Pleasure Extraordinaire 3 (PURSUIT)

by Liv Bennett

  “I can assure you, sir, I’m not working as a prostitute. I only agreed to go on dates to special events with Michael Hawkins as a favor.”

  “But here it says you signed a contract.”

  “Yes, but it was mainly for confidentiality reasons. I never agreed on anything sexual. Not even a kiss.”

  “Do you have the contract or a copy of it with you?”

  “I do. A scanned copy in my phone.”

  He nods, giving me permission to get my phone. I fish it out of my bag, my hands trembling while I skim through the folders. “Here it is.” I place the phone on his desk so he can get it.

  He gazes at the screen of my phone with the utmost focus, and I can’t help but worry how some conditions stated in the contract can be misinterpreted.

  “Would you mind if I print it out?”

  “No, go ahead.” I watch him anxiously as he hooks up my phone to his computer with an uncomfortable feeling of fear falling over me. I’m really doing this, violating the main condition of the contract: The confidentiality of Michael’s sexual orientation, giving him the right to sue me. I don’t have any tangible proof of his blackmail; neither a voice recording of his words nor the sex tape itself. It’ll be my word against his.

  “Did anyone witness your and Mr. Hawkins’s conversation during the incident?”

  I shake my head no.

  “Can you provide any evidence or proof of harassment?”

  “No.”

  As the minutes pass, I’m getting less confident about my complaint. I may get lucky if there’ve been other complaints against him, but otherwise, Lieutenant Brooks’ questions give me the impression that my complaint will not help, just put me in trouble for violating the main rule of the contract.

  I hear the printer and watch as the papers slide out of the machine. Lieutenant Brooks hands me my phone and gets up to gather the printouts. “I’ll have an officer look into your case. However, I can’t promise the investigation will lead to anywhere without any concrete evidence.”

  My head drops with disappointment. How can I get evidence to support my complaint? I can get Zane to testify, but I doubt he will be willing for the same reasons of confidentiality as an employee at Hawkins Media Group. The easiest way would be to go back to Michael’s office with a voice recorder and have him repeat his threats. Pushing his button so he pours out all his anger to me shouldn’t be a big deal, considering how easily he showed me his real face right after I’d declined to join his weekend party. I will repeat the same lines, claiming to have other plans, and just watch him repeat the threats as the recorder captures his words.

  The Trap

  Lieutenant Brooks asks me to wait while he enters my case into the database. I comply, although I’m not sure why he has to do it again after the female officer did it already. After nearly half an hour of watching him type, I get impatient, mostly because I don’t want to waste an extra minute, garnering proof on my case.

  As soon as Lieutenant Brooks makes me sign some documents regarding my complaint, I get to my feet with renewed confidence and thank him for his help, even though he didn’t at all.

  Clutching my purse with both hands, I head toward the exit but come to a sudden halt when Ace appears at the security screening. He looks miserable while a police officer scans his body with a metal detector. Once he’s through, he paces toward me and grabs me by the elbow to pull me aside.

  “Have you filed a complaint already?” His voice is low as he speaks.

  I nod, apprehensive at the agony on his face. “How do you know about the complaint?” Did he talk to Zane? Although I’m not sure how Zane knew about my intentions to go to police, let alone to which police station specifically. It might not be Zane, though. Michael must have sent someone to follow my every step. For all I know, Michael attached a GPS device to my Audi to track my whereabouts. I think I should go back to driving my old coupe, however, I’m afraid it won’t be immune to Michael’s manipulations either.

  “I’ll tell you in the car,” Ace says. “But before we leave, you should withdraw your complaint.”

  “What? No way.”

  “Please, if you don’t do it, he’ll hurt Chloe.” He lowers his head to whisper in my ear, but the second before his face gets lost in my hair, I note fear spreading on his beautiful features. “Last night, he beat her up. She was in terrible pain when I saw her, so I took her to a friend of mine to hide her from him. But when I phoned them today, they didn’t answer my calls. Then Michael called me to tell me that he has Chloe and won’t release her if I don’t stop you from filing a complaint against him.”

  “Goddammit, are you sure?” Michael might be a monster, but fuck it, Chloe is his own daughter.

  Ace moves away from me, nodding, and produces a mobile phone from his pocket. I stare down at the screen with shock forcing my mouth to pop open at the picture of Chloe taped and bruised. Her eyes are closed, perhaps because she’s sleeping. Hopefully not because she blacked out. Oh, God. He wasn’t lying. Michael is more dangerous than I thought. If he can do this to his own child, I can’t even begin to imagine what he has in store for me.

  Ace runs his hands through his hair, letting out a breath of hopelessness, anger, and shock. Everything I feel right now.

  What kind of beast have I crossed ways with? A monster who pushed his wife to suicide while torturing his children and abusing total strangers purely for his own benefit?

  Macey Williams has the excuse of growing up in poverty without a father and most likely numerous mental issues. What’s Michael’s excuse to spread malice? It’s not like having to repress one’s sexual preferences causes one to commit a crime. Was it his parents who robbed him of his feeling of empathy by abusing him, or is it some chemical imbalance in his brain that’s causing his irrational and cruel deeds?

  Whatever the trigger is, I have a nagging feeling that if it wasn’t Chloe, it’d be someone else. Maybe Taylor. She already suffered enough for half a dozen lifetimes; she doesn’t need any more traumas to break her down completely.

  I don’t have any real attachment to Chloe, but she’s an innocent in the hands of a criminal, and if her wellbeing depends on my withdrawal of my complaint, so be it. I can’t live with the fact that someone else is being tormented for my actions. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

  An uncomfortable feeling of guilt takes over me as I walk back to the female officer who initially took my case. This is how lawbreakers get away with their crimes. By coercing their victims with blackmail. I may be taking a step back with my action now, but I swear I’ll make Michael pay for everything. I don’t know how exactly I will do that, but I won’t stop even if it takes my entire lifetime. I’ll make him regret this.

  The female officer listens to me as I explain how I misunderstood Michael’s words and twisted them into malice, as if I’m the dumbest person in a hundred-mile radius, and watch her while she looks up my file on the computer. Her bored and disinterested expression makes me feel relieved. I wouldn’t be the first one to pull a complaint. At least my real motivation, not the one I told the officer, is for the sake of someone’s wellbeing.

  The officer makes me sign a document and calls the next person in line. I stroll toward the exit beside Ace and follow him out to the street.

  “Someone from the inside leaked out the information about your complaint,” Ace whispers to me, his eyes scanning the people passing by.

  Oh my God. Michael had that much reach? He has people working for him in the police department too? I don’t even know why I am surprised. That’s the only way he can continue his crimes and not get caught red handed.

  “I’ll call him and tell him I’m ready to do anything he wants so he lets Chloe go.” The thought of being the reason for someone else’s suffering is making me sick. I’d rather go through that pain myself.

  Without waiting for a reaction from Ace, I grab my phone inside my purse and dial Michael’s cell. One beep turns to two, three, six, ten, but no one picks up. Not even
his voice mail. Michael must already know he has me completely under his control, that’s why he doesn’t accept my call. I swallow the feeling of defeat and drop my cell back into my purse. “What are we going to do now? Do you know what exactly happened to Chloe?”

  We walk to the parking lot where my car is parked and get inside. I grab my car keys but don’t turn on the engine, waiting for Ace to explain the details.

  “Michael beat her up last night. She was going to fly to Guatemala today, but I arranged a place for her to stay with a friend of mine. Michael must have known my plans or had me followed, I don’t know, but today when I called my friend to ask how Chloe was doing, she didn’t answer her phone. I drove up to her home but couldn’t find her or Chloe there. The door to her apartment was open and the inside looked like a robbery had taken place. Then, I received the picture I showed you. Michael kidnapped both Chloe and Diana.”

  “What the fuck! What’s wrong with him? Seriously, I don’t understand it.” Why am I asking Ace that? He must have seen Michael at his worst and still couldn’t figure out the why’s and how’s. No one with a sound mind can.

  “What did you talk with Michael about? What did you want to file a complaint about?”

  I let out a loud breath and look out through the windshield. How will I tell him about the sex tape with Zane without feeling embarrassed? Particularly only a couple of hours after opening up to him at the deepest, most primal level. With my body and soul.

  “He ordered me to join him for the next weekend while he’s hosting some important guests and threatened to put a sex tape of Zane and me online if I didn’t obey him.”

  “Sex tape of you and …?” He can’t finish his sentence. I feel so dirty right now. I wish the earth would swallow me whole at this moment rather than having to see the disappointment in Ace’s eyes.

  “It was during the day of the coconut-oil incident. Turns out it was all Zane’s plan,” I say to divert his attention to something else and see the flames of anger flaring up on his face. He starts to open his mouth but I raise my hand to stop him. “He was planning to put it on the internet so everyone could see Michael and I didn’t share any romantic interest toward each other. Michael and I would have to end our fake romance if Zane’s plan worked out. That was going to be Zane’s way of releasing me from Michael. He swears he didn’t have any other intentions for recording the video besides that.”

  “You’re making a mistake by trusting him. He never plays by the rules of a fair game. He and Michael must be in this together, and Zane’s explanation might be a way to gain your trust so they know your next step and continue holding you under control.”

  I drop my gaze at my hands in my lap in confusion. Ace might be right, but my instincts are telling me to give Zane a chance. Only, I don’t know if I can trust my instincts anymore. They were right about the contract I signed with Michael, yet totally wrong about Michael’s personality. Maybe I should ignore my feelings and concentrate on facts only. Even if I have no way to figure out Zane’s real intentions, I can test him and even take advantage of his motivation to gain my trust.

  “What happened with Michael?” Ace distracts my thoughts.

  “He threatened to put the video online together with the contract to show everyone what a cheap whore I was to work as an escort for him and serve his son. Also he said he’d ruin my sister’s company by canceling the project he has with her.”

  “You came to the police to file a complaint about him despite all those threats?” There’s a surprising hint of admiration in his voice, which is the only thing that lifts up my spirits in this mess called my Sunday afternoon.

  “Zane talked me into it,” I admit and convey everything Zane told me about the confidentiality of the contract and how Michael would risk being sued by leaking the contract to the public, and my conversation with the officer.

  Ace shifts in his seat and shakes his head. “Still, be very wary of his promises.” I can see the protective string in his personality being pulled to the highest. His sister is in danger, and as if that’s not enough, he’s worrying about me as well.

  “What are we going to do about Chloe? I can’t believe Michael will hurt her.”

  “This isn’t the first time he’s hurt her. She’s seen his evil side more than anyone else. Michael was aggressive to Zane and me, but it was nothing in comparison to how Chloe suffered through his anger attacks. I don’t know what he has against her, but he can’t seem to stop hurting her to the point of breaking her. Even so, this is new. Kidnapping Chloe and using her to control someone else is unheard of for Michael. I always thought he must have some twisted, overly protective fatherly instinct in him that pushes him out of control when it came to Chloe. But this last act proved me wrong.”

  “We have to find a way to save her before…” The words are too painful to spell out, even to think of. Having seen a glimpse of Michael’s evil side, thinking about the magnitude of damage he can inflict upon Chloe turns my stomach upside down.

  Ace inhales deeply, his chin shaking as his chest widens with the breath. “I’ll make him pay for it. Even if it’s the last thing I do on earth, I’ll put an end to his insolence.”

  “I’m with you in this. We’ll save her together. I don’t know how, but we will.”

  He gives me a nod of acceptance, his features softening visibly with relief.

  I reach for his fist and cover it with my hand. I feel I can trust him without hesitation. He won’t turn his back on me or leave me hanging when he saves Chloe; he is there for me too. To protect me from Michael’s wickedness. “We need a plan,” I say with desperation throbbing inside my chest at the sight of Ace’s pained look. “First we need to find out what he really wants from me, the real reason why he hired me in the first place.”

  He lifts his free hand and reaches for my lips to silence me. Perhaps he anticipates what I’m about to say. That it is all my fault. Chloe’s kidnapping. Michael’s extra pressure on Ace. Even the frustration Ace has over the sex tape of me with Zane, however insignificant it might be, considering Chloe’s kidnapping.

  If I hadn’t signed that contract with Michael …

  As if hearing my thoughts and not wanting me to draw a conclusion out of them, he sneaks his hand around my neck and draws me against him for a kiss that’s worthy enough to forget about Michael and his evil plans about Chloe and me.

  Ace draws in a deep breath of air as if it’s me he’s inhaling instead of air. His lips move softly yet demanding around mine as are his hands on my arms and shoulders. He’s everything my body yearns for. I can’t believe how I managed to survive without him before.

  Tears sting my eyes at the possibility of seeing Ace hurt. I might be in danger but watching pain pour out of his skin hurts me as if he’s a part of my body.

  What if Michael really does something horrible to Chloe? Worse than what he has done, that is. Will I be able to live with the fact that I’m the reason why everything started in the first place? Even if I did, will Ace ever be able to overlook that fact?

  My fingers clutch around his collar in an attempt to plaster his lips harder against mine. I’ve just discovered he’s the one I’ve been searching for all my life, how can I stay sane if I lose him?

  Our kiss deepens despite my sobs. I’m crying and letting him love me. It’s like our tangled lips are filling us up with hope and belief that we can do this together. As if we’re signing a secret contract about our partnership in this hardship. Our lips seal the deal. Even without our signatures, this agreement is harder to break than any other contract I’ve signed, including Michael’s.

  Ace pulls back, and I can only admire his beautiful, sky-blue eyes, wet like mine. Books should be written about the depths of his irises, thickness of the lush, blond lashes, and the unspoken words they inflict into my heart.

  Zane was right. Not everything is entirely bad. Even the most evil thing has something good in it, like Ace showing up in my life after that goddamn contract I signed wit
h Michael. I’d never have gotten to know this man, who knows my body better than me and has already started staking his claim on my heart, if it wasn’t for Michael’s ulterior motive to hire me.

  “Let’s go home,” Ace says, catching me by surprise. Home? As if it’s something we both own and share together. I don’t correct him or ask for clarification. I just nod and insert the key to the ignition. Michael forbade me any kind of relationship with Ace, but I guess if he can change the rules of the game he started, then so can I with Ace’s help.

  The Realization - ACE

  I knew Michael would pull off something cruel to gain the upper hand. I saw it coming. But never in a million years would I have imagined him using Chloe to get what he wanted. That new information erases the minuscule reasoning I had in my mind about his over-protectiveness as the motivation behind his cruelties.

  Lindsay too surprised me today. I somehow guessed she’d back down from her complaint, but I wasn’t counting on her siding with me to rescue Chloe and her instant faith in our ability to defeat Michael despite the odds against us, like she’s not aware of the magnitude of his power. Isn’t that the kind of person who actually beats the unbeatable, demolishes the rules, and starts a revolution?

  God, she even intended to file a complaint against Michael. I’m sure as hell no one, even the politicians themselves, have dared to even consider that possibility. She’s brave to the level of crazy, but I’d rather have her crazy with braveness than indifferent to my sister’s suffering. As long as her craziness doesn’t get her in trouble. To ensure that, I’ll have to keep her around, though it’ll most likely attract more of Michael’s anger.

  Where can Chloe be right now? What’s she doing? I put Diana in danger as well by asking for her help. I should have seen my plan wasn’t a great one. Michael has eyes everywhere. He must have known about Chloe’s absence since the minute she ran away to Diana’s home.