by Sam Crescent
“You don’t have to worry about the expense, baby.”
“Expense? Baby?”
“I’m paying for the room, and all of your treatment. All I want you to do is relax for me. Do you think you can do that?” he asked.
“I can’t let you do that.”
He was made of money, and she didn’t have a cent to her name. Russ had checked her records, and she had a small amount saved up, but not enough to handle hospital costs.
“Is this because I’m a billionaire?”
“No. I don’t want anyone paying for anything for me.”
“Tough. I’m paying for your room. Deal with it.” The elevator opened up, and he took her out of the entrance of the hospital. Several smokers were lurking, puffing away, and he moved Anna out of the way, following the path around the hospital.
“This is weird,” she said. “I’m not used to dealing with stuff like this.”
“Being taken care of?”
“Karen always took care of me, and I took care of her.”
“Families suck.”
“You don’t have a family?”
“No. I have my brothers, like I said.”
“Wouldn’t that make you family?”
“They’re not from the same woman. We’re friends, and united together.” When they got to the bench, he clicked on the brakes, and sat down. She couldn’t call for help, and she couldn’t run away.
“Why have we stopped?”
“I thought you’d like some fresh air, and a change of scenery.”
They were both silent for several minutes, and Russ couldn’t look away from her. She was such a beautiful woman, and he knew it even with the bruises covering her face. Her hair fell around her in ringlets. The mousy brown hair looked alive once again now that she wasn’t covered in grime.
“Families do suck.”
“You were in the foster system for a long time.”
“Yes, and that sucked too, until I met Karen.”
“You were both there together.”
“Her father killed himself after her mother died of cancer. With no remaining relatives, no one would take her in, so foster home it was.”
“Didn’t you ever get separated?”
“All the time but we found our ways back together. Homes wouldn’t work, placements didn’t stick, and we’d always end up back together.” He saw the tears glistening in her eyes. “We made a deal that when we turned eighteen if we weren’t together, we would find each other.”
“Were you together?” he asked.
“Yes. We were.”
“I want to take care of you when you leave the hospital.”
“Why?”
“You’re not in a position to take care of yourself. Let me help you. Let me reach out to you, and help.”
He saw her visibly swallow, and it was hard for him to just sit there and watch.
“I don’t know what to say to you.”
“Don’t say anything. Just be yourself with me.” He took her hand, and gave it a squeeze. “I’m not asking you for anything.”
And he wasn’t.
Russ saw she needed friendship, nothing else.
By the end of the day, he had her agreement, and when she was discharged, they were going to stop by her apartment. Russell let her have the afternoon to herself in her room, but instead of going back to his apartment, he went to the club. He wasn’t surprised to see all of the guys in the club, fucking the shit out of the women. Tina was between Jamie and Dave, one man fucking her ass, and the other her cunt.
The club was filled with screams of pleasure, and he couldn’t get Anna’s scream of pain out of his head. It was driving him crazy, and making him feel sick to know she’d been suffering as he drove away. This club was the only constant in his life outside of work. He needed it, and the missions that Lewis had them going on kept him alive.
Russ didn’t even know what it was about Anna. She wasn’t his usual type. He liked his women without complications, and their main aim was to please him. Anna wasn’t about pleasing him. She was nervous around him, and had gotten worse since finding out he was a billionaire. It was only going to be a matter of time before she found out. He was pleased she’d found out from him, and not anyone else.
Entering the main office, he saw the dozens of laptops and devices waiting to be examined. Lewis was in the room, scrolling through one of them.
“You look like shit.”
“I came back from Anna.”
“What is it about her?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Jackson is the one who gets mushy over the women we save. You go in, kill and capture, release the women, and go home. You never get attached.”
“I’m not attached to Anna.”
Lewis stared at him.
“I don’t know what it is, okay? I think she’s the woman I heard screaming out in agony that night, and I drove away as if I didn’t hear it.” He felt sick to his stomach every time he thought about it.
“It’s out of pity then?”
“I don’t know what it is. I only know that I’ve got make sure she’s safe. It’s strange, and stupid, but I can’t walk away.”
“You’re going back there tonight?” Lewis asked.
“Yes. She can’t sleep alone. I watch over her so she can rest.”
“You know how fucked up that sounds, right?” Lewis asked.
Sitting down at one of the desks, Russ fired up one of the tablets, and clicked it open. There wasn’t even a password to keep anyone out.
“Have you found anything?” Russ asked.
“I’ve found a list of requests.”
“Requests?”
“Yes. Descriptions of women, body type, age, race, sexual status.”
Getting out of his seat, he moved until he was standing behind Lewis, who had a large document up.
“Fuck,” Russ said. “Is this an order?”
“It’s a shopping list. He wants a blonde, American with attitude, and willing to put up a fight but not be broken.” Lewis leaned back. “I feel fucking sick.”
“Who is she, Lewis?”
Russ had never actually asked who they were hunting for, but he felt now was a better time than any.
“She’s the biggest fucking mistake I ever made. The one time I didn’t keep an eye on her,” Lewis said.
“What?”
“I had a family once, a nice family. We lived in the perfect dream house, with the picket fence, and I had a best friend who lived next door, and he had a little sister. I was eighteen when she was taken. She was ten years old.” Lewis ran his fingers through his hair. “She was such a sweet girl, pretty too. I guess if she was given the chance, she’d be the girl next door type. One day she was playing out on the front lawn, and I was mowing our yard. I always kept an eye on her, you know. She was so trusting and sweet, and she didn’t let anyone have a bad mood around her. She would always be laughing and having fun. It was great.”
Russ didn’t interrupt.
Lewis wiped under his eyes, and it was the first time for Russ to ever see the man cry. Everything they had all been through, and this was the first time he’d cried. “I was mowing the bastard, fucking lawn, and I turned my back for a second. It was long enough for them to snatch her. I’ll never forget her scream as they pulled her into the car. They must have stopped by to ask for directions or something. I chased the car down the road, screaming and shouting. The neighbors that were in ran with me, but we were too late.”
“Did you get the license plate?”
“I got the plate, and they ran a search. It turned up as a stolen car on the outskirts of town. What I was able to get from what the cops told their parents, there were tire marks from another vehicle. The sons of bitches took Mandy, and changed the vehicle.”
“You’ve been on the hunt for her ever since.”
“You know when a person goes missing the longer the hunt continues, the less likely it is for the person to be alive?”<
br />
“Yes.”
“Mandy’s alive. I know she is, and I can’t, I just can’t bring myself to stop looking.”
Russ sighed. “Mandy didn’t just go missing, Lewis. She was taken. Look at Karen, Anna’s friend. She died. I know this is hard for you to accept, but you’re going to have to come to agree that Mandy may no longer be alive.”
Lewis shook his head. “No. I need a body. I need records, and proof. I’m not giving up until I get that. I’ve not turned my back on everything to give up now. This club is about helping those that can’t help themselves. This MC means fucking more than just a bunch of guys getting their rocks off. I’m not giving up, and I’m not stopping until I find her, dead or alive.”
Lewis sat forward, and started looking through the details again.
“She wouldn’t forget about anyone, Russ. Mandy, she was good from the inside.”
“It has been nearly fifteen years. She would have survived fifteen years in the hands of her kidnappers. Child abductors. You know what comes after that, don’t you?”
“I don’t need you to spell it out to me. I got it. I know everyone thinks I’m wasting my time, but it’s my time to waste. It’s my life that I’m giving up in search of her, and I’m not going to stop. You know, there are times that I think my informant is her.”
Russ paused. “What?”
“A few years ago, long after Mandy was taken, there was a possible sighting of her in Italy, and when I got the file on her disappearance about two years ago, I went over to Italy to get some answers, and I made some noise. A lot of noise, and I dug into every piece of known information they had over there on Mandy, which was nothing. While I was over there, I had put Mandy’s picture through an, erm, aging software. You know, you take a picture, and it gets aged to see what they’d look like today. I had a multitude of these done, and I posted them on a missing persons website. Within an hour of this photograph going live, along with all her personal information, I got a call. An anonymous call about a group of girls about to be taken via boat across country.”
“That was our first mission as a club.”
“It was our first, and every time this person gets in contact, I can’t help feeling like it’s her, it’s Mandy. She loved helping people, and she would be the kind of person who stayed trapped to help others.”
Russ didn’t want to burst his bubble about Mandy. He didn’t know anything about her, and from the hope shining in his friend’s eyes, he didn’t want to take that from him.
“I’m working on some software that will take the recording of her voice, and remove the distortion. I may be able to hear her soon.”
“That kind of technology is unreliable, Lewis. You heard her childhood voice, and that was a long time ago. How are you even going to know it’s her voice?”
“I know. I know everything, okay? You can’t blame a guy for trying.”
Glancing through the computer, Russ got lost in his own thoughts about Anna. He wasn’t going to leave her alone. She needed protection, and she was so damn stubborn.
“You know, I went to see Anna today.”
“You’re going back later, right?”
“Yes. Today she found out I was a billionaire.”
Lewis snorted. “Was she all over you?”
“No. She wasn’t. She looked more unnerved than anything, like I told her I had the plague.”
“Maybe she thinks you do. It’s not normal for women to look a little shy about your bank balance.”
“I know. Crazy huh.”
“I guess. How is she handling everything?”
“I’ve still got her on suicide watch. I have a feeling she’s going to crack any moment. When she’s been discharged from the hospital, I’m taking her home.”
Lewis glanced up from his computer then. “What?”
“She needs someone, and I’m available to help her.”
“You’re going to take care of her?”
“Yes. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. I guess. Well, I don’t know. She’s a woman you saved, Russ.”
“When you find Mandy, will you leave her alone? Will you let her come to terms with what has happened?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Then don’t judge me.”
“I’m not judging, but there is a big difference between Mandy and Anna.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve known Mandy ten years. You’ve known Anna five minutes.”
“Mandy has been taken a lot longer than you’ve known her, Lewis. See, I can hurt you just as much as you can hurt me.”
Lewis’s jaw clenched, and Russ felt like an asshole for bringing it up.
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
Feeling like a fucking pussy, Russ went back to looking through the device. He checked the time, and saw that he had an hour free before going back to the hospital. At that moment he didn’t want to think about how much he was looking forward to seeing Anna again. She was the first woman he enjoyed spending time with.
Chapter Five
One week later
Even though she’d been able to sleep on her own, Russ was still insistent on staying the night. Anna hated to admit it, but she liked him being there. During the night she would wake up, and he’d be there. If she was in the throes of a nightmare, he’d tell her everything was okay, and promise to take care of her, and for her to go back to sleep. He reminded her that she was safe, and no one would ever hurt her. During the day, when he was busy with his work, she made arrangements for Karen’s funeral. Her body had finally been released, and in one week, she was going to be putting her to rest. Franny was there to help as well.
“You don’t have to stay,” she said.
“You’re being discharged tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go back home to my and Karen’s little apartment.” She took a deep breath. There were going to be a lot of memories there.
“I’m going to be here to pick you up,” he said.
They had gotten into a strange routine. He stayed during the day, left in the morning, returned in the evening, and then left for a couple of hours before returning at midnight for her to fall asleep.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“The doctor has discharged you into my care. You can’t leave without me.”
Anna licked her lips and tucked her hair behind her ear. She was so nervous about being near him outside the walls of the hospital. Russ didn’t scare her, and he’d told her he was Russ, not Russell. She wasn’t about to argue with him.
His billionaire status unnerved her.
Some women would love to have a billionaire taking care of them, but for her, it was just a nightmare. She and Karen had planned their own business, and now she was sitting in front of a man who was a success.
It was embarrassing, their small time dream, and here was a man with a massive one.
“So I’ve not got a choice.”
“I’m a good man, Anna. You’re safe with me. Are you scared of me?”
“No, of course not. I wouldn’t be frightened of you.” She told him the truth. “I just, I’m used to being alone.”
“You’re used to being with Karen.”
“And she’s gone.”
“Exactly. It gives me no pleasure to say that to you.”
No matter what he said, it would hurt. Karen was gone.
“Look, I don’t think you should be alone right now.”
“Living with you will help me?”
“I’m hoping it will give you a chance to get over the pain of losing your friend.” He took a seat on the bed, taking her hands. One of her hands was in a cast, but the doctor said it was healing perfectly. She didn’t like it when he touched her. Anna didn’t want to get used to his comfort. In the end, it would disappear like everything else. “Going back to your apartment is going to be tough enough. Staying there with memor
ies, it’s going to eat away at your soul. Trust me on this.”
“I do trust you. I know it’s going to hurt, but I don’t want to become dependent on you.”
“You’re not going to. All you’re doing is leaning on me for support. Let me help you.”
“Why?”
“I want to.” His jaw clenched, and she forced herself to look away.
“Do you always get what you want?”
“Yes.”
She growled with frustration. “This isn’t fair. I don’t owe you anything.”
Russ stuck out his lip. “I guess you don’t owe me anything. I mean, it wasn’t me who found you, and unlocked the dog cage you were locked in. I didn’t help you get to hospital, nor have I been the one sitting here night after night—”
“Stop it. Okay, yes, I owe you, and I sound ungrateful. I’m being ungrateful. I’m sorry. How do you put up with me?”
“I don’t know. I wonder that all the time.”
She rolled her eyes and giggled. “Fine, I will not moan at you anymore, and I will be a nice girl to you.”
“It’s about time. I thought that would never happen.”
Anna laughed again.
“So, do you have everything ready for Karen?” Russ asked.
The laughter died. “Yes. I do.”
“Tell me about her.”
“You want me to talk about Karen.”
“She meant a great deal to you. We’re not going anywhere, and I’m curious about you two.”
“I told you we were both in foster care, and how we always ended up back together.”
“I don’t need to know those kinds of details. Think of the happy memories. Tell me about, I don’t know, some special memory.”
Biting her lip, Anna stared down at her hands as she thought about everything she’d experienced with Karen.
“It had to be on the night of my eighteenth birthday. Karen was older than I was by about four months. Karen stayed in foster care as she was allowed to stay until we graduated high school. We were both working, and on my eighteenth birthday she was waiting outside for me.” Anna rubbed her hands together, trying to do everything she could to keep her emotions in check. If she started crying, she wasn’t going to stop, and she needed to stop. “I expected her to have cake or something. She had a car. We had been working for a couple of years, and we saved every cent we earned so that we could make a plan for when we left the foster system. She told me to get in the car, even pretending to hold a gun to my head. Her gun was made out of her fingers. It was only joking around. I got in the car, and she drove for what felt like a lifetime. Finally, she stopped at an apartment that was rundown, and completely shit.”