The Price of Love

by Cassy Roop

  “I don’t feel well. I have been sick the last few days with a stomach bug,” I said lying to him to keep him from knowing the truth.

  “Fine,” he bit out, “but I’m going with you and will wait outside the door.”

  We got up and walked to the back of the plane where I barely made it in time before the contents of my stomach rushed out with brute force. When I finally finished heaving into the stainless steel airplane toilet, I rinsed out my mouth with water from the sink.

  I glanced up in the mirror and was stunned at my appearance. I looked pale with dark circles under my eyes. I knew that I could only play the stomach bug thing off for so long before Brett took notice and realized that it wasn't a stomach bug after all. Hopefully it would be enough time to escape and find help.

  The rest of the fight was spent thinking about Tristan. I thought about his betrayal, and the lies. I thought about how he used me and had made my heart shatter into a thousand pieces. I hated him. I hated him for being the man to allow me to open up again and then take it away from me.

  I also thought about the piece of him that was growing inside me. We would forever be connected by this innocent child that I thought was conceived out of love. No matter what happens, I would love this baby more than my own life. I had to keep myself safe and alive and figure out a way to escape from Brett.

  A single tear rolled down my cheek at the thought of what I had lost as I drifted off to sleep.

  I woke up a few hours later to the captain announcing that the plane was about to descend into Dallas Fort Worth Airport. Brett was sitting next to me and he was just staring at me. The look in his eyes was one of pure evil.

  “It won’t be long now, Flower. We can begin our lives together like they should have long ago. Tristan will be a distant memory and he won’t be able to find us.”

  “You will not get away with this Brett. Someone will find me, and when they do I hope you burn in hell for the rest of your life for what you did to my family.”

  He laughed a bone chilling laugh. It was enough to make even a sadist cringe. His eyes glazed over and he looked feral. There was something seriously not right in the head of this man.

  “That is only a brief glance of what I will do to keep you with me Kendall. My brother already has what is coming to him for putting his hands on you. I cannot believe you let that bastard put his hands on you. You are mine Kendall. Get that through your head. I will not take you being a whore anymore. I thought you would have grown out of that by now.”

  He gripped my hand so tightly that only a small more amount of pressure would cause my fingers to break.

  “Come,” he spat through gritted teeth.

  We de-board the plane and pass through security. Easy enough since we did not have any luggage with us. We left the airport and walked out into the large parking area and climbed into a dark sedan with heavily tinted windows. Brett pushed me into the passenger seat and buckled me in. He reaches underneath the seat that I was sitting in and produced some black zip ties. Placing the ties around my wrists and ankles he proceeded to bind them pulling tight enough for the ties to bite into my skin.

  “So you don’t try to run.”

  He walked to the truck of the car and opened it. There he pulled out a small black case before closing the trunk. He opened the driver door and sat placing the black case into his lap. Unlatching the case, he lifted the lid to retrieve something from it. He had the case angled away from me to where I could not see what he was getting out of it.

  He moved so fast that I barely had time to even register what he was doing before I felt the bite of a needle pierce my neck. I looked at him in surprised shock at what he did.

  “So you don’t know where we are and cannot tell anyone how to find us flower. It is for your own good.”

  Those were the final words I heard from Brett before a darkness pulled me under and I slumped into the seat of the car.

  Tristan

  “Tristan, snap out of it, man,” I heard Jackson say as he stared down at me where I was still perched on my knees on the floor.

  “We have to go after him, T.

  I stared at the floor still in a stupor.

  Pregnant. Kendall was pregnant.

  I could hear Cassie crying from behind Jackson as she paced across the floor.

  “How long?” I managed to barely ask.

  Cassie looked at me with a tear stained face. The devastated look in her eyes was a torment.

  “How long what, Tristan?” she said with anger in her voice.

  “How long has she known she was pregnant?”

  I did not miss Cassie’s eyes as they went wide for a brief moment as she registered the question that I just asked her. From her expression I could tell that she knew how long Kendall had known.

  “A few weeks. She had plans to tell you tonight. She wanted to surprise you,” she took a deep inhale before she continued. This time her voice was dripping with despise and hatred.

  “I cannot fucking believe that you are his brother! And I cannot believe you knew about it!” she screamed as she turned to point her finger at Jackson. “You are sick you know that? You are just as sick as he is!”

  I could not help but think that she was right. I was a sick son of a bitch for even trying to get involved with Kendall. I wanted her for my own selfish needs. Now I had crushed her all over again. There was no doubt in my mind that I had lost her. Now to hear she was carrying my baby struck a knife straight through my heart. The thought of my child inside her made me so fucking happy. At the same time though, the idea of us being a family now was never going to happen.

  “You two assholes can sit here all you want to, but I am going to go find my best friend. That bastard will kill her. Did you see the look in his eyes? He has killed her parents, what make you think he won’t kill her.”

  She storms off toward the door, but before she could reach it Jackson grabbed her by the bicep and spun her around.

  “Calm down, Cassie. I have men who have been following you guys around everywhere you go. They have strict orders to follow you two no matter where you go. They all have pictures of Brett and know what he looks like. Hopefully one of them have followed her and know where they are. We have to be calm and go into this safely or he will end up hurting her just to keep us away...especially Tristan.”

  She looked over at me. I could see the questions in her eyes. I got up off of the floor and walked over to her.

  “We had a feeling that when Brett was released from jail, that he would try to get to Kendall again. We were right. I should have done something more. I shouldn’t have left her alone.”

  Cassie stared at me for a moment before she opened her mouth to speak.

  “Is this the reason why you insisted that she be the writer on this project for the magazine?”

  I nodded. “I wanted to get her out of the country so that Brett couldn’t get to her. I thought that with his parole that he wouldn’t attempt to leave the States. I thought wrong,” I said as I frowned.

  “You should not have kept this from her Tristan. Do you know how long I have waited for her to finally open up again after what Brett did to her? I never thought that girl would trust again. It took years for her to fully trust me, but you? It was instant. She fell head over heels in love with you only to find out that you are the brother of the man who took her family? How could you deceive her like this?”

  I looked Cassie dead in the eyes. I wanted to be completely honest with her. I may never get to tell Kendall of my reasons why I did what I did, but at least I could tell Cassie.

  “I’m just as responsible for her parents’ deaths as Brett is. I knew that Brett was deranged, mental, and crazy. I tried telling our mom and his dad, but they put it off as sibling rivalry.” I took a deep inhale and let the air out before I continued.

  “I knew about the relationship he had with Kendall. I knew that she had broken things off with him when he did something to her. At the time I did not know he raped
her. So I started following him. I knew he was not right in the head. I feared for her because I knew that he was mentally unstable. I watched as he stalked and threatened her. When he tried to attack her outside of work that one day, I stepped in and stopped him.”

  Cassie was looking at me and I could tell she was trying to reconcile whether or not I was telling the truth. She had every right to question me after my lies just as Kendall did.

  “I stopped him from attacking Kendall, but I could not stop him from killing her parents. After that I kept tabs on her. I watched her for over eight years. I wanted her to have a good life. I wanted to protect her because I didn’t the first time.”

  The expression on Cassie’s face changed from one of despise to one of compassion.

  “Even though I am beyond pissed off at you right now Tristan for what you did to my best friend, I cannot sit back and let you berate yourself over something that was not your fault. You did not know that Brett was going to kill her parents.”

  “Yeah, but I could have done something to prevent it. I could have told someone other than mom and his dad just how fucked up in the head he was. I could have prevented it from happening.”

  “No, Tristan, you couldn’t.”

  “I’ve been trying to tell him this for years Cassie, It won’t do any good,” Jackson chimed in.

  Cassie’s head whipped around so fast I thought it would snap off.

  “You,” she said as she pointed her finger at him, “I will deal with you later.”

  I slumped down into the nearest chair and ran my hands through my hair. There was no telling what my sick fuck of a brother was doing, or had already done to my Angel. The thoughts alone had me in a murderous rage. I could feel my body tremble with anger, and desperation. Desperation to get to her and make sure her and my baby were ok. I would get to her and save her, even if I had to die trying.

  Cassie walked over and placed her hand on my shoulder. “You really do love her don’t you?” she asked me.

  “More than my own life Cass. I want to spend my forever with her. I feel like a piece of my soul is missing when she is not with me.”

  She nodded. “Even though I do not condone one bit what you did to her, I know deep in my heart that you love her. I can see it when you look at her. I can see it when you talk about her. And I can see it in your eyes right now because you are feeling the same agony as I am now that that asshole has her.”

  I nodded. I stood up just as Jackson’s phone rings. He answered it after the first ring.

  “Hey. Really? When? Alright we will be on the first flight out. Stay on their tail. Do not lose them!” Jackson said to the person on the phone.

  “Brett has two tickets booked for Texas. The guys think that is where they are heading. Traffic is bad so he is having a hard time keeping up.”

  I didn't even think twice about it. We all three ran for the door to get to the airport. I had to get to her before he harmed her. I would never live with myself if he did. I needed her more than anyone or anything I ever had in my life. She was my reason for waking up in the morning, and the reason I went to bed at night. I had to get to her. I had to get to her. I just had too. I only hoped that I was not too late.

  Chapter 24

  Kendall

  Everything was foggy and my head hurt. I tried to pry my lead weighted eyelids open so that I could find out where I was. Slowly I opened my eyes and the light sent sharp pain through my head and I immediately closed them.

  Off to the side I could hear a door creak open. Footsteps echoed off the walls in whatever room it was I was in.

  “Good you are awake,” I heard Brett say. Shit. So much for thinking this was all a horrible dream and that I was not really kidnapped by Brett.

  “You need to eat something.”

  “Where are we?” I asked with a hoarseness in my voice. I once again tried to open my eyes and Brett’s blurred form was standing before me. He reached down to cusp my chin and I jerked my head back away from his touch. I felt dizzy and lightheaded. It was then that I remembered him stabbing me with a needle when we got to the car at the airport.

  “We are home of course. I built this for us,” he said as he waved his hands around what looked like a bedroom. Trying to get my vision in working clear, I looked over at the door, my only means of escape from this sick bastard. It was metal and thick. It looked to have some kind of high tech, complicated locking mechanism on it. It looked around and realized that this was no ordinary bedroom. We were in a cell disguised as a bedroom. I was a caged bird in the den of her prey.

  I looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. “What did you give me?”

  It took him a moment to register that the question I was asking him was about what he drugged me with.

  “Just a tranquilizer. I couldn’t have you find out where we are so that you can find some way of getting it to my bastard of a brother so he can have you again. No. That is never going to happen. I am already going to give him his due for touching you.

  “Tell me Kendall, how did it feel to find out that my brother was lying to you? I tried to send you warnings that he was not who you thought he was. You see my brother has always had selfish intentions. He only wanted you because I had you first. Now I will have you last. Now eat.”

  His command was sharp. I looked into his eyes and see that they were dilated. He was unsteady on his feet and I knew that he was on something. Brett sober was a force to be reckoned with, but this Brett? This Brett could be lethal.

  I looked down at the sandwich he brought me. I didn’t think I could possibly eat it without it coming back up. My stomach was rolling at just the sight of it. Before I knew it I was leaning over the side of the bed and vomited forcefully onto the floor.

  “Fuck Kendall, that’s fucking disgusting!” Brett snipped out.

  When I brought my hands up to wipe at my mouth it was then that I discovered that my hands were shackled to the bed I was sitting on. I pulled tightly against the chains as if testing their strength.

  “Cannot have you escaping on me, Flower. Be a good girl and I may take them off. Right now I am going to get something so you can clean your shit off the floor.”

  With a grunt he walked out of the room. The tears were flowing freely down my face now. I glanced around the room and came to the conclusion that it was very possible that I was never getting out of here.

  As much as I hated him, I hoped that Tristan found me. I hoped he Cassie and Jackson did not give up on me. They were my only chance of surviving this. Not just me, but the baby too.

  Tristan

  Two days.

  That was how long it had been since Brett took Kendall. Jackson’s men followed them to Texas but lost his trail when they got here due to their flight being delayed. We had searched all over Dallas trying to follow up on any leads and the only thing we had encountered was dead ends.

  Every hour that went by that I don’t find her was a deeper wound to my soul. I hadn’t ate or slept in two days. The only thing I cared about was finding her and getting her and the baby to safety.

  After we exhausted every possible lead we had, I finally broke down and knew what I had to do. I had not seen or talked to my mother and her husband in years. Surely they had kept tabs on their perfect son.

  Jackson, Cassie, and I were in a rental car following the curvy dirt path that lead to the house I had not seen or visited in years. It still had the same opulence it did back then. Victorian columns on the porch, perfectly manicured lawns screamed money, only I knew where that money came from. My mother got a pretty nice divorce settlement. Seeing as how I took over my father’s estate when he died, I knew exactly how much she received in alimony.

  We all got out of the car and walked up to the bright red door and rang the doorbell. A middle aged woman in a uniform answered the door.

  “May I help you?” she asked politely.

  I cleared my throat, “I am Tristan Price. I am here to see my mother Caroline.”

  She looke
d at me quizzically before she answered. “Mrs. Hawkins son’s name is Brett and I know him quite well, Mr. Price, so if this is some game I assure you it is not funny.”

  Of course my mother had not mentioned me. We had never been close and when I chose to live with my father after their divorce, we became even more distant. I would not even give her the privilege of calling her a mother. She was simply the woman who gave birth to me in my eyes.

  “I am her son from her first marriage to Thomas Price. I assure you if you would be so kind as to retrieve her she will tell you so,” I said a little too harshly.

  “Of course. Let me go find her. Come inside and wait in the study.”

  She ushered us into a small room off to the side of the front doors. After about ten minutes my mother comes walking into the room.

  “Tristan, darling, to what do I owe this pleasure?” she said with her voice dripping with sophistication. She was dressed impeccably in a cream pant suit. Her long blonde hair was eloquently coiled into a French twist. Not a single hair was out of place and her makeup was expertly applied and appeared flawless. She stood with a posture that screamed out her debutant training. My mother always did appreciate the finer things in life a little too much.

  Her eyes took in the guests in the room and I saw the flash of disappointment cross her face. I know she probably thinks that by me coming here I was looking for a reconciliation. Fat chance.

  “Where is Brett?” I asked her point blank.

  Her expression changes to one of disapproval and impatience.

  “Tristan, after all this time still fighting with your brother?”

  “I’m not fighting him mother. He has her. He took Kendall. I need to know where he is.” I barked out at her.

  “Kendall, that trouble maker? If it weren’t for her, Brett would not have spent time in jail. She is the whole reason for the entire mess.”

  “Enough!” I barked into the air and everyone in the room jumped.