Kept

by Jami Alden

  “She didn’t believe you were being drugged,” he snapped.

  “Neither did you,” Alyssa shot back, “and I gave you a second chance.”

  Danny, Ethan, and Toni watched, eyebrows raised, waiting to see how this would play out.

  Alyssa took a deep breath, trying to rein in her temper, and held up her hands. “Trust me, Kimberly wouldn’t involve herself in something like this. Forget about me—she was so close to our father. She wouldn’t be involved in his murder. Not in a million years.”

  As they read through the rest of Martin Fish’s documents, Alyssa felt a rage like nothing she’d ever felt in her life take root. Her uncle had known about this, or at least had a strong suspicion about Louis’s diamond sources. Why else would he kill to keep this secret?

  When stories about so-called blood diamonds had first hit the news nearly a decade ago, the industry had taken a hit. Many companies had suffered bad publicity, but they’d all recovered. Primarily by paying lip service, promising to adhere to regulations about certifying mines and diamonds.

  Because it was almost impossible to prove that any jeweler had knowingly acquired or sold conflict diamonds, the scandal had blown over, and the industry had recovered.

  But what Harold Van Weldt and Richard Blaylock had done could never be glossed over. When this came out, it would destroy the business and family her uncle had been so eager to protect.

  Alyssa didn’t consider herself a vengeful person. But after what he’d done to her father and herself, she couldn’t wait to deal the death blow to everything Harold Van Weldt held dear.

  CHAPTER 19

  “I DON’T KNOW what you expect me to do.”

  Louis’s fingers tightened around the phone. “You are supposed to be very smart. You will figure it out.”

  “Why should I figure it out? It’s your men who let Taggart take her in the first place.”

  “And they have paid for their incompetence,” he said, sparing a moment’s regret for Catherine, Damon, Peter, and Andre, who now rested in the cold depths of Lake Tahoe. They had served him well, but they would serve as an example to others to never let down their guard, no matter how easy an assignment seemed or how isolated the location. “And now I am depending on you to get her back to me.”

  A scoffing laugh. “Taggart has her hidden somewhere. And even if we did know where she was, how am I supposed to get past him?”

  “Kill him. I don’t care.”

  “Right, I’m really going to get the drop on a former special-forces sniper.”

  “I grow tired of arguing. You will do as I ask.”

  “Or what?” The voice rose a notch as anxiety escalated to hysteria. “You’ll tell? This is all going to come out. We’re screwed any way you look at it, so I don’t know what I have to lose anymore.”

  “You have your life,” Louis said. “A life I should take for what you did to her, after I told you I wanted her unharmed.” He could hear the swallow through the phone.

  “It wasn’t my idea—”

  “Bullshit. I know you are the brains of this. The others would not have acted without you. Now, you find a way to get Alyssa to come to you, or you will find yourself as dead as your lover. If you are successful, I will give you everything you need to start a new life elsewhere.”

  “Everything?” Curious now, intrigued. Greedy.

  “A new identity, an authentic passport, and fifteen million dollars in a numbered Swiss account.”

  “All for her?” Disbelief, disgust was evident in the reply.

  Louis looked at the magazine on the table before him. It was open to an advertisement for Van Weldt’s featuring Alyssa, naked but for sparkling jewels covering the tips of her breasts and the triangle between her thighs. Her skin was so smooth and creamy. He couldn’t wait to mark it with his fingers and with his teeth. His hand twitched at the remembered feel of her tit under his hand. Next time would be so much better, with her fully awake, aware that she was in his control. That pleasing him was the only way to survive.

  “I want her. And I will do whatever it takes to get what I want.”

  Danny cruised his jeep past Alyssa’s Victorian as Derek scanned the sidewalk from the passenger seat. “There,” Derek said. “Across the street.”

  “What?” Alyssa asked from the backseat. She peered through the window. “That guy in the trench coat?” A large, squarely built man stood across the street from her house, his bulk draped in a gray coat. With his blond crew cut and hard, angular features, he was a poster child for the Aryan nation.

  “Yep,” Derek said. “Ten to one that’s one of Louis’s boys.”

  “Not much for discretion, are they?” Danny said.

  “I knew we should have left you with Ethan and Toni—” Derek started.

  Alyssa cut him off before he could get wound up. “No way was I staying back at the house doing nothing when I can help you. Case closed.”

  Toni had easily hacked into the Van Weldt corporate computer network, but because it was after business hours, several computers were shut down and not connected to the network, including Richard’s and Harold’s. While Toni could access shared documents and e-mails archived on the corporate server, they needed to access deleted files on her uncle and Richard’s hard drives if they wanted a complete picture.

  Derek had been adamant that Alyssa stay back at the house while he and Danny went first to her house to retrieve her pass key to the Van Weldt office and then to the office to retrieve the computers.

  Alyssa had been just as adamant that she go. “I can’t remember where my pass key is, but if I can look at my stuff, I’ll remember quicker. Trust me, it will be faster than having you search my room.”

  When their argument escalated, Danny cut it off with a short, “Shut up, both of you, and get in the car. This is better. I can keep a lookout and take care of anyone who comes along while you two retrieve the key and the computers.”

  Derek had looked like he wanted to punch Danny in the mouth, but instead he’d turned to Alyssa with a hard look. “You follow my lead and do exactly what I say.” The only reason Alyssa hadn’t snapped back was that he’d softened his harsh command by giving her a quick, hard kiss before opening the back door of the jeep so she could climb in.

  Now they circled the block to make sure no one else was watching the house. But instead of turning right down her street, Danny took a left and drove a few blocks before stopping in front of a twenty-four-hour convenience store.

  “Be right back,” he said as he slammed the car into park and jogged inside.

  Danny was back before Alyssa could voice her confusion. She recognized the bulge inside the brown paper bag.

  “I think I have something in my liquor cabinet if you’re that desperate for a drink,” she said.

  “Don’t worry, sweetcheeks, I’m not going to get hammered—not now anyway. This is just for diversion.”

  “Did your brother really just call me sweetcheeks?” she asked Derek as the car pulled away from the curb.

  “He’s an asshole. Don’t pay any attention to him.”

  Danny merely grunted and pulled the car up to the curb around the corner from her house, where Louis’s thug wouldn’t be able to see them.

  “Give me a couple minutes,” he said.

  Alyssa watched in confusion as Danny got out of the car, cracked open the bottle, and poured the contents down the front of his T-shirt and canvas work coat. Whiskey fumes permeated the air as he took a couple steps down the sidewalk. Within a few yards, his gait changed from an athletic, predatory stride to that of a lumbering lush. If Alyssa hadn’t known what he’d done, she never would have questioned that Danny had staggered his way here from one of the nearby bars.

  Derek took her hand, and they followed several yards behind. His other hand slid back to rest along the waist of his cargo pants. Her stomach clutched when she saw the butt of a gun sticking out of his waistband. He rested his fingers against it, ready to move if the meathead didn’
t fall for Danny’s act.

  The blond guy stiffened as Danny approached, but he didn’t acknowledge the big, stinking drunk weaving in his direction.

  Not until Danny called out, “Hey, dude, do you know if thersh any cabsh around here?”

  The man didn’t answer.

  “Yoo-hoo, buddy, talkin’ t’you.” Danny was now within a few yards of the guy. “I need a cab, man.” He gave a convincingly drunk chuckle. “I’m so fucked up, man. Jus’ started a new job. My buddy bought me shots….” He paused, wavering directly in front of the thug. “Fuck, I don’ even know where I am. What fuckin street—”

  “Listen, friend, I can’t help you,” he said in a clipped accent, his words so low Alyssa could barely make them out.

  “Hey, come on, dude, help me out.” Danny staggered forward and gave the guy a sloppy pat on the shoulder.

  “Fuck off, man.” The guy slid his trench coat to the side.

  “Whoa!” Danny jumped back and threw his hands up as if startled. “No need to get mean, here, dude.” He staggered back and then righted himself as the thug took a menacing step forward.

  Without warning Danny’s fist flew out and caught the guy square in the face; then he landed a hard, martial-arts-looking jab into his chest. As the thug pitched forward, gasping, Danny reached in his coat and snatched the gun from his holster. A knee to the guy’s crotch brought the thug’s head down within easy striking range. Danny clipped him on the back of the head with the gun, and the thug was down for the count.

  “Go on up,” Danny said, barely breathing hard as he tucked the gun in his waistband and relieved the thug of his wallet, cell phone, and pager. “I’ll take care of this clown. When he comes to, he won’t be too eager to tell Louis he got rolled by a drunk.”

  “Wow, I’ve only seen that in the movies,” Alyssa said.

  Derek shot her a dirty look. “We’re all trained to fight.”

  She patted his arm, purposely widening her eyes. “Oh, honey, I’m sure you would have kicked his ass, too, given the chance.”

  Danny gave a half laugh, half grunt as he hoisted the thug over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. “That’s right, sugardick, don’t go getting all jealous.” He shot Alyssa a grin. “But if you’re ever looking for a real man…”

  Derek flipped him the finger and tugged Alyssa across the street. “Let’s find the pass key and get the hell out.”

  The house was silent as they went up the stairs to the living room. Alyssa breathed a sigh of relief that Andy was gone. She went into her bedroom and gasped. It looked like it had been tossed. Drawers hung open, clothes and shoes littered the floor.

  “I think Andy did a little looting before she left,” Derek said as he came up behind her. Sure enough, most of her dresser drawers were empty. And when she entered her walk-in closet, she saw a sea of empty hangers and shelves where rows of designer clothing and shoes used to be. “That bitch,” she breathed. Andy had helped herself to tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of her stuff. The final insult—

  What was that smell?

  Alyssa’s nose wrinkled as she took another deep inhale. “What is that? That’s awful.” Her gaze locked on an oversize leather duffel bag in the corner of the closet. Everything went still, and suddenly she knew. Still, she took a step closer. She had to be sure.

  “Alyssa, don’t.” Derek’s voice was calm, too calm as he grabbed her arm.

  She shook him off and lunged at the bag. She tugged the zipper down and choked on a scream at the sight that greeted her.

  It was Andy, nearly unrecognizable with her mottled, swollen face. Her tongue stuck halfway out of her mouth, the whites of her eyes crimson with burst blood vessels. Nearly black bruises ringed her throat.

  “Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God.” Everything seized inside Alyssa as she staggered back, would have fallen if Derek hadn’t grabbed her by the shoulders. He steered her out of the closet, through her bedroom, and into the bathroom, barely making it before her meager dinner heaved into the toilet.

  Derek held her hair as she retched and offered her a paper cup of water when the dry heaves finally passed. “I’m sorry,” he said as he stroked her hair, his mouth pulling into a grimace. “I should have seen that coming.”

  She gulped the water, shaking her head as she took a seat on the closed toilet lid. “How could you have known she was murdered? I mean, she was murdered, right?” God, dumb question. People who died of natural causes didn’t end up in duffel bags in the closet.

  Derek nodded. “They’ll do an autopsy, but it looks to me like she was strangled.”

  “Louis?”

  “That would be my guess.”

  Alyssa nodded, bile searing her throat as her eyes burned with tears. “Poor Andy.”

  His dark eyes narrowed dangerously. “Poor Andy was slipping you drugs.”

  “I know.” She sniffed. “But that doesn’t mean she deserved that.” She closed her eyes, but all she could see was Andy’s frozen, grotesque stare.

  “She helped Richard and Abbassi kidnap and drug you,” Derek snapped. “Don’t make excuses for her.”

  Alyssa nodded, though her stomach still roiled with a mixture of fear and confusion. “The police will want to talk to me.” Oh, God, the press was going to have a field day with this. Her father’s murder, her own drugging and kidnapping. She would be headline news for the next six months.

  She shoved the thought aside. She couldn’t worry about that now when she needed to focus on getting her uncle, Richard, and Louis caught and punished.

  He nodded. “We’ll call in an anonymous tip about the body. We can probably hold off talking to them for another day, but not more than that.” He knelt on the floor in front of the toilet and pulled her to him. “It’s going to be okay.”

  She nodded and stifled a sob against the thick fleece of his jacket. She had to hold it together. She couldn’t fall apart on Derek, not yet. She pulled back, sniffed, and gave him a resolute nod. “Let’s find that card so we can get the hell out of here.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  Alyssa blocked everything out to focus on her search for her access card. Several times she cursed herself for not being organized, not being like—oh, God, Andy—and keeping track of things like keys, phone, ID, and office access card. But as soon as her gaze snagged on her small black clutch, she knew she’d find the key. She gave it and her phone to Derek while she packed a small bag of essentials.

  Danny emerged from an alley as they exited the house. “Did you get the card?”

  Derek nodded, and they started down the block to their car. While driving, Danny’s expression turned grim as Derek told him what they’d found. He pulled over next to a telephone booth while Derek called in the anonymous tip. Alyssa closed her eyes and swallowed back bile. By tomorrow morning the dead body in Alyssa’s house would be all over the news. Hopefully the cops would do as he recommended and look first and hardest at Louis Abbassi and Richard Blaylock.

  From Alyssa’s house it was a short drive to the Van Weldt offices on Union Square. Derek and Danny slipped in through the alley entrance. In the time he’d worked with Alyssa, Derek had made himself familiar with every nuance of the Van Weldt security system, and she was impressed by how well he’d cataloged every flaw and vulnerability.

  Alyssa’s mouth pulled into an ironic smile. Harold had blown Derek off when Derek had offered to go through his list with their in-house security team and suggest improvements.

  Now she was glad the bastard had refused Derek’s offer to help. For Gemini men, sneaking into Harold Van Weldt’s offices was child’s play.

  By the time they got back to the safe house, it was after two in the morning. Ethan and Toni were still up. Toni got to work running a decryption program on the hard drives. “We’ll let these run overnight and get to them in the morning,” Toni said, stifling a yawn. “And, Alyssa, I went ahead and changed the log-in and password on Fish’s Web site if you want to get back in
. The new log-in is alyssa all lower-case, and the password is diamonds.”

  Alyssa muttered a thanks, numb and shell-shocked as the adrenaline rush wore off and the night’s events started to take hold.

  Toni and Ethan murmured their good nights and headed for the spare bedroom.

  Alyssa felt an iron-hard arm wrap around her. “Come on, Alyssa. Let’s get you to bed before you collapse,” Derek said as he steered her down the hall.

  She sat down on the bed and kicked off her shoes, feeling bone-deep exhausted. But her mind was racing with such violent images she knew she’d never relax.

  She let Derek undress her like a child and tuck her under the covers. He turned out the lights, and she stared into the darkness, bombarded by visions of Andy, of her father and stepmother. Of Martin Fish, facedown on the floor as his blood puddled around him.

  “Don’t think about it,” Derek said, his voice muffled in her hair as he slid into bed next to her and gathered her close.

  She shuddered and buried her face against his chest. “I can’t stop. I can’t get their faces out of my head.” He was silent, his calloused palm running up and down her back in a soothing, almost hypnotic pattern. “We have to make him pay for this. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, waiting for my uncle to shut me up.”

  Derek’s hand stilled on her back, and she felt every sinew in his body go tight. “I will not let anything happen to you. I made the mistake of leaving you vulnerable before, and I will never do it again. If I have to shadow you every day for the rest of your life to keep you safe, I will do it. I promise you.”

  She didn’t know why that made her feel even worse, like that was the only way to convince Derek to stay around. “Don’t worry. I have enough money in my trust fund to hire a whole army of bodyguards if that’s what it comes to. You’ll be off the hook soon enough.”