by Ashlee Price
“Ryland, right?”
I was walking towards him, and even though he was almost as tall as me, there was a small quality to the way he was built. I towered over him, and I liked that he was intimidated. There was something unfathomable in his eyes and when he nodded his head that he was in fact who I thought he was, there was a change, a clouding over of emotions.
“I’m trying to find Mia. Have you seen her at all?”
Another look crossed his face. I could feel my body tensing up like I was about to get into a fight. There was something off about the man. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I knew that he was the man I needed to be talking to. I was feeling some kind of vibe from Ryland. If he knew where she was, I was going to make sure that I found out.
“I haven’t seen her since last night before she left.”
“What time?”
He paused and then shrugged like it wasn’t that big of a deal. “I don’t know, sometime after close. She was in her lab when I was changing out the trash.”
Ryland was done talking to me. He said something about getting some work done and having to go. He was trying to get away from me, and that just made me more suspicious than ever.
“I’ll see you around, Ryland.”
My focus changed completely. I’d learned through experience to go with my hunches. I called the investigator back and told him to drop what he was doing and focus on Ryland Cooper. There was something not right about him, and I was going to find out what secrets he had. Was he the one who’d taken my Mia? And if so, where was she? I didn’t leave the sanctuary right away. I wanted to wait around for Ryland. I wasn’t done speaking to him yet.
To be continued in Book 8…
Fully & Completely Book 8: His Conflict
By: Ashlee Price
Prologue
Logan is gripped with fear about Mia’s disappearance. She isn’t answering her phone to tell him what’s going on. No one from work has seen her, and even though the police aren’t sure that she’s actually missing, he knows that something sinister has happened. Mia would never leave him in the lurch like that. Logan knows that much. But if she hasn’t left him, where has she gone?
He goes to her friends and family, trying to find someone who knows something, but everyone knows the same thing, and that’s a whole lot of nothing. Every angle he tries, Logan comes up empty handed. It’s not until he runs into the quiet man with black eyes who mops the floors at the sanctuary that he gets a feeling that he’s going down the right path. There’s something off about him, and Logan starts to wonder if he is the man who’s done this to Mia.
Everything changes when he gets a text from Mia. His whole life is about to be turned upside down, and he has real dilemma to contend with.
Chapter 1 – Mia
“I will not do what you ask.”
He was getting agitated, and I knew that it wasn’t a good sign. Ryland had been more irritated when he’d come back later that day, during what I assumed was the time that he got off from his shift at the sanctuary. There was no way to know the time, no windows to see anything out of, so all I had to go off of was what he’d said before he left earlier.
“You have to, Mia. You don’t seem to understand the situation. Logan was asking about you at work, and I can’t have that. We need time to get to know each other, for you to see that you were meant for me. I can’t have him poking his nose into everything. It is going to be twenty-four hours soon, and you do not want to get the cops involved. It would make this here a lot harder.”
It was a threat that wasn’t worded as one, but it had the same meaning. If I didn’t do what he wanted, bad things were going to happen. I didn’t know what those bad things were, but everything seemed to be going downhill rapidly.
“You can just let me go, Ryland. I won’t tell anyone what you did.”
I stopped and tried to think of a way to say it that didn’t have such an accusation in it. I wanted to leave so badly, but I had to keep my anger in check. It was too close to the surface, and I didn’t want it to make the situation worse than it already was. Ryland was starting to act even more irrationally, and a couple of times I was sure that I wasn’t going to make it. How could I reason with a man who had no reason?
“I told you that I can’t do that, Mia. I hate that you keep asking me. I want you to stay until you love me, and by the look in your beautiful blue eyes, you’re not quite there yet.”
If he knew how far I was from there, he would realize that there was really nothing that could be done. He would kill me straightaway if he knew the truth. The truth was that I would never be able to love a man like him. I knew that. He was not for me, and I was in love with someone else. I was in love with Logan, and though I’d known it before, the situation was just solidifying it.
“I just can’t leave him a message or call him. He will know that something is wrong. He knows me, and he will know, Ryland. Then it will just make matters worse. If you let me go, you won’t have to worry about cops or anything else. All you’ll have to worry about is forgetting that this ever happened. This doesn’t have to ruin your life.”
He just smiled at me and told me that it was the best thing that he’d ever done. “This is going to make our lives better Mia, both of us. So are you going to do what I’m asking or not?”
I didn’t want to. Ryland wanted me to call Logan and break up with him. It didn’t matter what I told him, as long as it made Logan stop looking for me. I liked the idea of him out there, because this was not a situation where I could help myself. I needed him to save me, and the last thing that I wanted to do was give him an excuse not to help me at all.
“What happens if I don’t?”
Ryland’s face changed and his black eyes seemed to glow. I was sorry I’d asked the question as soon as I saw his reaction. I should have shut my mouth, because for a moment I thought that he was finally going to show his true colors and hit me. I’d seen the look in his eyes several times since he’d kidnapped me and brought me wherever I was. Ryland was not just crazy, he seemed totally unhinged.
“If you don’t, then I’m going to make sure that Logan isn’t looking for you. If I have to take him out as well, it wouldn’t be hard. If you care for him, you would do what I ask. Something bad is going to happen if you don’t, Mia.”
The thinly veiled threat was there again, and although I questioned if he would be able to get the better of Logan in a fair fight, I knew that Ryland would lie in wait for him, just like he had for me. That made it a lot harder to really know what would happen. All I did know was that he was crazy enough to do it, so I shouldn’t take the threat lightly. Ryland was prepared to go to extremes to get his way, and I shouldn’t encourage him to do more than he already had.
“I will do what you ask, Ryland, but you will have to let me send it through text. There is no way that he is going to believe me if I call, and it won’t be because it is on purpose. But I’m afraid, and he will pick up on it and it will only make things worse. I don’t want you to do anything to Logan. He has nothing to do with this.”
The smile finally made it to his eyes and the grin didn’t look as sinister as it had moments before. It was what he wanted to hear. He wanted to hear that he’d gotten his way and that I was going to do what he wanted. More than anything, it seemed like he was really concerned about who was in charge. While I tried to go along with what he said, the moment that I didn’t, he was really upset. Now that I’d agreed to his crazy scheme, I could tell that he was ready to get it done.
“Good, that’s what I wanted to hear. I knew that you would come around when you realized what was at stake.”
He told me that he didn’t want to be mean, but it was for the best. Everything was for the best for both of us. Only I wasn’t too sure that I agreed with that assumption at all. It didn’t feel like it was for the best, but I wasn’t going to let anything happen to Logan. Not from my mistakes from my past.
“Just give me your phone and I’ll text him now
.”
He smiled and shook his head. “No, I’ll go get one of those throwaway ones. It won’t take me long, Mia. I’ll be back before you know it.”
I watched him leave with a mix of emotions. I was happy that he was gone. I was already sick of seeing him and hearing him in the few short hours that he’d been back. But on the other side of things, I didn’t want him to leave, because that meant that I was going to have to send the text to Logan and he might stop looking for me. I was going to have to break up with the man I loved and whether I had to or not, it really hurt to even think about it.
Chapter 2 – Logan
“You were right to be suspicious of that man. He has a lot of things in his past to make him that way. I pulled up his criminal record and it seems that he has a hard time letting go when a woman beaks up with him.”
I looked at the reports in front of me with renewed interest. When I asked where that information was, he leafed through the hundred-page report and showed me the pages that included what he’d gotten from the database. Ryland had been arrested and convicted twice for stalking. There were several charges that included breaking and entering, lewd behavior, so many things that pointed to the type of man who would take a woman that he couldn’t have. I couldn’t help but think that Mia getting together with me and introducing me around must have been what tipped him over the edge. It was my fault that she was in danger.
“So where do you think he has her?”
Darryl looked a little uncomfortable, and I knew that he didn’t want to get himself into a bind. But I wasn’t looking for a legal answer. I wanted his opinion based on his long experience in trying to find people.
“Well, I don’t know. He doesn’t have any land or property, no hunting cabins or anything, and the few relatives he has live in the city. I don’t know how easy it would be to conceal her here, even if they were willing to help.”
I knew that it was going to be that kind of answer. Ryland was a loner who didn’t have many ties, which made him harder to track down. For that reason, all I knew was where he lived. But I had a feeling that I wouldn’t find Mia there. If he knew that I was coming, he would take her away and hide her further from me. I had to play it cool.
“Thanks, Darryl. Let me know when you have anything about her family or anyone else that I can find out anything about. I want to know what’s going on when anything new is found.”
He nodded, and I waited for him to leave before I got back to my train of thought. It was later in the day, almost closing time for the sanctuary, and I was still waiting for Ryland to surface. Now that the investigator had told me what I think I already knew, I wanted to see where he went when he got off work, but he was still there. I was starting to wonder if I’d missed him.
I was torn between waiting a little longer and going into the garage and checking for his car. I wanted to know if he’d slipped out when I wasn’t looking. I fought with it and weighed the risk of being seen against staying there longer than I had to. It was almost time to file a report with the police. I was told specifically that I’d have to wait twenty four hours, but I didn’t want to wait a minute longer than that.
When I got out of the car, the air was chillier than I would have thought. I’d been in the car for hours, doing what I could from there with my phone and contacts, waiting for the man to show his face. The conversation I needed to have with him was not one that could be done in front of others. I needed some privacy for this.
His vehicle was still there, and it hadn’t moved from where he’d parked earlier when I’d seen it last. I didn’t understand why he was still there, but it was good to know that I hadn’t dropped the ball and just not seen him leave. That would have been the worst feeling, to know that I’d been there and didn’t catch him.
So now I had to get back to the car before he saw me, grew suspicious, and took Mia even further away from me. I’d let the driver go home hours ago, and I was left alone to sit and think in the car. I had a feeling that it was going to be a long night, and I wished that I’d brought some coffee with me. I didn’t want to blink or miss a thing.
***
I was jostled awake by a loud rap at the window. It took me a minute to realize where I was and who was trying to get my attention.
“Sir? Sir?”
Putting the window down, I apologized for being there.
“This place is closed, sir. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to leave. There is no overnight parking here. There are signs posted everywhere.”
I looked to the set of them that I’d passed on the way in, but I didn’t care. None of it mattered. The rules didn’t matter as long as I found Mia. I was concerned more with the fact that I’d let myself fall asleep than with anything else. How could I have fallen asleep? I’d most likely missed Ryland, which meant another night that she was going to be with him and away from me. I had no proof, but I was so sure that I was right. I just knew it, and now I’d failed her. That was all I could feel, was how much I’d failed her.
“Sir?”
“What?” My voice was loud and booming with emotions that were impossible to hide in my half-slumberous state.
“Sir, you need to leave or I’m going to have to call the police.”
I looked closer at the badge on his chest. I’d thought that he was a cop, but it was a security company’s logo printed on the blue shirt that he was wearing. I waved him on and told him that I was going. I didn’t know what time it was, but I knew that I’d most likely missed Ryland. I hoped that I hadn’t missed my chance. I needed to know where he’d gone so that I could follow him and find Mia. I was surer than ever that he was the one who was doing this.
Putting the car in drive, I drove out of the parking garage and back onto the street. I felt like a failure. I looked at my phone to see that I’d missed far too many calls from Darryl. I hoped that he had some good news, something that would make me feel a little less sick to my stomach.
“Tell me something good, Darryl, I need it.”
There was a silence and I had to ask if he was there or not. “Well, Logan, you’re not going to like what I found.”
My heart sank, and I knew that what I’d hoped for was not going to be a reality. I was hoping that she would have been found, just popped up with some excuse that would make everything that I was going through seem silly. But by the tone of the man’s voice, I knew that wasn’t the case.
Chapter 3 – Mia
My hands were shaking as I looked at the phone that Ryland had just gone and bought. I was going to have the power in my hand to call someone, anyone. I knew that he was standing right there, but I couldn’t help wondering if there was a way that I could get a message through before he stopped me. It was hard to think that the consequences would be any worse than being chained to a radiator.
“Just write what we talked about, Mia, and make sure that you don’t try anything stupid.”
He was letting one of my hands go, and once the chain was off there was a relief that I couldn’t really describe. It felt like freedom, even though I knew that I wasn’t free yet. That came later, but I was getting the hope back that it actually would come and I would get out of there. The books and movies were right, it was mainly mental – but even with extra care I was finding it hard to stay positive in such a situation.
“I will do what you said. I told you I would, Ryland. You’re in charge.”
The man liked the sound of that, and I could see him relaxing. I wanted him to do that. I wanted him to think that I was starting to see things his way. He didn’t have to threaten me. I would do what he wanted if it meant keeping Logan safe.
“Good, I’m glad you’re starting to see things my way. Nah, I know that you’re just playing me, Mia, but soon you’ll see that I’m not so bad and there is nothing that you have to do but be with me. You’ll see that we are meant to be together, and now that you’re going to get Logan off of my back, we will have the time that we need to make sure that happens.”
&n
bsp; The cocky side of him was coming out, and it bothered me more than I could express. It wasn’t that I didn’t know him, I did, but I’d never seen him like this. Ryland was a stranger to me at the moment. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, but I would do what I could to make sure that he got enough to keep talking and keep the other things he had in mind for me at the back of it where it belonged. I was just in survival mode at this point, ready to follow any directions that he gave me.
The phone was in my hand, and instead of making a desperate call and yelling into the phone before he wrestled it out of my hand, I did as he asked. I told Logan that I didn’t want to be with him anymore and that I was staying with Jane in the city until I figured things out. Please don’t try to contact me, I said, because I just need some space to get my head on right.
A lot of it wasn’t the way I would say any of it, and I tried to leave a few clues. If he didn’t think that it was me, maybe he would keep looking, and if he found my friend Jane, there was no way that he wouldn’t figure out that I wasn’t there and that I still needed him to save me. The way that Ryland was acting, I was not sure if I was ever going to be able to get out by myself. I was going to need help.
When I was done, I asked if I could call my mom and tell her that I was okay. I tried to give any reason I could. She had a bad heart and she was waiting for me. But he just shook his head.
“I know better than that, Mia. You were supposed to be on vacation for the next week, so I know that no one is waiting for you but Logan. Now that he has an answer to why you’re not there, he will find him a model to keep him busy and make him forget about you.”
His words stung, but I wasn’t going to let him know that they did. For a man who claimed he was trying to get me to fall in love with him, Ryland had a mean streak that I wasn’t immune to. He said things that cut to the bone, and when he left for the night, I was left there to think about what he’d said. Would Logan just see the text and move on? He’d never told me that he loved me. I thought he did, but I could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time that I was horribly wrong about something. Ryland was a perfect example of that.