“You and Oliver will be safe if you go where we agreed. Please go with him. Every moment you’re out here could be a risk. I need to know you’re okay so I can focus.”
Beth nodded. She knew how much Chase disliked Oliver. If he was sending her away with the man it had to be for a good reason. She also knew he wouldn’t do anything he didn’t think was in her best interest.
“Be safe,” she said as she tiptoed up and gently kissed his cheek before turning towards the building with Oliver.
Once inside, she was reaching for the door to the supply closet when Oliver pulled her back.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“That’s a terrible place to hide. We’d be better off in one of the meeting rooms.”
“No, Chase has had some security fitted to the inside of this door so we can lock ourselves in. It has no windows and only one way in. Chase said that was really important.”
“That’s why it’s a bad idea. Do you really think no one will know this has been set up as a safe room for you? Half the people in the building will know. We need to surprise the people after you.”
“But Chase won’t know where we are,” she protested. Every instinct was telling her to follow Chase’s instructions. He was the security expert, and she needed to be back with him. Waiting where he had told her was the first step to make that happen. Beth thought she saw a flash of anger on Oliver’s face at the mention of Chase, but it was gone so fast she dismissed it. She knew Oliver was reacting to the stress of the situation, and she understood plans could change when things got going.
“We can send him a message when we find a spot. Then he can come straight to us,” Oliver said pulling on her arm to drag her away from the door she was attempting to open.
“No. We need to stay here. Chase knows what he’s doing,” she said, resisting Oliver’s efforts to move her.
He looked at her, his expression calculating.
“I’m not hiding in a bloody closet,” Oliver said. “If you’re stupid enough to turn yourself into a sitting duck you’re doing it alone. I’m finding somewhere else to hide.”
He abruptly let go of her arm and turned away from her. Beth’s mind panicked as she tried to figure out what to do. In the end fear of being left alone won out, and she ran to catch up to him. He led them deeper into the building, following the service corridors to the section of the building earmarked for meetings.
As they entered Asia, all the rooms being named after continents, Oliver finally let go of her wrist. She headed straight for the conference phone on the table, pressing the button to start dialing an outside number. She had to call Chase and let him know where she was.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Oliver said coldly. Startled at his tone she turned to face him, handset tight in her grip.
It took a few seconds for her brain to register what she was seeing, but when it finally caught up her heart sank. Oliver, the man she’d known her whole life, the man she remembered running around the estate with when they’d been just children, was staring at her with a fierce hatred, a gun pointed at her in his hands.
“Oliver?” she said weakly, her voice barely a whisper. She couldn’t find the words to begin asking the million questions that thundered around inside her head. “But, but, we’re friends,” she finally managed.
“Friends?” he spat. “Don’t give me that. You’ve spent the last few years making it very clear you can’t stand me. Despite everything I’ve done for this company, for you, you wouldn’t even consider marrying me. So don’t give me ‘friends’ bullshit.”
“What? But we agreed we didn’t want to get married.” What on earth was going on? They had laughed about this together, the futility of their parents’ efforts to make their long laid plans for a union come to fruition. Now he was acting like a jilted lover.
“No,” Oliver shouted at her. “You decided, and as always the rest of the world has to fall in line. I’ve spent my entire life knowing I would marry you and own this company but you decided you could steal it from me.”
“How can I steal it from you? Your family owns thirty percent of the company. We would have been partners.”
“With you calling all the shots? That’s not a partnership. Besides, I’ve given my whole life to this company. My father has given his whole life to the Company. We deserve it. You spend a few years playing air hostess and think you can take over. There’s no way in hell I was about to take orders from a bloody trolley dolly.”
“So what do you want? You want me to marry you? Sign over my shares? What do you think is going to happen? Because we both know you’ll never kill me.”
Her heart raced. God, she hoped she was right. She didn’t want to believe that Oliver would really hurt her. Yes, he was mad when she’d refused his advances and subsequent proposal, but he’d seemed to get over that during the last few years. Besides, he’d never loved her, not in that all-consuming way you should love someone if you plan to marry them. Considering killing her for rejecting him was insane.
“Don’t presume to know what I’m capable of, Elizabeth,” he said to her, his features snarling menacingly. “Who did you think was behind all of this?”
He waved the gun in his hand around but she didn’t dare move.
“What do you mean all of this?” But as she said the words she realized and her blood chilled, her racing heart nearly stopping as the truth settled around her. This man, someone they all considered family, had nearly destroyed them. It wasn’t just her he was trying to kill—it was her family, too.
“You nearly killed my father,” she whispered.
“What do you mean, nearly?”
His obvious shock at her words washed away the hatred on his face and he lunged towards her. Anger took over as his features reddened. “If he’s not dead yet it won’t be long. He has to die. You all have to die. Then the company will be ours.”
Without any instruction from her brain Beth stepped back, trying to evade the fury Oliver was directing at her. Her legs hitting the table behind her, she was trapped, and with his red, mottled face just inches from her own she forced herself to remain silent as she fought the urge to shudder at the feel of his hot breath on her face. There was nothing she could say that would calm down this stranger with her friend’s face.
“Tell me if he is dying. Do not even consider lying to me,” he hissed, leaning ever closer as she failed to respond.
“He’s recovering,” she said, forcing herself to speak clearly.
At her words his mottled face turned purple, and he lunged for her, wrapping his left hand around her throat and pressing the end of the gun to her head.
“You’re lying. He’s dying. He has to be,” Oliver screamed.
The pressure on her throat tightened. Gasping for air, Beth lifted her own hands, trying to pull Oliver’s grip loose. Unable to speak she couldn’t respond, but the glazed look in his eyes made it clear he wasn’t expecting an answer. His expression was vacant, and her fear ratcheted up a level as she realized there was every chance that lost as he was in his own thoughts Oliver would kill her there and then without even knowing he’d done it. Despite her frantic efforts to claw at his hand, his grip held firm.
Panic began to overwhelm her as the reality of the situation continued to thrust itself into her brain. This was Oliver, her childhood friend, and he was slowly killing her. Not with the gun he held to her head but with his iron-tight grip as he crushed the life from her. The sound of her heart pounding with fear and lack of oxygen echoing through her head, were the only sounds she could hear anymore. She clawed at his hand on her throat, aware the oxygen shortage was making her movements slower and weaker with every passing second. If she didn’t get out of this, and soon, she would be dead as surely as if he’d shot her.
Without any consideration she raised her knee, connecting firmly with Oliver’s groin. Barely aware of his squeal of pain at the contact she was simply grateful for the reflex that made him release her as
he curled over to cup himself. As she gasped huge lungfuls of air the dark spots that had appeared at the edges of her vision receded, her hands instinctively moving to her tender throat. It took a few seconds to regain her senses and finally move. Without a second glance at Oliver she made a run for the door.
Just as she turned the handle pulling the door inwards, a hand curled in her hair and yanked backwards. The harsh motion pulling her with it, she toppled onto her backside with a scream.
“Not so fast, you bitch,” Oliver snarled down at her as he continued to pull on her hair, his face pale from the damage she’d inflicted, but the hatred was firmly in place.
One hand still wound in her hair, he pointed the gun at her with the other, and stepping to the side dragged her with him as he moved to kick the door firmly closed. All attention back on her, Oliver let go of her hair and kicked her in the side. She couldn’t have stopped the groan of pain that slipped out at the contact even if she’d wanted to. It hurt like hell. As he continued to kick her side and ribs she scrambled to escape his efforts, but he simply followed her, towering over her as she crawled on the ground. Every contact was like someone shooting fire through her body. The logical part of her brain was trying to tell her she might have broken ribs, but the rest of her brain was just screaming in pain. It was only when he paused in his efforts that she realized it wasn’t just her brain that was screaming, it was her, but she couldn’t stop. The pain was overwhelming.
“Shut up or I’ll make this a lot worse,” Oliver ordered.
Fighting to pull herself together, anything to stop the attack, Beth swallowed hard. Her face soaking wet with the tears and snot that continued to track down her cheeks, she managed to control herself enough to bring the screaming down to a quiet sob, the occasional moan escaping despite her best efforts.
At her compliance Oliver began to pace in front of her. Despite the fact his earlier vigilance had gone, Beth knew there was no chance of escape. She didn’t think she could even stand up, never mind get across the room fast enough to beat Oliver.
“What the hell am I going to do?” Oliver muttered.
After what could have been minutes or hours, she had no way to measure the passage of time through the pain and fear, Beth’s mind finally pulled together enough for her to try to make sense of what was happening.
“This was never about the accident, was it?” she said, her voice cracking thanks to the damage Oliver had inflicted on her throat earlier.
At her words he stopped pacing and laughed. A cold humorless sound.
“Of course not. The accident was a genius plan, though. My father failed when he tried it, but that was because he didn’t have the strength to take the necessary action afterwards. I made sure not to make that same mistake. After his attempt your father was so pathetic, he just hid away. It was my father who kept things going. If William had just taken him up on the offer to sell his shares none of this would have been necessary.” Oliver almost spat the words at her.
“No,” he said, nodding to himself. “It was obvious an accident wouldn’t be enough to drive your family out. We would have to make sure you were out of the picture permanently. The backlash from my accident gave the perfect cover for that. The perfect chance to deal with you all and get what we deserved.”
Beth thought she was going to be sick. If what Oliver was saying was true then not only had he tried to kill her family, he’d caused the accident and his own father had caused the accident years ago. The one that Chase’s father had been blamed for. The horror of the evil it would take to kill so many innocent people for nothing more than selfish greed was beyond anything Beth could have imagined. She sucked in a breath, wincing at the pain in her chest as she did so.
“How could you? You have killed so many people. All for what? So you could have control of the airline you already owned thirty percent of?”
“How dare you judge me?” he yelled. “Your family have succeeded on the work and efforts of mine. Great Britain Air should be ours. We made it a success. If it wasn’t for my family the idea of an airline wouldn’t have occurred to your family. We had the technical knowledge to start the business. Even now William is clueless about the operations of the business, and what do we get for our efforts? A measly thirty percent. The whole Company should be ours. Instead your father throws away our profits and takes credit for our work while you prance around acting like you have the first idea how to run a company. It should be ours, and it will be.”
Oliver sneered at her before continuing to pace. Now that her mind was working again, Beth realized she had to find a way to get out of there. Whatever happened she had to find a way to let people know who was really behind those crashes. Had to make sure it couldn’t happen again. No matter what, she had to make sure Chase knew his father was innocent.
Oliver was mad. He had killed innocent people, and would bring the Company crashing down, rather than share ownership with her. He was right that the idea for the Company had come from his family. That was the reason they had thirty percent ownership even though her family had made all of the financial investment to start it, but somehow that had all been warped in his mind and looking at the vicious expression that distorted his familiar features she realized she reasoning with him wouldn’t work.
Moving unsteadily to her knees, she fought back the nausea that threatened to overwhelm.
“If I take you to my father, will you promise not to kill me?” she said. She would die before she gave him any clue to where her father was, but he didn’t know that. If she could convince him of her own self-interest she could get out of this room. Leaving the airport would mean passing other people. It was a small chance, but staying here meant no chance at all.
Oliver stopped dead and glared at her as she pulled herself all the way to her feet, grateful for the table that allowed her to stay there.
“You expect me to believe you’d give up your father?”
She forced herself to meet his gaze but didn’t have to fake the tremor that ran through her, or the tears that were filling her eyes as she replied, “I don’t want to die.”
At her words Oliver’s mouth curled into a sneer. He was just self-interested enough to buy it. His actions so far had made it perfectly clear he wouldn’t have a problem sacrificing anyone or anything to get what he wanted. It wasn’t much of a leap for him to believe she would do the same.
“Where is he?”
“He’s in hiding. I don’t know the address but I’ve been there. I can show you.”
He stared at her appraisingly. “All right, but don’t think about trying anything.”
He grabbed her upper arm, fingers digging into her flesh as he pulled her away from the support of the table and towards the door. Groaning with pain as he moved faster than her injured body could bear, she stumbled.
“Slower, please go slower,” she gasped.
At his look of annoyance she sucked in a breath before speaking again.
“I’ll pass out if you go too fast.”
She hoped his obvious desire to get to her father quickly meant he’d see the logic in keeping her conscious to show him the way. She needed to be conscious to find an opportunity to escape.
With a huff he slowed his pace but maintained the iron-tight grip on her arm.
They made slow progress through the deserted corridors of the service area of the building, and Beth felt her hope withering away. Once he got her in his car she would have to direct him to her family or face the consequences. Where was everyone? With everything that had been going on she would have expected there to be some sort of police presence around.
Chapter Thirty
Chase felt like he needed to punch something. No, not something, someone. Oliver, to be specific. He wanted to beat the man to a bloody pulp and keep on beating him until he’d never recover. The world would be better off without that piece of shit in it. After ascertaining that the shooter had been acting alone he left the interrogation team to it. They could find
out who the man was working for. He headed to the supply room he’d set up for Beth, desperate to hold her, to reassure himself that she really was okay. When he’d arrived to find the room empty, with no sign that she’d even been in it, he’d felt as though the floor had fallen out from under him.
Never had he experienced such fear and dread. Where the hell was she? Had she even made it this far? The sickening realization that he may have sent Beth straight to the people who wanted to harm her took root in his mind. It was futile to search the maze of a building for her blind, but he couldn’t stop himself. He ran up and down corridors flinging open every door he passed as he comm’d through to his team’s open frequency.
“Find the footage for service corridor 6a,” he ordered. Paul, the team tech expert, had arrived on site a few minutes earlier and responded to the open demand.
“On it, Ace,” he called back. “What timeline?”
“Start looking at 10:49 hours.” Chase figured that would show the footage from moments before he’d sent Beth off with that bastard. Logically he knew he should wait to see what the footage showed. For all he knew Oliver had been taken against his will as well, but his gut told him differently and he’d learned to listen to his gut. He wasn’t about to give that asshole the benefit of the doubt. If he was wrong he’d live with it. After his brother Dan’s betrayal with his fiancée, Chase had been sure he would never trust anyone again. No matter what people said, they would always put their own self-interest first. Yet Beth had shaken that belief to the core. Not only had she acted as bait in an effort to secure the wellbeing of her family, she had also put her family’s company at risk by declaring her intention to reinvestigate the crash his father had been blamed for. He didn’t doubt that she had made her plans public as a way of making sure that someone would have to go through with it even if something happened to her. He knew just how important the company was to her, just how obligated to their workforce she felt. Yet she had been willing to put all of that at risk to clear his dad’s name.
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