But that was something to worry about later. At the moment, I stretched my arms above my head, smiling at the butterflies that were still fluttering around in my stomach.
Waking up in Malcolm’s bed… it was an absolute dream.
Even more than that, I could see now that he left me a tray of breakfast on the table, as well as a note.
I got up, padding over to take a look.
He had given me some soft silk pajamas to change into before we went to sleep. They were quite a bit too big since they were his, but I rolled up the sleeves and hems and made do. I liked it better than having my own because these smelled of him.
I took a deep breath, inhaling both his scent and the aroma of breakfast.
There was a plate of still-warm pancakes, some fresh maple syrup, a tub of jam, and a bowl full of fresh-cut fruit. A glass of orange juice was on the side.
I picked up the note, unfolding it to reveal a page of crisp handwriting.
I had to laugh to myself a bit. His penmanship was just as I had expected it to be, all neat and straight. There were no extra swirls to show off, but everything looked almost as if it had been typed.
The only way I knew it hadn’t been was Malcolm’s signature at the bottom of the page, and the smell of fresh calligraphy ink.
Dear Aurora, the paper read.
I had such a lovely time last night, I hope that you know that. If I had a choice, I would have spent the whole day with you in bed, just reading or doing whatever you wanted to do, but unfortunately I had some business to attend to.
It was wonderful waking up next to you, and seeing you wearing my clothes was almost too much for me to bear. I look forward to coming home to you tonight so that we can do what we missed out on this morning.
In the meantime, please enjoy the breakfast I had prepared. You don’t have to leave my suite if you don’t want to today. There’s a button by the bedroom door that will allow you to call for a maid, and I’ve instructed them to provide for whatever you need, within reason of course. Make sure that you get lunch and dinner, and keep resting your leg. I’ll be back soon.
Then there was his signature. I smiled, holding the note to my chest. It was the best confirmation that I had gotten so far from Malcolm that he really did have feelings for me, and I wanted to treasure it forever.
I set it down gingerly on the table and set up about eating the delectable breakfast that Malcolm had left for me.
* * *
It was shortly after when I had lunch that anything of interest happened. I spent my morning reading in Malcolm’s bed, treasuring the opportunity to be in a space that was important to him.
I explored his suite as well, but there wasn’t much to see. Malcolm didn’t seem to keep anything personal, at least not in his bedroom and the adjoining private rooms. Not that I could find anyway.
This disappointed me a bit, as I wanted to learn more about him. I wanted to get a better glimpse at his life; what was important to him, what items brought back memories.
But I could understand that Malcolm was not that kind of man. If he kept anything for sentimental value, it was likely tucked and hidden away somewhere and never saw the light of day.
I was just contemplating getting up and exploring again—maybe there was something that I had missed—when the door to the room opened.
I stood, words of greeting on my lips, before I realized that the man who entered was not Malcolm like I had been expecting.
He looked to be about a decade older, with a stern look. He was built strong, and heavy, and the expression on his face immediately made me want to hide.
“You need to come with me,” he said.
“Why?” I started to back up, hands behind me, seeing if I could find anything to maybe fight him off with. I wasn’t necessarily confident that I would win in a fight, but if I could distract him for long enough, I might be able to run for help.
Unfortunately for me, he seemed to know exactly what I was trying to do, and he was across the room and grabbing my arms in an instant. He pinned them to my sides, leering down at me.
“I wouldn’t suggest doing that, sweetheart. I’m not in the best of moods today.”
I struggled in his grip, trying to wrench myself away, kick him, anything. Panic was rising in my chest as I realized that I was well and truly in danger at the moment.
“Let me go, let me go!” I screamed. “Someone help!”
But no one came, and the man’s grin just widened.
“Don’t even bother, you’ll make yourself go hoarse that way. No one’s coming to save you.”
“Need any help in here boss?” another voice asked, and I looked to see that another couple of thugs had entered the rooms.
“That might be necessary. This one’s a struggler.” The way he said those words made me want to retch in disgust.
I could do nothing as the men bound my ankles and wrists and then stuffed a gag into my mouth. I wasn’t struggling as much now. I knew that there was no way I could get away from them at the moment, and it would be better to save my energy for when there was an actual opportunity to escape.
One of them— not their boss— slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, his hand resting firmly on my butt. I had never felt so violated before as they carried me down the stairs.
We made our way back through the house, and then out to the front where I was tossed into the back seat of a large black car. Someone got in next to me and held me steady as the car rumbled to life and then set off down the road.
I didn’t know what they wanted with me, or how I was supposed to get out of this one alive.
I just had to hope that Malcolm would realize in time to come to my rescue.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Malcolm
The job hadn’t gone as planned, but I didn’t know its true nature until we got back to the mansion.
Our informant had been wrong about the quantity of drugs, as well as the level of security they were under. I brought along quite a few men, but we barely needed to lift a finger to get in.
My guess was that most of the shipment had been moved already, as when we got there there was hardly anything for us to destroy.
But I hadn’t suspected that it was a distraction, not in the least.
It was only when we got back to the mansion, and several members of rushed up to me, shaking, cowering, that I realized something was seriously wrong.
“What is it, what happened?” I asked them.
“They took her!” one of them said, and I didn’t need any further elaboration to know exactly who they were talking about.
Liam Hawthorne.
A low growl formed deep in my throat, and I resisted the urge to start breaking things around me. Clearly the staff was already shaken up, and I didn’t want to scare them any further. The last people I was mad was them.
More than anything, I was mad at myself.
I should have realized the whole set up was a ruse, a way to get me and a good bit of my team out of the way for a good few hours.
“We tried to stop him, but there were too many of them,” another said, looking as if he thought I might punish them.
“It’s not your fault,” I said, wanting to make sure they knew I wasn’t about to blow up at them. “Hawthorne is just a prick and fool, but he can be quite scary. He’ll get what’s coming to him now.”
“Should we make a move now?” Misha asked, sensing that I was concerned.
“No.” No matter how much I might be worried about Aurora, I also couldn’t risk anyone else. “We need time to regroup first, figure out what our plan of action is.”
“I’ll see what information I can find,” Gilles said, and immediately scurried away. I assumed that he was retreating to his computer lounge to compile the info we would need to rescue Aurora. The security cameras might reveal some important details.
“I’ll gather men as soon as you need me to,” Misha said.
Noah’s hand rested gentl
y on my shoulder. “We’ll get her back, don’t worry.”
I was worried. I couldn’t help but be worried. She was the best thing that had happened to me in a while, and by getting attached to her I had put her in danger. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if she got hurt.
“We better. Either way, Liam’s going to pay.”
“I think at the moment we have another problem,” Leroi said.
I snapped my head around to face him. “Which would be?”
“Well, if you haven’t already noticed, Aurora is gone, which means the door is wide open for Kline to do whatever he wants without worrying about her safety.”
I shook my head. “How could he be okay with letting those thugs handle her. If anything, their reputation is worse than mine.”
“Liam might have done it without consulting him first,” Noah suggested. “And now that he has Kline’s daughter, he’ll be telling him that he has to finish the job to get her back. That would certainly motivate him.”
I stroked my chin, considering things for a second.
There had to be a way out of this, a way where no one was hurt except those who deserved to be.
“Now might be our chance to get Samuel Kline on our side,” I finally said.
“What do you mean?” Noah asked at the same time that Leroi said, “And how do you intend to do that?”
I smiled. “Easy, I let him come to me.”
* * *
It took a few hours to get everything into position, and I kept worrying that Kline would show up too soon, but it appeared he wasn’t quite ready to kill me yet.
We needed the perfect setup for this to work, and even then it wasn’t one hundred percent foolproof.
Noah hated the plan, but he always hated it when I put myself in any sort of danger.
Leroi was all for it, and Misha was cautious but more enthusiastic. Gilles was just glad that we had finally found a possible solution, and that he could provide assistance.
I was sitting in one of the chairs in the very front living room, reading a book. We had left the entryway not completely unguarded but looking lax enough that it might give Kline a false sense of confidence.
There were concealed guards in the room where I was, but I knew that in case of a real emergency none of them would be able to move fast enough to save me.
It was all up to me now, and Samuel Kline.
Hopefully, he would listen to me, and I would gain a useful ally for the day. If not… I hated to think about it, but I might have to kill him. Aurora would be devastated, so I sincerely hoped that it wouldn’t come to that.
Kline was smart enough to know that he couldn’t be around to take care of his daughter if he was dead.
I didn’t have to wait much longer after we set up before Kline arrived, but I did begin to grow impatient.
It was difficult to concentrate on reading, or looking nonchalant at least when you were waiting for someone to try to kill you.
Kline slipped through the door, into the room that I was in, as quiet as a snake. If I hadn’t been expecting him, I wouldn’t have known that he was there at all.
I kept a subtle eye on him as he got into position, and then cocked his gun.
I could tell from the way that he was looking at me that Samuel Kline was pissed. But underneath that anger was also fear, and I knew that I would be able to succeed if I played on that.
It was time for me to make my move.
“Won’t you at least talk first, before you kill me?” I said, making Kline jump in surprise. “I think you and I might be able to come to an agreement.”
“I think we both know that’s the last thing I want right now, Malcolm.” He spat out my name as if even the sound of it tasted like dirt in his mouth.
“Is it really? I would have thought with your whole situation, you might want some help rescuing your daughter.”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Liam is a bad man, and your daughter is in danger. The last thing I want is for her to get hurt, I think we can both agree on that, and the longer she’s with Liam, the more unlikely she is to come out of this unscathed.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Aurora
The place they took me to was far from the dingy hideaway I was expecting. Someone blindfolded me while we were in the car, so I just had the sense of time passing without knowledge of where I was or where we were headed.
Each time the car stopped, my heart leapt into my throat at the thought that this might be our destination, but each time it seemed to be nothing more than a red light.
I began to lose track of how long I had been in that car. My hands were slowly growing numb from the bindings, and my whole body felt out of place. It was almost like, physically, I wasn’t there at all, but somewhere far away instead.
Finally, or maybe not finally because I didn’t want to be there at all, the car stopped one last time. It quieted as the engine was turned off, and then I was yanked out the door. I felt the cool air hit my face for a moment until I was carried into a building.
We must have gotten into an elevator then because my body felt the sensation of sinking.
This told me that the hideout had to be underground.
I was taken far from the elevator before I was set down again. They then stood me up, untied my hands only to tie them again to something above my head, and then tied my feet together to something on the ground.
I assumed I had been bound to a pole, and my suspicions were confirmed when my blindfold was finally removed.
Sweaty, meaty hands caressed my face, and then lifted the fabric from my eyes, allowing me to see again.
The figure who first came into my room was standing in front of me, a sick grin on his face.
“Welcome to my humble abode, sweetheart. I’ve heard so much about you,” he said. I couldn’t help but cringe away— his breath was absolutely vile.
He stepped back, giving me an opportunity to take in the room around me.
It was opulent, covered in the kind of gilded furniture that blinded your vision, and accented with rich red velvet. It was obviously expensive, but seemed to be in poor taste.
From what I could tell, the room that I was currently in was the dining room. There was a table in front of me with chairs around it and several large plates of food. All the chairs faced in my direction, and I assumed that was because this pole was mainly used for entertainment.
It was a golden pole, coming out of a medium-sized platform on the ground and extending all the way up to the ceiling.
My wrists were suspended by a hook that had been attached to it, which I could only assume meant that this man was in the habit of tying up girls and putting them on display.
It wasn’t a very comforting thought.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” the man said. “My name is Liam Hawthorne, and I am currently your father’s employer. He asked us to look after you for a bit so he can finish his job without you getting in his way.”
He grabbed a lock of my hair, letting it slide through his hand. “Which means you’re currently my responsibility. There’s no need to worry though, I’ll take very good care of you. I always do.” His last words were said in a low voice that sent shivers down my spine, but not the kind I liked.
The shivers that Malcolm gave me were of pleasure.
The only thing Liam gave me were creeps.
“My father would have never agreed to this,” I said, spitting into his face.
He blinked, wiping away the saliva, and then looking at me with burning anger in his eyes. “Is that so? Well, then you’re mistaken, you little bitch.”
He backhanded me, and my cheek stung as his hand made contact with my skin.
“Let that teach you to disrespect me again. Now, be a good little girl and behave.”
“In your wildest dreams,” I said. “You’ll never make me compliant.”
“Oh?” he raised his eyebrows, and I regretted what I had said and done. Thi
s man was powerful and ruthless. I had to remind myself of that.
If I upset him too much, there was no telling what he might do. He clearly felt no obligation to treat me well.
“Gag her,” he said to one of his men. “I don’t want to have to deal with her back talking at the moment.”
“You bastard—” I tried to scream, but one of Liam’s men was already shoving the gag into my mouth with such force that I felt the corners of my lips crack.
Tears were streaming down my face involuntarily, and my chest was seizing up. I had no idea what was going to happen to me, or if I would even get out of this alive.
All I wanted at the moment was for Malcolm to be there, just to be in his arms. I wanted him holding me; I wanted to breathe in his comforting scent.
I had to hope that he knew where I was and that he would come for me soon. That thought was the only thing that kept me from breaking down entirely.
Liam walked back over to the table, seating himself in the center chair. His eyes examined me hungrily as he pulled one of the plates full of food and a glass full of wine closer to himself.
No one else sat, but his men stood guard around him, and I knew there had to be several more just out of sight.
I resisted the urge to just lower my head and stare at the ground so I wouldn’t have to look at Liam and see the way he was staring at me, but I still felt a need to be defiant, so I stared at him straight on.
Then he began to eat.
The way that Liam Hawthorn ate was one of the more disgusting things that I had ever seen in my life. Every bite he took left debris around his lips, and he didn’t bother closing his mouth to chew.
Saliva and dribbles of wine ran down his chin, dripping onto the tablecloth. Some poor servant was going to have to clean up the mess he was making.
It might have been more tolerable, had Liam not been looking at me the entire time. He stared at me as if he wanted to devour me as if he was tasting me in every bite. It made my insides churn and my eyes fill with tears,
My Dad’s Billionaire Enemy Page 13