by M. Skye
“I saw you in the hallway and thought, what the hell, maybe a little alone time will fix things. So did it?”
“I’m good, if that’s what you meant.”
“Nope, I meant did you get some? You’ve been on edge like a man who hasn’t had a good lay in a while. Only Mama Mia can put that kind of smile on your face. So how was it? Give me the details.”
“Don’t you have something else to think about other than my sex life with my wife?”
“Your wife, huh? Must have been damn good for you to be calling her that again. So, what’s this talk you want to have?”
“She is still my wife no matter what a piece of paper says. I can’t believe all the stupid shit I’ve done up until this point. I almost pushed that woman to the breaking point, but here she stands being my rock through it all. I thought when things got rough she might run, but she’s with me. She still loves me. You don’t know how good it felt to hear her say it; and, being with her, it was like I was home.”
“That’s great. I’m jealous.”
Tyree’s head shot up, and he looked at his brother in disbelief.
“No, really, I am. You’re doing this, huh? You’re going for it, taking your life into your own hands despite the old bastard and his games.”
“He can’t stop us. I won’t let him interfere any longer. I won’t let his selfishness keep me from her. I need that woman.”
“Good. I know there is a lot of shit going down around here, but I don’t want you to worry about us. I’ll take care of Mom and Asha. You just focus on your family.”
“I still feel bad leaving you here with him. What if he tries something?”
“If he does, at least we have backup now. Rock would never let anything happen to any of us.”
“Yeah, Rock is a godsend.”
Tyree and Miguel made it off the elevator just in time to see Asha’s tearstained face rushing toward them. She was a mess, rambling and completely incoherent, until Tyree dropped his bags and grabbed her shoulders. She was shaking, and he held her in place.
“Baby girl, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
“I didn’t know, I swear I didn’t. When I started looking into it, I thought . . . I thought he was just using her to break you and Mia up. I thought since you fixed it you would be okay, but I was wrong. He’s a liar and I . . .” She was hyperventilating, and Tyree and Miguel were extremely confused.
“Ash, what is it? You’re not making any sense,” Miguel chimed in, and Tyree knew he was trying to make sense of it all.
“Renee! She’s sleeping with Dad!”
Tyree’s eyes bucked, and he and Miguel shared a brief look. “What makes you think this? Are you sure?”
Out of breath and still out of sorts, Asha held her cell phone up and displayed a picture of Renee sitting on John’s lap without her shirt, and Miguel sighed. Tyree, on the other hand, began to laugh, throwing off both his brother and sister.
“That’s great. Well, in that case, he can have her trifling ass. I was done anyways. I was on my way to end it with her. I was even going to let her keep my house. Wait, her baby, is it even mine? What the hell am I asking? Of course it’s not. I was trying to figure out how she got pregnant when we always used condoms, and now I know why. At least I’m free. Now nothing is standing between Mia and me. Well, fuck going to the house now.”
Tyree saw Asha and Miguel watching him to see if he was serious, and he made sure they knew he was. His smile never faltered, and Asha walked over, placing her hand on his shoulder.
“How are you not upset by this? Our father is sleeping with your fiancée who, until now, you thought was carrying your child. I know you love Mia, but you’re allowed to be pissed about this. You gave Mia up for a child that probably isn’t even yours.”
“Mia came back to me. She still loves me. None of that other shit matters. The only thing that matters is that she loves me, and now I have no excuse not to be with her. In my mind, he did me a favor by sleeping with Renee. Now I don’t have to feel guilty about leaving.”
His siblings watched him as his smile fell and, just like a speeding bus, it all hit him. “Wait, you’re right. I should strangle that bitch. I was an asshole to Mia. I put her through hell and made her feel like shit. I’m gonna get their asses, but it will have to wait until I see Mia again. She is more important than getting back at them right now.”
Tyree turned away from Miguel and Asha and walked off to find his car. He was puzzled when he reached it and found Mia’s car right next to his. She had been gone for quite a while now, and it was odd that her car was still there.
When he walked up to the car and saw no signs of her, he got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Asha and Miguel walked over, sharing in his confusion. “Where is Mama Mia?” Miguel questioned.
“I don’t know. She was supposed to be getting a bag packed for our trip, so it makes no sense for her car to still be here. She is obviously gone.”
“Maybe she caught a ride. You know Whitney has been staying at the house with her. Maybe she picked her up,” Asha offered, not sounding like she believed it herself.
Tyree wasn’t buying one bit of it. Without hesitation, he pulled out his cell to call hers. It rang several times before going straight to voicemail, and he knew instantly that something was wrong.
Turning to look at Asha and Miguel, he yelled for them to call Rick while he headed over to the house to figure out what was going on. He wanted to kick himself for not walking her out and making sure she made it to her car. He should have known with all the drama to make sure she was safe. Here he was again, letting her fall into harm’s way, and he only had himself to blame if anything happened to her.
* * *
Mia sat in the dark room wondering what she was doing in the office she hadn’t set foot in for at least two years. She had no idea what they had planned for her, but she knew it was bad. She was just trying to figure out why she was at Livingston Enterprises and, furthermore, how John had access to the building. Things were getting more confusing by the minute.
Both Rock and John were nowhere to be found, and when her cell phone started vibrating, she tried her damnedest to reach for it. It was extremely hard, considering her hands were tied behind her back. She almost succeeded in her attempt until someone walked up behind her, snatching the cell phone from her grasp.
Hearing the wicked laugh, Mia realized there was another piece to the puzzle she hadn’t figured out yet. There was someone else involved, a woman. When she heard the click of heels, she drew in a deep breath, waiting for the other participant to reveal herself. When the woman came around, standing in front of her, she hissed when she saw that it was Renee.
Before Mia could make a sound, Renee reached out, slapping her so hard her cheek stung. Mia wanted so badly to be able to get her back, but her arms were still restrained. Mia rolled her eyes, and Renee leaned over her, placing her hands on the arms of the chair.
“You know, I don’t like you, bitch.”
Mia huffed and stared her down. “Wow, how coincidental. I don’t like you either. In fact, I hate you. So, let me guess: you’re working with them, huh? You’re a part of this plan to kill me?”
Renee laughed and flopped down in a vacant chair. “You don’t get to ask questions. You will know what’s going on soon enough and, soon after that, you will be too dead to cause me any more trouble.”
While Renee and Mia were glaring at each other, Rock came in, signaling for Renee to follow him, and she jumped up, walking briskly over to him.
Mia could tell by the look on Renee’s face that something was wrong, and she took this as a good sign for her and tried to relax. Maybe this meant there was a problem with their plan. She wondered who had called her. It was probably Tyree. She hoped he would find her car and know something was wrong, but she couldn’t hold out hope that he would figure out where she was. It would be the last place he would look.
* * *
Tyree burst into the ho
use, startling both Whitney and Jude. They were sitting on the floor with textbooks and looked to be studying. When Whitney saw that it was him, she jumped up, throwing her arms around him.
“Uncle Tyree! Oh, God, I meant to come and see you, but things have been so hectic. Dad won’t let us off the grounds. I had to move down here to get any privacy. He is being an ass,” she rambled, and the whole time he was scanning the house, looking for Mia.
“It’s good to see you too, sweetheart, and I promise we will catch up. Where is your aunt?”
Whitney looked confused and tilted her head to the side. “She said she was coming to see you. I only assumed things went well because she was gone so long. Did you get into a fight?”
“No, things are great, but I need to find her. Has she tried to contact you in the past hour?”
Whitney’s eyes drifted over to her phone on the couch, and she walked over, picking it up. “My phone is on vibrate. We were studying for our summer courses. I have a lot to catch up on, and the professors are letting me submit through e-mail because of what’s going on. If she called, I’m sure I missed it.”
Whitney unlocked her phone and scrolled through, showing him several missed calls, a few from friends, and one from Mia. “Yeah, she called like thirty minutes ago and left a voicemail.”
Tyree felt relieved, thinking maybe she just caught a ride, and he sat down on the couch. “I wonder where she is.” He sighed.
“Hold on, maybe she said something on the voicemail. I’m checking it now.”
Whitney typed in her code and put the speaker phone on. At first, the sound was muffled, but a few seconds in, they could tell she just forgot to hang the phone up. They could hear a man’s voice, and Whitney was just about to hang up when they began to hear the conversation clearly. Tyree snatched the phone away when he heard John’s voice, and then the message ended.
“Oh, it’s fine, Uncle Tyree. See? She’s with Uncle John. I bet she will be here soon.”
“Shit,” Tyree screamed, jumping up with his keys in hand. “Whitney, you and Jude come on so I can drop you off at the main house. You have to stay there until your dad says it’s safe.”
Normally, Whitney would have opposed, but he knew she could tell by the look on his face that something was wrong. She got up willingly and nodded at Jude to follow. They grabbed their things quickly and raced out the door.
They reached the house, and Tyree had barely stopped the car when they jumped out and took off toward the door. “I’ll let Dad know about Aunt Mia,” she yelled with her back turned to him. Tyree nodded and was about to pull off when his passenger door flew open. Rick jumped in and buckled his seat belt, and Tyree hit the gas, speeding out of the gates.
“Where is she?” Rick questioned.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find her.”
“Where do we begin?”
“My parents’ house.”
“Why would she be there?”
“She wouldn’t, but he keeps everything in that damn safe, and I just happen to know the combination.”
“Well, step on it. If he is in this as deep as Asha says, there is no telling what he will do.”
“He better not touch her.”
“You call Rock?”
“Yeah. He’s not answering.”
“I wonder what that’s about.”
“Me too.”
While Tyree drove, his brain pounded, thinking of how scared Mia must be. He knew the majority of this was his fault for keeping her in the dark about everything he knew, but he was only trying to protect her and Kyan. If anything happened to her, it would be on his head, and he couldn’t live with that. He had to get to her before it was too late. He had to save her from the nightmare he helped create.
Chapter Thirty-three
Mia tried to get her hands free while they all seemed to be occupied elsewhere. She was working on sliding her hands out of the ropes when Rock entered the room with a bottle of water. He was wearing a smile that threw her off. If he was sent in to kill her, then why did he look so reassuring?
“Here, drink this,” he offered, pulling down the scarf Renee had tied around her mouth. When she just looked at him, he inched the bottle closer and offered her another warm smile. “I know you have to be thirsty. I promise there is nothing in here. It’s just water.”
She opened her mouth, and the cool water felt good rolling down her throat.
“See, I’m not the bad guy here. I promise you this will all be over soon.”
For some reason, she believed him. He was gentle with her, unlike John and Renee had been, and he was trying to make her feel at ease. Leaning in, he grabbed the scarf, pulling it back around her mouth, and whispered in her ear, “Just close your eyes and think about Maui.”
Her eyes widened at the statement, and she figured out he knew where Kyan was. It should have made her nervous but, instead, she was calm. The way he said it almost made her believe he meant it for that effect.
He was watching her, almost looking sad that he had to be there, until John waltzed in with Renee on his heels. “How could you be so stupid?” He grabbed her by the shoulders. “It needs to look like he did it. He would never tie her up and shoot her. You saw what he did with the other two. He likes to make it look like they were accidents.”
Mia knew then and there that they were trying to make it look like Richmond killed her.
“I had to restrain her. I don’t know if you remember, but she did jump me one time. I wasn’t about to let that happen again.”
Rock started laughing, dropping the nice expression, going back to his sinister demeanor. “She didn’t jump you; she whooped your ass. If Tyree hadn’t stepped in, she would still be kicking your ass. Let’s not downplay it.”
Renee rolled her eyes and turned to John. “Tell me again why we need him.”
“He is important. They trust him, and he can sway them to our side once the truth about us comes out.”
“Yeah, maybe, but do we really have to kill her? Can’t we just lock her up somewhere?”
John’s head snapped back, and his eyes bored into her. “Of course we do. We need everyone to think it was Richmond and then we will be one step closer to getting Livingston. If we kill her and then get rid of Rick, we will own this damn town. Besides, we need to get her away from Tyree. He turns into a useless teenager around her. Fucking in elevators? That’s not what I expect from my son.”
Mia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She always knew John didn’t like her, but she never thought he would go to these lengths. She was watching him with tears stinging her eyes when he looked over at her.
When their eyes locked, he let off a wicked laugh. “What? You thought only your daddy was capable of coming up with such a brilliant plan? He wished he could take all the credit for his success but, in truth, I built that company just as well as I built Johnston Incorporated. Your father was struggling when I met him, and it was my idea to bring in outside investors to build. I made him what he is.”
Mia was confused. From what they had always been told, Richmond took John under his wing.
“Yeah, I found the companies and gave him the go-ahead to pull the trigger and take over. Some came willingly, but some, they were tricky. When that happened, they were taken care of by any means necessary.” In the middle of his rant, he walked over and pulled the scarf down, taking a seat in front of her.
“Why are you telling me this? Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with?”
“In due time,” he snickered. “Before you die, I just want you to understand what my son could have been without you.” She blinked rapidly when he stood and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look in his eyes. “You ruined him, you little bitch.”
In the middle of his ranting, she saw Rock step back, placing a text; and then he stuffed his phone away quickly. He offered her a slight grin that threw her off, and her thoughts went hazy. She was so confused, and nothing made sense. All she knew was she was in troubl
e, and she closed her eyes, hoping Tyree would find her soon.
“Please find me,” she whispered into the air and allowed a tear to drip down her face.
* * *
Tyree and Rick both burst into the house to find it dark and empty. Tyree had no clue where his mother was, but he didn’t need her for what he was doing. He just needed to get to the library and pray that what he was looking for was in the safe.
Tyree knew John always put his most important documents in his safe, and he had been trying to find some way to access them. It wasn’t easy getting the code to the safe, but he figured it out one night after trailing John to the house. He hid the entire time and watched as John opened it up and stuffed something inside. Rock had asked them to lie low and, for the most part, he had, but this was different. He just couldn’t leave well enough alone, and he was glad he hadn’t.
Once he got to the safe, Tyree began typing in the numbers, hoping he had seen the code correctly. When the machine just beeped, he started to get upset; and then the door opened. He sighed as he reached inside, pulling everything out. The contents were bundled up in separate envelopes, and Tyree was growing impatient as he shuffled them around.
“How in the hell am I supposed to get through all this in time? She could be . . . No,” he snapped. “I won’t think like that. Nothing is going to happen to her. I promised her, and I will get there.” He tossed a handful of envelopes over to Rick, and they both began ripping them open, searching for anything that could lead them to Mia.
Tyree had gone through three envelopes and found nothing of use, and Rick was on his fourth when Tyree’s phone began to vibrate. He snatched it up quickly, hoping for some word on Mia, and when he saw the text, his heart stopped. It was a picture of her tied down to a chair. He had no idea who it came from. The number was blocked, but he knew without a doubt she was in real trouble.
“Rick.” He dropped everything, letting the papers fall to the floor. “We have to go. We have to find her.”
When Tyree waved the phone in Rick’s face, he snatched it and sank to the floor. “My sister, I promised I would be there for her.” He was beginning to hyperventilate until Tyree saw something click to him and he jumped up, looking at the phone again. “This picture, it was taken at Livingston. She’s at Livingston!”
