My hands sneak their way from Leo’s grasp to encircle his back. “Please trust me. I’ll be safe. Phillips will be there. He won’t let them hurt me. We’ll get the book and get the hell out.”
“You have no idea what could possibly happen, do you? He treats women like things, Morgan. They’re objects to him, toys to be possessed and played with then thrown away. He won’t hesitate to go as far as he wants and expects if you give him a chance to look at you and touch you.”
I can tell there’s more to what he’s trying to convey. He won’t say it, though, so I say it for him. “You’re afraid he’ll fuck me.”
“Yes. Of course I am. Who in this business wouldn’t want to fuck you?” I flinch a little at the sharpness of his tone. His voice softens slightly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“It’s okay. I get it, but you’re just going to have to trust me. I can handle this,” I reassure him.
There’s a moment of unease between us until Leo pulls me into a tight and desperate hug. He pulls back a little to kiss the side of my cheek. “You have to be careful. That’s the only way I can let you do this. You have to promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”
“No stupid things. Got it.”
“The moment you have even the slightest feeling that it’s getting out of hand, get the hell out. Don’t give him a chance to go too far.”
“Leo.” I raise my voice slightly, trying to force him to believe me. “I promise I’ll be careful.”
Leo sighs and pulls back from me completely, taking a moment to run his fingers through my loose strands of hair. “Mark won’t let you go out like this. What do you think about the color red?”
25
Transformation
For years I’ve wanted to dye my hair, and every time I asked my parents about it the answer was no. There were always convenient excuses: I was too young, it was too expensive, colored hair is too hard to maintain. I just wanted something different, something to liven up my dark blond hair color and brighten up my life.
As I stand in front of the mirror and stare at the auburn waves of hair flowing down the sides of my head to just below my shoulders, I realize how fully I have left my old life behind. My face is done up completely with makeup. My eyelashes are long, curled, and thick with mascara and my eyelids are painted perfectly with eyeliner and dark eye shadow.
My gaze drifts to the strappy black dress that barely contains my cleavage in the push-up bra I’m wearing underneath. The fabric of the dress sticks tightly against my skin, forming to every curve of my waist and hips. The bottom of it hits mid-thigh, leaving my legs exposed all the way down to the shiny black pumps that give me a few extra inches in height.
This entire look is something my dad never would have allowed. Ever.
My transformation is complete. I’m no longer the dull, lifeless teen under my parents’ wings. I’m now a vibrant, beautiful woman taking fate into my own hands. Though I’m still trapped, I’m somehow blossoming, a suppressed inner part of me emerging a more prominent force than I ever realized.
This is the new me.
A set of hands sneak their way around my waist, their touch curious and gentle and completely lacking the hungry desire that my appearance is meant to stimulate. Leo holds my back firmly to his chest as he rubs his chin into my shoulder.
I let him hold me for a moment and close my eyes, absorbing whatever strength and compassion I can from him to help me get through what I’ve volunteered myself to do. Leo doesn’t see it. My need to be successful in this endeavor is completely lost on him, but he’s letting me do it anyway.
I don’t have to do this, but in a way I do. This is the life I’ve chosen, and I’m going to make the best of it for me and for Leo.
“You look incredible,” Leo breathes out. I can hear the hint of lust in his voice. He maneuvers around my hair to work his lips against my neck, softly and subtly, teasing me even more each time. I think my new look is finally getting to him.
“You have a thing for redheads?” I tease.
“Just one,” Leo replies, kissing my neck harder and nibbling lightly at the skin. I wonder if he’ll take this further and try to get me out of these clothes, but he stops and pulls away from me instead.
I’m not quite ready to be disconnected from him, so I take his hands in mine. “I’ll be okay. You know that, right?”
The sadness and worry that has plagued Leo’s face since the moment I volunteered for this assignment is back again in full force. “This could end badly in so many ways.”
“But it won’t. I won’t let it.” I lean forward, pressing my lips into Leo’s, trying to kiss away his concern, even if only for a moment. My body is aching to stay and give in to my own desires with Leo, but I reluctantly withdraw from him and look away instead. “We should go. They’ll be waiting for us.”
The walk out of our shared apartment and down the staircases and hallways to Mark’s office is long and quiet. It’s reminiscent of my last day at the prison, when I felt like I was being led to my execution, except this time I’m the one leading the way to my potential doom.
The moment we walk into the office, the room silences around us. The discussion between Mark and Phillips seems a distant memory as they both turn and stare at me, not hiding the fact that they’re looking me up and down with hungry eyes. Leo notices it, too, stepping in front of me to block me from their view.
“She’s ready,” he says from his defensive position.
“She’s fucking gorgeous is what she is,” I hear Phillips say. My cheeks heat up almost instantly.
It takes only two long strides for Leo to be directly in front of Phillips, the guy not much older than Leo but not coming even close to Leo’s height and build. Phillips cowers a bit from Leo’s advance.
“You will watch her and take care of her,” Leo hisses. “If I hear that you’ve touched her inappropriately even in the slightest, I will destroy you. Do you understand?”
Phillips quickly nods. He’s scared shitless. “You got it.”
Leo holds his ground there, driving his message in just a little further before turning to Mark. “He knows the plan?”
Mark smiles as he stands up from his chair. “He knows what to do. Is our little whore ready for this?”
“Fuck you,” I say under my breath, but I know Leo heard me.
“Excuse me, dear. What did you say?”
“I said–”
“She said she’s ready,” Leo interjects, giving me a stern look.
“Splendid,” Mark responds with a smug expression. I want to walk over there and smack it off his face, but I don’t react. He pulls something out of his desk drawer, a handful of black cloth that he offers to Leo. “You’ll want to do the honors, I assume?”
It takes a moment for my brain to register Mark’s intentions. My heart rate picks up a little, though I’m not sure whether it’s caused by the thought that I’m going to be blindfolded going into this or by the fact that I’m about to interact with the outside world for the first time in over a month. I’m anxious and excited and terrified all at the same time, the emotions tearing me in every direction.
Leo takes the cloth from Mark, which is actually in two separate pieces, and approaches me reluctantly. He takes my head in his hands, the cloth soft against my cheek as he cups the sides of my face and kisses the tiny bit of sensitive skin next to the corner of each of my eyes. His leans forward into me, our foreheads touching while he holds me there, taking us away from the room and our company and my impending departure on this crazy mission for just a few moments.
This is only temporary, I tell myself. You can do this.
“You’ll see me again soon,” Leo says, kissing my lips briefly before pulling back.
He gives me a subtle smile, and I return it with my own. I try to etch his face into my memory just as he brings the dark cloth over my eyes and ties it behind my head. He squeezes both of my hands tightly before securing them with the other piece of c
loth behind my back.
I hear Mark and Phillips walking ahead of us out into the hallway as Leo escorts me by the arm to follow them. It’s strange to be in this position again, bringing me right back to the feelings of vulnerability and fear that overwhelmed me at the prison. My entire being’s desire to be free is screaming at me to do something, to take action.
I don’t know why, but I’m concentrating on memorizing the direction we’re going, the turns we’re making, and the doors we have to go through, taking in every identifying sound and smell I can get my senses on. I don’t know that I could ever find my way through the building to this exit on my own again, but I like to think that I could. I like to think that someday I can escape with Leo and be free.
One final door opens and we’re back in the large echoing space again, clearly a garage of some kind. I hear the car doors opening and closing in front of us as we approach. Leo grasps my shoulder to stop me and helps me find my way into the vehicle. He buckles my seatbelt and lets his hand rest on my thigh.
“Please be careful,” he says softly.
He withdraws his hand from me. The moment the car door closes, I instantly miss his presence.
This was such a bad idea.
I hear someone readjusting in the driver’s seat before the front door closes and locks us in with the silence. It’s deafening and terrifying, suffocating me in the seat where I’m blind and helpless to fight it.
Just breathe, Morgan. Leo’s words from back at the prison fill my thoughts and bring me comfort.
And so I breathe, inhaling and exhaling as Phillips starts the car to deliver me into the mouth of disaster.
26
Perfect
I’m not sure how long we’ve been driving. It seems like hours upon hours, but I know it hasn’t been that long. Being separated from Leo just makes the time go by slower. It’s my first real separation from him since we’ve become so close, and it hurts. My body aches to be back with him even if that means being stuck in that strange building that has become my new prison.
Phillips hasn’t said more than a few words to me the entire time we’ve been in the car. I secretly pray that it doesn’t mean he’s nervous. If we’re both on edge going into this, there’s no way we’re going to make it out of there alive.
I’m sure Phillips has as much at stake in this as I do. He’s the typical new guy. He made the cut to join Mark’s crew but has yet to prove himself. If he can pull this off with me, I have a feeling we’ll both reap huge rewards. Mark is a creepy, fucked-up, psychotic asshole, but he also holds my life and Leo’s life in his grasp. He can tighten his grip to make us feel pain or smash us completely leaving us with nothing, all at his own discretion. If I can do anything to make Mark loosen his grip on us, I will.
The vehicle comes to a stop with an eerie squeak from the brakes. When the engine shuts off, I know we’re not just at a stoplight. We’ve hit our destination, and it’s about to be go time.
Holy hell.
The doors to the vehicle open and close and open again, and Phillips is suddenly right next to me in the back seat. I flinch at his touch near my face and automatically turn away from him.
“It’s okay. I’m just getting you out of these.”
I try to relax as he pulls the blindfold off my head and unties my hands. I expected to be blinded by the light after all that time in the darkness, but my eyes don’t have much to adjust to. The windows of the large SUV we’re in are heavily tinted, and I’m hidden away in the back seat.
I turn to Phillips next to me, unsure of what’s to happen next. “This is it, then?”
He nods. “You ready?”
“Yes.” In the racing pace of my heart and the sweat beading at the back of my neck, I know that my words betray me. I’m not ready. I don’t have a fucking clue what I’m doing or how I talked myself into this position.
Phillips shuffles himself out of the car before reaching back to offer me his hand. I take it hesitantly. He’s not Leo, or my parents, or anyone I know or really trust, but he’s all I have at this moment. We’re in this together.
My legs feel a little shaky as I try to find my feet in these heels on the pavement. In the moment it takes Phillips to close the door and put the keys in his pocket, I quickly take in the area around me, the tiny side of me that still believes in the possibility of escape searching for some sign of where the hell we are.
Unfortunately my immediate surroundings don’t give me much to go by. It’s an urban area with parked cars on the streets, but it otherwise seems deserted. I see a few signs for storefronts that look so decrepit they must be out of business.
There are no trees around, no mountains in the distance, so I must still be in the desert somewhere. That means I’m not all that far from home.
Home.
I can’t think of it now. I can’t.
With one deep breath, I pull myself together, standing up straighter and linking my arm with Phillips’ elbow as if he’s escorting me to a grand event. He seems surprised by my sudden move at first but quickly settles into his role. He smiles at me, catching a look at my cleavage still bursting out of my dress before walking us toward the looming white brick building in front of us.
Large windows with blocked-out glass frame each side of the front door so that we have no idea what we’re walking into. Phillips opens the door for me, which would be a gentlemanly gesture if he weren’t showing me into the building of a man we’re about to completely piss off.
Just inside the door, I’m promptly met by a man in a gray button-up shirt, black slacks, and shiny black shoes, quite the formalwear for a sentry posted at the entrance. He takes one look at me, and not even to look at me, before turning his attention to Phillips entering from the door behind me. His question is loud and clear in the creases of his brow and slight snarl of his lip.
“Ryan Phillips. Ruiz is expecting me,” Phillips says confidently.
Sentry man holds Phillips’ gaze for a moment before quickly patting both of us down to check for weapons. When he’s done, he steps back and nods to a door behind him. Phillips pulls me with him to the door without another word.
We walk further into the space that looks like an abandoned restaurant. There’s a bar on one side of the room covered with dusty glassware and bottles of liquor. Small square tables litter the rest of the space with wooden chairs turned upside down on top of them. We continue past them to the door at the back that opens into an empty kitchen. My attention is immediately drawn to the sound of men laughing coming from the hallway to the right. We move toward the sound until we’re just outside the door.
Phillips leads the way this time, knocking briefly then opening the door into a wide office, larger and more elaborate than Mark’s space. The furniture is jet black and shiny. The entire room screams control and formality except for the abstract artwork on the walls, beautiful paintings of wild colors and shapes and lines that sharply contrast everything else about the dark and orderly space.
A man stands on each side of the front of the room, dressed almost identically to the sentry out front. Between them seated at the desk is an imposing man, large in both height and weight. I’m relieved that he’s sitting, because I’m confident he would tower a foot over me if I were to stand next to him. The dark gray suit jacket he wears does little to hide the potbelly trying to burst through his button-up shirt. He’s shaved bald with just a hint of a goatee.
My feet are moving me toward him, but my brain is telling me to run away. This is a horrible idea. I shouldn’t be here.
Phillips works his hand around my back so that he’s pulling me to him by my waist as we walk. I don’t know if he senses my willpower seeping away or if he’s trying to comfort me or just looking for an excuse to get a feel on me. My worry at his touch lasts only a moment before being overpowered by the source of my true concern, my mind coming into complete focus about the real threat in this room.
“Mr. Phillips,” the man behind the desk greets with a smile
as they shake hands. “Miguel Ruiz. So nice of you to join me today and to bring this beautiful woman with you.” He gives me a once-over, and in the flush of his cheeks I can instantly tell he likes what he sees. “I must admit I am jealous. You are a lucky man.”
Phillips tightens his hold around me, my cue to join in on this charade and play my part. I lean into his touch, draping my arm over him and running a finger from his chin all the way down his chest. His lips part briefly with a breathless exhale, and I quickly realize I’m doing a little too good of a job here.
It takes a moment, but Phillips finally figures out how to speak again. “She is something, isn’t she? Reeled this one in and she didn’t want to leave.”
Ruiz doesn’t get the double meaning in Phillips’ words, but they hit me like a sharp slap to the face. They cut me deeper than I’m willing to admit.
“I see you two may have some business to attend to soon, so let us get to it, shall we? I am told you have an interest in becoming a distributor.” Ruiz motions to the chairs in front of his desk. Phillips takes a seat, but I remain standing behind him, rubbing his neck and shoulders in a gentle massage as I steal glances around Ruiz’s desk and office looking for this little black book of vital information that is the purpose of our presence here.
I’m only half paying attention to the conversation taking place between them as I search. Internally I’m panicking. What if it’s in his desk? What if he keeps it in his pocket? Phillips can’t talk to him forever. Eventually we’ll have to leave, and returning to Mark without achieving our goal is not an option.
“Glad to have you. I expect great things,” Ruiz says as Phillips moves away from my touch to shake the hand of his fake new boss.
When I see the leather black book being removed from Ruiz’s jacket pocket, my first instinct is to grab it from his hand and run for the door, but I know it won’t be that easy. I wouldn’t get two feet before his bodyguards would be on top of me. In my choice between prisons, I will take Mark’s any day over even the thought of being trapped in this place with these unknown men.
Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series) Page 16