The Billion Dollar Contract: The Executive Collection

by Cynthia Dane

  Monica hooked a finger in Jasmine’s direction, inciting her to follow.

  What other choice did Jasmine have but to obey? Very thing Jackson wanted her to do, just toward a different person. I will obey, just this once. Jasmine collected her bearings and silently scuttled to the door. She waited for Monica to tell her what to do next.

  She should have known better. Monica was not much of a talker to begin with, and she made a concerted effort not to speak now. But she did take Jasmine’s hand and gently lead her out of the room, latching the door shut and locking it with the ring of keys. Jasmine couldn’t help but notice that none of the door guards were in the hallway at the moment.

  “Don’t have much time,” Monica whispered, guiding Jasmine to the dark end of the hallway where a painting of a woman hanged above the Victorian end table boasting a radiant bouquet of pink flowers. Before Jasmine could wonder if anyone would see them, Monica slid the bouquet to the end of the table and pushed on one of the wood panels behind it. This is something out of a movie all right. The panel gave way to a secret passage. Monica motioned for Jasmine to follow again, urged her to go ahead, and said, “I’m right behind you.”

  A part of Jasmine wondered if this was some kind of trap or test. She wanted to trust Monica, but that woman was in so deep into her lifestyle that it was entirely possible that this was a whim of Jackson’s. If Jasmine went along with it, Jackson may pop out and declare her a troublemaker. Yes, only after two days in captivity, Jasmine was already worried that something like that could happen.

  Her gut told her to go for it. It was better than waiting back in that room for Jackson to do what he intended to do.

  The passageway was cramped and dark. Jasmine also thought that she smelled some mold growing in the walls. This hasn’t been used much. She would hazard a guess that the previous occupant and builder of this house - assuming they were the same person - was paranoid enough to want such passageways. Jackson, however, seemed brazen enough to believe that such things were not necessary. So when Jasmine’s forehead knocked into a spider’s web, she took it as a sign that they were safe for now.

  Monica pulled the bouquet back into place before closing the panel behind her. She pulled out a flashlight so they could see the way in front of them. “Are you all right?” the demure woman finally asked, putting a hand on Jasmine’s arm. “Did he touch you?”

  “No.” Jasmine held herself to the wall, letting Monica’s little body pass her and lead the way down the passage. “Why are you doing this?”

  Monica stopped, glanced over her shoulder, and smiled a smile that was barely visible in the flashlight’s dim glow. “Because I have to.”

  “Are you helping me get out of here?” A piece of Jasmine still couldn’t believe that it was happening. Her savior… Monica, of all people.

  “Well, it wouldn’t do much good to keep you here. When he told me that you were staying in one of the guest rooms… I didn’t believe that you were here on your own accord for a second. Things have changed so much.”

  “Even though he’s your boyfriend? Your master, or whatever?”

  Now the smile was quite sad, making Monica look like a lost little girl in the darkness. But the way she defiantly turned, flashlight in hand, said she was anything but. “Those happier days were a long time ago. Or perhaps they weren’t happy at all. Maybe I grew too complacent and lost my ability to see the evil in people. Until it was too late, anyway. I’ve been watching Jackson descend into something darker for a long time now. When he came into our room the other night and said he had acquired a new pet, I knew something was wrong. When he said it was you, I knew everything had to end.”

  “And?”

  “I told him he had to let you go. He took it about as well as you can imagine.” There were tears in her eyes. If this is a trap, she’s the best actress in the world.

  “What about you? What’s going to happen to you after he finds out you’ve done this?”

  “Please, don’t worry about me. I have my ways of getting by.”

  Jasmine placed her hand on Monica’s good shoulder. “You shouldn’t be getting by,” she said, taking care to not raise her voice too loudly. “Your life is too short to live like this.”

  With a look as hard as she was small, Monica placed her hand on top of Jasmine’s and slowly shook it off of her. “Let’s get out of here.”

  As they proceeded down the dark hallway, Monica informed Jasmine that they didn’t have much time. The only reason she was able to sneak in there was because she had distracted the door guards with a fake summons to the other side of the mansion. As soon as Jackson realized that Jasmine was missing, the whole house would be turned upside down and inside out. He certainly knew about the secret passageways, and they would probably be one of the first things searched. If they didn’t get out quickly, they would both be in deep, deep trouble.

  “It will dump us out by the front door,” Monica warned. “We will have to be very careful. Once we are outside, I can point you the way and give you a cell phone.”

  “Why not give me the cell phone now? Why not just call the police to begin with?”

  Monica sighed, the weary kind of sigh that said Jasmine was so naïve. “Do you really think they will believe you?”

  Jasmine shook her head. As much as she wished the local authorities would come to her rescue at the sound of the kidnapping, she had to admit that Jackson’s influence and money would deter them in a heartbeat.

  They reached the end of the passageway. Monica pressed her ear against the door and listened for anyone on the other side. “I don’t think anyone is out there right now.” She cracked open the door, a long string of light pushing through. “No, definitely not. Now’s your chance.”

  The door opened just far enough for Jasmine to squeeze through. She pushed past Monica, the flashlight jamming into her chest and probably leaving a token of a bruise there.

  Indeed, the front hallway that Jasmine entered only two nights ago was devoid of any life. Whatever summons Monica caused distracted the entire staff of the mansion. She felt something press into her hand, and looked down to see a prepaid cell phone.

  “Call someone you trust. Don’t go to the police. Move away as far as you can.” Monica gently shoved Jasmine into that bright hallway. “Keep your head down for a few months. He’ll be pissed to begin with, but he’ll quickly lose interest. But stay away from here just in case.”

  “And you?” Jasmine couldn’t help but ask again. “You’re coming with me, right?”

  The door closed behind Monica, revealing that the entrance to the secret passage had been a nondescript panel once again. Before she could answer Jasmine’s heartfelt question, the voice they both feared the most came booming through the large entryway.

  “What’s going on here?” Jackson stood at the bottom of the grand staircase, his polished shoes tapping against the marble flooring. Although his voice was lighthearted and his mood seemingly optimistic, Jasmine could not help but detect the sinister undertone to his words. “Now I know my pet isn’t doing something that she will regret later.”

  Without realizing it at first, Jasmine clutched Monica’s wrist and held herself to the smaller woman. Even though she was full of fear to the point that insects were running down her skin, Jasmine felt stronger next to a woman who was used to taking this man’s abuses. “You can’t keep me here against my will,” Jasmine said, attempting to sound defiant. However, it was hard to do when this man could seriously harm her at any moment. If not him personally, he could easily get someone else to do it, just like he easily got someone to kidnap her on his behalf.

  “It’s not a matter of your will, darling.” Jackson approached them, slowly enough to not appear threatening at first. “As I told you, a business deal has been made.”

  “Piss off.” Jasmine turned and made for the doorway.

  For the rest of her life she would remember this exact moment. Here, in the entryway of J
ackson Lyle’s pristine and well-guarded mansion, where she knew one wrong step could mean the end of her life. It could have also meant her freedom, and that of Monica’s as well. As Jasmine approached the door, she felt Jackson’s eyes on her back, judging her, finding amusement in her actions as she squared her shoulders and swore to herself that if she went down like this, she at least went down asserting herself.

  Shouts and threats of violence erupted on the other side of the door. Jasmine stepped back, her heart fluttering in her chest. At first she believed that this was one of Jackson’s doings, but the man in the white suit dropped his smile and walked forward.

  After one loud shout, the double doors of Jackson Lyle’s mansion opened, admitting a bedraggled figure dressed in old jeans, a stained black sweatshirt with the hood raised, and wet, bloody fists that left two security guards rubbing their jaws before grabbing their radios.

  “You fucking piece of shit,” Ethan growled, his legs buckling and threatening to plop him on the marble floor. His sneer was for Jackson, who stood up straight and tried to pretend that his business partner had not just punched out two security guards and forced his way inside. “You actually did it. You managed to be a bigger fuckhead than I ever took you for.”

  “Now, Ethan…” Jackson held up his hands as if that was supposed to solve everything. “Let’s not be brash here. You explicitly told me that you were done with this young lady once and for all. Didn’t you?”

  Jasmine looked to Ethan, her mind demanding an answer while her heart reached out to him for comfort – and to comfort him, based on how terrible he looked. “I can’t say I put it in those words, exactly.” He was not looking at her.

  “So you can’t be angry if she has decided to move on with someone else. All is fair in love and… well, love!”

  “The idea of loving you is about as appealing as sticking a rusty club up my ass.” Jasmine couldn’t contain her contempt behind shock anymore. “Go fuck yourself, kidnapper.”

  Jasmine turned to leave again. When Jackson quickly advanced toward her, she saw Ethan swiftly move out of the corner of her eye. But it was Monica who eventually stopped him.

  “No!” In one deft, well executed move, Monica lifted the skirt of her dress to reveal a pair of shorts beneath – and a gun within a holster. Jasmine yelped in surprise, jumping back and clasping her hand over her mouth as Monica brandished the gun and aimed it at Jackson. She’s going to shoot him! The gun remained steady in the air, ready to go, but undisturbed. “You don’t get to play the games anymore.”

  Jasmine was not the only one shocked. Ethan stopped in his tracks halfway to Jackson and stared at Monica as if this were a new woman he had never met before. Jackson, on the other hand, concealed his shock by bristling under the gun’s heavy weight. “Now, my pet, that is a dangerous weapon you have there. You should put it down and give it to me.” He held out his hand, fully expecting his sub to obey him.

  To Jasmine’s great delight, she didn’t. “Don’t you dare call me your pet ever again. You don’t deserve to call me that. You lost that privilege when you started hurting me.”

  “Hurting you? What are you talking about?”

  Monica’s lip trembled. The gun shook in her hand, threatening to go off. “I don’t have to tell you or anyone else here. You know damn well what you have done. I may be submissive, but I’m still a human being. I’m not sure about you anymore. I don’t think you’re human at all.”

  “Monica.” Ethan eased toward her, holding out his arms in an effort to get her to put the gun down. “This isn’t necessary. Let’s go.”

  That look in Monica’s eyes, however, said something very different. It was necessary. Whatever was going through her head at that moment, it was something that had been building up for months, possibly even years. How long had Jackson been hurting her? How long did it take for Monica to realize her paradise was nothing but a nightmare? What sorts of horrible things did Jackson have to do to her to make her break like this? No, I don’t want to know.

  Ethan managed to get the gun out of her hand by carefully touching her and saying more pleasant things. Yet her eyes never left Jackson’s visage, her defiant attitude the nail in his coffin.

  Once it was in his possession, Ethan emptied the clip. It had been fully loaded.

  “Come on, it’s time to go.” Ethan took both Jasmine and Monica by the wrists and was about to lead them out of there when Jackson finally spoke up again.

  “You both will be nothing but whores for the rest of your lives. You may not be our whores, but girls like you can’t help themselves. You will always be somebody’s whore.”

  Although disgusted, Jasmine was willing to still walk away, her head held high. So was Monica, although she continued to tremble and took Jasmine by the hand in search for strength and comfort. It was Ethan who was not going to let that go unchecked.

  “You son of a fucking…” Ethan didn’t get to finish his phrase. His bloody knuckles met a new bloody nose as he punched Jackson in the face, sending him straight down to his floor.

  Before the security backup could arrive, Ethan stormed out of the mansion with Jasmine and Monica both in his grasp. They entered the breadth of twilight, the darkness covering them as they stole into the nearby woods. Shouts and the clatter of radios erupted behind them, but the adrenaline was pumping, and the three of them made their quick escape to a clearing where Ethan had parked his Lamborghini.

  “Get in!” He unlocked the doors and jumped into the driver seat. Jasmine rounded the hood and got in the passenger side. Monica, who struggled to keep up, pushed herself into the backseat and closed the door the minute Ethan pulled out of the woods.

  Jasmine had no idea if anyone was chasing them, so she kept her head down and eyes pointed on the road in front of them. They didn’t head toward the gate. Ethan knew another way off the property, and drove his expensive car over a bumpy hill, the unbuckled trio bouncing back and forth in their seats.

  Once they were safely back on the road, speeding near the meridian, Jasmine finally found her breath. “How did you know where to find me?” She asked.

  Ethan kept his eyes on the road, his arms stiff and jaw set. “Monica called me.”

  Jasmine looked into the backseat, where Monica held on to the headrests and peered between the seats. “I had to make sure you got out of there, didn’t I?”

  The car sped down the road. Where they were going, Jasmine could only guess.

  37

  “There has to be something we can do!” Ethan was livid, his rage pulsing through the large living room of his mansion in the hills. Still dressed in jeans and a black sweatshirt, he hardly looked like he belonged in his own home. Especially when he was jabbing a finger in the direction of his lawyer, a tall, pristine man over fifty, who more than once told Ethan to calm the hell down. “That man is a kidnapper, and he was probably going to do other terrible things as well. We can’t let them get away with it.”

  The lawyer urged his client to sit on his plush sofa next to Jasmine and Monica. Both women remained silent since arriving at Ethan’s house, perhaps afraid that the sounds of their own voices would arouse Jackson Lyle back where they left him. “This isn’t open and shut,” the lawyer said. “I don’t personally doubt the validity of the stories, but we would need more to go on. Unless there is video or audio proof that your business partner took Miss Bliss against her will, it will be a long, hard road that we probably won’t win.”

  “How can you say that? Aren’t you the best in the business? What have I hired you for?”

  Jasmine could hear that exasperated sigh from across the large room. “Yes, I am the best in my business, and surely his lawyer is the best in his business. If this were common crime from off the streets, then I wouldn’t hesitate to go forward with charges. But as it is, your business partner is also a wealthy, powerful man, who has just as much if not more sway than you in certain areas of the law. I’m hesitant to try anything unless
we have damning proof.”

  “But you heard what they said about him!”

  “Yes, that’s all we have. Their words against his.” The lawyer straightened his tie. “You know I don’t want to say this, Ethan, but they aren’t exactly the most stellar witnesses. No jury will take them seriously. Especially after word has gone out about you and Miss Bliss.”

  Jasmine shuddered. Great, I fucked up my own chance of putting that man in prison. All because she was angry and had something to prove. “I don’t want to press charges anyway,” she said from the couch. “I know it’s hopeless. He’s the kind of man to clean up all his tracks. He didn’t even touch me. Short of keeping me up in that room, I don’t even know what he did that we could get him on.” She shook her head. “Besides, even though he totally hired someone to kidnap me and keep me prisoner in his home, he will just find some way to destroy my character and probably pin something on me instead.”