“The views are spectacular,” Clara said. “I love the trees and there’s a lake where I can take samples.”
Astrid frowned. “You’re a marine biologist?”
“I am. I’m enjoying educating my students about environmental sustainability, but I do feel like I’m preaching to the converted, you know?”
“The rest of the world isn’t very interested, I guess.”
“Right. But we need to engage people in this issue. I wish my little brother would jump on this bandwagon – he could influence an entire generation of fans to care about our planet a bit more.”
Astrid smiled. “I think it’s amazing that you’re doing this for a living. You’re doing what excites you. Living your dream.”
Clara shrugged. “It’ll never make me a gazillionaire like my brothers, but I’m not as motivated by money as them. I want to make a difference in the world.”
Astrid opened her mouth to reply, but Jake strode over to join them, wrapped in a towel. “Until a rich hunk comes along and sweeps you off your feet.”
“I don’t think so, Jacob!”
He chuckled affectionately. “We’ll see.”
Astrid gazed at Jake. He’d showered, but hadn’t shaved – and he looked gorgeous, wearing nothing but a towel. Astrid was dying to invite him back to the bathroom to shower with her, but she knew she needed to behave in front of Clara.
Jake sat at the table and helped himself to coffee.
“Actually,” Clara said. “I’ve been thinking recently about how much I’d like to have a child.”
Jake almost spat out his coffee. “The single worst thing for the environment, sister dear.”
She brushed him off with a laugh. “I’m so taken by little Quin.” She turned to Astrid. “That’s our nephew – Ivan’s son. He’s so adorable. He’s making me broody.”
“Well, you’d really better find that rich guy, huh?” Jake said.
Clara shrugged. “I don’t need a man.”
Jake gazed at her for a moment. “Maybe not for everything, but for making babies – Clara, didn’t mom and dad explain this?”
“Very funny. But I was thinking I could do it alone. Find some gorgeous hunk and spend the night with him…”
Jake shook his head and tucked into some waffles. “I hope you know what you’re doing…”
“Let’s argue about this another time. You’ve got a rescue mission to plan...”
After Astrid had showered, Clara took them on a tour of the campus. It was so peaceful here – Astrid could understand why Clara loved it so much. And there seemed to be significantly more male students in the Life Sciences Dept than female. Clara would be in her element – she’d have her pick of potential handsome, intelligent sperm donors.
They sat under a tree in the autumn sunshine, and Astrid allowed herself to relax and enjoy the moment. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and the only traffic around was the occasional car, crawling down the wide campus road at ten miles-an-hour.
They chatted for a while about how different it was here, compared to the city, listing the pros and cons. Astrid felt connected to both the Quinlan twins, and she almost forgot what they were here for.
But the sound of her ringing phone pulled her back to reality with a thud. She answered with a frantic, “Yes?”
A meek female voice spoke. “Astrid, it’s Emma...”
“Emma!” She stood up and braced herself. “Are you okay?”
Jake stood too. “Put her on speakerphone.”
“Where are you?” Astrid asked. “Just tell me and we’ll come get you.”
Emma sounded terrified. “I can’t speak long. The guy who’s holding me says you need to come to North Christopher Columbus Boulevard tomorrow evening at seven, or he’ll kill me! There’s a disused warehouse, with a massive Stars and Stripes painted on the side. It’s near the harbor. The man who’s holding me says he can jump in his boat and get away after you’ve dropped off the money. He doesn’t want any fuss, just you and the money. Please bring fifty thousand dollars. He says no cops this time… He really means it, Astrid.”
Astrid tried to focus her racing mind. “Emma, are you hurt? Tell Simon from me he’d better not harm you, because I’ll –”
The line went dead.
Fear pounded in Astrid’s heart, making her head swim with nauseating terror. “What now?” she asked Jake, voice trembling.
He remained calm. “We’ll go there.”
“Where are we going to get fifty grand?”
“I told you, we’re not giving him any money. We’ll get her back safely, I promise.”
He wrapped Astrid in his arms and she extracted warmth from him, biting back the tears that were scratching her throat.
“I’ll call my contact at the telecoms company and see if he can track the location of the kidnapper,” Jake said.
Clara frowned with confusion. “But Emma just gave you the address.”
“That’s where he’s luring us to,” Jake said. “But it might not be where they currently are. If we can get to Emma – and the kidnapper – at a different time and place to the one he’s setting, we’ll have the element of surprise.”
Astrid opened her mouth to suggest they contact the telecoms guy straight away, but the sound of a twig breaking behind them made them all look around. It was Daniel, with his gun drawn, pointing directly at Jake.
Astrid’s chest squeezed with shock and irritation. Why did he have to keep arriving and ruining everything?
“I thought I’d find you here,” Daniel said, holding his gun in Jake’s direction. The guys at surveillance told me they’d seen your Ferrari headed this way. I did some phoning around and discovered your sister’s a visiting fellow at this college. Unlucky for you I’m a good detective too, huh?”
Astrid appealed to him. “Daniel, are you going to help us find Emma?”
“Yes I am. And I’m going to find her faster than you. I’m gonna beat you, Jake.”
“It’s not a goddamn competition,” Jake said. “There’s a young woman in a hostage situation here – why are turning this into a game?”
“Work with us, Daniel,” Astrid said. “We can pool our resources. You both surely have people in the NYPD who can help.”
“We’re in Pennsylvania,” Daniel reminded her.
“Then you’ve got no fucking hold over us,” Jake said. “Now get that fucking gun out of my face before I add you to the number of men I’ve killed.”
Daniel smirked sinisterly. “Actually, Jake, you’ve killed one less man than you think.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Well, I guess it’s probably time to tell you the truth about the drug dealer you shot. It’s so funny – I can’t keep it to myself anymore.”
Jake’s muscles coiled under his suit. “What?”
Daniel grinned as if he was telling a joke. “You didn’t really kill him. I amended the report. He recovered from his injuries and he’s at large back in Mexico.”
Ripples of fury emanated from Jake. “What!”
“Don’t worry, I made sure he was deported. I wouldn’t let him carry on dealing drugs in America, would I?”
“But why? You ruined my career, you motherfucker.”
“For revenge on my brother.”
Astrid couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But Jake didn’t kill your brother.”
“What would you know about it?”
“Because it was an accident. He told me all about it, and I believe him. You need to let this go.”
“You fucking asshole.” Jake lunged forward to pounce on Daniel – probably hoping to pummel his face into the ground.
But Astrid stepped between them, causing Jake to halt abruptly like a bucking stallion. “It’s okay, Jake. Listen to what he just said. You didn’t kill anyone. We all know you didn’t kill his brother, and now you didn’t even kill that drug dealer. You’re free.”
Jake stared at her with anger plastered over his face. The anger slow
ly subsided. He grinned, then laughed. “You’re a smart woman, Astrid. Brave too to stand between me and the man I do want to kill.”
She smiled into his eyes. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me. Not even in the crossfire.”
“I’d never hurt you. But he’s still holding a gun – and I doubt he’d care too much if he accidentally shot you.”
Astrid glanced back to Daniel, who was still pointing his gun at her and Jake. Daniel started assuring Astrid he’d never hurt her either, but Astrid wasn’t listening… There was someone else around, wasn’t there? Where had she gone? Astrid darted her eyes to find Clara, and she quickly suppressed her grin as she saw Jake’s sister standing behind Daniel holding a hefty baseball-bat-sized stick, ready to thwack him.
Astrid realized she needed to keep Daniel talking. “So… why did you leave the NYPD, Daniel? Couldn’t handle the strain of being a small fish in a huge pond?”
He opened his mouth to reply, but Clara swung the stick and hit Daniel on the side of the head, making him stumble and cry out with shock. He dropped his gun – and Jake quickly kicked it away as he grabbed the dazed Daniel by the shirt and pulled him close to shout in his face.
“You fucking asshole! You ruined my career, and now you want to risk Emma’s life, just so you can fuel that sad little ego of yours. Well you’re not fucking doing it!”
Daniel started to protest and struggle in Jake’s grip, but Jake punched him into silence, then he reached down and unhooked Daniel’s handcuffs from his belt.
“What the hell are you doing!” Daniel shouted, writhing to escape. But Jake’s grip was powerful – and so was his punch, which he delivered again directly into Daniel’s smarmy face with his strong fist.
Daniel’s head flew backwards, as Jake growled at him. “That’s for making my life hell, you fucking asshole!”
Daniel’s nose was bleeding now. “What are you doing to me?”
Jake pushed Daniel against a tree, holding him tight and pressing himself against his struggling body. “I’d love to kill you and leave you for the dogs,” Jake said. “But I guess killing you would be too easy. Besides, I’m a changed man.”
He reached down and clicked one half of the handcuffs around Daniel’s wrist, then – leaning heavily on him – he wrapped Daniel’s arms backwards around the tree trunk, and fastened his wrists together with the handcuffs.
“Untie me!” Daniel said, kicking his legs out and trying to get Jake in the balls.
Jake stepped back and raised his fist, as if he planned to punch Daniel into oblivion. But something inside him clicked, so he lowered his fist and glared at Daniel, who was now yelling – almost screaming – for someone to help.
A mischievous wave of energy swept through Astrid, and she realized they needed Daniel off their backs if they wanted to rescue Emma without any more hassle from him. She reached into her purse and pulled out a spare pair of pantyhose, then – dodging Daniel’s kicking legs – she hooked the pantyhose in his mouth – fastening the fabric tight as he struggled – gagging him. “That should keep him quiet for a while.”
Jake smiled proudly at her. “You know he won’t forget this. He’s the type to hold a grudge.”
“I don’t care. He’s an asshole. And he’s hindering our rescue mission.”
Jake nodded. “Good girl. Come on, let’s get outta here.”
“We can’t just leave him here like this,” Clara said. “I don’t care what kind of lowlife he is.”
“Yeah, I guess that would be cruel,” Jake said. “I’ll call his deputy to come out and untie him.”
“But his deputy’s miles away in New York,” Clara said.
“I know. Pity he’ll be here hours, huh? But it’ll give us plenty of time to get away. And time for him to think about how come he ended up like this.”
Clara shook her head. “If the Dean finds out I had anything to do with this…”
“I’m sure you can convince one or two of your students to give you a good alibi,” Astrid said, winking playfully.
Clara laughed. “My brother’s a bad influence on you.”
“I know. It’s wonderful, isn’t it!”
Jake leaned forward and kissed Clara on the cheek. “I guess we’d better get out of here.”
“Okay. Thanks for dropping by.”
“You wanna come with us?”
She glanced at Daniel, who was still struggling and trying to shout, but he was muffled by Astrid’s hosiery – and bound by his own handcuffs. “No. I’ll wait a little longer for my own adventure.” She hugged Astrid. “Try to keep Jake out of trouble for me, please.”
Astrid laughed. “Too late.”
Clara hugged her twin. “All right, if you can’t stay out of trouble, then at least try to stay safe.”
“We’ll try. Hey, sis… can I borrow your car?”
Chapter Twenty
Jake left his Ferrari at the campus and borrowed Clara’s much more discrete Nissan four-by-four, then he drove Astrid to a motel on the outskirts of town, hoping Daniel wouldn’t find them before they found Emma.
The motel was shabby – consisting of one-room cabins, linked together in a long row, and sparsely decorated with a double bed, a writing desk, and a cramped bathroom – which was surprisingly clean and modern. The front door led directly to the sprawling dimly-lit parking lot – and the spiders weren’t included in the price.
Jake left Astrid to call her parents and stepped out to call his friend at the telecoms company – who he always paid handsomely for tapping phones and tracing numbers. He’d known him since his NYPD days, but this guy was totally corrupt, and happy to work with Jake as a private investigator – and now technically a fugitive, according to Daniel.
He stood in the chilly twilight and smoked a cigarette, while giving his contact all the details. Then he went back into the dingy room, to find Astrid lying on the bed with her shoes off. Last night they’d hardly slept, and all this excitement was probably tiring her out. He was so proud of how well she was holding it together, when only the other day she could barely walk through Times Square without freaking out.
He clicked the door shut, locking it – just in case.
She opened her eyes sleepily. “Hi.”
“Hey, beautiful. My friend said he should be able to get an address for where those calls are coming from. It’ll take him an hour-or-so. But as soon as he gets back in touch, I’ll go there and check things out.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
“I just appreciate all you’re doing for me and my family.”
“I’d do anything for you, Astrid.”
He sat on the bed and kissed her, feeling his affection for her grow beyond what he was comfortable with.
She caressed his cheek. “You must be relieved to know you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Huh?”
“You know, with the drug dealer you thought you killed. It was terrible that Daniel framed you like that – I always knew there was something shady about him. But it means your conscience is off the hook. You can stop punishing yourself.”
Jake sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“And you didn’t kill his brother either. You’ve got nothing to feel guilty or bad about, Jake. It’s just an illusion that’s been holding you back all this time.”
“An illusion.”
“Yeah. None of it really existed. But you believed it did, so you were living your life as if it was true. I guess it’s the same for me too, you know? With my panic attacks. I’ve been letting my fears hold me back – telling myself I’m not capable of doing things. But what if that’s an illusion too? An incorrect belief. It’s incredibly liberating when I think about it like that. That the things holding us back usually only exist in our minds.”
He laid down next to her and she snuggled into his arms. “I’m glad you’ve realized that about yourself, Astrid. You’re definitely braver and stronger than you realized.”
S
he propped herself up on her elbow. “There’s something else though, isn’t there? Something else holding you back?”
Jake felt as if he was walking a wobbly tightrope over a fiery cavern. He didn’t want to talk about this. “You’re too perceptive for my liking.”
“You can tell me… It can’t be worse than thinking you killed someone.”
“It’s worse. Much worse.”
“Worse than killing someone?”
“It is to me.” He ran his fingers through her hair. “You know how for you, it’s the shame of your panic attacks that holds you back, right? You feel stupid… out of control. Like people will think you’re insane if you tell them?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, when you said that, I understood it’s true for me too.”
“What is?”
He shook his head. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“It’s okay, Jake. You can trust me. Whatever it is, I’m on your side. I promise… Did you hurt a woman? Physically, I mean.”
“No! I’d never do that.”
“Did a woman hurt you?”
He smirked. “No…”
“No, of course not. Because you never let women into your heart to hurt you.”
He gazed at her. That was true until he’d met her. But somehow he knew he could trust her. “Someone did,” he said quietly.
“Someone hurt you?”
He nodded imperceptibly. “Yeah.”
“An adult?” she asked. “When you were a kid?”
“Hmm… There was an uncle who got… too friendly…” An icy chill slunk through Jake’s veins at this confession. He’d never told anyone before, and suddenly it sounded so stupid – why would anyone let that ruin their entire life? But at the time it’d tortured his soul. And it still did now. It made him feel weak, and that was why he’d needed to be tougher than tough ever since. Or to at least seem that way. So no one could hurt him ever again.
Astrid gazed tenderly into his eyes. “Well that definitely wasn’t your fault, Jake. Certainly nothing you should be ashamed of.”
“I know that rationally – as an adult. But at the time…”
Her voice was full of compassion. “How long did it go on for?”
The Billionaire's Secret: Billionaire Obsession (Tycoon Billionaires Book 5) Page 14