I tried to round the corner of the next store, hoping to find someone who would be willing to help me. But, at that moment, I felt a blow to the back of my head, and I fell, hard. I knew I’d scraped my hands and knees on the pavement, but that was the last thing I remembered before everything faded to black.
Chapter 26
Nick
I paced back and forth in my living room, my mind spinning. I was so pissed at the entire world; I didn’t even know what to do. I was freaking out, as were Cassie and David.
The three of us were at my place trying to figure out what had happened to Liz. I knew she was going to have lunch with her best friend, but none of us had seen or heard from her since that afternoon. I found out about it when Cassie told me she hadn’t heard from Liz and was trying to get a hold of her, and when I tried myself, I didn’t have any luck, either.
The security guard told me that she had ditched him at the restaurant. He was trying to give her the space to have some privacy with her friend, and he didn’t even have his back turned from her for five minutes, and she was suddenly gone.
I wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not, but I fired him on the spot. He shouldn’t have had his back turned on her at all as far as I was concerned. The entire reason that I had hired him was for him to watch her, not turn his back on her.
But then, there were so many other questions I had. The first thing I did was to hire my PI all over again. I knew he would have the best chance of figuring out what had happened to her, and he had come up with a lead. It wasn’t the best lead in the world, but it was a lead, nonetheless.
He found that she had gone into a convenience store not far from the diner where they had been eating lunch. She bought a pregnancy test, and when she left the store, several men had followed her.
I had nearly passed the fuck out when he had mentioned the pregnancy test. The sickness the past few mornings suddenly made a whole lot of sense. Jesus, Liz was pregnant with my baby, and now she was missing and possibly in danger. Why hadn’t she told me?
I would have been there for her. I knew it would be different than what we had planned, but there was no way in hell I wasn’t going to be there for her and our child. But with my past and the fact that I had reiterated time and again that our arrangement was just a business agreement I could see why she would be afraid to tell me.
I felt all of the progress of the past few days slide away. We had thought we were in the clear after we had filed the paperwork on the guy who’d been stalking her. Had we been mistaken to think that he wasn’t a threat? I was both furious and terrified at the same time. And David staring daggers at me with his fists clenched at his sides wasn’t helping my frame of mind. “How many times did I tell you that you had to take care of her?” he demanded. “How many times did I tell you that you needed to call off this little game, and the next thing I know, she’s been kidnapped?” he practically shouted at me.
“I’m so sorry that this happened!” I argued. “You know I would never do anything that would intentionally put her in danger!”
“But you did it anyway! You knew there was shit going down, and you knew there were people out there who were after her, but yet you insisted that your company was important enough to keep up this charade. You should have called it off when you had the chance, now for all we know she could be dead somewhere!” he snapped.
“This arguing isn’t going to do anything for getting her back,” Cassie said, trying to be the voice of reason. “Greg said that she had been to that convenience store, and the last time anyone saw her was when she left. I’m guessing that those men must have been after her for some reason, and we need to figure out what that was.”
“We need to figure out where they are first of all,” David said. “We have to get my sister back, who cares what the fuck they wanted!”
“I care!” I said. “If we know why they did this, then we’re going to know how to get her back!”
“Yeah, you and your thoughts have been a real asset so far, haven’t they?” he snapped. “I think you might need to take the back seat on this and let someone who can actually take care of her and bring her home take charge.”
“What the fuck are you saying?” I snapped.
“The more you argue, the longer it’s going to be before we can get to Liz. I think she needs us more right now than either one of you needs to be right,” Cassie scolded.
I sighed. I knew Cassie was right, and though I was pissed off at her, too, I knew she was there to support what was happening. I wanted to blame her along with the security guard for not taking care of Liz properly.
Though we had thought we were in the clear with the stalker, I had made it abundantly clear that Liz was never to be alone until the guy had been charged or a restraining order had been served. Now because everyone had gotten lazy, Liz was missing. And so was my baby.
I’d hated making that phone call to David, but I knew I was going to need him there if we were going to get Liz back. We had to get everyone possible involved if we were going to have a chance of getting through this, but I still blamed myself ultimately for putting her in this position in the first place.
If she was pregnant, that was even on me. I had been the one who had come onto her. Of course, she was right there with me, but I hadn’t told her that I would be there for her if she got pregnant. Of course, it was a risk that we both knew we were taking when we were having sex, but it wasn’t something that I really thought was going to happen to us.
I was sure it was safe. We were going to solve the issue with my investors, and life would go back to normal. I didn’t expect her to get pregnant, and I didn’t expect her to get stalked or kidnapped by anyone, either.
Then again, I was also surprised at the fact I hadn’t heard from any of the kidnappers. This guy clearly knew what he was doing, and if he wanted money or something like that, why had he taken so long to get a hold of me?
Clearly, he could contact me. Either he could do it through the dark web like he had before, or he could get my number like he had before. I wasn’t sure how he was doing any of this, I just knew that he was, and he could do it again if he pleased.
None of it made any real sense to me. The guy had petty schoolroom fights and minor stalking and harassment charges. Nothing that indicated kidnapping and nothing that indicated his behavior would escalate to the point of actually grabbing a woman on the street. But maybe it wasn’t him. Maybe it was one of the guys with him. But what was the point if they hadn’t even contacted me for ransom or anything. That fact alone, made my blood run cold.
And how come no one on the street had helped her?
There were a lot of people around; surely someone had seen her being pursued by the men. Someone had to have been available to do something, but it didn’t seem to me like anyone had. To me, it seemed that the whole world had just passed on by, letting her get kidnapped and taken to God only knew where.
And the rest of us were left to try to figure it out on our own. I was so sick to my stomach, and I wanted real answers. I wanted to find out from Cassie what was really going on that afternoon, and why the hell Liz would want to ditch her security.
But Cassie had even denied knowing anything about a possible pregnancy, so I knew there was little chance I was going to get any truth out of her. I could tell by the look in her eyes when she told me she didn’t know anything she was lying. Of course, she was going to protect her best friend.
She didn’t know if Liz was pregnant or not, and she didn’t want to bring that up in case she wasn’t. I had to admit that I would likely do the same thing if I were in her position. I could figure out the truth about the pregnancy later. Hell, there were a lot of things I could figure out later. But for now, I was just going to try to get Liz back.
I would stop at nothing until we found out who these people were, and what they wanted if it was money, then fine. I’d pay up. I’d find a way to catch them in the process and make sure they were locked up for what
they did, but I wasn’t going to let another moment pass without doing anything in my power to bring Liz home.
And I knew David felt the same. I wasn’t sure if he was ever going to let me be his friend again, but I knew he loved his sister more than anything, and he would stop at nothing until he brought her home. Cassie, too, though I didn’t know her well, I knew she would do anything to see Liz safe.
My PI was out there, and I could only trust that he was doing all that he could to find these people and bring me the information as fast as possible. Time was of the essence now, and we all knew it. But we were stuck at the moment, having to wait until we had something more to go on. The cops wouldn’t even consider her missing until it had been twenty-four hours. I felt helpless.
I knew it was only a matter of time before we got something, but it still felt like an eternity to me. I wanted Liz back, more than I even cared about the company anymore. As long as she was safely back home, things would be okay again.
I didn’t care what we had to go through to make it happen, and I didn’t care about any of the obstacles we would face if she were pregnant. All I cared about was Liz. Her laugh, her smile, and the way she made me feel when she was in the same room.
She had to come home, unhurt and whole. Greg would just need to give me a location, and I would head there myself in a heartbeat. I didn’t care what sort of risk I’d be taking.
Liz was out there somewhere scared and alone, and I wouldn’t rest until I brought her home.
Chapter 27
Liz
I was locked in a room of some kind. I wasn’t sure where I was, but I knew I was in an apartment. I wasn’t sure what day it was, either, if I was perfectly honest. Or even the time. There were no windows in the room, and I was fairly certain I was in a basement, but I didn’t get any response by screaming for help.
My captors informed me I better shut up or they were going to shut me up, and I didn’t want to piss them off. I recognized the one as the guy from the club – the guy that Cassie had kicked in the balls. He seemed to be the one calling the shots, and as far as I knew, he was in charge.
But he didn’t talk to me much. None of them did. They told me to shut up, and they would bring me a bit of food or water now and then, but that was about the extent of it. I didn’t know how long I was even out. I had been hit hard, and I now worried about the baby.
Sure, I might not have known what I wanted to do with the baby when I found out I was pregnant, but now my first instinct was hoping that my child was okay and vowing all kinds of murderous things against these assholes if there was something wrong.
I hoped Nick was looking for me. I had to have been out long enough for them to know that something was wrong. I had been so stupid actually to ditch the security detail, and I couldn’t believe how I was paying for it now. I really thought I would be okay to go get that test, but now, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to get out of this alive.
I heard someone at the door, and immediately, I stiffened. I wasn’t sure who it was going to be, but I had a feeling it was going to be Rico as they were calling him. He was the intimidator, and he would stop in to threaten me with all kinds of terrible things every now and then, as though I could forget where I was or the situation I’d found myself in.
Of course, I did my best to not listen to him. I tried to ignore him when he would walk in the room, but that seemed to piss him off further. I wasn’t sure what his limit was, or if he was really the kind of man who would strike a woman, but I didn’t want to risk it, so I was careful not to push my luck too far.
I just wanted to go home, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to have to do to get that. I tried begging, crying, and telling them that I had family, but they didn’t listen. All Rico talked about was himself, telling me to shut up every now and then, and threatening me with the things that he could do.
I cringed when he walked back into the room. Of course, it would be him. He was the ringleader, wasn’t he? No one else was going to come in and see the prize that he had stolen off the street; he was going to come in here and tell me just what he was going to do if I made any noise.
And damn, did I ever want to make noise.
“You’re awake,” he said with a sadistic smile on his face. “You were asleep the last time I was in here, and I wasn’t sure if I should wake you just to remind you of things.”
I said nothing. I hated the thought of being in the room with such a person when I wasn’t sure what they were going to do to me. Of course, there was no getting out of this room without the key, and though he hadn’t touched me, that didn’t make me feel any less violated.
The mere fact that he had looked at me without my being awake was enough to make me want to murder him. I just wanted to go home, and he didn’t seem to care about any of that.
But now, I realized that he had a phone in his hand. My heart leaped to my throat. Maybe we were finally getting somewhere, and he was going to let me go. I knew he was after something, but I didn’t know what it was. He didn’t seem to know Nick personally, but everyone knew that Nick had money, and it wasn’t hard for me to guess that’s what he was after.
But I wasn’t sure how much. Of course, Nick was a multi-millionaire, but that didn’t help me much with how much someone might require of him to get me out, or if he would even be willing to go through with a ransom. I tried not to make eye contact, trying to only focus on my thoughts, but Rico walked right over to the bed I was sitting on, and he knelt down so he could look me in the eye.
“You said you want to get out of here, yes?” he asked.
Now, he had my attention. I looked at him with wide eyes and nodded fiercely.
“More than anything, can you please just let me go?” I begged. “I want to go home.”
“I know you do, but you see, it’s not that simple,” he said. “You see, there are things I want to do in life, too, but I’m not able to do them without money. And your boyfriend, well, he has money.”
“Are you saying that you’re going to ransom me?” I asked.
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” he said with another grin. “But you see, I’m not sure your boyfriend is going to believe me when I tell him that you are here. So, what we are going to do is call him. I’m going to tell him what I want, and you are going to confirm that you are here, and he needs to give me what I want if he ever wants to see you alive again.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Seventy-five thousand dollars,” he said.
I knew that the amount of money was a drop in the bucket to Nick, and I was reasonably sure he’d pay it. But that didn’t mean Rico would stick to his word and let me go once he got it. What was to stop him from killing me anyway so that I couldn’t identify him?
If I was a dead woman anyway, I didn’t figure it hurt to ask.
“How do I know you’re going to let me go once you have the money?” I asked.
Rico flashed me a smile that I wanted to slap off of his face and shrugged. “You don’t know sweetheart. You’re just going to have to trust me.”
I tried my best to stop the hysterical laughter that was bubbling up in my throat. I was tired, I was terrified, and I was pissed. And I was on the verge of losing my damn mind.
“What’s so fucking funny?” Rico asked, his face darkening in anger.
I shook my head and put my hand to my mouth to stop the giggle that had escaped from my mouth. “Nothing, I swear. Nothing. I’m just tired, and I want to go home. Please just let me go home,” I said, the fear beginning to creep back in. “Let’s find out what your fiancé has to say,” he replied. He dialed the phone, and as soon as Nick’s voice was on the other end of the line, I burst into tears.
“Yes, I’ve got someone here I’m sure you would like to talk to,” Rico was saying. He shoved the phone in my hands, and I put it to my ear.
“Nick,” I said.
“Liz! Where the hell are you? Are you okay?” Nick asked quickly.
“I need you to do something for me,” I sobbed.
“Anything, baby, I’ll do anything for you,” he said.
“They want money. You’re going to have to bring them money, so they let me go. I’m afraid they’re going to hurt me if you don’t bring it, please do what he says!” I was crying, and I knew I wasn’t making much sense, but I was doing my best. It was hard for me to talk to Nick with Rico staring at me, but I could hear in Nick’s voice that he would give this guy anything he wanted to get me back.
“How much are they asking?” he asked.
Before I had the chance to answer Rico grabbed the phone from me, putting it back to his ear and taking over the conversation.
“Seventy-five thousand dollars. You are going to bring it in cash, and you aren’t going to bring the cops or anything like that. If I see cops, the bitch dies. If I am shorted even one dollar, the bitch dies. If you want to try and play any games with me, the bitch dies. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?” he asked.
“You better not touch her; I swear to God!” Nick snapped on the other end of the line.
“You are a businessman; you know how this works. If you want the goods, then you’re going to bring the money,” he said with a laugh. “Play by the rules, and no one gets hurt. But if you don’t, I can make sure you never see your fiancé again. Trust me on that.”
“I’ll bring the money,” Nick said at last, and I felt relief rush through me. I was going to go home, finally. “I’ll have it this afternoon.”
“You’re going to have it no later than three o’clock, and you’re going to bring it in cash. You’re going to hand it over to me; then you are going to mind your own goddamn business. I’ll release her after I have the money in my hand, and you better not try to pull anything,” Rico warned.
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