A car approached and I realised I had no choice but to get into it. I climbed into the back seat and they sat either side of me. The driver and the man in the passenger seat looked like ex-forces too. I sat and wondered who the hell I had pissed off enough for this.
‘Phone?’ the one on my left said.
I took it out of my pocket and handed it to him and watched as he wound down the window and threw it onto the pavement.
‘What the fuck is this about?’ I asked.
‘I told you, our employer wants to talk to you,’ the one on my right answered.
‘And who is your employer?’ I asked as I shifted in my seat. This car was not made for three large men to sit in the back.
The one to my right laughed. ‘You’ll find out soon enough.’
Chapter 23
Samantha
I sat on the sofa and flicked through the glossy magazine but I couldn’t take anything in. I kept replaying the day over and over in my head. This morning when I’d woken up next to Gabriel and we had made love, I’d thought that somehow we could get past this whole business with Jennifer.
Then later on, when I’d discovered he was taking her for a private scan appointment, I had been heartbroken all over again. And finally, I relived our argument a short while ago. I’d hurt him so badly. I’d heard it in his voice. And now I was wondering if I had overreacted to the whole 4D scan situation.
My dad walked into the room and broke my train of thought. ‘I have to go out, love,’ he said as he rubbed a hand over his beard. ‘I’ll be back soon.’
‘Is everything okay, Dad?’
‘What? Yes. Everything’s fine,’ he answered distractedly.
‘Are you sure?’
He smiled at me. ‘Yes. Don’t wait up for me, love.’
‘I won’t. In fact, I’m going to have an early night.’
Suddenly, he walked over to me and kissed the top of my head. ‘Night, love,’ he said and then he walked out of the living room and I heard the front door close behind him a few seconds later.
What was going on? He’d seemed anxious. Was it something to do with Gabriel?
All I knew was that something felt off.
I rang Gabriel’s number but it went straight to his voicemail. That was unusual for him. I didn’t leave a message. I felt like such a hypocrite. Just a few hours earlier I’d told him that I needed space, and now I was phoning him because I was worried about him.
Chapter 24
Gabriel
We had driven for two hours, out of the city and towards Kent. Ninety minutes into our journey, one of my kidnappers had blindfolded me. I hadn’t resisted. I’d expected it. It was what I would have done.
When the car stopped, I was marched a few hundred yards with an armed guard at each arm. I could smell the sea air and realised we were near the coast. We walked into a room and I heard a heavy metal door close behind us. That was when the blindfold was removed and I was forced to sit on a chair while my wrists and ankles were bound with cable ties.
‘Just a precaution, Mr Sullivan,’ one of them said with a smile.
I didn’t speak. I seriously considered making a run for it. I could have broken one of their noses and possibly another one’s jaw, but there were four armed men and one of them would put a bullet in me before I got out of the door.
Who the hell had I pissed off enough to do this? As soon as I was securely bound, the four of them nodded to each other and walked towards the open doorway, turning off the light switch as they did, until I was alone in the room.
I sat still for a few moments, my eyes adjusting to the darkness, and my ears straining to hear something – anything, to give me a clue as to where I was and why I was here. I was sure there was no-one else in the room as I couldn’t hear any breathing other than my own. I scanned the dark room. It looked like I was in a cellar. There were no windows but one small vent near the top of the room. The walls were bare brick.
I sat and waited. Whoever wanted to speak to me was playing with me. Psychological torture was often more effective that physical pain. But I had been in plenty of worse situations than this.
Chapter 25
Samantha
I woke with a start and looked at my phone. It was just past midnight. I could hear my father downstairs. I got up to go to the bathroom and heard him talking.
I walked downstairs and heard part of his telephone conversation.
‘I have no fucking idea. He’s been pissing people off left, right and centre lately. But I don’t know why anyone would do this. No, he wouldn’t do that to Sam. Just in case something happened with the baby.’
I felt my stomach starting to churn as I realised he was talking about Gabriel. I jogged down the few remaining stairs and walked into the kitchen just as my dad was ending his phone call. He was pacing up and down the room.
‘What’s happened, Dad? Is Gabriel okay?’
He looked at me, his face pale and drawn. ‘Sam! What are you doing up?’
‘Please, Dad. What’s going on? Who were you talking to?’ I heard my voice wobbling.
‘Sit down, love,’ he said as he pulled out a chair for me.
I sat down with shaky legs.
‘Gabriel has gone missing. He never showed up to a meeting earlier and nobody can find him.’
‘What?’ I felt my blood running cold. ‘Maybe he’s just …’ I couldn’t finish the sentence as I didn’t know what to say. ‘Maybe his phone ran out of battery or he has no signal?’
My dad shook his head. ‘No, that’s not it. Why don’t you go to bed and let me sort this out, love?’ he said quietly.
‘How can I go to bed when Gabriel is missing, Dad? Please don’t treat me like a child. Tell me what you know.’
He stared at me for a moment, as though he was considering whether to tell me the truth. He sighed softly before he spoke. ‘When he didn’t show up for the meeting, I tried to call him and his phone kept going to voicemail. I knew he wouldn’t leave his phone off in case you ever needed him. I went to his house to see if he was there, but he wasn’t home. His car was outside, so he hasn’t driven anywhere. And then I found his phone on the pavement outside, smashed to pieces.’
‘What?’ I gasped as my hand flew to my mouth. ‘What does that mean?’ I asked although I feared I already knew the answer.
‘I think someone has taken him, Sam,’ he said and my heart constricted in my chest. I felt like I might pass out.
The room started to spin.
My dad put his hand over mine, grounding me. ‘But I have got every single man out there looking for him, love. And we will find him. I promise you.’
I nodded but his words had started to sound far away. I watched his mouth moving but couldn’t focus on what he was saying. The next thing I knew, he was wrapping his arms around me as I sobbed into his chest. He stroked my hair. ‘I’ll find him, love. I swear.’
It was almost 6 a.m. and my dad had spent most of the night on the phone. I’d listened and waited patiently, hoping that each phone call might bring us news of Gabriel, but none did.
I replayed my last conversation with him over and over in my head and wished I could take back what I’d said.
What if they were the last words I ever spoke to him?
What if I never got the chance to tell him how much I loved him?
I felt the sob catch in my throat and I swallowed it down. I had cried more tears in the past few weeks, than I’d done in my whole life. And tears were not going to do anyone any good right now.
‘I’m going to go out and drive around some of our old haunts. I need to do something,’ my dad said as he picked up his car keys. ‘Will you be okay, love?’
I nodded. ‘I’ll be fine, Dad. Go out and bring him back for me,’ I sniffed.
He put his arms around me. ‘We’ll find him. He’ll be back here before we know it.’
I nodded. ‘Yeah, I know.’
My father left and I sat and stared out of the window. I ch
ecked my phone again to see if Gabriel had called or texted, but of course he hadn’t.
I went on checking my phone at least ten times a minute. If Gabriel came back, I would tell him how sorry I was. I would tell him how much I loved him. I would find a way to get over this thing with Jennifer. If only he would come back to me and our baby. If only he would be okay.
Chapter 26
Gabriel
My head snapped up as I heard the door behind me opening. I must have fallen asleep. I had no idea how long I’d been sitting in that room, but it had at least been eight hours. It had been dark the last time I’d looked at the slivers of moonlight coming through the vent, and now it was morning.
I heard the sound of footsteps walking into the room and turned my head. The light was switched on, temporarily blinding me and obscuring my vision. I blinked to adjust my eyes and the four men from the previous day walked into the room.
‘Apologies for the delay in getting to you. I was held up unexpectedly,’ I heard a man’s voice say.
I didn’t recognise it. He had a strange accent. It was almost cut glass English, but with an American lilt. I looked ahead, and as my eyes adjusted, I saw a man who looked far too much like Jackson Carver for my liking. He was lying about being sorry for keeping me waiting, but I would hear what he had to say before I spoke.
‘Strong, silent type, are we?’ he said with a sharp laugh.
Then he pulled up a chair and let out a long, exaggerated sigh. ‘I suppose you want to know who I am and why I’ve brought you here?’
I knew exactly who we was, but I wouldn’t let him know that.
He was Milton Carver, the disgraced younger brother of Samantha’s ex-husband, Jackson. That explained the accent. Educated at Eton, but banished to the States for the past ten years. I wondered how fucked up a man had to be, to be disowned by the Carver family. I glared at him instead of answering.
‘Well, let’s just stay we have a mutual friend in common, and she happens to have all of my family’s money,’ his voice was light and even cheerful up until this point. But then he leaned in close to me. ‘And I want it back!’ he hissed.
I stared at him. If I inched forward I could bite his nose clean off his face.
‘What does that have to do with me?’ I asked, feigning my ignorance. So, it was the most obvious motive in the world – money. That was good. I could work with that.
‘Because, she’s your little fuck-toy, isn’t she? Samantha? You do know her, yes?’
I pulled at my restraints instinctively. My whole body was tense with rage.
He started to laugh. ‘Hit a nerve, have I?’
I took a deep breath. ‘Why don’t you tell me exactly what it is you want, and then let me fucking go,’ I snarled at him.
He stopped laughing and stared at me, his mood changing again in an instant.
‘For some reason, my pathetic brother left every penny of our family’s money and assets to that whore of a wife of his. I tried to get her to back off when Jackson was in prison, but well, that didn’t quite work out to plan,’ he said, to himself more than me.
So, he had been the one who had paid Anthony Garvey to threaten Samantha? That didn’t make any sense. ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘While Jackson was still alive, Samantha had no claim to your money?’
‘Ah, well, she did. After Jackson disgraced our family’s good name and ended up getting himself thrown in prison, I was entitled to make a claim on the family assets. But, with Samantha still married to him, they were technically hers too, so I needed her out of the way.’
‘So, you intended to kill her?’
He shrugged. ‘It was nothing personal. It’s worked out infinitely better for her that Jackson died instead, and now I need her alive. If she dies, I assume her money will go to her father. But, now she has the opportunity to do the right thing and hand it over to me.’
‘And you’ll just walk away then, will you?’ I snorted.
He nodded. ‘All I’m interested in is my family’s legacy. I want you to advise her that it would be in her best interests to sign everything over to me. That house in Knightsbridge has been in my mother’s family for generations. Samantha has no right to it.’
‘And it’s not about the fact that it’s worth millions then?’ I asked.
He scowled at me. ‘Of course it is. That money belongs to me.’
As I understood it, Milton had also been left half of the family money when his father had died, but the assets had been left to Jackson. Still, he’d inherited a few million quid himself. Greedy fucker!
‘Fortunately for you, Samantha wouldn’t touch a penny of your family’s fucking money. She’d be happy to relinquish any claim on it, leaving you the sole heir. She doesn’t even know he’s left it to her. So, all of this could have been saved by a phone call, couldn’t it?’ I snarled.
He rolled his eyes. ‘Well, she might say that now, but wait until she has that little bastard of hers and she sees how expensive good private schools are.’
I was really struggling to keep a lid on my temper now, and I lunged myself forward at him but was held back by two of his hired guns. ‘You watch your fucking mouth when you’re talking about her and our baby,’ I growled at him.
I wanted to rip his fucking head off.
He smirked at me. ‘I’d heard you had a bit of a temper, Mr Sullivan. I bet it really pisses you off that a posh boy like me has the better of you, doesn’t it?’
I frowned at him. ‘You have the better of me, do you? Why don’t you untie me and send your boys outside and we’ll see who has the better of who, eh?’
He didn’t like that. He drew his fist back and punched me in the mouth. It stung, but I’d had far, far worse. I ran my tongue across my lip and tasted blood.
‘One day, I’ll make you regret that,’ I said.
He shook his head. ‘You’re a Neanderthal, Mr Sullivan. People like you, will never best people like me. I will always come out on top. That’s just the way this world works. You have no idea who I really am and what I’m capable of. You should consider yourself lucky that this is just a friendly warning. My solicitor will be in touch with you. One of my employees will provide you with his business card. I’d suggest you encourage Samantha to draw up some paperwork to relinquish any claim she has on my family’s money as soon as possible.’
Then Milton stood up and looked at his hired guns. ‘Take him back to whatever gutter you found him in. Feel free to give him a good kicking on the way,’ he said and then he walked out of the room.
A moment later, I was blindfolded again and my ties were cut.
‘This way, Mr Sullivan,’ I heard someone say and then I was frogmarched back to the car. None of them laid another hand on me though and I wondered what that was about. Their boss had just given them free rein to do me over and they hadn’t. Either they didn’t like violence, or they didn’t like him. Given their job roles, I assumed it was the latter.
As we joined the motorway again, my blindfold was removed and we continued the rest of the drive in uncomfortable silence. Twelve hours after they’d picked me up, the four armed men dropped me back outside my house.
Chapter 27
Samantha
I was boiling the kettle for my millionth mug of peppermint tea when I heard the doorbell ringing. I rushed out into the hallway with a mixture of anticipation and terror churning in my stomach. I looked through the spyhole and my legs almost gave way when I saw him standing on the doorstep in one piece.
I scrambled to open the door as quickly as possible. ‘Gabe!’ I stammered.
He stepped into the hallway and I flung my arms around his neck. He wrapped his huge arms around me and I started sobbing onto his shoulder. He stroked my hair and we must have stayed like that for at least five minutes before I stepped back to take a good look at him. He had a cut on his lip, but other than that he looked fine.
‘Where have you been? What happened?’ I asked.
‘Is your dad not home?’ he aske
d as he looked past me and down the hallway.
‘He’s out looking for you. We need to phone him and tell him you’re okay.’ I held his face in my hands. ‘You are okay, aren’t you?’
He smiled at me. ‘I’m fine. I didn’t know if you’d even realise I was missing.’
‘You missed a meeting, and my dad went to your house and found your phone,’ I sniffed as I wiped my eyes. God, why couldn’t I stop crying lately? ‘He’s had people looking for you all night.’
‘I’m sorry if I worried you,’ he said as he smoothed my hair from my face.
‘Where were you? What happened?’
‘Let’s phone your dad and I’ll tell you both when he gets here. Can I get a drink?’ he said as he rubbed his throat.
‘Of course,’ I said and we walked into the kitchen. I handed him a bottle of water from the fridge and watched as he downed the whole bottle.
I could hardly believe he was standing there in front of me. I’d been convinced that I would never see him again.
‘I’m sorry, Gabe,’ I said. ‘I’m so sorry about what I said,’ to my annoyance I started to cry again and he crossed the kitchen and pulled me into his arms.
‘Shush, baby. I’m here now. It’s okay,’ he soothed in my ear.
‘It’s not okay. I love you, Gabe. I love you so much and I thought I’d never get to tell you.’
He tilted my face to his and smiled. ‘I know you love me, Sam. I love you too.’
‘I know,’ I breathed and then he bent his head low and pressed his lips to mine, lightly at first as though he was seeking permission. Then his hands were in my hair and he crushed my face to his and kissed me so deeply I thought I might pass out.
I kissed him back with as much need as he had for me. He pushed me back against the kitchen counter and I slipped my hands under the jacket of his suit and onto his muscular back.
Fallen Angel (The London Ruthless Series Book 2) Page 9
