Compromising Kessen

by Rachel Van Dyken

  Jenifer.

  “We’ll release a statement, but please, no questions until we know what we are dealing with,” Duncan said diplomatically.

  “I—” Christian looked at the eager faces and flashing lights and cleared his throat. “I—” He couldn’t say what he had written. It was too cold, too heartless.

  He sighed loudly into the microphone and braced the podium with both hands. He closed his eyes and without hesitation or effort said, “I love her. She’s the love of my life, and I’ll stop at nothing to get her back. Thank you.”

  Christian glared at the guys as they gave him smug grins from the stairway.

  ****

  Kessen was furious. How dare they? She had been drugged, of that much she was certain. She had spent the majority of the night crying to Nick. At one point he left the room to chat with Duncan and came back with a small drink of tea and whiskey. She drank it, hoping it would help her sleep, but within minutes her vision became blurry and then everything felt like a dream.

  She had the sensation of being carried somewhere, and then she heard voices, familiar voices talking about kidnapping and Christian.

  It was all too much.

  The only positive thing about her current situation was she was convinced she was still on Vandenbrook property. If this was Nick and Duncan’s idea of revenge, they had another thing coming. Who kidnaps a girl after she gets dumped?

  Well, technically she didn’t get dumped, but it was close enough. The man didn’t love her and probably never would. He was marrying someone else because of blackmail, and now she was the hurt party.

  She moaned until her voice went hoarse.

  Maybe it wasn’t Duncan and Nick after all. Maybe it was Jenifer? No, that would be crazy. Jenifer was much smaller than she was, and it was definitely Nick and Duncan who had drugged her.

  She laughed nervously out loud; it was most definitely crazy. It had to be Nick and Duncan. Who else could carry her up here?

  Kessen looked around for food and noticed the ‘kidnappers’ had left her a sandwich with grapes and a juice box. How kind.

  When they came for her—not if, but when—she was going to make them sorry.

  She immediately set a plan in motion. If revenge was what they wanted, revenge was what they would get. Suddenly she didn’t feel as sad anymore. Revenge gave her something to focus on other than the condition of her lacerated heart. It felt nice. Until she started thinking about Christian again.

  ****

  Nick was trying with every thread of his being not to laugh.

  It wasn’t working.

  Especially when Duncan walked in wearing a fake police uniform and said, “Is this really necessary?”

  The guy looked like a poorly paid stripper. His pants were too tight, and the top collar of the police uniform had lipstick stains on it.

  “That’ll do,” Nick said, bursting into laughter.

  “I’ll get you for this!” Duncan roared as he left the room.

  It had been a simple matter to convince the Newberry employees to play along with their little trick. Most of them were more than happy to throw their vice president, the future Duke of Albany, under the bus. Many of them were so eager they brought friends and family to play extra roles.

  They had more than enough fake media and police officers to go around. As for their silence, they simply told everyone it was for a reality show in which companies play practical jokes on their bosses.

  They ate it up.

  As for Christian’s parents, they were so relieved that Nick and Duncan were taking care of Christian’s feelings once and for all, they were willing to sign over their summer home within minutes.

  Nobody had gotten much sleep the night before. Nobody but Christian, who in his champagne stupor wouldn’t have awakened if a hippo had charged through his room.

  Only true friends faked kidnappings so you would admit your feelings. All in all, Nick felt pretty good about his life at that point.

  “Nick!” Christian’s voice resounded through the halls.

  Duncan, who had just re-entered the room in his costume, hid behind the door. Traitor.

  “My Lord?” Nick said just as Christian entered the room.

  “Stop calling me that,” he grumbled, taking the first seat by the door. Nick hoped Christian wouldn’t turn around and ask why Duncan was trembling like a child behind the door.

  “Lady Newberry said there was a new lead in the story?”

  Duncan coughed; Christian turned in his direction. Out of desperation, Nick howled, “My eye, my eye!”

  “Good Lord, man! What’s wrong with you?” Christian turned towards him.

  “Oh weird. It’s gone,” Nick said once Duncan was safely out of the room. Christian eyed him as if he had just lost his mind, and then shrugged. It was obvious how tired he was.

  “The lead?” Christian urged again.

  “Ah, yes.” Nick went to sit on the bed. “It’s believed she’s still on the property.”

  “And how did they come to that conclusion?” Christian asked in bewilderment.

  Just then one of the Newberry/media walked in. “Um, sorry to interrupt, Nick. The employees would like to know when lunch will be. Someone said something about catering, and I wasn’t sure—” He turned to look at Christian and paled. “That is, I wasn’t sure if, umm…”

  “We’re feeding the media?” Christian was perplexed. “Since when do we cater for the media?”

  Nick laughed heartily. “Oh, young fellow, whom I’ve never seen before in my life, why don’t you go ask Duncan. I’m sure you can find him somewhere!” He hit him hard on the back and turned to Christian.

  “Do I know you?” Christian asked slowly.

  The young man turned to Nick, who shook his head slightly, but enough for Christian to notice. Finally, he looked at Christian and shrugged. “Sorry, I work for the news. Maybe you’ve seen me on the telly.” He trotted out of the room, leaving Christian confused.

  “So we are feeding them?” Christian asked again.

  “People have to eat, Christian.”

  “Right.” Christian scratched his face. “And you say the new development happened earlier today?”

  Nick shifted uncomfortably on the bed. “Yes, that’s right.”

  “And which police officer made the discovery?”

  Nick paused then answered, “All of them.”

  “They all made the discovery?” Christian asked doubtfully. “At the same time?”

  “They’re very good.” Nick nodded heartily.

  Christian eyed him wearily. He looked suspicious.

  Nick grinned clumsily as he guided Christian out the door. “Maybe you should join in the search? The police are out searching the grounds right now.”

  Christian nodded and followed Nick to the back door.

  ****

  Something wasn’t right. Of that much Christian was certain. For one thing, he could have sworn the young man who came into the room earlier was not an investigative journalist but one of the baristas at Newberry and Co.

  Perplexed, he followed Nick outside. And why were they feeding the media anyway? And how did the police come to find evidence that Kessen was still around? If she was still on the grounds, they should have found her by now.

  He scanned the outdoors where several policemen were scattered, looking at the grass. Some were even on their hands and knees sifting through the grass as if trying to find someone’s lost contact. Which was proved to be accurate when one younger fellow jumped up in the air exclaiming, “I got it! I got it!” He handed the contact to another policeman who promptly put the contact back in and turned around.

  Christian got a good look at his face but honestly couldn’t believe his eyes. Either he was drunk or Duncan was wearing a police uniform. A police uniform, which upon further inspection, appeared to be much too tight for his body.

  “Is that Duncan?” Christian asked, dumbstruck.

  “Uh … no. You must have hit y
our head before you passed out last night,” Nick informed him, then turned him around to face the east end of the property.

  “The only area left unchecked is the east end.” Nick subtly dropped the hint.

  Christian looked between Nick and the policeman, who he was now convinced was Duncan, and crossed his arms. “What’s really going on here?”

  Out of the blue, Lady Newberry approached Nick and began chattering, “Now, Nick, I know I’m supposed to act sad, but I’ve had a terrible time with these eye drops. You say to drop them into the corner of my eye and let them burn so I tear up, but I just can’t seem to—”

  Christian’s mouth dropped open.

  Lady Newberry straightened. “Oh hello, Christian. Dreadful, isn’t it? It’s times like these I wish I had one of those tracking devices they put into humans.”

  Nick cleared his throat. “You mean the people finder devices, right, Lady Newberry?”

  “Why, yes, of course. They have them in dogs you know.” She patted Christian on the arm and smiled. “Oh well, I’m just too upset to be outdoors. I’m going to go see about catering for our guests!”

  All of Christian’s doubts were back full force as he scoured the lawn again. He was looking for a clue, for anything really, that would point out the strange happenings going on at the house.

  Because of his grief he hadn’t noticed many of the police officers had mismatched uniforms. He asked Nick about them as he began walking, but Nick merely shrugged and said they were from different counties.

  Christian finally hit a good question when he found a young fellow he knew he had trained at Newberry and Co. just the week before. He had on a shirt that said “BBC 2“ and a camera wrapped around his neck.

  “George?” Christian asked.

  The kid turned around and smiled. “Oh hello, sir. I must say it’s exciting to be out here for all of this. Hello, Nick!” He held out his hand to Nick, who shook it reluctantly.

  “And what exactly are you doing out here?” Christian asked.

  George looked to Nick for help. Christian stood between the two just in time.

  “Taking pictures,” George said.

  “Of what?” Christian asked.

  “The kidnapping, of course,” George said gravely. He put his hand over his heart and sighed. “It’s been a trying day for everyone, sir. I’m just helping out the news channel.”

  “Which channel?”

  George stuttered before answering Channel 6.

  Christian laughed as Nick cursed behind him.

  “Thanks, George. That will be all!” George trotted off. Christian turned around and glared at Nick.

  Nick saw he was out of options and screamed at the top of his lungs, “Abandon ship!”

  Everyone in the yard perked up and began running into the house, leaving Duncan, still in his police uniform, and Nick out in the yard with Christian.

  Duncan walked by Christian and dropped a map into his hands. “Have fun,” he said, and high-fived Nick as they walked back into the house and locked the doors.

  Christian swore.

  Then he looked at the map and swore again.

  It had Kessen’s name on an X and a starting point of the yard with Christian’s name on it. He was going to kill them. He was going to rip their heads off. But not before he found Kessen. In fact, he was so pleased Kessen hadn’t been kidnapped after all, he started running in the direction of the tiny tree house cottage.

  He ran the entire way and stopped at the base of the tree, clueless as to how to save her. Did he barge in? Was he supposed to call for her? Did she know it was a trick? Was she afraid?

  He took a deep breath and climbed the ladder to the door.

  ****

  Kessen thought she heard footsteps, but she couldn’t be sure. For precautionary reasons, she grabbed the closest thing to a weapon she could find, which was a small gardening shovel that had been left in the cottage.

  She gathered it into her still-tied hands and waited. The sound of her own breathing was her only comfort. In and out she breathed until she saw the doorknob twist. Before she had time to think about who was behind the door, she threw the shovel, hitting the person square in the stomach.

  It was Christian.

  Did he kidnap her?

  He was howling in pain. “Why’d you do that?”

  “I was scared!” she cried in outrage. “You didn’t have to be so creepy, turning the doorknob as slow as you did!”

  “I was trying to be quiet, in case you were sleeping!” he screamed.

  “Sleeping? After being kidnapped! I think not!” She kicked in his general direction just to show how angry she was, but did nothing but lift dust off the floor.

  He scooted towards her and began untying her wrists.

  “I think it was Duncan and Nick.” Her teeth were clenched. They felt so tight with stress she thought they might fall out from being held so firmly against her jaw.

  “It was them, and I have proof,” Christian mumbled. “I have no idea why they thought this was a good prank. I was nearly out of my mind with worry.”

  Kessen pushed Christian’s hands away and settled into the corner. “Just leave me alone.” She swore at him. It hurt too much to know he was worried about her, to know he cared even a little, when he was to be with another woman.

  “No!” he barked.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I said no, I’m not leaving you alone. Not now—not ever. Now get up!” He was standing over her.

  “No!”

  “Please?” His voice was still gruff, but she relented. She did want to get out of this place, if only so she could go and murder the two men who had put her in this mess.

  Kessen pushed up onto wobbly legs then promptly swooned, for the first time in her life, into Christian’s strong arms.

  In her mind she was screaming, trying to push away, but he held her tight against his chest.

  “No,” he said softly.

  She was still fighting when she heard more noise outside.

  The door flew open, revealing Duncan and Nick with huge grins on their faces.

  “Oh look! You’ve found Kessen!” Nick said, as if he had no idea where she had been the entire time.

  “Kessen, how wonderful that Christian has saved you!” Duncan said, patting Christian on the back. “He must love you very much. You must marry at once!”

  Kessen felt a tear slide down her cheek as she shook the memory of the previous night away from her consciousness. He didn’t love her; he would have said as much or at least tried to fight off Jenifer, or paid her off for that matter.

  Nick nudged Duncan, who pushed Christian, who got down on one knee in front of Kessen and smiled. “I do.”

  “You do what?” Kessen asked, still sniffling.

  “I love you.” The words didn’t seem real—the moment didn’t seem real. Was he being serious? She looked into his piercing eyes and smiled.

  “And if you don’t believe him, watch this!” Nick opened up a small video camera and showed Kessen what had taken place over the last few hours.

  “What’s this?” she asked curiously.

  Christian rolled his eyes. “Oh, just the fake press conference for your pretend kidnapping, where I made a very real speech about how I feel.”

  He stopped talking as the video played.

  His face said it all in the video. Even if he hadn’t said it with his words, his face had said it.

  “You love me!” Kessen yelled, a little too loud for such a crowded space. Duncan swore and covered his ears with his hands.

  “Um, Kessen?” Nick whispered. “How do you feel about Christian now that he has declared his love?”

  Kessen beamed. “He’s okay.”

  Christian’s eyes widened into saucers while Duncan and Nick roared with laughter.

  Kessen reached up to Christian’s face and pulled him into a long-awaited kiss. The only sound in her ears now was that of Nick and Duncan making gagging noises as they watched
the free show.

  Christian and Kessen walked hand-in-hand back to the house, both constantly stealing glances at one another as if stunned that this was now their reality.

  They reached the house within a few minutes. Kessen outwardly groaned when she smelled the food. Apparently the Newberry employees were having a barbecue at their boss’s house. How nice.

  It wasn’t until a few hours later that Kessen was able to be alone with Christian. He cornered her in the hallway as she was coming out of her room. There was no turning back.

  “Where are you off to?” he asked, closing the distance between them with rapid speed.

  Kessen gulped. “I was going to go downstairs.”

  “To do what?”

  Kessen thought about lying, then realized Christian could help her. Smiling sweetly, she touched his arm. “I was just going to find some paintball guns and do a bit of—hunting.”

  “Hunting?” His eyebrows lifted in interest. “And what, dear girl, would you be hunting at this time of night?”

  “Men.”

  “Two of them?”

  “Exactly two, no more, no less.” She leaned in towards his face. “You in?”

  “They won’t know what hit them.” He grabbed her hand, and they were off.

  It took less than ten minutes to locate weapons and less than five for them to put on enough camouflage to be able to hide in the brush outside.

  They told Lady Newberry their plan. She was so excited to be involved she asked to help. It was simple; all they needed was for Duncan and Nick to be led out towards the garden where they would be sitting ducks.

  Lady Newberry obliged; she told them to sit tight and went off on her way.

  Kessen shifted uncomfortably on the grass while Christian moved next to her. They waited for about five minutes before they heard the boys approaching.

  “All I’m saying, Lady Newberry, is it was a brilliant plan!” Nick threw his hands into the air. “We almost pulled it off.”

  “You should be a screenwriter or an author or something,” Duncan said seriously. They shook hands as to congratulate one another and walked right in front of where Christian and Kessen were waiting.