Falling For You

by Nicole Taylor

  ~*~*~*~

  The confession made headlines along with the president’s pardon.

  Lily sat in stony silence as the limo rolled away.

  Barry turned to pat her leg.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  “I regret getting you pardoned,” she spat, turning on him with blazing eyes. “How could you do this to me? How could you be so ungrateful? I should have left you to languish in Switzerland. I should have divorced you like so many people urged me to do. After the president pardoned you, you have gone and made the man look like a fool.”

  “How did I do that?”

  “By admitting to all these crimes as though you were taunting the public. ‘Look at me. I’m a criminal, yet I’m free’. Do you know how embarrassing that is? He messaged me not too long ago. He’s not pleased.”

  Barry slumped back in his seat and was silent for a while, contemplating.

  At last, he said, “That wasn’t my intention. That’s not what I was doing. I just wanted to admit to doing wrong. I just wanted people to know that I had done wrong, and I was sorry. I never said I was glad. I expressed regret for my actions.” He sat forward now and looked at Gabriel. “Didn’t I, Gabriel? Isn’t that what I did? Did it come over to you as though I was gloating?”

  Gabriel slowly shook his head. “It didn’t come across that way to me. I understand what you were trying to do, Dad, and I applaud you for it.”

  Lily turned her eyes on Gabriel. “You would say that, wouldn’t you? You have no idea what this will cost us in political mileage. I can never go to the president for anything again!”

  “I’m sure you’ll get over your shyness,” Gabriel said.

  Lily sat forward abruptly. “You bastard. After all I did for you, taking you in when I should have rejected you outright, this is the treatment I get!”

  “That is enough, Lily,” Barry said with quiet firmness.

  “I’m just getting started!” She patted her flaming cheeks. “He’s the reason you were in exile for those years. This disloyal Irish thug is the reason I had to go begging for you to get mercy.”

  “Lily…” Barry warned.

  “He has been trouble the moment he landed here, and you could never see it. He and that Irish whore you cheated on me with. I hope she’s burning in hell!”

  “Shut your mouth, woman!” Barry bellowed.

  Lily gasped, and her mouth clamped close.

  Barry straightened himself up. “Now see here. That’s enough of that. I won’t have this type of talk any longer. You did what you thought you had to do by asking the president to pardon me. I thank you for it, but that doesn’t give you the right to disparage my son and act all high and mighty as though you have never in your life done wrong. You were well aware of my business dealings, yet you chose to claim I was not guilty. It wasn’t about me. It was about you and your image.”

  She placed her hand on her heart and shrunk back as he leaned towards her. “Yes, I know your ways. And I encouraged it too. It suited me. But it doesn’t anymore, Lily. Not anymore. My allegiance is to God now. Not to you. Not to the president. To God first and foremost, and if anything you want me to do conflicts with that, then we have a problem!”

  Lily stared at Barry with defiance and then looked at Gabriel with such hatred that he knew that if looks could kill, he would surely be a dead man.

  ~*~*~*~

  Gabriel sat back in the airplane, on his way to Ireland. Leiliana was waiting at his home for him to further discuss their wedding plans.

  He mulled over a feeling of unease he couldn’t shake. He had received a call the previous day from Lebedev, indicating that he had not received Gabriel’s interest payment on the loan for the tidal energy project. Gabriel had reminded Lebedev that he had returned the 20 million dollars to him. Lebedev had responded that he had incurred costs already by expecting a return and that Gabriel had to pay those additional funds. He had said that either Gabriel paid him the interest or accept the loan and repay him at the previously agreed terms. It was the same stunt Lebedev had pulled with the loan to purchase JJ Inc., and Gabriel had had enough. He felt like a fish on the end of this man's line. He could not continue this way. He would not let Lebedev rule his life. Already he had paid him more than he deserved.

  So just that morning, he had sent Lebedev a blunt message. ‘No. Way.’ He had received no response. Not a word. That was what Gabriel felt uneasy about.

  ~*~*~*~

  Leiliana let herself into Gabriel’s house on the bluff and sighed with longing for just a moment. How was it possible that the house smelled just like him?

  She had checked in at the inn down the bluff but knew she would be spending most of her time here for the next few days. Marilyn and her team were set to arrive the next day to conduct a site visit, which would determine how they would set up for the wedding.

  It seemed to Leiliana as though the day to her nuptials was taking its sweet time in getting there, but she was trying to be patient. She had waited all these years for Gabriel to come along, so what were a few more weeks?

  As she dropped into the couch and typed out a quick text to Gabriel to let him know she had arrived, she heard a noise at the door.

  Her heart skipped a beat.

  “Gabriel!”

  Leiliana hopped up from her seat, raced to the door, and dragged it open with expectation. The welcoming smile died on her lips.

  Instead of Gabriel, two big, strapping men stood in the doorway. Too late, Leiliana realized her error, she moved to slam the door close when one the men blocked it with his foot. As she turned to retreat, the other man grabbed her arm and yanked her back to him.

  “What? Who are you?” she gasped.

  “Never mind that,” one man said with a thick Russian accent. “We know who you are, and that’s what counts.”

  Leiliana began to struggle.

  It was a waste of time. The men were burly and strong. One of them, the tall one, held her arm with such force it felt like a vice grip was clamped around her arm.

  They pushed and pulled her out of the house, and Leiliana realized they were heading for the dark sedan parked in the driveway. She threw back her head and screamed for all it was worth. When she took a deep breath to scream again, one of the men grabbed her by the ponytail, yanked her head back, and pressed a cold, sharp implement to her jugular.

  “Scream like that one more time,” he said in her ear, “and I’ll slice your head off from ear to ear.”

  His tone was convincing enough to turn Leiliana’s blood to ice and clamp her mouth shut.

  The one holding her chuckled.

  “There’s a smart one. Boris is a little crazy, you don’t want to mess with him.”

  Then they roughly pulled her hands behind her back and bound them in some kind of rope.

  The next thing she knew, a band was being tied around her head, rendering her blind.

  “Gag her. We don’t want her screaming when we get to the docks.”

  She twisted her head from side to side, but it was of no use. The filthy rag was stuffed into her mouth. She wanted to puke. Much to the delight of her captors, she wretched a couple times.

  Before she could stabilize herself, Leiliana was roughly shoved into the back seat of the vehicle. As her heart pounded against her rib cage, she prayed to God to help her and began to recite Psalm 56:3-4. “When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me.” She prayed those verses over and over again as she felt the car move away. A tear slipped down her cheek, and she thought about Gabriel. What if she never saw him again? “Please, God, please help me to see Gabriel again. Please.”

  ~*~*~*~

  Gabriel was speeding up the mountain in anticipation of seeing Leiliana, when he saw the most astonishing sight. Mrs. MacLoughlin was standing at the side of the road, frantically waving him down.

  For a moment, Gabriel considered zooming past her. He was
in a hurry to see his fiancée, not engage in idle chatter.

  But the Holy Spirit bid him stop.

  He slammed on the brakes and came to a screeching halt beside the frazzled woman. She rushed up to the car window. Before he could speak, an explosion of words burst from her mouth.

  “Mr. Walsh! Oh, thank God you have come. I wanted to call you, but I don’t have your cell phone number. I didn’t know what to do! I was just about to go inside and call the police when I heard your car coming up the road!”

  “What’s wrong, Mrs. MacLoughlin?”

  “It’s that pretty lass who comes here to visit you.”

  Gabriel’s heart began to race. “Leiliana? What about her?”

  “Two men forced her into their car.”

  “What! What men? What are you talking about?”

  “One was tall. Taller than you. And broad, like so. The other was a little shorter and leaner. They had an accent.”

  “What kind of accent?”

  “Eastern European, I think.’

  “Russian? Was it Russian?”

  “Yes! I believe it was.”

  “How did you see this? Where were you?”

  “She stopped by to tell me that she was on her way up. She told me the good news that you are engaged. I decided to bring her some of my scones. The ones she loves. I had just made a batch. I told her I would bring them up in a minute. Just as I was about to step out the door, I spotted a dark car heading up your way. I thought she might have visitors, so I decided to add a couple more. When I got up there, as soon as I was about to turn the corner, I heard her scream. Then I saw the men dragging her to their car. I was about to yell at them to stop, but then I noticed one held a knife to her throat, and the other had a gun. I told myself that I’d better be quiet. I quickly hid behind the hedge until they drove away.”

  “How long ago was it since they left?”

  “I’d say about 15 minutes.”

  “God bless you, Mrs. MacLoughlin!” Gabriel gunned up his car and took off for his home.

  It was just as Mrs. MacLoughlin had described. There were tire tracks, and the front door was thrown wide open. Inside there was a broken vase at the entrance. He didn’t dare touch anything because he didn’t want to disturb any evidence.

  It was clear to Gabriel that this was the work of the Lebedevs. But if Alexie Lebedev was simply trying to scare him into repaying that money, why would he be so quiet?

  The answer came a few minutes later.

  His phone rang, and he snatched it from his pocket.

  “Yes!”

  “I’ve got your girlfriend. If you want to see her again, you will repay me what you owe. Or, if that proves too difficult to organize at such short notice, you will allow me to partner with you in this wave project,” said Alexei Lebedev.

  “I need time to get the money.”

  “Take all the time you need. But for every hour you don’t show, she loses a finger. I will be sure to send you a video. Just so you don’t have any doubt.”

  Gabriel felt as though his entire body was being squeezed by a giant hand. He was suddenly immobilized by fear and indecision. For several minutes he sat staring into space as emotions warred within him. He knew that Lebedev wanted to maintain leverage on him and his business. His main goal was to channel his dirty money through Gabriel’s operations Justas he had done with Gabriel’s father. It would be so easy to call him back and agree so that he could release Leiliana. He knew he could call lord Lamport and ask him to have the money set to Lebedev but would that be enough. What if for spite he still did something to Leiliana.

  Gabriel prayed desperately for God to guide him. He felt as though he was drowning, and the next move would determine his fate.

  “Think, Gabriel, think,” he muttered to himself. “Who knows this man well? Who is a close associate of his?” He stopped suddenly. Barry Walsh.

  Gabriel grabbed the phone and as quickly as possible related to Barry what Lebedev had done.

  “Maybe if I had agreed to testify against him this wouldn’t have happened,” Barry lamented. “I’m so sorry Gabriel. This is my fault.”

  “Dad, please! We are past that right now. I have to find Leiliana before he does something to her.”

  “Are you going to get him the money?”

  “Yes. I will call Lord Lamport as soon as I finish this call and ask him to send the money to Lebedev. But I don’t trust him. I’m afraid that he may still harm Leiliana in some way as revenge for me daring to cross him. I want to find her even before he gets the money. That’s why I called you. When Lebedev was in Dublin, and the two of you had the coal mining deal, you often met with him. You know his old haunts. I need to know where he might have taken her.”

  “Gabriel, there are a few possibilities. I don’t kn—”

  “Just list them all, dad!”

  Gabriel prayed as Barry began to name places. When he mentioned the docks, Gabriel felt a nudge in his spirit as though this could be the place Lebedev’s thugs took Leiliana.

  “I’m going to check out the docks,” Gabriel said, already racing towards his car.

  “Are you sure, Gabriel. I think you should call the police.”

  “I don’t want them to arrive, sirens blaring and put her life in danger. I’ll call them after I get to the waterfront and find that she is there.”

  “My guess is it would be in one of those abandoned warehouses. That’s where he used to take people he kidnapped.”

  Chapter 26

  L eiliana couldn’t see, but she felt the car come to a stop. The engine died, and a car door was opened and closed. Then she felt the man who was referred to as Sergey shift from beside her. Suddenly someone grabbed her by the arm and yanked her out of the car. She stumbled a little, but he righted her and nudged her forward.

  They had been walking for a few minutes when they stopped. Leiliana heard a door being yanked open. She was shoved forward. The smell that besieged her made her want to gag. She halted, placed her hand over her nose, and shook her head.

  Boris laughed viciously. “Not used to such smells where you come from, eh?”

  He pushed her further in. She screamed as something scurried across her foot.

  The men chuckled at that.

  One of them shoved her into a chair, then roughly dragged the bandage from her face and the rag from her mouth. Leiliana opened her eyes then immediately shut them against the harsh light. When she narrowly opened them to look around her, she almost wished she was still blindfolded. There was a hole in the roof, peeling walls, stained floor, animal droppings, and a dead rat in a corner, which was no doubt contributing to the stench. There was also a thin pool of what looked like slimy water, presumably from the leaking roof. Everywhere was grime and muck.

  Leiliana was afraid. She wanted to be brave, but who knew what these cruel men were planning to do with her. Then amid her fear, that passage from the 23rd Psalm came to mind. She reminded herself that even though she walked through the darkest valley, she need not fear evil for God was with her, His rod and His staff comforted her. She was indeed in the darkest valley. She had been kidnapped with no knowledge of when she would be released or how she would escape. Yet, the words of God brought her a peace that passed all understanding.

  She tested the ropes on her hands and found that they were not as tightly bound as she expected. Perhaps if she kept twisting and turning, they might come loose somehow. Then what? She didn’t know, but God would provide her with an opportunity.

  Leiliana watched her two captors. Sergey was on the phone. When he joined Boris, Leiliana hung her head and strained her ears. They spoke freely in Russian, no doubt assuming she didn’t know the language.

  “The boss says that as soon as he receives the money, we are to release her,” Sergey said.

  “Why should we?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you know how much a woman like her is worth? Her parents are billionaires. We are in possession of a gold mine
right now. We can contact the Lamports and tell them we are the ones who have her, and they need to pay us, not Lebedev.”

  “Are you stupid? No one betrays Alexei Lebedev and lives to talk about it.”

  “We will. We can escape to somewhere like South America or the Caribbean and live like kings.”

  “You really are stupid. Lebedev has contacts all over the world. He will find us and slit our throats.”

  “You are scared of him. I am not. He is just a man. I am tired of him telling me what to do. I want to be my own boss. Why should I accept the chicken feed Lebedev pays me when I can get millions from this one job and be set for life,” Boris spat?

  “What life? I tell you, Boris, your life will be worth nothing if you cross Lebedev. You are a bigger fool than I thought if you think you will get away with this.”

  Suddenly, Boris pulled his gun from its holster and trained it at Sergey’s midriff.

  “Either you join me, or you are against me, but I am not going to release a woman who can bring me a fortune.”

  Sergey’s face twisted with anger. “Don’t be stupid, Boris!”

  Boris waved the gun at him. “Get over there.”

  “If you shoot me, you’ll need to kill me, Boris, because if you leave me alive, I will hunt you down…”

  “Shut up! Get down on your knees.”

  Sergey slowly lowered himself to the ground, keeping his eyes trained on the man.

  Boris cagily moved over to Sergey. He removed a rope from his back pocket and placing his foot in the middle of his back, kicked him down on his face.

  “I’m taking over he—”

  Before he could say another word, Sergey gave a back kick and sent Boris flying through the air, the gun still gripped in his hand. As Leiliana watched, transfixed, Boris recovered with surprising agility. He fired two shots at Sergey, one hit him the leg and the other in his arm. Sergey collapsed on the floor, writhing in pain.