn into the ocean. He texted me the next day, invited me to dinner. We had fun. Flirted. But he never took it further. Kissed me on the cheek goodbye. Held it way too long, but it was sweet, not at all creepy. We just talked a lot whenever I saw him. I told him things I hadn’t dared tell Brooklyn or my friends.”
“That’s why people tell bartenders their problems, right? Easier to tell a stranger than a friend.”
“Yeah, probably. Anyway, we saw each other like that off and on. And every time we did, we had these sweet little moments. He was on my beach the morning of my birthday. I was happy, doing cartwheels. He laughed at me. Videotaped me. Teased me about recreating my mom’s movie poster. I redid it for him my way. Turned around, tossed water at him, then blew him a kiss over my shoulder. I invited him to my birthday party. I was shocked when I figured out it was him who was trying to kidnap me. And, since then, I’ve questioned everything I’ve felt.”
“Even with me,” Aiden says.
“Yeah, mostly with you.”
“So what does your heart tell you now about Brooklyn?”
“That he’ll be okay for a while. But not for long. I think his having Brooklyn will be both motivation to get me and a reminder of the fact that he hasn’t yet.”
“That’s a fine line.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think he has the seven days Garrett asked for?”
“Probably,” I say slowly.
“But what?”
“But I’m probably not going to wait that long.”
“You’ll go anyway?”
“I think I’ll have to.”
Aiden nods. “You keep saying that you don’t want me to help, but I’ll help you find him.”
“I’m surprised you’d say that. If I find him . . .”
“If you find him, Vincent will go to jail and you’ll have your life back.”