‘Yes, you arse, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.’
‘Who by?’ His voice was very serious now.
‘No idea, a man, he seems to be on his own.’
‘What’s the van like?’
‘It’s a van Ethan, what do you want from me, the reg number and any distinguishable features?’
‘That would be a good start.’
Izzy looked up, and saw the paintwork on the inside of the van. ‘It’s white, big like ours, no windows at the back, no chairs either.’
‘Did you see the man?’
‘No. He grabbed me from behind.’
Suddenly the van came to a stop and the engine was cut.
‘Crap we’ve stopped,’ Izzy squeaked.
Using her chin, she somehow managed to scoop the phone inside her top, where it nestled inside her bra. She had no idea if she had managed to do that without cutting off the call, she only hoped that Ethan was still there.
The door was thrown open and bright sunshine flooded the back of the van – she was lifted and half dragged, half carried into a nearby barn. Whoever had kidnapped her was definitely not as strong as Ethan.
‘What are we doing in this barn?’ Izzy said loudly, hoping Ethan could still hear her and she might be able to give him some clues to her whereabouts.
The man didn’t answer. He thrust the back of a chair between her hands and her back and forced her into the seat.
‘Who are you, what do you want from me?’ Izzy said, hoping she sounded braver than she felt.
After he had tied the remaining rope to the back of the chair, securing her in place, he came round to stand in front of her and her mouth fell open.
‘Dan?’
‘Hello.’
‘What the hell are you doing?’
‘I thought a bit of redemption might be called for.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Ethan took away the woman I love, I’ll take the woman he loves.’
‘No, Dan, this isn’t right. I know you’re hurting but…’
‘You have no idea what pain I’m in right now.’
There was an edge to his voice and for the first time she felt a slither of fear twist her gut.
But then she saw the fear in his eyes too, he had no idea what he was doing.
‘Have you thought this through? What do you plan to do with me?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘When did you come up with this plan?’
‘When I saw you bending over your bike as I drove past.’
Izzy watched him, she didn’t know whether to be relieved that this was a spur of the moment kidnapping or scared that he was thinking on his feet.
‘Look, just let me go now and we’ll just pretend it never happened.’
‘You’ll go to the police.’
‘I won’t.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘Where did you see this going, are you going to kill me?’
He looked appalled. ‘Of course not.’
‘So I can probably rule out rape too.’
‘I’m not a monster.’
‘You just kidnapped me because you’re upset over your wife leaving, you’re not exactly on my Christmas card list here.’
He started pacing, shaking his head.
‘You could go to prison for this, you don’t want that do you. You have a child, a son, surely you don’t want to miss him growing up.’
He stared at her, the full horror of what could happen suddenly dawning on his face.
‘No. I can’t lose him too.’
‘Then let me go and I promise I won’t tell a soul.’
Dan stared at her for a moment and then nodded.
He rushed forward and started undoing the ropes at the back of her chair.
‘I’m sorry, I… I don’t know what I was thinking, I’ve just been a mess since Miranda left, I’m so sorry, you won’t tell anyone will you…’
Dan’s apologies were cut short as a small black canister rolled into the room through the open door. They both stared at it for a second before it suddenly released a plume of thick grey smoke from four holes down the side.
‘Oh my god, it’s the police,’ Dan shouted and ran for the opposite door, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. She heard a thud, a groan and then the sound of someone hitting the floor. The room filled up with a cloud of smoke and Izzy couldn’t see anything.
Suddenly she was lifted, complete with the chair and carried out into the sunshine. As she was moved into the cool clean air, she blinked a few times to see Ethan standing over her, quickly untying her hands.
A surge of relief and love swept through her. It wasn’t the greatest act of bravery in the world as Dan was already releasing her but in that moment he was a hero in her eyes. As soon as her hands were released she leapt up and kissed him, throwing her arms round his neck. He didn’t protest. He lifted her and she wrapped her legs round his hips as he pressed her into the wall of the barn. The kiss continued, as urgent and desperate from him as it was from her.
A cough from nearby disturbed them both from their embrace.
She looked up into the stunned eyes of Kyle and Gizmo.
‘Are we all getting a thank you kiss like that, because if we are, I’m next in line,’ Kyle said.
Ethan growled, quietly.
‘So you two are… what is this arrangement?’
‘It’s nothing,’ Ethan was clearly embarrassed and Izzy felt a bit hurt by that summing up of their relationship.
She disentangled her legs from around him and stood up. Ethan cast his eyes over her, running his hands down her arms to check for injuries.
‘I’m ok.’ The way he was looking at her, filled with so much concern, made her feel mildly better about his previous statement.
‘So how long has this being going on?’ Kyle was asking.
‘Nothing is going on,’ Ethan said.
‘Are you the secret moaner,’ Kyle’s eyes widened and she felt her cheeks burn.
‘I’m taking Izzy home,’ Ethan growled. ‘I’ll let you guys sort everything out here. Call the police, they can take care of it.’
‘No, wait, I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone,’ Izzy said.
‘I don’t care what you promised.’
‘Well I do.’
‘He kidnapped my…’ He glanced at Kyle and gritted his teeth. ‘My employee, I’m not standing for that.’
‘He was letting me go, it was just a silly mistake. He’s going through hell over Miranda leaving, let’s not make this situation even worse for him. Let me talk to him.’
‘That could be tricky,’ Kyle said, ‘Ethan knocked him out cold.’
‘He needs counselling, he needs some help to get over Miranda. Let’s get him into his house, will one of you stay with him until he wakes and then tell him I want to talk to him tomorrow…’ She trailed off as she realised there was a woman standing watching them. Miranda.
They all turned to stare at her.
‘Where’s Dan?’ she asked, her voice shaky.
‘Erm…’ Kyle gestured vaguely.
She ran into the barn and screamed when she obviously saw her husband.
‘You killed him, you bastards, you killed him.’
‘I should have done,’ Ethan muttered as he took Izzy’s hand and marched into the barn after Miranda. Most of the smoke had dispersed now through the open door either end and Miranda was kneeling next to Dan’s head, stroking his hair. A dark bruise was clearly forming around his eye.
‘Jesus Ethan, how hard did you hit him?’ Izzy asked.
‘Not hard enough.’
Dan suddenly groaned and opened his eyes. Miranda burst into tears and threw her arms around his neck, sobbing into his chest.
Clearly confused, he raised a shaky hand and ran it through her hair.
‘Miranda?’ his voice was croaky.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she sobbed, ‘I’ve been a fool and I’m so sorry.’
D
an eyed Izzy over Miranda’s shoulder, glanced at Ethan and went suddenly pale as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.
‘Izzy I er…’
Miranda looked between the two of them, suddenly a new horror dawning on her face, one that involved Izzy and her husband in some kind of romantic entanglement.
‘What’s going on?’ Miranda suddenly found her courage again.
‘Nothing is going on, there was just a little misunderstanding, right Dan?’
He nodded, gratefully and laced his fingers through Miranda’s, clearly not believing she was here.
‘Well you two have a lot to discuss I’m sure, so we’ll leave you to it,’ Izzy said.
She went to walk out, but Ethan was immoveable. He bent down so his face was right in Dan’s. ‘If you come near my… Izzy again, a bruise on your face will be the least of your worries, do you understand?’
The threat was clear, not only in Ethan’s words but in the sinister tone of his voice.
Dan swallowed and nodded vehemently.
Ethan strode out, his hand still tightly wrapped around Izzy’s. Izzy looked back over her shoulder at Miranda and Dan who were staring at each other.
‘Do you think they’ll be ok?’ Izzy asked.
‘I don’t care.’
The other boys followed them back to the van.
‘Gizmo, you need to drop us back at my house, you guys can do the pick up today. We’re taking the rest of the day off.’
‘I bet you are,’ Kyle chuckled.
Ethan flashed him a glare that was laced with such a threat that any other words that Kyle or Gizmo might want to say were silenced immediately.
‘Ethan, I’m ok…’ she trailed off under the weight of his stare too. He was clearly not in the mood to be argued with.
The short van ride back to his house was silent and heavy with tension. Ethan sat next to her for the whole time, her hand wrapped tightly in his, his jaw clenched with an obvious anger.
Gizmo stopped the van outside Ethan’s house and without another word Ethan strode up the drive, dragging Izzy behind him.
No sooner had he closed the front door behind them, his mouth was on hers, hard. He kissed her, fiercely, pulling her tight against him.
She pushed him away gently. ‘Ethan I’m ok…’ She trailed off when she saw the tears in his eyes.
‘I have never been so scared in my life,’ he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers.
‘I was fine, I’m fine. He wasn’t going to hurt me.’
Ethan sighed.
Izzy trailed her fingers down his shirt buttons as he stared at her. ‘Well, that whole being rescued scenario we offer to our clients, the one I didn’t understand. Now I do. That was incredibly sexy.’
He smiled, dryly. ‘Yes, I set this whole thing up just for you.’
‘Very kind. But now I stink of smoke.’
‘Well that’s fixable.’ He arched an eyebrow at her and then pulled her upstairs.
‘Ethan, we should get back to work.’ It was a half-hearted attempt, shower sex did sound rather appealing right now.
He pulled her into the bathroom and closed the door. He turned the shower on, and steam soon billowed around them as he turned back to face her, immediately pulling her coat off her shoulders, and yanking her shirt and jumper over her head in one quick movement. Within seconds she was completely naked and a few moments later his clothes joined hers in a pile on the floor.
He gestured for her to get in the shower and he followed, almost completely filling the large cubicle with his enormous frame. The hot water pounded down on them. She wrapped her hands around his neck and he kissed her as he shuffled her back against the cool tiled wall. He pulled away slightly, wrapping himself around her, leaning his head on the top of hers. She held him close, feeling his pounding heart slowly return to normal. She waited for him to change the tempo, to start making love to her in any way he needed, but he was content just to hold her, this is what he needed right now. After what she had just been through, it was infinitely better than a quick shag against the shower wall. God she loved this man so much. She held him tighter and he in turn held her tighter still, almost crushing her against his hard chest.
*
As Izzy lay on Ethan’s chest later that day, his phone didn’t stop beeping next to them on top of his drawers.
‘Someone wants to get hold of you,’ Izzy mumbled sleepily.
‘I’m afraid the grapevine has been alerted to us.’
She lifted her head to look at him as he grabbed his phone and started scrolling through. ‘Six messages from Kyle taking the piss, one from Gizmo saying he’s happy for us, three from Tia telling me not to mess it up, four from my mum demanding to meet you, two from cousins. Oh, and one from Kyle reminding us about filming this promo film on Wednesday.’
‘That will be fun.’
‘Hmm you don’t know my brother. He’s very persistent.’ Ethan carried on scrolling through his phone and then laughed before putting the phone back on the drawers. ‘And I have a text from my uncle who isn’t happy about my association with Jack Blake’s niece.’
She frowned. ‘This whole family rivalry thing, is that going to be a problem?’
‘Maybe for them, not for me. You will have to meet my mum though. I can stall her for a little while, but you’ll have to meet eventually.’
She smiled. ‘I look forward to it.’
‘Don’t. She’s a terrifying woman.’
Izzy lay her head back down on Ethan’s chest and closed her eyes as he stroked her hair. Nothing could alter her blissful mood right now, especially not one grumpy old lady.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Izzy was working alone in the office the next day when she heard a car pull up outside. Ethan was out walking Psycho and the boys weren’t due in at all. Izzy quickly tidied the desk in case it was a potential client and waited as the dark shadow approached the door.
When the door opened, a lady who was far older than the average clientele came through. She must have been in her late sixties, with silvery grey hair in a chic bob, dressed in smart grey trousers, a red fitted woollen top and a pearl necklace. An actual pearl necklace, did people really wear pearls anymore? There was nothing about this woman that suggested she was into kinky role play, but as Izzy had quickly learned, she should never judge a book by its cover.
‘Hello, can I help you,’ Izzy stood and offered her hand to shake but the woman pointedly ignored it.
‘Isabelle Franklin I presume?’
Izzy faltered in her welcoming smile. ‘Er yes?’
‘I’m Beatrice Chase, Ethan’s mother.’
Oh crap.
‘You’re Jack Blake’s niece, I believe?’
‘Yes. Erm by marriage. My dad’s sister is married to him. Was. She died about five years ago.’
‘Yes I heard that.’ She looked sad for a moment but that quickly passed as a steely glint returned to her eyes. I’m not happy about this association you have with my son. The Blakes and Castellos don’t get on.’
‘Seriously? That silly feud ended years ago, surely?’
‘That “silly feud” as you put it was a property dispute. The Blakes stole our land, they are nothing more than common thieves and we shed blood, sweat and tears to get it back.’
Izzy had a vague knowledge of their family dispute, but she had always heard that it was the other way round.
‘And when did this fight take place?’
Beatrice sniffed. ‘I believe it was in the 1920s.’
‘I am not going to be dictated to over who I should or should not date because of a fight that happened nearly a hundred years ago. You weren’t there and your parents probably weren’t even there either. It’s time we let this go. I believe that Nico and my uncle are even friends now.’
‘Friends?!’ Beatrice was incredulous.
‘Well they certainly don’t hate each other anymore. My uncle saved Nico’s sister from drowning when they were kids…’ S
he trailed off at the sudden spark in Beatrice’s eyes and Izzy quickly made the connection. It was Beatrice that Jack had saved.
‘Nico might have forgiven the Blakes because of Jack’s act of bravery and heroism,’ she said, sarcastically. ‘But I certainly have never forgiven Jack for how he behaved when we were younger and no son of mine is going to have any association with his family. If I had known you were working for him, I would have put a stop to this a long time ago, but I’m stopping it now.’
Izzy narrowed her eyes. There was more to this drowning story than Izzy first realised. Jack and Beatrice had history. This had nothing to do with the Blake – Castello feud.
‘I will tell Ethan that he is to have nothing more to do with you. Ethan is a good boy, he will do as I tell him.’ Her steely conviction punctuated the weight of her words. Beatrice had absolutely no doubt that Ethan would do as he was told and Izzy felt a flash of panic and pain shoot through her. When Ethan had sacked Jim years before, he had to take him back because his mother told him to. As big and formidable as Ethan was, this tiny Italian woman was somehow even more formidable – and there was no way he would argue against her.
Izzy swallowed the fear of losing Ethan just when she had found him. ‘Do you think I’m not good enough for him?’
‘I know you’re not. Charlie was the most wonderful woman and you can’t possibly compete with her.’
‘With respect, you know nothing about me and tarring me with the same brush as Jack because of something he did over forty years ago is very unfair and petty.’
‘I am not petty. I’m looking out for my son. He has been through hell since Charlie died and I will not see him hurt again.’
‘I won’t hurt him. I couldn’t. It’s more likely that your son will hurt me than the other way round. I… I’ve fallen for him.’
A flash of triumph crossed Beatrice’s face.
Just then Ethan burst through the door having clearly seen his mum’s car parked outside. He stared at the two of them and let go of Psycho’s lead as he closed the door behind him. Psycho immediately ran round to sit at Izzy’s feet. If only Ethan would be that loyal to her. Unfortunately he was more loyal to his mum – and there was nothing Izzy could do to shake that loyalty. ‘What’s going on?’ Ethan said quietly, staring down at his mum.
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