Sloane hesitates to enter the bathroom. “You know what?”
“What?”
“On second thought, I think I’ll get the hell out of here.”
In a flash, Sloane turns around and lunges at Claire, knocking her down, her head barely missing the edge of the coffee table. “Sloane, what the hell? No!”
Sloane makes a run for the driver side door, knowing full well it is faster to unlock than the back door.
Claire races after her. “Come back here!” Claire leaps into the air and lands on Sloane’s back. The two women tumble to the floor and begin tussling back and forth. Sloane is yanking Claire’s hair hard, trying to get her to release her grip. “Ow! I’m not going to let you out of here.”
“Think you can stop me? Think again, sweetie.”
Sloane punches Claire in the face several times. The blows inflict real pain on her jaw and eye socket. Even so, Claire is determined to keep Sloane from getting away.
“Let me go!”
Claire is hanging onto Sloane for dear life. She’s frightened about what will happen if Sloane escapes. “Argh!”
Sloane gets the upper hand in the fight and pulls herself up and away from Claire’s grip. Sloane kicks Claire really hard in the stomach, which causes Claire to cringe in pain. Sloane looks around frantically. Her eyes alight on the almost full jug of red fruit punch sitting on the small dinette table. Sloane rushes over and grabs the heavy plastic container. She brings it back and repeatedly hits Claire over the head with it until Claire again drops to the floor.
Claire is too dazed to get her bearings and go chase after Sloane. She can’t believe this is happening. She turns around just in time to see Sloane slipping out the driver’s side door of the camper. Claire rubs her bruised head.
“Shit! Fabian is going to freak out.”
Claire knows she has to get up off of this floor and go find Fabian right away. Every second that ticks by is one that allows Sloane to roam free around the truck stop. Unfortunately for Claire, this is one of those large truck stops. The parking lot is filled with cars and big rigs. There’s a gas station, repair garage, shopping center, salon, gift shop and restaurant. Sloane has plenty of places to hide. Worse, Sloane can easily go into her kidnap victim act, bringing the authorities down on their heads with swift force.
“Oh my god. What are we gonna do?”
Claire pictures FBI agents surrounding their RV, guns drawn, ready to shoot at the first sign of resistance.
The dazed feeling passes and she gets up off the floor. She wobbles to the driver’s seat and slides out the same door from which Sloane has just regained her freedom. She’s on the brink of tears.
“I need to find Fabian. Fast!”
Chapter 4
Fabian drives down the highway in stony silence. He’s angry as hell at Claire right now. He’ll lose his cool for sure if she tries talking to him.
How could she let this happen?
They had Sloane under their control. His plan was going smoothly. All Claire had to do was keep things the way they were. How hard is it to keep the damn bindings on? He told Claire time and time again not to give Sloane full mobility. She couldn’t be trusted.
They had searched every nook and cranny of that truck stop—twice. Neither one of them saw a sign of her. She just seemed to have vanished. Could she have gotten a ride somewhere with one of the truckers? That’s a real possibility. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to see how easy it would be for an attractive blonde to do a damsel in distress routine on one of those guys.
What’s got him anxiously worried is that they have no clue where Sloane is or what she’s up to. All he knows is that she’s out there somewhere and they’re in deep trouble.
We’ve gotta get to New York City before she does.
He knows that their only hope is they still have that recording of Sloane telling Claire about her and Nathan’s plan.
Gray has got to hear it. Once he does he’ll know I’m not the bad guy in all this.
He knows that the recording is going to be really difficult for Gray to hear, and he hates the idea of deeply hurting him. Despite their differences he does love Gray. But, his father needs to know the truth about Nathan’s deception. Let Nathan stand before Gray and squirm for a change.
Yeah. I can’t wait to see that.
As for Sloane, he feels vindicated that he was right about her all along. Hopefully, Gray will kick her out of Cooper Manor and file for divorce. But, if Sloane gets to Gray before he has a chance to prove his innocence, she could easily manipulate the old man into believing her side of things. It would make it that much harder to get this whole mess cleared up. The odds of his being arrested for assault and kidnapping are pretty high at this point.
I can’t go to jail. That will give Sloane and Nathan the upper hand.
If Sloane does beat them to New York, he’s going to do his best to avoid the police until he’s at least had a chance to talk to Gray and confront Nathan. What happens after that? Who knows?
“Honey, do you think we should look for her at other rest stops? I know it’s a long shot, but I don’t think she’d spend too long riding in a truck.”
Fabian’s blood boils. “A long shot? How about a friggin never shot? Look at all the cars and trucks out here, Claire. She could be in any one of them. Or none. If you had used your brain to think earlier, we wouldn’t be in this effing situation.”
“I know. I’ve said I’m sorry. I wish I could change what I did, but I can’t.”
“I thought you had better sense. You know what’s at stake. Still, you let that bitch talk you into releasing her. Got the shit beat out of you too. How could you be so effing stupid, Claire?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? Well, you better get a friggin clue fast. My life is on the line!”
“I know, Fabian. Don’t you think I…”
“Shut up! Just shut the fuck up! I don’t wanna hear shit from you right now, got it? You’ve screwed everything up. Dumb bitch.”
Claire bursts into tears. She rushes into the bathroom. He can hear her sobbing.
“Shit.”
Fabian feels awful that he made her cry. He knows she didn’t mean for Sloane to escape, but the truth is she really screwed up, and he’s angry as hell about it. He’s got to cool down before he can have a normal conversation with her.
Fabian drives on in silence.
Claire climbs into bed and curls up under the covers alone.
*****
Fabian pulls the RV into a truck stop.
Claire is glad that they are stopping for dinner. She could use a good meal. Neither one of them has been eating that much over the past two days. They’ve been too worried and upset. The worst part is that she and Fabian haven’t been speaking to each other. She hasn’t dared talk to him since he blew up at her. It was difficult to do, but she decided it would be best to give him some space. She hasn’t even brought up his sleeping on the couch, leaving her to have the bed.
She misses snuggling up to him at night. Feeling the warmth of his body next to hers makes her so happy and content. She longs to enjoy his loving touch again. She knows he has every right to be angry with her. It’s not like she’s given herself a pass or anything. She’s silently beaten herself up over her mistake plenty of times. But, they’ve got to move past all of that and figure out the way forward, together.
They need to be an unstoppable team if they’re going to win this game. The chips may be down, but it ain’t over till it’s over. They still have a chance to come out on top, that’s if they maintain their close bond.
Claire decides to take a chance. She waits for Fabian to park the camper.
“I hope they have some old-fashioned meatloaf and mashed potatoes here.”
Fabian looks at her. There’s no hint of anger in his eyes. “Meatloaf, huh? I could go for that too.”
“And apple pie.”
“Claire. I’m sorry I blew up at you. I w
as afraid you’d never speak to me again. I’m glad you’re not put off by my raging at you.”
Claire puts a gentle hand on Fabian’s shoulder. “Oh no, I completely understand. I totally accept your apology, if you’ll forgive me for allowing Sloane to escape.”
Fabian takes Claire’s hand and rubs it with his thumb. “You’re forgiven. We have to deal with the way things are now.”
“I just want us to come together again and figure out what to do next.”
“I’m not going to lie. I’m worried that Sloane may already be back in New York City giving the police her version of the story. You and I might both be arrested as soon as we hit New York State.”
“I’m not afraid of being arrested,” Claire says calmly. “I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong.”
“You could be charged with being an accessory to kidnapping at worst. At best, helping out a fugitive, which may get you a year or so in prison.”
This gets her worried. “I didn’t think I’d be in any kind of serious legal trouble. I mean I thought there was a vague chance, but it never seemed real, until now. Going to prison would ruin my chances of working for Cooper Enterprises, or anywhere else as an executive assistant.”
“I’ll do my best to protect you. I’ll pay for a great lawyer that can fight for probation.”
Claire would prefer to stay out of the New York State legal system all together. She wants to keep the clean record she has now.
“I wish there was some way we could get revenge on Sloane and Nathan for what they’re putting us through.”
Fabian perks up. “I’ve got an idea. Hand me my phone. I’m going to call Nathan.”
Claire hands Fabian his cell. She’s not going to stop him this time. “What are you going to say?”
“You’ll see.”
Fabian punches in the number and waits.
“Hello?”
“Hi Nathan. It’s Fabian. Are you surprised?”
“Fabian. Yeah, I never expected you to call. Where are you?”
“Never mind. I just wanted you to know that Sloane sold you out. She spilled her guts about your plan to get me out of the way so you and she could fool Gray into changing his will.”
“Th…that’s nonsense. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do.”
“Look, Fabian. Wherever you are you should turn yourself in. That’s the safest and smartest thing you can do right now.”
“I’m not worried about the cops anymore. Sloane and I made a deal. I’m giving her fifty percent of my inheritance. In exchange, Sloane tells the cops that this whole scheme to have her disappear and frame me was your idea.”
“That’s absurd. I have nothing to do with any scheme. Fabian, listen to me man. You better…”
“You’re screwed, Nathan. Sloan is going to testify in court against you. You should have never trusted her. I figured out a long time ago that Sloane values money over relationships. Hope you enjoyed the sex, at least.”
“Fabian, you’ve gotta believe me. I never…”
Fabian hangs up on Nathan. “Done.”
“What now?”
“We wait to see how he reacts. I just planted a seed that hopefully turns those two plotters against each other.”
“Aha. Good job of keeping your cool while lying to your best friend. You score an A plus.”
“Ex-best friend. Let’s go chow down on some meatloaf.”
*****
Fabian finds the meatloaf dinner at this particular truck stop to be pretty good. The awesome gravy is what elevates it to above average. Claire is too busy shoveling food in her mouth to say more than a few words to him. That’s okay. He can tell she’s really relieved that their relationship is back on track. He noticed that she eats more when she’s upbeat.
Fabian smiles at a blue collar guy that keeps eyeing him from a nearby table. Instead of returning the smile, the guy quickly averts his gaze. Soon after, he pays for his meal and leaves.
Fabian has a bad feeling about that guy. He was staring at them way too much. At first, he thought the guy was checking out Claire. She’s easy eye candy in a place like this. He’s caught plenty of men gawking at her on this trip. But, this guy was different. He kept looking at both of them—especially, Fabian.
“Order your pie to go, Claire.”
“Why?”
“We need to finish our dinner and get out of here. I think the guy that just left recognized me.”
“Really? How do you know?”
“Just a gut feeling.”
A short time later…
Fabian is relieved to be back on the highway headed for New York State. He’s a bit jittery knowing that the closer they are to home, the chances of someone recognizing him increases. By now his image has been shown in quite a number of media outlets. He truly feels like a man being hunted. His paranoia over being stopped and arrested is getting harder to suppress.
Fabian looks in the rearview mirror and notices a blue big rig with white stripes tailing him a little too closely.
“This guy is right on my tail. What’s his problem?”
Claire pokes her head out of the window to look at the truck. “Yeah, he’s real close.” I’m going to go back and try to get a better look at the driver.
“Okay.”
Fabian is doing his best to keep calm. He can’t afford to panic and do something foolish like drive over the speed limit. That will surely draw the attention of state troopers. No. He’ll just keep on driving at this pace and let this guy pass him. It’s probably nothing—just another overworked trucker that is trying to meet a tight deadline.
Claire comes back and takes her seat. “We might have a problem. I think it’s the same guy that was staring at us at the truck stop. The driver is wearing the same clothes as that guy that sat near us.”
“Okay. Let’s just keep our heads on straight and see what he does.”
Fabian keeps his eyes steady on the road, glancing every so often in the rearview mirror. They’re on a three-lane highway. He’s thinking about getting in the other lane and gunning the gas in order to get between two cars up ahead.
The blue big rig suddenly makes a move to pass him. Fabian looks out his window just as the trucker pulls up close to the RV. Fabian can now see that Claire is right. It’s the same guy from the truck stop.
Fabian and the trucker’s eyes meet. The trucker picks up his cell phone and uses his thumb to punch a number. The trucker keeps looking at Fabian suspiciously. It appears to Fabian that the trucker is not able to get anyone on the phone. Maybe the guy is having trouble dialing because he’s got to keep his eye on the road. Even a brief distraction could send his truck careening into another car.
Fabian is now sure that this guy probably recognizes him from news reports. He may be trying to contact state police.
“We’ve gotta get off this highway.”
Fabian sees an exit coming up. He turns the RV onto the off-ramp. He’s not sure where this will take them, but his only concern right now is losing this guy. The last thing he wants is to be in the middle of a police chase he can’t win.
The GPS system went on the fritz soon after leaving Mexico. He needs to find an alternative route back to the main highway. Hopefully, he can locate an alternative route that gets them closer to the New York State line. Fabian pulls into a convenience store.
“Claire, go inside and buy us a map that shows this area and New York.”
“Okay. Be right back.”
Chapter 5
In the wee hours of the morning their RV camper pulls onto a street that Claire has only been on twice before in her life. The first time was when she attended Sloane’s charity function. That was where she and Fabian first started getting to really know each other. The second time was when Nathan sent for her to be a part of a hushed meeting. That was the night she learned about Sloane’s disappearance. At that same meeting, Gray had accused Fabian of murdering his wife.
Now she
and Fabian are entering what could be the final chapter of this awful nightmare they’ve been living. Well, this experience hasn’t been all bad. She and Fabian have grown closer, their bond is solid now after her decision to run off with him. She can honestly say that they’ve had their fun moments, and some dark ones too. The important thing is that they got through it all together. Now she is looking forward to getting everything straightened out with Gray Cooper. All she wants is for she and Fabian to be able to move on with their plans of having a future together.
Her fantasies about hooking up with Mr. Right never involved meeting a hunky rich guy with daddy issues, but, so what? You never know where life is going to take you. There’s a reason why she and Fabian met at this time in their lives. These things always happen for a reason—she’s not sure at the moment what that reason is. Is it fate? Destiny? She’s never really believed in that stuff before, but the events over the past month have caused her to reconsider.
Fabian parks the RV camper down the street from the driveway entrance to the stately Cooper Manor.
“Why are we parking here?”
“There may be cops around. They could be watching the house. We’d stick out like a sore thumb driving up with this thing. This way I can sneak in without drawing attention.”
“That makes sense.”
Fabian reaches over and takes the digital recorder out of the glove compartment. He stuffs it in his pants pocket. “Claire, I’m going in there to talk with my dad. You stay here and keep an eye out for the police. If things go wrong, I want you to drive off. I don’t want you getting into this any deeper than you already are.”
“Fabian, I hate to break this to you, but the police surely already know where I live. They can come and get me anytime. Me driving off in the camper isn’t going to change that.”
“I’m talking about minimizing your risks, Claire. Right now no one can prove you’re with me. You can say you went out of town for a while because you were overwhelmed.”
Fugitive Millionaire Revenge (Fabian Cooper Book Two) Page 8
