PREGNANT FOR A PRICE

by Kathryn Thomas

“Get in the seats,” she ordered, using the barrel of the pistol to gesture to a couple of the chairs that were clustered around the dining table. I looked back up at her, to the gun, and then across to the seats. We had no way of fighting our way out of this - we’d have been stupid to do anything other than what she said. I held my hands up and slowly moved towards the chairs. Lily did the same, following my lead, and when we were sitting down, the woman produced a thin roll of rope. She quickly bound us to the chairs, and it clear that this was far from her first time restraining someone. Before I knew it, my hands were tied behind my back, so tightly that I couldn’t even reach over and take Lily’s hand to comfort her. The woman stepped back to admire her handiwork, pulled out a phone, and took a picture of us. I winced as the flash momentarily blinded me, and watched through my hazy vision as she presumably texted the picture to somebody. Anthony? I assumed so, but then, it could have been to her boss - proof that she had us where they wanted us. I felt a clamp of fear in my stomach. I remembered what the text they had sent me had promised. Sure, it was a woman standing in front of me now, but what if they sent their guys along and had them finished off the assault they started all those days ago? I shivered at the thought.

  “Who are you?” I demanded again. I posed no threat to her now - we were unarmed and restrained, and Lily seemed to have given in entirely, letting her head droop down onto her chest as tears poured down her cheeks. I couldn’t blame her. After all, I had half-expected something like this to go down. She was just here, looking out for me, the way friends were supposed to, and now she’d had a gun jammed in her face and was tied up to a chair by a psycho we knew nothing about.

  “My name doesn’t matter.” She waved her hand. She had barely spoken since she arrived in the apartment, and I noticed that her voice was low and throaty - it sounded as though she had smoked a thousand cigarettes and drank more scotches than necessarily recommendable on a night out.

  “Then why are you here?” I pressed. I knew I was pushing my luck, but I wanted an answer. If I could at least come out of this encounter with some information - and hey, my life might be nice too - then it wasn’t a complete loss. I also figured that as long as I could keep her talking, she wouldn’t be as keen to wave that gun around as much.

  “I used to work with Anthony,” she sighed as if it should have seemed obvious. My eyes widened, even though I had guessed that was probably the case. She was a hitman. Well, hitwoman. I had, to be honest, half-expected her to be decked out in a full leather catsuit, no matter how ridiculous and impractical that actually would have been.

  “And I’m not here to take care of you two.” She skimmed her eyes across us. “Though I’m still waiting on my full orders for the evening. One of our guys failed to get rid of Anthony, so I’m finishing the job. And if I know Anthony, I know that he won’t be able to resist the sight of two women in peril who need saving.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I shot back. Just keep her talking. Her words lingered in my head - someone had been sent out to kill Anthony tonight. Surely he had to have known that. Why did he head back into town if that was the case? Or had he gone back knowing that to intercept the guy and keep us safe? All I knew was that he was alive, and that was all I gave the remotest shit about. And if he was alive, that meant he was coming back here. Even if he was being baited, the thought of having him close by again made me relax a little. He would know what to do. Me on the other hand? I had no fucking clue. I tested my restraints, but they were stuck fast. I wasn’t going anywhere.

  “In his line of work, it is,” she snapped back and began pacing back and forth. Suddenly, her ears pricked up - it took me a couple of seconds to figure out what she was hearing, but eventually my ears tuned in too. It was the sound of a vehicle pulling up to the house, and it didn’t sound like Anthony’s purring sports car. No, this was spluttery and ugly, nothing like Anthony’s ride, and I felt my chest tighten once again. Seriously? Another one of them? I wished there was some way I could warn Anthony as to what was going on - I wanted to send out some kind of psychic message straight to him, to let him know what and who to expect when he came through the door. I mean, I was pretty certain he had that picture of us bound to the chairs, but what if that made him panicky and lax? I knew that whatever happened in the next minute was going to be important. I just prayed that it was going to go our way.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  As I put my hand on the door handle, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I jumped at the sound, and grabbed for it quickly, praying that it hadn’t alerted anyone to my whereabouts. I twisted away from the door, hoping that whoever was inside didn’t take a look out the window and spot my shadow lurking by the door. Who the fuck was texting me at this time of the evening, anyway? Well, my signal was bad in the city, maybe it was just some stupid service provider text that hadn’t bothered to make itself known until now. I clicked on the message to open it, and my stomach dropped to my shoes as I took a look at what was in front of me.

  “Shit,” I hissed through my teeth. This night just got better and better. It was a picture, sent from a number I didn’t recognize, of Sabrina and Lily bound to chairs I recognized as the ones in the dining room of the apartment. I had to fight the urge to kick the door in right there and then and deal with whoever was sending me these photos, but I knew that wouldn’t achieve anything. No, if I wanted to get them out alive, I would need to be a little sneakier about this. I didn’t know who was in there, but I had a feeling that it was Saffron. Leo had a twisted sense of humor, and it would be just like him to send my ex to take out the woman I loved.

  Loved. I was frozen by the word in my brain. It had been a long time since I had thought that about anyone, let alone acknowledged it. I tried to shake it from my brain, knowing that I had more important things to worry about at that moment in time. I couldn’t get stuck on the fact that I was falling for Sabrina, and hard. I scurried back down to the car as quickly and as quietly as I could, hoping my training would have kicked in and reminded me to move as silently as I could.

  My mind raced as I got back to the car. Why did they send someone out here? Was the plan to take out me, and then Sabrina and Lily? Was Sabrina’s friend just collateral damage, or was this all planned out this way as Lily co-ran the restaurant? If they intended to kill the two of them, why send me a picture of them all tied up, knowing I would come after them? Shit, and if they were texting me, that meant that they probably knew I was alive too. That I had escaped the wreck that killed Taylor. I closed my eyes and pressed my head up against the wheel for a second, trying to still my brain and failing. I didn’t know why this was happening; I just knew that it was happening and that I had to put a stop to it as quickly as I could.

  I looked up at the house again. Squinting, I could see that it wasn’t in darkness as I had initially assumed, but rather lit by the dim red light of the emergency back-up system. Okay, so whoever was in there had cut the lights out, and that’s why I hadn’t been alerted by the alarm system going off. Whoever was doing this obviously wasn’t an idiot - they had done it before. Broken into houses, held hostages, hunted people down. So they’d been at this for a while. This must have been Leo’s backup plan in case Taylor failed to take me out. Hell, maybe he’d been counting on me finishing Taylor off and tying up another loose end for him, I had no idea. All I could think about was the fact that I needed to save Sabrina, and I didn’t know how I was meant to do it without kicking that door in and blasting the place apart.

  And then, it hit me. Yes… when I’d first moved in… they’d been installing the security systems, and one of the guys working on the project had made some flippant, offhand remark about how far I was going with this. What, you expecting to be fighting off a lot of bad guys? I had replied with a cock-eyed yes, not expecting anything to come of it, and then to my surprise, he’d suggested something. A little extra, something they didn’t normally do for their clients. It was probably overkill, he warned me, but it could come in ha
ndy if I couldn’t get into the house but needed to neutralize the people inside. I had considered turning it down, but at that point, I had the money to pay for anything I wanted. Why would I have passed up the chance for another piece of ridiculous over-the-topness in my life?

  I got out of the car and made my way back up to the house, but this time, instead of approaching the door, I slipped off down a tight side passage that ran along the length of the building. It was the kind of thing you wouldn’t look twice at if you were making your way into the apartment, the kind of place you had to know was there to find it. But it led down a back passage and a few steps to a door with fingerprint recognition. I pressed my palm against the relevant pad, held my breath, and listened for the soft “click” within. I’d had it specifically set up so that it wouldn’t attract any attention if I needed to use it. I had pictured James-Bond-esque situations where I’d need to take out scores of enemy hostiles who’d somehow infiltrated the house, not a backup for when I needed to take down whoever was in there along with the woman I loved and the woman she loved most in the world. I pressed on the door, praying it wouldn’t creak, and slipped inside the tiny control room.

  As soon as I was in there, I felt my heart beat faster against my ribs. Did I really want to do this? I didn’t know how bad it could be - bad enough to take down whoever was in there, obviously, but what if it did Sabrina or Lily some serious harm too? What if they turned out to be allergic or some shit, and wound up dying on me just when I’d been trying to save them? I placed my hand on the lever, then drew it back again. I took a deep breath. I never thought I’d have to use this, but now I wish I’d tested it out before hand to see just how much damage it could do. But there was no time for recriminations, no time to back out - this was the only way I could guarantee to take down whoever was inside without kicking that door in myself. I didn’t know what they were armed with or what their temperament was like. What if they started firing and wound up hitting one of the women I’d promised to take care of? No, there was no option for me here - I had to do this.

  I gripped the lever, and with an almighty shove, pushed it into the “on” position.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I wasn’t sure how long we’d been sitting there when it happened. It could have been minutes, hours. Fuck, if it weren’t still dark outside, I’d have said it might even have been days. The woman, Saffron, was pacing back and forth, occasionally heading over to the window and cupping her hands around her eyes to peer outside. I assumed she was looking for Anthony, and a part of me prayed that he wouldn’t show up. This woman meant business, and I wasn’t sure if Anthony knew anything about what was going down.

  There was also a little nagging feeling in the back of my head. What if, after Anthony did arrive, the woman took the opportunity to take us all out? Maybe she was just waiting on him, holding off so she could finish us off in front of him as the final piece of torture. Would making Anthony watch us die be part of her plan? I felt a shiver snake up and down my spine at the very thought of it. Jesus, it made me ill. I looked over at Lily, but she had slumped down in her chair, her body limp and useless and she sat there. It was as though all the life had been drained from her before that woman had even fired a shot.

  As we all waited in silence, it was hard not to pay attention to the person who had us at her beck and call. I stared at her as she paced back and forth across the room, her loose clothes clinging to her in waves as she moved. She was gorgeous - even despite everything, I could admit that. She oozed sex just as much as she oozed danger, and it was hard to imagine that Anthony hadn’t been involved with her at some point. She seemed like his type. Well, what his type had been, maybe. I wasn’t going to get all up in my head about their relationship - not when there was so much else to focus on - but she had to have some kind of special connection to my man. Why else would she be here? Maybe she’d requested this job to take me out so she could get near him once again, or maybe he’d fucked her over and she wanted to be the one who pulled the trigger on him. Whatever it was, I doubted it was good news for any of us.

  My ears pricked as I thought I heard footsteps approaching the door and the woman’s ears did, too. I was pretty certain I recognized them as Anthonys - he had a very specific gait, slow and steady, and I closed my eyes as they approached. Please, don’t let him be hurt. Please, don’t let him get hurt coming to save me. But they stopped as they reached the door, and then vanished completely as if they had been some kind of trick of my panic and fear. The woman glanced over at me, and we made eye contact for a moment as if she was half-expecting me to confirm or deny what she’d heard. I tried to keep my face impassive, hoping she wouldn’t read anything into it, and she looked away and headed for the door.

  “Try anything, and I’ll kill her,” the woman warned, gesturing with her gun towards Lily. Lily let out a whimper as the woman opened the door and stepped outside, and I looked over at her.

  “It’s going to be okay,” I murmured, but my comfort was hollow. I couldn’t promise her anything, couldn’t truly tell her that nothing bad was going to happen with any conviction. Because the truth was, I didn’t know. All I could do for now was obey what this woman ordered us to do and hope that was enough to keep her appeased. To keep us both alive.

  I watched helplessly as the tears dripped down Lily’s face and stained her front. I had never seen her like this - in fact, I couldn’t remember ever having seen her cry in the whole time that I’d known her. Both of us were the reserved type, the kind of people who would rather die than end up showing our emotions to anyone. And, well, it looked like I might get my wish this time around.

  “Lily,” I murmured urgently, glancing over at the woman to make sure she wasn’t listening in to our conversation. “I just want you to know, whatever happens, I love you.”

  “I love you too,” she blurted, and something about hearing the words come out of her mouth made the whole situation that much more real. I sucked in a lungful of air to keep from crying, trying to focus on what we could do to stay alive. I wasn’t dying here. I wasn’t dying for no good reason. I wasn’t going to end up like Lia, dead and gone over something I never had any control over. I didn’t want that to be my life. Or my death.

  Lily stopped crying and managed to lift her head up, scanning the room for the woman. I was pretty sure she had been so lost in her own fear and panic that she hadn’t even noticed she’d left. Lily shivered as a gust of cool air hit her, and she peered over at the door. She was closer to it than I was, so she could probably make more out.

  “What can you see?” I whispered urgently. I didn’t want Saffron to hear us, but I needed to know.

  “It’s dark, I can’t see much,” Lily responded hurriedly. “But I think-”

  “I can hear you talking in there,” Saffron called in a monotone. We immediately shut up, and I was left trying to figure out what Lily thought she had seen.

  After a few more moments, the woman made her way back into the apartment, closing the door and making sure the latch was shut tight behind her. Who had been out there? We had all heard the footsteps, but the woman obviously hadn’t found anything otherwise she would have gone after whoever was out there. I watched her carefully as she strode back over to us, checking our bindings briefly - as if we could have rustled free in her absence. Now that I got a closer look at her, I could see she looked a little like me - same jawline, same nose. Little details that hinted to me that maybe Anthony had something of a type.

  Suddenly, I heard footsteps again, and the woman’s head snapped up too. They seemed to be coming from behind the apartment, but that was impossible; it was built straight onto the rock. Saffron frowned as she followed the sound of the footsteps, making her way over to the wall and tracing the spots where the sound was most obvious. She went for the door, but before she got there, a loud hissing noise filled the room.

  “What the fuck is that?” the woman demanded. She looked between Lily and me as if we might have had something
to do with it. “You tell me, what the fuck is that noise?”

  “I-I don’t know,” I murmured in response. It was the truth - I was just as unnerved by it as her.

  “You’ve been staying here, tell me, you seen anything that might make that noise? Gas? Electric? Anything?” she demanded, closing the distance between us, getting right up in my face. I shook my head.

  “I haven’t seen anything,” I replied desperately. She was so close that I could smell the expensive perfume she was wearing, and it was making me a little ill with its musky heaviness.

  She didn’t believe me. Screwing up her face, she turned to Lily and lifted her hands so that her gun was pointed squarely at my best friend’s head.

  “Tell me,” she muttered, her voice lower this time. More threatening. Lily looked past the barrel of the gun and at me, her eyes wide yet curiously blank, as if her body couldn’t process all the fear in her system.

  “I don’t know!” I yelled. “Please, don’t hurt her, she has nothing to do with this.”

  “She’s got everything to do with this,” Saffron snarled, cocking the gun. Lily let out a small cry and tears welled in her eyes again. I felt as though I could have torn through my restraints and wrestled the gun away from Saffron myself with the surge of adrenalin that enveloped my system at that moment, but I was still impotent. There was nothing I could do, nothing I could say, to stop this happening. This hissing had just gotten louder, and I was straining my neck looking around and trying to figure out where it was coming from.