by Emma Nichols
The minute I slowed down and my mind quieted, I sensed a change in my flutter, how erratic it had become, slow one minute, fast and intense the next. This wasn’t helping me in the least. Finally, I turned onto the driveway, opened the gate, and started driving through when a motorcycle passed me and rushed into the courtyard. I swear Mishal did these things to annoy me. Usually, I’d emerge from the car cursing him out, but right now, I was so fucking grateful to see him. This time when I pulled in behind him, I stepped out of my vehicle and threw my arms around him before saying a word.
“Blaise?” Mishal, the perpetual joker, the bad boy, pulled out of my hug and eyed me curiously. “What’s wrong?”
“You always were perceptive.” I frowned.
“Yes, and you were never this happy to see me. Tell me what’s going on. I’m happy to help.” He dropped his helmet on his seat and raked his hands through his long, shaggy hair.
Fredo raced from the house, holding the phone out to me. With a solemn nod, I snatched it from his hand and hit the speaker button. “Yes?” I tried to sound as snooty and removed as possible.
“Come on, Draco. You can do better than that.” The man chuckled. He was using a voice distorter, but I’d have to guess from his verbiage, I was speaking with Sterling Girard. “You’d better, if you ever want to see this pretty little package again.”
My free hand curled into a fist. Across from me, Mishal’s eyes widened, then narrowed dangerously. He grabbed the elastic from around his wrist and pulled his hair back. Obviously, he was ready to get serious. When he finished, he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for instructions.
“What do you want?” I asked with a sigh, as if this call was wasting my valuable time. I closed my eyes and worked to control my breathing. I couldn’t have my emotions giving me away.
The voice grew agitated. “Listen, freak. I’ll call back later with instructions. For now, you gather as much cash as you can and prepare for an exchange.”
“Cool. Well, I have meetings today, so I would appreciate if…”
There was a growl and then the line went dead. Taking a deep breath, I opened my phone apps and hit the GPS one. The hardest part was waiting for everything to connect and for the map and bubble to finally appear on the screen. I held it up. “This is our target, the warehouse district. This is where Maggie is being held.”
Mishal frowned. “How could you know this? What did you do…chip her?”
I shrugged. “Sort of. It’s in her necklace.”
Maggie
I almost believed him. When I heard Blaise on the phone, acting like he didn’t give a damn about me, my heart was completely crushed. I averted my eyes and tried to hide the tears, which burned like battery acid. I think seeing my reaction made Sterling nervous. “I told you. I’m a job. I’m nothing more to him,” I reminded the creep.
He glared at Ira. “I thought you said there was something going on with them. I thought you said he couldn’t take his eyes off her.”
Ira squirmed. “I did. He couldn’t. I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Get the geek,” Sterling growled. Immediately, Ira scampered off and disappeared through a door a few feet away. Once we were alone, he leisurely walked around the table, picked up a metal folding chair, strolled back in my direction and set it up a few feet in front of me. Dropping into the seat, Sterling made a big show of smoothing his pants and crossing his legs before addressing me.
Already, I was bored and I intentionally yawned when he looked my direction. I covered my mouth with the back of my hand. “Oh, sorry,” I murmured absently. “I would’ve done a better job, but my hands are tied.” I held them up in explanation.
After an almost imperceptible hesitation, Sterling chuckled. “I still think you’re his weakness.”
I snorted. “Please. Mr. Draco has no weaknesses.”
“Everyone has a weakness.” He uncrossed his legs, leaned forward and grinned. “For example, I know yours.”
“Well, that should’ve been easy. I barely have any strengths,” I joked.
“I know all about you, Maggie Wallace,” Sterling sneered. “How do you think we knew how to lure you out? How do suppose we knew which buttons to push?”
“Lucky guess.” I shrugged. “Don’t most women go soft for kids? Doesn’t prove you’re a genius.” I rolled my eyes.
He stood and slowly circled me. “That’s what you think?” He leaned low near my ear. “You’re cute, but you couldn’t be more wrong.”
The metal door in the back of the building opened and Ira emerged with a middle-aged man in tow. The acoustics in the room made everything echo and seem painfully loud. I struggled to see which geek they’d hired. Though Silicon Valley had numerous programmers, there were few who could achieve what my father had, few on his level, even fewer with the skills to engineer a copycat program. I stared down the guy who seemed to be avoiding my gaze. In fact, the closer he came to us, the more uncomfortable he appeared. When he finally reached the table, I knew why. “Hello, Joel.” As soon as I called him out, he glanced toward me and my brow rose, which made him shiver.
“Ah, I see you two know each other.” Sterling stood straight, his shoulders back, arms crossed over his chest. “I’m actually rather surprised to learn you’ve met your father’s old assistant.”
I tried to show no emotion, but in my mind, I was putting all the pieces together. Joel had been with my father for years. He even relocated with Dad and reported to our house for work when my father had been fired. He had been loyal, trustworthy, and talented. More than that, Joel truly believed in the benefits and the profitability of this program. Worse, he knew all about it. I swallowed hard. Was Joel being used or was he a casualty of Girard’s ambitions like me? Soon enough, I had my answer. Ira set him up at the table with his laptop. Before moving away from him, he clapped Joel on the back a few times. And now I knew. I was completely on my own. Of course, this didn’t mean I had to roll over and give up without a fight. “Wow. What a disappointment you turned out to be, Joel,” I noted. To my satisfaction, I watched the man’s cheeks pinken.
“We found him a while back,” Sterling began proudly. “He was broke, completely unemployable. He’d been blackballed in the Valley for leaving with your father. Naturally, I recognized his talents, and decided to set him up, give him an opportunity to use those skills.”
“Broke and unemployable? You just described my father.” I looked past Girard to address the traitor. “You know we’re about to lose our house, right? Did you not understand my father didn’t want to let you go? He ran out of money to pay you, dumbass.” I shook my head. “He agonized over this for weeks. He thought he was doing you a favor so you didn’t go down with our sinking ship.”
The programmer had been tapping away on the laptop, but suddenly froze. “I didn’t know that.” His shoulders drooped.
“He loved you, still does.” I sighed, then I fixed my gaze on the evil genius behind my kidnapping. “You do know Joel had nothing to do with the recent version of the program, right? The current one is way more sophisticated than the earlier models.” I studied the billionaire a moment. “Oh, and that’s why I’m here, right? You need me as leverage to get my father’s program. Well, Mr. Draco will never allow that. The program is worth a helluva lot more than me.” I shrugged. “Guess you’re screwed.”
“You think so?” Sterling leaned against the table and chuckled. “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure Blaise has a thing for you. I bet he’s secretly losing his mind trying to figure out where you are.”
Ira moved to stand near his boss. “We know he wants to build a life with you,” he blurted out. “We heard it all yesterday.” Sterling shot him a look and Ira’s mouth snapped shut as he backed away.
I inhaled deeply. “In that case, you know I keep refusing him. See? No leverage.” Then I pointed to Joel. “And no program. You’re completely stuck.” I forced a smile even as my heart pounded in my chest and my flutter ached in my abd
omen.
“You think I have no program?” He shook his head. “Joel, tell her everything we’ve learned with what you designed.”
“Well…” Joel cleared his throat and glanced at me nervously. I’d affected him; he’d lost his enthusiasm for helping Sterling. “We know why you won’t get close to anyone.”
“My mother’s death is public record, Joel,” I murmured gently, trying to further upset him, hoping to sway him. “A fifth grader could’ve figured this out.” I frowned and shook my head sadly.
“No, not that part. The big one: your secret.” He paused and I read the guilt in his face. My mouth went completely dry and my nostrils flared as he continued. “We know you let her die.”
14
Blaise
“So, what’s the plan? Shall we call in the whole team to go after him?” Mishal sat on the corner of my desk, phone in hand and at the ready, while I sat behind it staring at my phone screen.
“We can’t very well do that, since he called me a freak. He’s going to try to out me, cost me the business, or at least hold it over my head as leverage.” I slammed my hand on the desk while Fredo stood to my left at the ready to do my bidding. “We have to remove all leverage. Let’s see what we have going for us.”
“Well, I doubt he knows you chipped your girlfriend.” Mishal rolled his eyes. “Hell, I doubt she knows. I know, and I don’t understand why.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” I murmured sadly.
He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “I think that may be even worse.”
“She’s his mate,” Fredo interjected. When he saw me glaring at him, he murmured, “Sorry, sir.”
Mishal hopped off the corner of my desk. “Wow! It finally happened for you, Blaise. I’m so excited. Can’t wait to meet her!”
I blew out a breath. “We haven’t mated yet. She’s reluctant…afraid even.”
“So…she knows you’re a dragon.” He nodded his head knowingly.
I stood up and turned to stare out the window, my hands clasped behind my back. “Yes, but oddly enough, that didn’t scare her. You should’ve seen her.” I shook my head. “Maggie is incredible…beautiful, intelligent, articulate…”
“Argumentative, stubborn, independent,” Fredo grumbled.
Mishal chuckled. “She sounds perfect for you.”
I faced him once more. “I can’t lose her. I think I’d be heartsick without her, even though we haven’t mated. I’ve waited hundreds of years for this woman. I’m sure my eagerness to tie her down scares her, but if I have the chance, I can help her understand.”
My brother clapped a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll save her. Let’s figure this out.”
“Where’s Maggie? And who are you?” Malcolm stood in the doorway. “Oh, Fredo, there you are. I was hungry.”
I glanced at the clock. Already, it was midafternoon. “How could we forget about you?” I shot a look at Fredo. “Get this man some food.”
Fredo strode across the room and began to escort him from my office, but he grabbed onto the wood molding. “Wait. I couldn’t find my daughter anywhere!” He glanced back and forth between us. “You know where she is and you’re not telling me. I can see it in your faces. You don’t trust me.” His voice quivered and I remembered about his panic attacks.
“Let him in.” I sighed and Fredo stepped aside so Malcolm could return. “Take a seat.” I gestured to the couch across from me.
His brows rose. “I’m taking a seat? Dear God. What happened?”
I walked around my desk. “Calm down, Malcolm. You’ll do no one any good if you’re in the hospital with another panic attack. Have you been taking your meds?”
Fredo nodded. “Let me get him some food while you talk.” Then my butler ducked out of the room.
“This is my brother, Mishal.” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder.
“Are you sure? You look nothing alike.” Malcolm frowned as he picked apart our differences. “You’re dark. He’s light.”
“Yes, we know. I take after father, while he more closely resembles a very rugged and manly version of our mother.” I forced a laugh. Clapping my hands together, I began, “Now let’s talk about Maggie. And promise you’ll remain calm.”
The man nodded hesitantly. I knew I was asking much of him.
“Maggie was kidnapped. She opened the gate against our warnings and was snatched. We’re working to get her back.” I leaned on the edge of the desk and crossed my legs at the ankles in an effort to appear more relaxed than I actually felt.
“Do you know where she is?” He studied me carefully.
Mishal snorted and I glared at him before responding. “Yes. We do.” I licked my lips. “They claim they will call with ransom demands.”
“What do they want?” His eyes widened. “I have nothing. How will we get her back?”
My eyes closed while I inhaled deeply. “My guess? This is about your program. They’re so determined to get it they used a child to lure Maggie out.”
Malcolm scowled. “Then it sounds like they’re already using it.”
I uncrossed my ankles and stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“They knew Maggie’s buttons. And if they took Maggie, they know yours too.” He nodded sadly. Tilting his head, he mused, “I wonder how they would even get this far. The technology is completely different than anything anyone has ever invented before.” He scratched his head. “They’d need someone who knew what I was already working on. Other than Maggie…oh boy.” His eyes widened.
“What, Malcolm?” I gripped the desk with my hands.
“My old assistant, Joel. He has to be working with them.” He shook his head sadly. “Maybe I should have kept him on. I just…ran out of money.” Malcolm stared at me with watery eyes. “He was angry when he left. I never thought he’d be this angry though.”
“Are you sure it’s him?” I frowned.
Standing, Malcolm nodded. “There’s no other way.”
An hour later, we’d managed to collect all the technology we needed for this mission, but none of the manpower. Only Mishal and I could be involved. As we packed my trunk, Malcolm stormed over.
“I’m going with you.” He had his laptop in a bag, slung over his shoulder. “I have a hotspot. You’ll need technical support. I’ll stay in the car, but I’m going.” Malcolm crossed his arms over his chest. For a split second, I half-expected him to threaten to hold his breath.
I was too tired and scared to argue. “Do not leave the vehicle,” I growled. “I don’t have time to save you too. Got it?” I stared at him sternly.
He nodded once while wearing what I can only assume was his game face.
“Fine. Hop in.” I pointed to the passenger seat and watched as he scrambled toward the door and hopped in. Mishal and I exchanged looks before he pulled on his helmet and I hopped in the car. Glancing at Malcolm, I murmured, “Let’s go save your daughter.”
Maggie
“Think we’ve made him stew long enough?” Sterling sneered as he pulled his cell out of his pocket.
“I doubt he has given this a second thought.” I shrugged, then grew serious. “So, what’s a girl gotta do to get a bathroom break around here? I’m seriously struggling here.”
“Let me call him. He may want proof of life. Then Ira will take you to go potty.” He spoke in his most condescending tone.
As long as I had a chance to pee, he could sound however he wanted. “Thanks,” I replied brightly. “I mean, I have no idea where I am. My feet are bound, which we’ll have to fix long enough for me to pee, by the way, and my hands are too. Again…a problem for peeing. I have no desire to run away, and only partially because I don’t run.” I tilted my head. “Also because I couldn’t find my way out of a paper bag. I’d be dead in a ditch before I was rescued.” I sighed while Sterling glared at me.
“Are you finished?” He huffed.
“With my pontification about why I’m not a flight risk? Sure. But man, do I have to pee.” I pasted a
smile on my face.
He hit a button and made the call, placing the phone on speaker. I listened to it ring a few times before Blaise answered.
“This is Blaise.” He sounded happy, which merely confused me.
From the look on the billionaire’s face, it confounded him too. “Did you get the money?”
“I have money. There’s a safe at my home. What I didn’t get is a number. Let’s start the negotiation.” He chuckled.
Sterling narrowed his eyes and paced in front of the table for a few minutes before speaking. “Does your safe hold fifty million dollars?”
I rolled my eyes. He was the worst villain ever. I swear he pulled that number out of his ass. I shook my head and stared at the cement floor.
“I must be having trouble hearing you. It’s really echoic. Where are you?” In the background, I could’ve sworn I heard my father gasp.
I tilted my head. Did they know where we were?
Sterling chuckled. “Nice try, Blaise. So, do you have it or not?”
“Fifty million? Not.” He sighed. “But I can get it. I’ll just need a little more time. The banks won’t close for a few hours.”
“Well, if you don’t have it, I would consider a trade.” His Cheshire cat grin widened.
My head hung. I knew what was coming. “Don’t do it. Whatever he wants, I’m not worth it!” I shouted.
I heard someone inhale sharply. Maybe two someones even.
Sterling took two big steps and stood looming over me. “No talking.” Then he backhanded me.
The sound of his hand connecting with my cheek echoed through the room. Tears of humiliation stung my eyes. I’d never been hit before.
