"Also, there’s the fact that without you around, Lucas is going to wind up in prison, so either way he dies or he gets sent up the river, and that’s just going to prolong his death. I’ll tell you what, since you’re about to die anyway and I like you, I think I’ll tell you the truth. That way you can die without any confusion or misunderstanding about what’s going on.”
Her heart nearly stopped in her chest just at hearing his words. She forced herself not to show the riot of emotion going on inside of her, and instead she drew in a long slow breath, focusing with everything in her on keeping as calm as she could. She was determined to get out of her situation alive, no matter what. She wished that she could steal a glance at her phone on the window ledge and see if it was still recording everything, but she didn’t want to risk either man seeing her look at it, so she took it on faith that it was doing exactly what she wanted it to do.
Wade took a deep breath and looked at her with a leering smile. “So, you think that this really is all Lucas.” He chuckled a little. “That’s funny. That means we did it all right.”
“We sure did.” Larry said snidely.
She looked from one to the other of them and lowered one brow. “What do you mean? Lucas is exactly the reason I’m stuck in this chair with the two of you!” she tried not to snap, but she knew she sounded aggravated with them. She couldn’t hide it.
Wade laughed and shook his head. “No, honey, he’s not.”
Alexis blinked up at him, trying to understand what the round man was saying. “What do you mean?” she asked in a low tone.
Wade lifted his hand to his mouth and rubbed his thumb over his chin thoughtfully. “Nah, Lucas didn’t have anything to do with this. This was all Warren.” He began to walk slowly, in a steady line between the table where Larry was leaning again, and the chair where Alexis was sitting.
She listened silently in disbelief. He couldn’t be telling her the truth, she thought.
He paced slowly and continued. “You see, Warren’s got this old grudge against Lucas… some bad blood from years before. Lucas doesn’t know it. Warren has been out to get Lucas for a long, long while. He’s been biding his time and getting as close as he could to Lucas for years, just so he could drive the dagger in even deeper.”
Alexis’ mouth fell open and she stared at Wade. He couldn’t be telling her the truth, she thought. There was no way.
He turned on the spot and she winced, worried that he would see her phone in the window, which she noticed was still recording. He was looking at the floor as he turned, and he didn’t see it. She breathed a silent sigh of relief, and he paced slowly back the other way, one step in front of the other.
“You see, Warren hates Lucas. He has been out this whole time to destroy him. Destroy everything about him… his career, his life… everything. He worked his way into becoming Lucas’ manager so that he could have more control over what was going on in Lucas’ life. He helped Lucas get to the top… just so he could take him down from the highest point possible.” He turned to look at her then.
Their eyes met, and in that moment, she knew that Wade was telling her the truth, and her whole body went ice cold with dread.
“Oscar night.” Wade said as a wicked grin spread over his face. “Oscar night… the pinnacle of Lucas’ career. He was the toast of Hollywood… of the entire entertainment industry, and that is just what Warren wanted, so he could bring him crashing down.”
Alexis could not speak; her heart was in her throat. She shook her head once, slowly, wishing that it wasn’t true, but seeing in Wade’s eyes that it definitely was.
“Why do you think Lucas had his own party at his house? So that Warren could have us there, so we could be alone with him in his office. Who do you think sent Lucas in to meet the two guys Lucas didn’t know? Warren did. He told him to go meet us, and Lucas, trusting fool that he is, did. He walked right in there and Warren closed the door behind him. Warren hired us to come in and meet Lucas, he hired us to plant the drugs all over the desk and on Lucas in his fancy jacket. He hired us to spike Lucas’ drink when we shared a shot with him, so that he passed out long enough for us to get out and the cops to get in. Who do you think tipped the cops off about Lucas’ drug problem and possession? Warren. Lucas doesn’t do drugs. He was telling you the truth. He doesn’t have anything to do with drugs, but that’s not going to help him now, is it? There’s no way out of this for him!” he threw his head back and laughed maniacally.
Remorse washed over Alexis in a massive tidal wave; almost drowning her in guilt and sorrow. She couldn’t stand the fact that she had never believed Lucas, and was so sure that he was guilty. If she was his defense attorney and she didn’t believe him, no one else was ever going to.
“He can’t get away with that!” she choked out, trying to swallow her tears as she glared up at Wade.
Wade laughed again, and Larry watched her silently. “Oh… he’s getting away with it. Think about it, counselor… or haven’t you managed to figure this out yet? Why do you think Warren hand-picked you to defend Lucas? You think the great and powerful Anderson Nolan couldn’t have defended the biggest name in Hollywood?
You think there weren’t other lawyers at that firm of yours who would have been a thousand times better than you at defending such a big and important star? There others… and Anderson even suggested them, but Warren asked him about the up and coming attorneys there, and your name came up, and Warren had you checked out and chose you himself, demanding that you be the one to take the case.
He insisted on it… not because you could defeat the prosecution and prove that Lucas was innocent, but because there was no way you could win. Ever. He set you and Lucas up for failure right from the start.”
Wade shook his head and smiled appreciatively. “The man is a mastermind. Truly… except he didn’t take care of one thing… he didn’t take care of us when he said he would. You’d think that a man with that much on the ball would have paid us, but no.
We did all the work, we planted the drugs, we did our part, and we are still sitting here without our money. We even brought you in to get a message to him because we couldn’t find Warren, and we thought that taking you would encourage Lucas to call Warren, but it looks like that’s not going to work, and that’s really too bad for you.”
Several things were racing through Alexis’ mind at that moment. She was in shock at the stark truth that had just crashed over her entire world. Everything that she thought she knew was wrong. All of it, and it was difficult to accept. All of her anger and frustration with Lucas had dissipated as she learned what she never would have believed to be true. She was desperate to talk to Lucas and tell him how sorry she was, and to ask him to forgive her. All the time he had put his future in her hands, she never believed him, and he still had faith in her.
She was furious with Wade and Larry, and whoever their boss was, for working at the evil deeds they had done, for having such a major hand in bringing down another person, and for being so devious in what they had done. She knew she had room to grow as an attorney, but knowing that Warren had chosen her specifically knowing that she would fail seeded a bitter resentment in her that had almost immediately grown into a rebellious determination to bring him down at his own game.
Then there was the fact that the two men standing before her were planning on killing her and unwittingly, killing Lucas’ baby growing in her. She knew her time was running out, and her mind was whirring with every possible scenario that could get her out of where she was, and out of getting killed if she could manage it.
Larry pushed himself away from the table he was leaning on, and as he walked toward her, he pulled a knife from his jacket pocket. The blade gleamed in the light from the window, and Alexis swallowed hard, her heart beginning to race faster than it ever had in her life.
He stepped behind her and grabbed her chin in his hands, pulling her head backward and exposing and lengthening her neck. She felt the sharp edge of the cold steel ag
ainst her throat and she cried out in desperation.
“Wait!” she gasped, her eyes wide and her breath short, “I know where Warren is! I know where he is. I can help you get your money! Just give me a chance to do it. I’ll get your money for you, you come out ahead, and I never say a word about it to anyone because I would be your partner… your accomplice, and I’d be just as guilty as you!” she vowed passionately.
Larry stilled and though she couldn’t see him. She could see Wade’s face, looking over the top of her head at Larry, and she saw the expression on his face. He was silently asking with his eyes if they should go with her offer and use her to get their money.
She continued. “You’re not going to find him without me… how else are you going to get paid? Send me. I’ll get it; you’ll have what you should have had to begin with! I want to get back at him for putting me in this position, so I’m more than willing to take your side and work for you. I’ll do it! Just… just give me a chance!”
Wade’s eyebrows went up as if he was interested in the idea, and he gave a subtle nod to Larry, who was still holding the knife to Alexis’ throat. There was a tense moment between all of them, and then Larry stepped away from her and walked over behind Wade.
Wade looked down at her and gave her a nod. “Well, we’ll have to take that into consideration. Larry and I are going to go run your offer past the boss. If he likes it, we’ll see about doing it.”
She didn’t move or breathe until after they had walked across the room and the door had closed behind them again. She listened as they walked down the hallway and the moment she heard the elevator doors, she pulled the loose ropes from her wrists and sprang from the chair, rushing to the window.
Alexis grabbed her phone and turned the recorder off, pushing the phone back down into her inner pocket. With both hands, she heaved at the window, struggling with everything in her to get it open. It slid a few centimeters and then finally gave way and opened fully. She crawled through it, thankful she hadn’t worn a skirt that day, and made it out onto the metal landing of the fire escape stairs. Moving as quickly as she could, she nearly flew down each ladder, turning quickly at each landing, until she reached the last landing, and slid the straight ladder down toward the alley beneath her. She let herself down each rung as fast as she could, and when she reached the last one, she looked down over her shoulder and saw that she was still far off of the ground.
Looking up, she knew she only had moments to run before they found out she was gone. Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, she let go of the last rung and fell to the asphalt below, hitting it hard when she landed. Pain shot through her foot and ankle and she hit her knees, cringing in pain. Biting back a scream, she looked up once more and saw that there was no one at the window. She stood up as best she could, and ran at a desperate hobble down the alley, trying not to slide on loose gravel and splashing through shallow puddles. She finally reached the corner of the building and rounded it, throwing one more glance upward to the window. It was still empty. It was the last look she chanced. She turned her head and searched the street around her.
It was an older street in an older neighborhood; the other buildings were nearly as run down as the old brick warehouse that she had just run out of. She eyed the surrounding buildings and spotted the address of the little hardware shop next door. She hurried down the street and ducked into a small neighborhood market, slipping into their bathroom as quickly and quietly as she could.
Pulling her phone from her pocket, she turned on the GPS locator and got the name of the street she was on, and then called the police. After giving them the address of the building where she had been taken, as well as the description of the two men who had taken her and a tip off that there was another drug dealer in the building on a higher floor, she asked them for a follow up call, and then called a taxi to come pick her up.
She waited inside of the store until the taxi showed up, and she peered out of the door of the market and looked up and down the street to make sure that no one was watching. She slipped out of the doorway quickly and hurried into the back seat of the cab. She gave the driver an address, and begged him to get going as fast as he could. She ducked low and hid until the car was off of the street. Slowly, she sat back up and took a deep breath of relief, leaning back against the seat in amazement of what had happened to her, and even more so that she was able to escape, even with the injury she had sustained on her ankle.
The cab drove for a long while, and finally pulled up at an iron gate with a privacy hedge and an ivy arch over it. She pressed in the code and had the cab drive up the private lane to the house. She didn’t know if Lucas would be home, but she had made up her mind that if he wasn’t, she was going to sit and wait for him until he did get home. There was plenty in her head and in her heart that she wanted to say to him. The cab left and she went to the front door, feeling more nervous than she had in longer than she could remember. She rang the bell and waited, hoping that he was home, and hoping that he would talk with her. She thought back over the fight they’d had the last time they spoke, and regretted so much of everything she had said and thought about him.
She didn’t wait long before the door opened and Lucas stood there in the doorway staring at her, stunned. He didn’t wait long, but stepped aside and ushered her in, gasping when he saw her hobble past him. “What happened to you?” he asked worriedly as he hurried to her and wrapped his arm around her, carrying her to the sofa in the living room.
She winced as they moved along until he lowered her onto the cushions. “I hurt my ankle.”
He looked at her in confusion. “What were you doing?”
Alexis sighed and turned to look at him as he sat beside her on the sofa. “Before I tell you that, I need to apologize to you.” She had never been sorrier about anything in her entire life, as much as she was sorry for the way that she had been with him. “You told me the truth… everything you told me was the truth, and I didn’t believe you, and I’m the one person who should have believed you right from the very start. I’m so very sorry.” she told him earnestly, reaching for his hand. She closed her fingers over his and he blinked at her in amazement.
It was a long moment before he could speak to her. When he did, his voice was quiet. “You believe me now? Why? What changed?” he asked in a half voice.
Sighing, she looked down, almost not believing herself as she spoke, telling Lucas what had happened to her. “I came out of my house this morning and as I was getting into my car to go to work, two guys kidnapped me, put me in a van… I think… and took me to a warehouse.”
Lucas’ mouth fell full open. “What?! How did… Did you get hurt?” he asked, and then stopped short and looked down at her ankle and shook his head. “What am I talking about? You are hurt! We’re not going to sit here and talk. I’m taking you to the doctor right now. We can talk on the way.” He helped her up from the sofa and then scooped her up into his arms and carried her to his car. Minutes later they were on their way to the hospital, and Lucas was growing more worried by the minute.
“So… what happened? You were kidnapped?” he asked as he rushed his car down the street.
She pursed her lips and let out a long breath. “Yeah. I was kidnapped. It turns out that it was the two guys who met you in your office on the night of the Oscar’s.”
He flipped his head over toward her instantly, short of breath, short of words, and stared for a second before he turned his attention back to the road. “My god… I can’t believe it! How did that happen? What happened? How on earth did you get away?”
Alexis hadn’t had much time to think about how she was going to tell him, or what she would say. She knew she was going to be telling him things that he never would have guessed, and she hoped that he would be able to take it in alright.
“They took me to a warehouse on the other side of town. On the wrong side of the tracks… I guess. I was taken up to about the fourth floor of the building. They told me at first that they w
ere going to use me to get the drug money they were looking for, but when they found out that they couldn’t, they decided to kill me.” she looked out of the front window, not seeing anything in front of them as she relived the moments that morning, feeling more of her emotions than she had let herself feel when it was happening.
“My god…” he groaned, rubbing one hand over his forehead as he drove with the other hand. “I can’t believe this. I mean… I believe you, obviously, but I just… can’t believe this. God.”
Alexis spoke in a monotone voice, as every feeling in her raged in chaos. “I had to figure out a way to try to convince them not to kill me, so I told them that I would help them get their money.”
“How… how were you going to do that?” he asked in consternation, forcing himself to keep his eyes on the road, rather than turning to look at Alexis again.
“I told them I knew where the man with their money was. I told them I could go and get him to pay them.”
He frowned a little and shot her a sidelong glance. “Why would you say that? Did you know who it was? Was that something that you could really do?”
She blinked as if she had suddenly woken up and come back to the present where they were. She knew it was time to tell him, though she didn’t want to at all.
“Lucas… the man they were trying to find is Warren,” she said quietly and gently, looking at him.
He didn’t say anything for a long minute; he only stared straight ahead at the road. He closed his mouth and opened it again, unsure what to say. She waited for him, and at last he spoke.
“Warren?” he whispered. “Warren… how?” He shook his head and pressed his lips together tightly as he narrowed his eyes.
She looked down at her hands folded in her lap and then back out at the road in front of them. “It was Warren. They said that he had a grudge against you and that he’s been working this whole time to bring you down and destroy your career and your life. He has been spending all of this time getting close to you so that he could help you reach as lofty a goal as you could, only to take you down from higher up.
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