by Liv Bennett
Copyright © 2014 by Liv Bennett
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Table of Contents
1 - The Way Out
2 - The Trap
3 - The Realization - Ace
4 - The Ex
5 - The Video - Ace
6 - The Gossip
7 - The First Time
8 - The Investigation
9 - The Evening
10 – The Shocker
11 – The Inevitable
Read an excerpt from THE PURSUIT OF PASSION
About The Author
The Way Out
Frustration, rage, and agony storm through my body as I pace down the hall toward the elevator, the sound of my high heels clacking on the marble floor echoing in my ears. I’m ensnared into a fictitious cage that’s more restrictive than the state prison.
Desire to avenge and hurt someone is growing exponentially inside me. But more than that, I want it all to end. My suffering, the potential disasters that’re awaiting my sister and me. And my life. It’d have been so easy if my life ended at this point. Was that what Michael’s wife felt like before committing suicide? When she couldn’t take it anymore, she just pulled the plug? If Michael pushed her, his own wife, the mother of his kids, to the edge of the proverbial cliff, only Heaven knows what he would do to me.
Michael wouldn’t have this much power over me if it wasn’t for the sex tape. And, that I owe it to Zane’s able hands. Fury overcomes all the other emotions running havoc inside me and pushes my rationale into the depths of my mind. Zane’s plan wasn’t flawless, but his charm overcame the faults of his plot to get me where he wanted me. Helpless in his hands.
I could throw up the entire day, and it wouldn’t empty the disgust churning in my body. However, I know a way that might possibly bring some balance to this horridly wrong equation.
The elevator doors open and close without me pushing for the call button, but I don’t step in. Instead, I walk ahead until the end of the hall and rush through the doors of Zane’s secretary’s office. She shrieks in her seat at my sight, but I don’t give her enough time to talk or ask me to leave. Zane’s office doors slam open with a loud bang as I kick them.
Zane is talking on the phone, his feet propped up on his desk. The sickening smile freezes on his face as he notices my unannounced presence. He must see the depths of my anger, the reason I’m breaking into his office, where he’s the king and the rest of us are worthless peasants, because he drops the phone onto his desk and rises to his feet in one swift move. His expression wouldn’t be any less fearful if I entered with explosives wrapped around my body.
“Mr. Hawkins, shall I call security?” I hear his secretary speak and turn to see her at the doorway.
“Do that,” I yell and push the door against her face. I might have had no intention of killing Macey Williams when I smashed her with my slap, but the idea of shedding Zane’s blood, making him squirm with pain as I dig my teeth into his flesh is strangely welcoming. I leap the distance between us and grab him by the collar of his crisp white shirt. When I’m through with him, it’ll take police investigators to discover the original color of his shirt.
“You.” I glare at him to convey to him what my tongue can’t spell out. My whole body is trembling with the amount of anger that’s new to me. Being fooled and used, humiliated and demeaned. And all were done intentionally. For what, I have yet to find out. “Mother fucker, bastard liar. You ruined me. You and your father. What did I do to you?”
“Lindsay, calm down. What’s going on?”
“You’re going to tell me what is going on.” I’m broiling with the desire to hurt him, punch him in the face, kick him in the crotch, but my hands are too rigid around the collar of his shirt to move.
Lifting his hands cautiously to lay them on my wrists, Zane holds me in place. “Tell me what has you so angry.”
How you lied to me in every aspect of your relationship with your father… How you played with my feelings… How you turned my body into a puddle of lust… How you used my weakness for you… And how I could believe it all…
“Tell me,” he urges one more time, softly, as if he’s worried about me. That does it for me, and I yank my hand out of his hold and smash it on his cheek.
Asshole player.
He quickly catches my hand, this time gripping both my wrists tightly. Satisfaction spreads over me as I stare at the traces of glowing red my fingers left on his face.
“The video tape,” I say, forcing my hands away.
His eyes grow wide with shock. His mouth plops open, and I almost believe him. Almost.
“What video tape?” His sound is even more depressingly convincing than his alarmed expression. Honestly, where did he learn to act so well?
I shake my head in disbelief, turn around and head straight toward the exit. “The one you and your father used to trap me with.”
I nearly collapse against the two large men, I guess security, at the doorway but quickly gain my composure and move around them before they can realize I’m the trouble they have to deal with. I run down the stairs without realizing it’s a long way down, but I run anyway. Crying, yelling at myself, wiping away my tears. This shouldn’t be happening to me. Where was my logic? My reason?
There must be a way out. I can’t for the love of God let them use me like a silly toy. Think, Lindsay, think. Every puzzle has a solution. There has to be a way out of this too.
What’s the worst possible scenario that can happen, and how can I avoid it?
Taylor. Yes. Being the reason for ending her career, her livelihood, and her future is enough to crash my soul after all she’s done for me since my birth. She’s been a mother, a father, a sister to me, and my best friend. But, her construction company is in danger because of me. If I can magically find a way to escape that predicament, I may survive this.
On the other hand, if such a solution doesn’t exist, or I can’t find it, I’ll have to face indefinite humiliation in Michael’s hands. He never mentioned a time limitation for our new deal. For all I know, I’m in it for a lifetime. Serving his associates and clients as a sex slave.
Finally, I reach the ground floor and pace out of the building that is home to the devil himself. I find my car in the parking lot. I’m not even sure if I should continue driving the vehicle I earned through the contract with Michael. But, I have no other transportation. After all their manipulations, I shouldn’t obsess about being virtuous anyway, especially when Michael and Zane are anything but.
Although the reception in the parking lot isn’t good, I dial Taylor’s number. She doesn’t answer. I try Adam’s, and he picks up.
I force my voice to sound nonchalant and ask him how he is doing and how settling into their new home is coming along. He goes into detail about the remodeling of the kitchen and their furniture shopping, most of which I tune out.
When he at last inquires about the reason for my call, I ask him straight, “Did Taylor donate all her inheritance to charity?” After all, that is the crucial point in the survival of Taylor’s company. If she’s keeping her inheritance from her deceased first husband, she can save her construction company with those millions of dollars. And, even if the company can’t be rescued, she will still have enough money to live in luxury.
“Bad news doesn’t travel that fast. Yes, she did. About eight months ago. But only the part she received from Jack’s father. She also had some from his mother, which wasn’t a small sum by any means.”
“Really. How much?” Shame isn’t really one of the assets I can afford these days.
“Why do you want to know?” Adam
asks. “If you need money, I’m here to help too. It doesn’t have to be a loan, either.”
“No. I don’t need money. Thanks anyway. You’re the best bro-in-law one could ever have. I just want to know how much she has.”
“Enough to live in luxury without having to work.”
“Adam. Give me a number so I can come to that conclusion myself.”
“Always obsessed with numbers, aren’t you? A little over twelve million. And that doesn’t include my own savings. We have enough for us, and for you too if you ever need help.”
I gulp down the lump of shock in my throat and let the relief relax my overly tensed muscles. “Wow, Jack was indeed a jackpot for Taylor.”
“I’ll tell her you said that.”
I laugh, now losing my senses all over again. “Oh, please do that. I’ll finally have a reason to kick your ass.”
Adam laughs too, recites me some details about Adriana, his sister, worthy the roll of my eyes, and invites me for dinner at their new home. I gladly accept, then hang up, and turn on the car engine.
Just when I maneuver the car out of the parking slot, Zane jumps in front of it. He rounds it and stands beside the door of the passenger’s side, knocking on the window with his knuckle. I shake my head and press the gas pedal, ready to drive off, but he jumps on the hood of my car, and I’m forced to unlock the doors and let him in, although I’d gladly roll the car over his sordid body.
He straightens his suit and climbs in next to me. The cheek that had my slap seems redder than when I last saw it. Good.
“I have to apologize,” he says.
“Really!”
“I never intended for Michael to get his hands on the video.”
“Ahh, so you came after me to fool me into thinking that the video recording was for your personal enjoyment. Are you fucking kidding me?”
“That, too. But, that wasn’t the main reason. I was planning to upload it online,” he says calmly, as if those are the very words I need to hear to cool down.
My nostrils flare with renewed anger, and I tighten my fingers around the steering wheel so they won’t do anything hurtful to him. Is he a fucking imbecile or just a sadist to tell me his plans straight up to my face?
“Listen.” His entire upper body is turned toward me, his hands up, signaling me to calm down. “It was supposed to be for your own good, Lindsay. I wanted you to break free from Michael. I knew he’d demand more from you than you agreed to when you first signed the contract. He’s after something big. I don’t know what it is, but he wouldn’t let you go any other way. That is why I had to put up the sex video for everyone to see, so there wouldn’t be any reason for you to stay with him. He wouldn’t be able to continue with the pretend relationship with you. He wouldn’t be able to ask for the money back from you because you followed the rules of the contract to the last point. It’d be a win-win situation for you in every sense.”
“And, I promise to everything good and holy, I was planning to ask you out and have you as my girlfriend for as long as you needed to so you don’t appear as a whore to the public. It was a perfect plan, until Michael stole the video. I don’t have any copies of it. If I did, I’d upload it online right away to save you. But, you can do it. You should do it. Tell him to fuck off and keep your money. It’s not the end of the world if the video spreads around. You weren’t really naked. No part of your body that you wouldn’t show in public is seen in the video.”
His features soften and he stares at me with affection. “And, I’ll be with you. I promise. We can give press conferences and tell how madly we fell in love with each other and couldn’t keep our hands off each other and all that nonsense. Your name will not be muddied. I’ll marry you if it’s what it takes to keep your dignity, but don’t let my father use the video against you. Because that wasn’t the main purpose of its production.”
I let my mind absorb his words, slowly, enthusiastically. He’s right. I wasn’t naked while having sex, although I remember thinking it was strange. Although Zane could easily strip me naked, and it’d be his every right, he didn’t. It indeed proves Zane’s intentions while recording weren’t to ruin my dignity. It wasn’t like I was tied naked on a cross, my vagina, ass, or my breasts recorded up close while Zane is whipping me.
The cameras only recorded what they were supposed to record. Zane and I having sex, nothing more, nothing less. Even though I appear completely undignified in that video, the media is bustling with much more obscene and degrading ones. “He’s planning to upload the contract online as well.”
“I read the contract, and really, it doesn’t state anything tangible against you. If anything, it’ll worsen his public image. I don’t think he’ll ever dare admit he is a homosexual in a million years. He won’t do that. And, if he does, you’ll have every right to sue him, because if you remember, confidentiality is a big part of that contract. You can literally destroy him if that contract gets into the hands of his competition. That’ll be the end of him.”
“Are you sure?” As much as I want to believe him, a part of me is snarling and saying no.
“Hell yes, I’m sure. I’m the very product of his fear that everyone will know he likes men to fuck him. I don’t understand his fear, and I don’t give a shit about it either. But, I can assure you, if he had to choose between dying and coming out of the closet, he won’t hesitate to pick the former.”
“I don’t know. Why, then, did he threaten me with it?”
“He just knows how to control people. Must have used it to scare you shitless so you would comply without asking questions.”
“Well, it did work.”
What to do now? I won’t push Michael’s limits and yell into his face blatantly to go through whatever threats he has in store for me as Zane wants me to do, but I most certainly won’t let it go so easily either. What he has done to me and is planning to do is criminal. No money in the world should give him the privilege to escape the punishment others would receive for the same act.
“So, are we good?” he asks.
I let out the breath I’ve been holding all this time and give him a weary smile. “I’m sorry I slapped you.”
“Don’t worry. It wasn’t too bad, and I kind of liked it.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Hey, my marriage proposal is still on. It might not be the most romantic proposal, but I do promise to walk down the aisle with you to keep your name clean. Don’t forget it.”
“I’m not going to marry you, Zane. Forget it.”
“That’s not the reaction I was hoping to get.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but I gotta go.”
“What are you planning to do about Michael?”
“You’ll find out soon enough, along with everyone else.” I signal with my chin toward the door, and he climbs out obediently. As badly as I wanted to kill him a few minutes ago, I’m glad his intentions weren’t sinister. I believe him. And I’ll take the risk. Taylor won’t be ruined as I feared. Although her construction company is her life, she won’t end up on the streets like Michael claimed.
I hit the gas pedal, watching Zane through the rearview mirror, and maneuver straight toward the nearest police department.
After going through the security screening, an officer gives me a form and asks me to write down every detail related to the incident that I want to file a complaint about. It takes thirty-five minutes for me to pour out everything I remember onto the paper, from the contract and the video tape to Michael’s homosexuality and his threat to upload the video and the contract online. I sign it and hand it back to the officer. She nods and tells me to wait until she registers it into the database.
I turn around and join the group of people waiting for their turns. As soon as the next one is called, I settle on the empty seat, unable to stop biting my nails. A pregnant girl in her early twenties walks past me between two officers. If it wasn’t for the fact that her hands were handcuffed, I wouldn’t think of her as a law breaker, because sh
e looks clean and even sweet with her long blue shirt, skinny jeans, and flats. Her hair is tied up into a ponytail, and her face is deep pink and spotless. What must she have done to be arrested? Especially in her pregnant state. I can only think of stealing as the reason for her presence in the police station.
What will happen to her child if she has to stay in jail? Perhaps the close proximity of her age to mine makes me feel compassionate for her, but whatever crime she’s committed, I don’t think it’s anywhere near as cruel as Michael’s crimes, and he’s free while this poor girl will probably give birth to her child inside the four walls of a state prison.
I glance up at the officer who took my case to see her talking to another officer, showing a paper, most likely my complaint, and looking toward my direction.
The officer she talks to simply nods, takes the document from the female officer’s hand, and approaches me with a relatively angry expression on his face. I shouldn’t let his gesture get to me, I think to myself. It must be his usual, everyday expression. He introduces himself as Lieutenant Brooks and invites me to his office, closing the door behind us.
“Your complaint regarding Michael Hawkins has come to my attention,” he says, gesturing with his hand toward the chairs in front of his desk.
I nod and sit, waiting for him to continue. My anger has vanished completely and is replaced with anxiety at the sight of the judging look on Lieutenant Brooks’ face.
He places the document on his desk and sits back on his chair, clasping his hands on the desk. “You stated that a video of you was recorded while having sex with Zane Hawkins, Michael Hawkins’ son.” He looks up at me and I nod.
“That’s right.”
“And, you work as an escort to Michael Hawkins.”
“That’s… No, that’s not correct. Michael Hawkins hired me as a data analyst in the marketing department of Hawkins Media.”
“Here you say ‘I’m contracted by Michael Hawkins to attend special events as his companion for a period of one year. He threatened to upload the contents of the contract together with the video recording online if I don’t follow his orders, including but not limited to having sex with his clients.’ Miss Garnett, you must know prostitution is illegal in California. You can get serious jail time.” His voice is calm but menacing, and I can’t help but feel I’m the criminal here rather than the victim.