Calculated Risk

by Rachael Duncan

  Fuck!

  “Captain, it’s Stacy Williams. She has her.” I grab my keys and sprint back toward the door to get to my car.

  “Who’s that? How do you know?”

  “She’s an ex that popped up recently and she left a note.”

  “Shit,” I hear him mutter on the other end. “Okay, don’t do anything stupid. Any ideas on where to start? I’ll send units that way.”

  “Yep. Her place, and I’m heading there right now.” I give him the address as I nearly burn out of the neighborhood.

  “Do not go in there alone, do you understand?” he warns.

  “Yeah.”

  “I mean it, Riley. You wait for backup.”

  Turning on my lights and sirens, I push the limits as I race toward her. I tell him I won’t. I’m a goddamn liar. There’s no way in hell I’m waiting for someone else to go get my girl.

  After I hang up, I make another phone call. She answers on the first ring. “Thought I’d be hearing from you soon,” Stacy says. Her tone is cold and calculating. It sends a chill down my spine.

  “Where. The FUCK. Is Lydia?” I scream at her.

  “We’ll get to that in a moment. First, let’s talk about what you’re going to give me.”

  I pretend the steering wheel is her neck as my grip on it tightens until my knuckles are white and my fingers are numb. “And why would I do a damn thing for you?” I sneer at her.

  “Because if you don’t, she dies.”

  My blood runs cold and all the color drains from my face.

  “Do I have your attention now?” she asks in a low tone. She pauses, waiting for my response.

  “I’m listening.” My foot pushes on the accelerator to speed toward Stacy’s house faster.

  “Good.” She perks up. “You are going to wire me some money to an account I have set up offshore.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Does it sound like I’m kidding? Now, are you going to do what I said, or do I have to put one between your girlfriend’s eyes to get it across that I’m not playing?”

  I swallow hard as the claws of fear climb up my throat. “The banks are closed now. I can’t do anything for you tonight.”

  “Wire!” she screams into the phone. “You’re not listening and that pisses me off. I’ll send you the address where we’re at. You better be here in an hour. And if you bring your buddies, there will be hell to pay.” She hangs up without my response.

  Shit. That means they’re not at her house. I swerve over to the side of the road, staring at my phone like it holds all the answers. And in a way, it does. With a ding, it holds the place where my heart lies.

  After I get her message, I plug it into my GPS and see that it’s forty-five minutes away and out of the city. Putting my car back into drive, I floor it, breaking every traffic law in the process.

  “Hey, Captain,” I say as soon as he answers the phone. “I have a location.” I fill him in on my conversation with Stacy and all the information I have. “Of course, she wants me to come alone.”

  “I figured. I’ll tell the units not to come in hot and see if we can’t bring her in peacefully.”

  “I don’t care how she goes, but she’s not walking out of there on her own. That’s for damn sure.” Stacy made this personal, and I’ll be damned if she thinks she’s getting away with it.

  Lydia

  THE FIRST THING I notice when I open my eyes is the pounding in my head. It makes me wince. I go to touch the source of the pain, but quickly realize I can’t because I’m tied up to a chair. For a millisecond, I’m confused, wondering how this all happened. As soon as my eyes land on Stacy though, everything comes rushing back.

  I walk through the door after having a girls’ day with Paige, Scarlett, and Charlotte. I put away the few purchases I made with the exception of the little black number I bought Marcus.

  With nothing else to do to kill time before he comes home, I pull out my kindle and read. I’m just getting into it when my doorbell rings. With my eyes still trained on my kindle, I open the front door before finally looking up.

  I wish I hadn’t.

  Catching me off guard, someone shoves their way in before closing the door behind them. It happens so fast I don’t have a chance to process what’s going on.

  The intruder pulls down the hood on their jacket, and my heart drops to the pit of my stomach.

  Stacy.

  “What are you doing? Get out of my house!” I try to sound authoritative, but it’s hard to do when I feel anything but.

  Her cold, vacant stare is frightening and has me backing up into the living room. With the way she slowly stalks toward me, fear crawls up my spine and wraps its fingers around my throat as I match her steps.

  “You’re coming with me,” she says.

  Before I have a chance to argue, she lunges at me. My heart pumps violently in my chest as I make a run for my phone on the counter. Right before I’m able to get it, her fist wraps in the back of my hair and she pulls me back.

  Hard.

  “Ahhh,” I scream out in pain as my hands go to my head. She drags me to the living room and throws me on the couch.

  “We can do this the hard way, or the easy way,” she informs as she hovers over me, the empty look from before replaced by rage.

  “I’m not going anywhere. You’ll have to drag me out,” I spit back at her.

  A sickening smile pulls at her lips. “I was kind of hoping you’d say that.” The next moment she’s on top of me, her hands go around my throat.

  I kick and scream, thrashing around to get her off of me as she restricts the air I’m able to take in. I manage to push her to the ground and spring up to make another attempt at escaping, but she grabs my foot, tripping me up. I fall to the floor hard, hitting my face on the side table and knocking over the lamp on the way down. My lip radiates with pain as the coppery taste fills my mouth.

  I put my discomfort aside as I claw at the floor in an attempt to gain traction to get away from her. She has a firm grip on me, climbing up my body until she’s straddling my back. With a fistful of my hair, she yanks my head back. In this position, I’m pretty much at her mercy as my eyes tear up from the pain.

  “Goodnight, Lydia,” she says in my ear.

  Then everything goes dark.

  I hear shuffling, bringing my attention to the here and now. Stacy watches me from the other side of the room as she slides down the wall and sits on the floor.

  “Why are you doing this?” I ask her. My voice trembles, and I hate it.

  “Marcus took away my future, now I’m going to take away his,” she tells me. “But don’t worry; he’s on his way here now.”

  Relief hits me for a second but is quickly wiped away by the dark smile on her face. “Don’t look too excited. This won’t be ending well.” If the pain in my skull wasn’t making me nauseous, her words would. “He made me bury someone I cared about, now he’s about to do the same.”

  A few tears fall from my eyes despite trying to remain unfazed by her threats, but the only thing running through my mind is Marcus needs to stay away. I can’t stomach the idea of him getting hurt because of me.

  “So, how does the baby factor into your plan?” I ask. Maybe if I can keep her talking, I’ll figure out a way to get out of this mess.

  “I thought for sure you’d leave him if you thought he cheated. And what better torment than to know the one you want is within reach, but you can’t have her?”

  “So this is all some sick vendetta?”

  “This is more than that!” she yells.

  “Is it about money then?”

  “He’ll think it is, but it’s not. This is about revenge.”

  The determination in her eyes scares the shit out of me. The whole time she’s been talking I’ve been testing my restraints to see if there was any wiggle room, but there’s not. Any hope I was holding onto that I would make it out of this plummets.

  “Revenge for what? Leaving you?”


  She lets out a huff of laughter. “No.” She offers no further explanation and I don’t press the issue.

  She rummages around in a black bag she has sitting next to her, not paying me any more attention. Looking around the wide open room with only one exit, I know this isn’t looking good.

  Oh, God.

  This can’t be it.

  Marcus

  DESPITE HOW FAST I’m going, it still feels like it takes a million years to get to her. I turn off my lights and sirens when I’m a few miles out, and finally pull up to an abandoned building that looks like it’s started to fall in on itself. A wood line surrounds the property, and I haven’t seen another soul for at least fifteen miles. Yeah, this could get bad.

  My heart pulses in my ears as I approach with caution. I have my weapon drawn, pointed at the ground, as I run toward the door. Placing my ear against it, I strain to hear any noises coming from the other side. There aren’t any. With a deep breath, I try to mentally prepare for whatever waits for me when I open the door. The grip on my gun tightens as I reach out and test the door knob. It’s unlocked. I push it open quickly and raise my gun, looking around in each direction. With the dimness of the room contrasting with the brightness from outside, I can’t see shit, only silhouettes in the back of the room.

  “Relax, Officer. Come on in and join us,” Stacy instructs.

  The sound of her voice makes my jaw clench. I walk slowly, not wanting to let my guard down even though my instincts are to run to Lydia and carry her out of this mess.

  When I’m ten feet away, I have a clear view, and it sets me off. Lydia has a nasty lump on her forehead, her right eye is swollen, and her lip is split. Rope is tied around her body, keeping her seated in the rusty chair. My nostrils flare as I take in rapid breaths, trying to stifle my rage. My eyes cut back over to Stacy who is standing before me without a single worry. She’s looking at me nonchalantly like I don’t want to fucking kill her.

  Stacy’s appearance takes me aback momentarily. Her sunken in eyes and hollowed cheeks are a stark contrast to the girl I once knew. Her hair is a mess and her clothes are stained. It looks as if she hasn’t slept, eaten, or showered in days and you’d never know she had a baby three months ago with as thin as she is. The image is worrisome.

  She looks down at her watch that is too big for her wrist. “You were cutting it close, Marcus. Only six minutes to spare.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m here.” I watch her movements carefully as she pushes the greasy strands of hair behind her ear.

  “Drop the gun,” she demands. I hesitate, not wanting to put down my one line of defense. “I said put the gun down or I’ll kill her.” She pulls a gun out from behind her pants and holds it to Lydia’s head, causing her to whimper in fear. I won’t be able to raise my gun up to aim at her fast enough. She’ll beat me on the draw and shoot Lydia. A sense of déjà vu hits me, and I’m taken back to that little boy and the decision to shoot or not.

  Fuck. Reluctantly, I lower the weapon to my side before setting it down on the ground beside me.

  “Kick it this way.” When I do, she removes the gun from Lydia’s temple.

  “Are you able to make the transfer?” she asks.

  I nod. “Yeah, I just need the account number.”

  “Perfect.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes and a part of me feels like this is about more than just money.

  “Why?” I ask, needing to know what the purpose of all of this was. Plus, I’m hoping if I can keep her talking, it’ll give the rest of the team time to come in.

  “Why what?” She’s playing dumb. She knows exactly what I’m talking about.

  “Why are you doing this? I haven’t heard from or seen you in years, then you pop up out of the blue with a baby. Now, this?” I say, gesturing to Lydia sitting tied to the chair.

  She throws her head back and cackles. I glance at Lydia who shakes her head a few times at me. I squint my eyes, trying to decipher her meaning, but Stacy’s voice brings my attention back to her. “You really don’t know, do you?” she replies.

  I search my mind for answers, but come up empty. “I don’t have a fucking clue.”

  “Well, let me fill you in on some important details that you’re obviously missing.” She scratches the back of her neck, clearly agitated. She licks her lips then looks back at me. “Do you remember Dr. Jason Greene, that guy you shot and killed ten months ago?” she asks.

  How could I forget? I see that little boy in my head all the time. “The piece of shit that murdered his son?”

  “That piece of shit was my baby’s father!” she screams at me. Her face is red and her eyes bulge out. I see Lydia jump from the corner of my eye in response to the outburst.

  My eyebrows pull in and I shake my head in confusion. “What? How is that possible?”

  “Oh, yeah.” She nods. “I was finally going to be set. You took away my shot at an easy life when you left me, but I found another way. You see,” she says as she looks down, her voice lowering back to normal, “he kept telling me for over a year that he was going to leave his wife, and I believed him. Problem was he’d never follow through. It was never a good time, according to him. So, I forced his hand by forgetting to take my birth control.”

  My eyes narrow in disgust at the measures she’d take to trap a guy for financial gain.

  “So, I . . . persuaded him.” The fire returns in her eyes and her tone changes from soft to hard in an instant. “Then his fucking wife ruined it all! She found out about the affair and said she was taking him for everything he was worth. And do you know what that bastard did? He dropped me like a bad habit. Just poof. I didn’t exist anymore. But I figured if I waited it out, his wife would leave, and he’d fall back on me. I’d finally have financial stability and we could raise our child together.”

  She glances at Lydia, and the look she gives my girl makes my back go rigid. “But do you know who really fucked up the plan?” she asks, then brings her eyes back to me. “You.”

  “How’s that?”

  “You’re the one who shot him. In a matter of minutes, you took everything away from me. My baby’s father, the life I was going to have. All of it. Now, you’re going to pay for it. Literally.” Fear grips me as she turns and faces the one who holds my heart, moving the gun up so it’s pointed at Lydia’s side. “Let’s make the transfer. Now.”

  “I’ve got it right here, but first, you’re going to untie her.”

  Her head turns toward me slowly. “You’re not in the position to be making demands.”

  “I need assurance that you won’t kill her as soon as you have the money. She’ll go stand against that wall over there,” I say as I point to the left. “I’ll make the transfer and she comes with me. Otherwise, no deal.” I can’t look at Lydia. I have to stay firm in my demands, and seeing the terror on her face might crack my façade.

  Stacy’s eyes squint as she studies me. “Fine,” she says curtly. She makes quick work of removing the ropes around Lydia. As soon as she’s free, she runs over to the wall. I look at her briefly, trying to convey how much she means to me without words, but all she does is look back at me with panic in her eyes. “Your turn,” Stacy says, bringing my attention back to her.

  I pull up my account that holds all the money I don’t touch from my family’s wealth. After tapping a few buttons, I’m ready to make the transfer. “What’s the account number?”

  As she reads off the numbers, I look over at Lydia who’s watching me intently. I give her a nod, hoping she understands that we’re about to move.

  Stacy looks back up at me, greed in her eyes. “Did you do it?”

  “You want it, transfer it yourself.” I place the phone on the floor and slide it her way. The momentary distraction is enough time for me to wave Lydia over as we make a run for the door.

  Bang!

  The deafening sound ricochets off the empty walls, stopping us dead in our tracks. Pieces of the crumbling ceiling fall around us from the
round she just fired into it.

  “Hold it right there!” We spin around only to be looking down the barrel of a gun.

  With the sinister look in her eye and the wicked smile stretching across her face, I know we’re in trouble.

  Lydia

  THERE’S NOTHING SCARIER than having a gun pointed at your face.

  I’m frozen.

  I can’t move.

  I can’t breathe.

  I can’t think.

  All I can do is stare at the chunk of metal in this woman’s hand.

  “Did you really think this was about the money, Marcus?” she asks. “You thought I would really leave you two to live happily fucking ever after?” She lets out a short laugh. “I don’t think so.”

  “You have what you want. There’s no reason to keep us here,” Marcus tries to reason with her. We’re shoulder to shoulder, and even though he’s putting on a brave face, I can feel the nerves rolling off of him as he trembles. He inches forward to put me slightly behind him.

  “See, you’re still not getting it. What I wanted was a father for my baby and a stable life. But I don’t have that, now do I?”

  “Do you want your baby to grow up without a mother too? Because that’s what will happen if this doesn’t stop.”

  I think my knees might give out. Every cell in my body is telling me to run. Self-preservation is kicking in, pumping adrenaline through my body like a wild stallion on speed. I have nowhere to go though. We won’t make it out the door before she shoots us in the back, and Marcus’s gun is too far away to reach. We’re sitting ducks. Our only hope is to have Marcus talk her off this ledge, and honestly, I don’t see that happening.

  The backs of my eyes prick with tears as the realization that this is it settles in. Discreetly, I thread my fingers through his and hold his hand. If I’m going to die, I want to die holding the man I love. He gives my hand a gentle squeeze.

  Everything around me becomes a blur. All I focus on is the object that will bring death my way. Everything is reduced to a dull hum as I tune out Marcus’s pleas to let us go.