Color Blind

by Gardin, Diana

  Not that I have the strength anyway right now, even if there was something I could use to bash the door down.

  My eyes rove every inch of the box of a room. I’ve found every cobweb and dust mite occupying the space. In a high corner, I find a tiny red light blinking up in a corner. Aha. Whoever has me here knows I’m awake. Maybe they’ll come soon.

  Before I have time to process that, the doorknob lever noisily engages, demonstrating the fact that someone has neglected a maintenance job. I freeze for a split second, and then I try to prepare myself for my captors to enter the room.

  Lilly pokes her head around the door. When she sees me staring at her, she smiles brightly and enters the room, pushing the heavy metal door closed behind us.

  And it all comes flooding back into my drug-muddled brain. The meeting with her at The Gull, all the knowledge she dropped on me. The fact that I was dizzy and then she shoved me into a car.

  I try to scramble away from her, but the vomit rising in my throat from the quick movement forces me to stop and take a breath.

  “Easy,” she coos. “Relax, Cooper. No one is going to hurt you. Especially not me.”

  “You already hurt me!” I shout. “What is wrong with you? You drugged me? Was any of your story even true?”

  “I’d watch your tone while addressing my daughter if I were you.”

  A gruff voice coming from the door invades our conversation. I turn my head and see a man stride into the room. As I watch him walk over to us, Lilly stands and runs over to him.

  “Daddy!” she said. “I did everything you asked me to.”

  She looks over at me and gestures. “This is Cooper.”

  She sounds proud. Like she’s introducing her dad to her boyfriend or something. This chick is messed up. Like, in a deadly kind of way. I need to get out of here.

  Where is here?

  “Yeah sweetheart, I figured that,” her dad answers. He’s a shorter man, balding. The bit of dark hair on the sides of his head is slicked back and he’s wearing black slacks and a black leather jacket. He walks over to me and kneels down on the cement floor where I sit. He sticks out his hand.

  “Pleasure to see you again, Cooper. It’s been years. Jesus, you were just a little guy running around the last time. I’m Dan Brewer, Lilly’s dad. We’re like family, you know. Your dad and I have been best friends since we were kids.”

  I spit in his hand.

  “Easy, kid,” he says, laughing. He wipes his hand on his slacks, and looks at me with a twinkle in his eye. “Still got that same spunk you always had. Your dad’s gonna love it.”

  “I want to go home,” I say. “Now.”

  “You are home, Cooper,” Lilly says. “Finally.”

  I look around again. I’ve deduced that I’m in some kind of storage building. I can tell by the warehouse feel. Fluorescent lighting overhead washes over us, but only dimly. When we speak, there is a slight echo all around us.

  “Where is he?” I demand.

  “Your father? He’s here. We just told him you’ve arrived. So he should be here any minute.” Dan shakes his head, chuckling. “You look just like him. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

  “Oh, this apple was never even on the tree,” I answer. “Does my mother know I’m here?”

  “She’s on her way,” Lilly pipes up.

  “So, let me get this straight.” I slowly stand up, holding my head.

  “Take it easy,” Lilly says, grabbing my arm to steady me. I snatch it away from her, and almost face-plant for my effort .

  “What the hell did you give me?” I growl.

  “Just something to knock you out for a few hours,” she answers. “I’m sorry about the headache. I didn’t want to hurt you. But you wouldn’t listen. And I had to get you here.”

  “How did you get it into my drink? I was watching you the whole time.”

  “Before you arrived, I paid our waiter five hundred dollars to slip it into your drink. He was happy to oblige once he saw the wad of money I was handing over.”

  I shake my head, dumbfounded. I really can’t believe this is happening. Yesterday I was planning my future with the girl I love and my father was someone who would never be a part of my life. Today I’m sitting here in a warehouse where I’ve been rendered unconscious by a girl I hate, waiting to meet my mobster father.

  “So my mother has known all along that my father is alive?” I ask. The knowledge is baffling. My mother raised me. She’s been terrible at it, but I still grew up knowing she was the one constant in my life. And now I’m discovering it was all a lie.

  My head whips around when I heard the creaking whine of the door handle.

  A tall man enters the room. His regal grace belies the lethal edge that lingers about his aura. His salt-and-pepper hair is the only thing that gives away his age, because his face is handsome and unlined. The man really does look a lot like me, and the realization sends me spinning. He’s just older. That’s really the only difference.

  I’m unable to speak as I take him in.

  He strides into the room, commanding the attention of everyone in it. He’s definitely charismatic and powerful. He stops in front of me.

  “Hello, son,” he says softly. The low level of his voice betrays the emotions he’s experiencing under his cool exterior.

  A million emotions fight for power inside me at that moment. Fear, because my father has ordered me to be drugged and brought to him against my will. Elated, because my father is alive and standing in front of me. Confused, because I don’t understand how he could have gone all this time without wanting to see me. Anger, because he’s a criminal and he expects me to just join the family business like a lawyer or a plumber or something.

  “Hello, dad,” I reply, just as softly. “So nice to see you. For the first time in thirteen years.”

  Unintentionally, I drench my voice in sarcasm. I can’t seem to avoid it.

  “Are you going to let me explain before you ream me out?”

  “No,” I snap. “I’m not going to ream you out. I’m leaving.”

  “Dan, Lil,” my father says. “Give me a minute with my son.”

  “I don’t need a minute,” I say, irritated. Who does this man think he is? Right, he thinks he’s a parental figure. It’s laughable.

  Lilly looks at me and smiles reassuringly. I look away; they leave the room together, Dan’s arm slung protectively around his daughter.

  “Whatever you have to say, you can save it,” I order, turning to face the man who contributed sperm in order to create my existence. “I’m out of here.”

  “I think my armed guards on the other side of that door will have something to say about that,” my father replies casually.

  “Okay, Dad, really? Is that the way you’re going to play it? I’m what, like, your long lost son? You want me to take over the family business? And you’re going to hold me hostage until I agree?”

  “Cooper. You don’t understand. I wanted to see you years ago; you must know that. I didn’t want to be away from my only son. I’ve had so much to teach you.”

  “Yeah,” I snap. “And it wasn’t how to catch a ball or change my oil. You wanted to teach me how to run a mob unit!”

  He rolls his eyes. “You’re dramatic. You take after your mother.”

  “And what the hell is up with that? She’s raised me all these years; you’ve been in contact with her, and she said nothing? Nothing?”

  “My life was in danger. Until recently, she couldn’t trust anyone well enough to let you know I was alive, or to let you see me. It was safer that way. For all of us. But now we can be a family again.”

  “I’m. Not. Interested.” I spit each word out like rancid pieces of meat. “I’ll just start my own family. I want nothing to do with you, or your crime-filled lifestyle.”

  My father stares hard at me, the icy blue eyes boring into me like lasers. “You’re Wagner Goode’s son. My only son. I am this business. Which means that one day, you’ll be t
his business. You’ll learn from me. You’ll learn to command respect from your employees and your enemies. You’ll learn everything I have to teach you. Whether you want to or not. This is your birthright, and I’m not going to let you throw it away.”

  “Business,” I scoff. “This isn’t a business, Wagner. It’s the mob. Which I’m guessing means drugs, smuggling, money laundering, and every other illegal thing I can think of. I want nothing to do with any of it. Don’t you think I have my own plans for myself? I’m eighteen years old. You haven’t seen me since I was five. I have a life. One that has nothing to do with you or this business.”

  I’m beginning to realize that no matter what I say, he isn’t just going to let me walk out those doors. I’m going to have to find a way out. And from the looks of things, it’s going to be exactly the opposite of easy. I am slowly collecting information. There are armed guards outside the door where they are keeping me. This is a warehouse used for storage. Who knows how far into this building my prison cell is located? And how many other obstacles I’ll have to pass in order to escape?

  And if I do escape, then what will I do? Camryn’s face flashes through my mind. She is my future. I know that, without a doubt. But can I allow her to live a life where she is at risk of being hurt by my father? Running from him?

  I know the answer to that. I could never do that to her.

  I’m going to have to find a way to put my father away forever. Or I’m going to have to leave Cam.

  The thought is agonizing. I can’t do that. I need her, because she makes me better. She makes the life I’d had thus far worth living, worth dreaming about again. I can’t give her up.

  But I won’t put her in danger either.

  A knock sounds on the door.

  My father lets out an irritated sigh and walks to the door.

  “Sir, your wife has arrived.” A man wearing a black muscle shirt and black slacks lean in and speaks to my father. My father smiles; a tight-lipped curl of skin over teeth.

  “Thank you, Marc.”

  “But there’s a complication, sir. She was followed. Two young girls in a Toyota Corolla.”

  My head whips around at his last words. My hand flies up to clutch at the shirt covering my chest, because subconsciously, I guess I’m afraid my heart will stop beating.

  My father has spent his whole adult life observing. He observes his employees for signs of disloyalty. He observes his enemies for signs they’re gaining ground. He’s been observing me since he walked in.

  So he notices my reaction to what the guard has said. His eyes never leave my face as he asks, “Two young girls?”

  “Yes sir,” Marc answers. “The one driving is black, and she has a blond friend with her.”

  I take two involuntary steps toward my father and the man he calls Marc, before I even realize I’ve moved.

  My father keeps his eyes trained on me. “Thank you, Marc. Bring them in.”

  “No!” The word escapes my throat as a croak rather than the shout I intended.

  Marc nods, and leaves the room.

  I turn to my father and it takes everything I have to stay calm as I say, “You’re going to let them go.”

  “Of course I am,” he answers. “I’m not a monster.”

  “Then why are you bringing them in at all?”

  “Because I need leverage. You’re not cooperating.”

  “You won’t touch her. You won’t. I’ll kill you first,” I promise, choking on the words.

  “I won’t do anything I don’t have to do,” he promises.

  My breath is coming way too fast, and my hands are balled into fists at my sides. If I have opened my mouth again, a snarl would have been all I could muster.

  Camryn is about to walk into the dragon’s lair.

  She’s going to cross right into my father’s line of fire.

  Chapter 25

  Found

  Camryn

  I follow the black sedan into the parking lot of a strip mall.

  “Great,” Dara says, rolling her eyes. “She’s going shopping.”

  But the sedan continues around to the back of the shopping center, following a long narrow asphalt road where a squat cluster of warehouses sit completely hidden from the street in front of the strip mall.

  “I don’t think she’s shopping way back here,” I point out.

  The sedan stops in front of a warehouse. Cooper’s mother steps out of the car and disappears inside.

  Dara and I sit there, staring at the warehouse.

  “What should we do now?” she asks.

  “I don’t know! I’ve never followed anyone before!”

  “I’m texting Brandon,” she says, pulling out her slim, pink-covered cell phone.

  “Are you telling him where we are?”

  “Yes,” she answers firmly.

  I sigh. “Then we might as well--“

  I jump at a sudden, sharp rap on my window, startling me. I look out my window, and a man in all black flashes a badge at me.

  I glance over at Dara. She shrugs.

  I open my door, and the man puts his badge back in his pocket.

  “Please come with me, Miss,” he orders with authority.

  “But I’m not--“ I begin.

  “Now,” he says. He grabs my arm.

  “Hey!” Dara shouts. “Let go of her!”

  A second man appears and grabs both of Dara’s arms.

  The blood flowing through my veins freezes, and I know instantly that we are in trouble.

  The men practically drag us into the warehouse where we have just seen Cooper’s mother enter.

  After we enter, they let us go.

  “What the hell?” I ask angrily. “Who are you? Where’s Cooper?”

  Both men just look at us. After a couple of minutes of us just standing there like we’re waiting for something, a third man comes down a long hallway leading to who knew what.

  “Marc,” the man who flashed a badge at me nods in greeting.

  “He’s ready for them,” the man called Marc says. He turns to us. “Right this way, ladies.”

  He sounds like such a gentlemen. If they are so civilized, then why are they treating us like we’re prisoners?

  My mother often told me when I was younger to always trust my instincts when I’m in a strange place or with strange people. If I don’t feel safe, then I’m probably not, and I need to find a way out of the situation, like yesterday. Dara and I are already on their turf. It may be too late for us already.

  “Do we have a choice?” I ask him.

  Instead of answering me, the man holds out his hand. “Phones.”

  My mouth drops open. He wants our phones? My fear, instead of paralyzing me like I would have expected, is making me feel jittery and amped. I hand him my phone and Dara does the same.

  She looks at me pointedly, and then cuts her eyes to our retreating phones. I know what she’s thinking. She already texted Brandon our location. I hope he isn’t dumb enough to come alone. I hope he brings the whole damn police force with him.

  The man spins around and glides down the slick-floored hallway, and I know we are expected to follow. He turns left, right, and left again. This warehouse is more like a maze, and I feel like the little rat scurrying around inside. I can see why they chose it as a place to set up their little operation or whatever it was. I only hope Cooper is okay.

  Had they kidnapped him? Why?

  When we turn another corner, my whole world slams to a halt, like someone has pressed a giant STOP button on my life. Then everything continues forward again in slow motion.

  Lilly Brewer, walking toward us in leather riding pants and her signature red leather jacket, flips her long brown hair over one shoulder. Her eyes meet mine, and one corner of her lips turn upward; the ghost of a smirk crossing her pixie-like face. As we pass, she shakes her head slightly at us. My eyes narrow, and I set my mouth in a grim line.

  She’s in this up to her skinny little neck, and it doesn’t sur
prise me at all.

  Dara elbows me in the ribs after Lilly passes, and I nod to let her know I saw Lilly, and I know what it means.

  I need to see my boyfriend.

  Now.

  The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach is only getting worse, and I think I might pass out from the fear. Not fear for myself. The overwhelming fear ‘I’m suddenly letting myself feel is for Cooper.

  Cooper

  I pace the room that has become my prison while my father watches.

  “What is it with you and this girl?” my father presses the tips of his fingers together and leans forward in his chair.

  I halt, my eyes raking over him. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not talking to you about her. But if you touch her, I’ll kill you.”

  Why do I have to keep saying that to people lately?

  He sits back, still studying me. “Now that sounds like the son I was looking forward to meeting.”

  “I’m glad I made you proud, Dad,” I snap.

  “Really, though, Cooper. Do you think you have a future with this girl? Lilly told me you were dating her and I’ve checked her out thoroughly. I thought you were just sowing your oats. But a relationship? With the likes of her?”

  I do see red then, and a blaze of fury so hot it nearly burns me rips through my insides. I am across the room in one stride and my hands grab the crisp collar of my father’s button-down shirt.

  “I don’t care what research you’ve done,” I say with deadly calm. “You don’t know her. I don’t want you to know her. You don’t get to say anything about her, because you. Don’t. Know.”

  The door bursts open and two armed men are on top of me, wrestling me to the hard, cold ground.

  “Enough,” my father says, his voice cool and even. Unruffled. “He’s got a temper, but I don’t need you now. Get out.”

  The two gorillas holding me to the ground are gone in seconds, and the door closes behind them.

  I get up, dusting myself off, and glare at my father.

  When the door opens again, my mother walks in. The blazing fury races through me again, but I would never attack her like I had my father. She earns a look of disgust from me, but that’s all.