by Rachel Angel
“Miss Hillshire?” a very deep resonating voice asked. It was the man with the notepad in his hand. “I’m Detective Holmes.”
I looked into his chocolate eyes and said, “Haven, Mr. Holmes.”
“Haven,” he said, “We will try everything to get your mother home. But for now, I have a few questions to ask you.”
I looked over at Tristan, Drake, Dillon, and Max who had just entered the office.
“I thought you found some evidence,” I said.
Max walked up to me and put his arm around my shoulder. “Baby, don’t worry. We’ll find your mother. We’ll get her back.” He looked over at Terrence and Detective Holmes and said, “Haven’s been worried sick about her mother since she heard. I mean, it’s her mother for God’s sake. Can’t you hurry up with trying to find her? Isn’t time of the essence? What do they want with her?”
I glanced over at Tristan and the Twins, who stood by the door. They clearly did not like Max’s arm around me or that he was playing the dutiful worried and supportive boyfriend, which he was doing a great performance of, but they were going along with it. We all were.
I leaned my head into his chest and began crying. Somehow when I really fell against his chest and felt his arms tighten around me, pulling me in close, all the stress of worrying about my mother came true. I was really crying, sobbing about the fear of losing my mother.
Terrence came over and started patting my shoulder. “There there, Haven. Detective Holmes and I will do everything we can to get your mother back. After all, I love her too. We all love her. And we won’t let anything happen to her. I swear, Haven.”
Tristan and the Twins walked over then and gently laid a hand on my head, patting it. He was being platonic, but I could see the anguish and desire he had for me in his eyes. He wanted to do more.
Drake was already talking to Detective Holmes, asking about whether Holmes had checked surveillance cameras, recordings, anything.
“I had the building maintenance send me the recordings for the day,” Holmes said. “But the evidence I told you about when I talked to you over the phone, is something I want to ask Haven about.”
I looked up and said, “What evidence?”
Detective Holmes took out a plastic baggie from his coat pocket and opened it. Inside was a lipstick. “Is this yours?” he asked.
I took one look at it. “No,” I said. Then I opened the case, rolled out the lipstick. It was a Chanel lipstick that I would not wear. I mostly wore lipgloss and moisturizing lipbalms, going for the natural look. This lipstick was a dark purple red.
“Is this your mother’s lipstick?” Detective Holmes asked.
“Not unless she likes to dress up as a vampire,” I said. “Especially in her office while meeting clients.”
I heard a laugh and looked over to see Dillon chuckling. Out of all the Tritons, Dillon had the best sense of humor. The others were a bit too serious.
“Could it be one of her clients?” I asked.
“That’s what I wanted to know,” Detective Holmes said.
“But we know she had been kidnapped,” Tristan said impatiently. “Why don’t you just go after them? Can’t you trace where the call came from?”
“Not so easy,” Detective Holmes said. “The voice was scrambled, and they used a throwaway.”
“Did they ask for anything?” Drake asked. “Any demands?”
“We are waiting,” Terrence said.
“For what?” Dillon asked. “Dad,” he looked angrily at Terrence, “shouldn’t we get the police involved? We can’t just sit and wait it out.”
“Don’t you think I’ve thought of that?” Terrence asked.
Detective Holmes said, “They told your father no police or you would not see Dr. Hillshire ever again.”
I shuddered hearing that.
“So,” Detective Holmes said, “We have to do this smartly.”
Chapter 4
Haven
“So we just sit and wait?” Drake asked.
“I wouldn’t do anything brash,” Detective Holmes said. “If you and your brothers try something now, and the kidnappers get a whiff of it, it can all end quickly. You won’t even get a chance to do anything…”
I shivered, and Max wrapped his arms around me tighter. He whispered into my ear, “I’m sorry you’re going through this, Baby. Is there any way I can get you to relax…”
“Take me away from here,” I said.
Max’s eyes registered what I said, and he whispered, “Anything for you.”
“Mr. Triton, Detective Holmes,” Max said. “Haven is shivering and on the verge of breaking down. For her sake, I’m taking her away from here. Everything here reminds her of her missing mother…”
“Fine,” Terrence said, “Take her away from here, someplace safe. I’m trusting her into your care, Max.”
“Yes, sir,” Max said, leading me out the door.
Tristan, Drake, and Dillon turned to leave with us, but Terrence said, “Boys, I need you here to help out. We’re going to do this the Triton way.”
Tristan stopped and looked at Drake and Dillon. Somehow when Terrence mentioned, ‘The Triton Way’, it made the Triton boys stop and straighten up as though it was some kind of secret command.
I confirmed it was when Tristan turned towards me and said, “Haven, get some rest. You’re not feeling well to begin with, and now this. You shouldn’t have to worry about getting Mom back. Leave it to us. You and Mom are family now. Tritons. We can’t let anyone hurt you.”
Max’s grip around my arms tightened to the point where he was digging into my flesh. I almost yelled at him but he immediately let go when Tristan said, “Max, why don’t you take her someplace she can get something to eat and lie down.”
Max said, “Sure, okay,” before leading the way out.
As I was leaving, I saw Tristan exchange a suspicious look at Terrence as they waited for Max and me to be out of ear shot. There was something they all knew that I didn’t, and they weren’t about to let me find out what. Or Max.
Max knew it too. He wasn’t a dummy as he sometimes pretended to be. “Hey Haven,” he said walking with me down the stairs of the building and into the parking lot. “I can take you to the steakhouse down the street, the Thai place near it, or…”
“Take me to your house, Max,” I said. “It’s close to here, isn’t it?”
“Oh, okay,” Max said. He looked around. “Damn. I forgot we came here all in one car…Tristan’s. Maybe we can walk to a place nearby to eat?”
I looked around and was surprised to see my mother’s SUV parked where I had left it. Mother had given me her old car to drive as my own now that Terrence bought her a new one. I had left the SUV where I had parked it when I visited her, not knowing that I would be picked up by Dillon later on to visit our new condo, where we made passionate love.
Dillon then dropped me off at the library where I did some research on the Tritons’ history in Heartbreak Falls. When walking out of the library to head to my car, Max drove by and saw me, then invited me to have dinner with him, driving me to the restaurant.
Things became strange when Max suddenly wanted to know if I had Megan’s mermaid handbag. He thought I had taken it from the back of his car, but I denied it. I didn’t take it.
Well…his accusation and the way he looked so desperate, angry, and nervous made me feel threatened by him so I texted Tristan, Dillon, and Drake to pick me up. They did, and then they took Max and me both to Tristan’s lair.
That was where we were when we received a call from Terrence that Mom went missing. No, not just missing. She was kidnapped.
So…my own SUV was sitting in the parking lot. I pulled out the keys for it from my purse, and said, “I’ll drive.”
Max looked pleasantly surprised and said, “At least this one thing had worked out.”
Chapter 5
Max
I’ve never been more relieved to get out of a place as fast as I could than that moment I had to step into Dr.
Pamela Hillshire’s office. It was like a crime scene, and everything about her office felt uncomfortable to me.
It was also a place I didn’t want to revisit. The red brick building Dr. Hillshire’s office was in had been built in the early 1900s and had been remodeled a couple of times throughout the years. One major one was during the 1920s where they had built underground cellars and even tunnels from the cellars to somewhere else to hide the bootleg booze they had. Rumor even had it that one of these tunnels led from this building to the Bradshaw mansion since the Bradshaws were a fun-loving partying bunch. No doubt my ancestors had alcohol flowing at all their parties even during Prohibition. And no doubt they had wild booze-infused orgies at their parties, too. Speaking of orgies…
“Want me to drive?” I asked Haven as she headed towards her car. “Are you fine to drive in your state?”
She suddenly stopped walking so briskly and said, “You know, you’re right. I shouldn’t be driving right now. Too nervous and stressed. I might run into something.” She handed me her keys and said, “You drive and make it fast.”
“Alrighty,” I said, surprised by how jumpy she was. I started up the car and floored the car, almost hitting a few obstacles along the way to the Bradshaw mansion.
“If you want to fuck me, Max,” Haven said, “here’s your chance when Tristan is busy with his Triton Way business.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. Did she said she wanted me to fuck her? That she finally wanted me to have sex with her? I pressed the pedal to the floor until it was flat and almost drove right into the Bradshaw mansion itself when we arrived faster than a bullet. As soon as I parked the car, I was opening Haven’s door and lifting her out of the car past the entrance of the mansion, carrying her up the stairs to my bedroom like my beautiful bride.
I placed her on my bed, before my mouth clamped onto hers, kissing her, devouring her like I was starving. I was starving…for every inch of her beautiful body. “I just want to worship your beautiful perfection, Haven,” I groaned. “You have no idea how I’ve been dreaming of this, craving being with you like this.” I kissed my way down to her breasts, taking her nipples into my mouth as I sucked and sucked on her, making her moan.
“Oh Max,” Haven said, her eyes looking up into mine with hunger. “Do you want me?”
I couldn’t believe she would question it. “Hell yes, Haven. I want you so much I dream about it.”
“Then ravish me, make me feel anything than this pain, this worry I’m feeling,” she said. “Take my mind off of what’s going on. Can you do that for me, Max?”
My heart melted for her. Her pleading eyes, her tears, her full trembling lips. “I’ll do anything for you, Haven. Anything. God, I want you so bad. I wanted you for so long… for so much! You have no idea what I’d given up to even have you here with me in Heartbreak Falls.”
“You love me?” Haven asked.
“I’m so in love with you, Haven,” I said. “I was worried for you when I thought you’d be in danger if you had Megan’s purse. That was why I acted so desperately to get it. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just couldn’t control how desperate I was. When it comes to you…I’m so desperate. I’m…”
“Fuck me, Max,” Haven said, her tongue licking my ear. “Fuck me so hard I can’t walk.”
“God,” I closed my eyes. I could feel a drop of pre-cum already at the tip of my dick. I wouldn’t even last a full second when I enter her. I took a deep breath, trying to slow my desire down, but it was no use.
I tore off her panties. I pushed down my jeans and boxers at the same time and drove deep into her until she was lifted up against the headboard of the bed. Then I was fucking her hard. Thrusting into her with long deep strokes that sent her moaning her head off. I captured her moans with my mouth as I lifted her legs up my shoulders and thrusted deeper and deeper.
When on the verge of coming, I would turn her around and begin fucking her all over again. Thrusts after deep and long thrusts. She was all mine. She was mine to fuck as hard and as much as I want.
We fucked and fucked in every position around the room. On the bed, on the floor, in the closet, on the sofa, against the wall, on my desk, and even on the stairs.
I didn’t care if the housekeeper was there. I didn’t care if the cook was there. I was with Haven…the girl of my dreams…the girl I have wanted for so long.
We must have climaxed together over ten times. Still I couldn’t stop fucking her. She couldn’t stop wanting more. Must have been all that stress she was trying to let go of. We exploded together as we were fucking in the showers one last time before she crumbled into my arms and said, “I feel like jello. I can’t barely stand up.”
I washed her off and towel-dried her before lifting her to sleep naked in my bed. She was so beautiful against the black silk sheets of my bed, her body pale like snow, her skin flawless and soft.
I fell into bed next to her under the sheets and said, “I know you’re just 18 and I’m just 18, but I don’t want to leave anything off the table. I love you, Haven. I can’t live without you. You’ve been on my mind since I first saw you. You’ve been in my heart since I first knew of you. If you would accept me, I want to be with you forever. Please marry me. Marry me, Haven.”
She must have been exhausted. She didn’t hear a word I said, especially my proposal to her. She was fast asleep, her worried expression now in peaceful rest.
I kissed her on the nose and sat up in bed to check my phone messages. There were a few from the Tritons.
“Still can’t trust me with Haven?” I said to myself.
I looked over at Haven’s angelic face. “Too bad she’s mine.” I looked at Tristan’s angry text to me to keep my hands off Haven and my dick to myself. If he finds out that I fucked Haven, he’ll kill me.
“Tough shit,” I said. Haven asked me to make love to her. She asked me to.
“Everything would have been so much easier if Dr. Hillshire didn’t marry Terrence,” I said to myself. She had to marry a Triton and get in the way.
It was a good thing that she wasn’t there in her office when I dropped by yesterday before I saw Haven walking out of the library. I knew Haven had visited her mother there, and I was still looking for Megan’s purse when I dropped by Dr. Hillshire’s office, seeing if Haven had left it there.
It was also a good thing that the red brick building was one of the last Main Street buildings the Bradshaws still owned too, which meant I had access to all the surveillance cameras, locks, doors, and offices. I was free to enter and search for anything at any time.
And to change out the surveillance cameras’ footage with another time of day’s footage.
I smiled, looking over at my beautiful future bride. Haven Hillshire would be mine. The Hillshires’ fortune would be mine, and if things go according to mother’s plans…so would the Triton’s.
Chapter 6
Tristan
As soon as Haven left Dr. Hillshire’s office with Max, Detective Holmes wrote down something on a piece of paper before passing it over to Dad, who immediately raised the paper up high so I could see it, and then Drake and Dillon.
The room was bugged, and someone was probably listening in to what we had said.
Detective Holmes continued sweeping the room for bugs, and found a few more before he took a heavy bookend and smashed them into tiny pieces.
“That should be it?” Dad asked.
Detective Holmes finally said, “I did a complete sweep, and this whole place was crawling with them. I think I found them all, but just in case. Say only what you are comfortable saying. In other words, if you want to find whatever news you want to pass along to the rest of the world, just feel free right here.”
“Got it,” Dad said.
Drake said, “Isn’t that part of Dr. Hillshire’s therapy sessions? I’m sure she must record them so she can have a record of them. Most doctors have a record of a before and after so they can see how their progress goes.”
“Yes
,” Detective Holmes said, “The bug I found could have been a way to record a client’s session without being intrusive, but it isn’t the normal bug. It is the kind used by professionals in intelligence. Not a psychologist, relationship expert.”
Drake nodded in acknowledgement and agreement. “So whoever has been listening in on us must be some real pervert who gets its kicks listening in on juicy tidbits the good Dr. Hillshire gets to listen to from her clients!”
“Yeah, and is too coward to show your face,” Dillon said. He bent over and flash his butt into the air.
“Dillon…” Dad said. “Really son?”
“I bet the pervert doesn’t just listen in on what goes on here,” Dillon said, “but has a couple of cameras here so he can see. What a loser.”
With that, all of a sudden, everyone’s phones started ringing.
I answered mine at the same time Drake, Dillion, Dad, and Detective Holmes answer theirs.
And the muffled voice at the other side of the phone said the same thing to each of us.
“Like to play with cameras? I do. Take a look at the tv screen in Dr. Hillshire’s room.”
We all looked at the television which suddenly switched on and was showing a black and white screen. When it stopped being blurry, the screen was showing all of us as we are, looking at the television screen.
“Looks like you’re on television!” the muffled voice said.
Then the image of us disappeared and was now showing a feed of an empty room that looked like a warehouse. Concrete floor, some sunlight but mostly dark. In the middle of the room was someone sitting in a chair, slumped over. The cameraperson had walked up closer to the slumped over person and began filming. With black gloves, the person on the other side of our phones tapped the shoulder of the person, and lifted the person’s head. Long blonde hair tied into a ponytail, but still attractive… just like her daughter Haven.
“Dr. Hillshire!” Dillon said.
“Pamela,” Dad said.
“You see,” the muffled voice said, “Dr. Hillshire is still alive. It’s up to you to keep her that way. If you be good children and obey my orders.”
