by Evie Harper
We arrive at my car and Kanye pushes me up against it, taking my mouth and grinding into me shamelessly with his hard cock, out in the open for anyone to see.
I kiss him back, just as eager. It’s a furious, lust-induced kiss. Our teeth clash as we try to be as close to each other as possible.
Kanye pulls back and we are both panting for breath.
“Home, baby, straight away. I have to drop some paperwork to the office for Nick but I’ll be right behind you.”
I nod and smile, knowing the next few hours are going to be bliss. Amazing sex and then explaining to Kanye I want to start a family with him. God, life is great. I can’t believe I hid from it for so long.
Kanye slaps me on the ass as I turn to get in my car. I start the engine and drive out of the parking lot. I go left and I watch in my rear view mirror as Kanye goes right.
I turn the radio on and sing along with the music. My blood is pumping fast and my heart is bursting with love and happiness. My mind is full of only beautiful, mischievous thoughts. Ideas of what I’m going to do with Kanye all afternoon.
I’m almost home when my phone dings. I pull over to the side thinking it might be Kanye. However, I see the message is from Alexa and quickly open it.
Donovan is in Hastings. I followed him in last night, but lost him when he used a dummy to leave his hotel undetected. He knows Joseph is tracking him down, and I just got word; Donovan has eyes on you. He found you and he’s following you.
Fear grips my heart. I drop the phone to the floor, my shaking fingers unable to hold it any longer. My trembling hands grip the steering wheel and I look around the area I’m stopped in. I notice a silver car about twenty meters behind me. It’s parked. I can’t see if anyone is in the car.
I fumble turning the key and the engine starts. I drive off rapidly with spinning wheels. I watch the silver car in my rear view mirror. It doesn’t move. I’m far enough away where it’s now only a speck of silver in the distance; it doesn’t make a move to follow me. I blow out a breath. You’re freaking out, Emily. Just get home, lock the doors and tell Kanye when he gets home. You’re safe. Kanye will protect you.
At that exact moment, when those thoughts are caressing my mind, calming me, two parked black cars suddenly pull out in front of me, making a V, blocking my way forward. My heart jackhammers against my chest and my palms are sweaty and slipping from the steering wheel. I’m forced to brake and turn my car to the left. It slides until it comes to a full stop. I hear another car come up behind me and I turn around and see it’s the same silver car from moments ago. Shit!
I hear a door open and turn back to the two black sedans. And there he is. Donovan. He stands calmly and buttons up his gray suit jacket. He’s wearing aviator glasses and I can’t tell if he’s looking at me.
My eyes are frozen on him as I hear a loud smash to my left and I scream as glass covers me. I bring my hands up to protect my face. A rough arm reaches past me to the keys and turns the car off.
I know if I lose those keys I lose my freedom. I grab for the man’s huge hand and start trying to pull his fingers apart. I scream as loud as I can while using all my strength to pry the keys from him. He uses his free hand and places it around my throat, tightening painfully.
“Jesus, let go of my hand, bitch,” he growls.
I keep going, clawing at his hands, and scratching at his skin. If he takes my keys, I’m dead anyway. Going back to that life, the cold, lonely, abusive place. I’d rather die right here by this stranger’s hand.
“Christ’s sake, Pete, just fucking knock her out and hurry up. We don’t have all damn day,” Donovan yells over to his goon. He shakes his head in annoyance and pins me with a stare through the window shield. “Emily, drop the fighter act. We all know how weak you really are.”
The man squeezes my throat tighter and I’m gagging through his hold, my screams becoming hoarser by the second. My fight wanes and I feel the old familiar feeling of helplessness and breathlessness wash over me as I drift into unconsciousness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
I reach home and I’m surprised when I don’t see Emmy’s car in the driveway. I can’t have beaten her home. Wouldn’t I have passed her? No, I came another way from the office. I jump out of my car, jog up the porch steps and try the front door handle and find it’s still locked. I open it up, walk inside and call out for Emily.
“Emmy! You here!”
When I hear nothing, I pull my phone from my back pocket and dial her number. It rings out and goes to voicemail.
“It’s Em, leave a message and I’ll call you back when I can.”
Beep.
My gut clenches; something’s not right. Where would she have gone? I grab my keys to head back in the same direction Emily would have come from. I’m walking down the porch steps when I hear car tires screeching and then watch as Jake’s SUV speeds down my driveway.
Joseph’s in the front passenger seat, holding on tight to the roof while Jake brakes and the car skids sideways. Before the car has even stopped, Joseph is out and running up to me.
My stomach completely drops at this moment, the moment I know they’re about to tell me what I already fear. Donovan has Emily and I wasn’t there to protect her. I fist my hands waiting for the words which will destroy me.
Joseph reaches me breathing heavily, “Kanye, we found out Donovan is in Hastings and has eyes on Emily. We need to keep her out of sight. Don’t let her go anywhere,” he says, scanning the area around us and then turns back toward me when I don’t say anything.
Joseph’s confusion turns to fear, as what I’m guessing he’s seeing is my whole body go pale. I lower my head and tighten my fists to where I know my knuckles are now white and my short fingernails are digging into my skin.
I sense Jake run up to us. “What are we doing standing around. Time to grab our shit and go kill a motherfucker.” I hear his words drift off on the end and he asks, “Where’s Em’s car?”
I raise my head and growl, “He has her. Emmy should have been home by now. She should have beaten me home easily. Fuck! He has her!” I end with a roar.
Jake’s whole body goes stiff and he whispers, “No, not again. This can’t be happening.”
He takes two fast steps toward me, cuffs my collar and sneers into my face, “You were supposed to protect her. You were supposed to be keeping her in your sights. That’s my baby sister, and if anything more happens to her, I’m going to hold you responsible.”
I push Jake off me and roar, “I know! Fucking, fuck, fuck, motherfucking cunt! If he touches her again, I won’t ever forgive myself!”
Jake and I face off, both with our chests rising and falling rapidly.
“Both of you shut the fuck up. If...” My eyes swing to Joseph and see him raise his hands in a maybe gesture. “If Donovan has her, he’s still in Hastings. We have a real shot at finding him and getting Emily back. Stop the blame game. You both know even if you watched her twenty-four seven, at some point this fucker was going to get to her. He’s obsessed with her. He was willing to wait you all out for as long as he needed to.”
A ring sounds and we all look to our phones, but it’s Joseph who speaks, “Holy shit. It’s Alexa, she’s calling me.” He presses answer and turns the speaker on and says, “Lexie, where the fuck are you?” Disbelief still evident in his voice.
A feminine voice speaks through the phone, “I was on my way to Emily’s house to warn her about Donovan, but now I’m heading east following three BMWs, two black, one silver. I passed them just before seeing a car matching the description of Emily’s abandoned on the side of the road, driver’s side window smashed. I turned around and caught up to the cars. You need to be on the road now and head east. I’ll call back with an address when they make it to their destination.”
“Like fuck. You turn around, right now, Lexie. Get the fuck out of there and out of this dangerous situation. I’m heading that way now. We’ll find them.”
“No,” Alexa states firmly. From her to
ne, there will be no arguing with her.
“Jesus Christ!” Joseph yells out. “Do. Not. Stop. When they do, you keep driving and call me when you have a destination. Do you understand me, Lexie?”
“I’m going in after them. I’m not going to let them hurt her. I’m armed and ready to kill if they dare touch her.”
“No!” Joseph shouts. “Don’t, please, Lexie. Leave it to us.”
“I have to, Joey,” Alexa says into the phone. “I didn’t help her when I should have, at the beginning. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself now if I drove straight past and did the same thing again. I would rather die then anyway.”
Joseph looks up to me and Jake, begging for us to say something, but we both stay silent. If it was Lily or Emily, we would be saying the same thing as Joseph. But if she can save Emily, keep her from being taken away again, then I’m not saying a damn thing.
Joseph realizes what’s plainly on my face. I’m willing to sacrifice Alexa to find Emily. He grinds his teeth and we watch as his jaw tightens. Then we all start running for Jake’s truck.
We’re in when Joseph speaks again. “Lexie,” he breathes out her name. You can hear the defeat and pain in his voice.
Jake starts the car, revs the engine, and spins us around; we fishtail it out of my driveway. My home with Emmy. Please, God, let this still be our home, not my home again.
“We’re on our way. Just don’t do anything stupid, Lexie. I need you. I need you alive, baby.”
As Joseph says the words we didn’t think we would ever hear from a man as strong or brutal as him, the line goes dead.
Joseph roars into the back seat and throws his phone to the ground. He punches the back of my seat a few times, but I don’t say anything. I completely understand. If I was a better man, I’d call Alexa back and tell her not to do it, not to try and save Emmy.
But I’m not a better man at the moment. I’m a desperate man.
I hear a dial tone and realize Jake’s calling someone on speaker phone through the car. It feels as if I’m moving in slow motion, even though I can feel how fast we are driving.
“Smith, it's Jake. Emily’s been taken, again,” Jake growls into the car. “Put an APB out for the man we talked about earlier, Donovan Bradley. Shut down the airports closest to Hastings and have patrol cars out to the city’s exits, right fucking now.”
“On it.” With that, Smith hangs up and we continue speeding along the road. Jordan Smith is the Lieutenant at Hasting Police Department. Jake must have called him earlier when he knew Donovan was in Hastings.
Emily’s car comes into view. It’s parked to the side on an angle. Jake slows when we pass and it’s easy to see the smashed driver’s side window.
“Fuck!” I roar into the car.
Jake revs his truck and we speed up Main Street through the middle of town and straight on to the back road, heading east. I know what’s east. It’s lots of abandoned houses, and Willow’s Ridge Airfield.
If they secure her on a plane, I’ve lost her all over again. Emmy’s come so far. How could she overcome any more hurt and pain? She couldn’t. She’ll be lost to you. I try to shake off the fear spreading through my mind.
I twist and turn in my seat, wanting to jump out and run to her. Wanting to do anything except sit still and pray we get there in time.
My heart is pounding in my ears. It’s raging with anger that someone dare stole what is ours, yet again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
An ache in my neck is the first thing I feel when I wake. I realize it’s because I’m sleeping sitting up. What? I swallow and my throat burns. I go to grab my throat with my fingers; however, my hands meet a hard, sticky resistance. I look down and see silver packing tape wrapped securely around both my wrists and ankles. I’m tied to a dirty, metal, dining chair.
Oh, God. Donovan. He found me. I’m caught. No!
My head shoots up and I examine my surroundings. I’m in a small living room with faded yellow walls and old, brown sofas. There is nothing else in the room except those old pieces of furniture and me, trapped to a chair.
It looks like nobody has lived here for a long time.
My eyes dart to the left as I see movement outside the window. I swear I just saw long black hair run past the window.
“Ah, you’re awake.”
My head spins to Donovan, who is standing right in front of me. Dressed in his suit, he looks every bit of the gentlemen he isn’t.
He kneels before me and lifts his hands to my face, but doesn’t touch me. He just outlines the curves of my cheeks, close, but not touching.
“God, you become more beautiful every time I see you.” I narrow my eyes and scrunch my nose up, hating that he likes me at all.
He laughs at my reaction.
“What’s wrong, Emily, five months away from the collection and you suddenly don’t fear me? I remember our last encounter; you were just a shell of a woman, no emotions or fears. Just a whore who opens her legs when told to.”
I pierce him with my eyes, and resolutely state, “Not a whore, a rape victim.”
Donovan’s eyes widen minutely. Not enough to think I’ve shocked him, but enough to know he wasn’t expecting me to have that kind of answer.
Two figures move into the room and stand behind Donovan.
“Donovan, we’re heading out now.”
Donovan speaks, but keeps his eyes and body facing my way. “Go, and take Pete. I want some alone time with Emily.” His voice, dripped with honey, is disgusting. He smirks at me.
Shivers rack my body at hearing his words. My eyes dart around the room wildly. No, I won’t let this happen again.
“Are you sure? What if—”
The man doesn’t get any further in his sentence as Donovan stands, turns toward him and cuts him off. “Don’t think, Jimmy. Just fucking do what I say,” Donovan grinds out, his shoulders stiff and I can only imagine his face hard and angry. That expression has been directed toward me many times in the past.
The man shrugs and yells out, “Pete, you’re coming with us.” A third man comes into sight and they all leave through what I’m guessing is the front door.
Donovan turns back to me and I hiss, “I’m not going to let you touch me. Never again.”
His mouth curves up into a sleazy, slimy grin and then as quick as a flash, his hand is on my right breast and he’s squeezing it hard.
I scream out in agony as sharp, stabbing pains, radiate around my chest.
Donovan lets go and steps back.
Tears are escaping both my eyes and my face is scrunched up in pain.
“You’re tied up, Emily. You can’t stop me. Time to remind you just how worthless you are.”
Fuck. Shit. God, please don’t let this happen again.
I begin thrashing around in the chair. I refuse to let this happen. I refuse to be that woman again. This time, I will fight to the death, and if I die, at least I die with my soul intact and my heart full of love for the man I know who loves me, who loved me even at my weakest.
Donovan grasps the top of the chair in an attempt to stop me rocking it. He has an arm on either side of my face. He’s laughing through his puffy breathes at trying to hold me steady.
“A lots changed in the last five months I see. Well, that just makes the next few months for me a lot more fun. I will beat this fight out of you.”
All of sudden, Donovan’s body spasms. His arms rock my chair. I’m frozen watching him. Then his hands fall away and his body slumps to the ground.
With him out of my way, I’m left staring at a woman I know all too well. Alexa Kingsley. She hasn’t changed at all. Still a stunningly beautiful woman with long, black hair and a body most woman would kill for. She has a stun gun in her right hand and she’s panting heavily. Fear evident in her features.
She drops the stun gun to the sofa and runs over to me, desperately trying to untie the tape around my wrists.
“I need a knife,” Alexa says, more to herself than I t
hink to me.
“The kitchen, there might be something in the kitchen you can use,” I tell her and she moves quickly away.
I stare down at an unconscious Donovan as I listen to Alexa slamming cupboards and draws. She returns with a pair of rusty scissors and begins to cut through the tape. It takes a few minutes as the scissors are fairly blunt, but finally, she frees my right hand and has my left freed quickly. She bends and slices through the tape at my ankles.
Relief floods my veins as I jump up from the chair, rubbing my sore wrists.
I glare down at Donovan and realize I’m now the one in control.
“We need to get him in that chair and strap him to it. Did you see the tape they used on me in the kitchen?” Alexa nods and runs off to grab it.
When she returns, we lift a heavy Donovan into the chair. I hold his upper body steady by his shoulders from behind while Alexa tapes his ankles and knees to the chair. She moves on to his wrists, and when she’s finished, I let go of his shoulders and we step back to look at him. However, the chair falls forward and Donovan’s face smashes into the ground. He’s too heavy.
Alexa and I stare down at Donovan thinking the whack to the face would have had to wake him up, but nothing; he doesn’t move.
Alexa and I turn to each other and shrug. We left the chair upright again and tape around his chest to the back of the chair. Using the whole roll of tape, we’re done and he’s sitting upright. He isn’t going anywhere.
I stare at him and a wave of intense power radiates through my body.
“The guys are on their way. They told me to tell them when I knew where you were, but I haven’t yet,” Alexa explains. I turn to her as she continues to speak, “I wanted to know what you wanted to do first. You can do what you wish with him now or I call the guys. They will come and deal with him. But you need to decide fast, because if they turn up, they are going to take us somewhere safe and you won’t have this chance again. Donovan won’t be leaving this house alive.”
I stare back at Donovan, thinking over her words.
“So what do you want to do?” she inquires.