I stood every time my ass grew numb, and sat again when my legs trembled so much they could no longer hold my weight. I lost track of time. How long had I been gone? Had anyone noticed? Were my loved ones scouring the streets looking for me?
“Ryker, please,” I whispered. “Somebody, please find me.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted my purse. Could I reach it? I laid on my stomach and reached out my non-shackled hand. A little farther. Come on, Athena. You can do it.
I curled my middle finger around the leather strap. Yes! I pulled it toward me and unzipped it, searching for my phone. And then I remembered I’d dropped it on the street right before I’d been drugged. The only other thing inside was a lipstick and a wallet, nothing that could be used to help me escape. Defeated, I hugged it to my chest as if it was a comfort blanket, or my old teddy bear, Barnstable, from my childhood. He’d only had one eye, and Mom had to sew up a tear in his arm at least once a week, but I’d refused to part with him.
I hadn’t thought about Barnstable in years. I must be losing it, the fear of dying in this underground room sending a swirl of memories rushing through my mind. I pictured my mom’s face, her kind eyes and loving smile. Dad’s salt-and-pepper hair that he hated, but every time he mentioned coloring it, Mom threatened divorce. Elliot’s handsome features, and how they softened every time he laid eyes on Brie. He’d marry that girl—of that I was certain. And if he didn’t, then he was a fool.
But mostly I thought about Ryker. I squeezed my eyes closed and pictured his face. The crinkles around his eyes when he smiled, the feel of his hair beneath my fingers, how he clenched his jaw when he climaxed. The way he’d put his emotions on the line in a hotel in Mexico when he asked me to marry him.
Seven years I’d waited and hoped and prayed he’d wake one morning and realize he couldn’t live without me. And then it happened. We’d had a few blissful weeks, and no matter what happened to me, I wouldn’t swap them for anything. If my choices were to spend that time with Ryker and end up here, or to have lived my life without feeling his touch but spent my years safe at home, I’d choose the former. A life without Ryker wasn’t worth living. He was my life.
Don’t give in. They will be looking for you. Ryker wouldn’t leave you here to rot. If it’s within his power, he’ll find you.
The rattle of a key in the lock sent my pulse rocketing. I swallowed past a dry, thick throat and pressed my back against the damp wall, drawing my knees up to my chest protectively. I was terrified of being raped. What woman wouldn’t, although all my clothes were still in place and untouched.
A masked man entered. He closed the door quietly behind him, a bottle of water and a sandwich in his hands. He crossed over to me and crouched, setting the food and drink at my feet. Fear filled my mouth, its taste bitter.
“Who are you?” I whispered. “What do you want with me?”
He rose to his feet and pointed a camera in my direction. The flash went off, almost blinding me. I squeezed my eyes closed, and when I next opened them, he’d gone.
“Please!” I yelled. “Don’t leave me here.” I scrambled to my feet and yanked on the chains, the metal grinding against the pipe. “Goddammit. You cowardly bastard!”
I tugged and tugged on my restraints until, drained of energy, and with a raw, chafed wrist, I sank to the floor. Despite trepidation that the food or water might be drugged, I drank the entire bottle and wolfed down the sandwich. If I was to stand a chance of surviving this ordeal, I needed to keep up my strength.
Soon, my kidnapper would return. Maybe then I’d find out why I’d been targeted. Regardless, I needed to be strong and prepared in case a chance of escape presented itself. And if that meant only one of us left this room alive…
So be it.
24
Ryker
“Mom!”
I followed Elliot as he stormed through the house, stopping by every room to check whether his mother and father were present. We found them sitting in the kitchen, the place they considered to be the hub of the house, sipping coffee and eating pasta.
“God, there you are,” Elliot said, skidding to a halt. “Shit, Mom, Dad, try not to freak out, okay?”
Elliot had practiced this speech a hundred times on the journey from our offices to his parents’ house while I remained quiet, silently praying that a horrifying twist of fate didn’t snatch Athena from me just as we’d found each other. I couldn’t bear to think about what she was going through, how terrified and alone she must feel.
We’re coming, baby. I promise.
I wouldn’t rest until we found her. The commissioner had come through for me, sending the two detectives to gather as much information as we could provide—which wasn’t very much—and we now had scores of police combing the streets searching for witnesses and any clues as to Athena’s whereabouts. I had to maintain hope. I refused to believe a grown woman could simply disappear off the streets of Manhattan without a single individual seeing a thing. And if the person who’d taken her harmed one hair on her head, I wouldn’t rest until I found the bastard and tore him limb from limb. I’d destroy every piece of their life until they begged for the torture to end.
“Elliot, what’s going on?” Judy, Elliot’s mom, got to her feet.
“Sit down, Mom,” Elliot said, pressing on her shoulder until she did. He took a seat beside her.
I remained standing. Karl, Elliot’s father, cut his gaze to mine, and his eyes narrowed as they took in my worried expression.
Elliot dropped his shoulders, his spine curved, and he drew in a shuddering breath. “Athena’s missing.”
“Missing?” Karl queried, a deep frown drawing his brows low. “What do you mean, missing?”
“She left the office to go to lunch and never returned.”
“That can’t be right,” Judy said. “I spoke to her.”
My head snapped to the left, my intense gaze settling on Judy. “When?” I barked, order laced through my tone.
Elliot shot me a weird look.
I swallowed, then in a softer voice repeated my question. “When was that, Judy?”
“Today. At lunchtime. I teased her over this secret man she spent the weekend with.”
I almost choked. How I held it together, I’ll never know. Elliot’s eyes widened.
“What secret man? Jesus, Mother, this could be the guy who’s got her. You should have called me. For all we know, he’s a fucking weirdo.”
“Watch your mouth,” Karl snapped.
“Sorry,” Elliot mumbled. “I didn’t know she was seeing anyone, especially some man she’s been keeping secret. Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart.” Judy gripped Elliot’s arm. “She must have had her reasons.”
No, she didn’t have her reasons. They were my reasons. I’d forced her into staying quiet. My gut twisted, guilt flaying the skin from my insides.
“Well, the police will definitely want to hear every word of that phone call. Can you remember what Athena said?”
Judy wrinkled her nose, her fingers plucking at her sweater. “Mostly.”
“Write it down.” Elliot’s gaze cut to me. “Can you get those detectives over here pronto?”
I nodded, leaving the room to call them, except before I took a step, Dora, the Bancroft’s housekeeper, appeared with both police officers in tow.
“Mr. Bancroft,” Detective Peterson, the lead cop said. “We have some news.”
“You’ve found her?” Judy expelled, rising to her feet.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, no, we haven’t. We’re still looking for witnesses and checking if the CCTV on any of the buildings in the vicinity captured any useful information. But this was handed in to a local police station. It was found on the street less than a block from your office.”
“That’s Athena’s.” Elliot snatched it from the detective’s hand.
“I’m afraid it’s locked, sir.”
“I know the password,” Elliot said,
tapping on the screen with both thumbs. “For some weird reason, she picked the date we figured we had a hit with that gaming app. Remember, Ryker, the night we went out celebrating.”
The night Athena and I first slept together.
I covered my face with my hands as the emotion of Elliot’s unwitting reveal crashed over me with the power of a tsunami. She hadn’t chosen that date because of ROGUES. She’d picked it because of us. Of me. Of what that night meant to her.
“God, Athena,” I mumbled, closing my eyes briefly.
And then they snapped open.
Shit.
Our texts.
No.
I lunged toward Elliot and tried to snatch the phone. “Give it to me. Now, Elliot.”
He whipped it out of reach. “Ryker, for fuck’s sake. What the hell are you doing?”
“Give me the damn cell phone,” I barked.
“No. Jesus, have a fucking word with yourself.”
He turned his back while I shot a desperate look in Karl’s direction. “Please take that phone away from him. I’m begging you.”
“What’s the matter, son?” Karl said, concern embedded in his expression. “Are you okay? You’ve gone awfully pale.”
“Not like this,” I mumbled. “Please, fuck, not like this.”
I knew the second Elliot discovered I’d been sleeping with his sister. His back went rigid, and his body stilled so much that he could have been doused in liquid nitrogen.
He spun around. Before I could react, he pounced. His fist slammed into my face, sending me careering backward. I tripped over a potted plant and went down, sprawling on my ass. Elliot hauled me to my feet and punched me again. My lip split open, and I tasted the coppery tang of blood on my tongue.
“Elliot!” Judy screamed. “What are you doing?”
Karl’s arms banded around Elliot’s chest, and he yanked him backward, but Elliot’s anger was far stronger than Karl’s hold. Elliot shook him off easily, but as he drew back his arm, the detectives wrestled him into a headlock.
“You bastard,” Elliot spat, fighting against the two men restraining him. “I’ll fucking kill you.”
As I stood there with blood dripping down my chin and my cheek throbbing, I watched my best friend shatter. The betrayal and hurt he felt on the inside smeared all over his face as he glared at me with hatred in his eyes. Real, vitriolic hatred.
“Let me go,” he said dully, launching his shoulder upward.
“Only if you act in a civilized manner,” Detective Peterson said. “Otherwise we’ll have no option but to arrest you, and I’m sure you’d rather we were out on the streets searching for your sister than in a police station completing needless paperwork.”
Elliot nodded curtly. “Fine.”
Detective Peterson released him then looked over at me. “Do you want to press charges, Mr. Stone?”
Elliot snorted while I shook my head. Judy dashed over to the sink, returning with a damp cloth which she handed to me.
I gave her a wan smile and dabbed the cloth to my lip, winced, then wiped the blood from my chin.
Judy rubbed the space between her eyebrows, confusion warring in the depths of her amber irises. They were so like Athena’s I almost lost it.
“Will someone please tell me what is going on so we can all get back to finding out what has happened to my daughter?”
Elliot shot a fierce stare in my direction. “You’d better keep your fucking comments PG, you lying son of a bitch.”
I cut my gaze to Judy, then Karl. “I’m in love with your daughter, and this weekend I asked her to marry me.”
Shock registered on Elliot’s face, and he took two steps backward. “What?”
Judy clasped a hand to her chest. “You’re the mystery man?”
I nodded. “Not such a mystery now.” I turned to Elliot. “I promise you we didn’t want you to find out like this. We were going to tell you tonight.”
He pulled a face. “Don’t bullshit me, Ryker.”
“I’m not. I swear on my mother’s life, something you know I’d never do lightly. We didn’t want to heap even more stress on you with the Addison’s deal so close to fruition, so we agreed she’d go to my place tonight, and when you arrived with Brie, we’d tell you. It’s all there in the texts if you read them.”
Hope flickered in Elliot’s eyes. “Your place? Maybe that’s where she is?”
I shook my head. “I already checked with my housekeeper. She’s not there.”
His face crumpled. He gripped the back of one of the kitchen chairs, yanked it from under the table, and almost fell onto it.
“Could we take a look at the phone, sir?” Detective Peterson asked.
Elliot tossed it across the table, but instead of aiming it toward the detective, he shot it in my direction. “You know what to do. Then he can have it.”
I picked it up and went to the text app, my heart clenching as I read through our texts from that morning. God, was it only a few hours ago when we were joking about her giving me a blow job underneath the boardroom table?
I deleted the private conversations between me and Athena, then handed the device to the detective.
He passed it off to his partner. “Get tech on this. There could be something to glean that’ll help us identify where she might be.”
The other detective left the room. I pulled out the chair next to Elliot and sat down. “I really am sorry, buddy, but I love her. I love her so damned much.”
“For what it’s worth,” Karl said, joining us. “It’s about goddamn time. It’s obvious you two have been in love for years.”
“It’s not fucking obvious to me,” Elliot gritted out.
Karl glared at his son. “That’s five ‘fuckings’ I’ve counted from you, young man. Show some restraint in front of your mother. And some respect.”
Elliot blushed a bright red. “Sorry, Mom. I’m just so worried about Athena.”
Judy squeezed his hand. “We’ll find her. I know we will. A mother knows these things in here.” She pressed a fist to her chest. “If my baby was hurting, I’d know.”
I bumped Elliot’s shoulder to get his attention. “When this is over, we’ll talk. Can we please put aside our differences for now, and concentrate on finding Athena?”
Elliot nodded, but a steeliness in his eyes told me I had a long road to walk toward forgiveness, despite my declarations of love for his sister.
“I’ll call Oliver,” I said. “Get him onto the Addison’s deal.”
Elliot raked a hand through his hair. “Shit. I completely forgot.” And then he clapped a hand to his forehead. “Christ, I haven’t called Brie. She’ll wonder where the hell I am.” He snatched up his phone and disappeared.
I made the call to Oliver. He answered on the fourth ring, the sound of children playing in the background reaching me over the phone line.
“I need a favor.”
“Shoot,” Oliver said.
I updated him on the situation but refrained from telling him Elliot and I had fallen out. There was no point adding a needless distraction into the mix.
“Fuck. How’s Elliot holding up?”
“Barely,” I said.
“And you?” Oliver asked.
“One of us has to stay strong. She’s his sister.”
“And your lover,” Oliver added.
I grimaced. Should have known I couldn’t keep secrets from Oliver. He was one of the most astute men I knew.
“I can handle it.”
“Does he know?”
“Let’s talk tomorrow,” I said, purposely swerving the conversation. “If you can get your mom to watch Annie, come by Elliot’s place in the morning. In the meantime, if you run into any problems with Addison’s, call me. Sorry for ruining your New Year’s.”
“You’ve saved it,” he said quietly. “Annie and her friends will be going to bed soon. The silence would’ve given me too much time to think.”
Poor Oliver. Still unable to move on aft
er his wife fucked off. He deserved to find someone, a woman to warm his bed if nothing else, but as long as he held a torch for Sara, it wouldn’t happen.
“Regardless, I appreciate it,” I said. “Especially as this deal has been Elliot’s baby. It’s difficult to pick it up right at the end.”
“I got this,” he said. “You and Elliot concentrate on bringing Athena home safely.”
I returned to the kitchen and paced, then sat, then paced some more. I couldn’t settle. I felt so impotent, so hopeless. All I could do was sit around and wait, hoping that when my girl returned, she was in one piece. I couldn’t bear to consider any other alternative.
Elliot returned looking bedraggled, his hair a mess where he’d been raking through it, dark circles of worry framing his eyes. He sank onto the chair beside mine.
“Brie okay?”
He nodded. “She wanted to come over, but I told her not to. There’s nothing she can do.”
At that instant, his phone rang. He fished it from his pocket and answered without checking the caller ID.
“Yeah.”
I watched his face morph from confusion, to anger, then abject fear. This was about Athena. I knew it.
“I’m listening,” he said, his face blanching.
“Put it on speaker,” I hissed.
He did as I asked.
A robotic voice, clearly distorted, came over the speaker. My brain only absorbed certain words, but I got the gist.
Fifty million dollars. Twenty-four hours. Offshore bank account. Details to follow.
Elliot madly scribbled details on a scrap of paper while my eyes locked on a picture of Athena chained to a pipe that appeared on Elliot’s screen, her expression one of confusion and disorientation, but behind her eyes, rage simmered.
I’m gonna kill this fucker.
25
Athena
I had to pee in a bucket. I hated the man who’d taken me with a passion, but being forced to suffer such indignities sent my antipathy to a whole new level. Thank Christ I wasn’t on my period.
Entranced (The ROGUES Billionaire Series Book 1) Page 19