by K. L. Prince
“What I suggest you do is take some time off and get your head together. You and Lucas should go somewhere and take a vacation. Only then, will you return to work and after some time, when you feel better, you will return to the dating scene. Perhaps even get back to Madison,” his father says with a smile.
It takes everything inside of him to keep his composure. Every action, every motion from blinking his eyes to the curve of his lips is crucial in getting the conversation with his father right. It is what stands between him and finding out where Harper is. He needs his father to believe that he has accepted the lie of the day. He needs his father to believe that he has gotten away with removing Harper from his life.
“That sounds like a good plan. I will call Lucas when I get home. I would like to go away as soon as possible, actually. Being in the condo reminds me too much of Harper. When I get back, I might even redecorate the place as a form of cleansing to remove all the memories of her.”
“That sounds like a wonderful plan Caden. It’s a good step. It will signify a start to a new beginning,” his father says and nods in agreement.
“Dad, I would normally be very upset with you for what you’ve done and your interference in my life, but I find that I can’t be. I’m actually really appreciative for what you’ve done. You’ve saved me from a lot of heartache in the future and you helped me see Harper’s true character. It’s clear to me now that I was making a big mistake. I deserve more in my life than a woman that is just after me for my money – much more,” Caden says and stands up.
“Exactly, Son. That is why I did what I did. I wanted you to see that you weren’t getting from Harper what you deserve and ultimately need. You need a different type of woman. I’ve been telling you over and over that you need a woman that is an equal to you. When you find a woman that is on the same playing field as you, you won’t have to worry about whether or not she is after you for your money, because she won’t need your money. She will strictly after you for the love you can provide her. Do you understand?”
“I’m starting to understand now, Dad. I really am. I didn’t think that how much money a woman had was of much importance, but I’m starting to see that perhaps it is an important factor in what makes a relationship successful. It’s definitely a factor in the success of my relationship with Harper. That’s for sure. I think that I’m just going to go home. I need to process everything and call up Luke to schedule the vacation. Thanks again, Dad. I really do appreciate you looking out for me,” Caden says, stretching out his hand across his father’s desk.
“It’s my pleasure, Son. I’m your father. It’s my job to look out for you and take care of you,” Bill Mason says and shakes Caden’s hand.
It’s hard for Caden not to pull away in repulsion or shake his father’s hand so hard he breaks a few bones, but he shakes his father’s hand like he normally does. He keeps telling himself in his mind to act normal and relieved to have Harper exposed. He needs his father to believe that he thinks of him as a lifesaver – a hero of sorts in his eyes.
“Alright, Dad. I’ll see you later,” Caden says and turns to leave.
“See you later, Son,” his father replies and returns to the paperwork on his desk.
Caden quietly closes the door to his father’s office and walks away with a look of determination on his face. He has a plan. His father may think that he’s won, but the battle is not over. He will find Harper if it’s the last thing that he ever does.
* * * * *
Harper isn’t sure how long she’s been held captive by Caden’s father. She thinks that it’s been a couple of weeks or so, but she can’t be sure. Without a clock or a calendar, the days have begun to run together. She’s stopped trying to keep track anyway because what does it really matter.
She has no idea where she is. It’s so quiet. She hasn’t heard a single car pass by or any voices, except hers and Malcolm’s. She can’t be sure, but she believes that she’s in the industrial district on the outskirts of the city.
Malcolm watches her like a hawk. He has muscles on top of muscles. She could never outmatch him physically. Without a weapon, she would never be able to overtake him. When she has to go to the bathroom, he’s right behind her, so she can’t outrun him. She is stuck.
She walks around her room and exercises to pass the time. She has one book that Malcolm gave her to read and she has read it twice now. She can’t bring herself to reread the same pages again, so all she has is her imagination and her thoughts to pass the time.
She thinks of Caden, her mother and Olivia often. It hurts her to imagine how sick with worry they must be. She misses them all so much. She wishes that she would have told them more often how much they truly meant to her and how much she appreciated them being in her life.
As she sits locked away, she has so many regrets when it comes to how she spent her time. Looking back, she didn’t realize how precious the time together with the people that she loved and cared about really was. She wishes that she wouldn’t have taken it so for granted. She wishes that she had cherished every single moment more.
She hasn’t seen Bill Mason since the first day he kidnapped her. She’s not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. In moments of despair, she wishes that he would just return and finish the job. At times, death seems better than sitting alone in the empty warehouse awaiting her fate. Sometimes the loneliness and the uncertainty of the situation threatens to strangle her and she can’t breathe. Sometimes it feels like she couldn’t possibly get through another day, but she does.
As she walks around the empty room once again to stretch her cramping legs, she hears the lock on the heavy metal door keeping her from the outside world open. She freezes when Malcolm comes through the door with a look on his face that she hasn’t seen before. It’s the first time that Malcolm has entered the room without her beckoning for him and she feels terrified. The only reason that she can come to for his presence is that he is coming to kill her.
She is stunned into silence. She tries to speak but nothing comes out. The fear she feels must be written all over her face because Malcolm says, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. There is something that I need to speak to you about.”
“What about?” she asks, confused. What could Malcolm possibly have to speak to her about? He has barely said one word to her since the beginning of her captivity.
“I don’t know how to say this to you, Harper, so I’m just going to come out and say it. I’m your father,” Malcolm says after taking a deep breath.
“What!” Harper exclaims. “My father? I don’t understand.”
“It’s true. I am your father. I am in the security and private investigation business and Bill Mason hired me to watch you. I’ve worked for him for a very long time. I admit that I have done some things that I am not proud of, but when he told me your name and I started to watch you, your identity didn’t register at first. You were just another face and I didn’t know where things were going to go. I watched you for a while and nothing clicked, but then I saw you and your mother together one day and then I realized who you were. I didn’t know what to do, so I didn’t do anything, but now things have gone too far.”
She shakes her head in disbelief. Her father has been guarding her this whole time? It just doesn’t seem possible. “I don’t believe you. I don’t know who you are, but you’re sick. Do you honestly believe that I would believe that you were my father? I don’t know what kind of sick game you are playing, but it’s not working,” she says angrily.
“Harper, you don’t have to believe me, but it’s true. I am your father. I don’t always do the right thing, but I’m going to do the right thing today. I am going to get you out of here,” Malcolm says.
“I’m not going anywhere with you. You expect me to believe that you’re my father, simply because you say that you are?” she asks, crossing her arms in defiance.
“Okay, I’ll prove it,” Malcolm says, looking down at the floor, deep in thought. A fe
w seconds pass before he before he says, “Your birthmark! You have a birthmark on the inner thigh of your right leg……and that necklace you’re wearing! I gave it to your mother on the day that you were born.”
She reaches up and touches the gold cross that hangs from a chain around her neck. It is the only thing that she has in her possession that holds any memory of her father. She thinks about the spot on her leg that she has had since birth. There is no way that Malcolm could have known about either one of those things. Maybe he really is her father. She stares at him stunned.
She decides to trust Malcolm. What other choice does she have? “Okay, I will go with you,” she says, hoping that she isn’t making the biggest mistake of her life.
“Good. Let’s go. I will explain everything to you once we are out of this place,” Malcolm says and motions for the doorway.
She follows behind him. They are about to reach the doorway when Bill Mason walks in with a gun in his hand.
Her breath catches in her throat when she sees the look on Caden’s father’s face. It’s not the same look that she saw when he first kidnapped her. It’s different. His eyes seem darkened and resolved. He doesn’t have to say anything. She can tell that her fate has been decided.
Bill Mason looks back and forth between them, but doesn’t say anything. Malcolm looks at her and she shakes her head, letting him know that she doesn’t want him to take any drastic measures. She doesn’t want him to blow his cover, especially while Bill Mason holds, what she believes, is a loaded weapon.
“There has been a development,” Bill Mason says after a few moments of silence between them all.
“What kind of development?” she asks quietly.
“Well, my son believes that you’ve taken the million dollars that I initially offered you and he thinks that you have disappeared - never to be seen again,” Bill Mason says, waving the gun around while he speaks.
“You’re lying!” she exclaims. “No. That’s can’t be true. Caden would never believe that I would take your money. He knows me better than that,” she says, shaking her head.
“You’re mistaken, my dear. He believes exactly that. In fact, as we speak, he’s moving on with his life. He and his friend are planning to go on a nice vacation to forget that you ever existed. I believe that my son also mentioned that he is going to redecorate his entire condominium to forget that you ever stepped foot inside,” Bill Mason says, bouncing the gun back and forth against his cheek as he recalls what Caden said to him in his office.
“No, what you’re saying can’t be true. I don’t believe it!” Harper yells, starting to pace.
“Not only does he believe it’s true, but he has your engagement ring and your very own words to prove it,” Bill Masons says and chuckles.
The feeling of pure hopelessness starts to set in. If what Bill Mason is saying is true, Caden isn’t even looking for her. If what Caden’s father says is true and the story is that she took his money and went away, no one is looking for her. That means that there are no police involved and there are no search parties searching high and low for her.
“So, what does that mean for me?” she asks Bill Mason, afraid of the answer.
“Well, my dear, I can’t have you turning up and revealing the truth, now can I? So, there is only one solution, I’m afraid,” Bill Mason says, pointing the gun at her. “Malcolm, can you leave Harper and I alone, please.”
* * * * *
Caden loads his gun and applies a silencer, as he watches his father pull into the parking lot of an abandoned warehouse. It’s taken a while, but his father has finally lead him to the place where he thinks that Harper may be.
“Thank you, GPS,” he says, relieved to finally have gotten an opportunity to hopefully find out the truth about Harper.
He can come to no other conclusion or find any other reason why his father would be at an abandoned warehouse, other than it having something to do with Harper’s disappearance.
It’s taken many days and sleepless nights of staking his father out to finally come to this moment. If Harper is inside the warehouse, he will be really surprised that his father has gotten his hands dirty. Usually his father leaves all of his dirty work to professionals. His father usually wants nothing but to keep his hands clean. Pristine hands is the name of the game for his father. If Harper is inside, it’s because this time around it’s personal for his father.
After a couple of minutes of sitting in the car, he makes his way up to the warehouse. He is relieved to find that the warehouse door is unlocked. He was banking on his father being so arrogant and prideful that he would make a mistake and he was right. He’s finally going to cash in on his beliefs and his patience.
His father never thought in a million years that he would be caught and because of that thinking, he has been careless. His father didn’t try very hard to cover his tracks at all and he has made some very serious mistakes. If his father had really thought his plans though, he wouldn’t be a couple steps behind him. It is probably one of the only times that he is thankful for his father’s careless and prideful attitude.
He slips inside the warehouse. He stands quietly and listens. He quietly moves closer in the direction of what sounds like voices. As he gets closer, he hears Harper pleading for her life. The sound of her voice and her tearful words cause him to quicken his steps. The realization that he is running out of time causes him to start to run.
When he gets closer to the sound of Harper’s voice, he stops when he sees his father’s goon Malcolm standing outside of a room with his back towards him. He quietly walks up behind Malcolm and hits him as hard as he can with the butt of his gun. He is relieved when Malcolm only lets out a loud groan and slumps to the floor. He knows that he must move quickly before Malcolm regains consciousness. He doesn’t want to have to kill Malcolm. The ideal situation would be as few casualties as possible.
He stands and listens to see if his father heard the commotion and if anyone else might be on the other side of the wall.
“Young lady, turn around and get down on your knees,” he hears his father say to Harper.
“Please, Mr. Mason, I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Please don’t kill me,” Harper says, continuing to beg for her life.
“Do it!” his father yells angrily.
Even though he knew it was possible, it’s stunning to hear his father in the role of murderer. He can’t believe that just a few feet away, his father is willing to commit the most heinous of acts, and do it on someone that he truly loves. He decides it’s now or never. If he doesn’t intercede, his father is going to kill Harper, execution style.
Caden takes a deep breath, steps into the doorway and points his gun at his father. “Dad, it’s over. Drop the gun.”
Bill looks at him with a stunned look on his face before saying, “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’ve picked up a few of your tricks over the years, Dad. Drop the gun and let Harper go.”
“I’m sorry, Son, but I can’t do that,” Bill Mason says defiantly.
“Dad, I’m going to count to three. Please don’t make me hurt you,” Caden says and glances at Harper. The fearful look on her face makes him want to run over and comfort her.
“I can’t,” Bill Mason says and fires his gun.
Harper cries out as the bullet strikes her arm. Caden has no choice – he fires his weapon. Bill Mason grunts and falls to the floor, as the bullet enters his neck. Caden rushes over to Harper, avoiding looking at his father lying on the floor with a pool of blood growing around his head.
“Let’s get out of here,” Caden says, grabbing Harper and leading her out of the room.
“Your father,” Harper says, looking over her shoulder at Bill Mason lying motionless on the ground, as Caden drags her from the room.
“Don’t look, Harper. We’ll call an ambulance when we get outside,” Caden says, helping her step over Malcolm, who remains unconscious.
Once they are outside, Caden watches as H
arper breathes a breath of relief. “I’m so glad that I found you. Are you okay?” he asks her, wrapping his arms around her.
“I am now,” she replies, grimacing as Caden bumps her injured arm.
Chapter 15
“Caden, it’s so good to see you. I’m really sad to hear about your father,” Mr. Gelinas, the Mason family lawyer, says coming out his office and shaking Caden’s hand.
“I’m not,” Caden says, returning the man’s handshake. “This is my fiancée Harper,” Caden’s says, motioning towards Harper and smiling.
“Nice to meet you,” Mr. Gelinas says, making the motion to shake Harper’s hand, but placing it at his side after taking in her sling. “I heard about what happened. How’s your arm coming along?” he asks her.
“It gets better and better everyday, thankfully,” Harper says, glancing at Caden and smiling.
“That’s good to hear. Well, there’s no point wasting any more time. Let’s go into my office and read your father’s will,” Mr. Gelinas says, motioning for her and Caden to enter his office.
Once everyone is seated, Mr. Gelinas pulls out Bill Mason’s will. “Well, nothing has really changed since your father initially wrote his will. As it has stated from the beginning, Caden you get everything. It will probably take a couple of days for the money from your father’s account to be transferred into your account, as well as the businesses to be transferred over into your name. I have some paperwork for you to fill out to make that happen and we’re pretty much done. I will handle most of the details, so you don’t have much to worry about,” Mike Gelinas says, looking up at Caden.
“That was quick,” Caden says, feeling relieved to have the reading of his father’s will out of the way. Not only is he relieved, but he is also surprised that his father left him absolutely everything. His father threatened to disinherit him and he thought that his father would have went through with it. His father kidnapping of Harper must have convinced him that changing his will wasn’t necessary.