Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series)

by A. T. Douglas

  “So, Robert,” Mark asks casually, sauntering back toward the phone on the table. The sounds on the other end of the line immediately go silent. “We’re changing up the game. Actually, I’m going to let you in on the real game now.”

  “What did you do to her?” Dad’s voice is hushed. He’s barely keeping it together now.

  “You’re asking the wrong question, Robert. Focus with me.”

  “Tell me what the hell you did to my daughter!”

  Mark’s face turns angry, his joking attitude giving way to frustration. “I put a time limit on the decision she’s about to make.”

  I sit here confused and worried as the silence of the phone call fills the room. Dad clears his throat before speaking again. “I don’t understand. What is she deciding?”

  Mark turns to me with a devilish smile on his face. “She may have already made her decision. In fact, I’ve bet on her since the very beginning that she would make this decision.” He pauses a moment to let this sink in both for my parents and for me. “It’s been the plan all along, and your daughter played her part beautifully.”

  I hear Leo murmuring and tugging at the chains next to me, but my gaze remains completely focused on Mark.

  “You see,” he continues, “your daughter has been busy in the weeks that she’s spent here waiting for you to only collect enough money for a partial payment. With the size of my empire, did you truly believe that I would settle the differences between us for a measly six million dollars? This is so much more than ransom. It was never about the money. All I needed was time.”

  “What are you saying?” Dad’s voice is trembling.

  Excitement and anticipation exude from Mark. “You’ll see. I don’t want to spoil it.” Mark picks up the phone from the table and approaches me. “Morgan, dear, it’s time for you to make a decision.” He glances down at my bleeding shoulder. “And I would suggest you make this snappy.”

  I nod. It’s all I can do. Any attempt at speech is pointless in my current state.

  He taps the screen of the phone as he talks to me. “I’ll let you go back to your old life. I’ll leave you locked up here and give daddy your location after my men and I are long gone, but there’s a catch. Leo stays with you.”

  Catch. How the fuck is that a catch? My heart soars within my chest and relief overwhelms me at the thought of being left here with Leo and being found by my parents and the police, but the feeling is short-lived. The catch becomes clear to me, and my heart sinks again to its lowest possible depths.

  Mark hits the screen of the phone one more time with a smile. “Robert, I’m sending you a little video clip I thought you might find interesting.”

  The air dissipates from my lungs as gasps are heard over the call and Mark shows me the phone with the video playing.

  It’s a black and white feed of Leo’s naked body moving on top of mine. It’s a surveillance video of him making love to me in my eyes but raping me in anyone else’s eyes.

  I look away from it, my lips parted in disbelief and embarrassment while my entire body shivers. Mark had a hidden camera on us. He didn’t only see us in person that day. With his video feeds, he’s probably seen everything that’s gone on in that cell from day one.

  Dad’s voice rages throughout the room. “Not my girl. Not my girl!” He’s sobbing now. “I’m going to kill you. I will find you and rip your fucking throat out!”

  “Hold it, papa bear. Before you go shooting the messenger, why don’t you take a better look at the man who defiled your daughter.”

  There’s instant recognition in my dad’s voice. “I know those tattoos. Leo. He did this?”

  “He did. He fucked your beautiful little daughter, and do you want to know the best part?” Mark pauses for dramatic effect before reducing his voice to just above a whisper into the phone. “She actually enjoyed it.”

  “I’ll kill him! Do you hear me, Leo? You will not live to see the light of another day when I find you!”

  As my dad’s escalation in anger hits its peak, I’m torn apart inside. Mark in his own sick way is proving the catch in the offer he’s made. What seemed like the perfect choice to end this horrific nightmare is the path to permanent separation from Leo. With the evidence they have, they’ll make him pay for what he’s done to me and for all the horrible things he said he did for Mark before. It’s my choice to losing him.

  “What’s my alternative?” I ask hesitantly.

  Though my question was directed toward Mark, my dad is the one who answers. “Alternative? Morgan, sweetie, what are you talking about? There is no alternative. You need to come home.”

  It’s almost strange to be talking with my dad over the phone. It feels like we’re two completely different people now and that bringing us together again like this is almost like starting over. I’m not the same girl who was taken weeks ago. I’ve changed in so many ways.

  “What about Leo?” I say it before realizing that no one besides Mark has any concept of my feelings for the man who has been my savior in this place.

  “We will prosecute him to the full extent of the law. You’ll never have to worry about him again.”

  Kidnapping, assault, rape… the charges in my case alone will be enough to put Leo away for decades. Add to that any charges from the other terrible things he’s done while working for Mark, and it might as well be multiple life sentences. It could even amount to the death penalty.

  I can’t let that happen.

  “What’s my alternative?” I ask Mark again, my heart racing. Silence fills the room.

  Mark stares at me with the largest, most satisfied smile on his face. “Stay with us. Join my crew, and you and Leo can be together and fuck each other all you want.”

  I stare blankly at Mark as my dad’s voice reaches out to me again. “Is he forcing you to say these things? Is he threatening you?”

  “No, he’s not,” I respond flatly. I wish I could say that Dad likely thought I was lying, but he’s always been able to read me when I’m fibbing. He knows that I’m telling the truth.

  “Then why are you even considering this? What the hell happened to you to make you do this?”

  “I fell in love.” The words fall hopelessly out of my mouth as I turn to Leo next to me. Through the pain and blood on his face, I see in his eyes the connection that we share. “Leo took my heart, Dad. He holds it as we speak. I won’t let you take him from me.”

  Leo shakes his head at me vehemently, pulling against the chains with increased vigor to convey his silent message. He wants to sacrifice himself for me. He wants me to take my life back, but I don’t know that I want it back. It’s childish and stupid and illogical for me to think this way, but it wouldn’t be much of a life without Leo in it.

  The decision is made.

  I turn back to Mark. “I’ll do it. I’ll go with you.”

  Yells and cries pour out of the cell phone’s speaker. Leo is screaming against the tape over his mouth to get my attention, but all I can do is stare at the man who played me and Leo. We’ve been pawns in his little game this entire time, and he worked us just the way he wanted. This whole charade was based on a single bet that Leo and I would fall for each other, and we did. Mark won.

  Though I have been in Mark’s possession for weeks, today is the day I was truly taken.

  “It’s been a pleasure, Robert,” Mark says into the phone with a victorious grin on his face. “I’m so glad I had this opportunity to take everything from you as you took everything from me, except you get to go on living with the knowledge that your daughter chose me over her own family. From one grieving father to another, I can say that is a fate worse than my own.”

  My entire body seizes up as Mark’s words sink in. I’ve chosen this life over my former life. I’ve chosen his crew over my own family. For a moment I panic and the guilt consumes me, only intensifying when I realize I don’t second-guess my decision, not in the slightest.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” Pleadings of ap
ologies scream from me, and I hope my parents can hear the truth in my words. I will feel sorry about this for the rest of my life, but I won’t regret my decision.

  Leo and I will find a way to escape Mark’s grasp someday. We’ll get away and find a place where we can grow and thrive together. I’ll never be able to bring him home to my family, and I may never see my family again, but I’ll have him. We’ll make a new life together. We’ll both be free someday.

  Muffled cries are all I hear from the phone now as Mark holds it in my direction. “Say goodbye, dear.”

  Goodbye. It’s so final, so permanent. How do I say goodbye to the people who have raised me and loved me and protected me for my entire life? How do I do that in a few words over a phone call?

  I won’t say goodbye. This isn’t goodbye forever. Once Leo and I are free, I will see my parents again.

  “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Leo will protect me.” The words rush out of me as quickly as the tears racing down my cheeks.

  My parents say nothing. The silence is deafening.

  Mark pulls the phone away from me. “Goodbye, Robert.”

  With a tap of the screen, the line disconnects, severing me with finality from my parents and my former life.

  “It’s time to go,” Mark announces to the room before kneeling down next to Leo. He takes his bloodied face in his hands and forces him to look in his eyes. “It’s over. You hear me? The moment you resist or try to pull something, I will put a bullet in her brain.”

  Leo nods but doesn’t otherwise move while Mark unlocks the chains from his wrists and ankles. When he’s finally free of them, Leo rips the tape from his mouth before taking Mark’s extended hand to be pulled to standing.

  Leo moves to me unsteadily and immediately brings his attention to my gunshot wound. He pulls on the fabric of my shirt and tears it enough to expose my entire shoulder. He inspects the entrance wound and feels around the back of me for its exit.

  “Fuck,” he says under his breath before calling out over his shoulder. “Someone get the first aid kit!” He returns his attention to me with worried eyes. I can’t help wincing as he grasps my shoulder and presses hard against the wound. “I’ll do what I can until we get you to the doctor.”

  “Leo.” My wrists are pulling at the restraints, desperate to get my arms around him, but I’m still attached to the chair.

  He sees my struggle and shakes his head slightly. “We’ll get you out of these soon. Just relax.” He stares at me for a moment before speaking again. “What have you done? What the hell were you thinking?” Through the blood covering his face, I can tell he looks sad for me, almost disappointed.

  I’m breathing hard but find my ability to speak. “I had no choice.”

  “You could have had your life back.”

  “But you wouldn’t have been in it. The police would have locked you up for life. They may have even killed you.”

  Leo leans his forehead against mine, and we both close our eyes. “This is what I’ve been trying to avoid,” he says quietly. “I’m supposed to be in this alone so that people I care about won’t get hurt.”

  “Who else do you have? Who else do you care about?”

  Leo says nothing.

  I move my head up to kiss his forehead, my heart aching at the metallic taste of blood that I find there. “It’s better to have something and risk losing it than to never have it at all.”

  Leo lets out a deep breath. I hope I’ve helped him understand.

  “Ahem.” Someone clears his throat next to us. We both turn to see Mark staring down at us as he holds out the first aid kit. In a strange and frightening way, it’s different to see him now. The line between enemy and friend is blurring, along with the line between who I was and who I want to be.

  Leo snatches the kit from his hands angrily. “Can we get her out of this fucking chair?”

  Mark smiles and kneels down, pulling a knife out of his pocket and hovering the sharp blade in front of me. “Anything for our newest member of the team.”

  I watch with trepidation as he cuts at the restraints until a sharp, stinging sensation from my shoulder demands my attention. The rubbing alcohol Leo is pouring over the wound initially burns, but then a soothing sensation sets in. Leo quickly dabs the area with gauze before taping dry gauze over the opening.

  “They bullet didn’t go through. We’ll get it out soon,” he reassures me.

  When the last restraint is cut from my ankle, Leo carefully lifts me from the chair. The pain from my bruised ribs flares up as he pulls me against his chest and carries me toward the door of the now mostly empty room. I watch him move with purpose and concern as we make our way out the door and down the hallway.

  “I’m taking her in the Charger,” Leo says matter-of-factly to Mark. There is no room for discussion in the tone of Leo’s voice.

  “We’ll take the Charger, but I’ll drive. You get to watch her in the back. I want her face covered.”

  Leo nods, their little negotiation coming to a quick end as we pass through doors in a part of the building I haven’t seen yet.

  A final set of double doors opens into blinding sunshine and a large parking lot. The rest of Mark’s crew is throwing gear into various cars and trucks including a box truck. In the size of this caravan of vehicles, I realize the full extent of the force that Mark had here just for me.

  We approach a dark gray Dodge Charger, and I immediately understand why Leo chose this vehicle. The sporty look isn’t just for appearance. This is a fast car.

  Mark opens the back door. Leo sets me down gently on the seat and jumps in behind me. He tears a long piece of cloth from the bottom of his shirt and ties it over my eyes and around the back of my head.

  “You’re going to be fine,” he reassures me, holding me against him while he applies pressure to the wound on my shoulder.

  I hear Mark yelling something out across the parking lot before the driver’s side door opens. The car shifts from side to side when Mark takes his seat and starts the car.

  “It’s time to take you to your new home,” Mark says as he revs the engine slightly before putting the car in gear. I can hear the smile on his face in the tone of his voice.

  Leo holds me tighter against him as if he’s never going to let go. The steady rise and fall of his chest helps me breathe through the weight of the decision I’ve made as Mark drives us away to my new life.

  21

  Finality

  The blindfold over my eyes during the drive quickly becomes unnecessary. When the adrenaline from everything that happened finally wears off, my body and mind are left completely spent. Exhaustion consumes me, and I drift off to sleep against Leo’s shoulder.

  I don’t wake up until the car comes to a complete stop and the engine ceases. I’m stunned awake by the overwhelming silence of the car. This is it.

  We’re here, wherever here is.

  The muffled sounds of car doors slamming outside the vehicle become loud echoes as the doors of the vehicle I’m in are opened on each side me. Leo slips his arms around my back and under my knees and lifts me out of the back seat.

  The air in here is cold and dry. It feels stale, cut-off from the outside world. I worry that I’ve just traded one prison for another.

  I hear the voices and sounds of the men moving all around us, but I can barely make out what they’re saying in the echoing space. The cacophony of it becomes quieter as Leo carries me away through a creaky door that someone else opens and closes for us. A second set of footsteps hasn’t left our side.

  The air in this new space is slightly warmer but just as stale. There is no echo to our movements in here. It feels strangely homey and nothing like the prison.

  “Stop,” Mark’s voice abruptly commands from in front of us.

  Leo stumbles back slightly but maintains his hold of me. The blindfold is removed from my face, and it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to my surroundings.

  The lighting in here is subdued and war
m, not nearly as abrasive as the fluorescent lights of the prison. The walls are made of actual drywall instead of cement. There’s wooden furniture around and landscape artwork on the walls. I see signs of technology: a flat screen TV mounted on the wall and multiple monitors and other electronic devices sitting on a large mahogany desk. There’s even a heavily crowded bookshelf built into one of the walls.

  Mark’s face appears above me, demanding my attention. “I don’t have a cell for you here, and I don’t want to deal with keeping you tied up or handcuffed constantly. I do, however, have the ability to end Leo’s life the moment you try to escape or do anything that would cause harm to me, one of my men, or the business. Even a hint of disobedience from you, and I will kill him. Do you understand?”

  My breath catches in my throat in my attempt to respond. “Yes.”

  Mark’s attention turns to Leo. “You know what I’m going to say. Try to pull one of your escape moves again, and I will not hesitate to shoot her somewhere fatal next time.”

  “I want her with me,” Leo declares. “She’ll stay in my room and under my watch at all times. Not one other man in this building touches her again, including you.”

  “You really think you’re in a position to be making demands?” Mark asks angrily.

  “In all the years I’ve worked with you, not once have I been greedy or laid claim to anything we’ve acquired in the normal course of business, until now. I’m choosing her. You’ll have my loyalty as long as she remains untouched. If she disobeys, she’s mine to punish.”

  “And if you disobey, she dies.”

  The finality with which these men discuss my fate makes me uneasy. With a nod of Mark’s head the negotiation is over, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

  Leo quickly moves me to a long maroon leather couch set out along the wall as Mark takes a seat behind the desk and pulls out a laptop.

  Leo sets me down like I’m the most fragile object in the world. He kneels next to me with a look of concern. “You okay?”