by Claire Adams
Perhaps I could convince him to spare me so I could get him the money he needed. I would even go to my father and get the money right away, if it meant that Jordan and I would be safe. I was willing to give up my claim to the company. I was willing to give up any chance I had of ever taking over Foster Industries, if only Escabar would spare Jordan and me our lives.
I knew Escabar all too well, though. And it scared the shit out of me that Jordan was there with him. Having a pretty woman like her in his house meant that he was either going to try and seduce her, or he was going to force her to be with him. It was also entirely possible that he was so angry with me that he would actually hurt her in order to find out where his black book was.
I took a couple deep breaths as we pulled into the driveway and up to the front of Escabar’s house. It was strangely quiet outside, and that made me nervous. Normally, there were a few of his goons there to greet anyone who showed up. But on that night, there was no one. I got out and made my way up to the front door. I was just about to knock when I noticed the door was open a little bit.
No matter what, I couldn’t let anything happen to Jordan.
Chapter Sixteen
Jordan
The second Salina shoved me into her car, I knew I was in trouble. I didn’t have any way of getting out of the vehicle unless I was willing to jump, and I thought it was entirely possible that Salina would just shoot me if I tried it.
My years of watching American television had not prepared me as much as I thought they had. I sat in the back of the car shaking for several minutes before I remembered I should be looking around for some landmarks so I knew where we were going. I watched the interstate signs go by and took mental notes, so I could call for help from wherever we were going.
“I’ll give you some advice, Jordan. If you know where that black book is, you need to tell Jose. Don’t fuck around with him. This is Chase’s fault for getting you into the mess. You shouldn’t protect a man who would willingly do something like that to you.”
Salina had a point, and she was getting it right into my head. I shouldn’t be around any man who would willingly put me in danger. But had Chase actually done that? I wasn’t really sure of that. He had tried to get me not to leave the cabin. It was me who had not listened to him.
If Chase had his way, I would still be there with him and not in a car with a gun pointed at me. Yes, it was his fault that I was in the mess in the first place because he shouldn’t have stolen from this man. He also shouldn’t have started taking money from a person who had the ability to hurt people if they didn’t pay him back.
I just couldn’t get my brain around why he had started borrowing money from this Escabar guy in the first place. If his father had money and Chase had money, there just didn’t seem like a reason for him to need more. Even if his father cut him off from finances, Chase still had a million dollar home he could have sold for money. I felt like there was something more to the story, but at the point I was at right then, it didn’t really matter.
Salvador pulled around behind a beautiful mansion, and I had to assume we had arrived at Jose Escabar’s home. It was certainly a beautiful house and had to have been worth millions of dollars. I kept my eyes out as we walked inside, and Salina brought me down an ornately decorated hallway.
“Jose, this is the woman who was in Chase’s safe when your men went over there,” she said.
She pushed me toward Jose, and I tripped over the carpet and fell flat on my face. I stayed on the ground as my legs and hands were shaking uncontrollably by that point.
“Are you okay?” Escabar asked.
I could see his feet standing right in front of me. He had on shiny dress shoes, and his hand reached down in front of me. He held his hand there and waited for me to grab on to it and accept his assistance in getting up.
I knew I had to accept his help, so I reached out with my shaking hand and grabbed onto him to stand up. My whole body shook from the combination of fear and the cold air in the room. I really didn’t have anything I could tell Escabar. I didn’t know where the book was, and I couldn’t even tell him why Chase had taken it. From what I could tell, even Chase didn’t know why he had taken the book.
“Yes, I’m all right.”
“You have an accent. Where are you from?” Escabar asked me.
“I’m from Liechtenstein,” I said as I looked into his dark brown eyes.
“Wow, now that is a small country.”
“She’s lying, sir. She told us she was from Europe!” Salina said as she looked at Salvador and then at me.
“Excuse them. They aren’t the brightest,” Escabar told me before he turned to the other two. “You two can leave now.”
As much as I didn’t like Salina or Salvador, I wasn’t sure I really wanted them to leave me alone with Escabar. Although, he was being nice to me at the moment. He didn’t really have a reason to be nice to me. For all he knew, I was in on the theft and knew exactly why Chase had stolen the black book.
When Salina and Salvador finally left, Escabar went to his bar and poured us a couple drinks. He handed me my drink and then motioned for me to sit next to him on the couch. I felt like he wanted something from me, something more than just his black book. The way he was looking at me had me worried that he was going to try to get me to sleep with him.
“Tell me how you know Chase,” he demanded.
“I don’t really know him. He sent for me from overseas to come and marry him.”
He laughed, and it took me a second to figure out why.
“So, Chase ordered himself a mail-order bride. That’s amusing. Do you know why he ordered you?”
“I think so. He said something about tricking his father into handing over his company to him.”
Escabar just nodded his head in agreement, as though he approved of Chase’s plan. I continued to sit there quietly and waited for him to ask me another question. I really didn’t know all that much about Chase. I hoped the fact that I had just met him might keep me safe from being hurt.
“So, did you marry him yet?”
“No, we haven’t even been on a date yet,” I said with a smile.
I decided trying to win Escabar over with my sweetness was my best bet at possibly getting him to let me go. What guy didn’t want a cute girl to flirt with him?
“Are you really this innocent or is this some sort of game to win Chase over?”
I just stared at Escabar. Obviously, I couldn’t admit to playing some sort of game with either Chase or Escabar. I wasn’t exactly innocent – I could tell there was some serious danger going on. But I also was innocent in the way that I thought he meant. I had not even considered men like him would be in the United States. As much as I watched television and the criminal shows, I never expected that I would run into a man like Escabar. It was scary, and I knew enough to just look at him and keep my mouth shut.
As he stood over me, I simply sat there looking at him. I was waiting for him to tell me what he wanted. What did I need to do to ensure my safety? What would I have to get from Chase to ensure his safety, as well? The only option in my mind was that both Chase and I would end up alright at the end of everything.
I watched Escabar as he appeared to contemplate what he wanted to do next. There was a fear that he might decide to keep me for himself, but I figured the prospect of getting all his money out of Chase and his black book was probably on his mind.
“Do you think Chase’s father will sign over the company soon?” he asked me.
I had no idea. I only knew about Chase’s father what I had been told. There was no way I could know if that information was even true. I certainly couldn’t know if the man was anywhere near signing his company over to Chase.
“Yes, he’s signing it over soon. Chase has grown his confidence. They are going to meet together and make company changes.”
“Can you get me my black book back?”
Again, I had no idea if I would be able to get that book back. I
wasn’t even sure I knew where the book was. All I did know was that Chase thought taking it was a good idea, and he deeply regretted it now.
“I can convince him to give it back to you.”
“Good, then you do that and I’ll let you go free.”
“I have something else I want,” I said firmly.
The firm tone of my voice seemed to catch Escabar off guard, but he turned and waited for me to tell him what my demands were.
“Chase stays safe, as well.”
“Now, now, pretty thing. I know you like the guy, but you’d do better to stay here with me. He’s got nothing he can offer you.”
“They’re my terms, either take them or leave them.”
Escabar seemed to think for a very long time, as he walked around the room. I imagined he was trying to decide if Chase looking through his black book was enough cause to murder him. Chase had not done anything with the book yet, and that was a huge benefit. But I didn’t know if Escabar would be willing to go with my terms or not.
“He has to pay me back all the money he owes, with interest! And, give me my black book by the end of this week. If he can’t do both of those things, I’ll get rid of him. His father is the one with the money, I can just go to him to get it.”
“What about your black book? If Chase has hidden it and you kill him, you’ll never get it back.”
“Then, I guess you better convince Chase to give it to me with the money so I don’t have to kill him. You see, little lady, I don’t care about the black book if it’s hidden somewhere. I only care that Chase isn’t handing it off to one of my enemies. If Chase and you are dead, it won’t matter where the hell he hid that book.”
My eyes got wide as Escabar came closer to me. I could tell that he would easily kill Chase and me if he needed to. There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in his eyes. My only choice was to convince Chase to give up the black book and to help him convince his father to sign over his company and the assets Chase needed to pay off his debt to Escabar.
I was so angry with Chase for getting me involved in this mess. I had been minding my own business in Liechtenstein and just wanted love. Instead, I got myself smack dab in the middle of some sort of all-out war between two men.
“You have a deal,” I said as I stretched my hand out toward Escabar.
He shook my hand and then gathered his things to leave. I didn’t know what to do. I continued to sit in the chair until he told me to either leave or do something else. I didn’t want to do anything wrong. I wanted to stay on Escabar’s good side.
“I’m leaving with my men. I assume Chase will show up here soon looking for you. It’s your job to make sure my terms are met. If you can’t do this, I’ll have no choice but to kill you. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Sit in my living room and wait for him. I have guards outside and surveillance everywhere. Don’t touch anything in my home, and don’t tell Chase the deal we made.”
“Okay,” I said as I walked out to the living room area.
I sat still in the chair as I watched Escabar and his men leave. I wasn’t about to move, and I wasn’t going to do anything that would jeopardize my life or Chase’s. My mind swirled with all that was going on. I knew it was going to be hard to get everything done, but I also knew that Chase would do so to save us both.
I waited for what seemed like hours, but was probably only about twenty minutes, before Chase arrived. He flung through the front door, and I continued to wait for him in the living room.
“Chase, I’m over here,” I yelled out.
“Where is he? Where is Escabar? I’ll kill him.”
“Shhh, Chase, let’s just get out of here.”
Chase looked around the room, as if he was expecting to have a fight on his hands. He looked up to the balcony that overlooked the living room, and then he walked around the outer edge of the room.
“Where is he? Why is it so quiet?”
“I think he just took me to prove a point. I’m sorry I left you. I’m sorry I didn’t trust your intuition about those two.”
“Let’s get out of here,” I heard someone else say as he came in from the front door.
Chase didn’t look well at all. I felt so horrible for making him come out and look for me. It was my fault for going to meet those two and thinking they might actually want to be friends. I should have listened to Chase. I should have understood the level of danger he and I were both in.
As we drove back to the car at the bowling alley, I sat quietly in the backseat. After introducing himself, Carlos told me about the police and how they had been at the bowling alley when Chase and he arrived. Chase was quiet, and I figured he had fallen asleep. He looked exhausted and I was sure that he was in a lot of pain.
“Should I go to the police station and talk to them?” I asked Carlos.
“Well, if Escabar is having you followed, you probably shouldn’t do that. He’ll think that you are turning him in or something. You should assume that he’s following your every move. He’s going to want that black book back.”
“I don’t even know where it is. Chase, where is it?” I asked.
“He’s asleep.”
“Well, wherever it is, we need to just get it and give it to Escabar with the money as soon as possible. He will kill the both of us without a second thought, I’m sure of it.”
“Yeah, I’m not exactly sure why Chase got himself mixed up with that guy. But he needs to settle this before things get totally out of control.”
I started to laugh. The fact that Carlos didn’t think things were already out of control had me a little worried. Chase had been beaten up and I had been kidnapped – how much more out of control could things really get?
“Are you good to drive back to the cabin?” Carlos asked.
“Yeah, I’m not sure I’ll remember how to get there, but hopefully I can wake Chase up enough to give directions.”
“All right, you two take care of yourselves. Call me if you need anything. I have a friend that works with the Special Crimes Unit – they might be able to help if you get into a real mess. Just let me know.”
“Thanks.”
I woke Chase up, and he walked over to the passenger seat of his car. I could tell he was in a lot of pain, but he looked more tired than anything else. I was tired, too. A better way of explaining it was that I was absolutely exhausted.
As I drove us down the interstate toward where I remembered the cabin was, I really wished my phone had not died. It had the directions application on there and the address.
“Chase, I need you to wake up and tell me which exit.”
He moved a little and even mumbled something, but I just couldn’t get him to answer me. I certainly wasn’t going to be able to find the cabin without Chase’s help. It was dark out and totally impossible to locate without specific directions. It was close to morning, though. When the sun came up, I might be able to find the cabin again.
I looked over at Chase. I saw that there was no way he was going to wake up. He finally felt safe enough to fall asleep, and there was nothing that I could do to wake him. I tried turning the music up, screaming, and shaking him, but nothing worked. Finally, I turned the vehicle around and decided we just needed to find a safe place to sleep for the night.
If we were going to sleep in the car, I didn’t want to be someplace where we would be easily spotted. I took a lot of extra turns and continually watched my rearview mirror to see if I was being followed. I couldn’t take any chances. Escabar or his goons were surely going to want to know what we were up to that night. If I hadn’t lost them through all my turning around, I needed to lose them before I found a place to park.
The road signs directed me toward downtown Atlanta. Since they were the easiest to follow at night, I just continued to follow them. As I pulled into the city, it was pretty empty. I drove up and down the main streets, looking for a safe place to park.
Finally, I saw the parking garage attached to the c
ourthouse and jail. There wasn’t a much safer place than a building protected by guards and police officers. I drove in and found a nice, quiet parking spot for us to rest. I was surprised that there weren’t more cameras in the parking lot. At least some kind of security would have made me feel safer. But I guessed criminals didn’t come to the jail parking lot to commit crimes very often.
At first, it was hard to sleep. I continually looked around the parking garage to make sure we had not been followed. It took me about a half hour before I felt comfortable enough to finally fall asleep. I was so tired. My whole body felt like it needed to rest for weeks.
Chapter Seventeen
Chase
Waking up in the middle of a parking garage was pretty much the last place I thought I would ever be. As I opened my eyes and looked around, I couldn’t quite figure out why we were there, or where there was exactly. It was calm and dark, but there seemed to be a big police presence, as I saw two squad cars parked just a few feet away from us.
I looked over at Jordan as she slept, but I couldn’t wake her up. She looked so utterly peaceful as she dreamed. I felt horrible for getting her involved in the mess that was my life. I had really put her into a difficult spot. I needed to figure out a way to get us both out of it.
If I remembered right, we had both had a pretty crazy last 48 hours, and I had no idea what day it was or even what time it was. The parking garage was dark and had no windows or areas for light to the outside. I pulled my phone out to see the time, but it was dead.
The weird thing was I didn’t want to move from that spot. It felt so safe there, so comfortable. There were no other cars nearby and nobody coming or going from where we were parked. In the distance, up the ramp, I could see some people parking and going into the building, but they couldn’t see me.
Jordan’s dark brown hair swept across her face. I felt so incredibly horrible for bringing her over to America and getting her mixed up in my mess. It was a stupid decision and I had put her life in danger. I wasn’t use to having to care about others as I cared about Jordan – it was new territory for me. But I liked it. I liked the feelings I was starting to develop for her. I liked how she made me feel.