“I was just leaving.” Ana rose to her feet. On her way out, she exchanged a meaningful look with him. Yeah, I was losing my shit.
“What do they need? Did Bridget set a meeting place yet?” I asked. After the initial ransom note, Bridget had asked that all negotiations be done through the FBI agent. She knew I wouldn’t be able to keep a cool head after the picture she sent. “I’m getting so tired of her calling the shots.”
“I know. It’s almost over. Did the bank confirm the funds will be available in the morning?”
“Yeah. She’ll have her money first thing.”
“Okay. As soon as the wire goes through, Bridget says she’ll drop Valentina off on I-85 and text the mile marker. Once she’s out of range, I’m sure.”
I squeezed my hands into fists. “Is she fucking joking?”
“I’m afraid not. Don’t worry. Valentina will be safe. We’ll have several police cars ready to scoop her up and an ambulance on standby, just in case.”
My gaze snapped up. Just in case. There was a reason Bridget brought Alex along. To make sure I met her request quickly. He was volatile. She was fucking counting on that. She was also counting on the fact that I knew what Alex was capable of. That asshole made her life a living hell, and still he felt he had some sort of claim on her. His letter showed how little he thought of her and how much he thought he could still control her. He wasn’t wrong. A lump churned in my stomach. I stood and faced the window.
She went to him.
Did she know he didn’t have Max when their picture was taken? I unlocked my phone, expecting to see the image of the two of them. My heartbeat quickened, pumping hot blood and acid through me. Was that Bridget’s endgame? Did she want me to get rid of Alex so she wouldn’t have to share the loot with him? I had to assume so. Bridget never took a step without knowing the next three moves.
“What about Bridget? Are we letting her walk away?”
“That’s your call.” Tyler came to stand next to me, blinking fast against the bright sunrays that filtered through the treetops.
The last time I let Bridget walk away, it gave her the idea that she had carte blanche to come after me anytime she felt like it. We were in this mess because I went easy on her before. What would she do for her next trick, after the money ran out, after she gambled it all away? “I don’t want to do anything to put Valentina in the crossfire. What are my options?”
“The FBI is ready to give chase as soon as Valentina is in custody. They are no guarantees there. But make no mistake, Bridget will spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder. This is a serious crime.”
Bridget, no doubt, had a plan to move to a different country and start over. “I want her and Alex in jail, not looking over their shoulders.”
“We can only do so much.”
“So, basically, my option is to wait. Wait until Bridget decides to bring Valentina back. Wait until the FBI finds Bridget and Alex. I can’t sit here and take that.”
If I stayed here another minute, I would lose my mind. The FBI didn’t know what was at stake here. They had their protocols and procedures, but they had no sense of urgency. They didn’t understand what Valentina was going through. What this would do to her the longer she stayed there.
I reached for the phone again. My guys better have a lead I can use, one that would put me on track to find Valentina.
The head of security picked up on the first ring. “I was about to call you.”
“What do you have?” The blood drained to my feet. Come morning, the time Bridget had given us to deliver the money would expire. Then it would all be out of my hands. I couldn’t let Bridget keep calling the shots.
“Got Alex at a gas station a few miles outside of Savannah. That was about eighteen hours ago. Worth looking into though, don’t you think?”
“Yes. Do it.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll get out there immediately. I’m leaving a couple of the guys behind in case you need them.”
“No need. I’m coming with you. Get the chopper ready.”
“Yes, sir.”
I hung up and walked around my desk. Tyler jerked into step behind me. “Where are you going?”
“To Savannah. I’m done hiding in this study, waiting for someone to bring me answers. I’m going there myself.” If anything, to get a sense that I was moving forward, doing something to get Valentina back.
“I’m coming with you.” Tyler ran up the stairs next to me. “I’m not taking no for an answer.”
I glanced at him. Backup would be nice because I had no idea how far gone Bridget was with this mad plan of hers. “Meet me out front in ten minutes. We’re driving to the office and flying from there.”
21
You Can't Make Someone Love You
Valentina
“Ah!” Blood trickled down my arm. A serrated knife wasn’t exactly the right tool to strip a wire. I sucked on my finger to make the bleeding stop and then stabbed the waxy sleeve again. After it was riddled with tiny holes, I pulled it off to reveal the copper wires. My eyes had adjusted to the dimly lit room by the time I started working on the brown wire. This plan had to work. I couldn’t let Derek pay millions because I’d decided to come after Max.
All this was on me. I had to find a way out on my own. The house was on complete lockdown, but this small cry for help might just do the trick. Sending an alarm signal to the call center was a huge assumption. The owner of the house wasn’t required to keep up with their security system. If they had decided to stop making payments to the monitoring call center, I’d be back to square one.
Minutes had gone by since I pulled the red wire from its socket. If the system was beeping upstairs, would Bridget or Alex know where to go to check on it? I made quick work of the brown wire and twisted it around the red one before I shoved the spliced copper into the red slot. A fiery spark of protest was all I got. No dial tone or a response back. I replaced the metal cover on the box and returned to the bottom of the stairs where the lighting was better.
Normally, the call center would respond within seconds. But it was up to the owner to check in on his renters or send the cops to investigate. I stuffed my hands into my hair and let the tears flow. Get up. Get up. This isn’t the time to feel sorry for yourself.
I jerked to my feet, darted to the door, and banged on it. “I need to use the restroom. Hey.” I kept at it until a shadow appeared under the door. “Come on. I’ll just be a few minutes.”
The door swung open. Bridget stood there in the bright kitchen, looking as if she hadn’t slept in days. Good, I wasn’t the only one who felt like crap.
She braced her hands on her hips, lips pursed. “You have one minute.”
The bathroom was halfway down the hallway that lead to the front door. I slipped out of the basement and rushed to the powder room to pee before Bridget changed her mind. “Any chance you’ll give me a set of clothes to wear?” I projected my voice.
“I don’t see the point,” Bridget said.
A shiver ran through me as I washed my hands and watched the dirty water go down the drain. I lifted my gaze toward the mirror and groaned at my reflection. I looked as crappy as I felt. Closing my eyes, I turned around and leaned on the sink. Maybe I could stay in the bathroom until the police came.
“Time’s up.” Bridget barged in. “I don’t have time to babysit you.”
“What happened to you?” I glanced down at the slash across my cuticle. The damage Bridget had done was way worse. It hurt way more. “It doesn’t make sense. You had it all.”
She barked out an incredulous laugh. Did she not know how lucky she was?
“You think I had it all? Let’s see—I had a job that required me to put in sixty hours a week. A husband who didn’t care if I lived or died. And a life that was going nowhere fast. Does that sound like I had it all?”
From where I stood, it did look as if she were on top of her game. Was this a bad case of the grass being greener on the other side? How could it be?
Derek and Bridget ran the company together. She was a success. “Derek always said you were a brilliant CEO. Embezzlement notwithstanding, of course.”
“He said that?” She met my gaze.
Jeez, she could be as intimidating as Derek. Even now—standing there looking as if she hadn’t slept in days and for all intents and purposes, at her rock bottom— she seemed dauntless.
“He did. Why did you betray him? He didn’t deserve any of it.”
Bridget threw it all away when she got in bed with her accountant to finance her gambling addiction. Derek never said it, but I wondered if he would still be married to her if she hadn’t done any of those things. He’d been happy with their arrangement because even if he didn’t love her, he did need her. Or at least, he thought he did. Wasn’t that why he’d agreed to everything Bridget asked for? He married her because she asked. My gaze blurred when my mind painted a picture of Bridget and Derek together.
“You don’t know how it was. He used me. I wasn’t his wife. I was a means to an end. I made his company what it is today. What did I get in return? A couple of million and a ruined career?” Tears brimmed her eyes for a moment before she blinked them away. “He couldn’t even love me. He couldn’t give me that much.”
Love? Bridget was in love with Derek? I glanced down at my hands. “I didn’t know.”
“Derek needed me. When he got what he wanted, he tossed me to the curb. Typical, don’t you think? Then he had the audacity to be angry at me for finding solace somewhere else. Men can be so selfish, so self-entitled.”
“It didn’t have to end like that.”
She shrugged, raising an eyebrow at me. “What would you have done? What do you do when the person you love can’t be bothered to care?”
Somewhere in the kitchen, Alex popped open a beer. He never bothered to care either. I was a doll, a toy to him. In the beginning, I had tried to work things out with him, but he didn’t have it in him to love. “You can’t make someone love you.”
She reached for my hand to look at the three-carat canary ring Derek gave me as an engagement ring. “That worked out for you, didn’t it? You’re here because I chose to stand up for myself. Never forget that. If I hadn’t moved on, Derek and I would still be married.”
I yanked my arm away from her. “I think eventually Derek would’ve realized your marriage wasn’t real. You just accelerated the inevitable.”
Her shrill laugh turned my fingers cold. “You can tell yourself whatever you want. As long as I get what I’m due.”
The doorbell chimed, and my whole body jerked. Bridget stood still, listening for movement near the front porch. A knock came next, and she shoved me back into the bathroom. “Stay there.”
Had the alarm signal worked? Alex’s heavy steps stomped toward the entrance. I stayed put until Bridget shuffled away from the door. Muffled voices filtered through, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I pressed my forehead on the doorframe. Run. You gotta run. Scream. But I couldn’t move. My arms and legs shook uncontrollably.
I took deep breaths to calm down. After a few seconds, I turned the metal knob and made a run for it. By then it was too late—Alex had already dispatched whoever had shown up. I didn’t even know if it had been the police or just some random person. He slammed the door, then grabbed me by the neck. I didn’t fight him because as long as he had his hands and attention on me, he would forget about the fact that he hadn’t punched in the code to lock the door. I had a shot at getting out. My plan with the alarm hadn’t failed all the way.
“Where do you think you’re going, huh?” He’d stayed away from me after I punched him in the face, but now he was ready to knock me around some more. Had Bridget asked him to stay away from me? Or had he finally realized I wasn’t going to put up with him anymore? “Did you call the cops?”
“How could she? She has no phone.”
“The alarm company said they received a distress call. What did you do?” He slammed my body against the wall. His eyes showed anger and frustration for having to explain himself. He had always had a problem with authority.
“You can’t keep me here. I’ll never stop trying to leave.”
“You’re staying put until I say otherwise.” His beer breath brushed my cheek. I was glad I hadn’t had any food all day. “How long do you think he’ll search for you? How long before he decides you’re not worth the effort?”
“I’m so tired of your silly mind games, Alex.” Bridget sauntered to the living room and sat on the sofa. “Why don’t you get it over and done with already? Or are you, you know, not able to?”
They were getting on each other’s nerves now. Great. And here I was, the only entertainment they had in this house.
“I mean you might as well. I bet Derek is already thinking you and Valentina spent all this time in bed together, reminiscing. Oh, I hope he thinks you forced yourself on her. Yeah, that would be better. To think of his precious Valentina suffering like that. I hope he’s mad with suspicion. Not knowing what’s real and what isn’t.” She glared at her wedding band, not exactly talking to us anymore.
Of course, she sent Derek the picture she took of us back in the warehouse. She wanted money, but she also wanted to hurt Derek. He couldn’t love her when they were married, so she went and slept with their sleazy accountant. Now that Derek was happy with me, she wanted to taint this too.
“Of course, I can. Better than him. I want her to beg me like she did with him in the gardens.”
“You disgust me.” I met his gaze. He’d been hiding in the woods when Derek and I had sex after our big fight when we first got to Atlanta. Alex stayed and watched the whole thing. Hot blood rushed through me. I had no words for him anymore. I’d spent so much time regretting and feeling ashamed for everything that happened between us. I blamed myself when in truth, Alex did what he did, not because I deserved it, but because he was all screwed up.
Run.
I kneed him in the crotch. He sucked in air, as if I’d punched him in the gut, and doubled over in pain. I wouldn’t have another chance at escaping them. I swung the door open, the one he’d forgotten to lock before. To my right, in the distance, blinking lights urged me to head that way. In all the time I spent in the basement planning my getaway, I hadn’t considered the route I’d take once I made it outside. What did I expect? For Derek to be here waiting for me? He was miles away and had no idea where I was.
Cicadas chirped in yet another hot summer night in the South. Picking up my long dress, I pushed my legs to run faster. Alex would come after me as soon as he recovered from the pain in his groin. Based on how dark and desolate the streets were, I had to guess we were outside of downtown Savannah. The problem was that I had no idea which way would take me back to the city center.
I ran up to the corner where a dead tree stump blocked half the sidewalk. I bolted toward the lights ahead. They had to be a mile away, but I pressed on. Going the opposite direction of the house was definitely the way to go. To my right, there were buildings and an apartment complex, but they all seemed empty or abandoned. On the left, I had a city square with lush greenery and tall live oaks draped in spanish moss.
With a quick breath, I ran up the wooden stoop to the front porch of a small Victorian home, the first one in a long row of many. I banged on the door hard, then hit it twice with urgency. When there was no response, I climbed down and crossed the street. I couldn’t waste time going from door to door hoping someone would answer. Under the protection of the trees and their shadows, I continued toward what I hoped would be a phone or a way to call for help.
My legs and lungs screamed in protest. When I stopped to catch my breath, I got a glimpse of a dark figure coming at me. Alex. I kept the trees between Alex and me. I needed a better plan than running, but I couldn’t risk leaving the safety of the park.
This wasn’t the first time Alex chased me down a deserted street. The first time I broke up with him, he refused to let me go. After he slapped me, I took off. I r
an as fast as I could, but he caught up to me anyway. That day he showed me who he really was. Many times, I’d wondered if I’d been able to run faster had I known about him.
Every breath I took burned in my chest. I inhaled quietly and slowed down my gait. Behind me, the ground crushed under quick footsteps.
“No begging. I get it. The chase is just as sweet.” Alex’s voice boomed a few feet away.
The next thing I felt was his body ramming against mine. I broke his fall. My head hit the grass so hard I tasted metal in the back of my mouth. The impact sent two phones skimming across a patch of dry soil. His gaze darted between me and his devices. When he moved to grab them, I kicked him in the face and rolled on my stomach to get to the phones. Why did he have two phones? Because Bridget told him he couldn’t use his?
Just my luck, the mobile I got to was turned off. I pressed the side button as I clutched the screen to my stomach. Alex grabbed me by the hair and got me back on my feet. He yanked the phone from my hand and stuffed it back in his shirt pocket.
“This is how it always was with you. I try to be nice to you, and you just have to find a way to ruin things.” He softened his hold on me and turned me to face him. “Tomorrow I’ll be rich. We can move to any country in the world. Italy.”
“Now I know you’re truly insane if you think I’d want to go anywhere with you. Go to hell.” I squeezed the fist of dirt in my hand and threw it in his face before I took off running again.
He sniggered behind me, not making an effort to come after me right away. “I’ll give you another head start. Do us a favor and run the opposite direction, toward the house. It doesn’t matter where you go. You’re going back with us.”
The lights up ahead were gone, or maybe I’d gotten turned around and gone the wrong way. Either way, I had no idea where to go. I squeezed my eyes shut and stopped behind a thick tree trunk. My gaze darted across the ground, looking for something I could use as a weapon. At this point, I wanted to hurt him bad. Flitting images of me hitting Alex over the head with a big stick flashed in my head.
Unravel You: A Hot Billionaire Romance (Cole Brothers Series Book 1) Page 20
