by Alison Ryan
And it was working.
How he could have predicted I’d react this way, was hard to know. I suspected he hadn’t expected for me to fall for her as I had, he assumed I was just protecting the closest thing any of my brothers and I had to a sister. Not that I’d ever had any sisterly thoughts about Piper Kipton, even when she actually was my stepsister.
But either way, the game had begun. Spencer Cameron was in this for the highest of stakes. I’d taken something from him long ago and now it was time for him to extract his revenge.
And he was more than happy to use Piper to do it.
She needed to know. I couldn’t hide what was happening any longer. Piper needed to know exactly who I was and what we were dealing with. I wasn’t the man she thought I was. I might have been on the right side of a wrong in this case, but there were so many wrongs in my past, I found it hard to believe she could ever see past them.
The room was pitch black. I figured she was asleep, I knew she had to be spent from the last couple days of travel and stress. I would do everything in my power to make sure she got rest. Tomorrow we’d eat at Al Mahara. I’d wine and dine her, show her how I felt, something I wasn’t fantastic at. I was better at expressing it on her naked body, something I intended on having one more time tonight before falling into a deep sleep.
I stripped my clothes off, already hard thinking about being inside her again. The room was barely lit but I reached the bed, waiting to hear her movement, hoping she was awake enough for me to love one more time.
But as I reached across the bed, I felt nothing. Her side was empty.
That was strange. The light in the bathroom was still on so I walked in there, thinking maybe she was taking a bath. But as I walked in I could only hear the echoing of my footsteps against the mosaic tiles.
My heart started pounding. I flipped on a lamp and yelled for one of the butlers.
No one came.
Now, I knew it was bad. I called out her name, “Piper!”
There was no answer.
Piper Kipton had vanished.
26
PIPER
After spying on Atlas, I crawled back into bed, keeping the television on for company. I’ve never been someone who likes the dark. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to actually fall asleep until he was back.
Thoughts swirled around in my head. Who was that woman? It was clear they were familiar with each other.
Before I could think too much about it, I felt a presence in the room. My body stiffened, waiting to feel the weight of his body on the bed, his powerful arms around me, pulling me into his embrace to explain where he’d been and with whom.
Instead I heard an unfamiliar voice.
“Mrs. Titan,” it said in a heavy accent. “There’s been an emergency, we need to evacuate you. I need you to come with me, please.”
I looked over and one of our butlers was standing there and my heart started to thump.
“Why?” I asked. “I’d rather wait for At- I mean, my husband. I would prefer to wait for my husband to come back,” I said.
“Of course. He’s down in the lobby, waiting for you. Something urgent has come up and he sent me to get you,” the man said, clearly impatient. “But you must hurry.”
Something wasn’t right. What the man said made no sense, and besides, Atlas would have come for me himself. He wouldn’t send a stranger, especially in the circumstances we were in. He had told me to trust no one.
“No,” I said, defiantly. I sat up in bed, ready to bolt for the door if the man made a move toward me. “I’d rather stay here. I don’t feel…”
Suddenly, a damp cloth was over my mouth. I tried to scream but it was muffled by whoever was behind me and it didn’t matter anyway, the cloth was soaked in something that made me woozy and then… everything went black.
I woke up in a plush bed, a silk pillowcase under my cheek. My vision was blurry and I had a terrible headache and dry mouth. I sat up, groggy, not remembering what had happened for a moment.
I looked around to get a hold of my surroundings. The lighting was low and dim, and it was quiet. It looked like a high-end luxury hotel room, except the door to the room was heavy steel with bars across a small window that looked out into darkness.
My last memory with the butler flooded back into my mind and I started to shake uncontrollably.
“You’re okay, Piper,” a voice said.
I jumped, not realizing someone was in the room with me. It was a woman; the same woman I had just seen Atlas with moments before I was attacked.
“I’m not okay,” I said, touching my temple. “I feel hungover. Where’s Atlas? Why am I here? You were with him earlier, where did he go?”
She looked at me, surprised.
“How did you know I was with him?” she asked, curious. She didn’t seem uncomfortable at all. She was striking in her appearance. Olive skin, dark, wavy hair, and large, brown eyes. She was slender, long legs and arms. She had the build of someone straight off the runway. Confidence dripped from her pores.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, not wanting to admit I’d been spying. “What’s going on?”
“Atlas will be here soon,” she said. “Do you want something to drink?”
I did, desperately, but I didn’t trust her or anything she gave me to consume.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“It’s bottled water. Sealed.” She tossed me an Evian. “No tampering.”
I sighed and tore the top off, taking a long and anxious chug. It helped.
I wasn’t sure what to say, so I said nothing. No one could use anything against me if I was silent.
“How much do you know about Atlas?” the woman said, her voice smooth and seductive. “Not much, I’m guessing?”
“Enough,” I said.
“Enough.” She repeated it to me, seemingly amused. “I can assure you, you don’t know enough. Atlas Titan is much more than he seems.”
“Aren’t we all?” I retorted.
“I feel like you’re exactly how you seem,” the woman said. She sounded so smug. It annoyed the shit out of me.
“And how’s that?” I asked.
“You seem out of your element,” she observed. “In need of a hero. I can relate. I was once that way. And Atlas Titan saved me too.”
My face flushed with embarrassment and anger. Was she flaunting the fact she’d been with him? I couldn’t let her get a rise out of me.
“How nice for you,” I responded. “So what do you want from me? What are we waiting for?”
“For Atlas to come find you,” she said. “Because he’s most certainly looking.”
27
ATLAS
I was in a panic. This wasn’t a normal sensation for me. I had been in some hot spots in my past- the life threatening kind, but that had been just about me. Or my team. It was much easier when it was just your life on the line. Or lives of men and women who were trained like I had been; prepared for anything.
But Piper. She didn’t belong in this world, didn’t deserve any of this. I couldn’t let anything happen to her, yet I already had. She was gone and I had no inkling where she was or what could have happened.
There’s no way this is Spencer, I thought. That would be impossible. No one knows we’re here.
I stood in the middle of the room and I willed myself to think. If Piper had exited the suite, the staff should have reported it to me. If she left under duress, they should have alerted me. Yet I hadn’t received a call or heard a knock on the door.
Of course. Because they were in on it.
I started pacing the floor, figuring out my next move, when my cell phone buzzed.
I looked down and it was Zahra’s number.
Zahra was who I had just been in the meeting with. She was the one who’d repaid an old debt by bringing me and Piper here. Why was she calling me?
“Not a good time,” I answered. “Piper is…”
“I know,” a man’s voice said on the other e
nd. Definitely not Zahra.
“Who the fuck is this?” I growled. “Where is she?”
“She’s safe. For now. You need to do exactly what you’re told or that may not be the case in the next few hours,” the deep voice said on the other end.
Rage. It was almost blinding me.
“I’m listening,” I coldly replied.
28
PIPER
“So you know my name,” I said to the woman. “Might as well tell me yours. And why you’re in here with me.”
“I’m Zahra,” she said. “And I’m in here because I’m just as trapped as you are.”
“And why is that?” I asked.
She averted her eyes from me. “Because I know too much. You should stop asking too many questions, by the way. If you don’t know anything, you’re less likely to be killed.” She sighed. “Except in your case it won’t matter. Because you’re Atlas’s weakness. He’s never had one before. They’ll use you against him.”
I was still stuck on her saying the word killed.
“Why do they even want anything to do with us?” I asked. “Is this about Spencer?”
Zahra looked at me, her expression soft for a moment. She almost looked like she felt bad for me.
“Like I said,” she replied. “The less you talk, the better.”
We stayed in the room for another hour. Maybe more, maybe less. There were no clocks, no way to tell what time it was.
Oddly enough, I felt very calm. I don’t know if it was shock or just my body’s way of defending itself, by shrouding me in numbness, but I wasn’t on the floor sobbing like I had been back in DC.
Atlas would find me. He’d get me out of this mess.
I was positive this had to relate to Spencer. I wasn’t sure how, but all roads to hell seemed to be paved by him. But why the kidnapping? And who was this Zahra woman?
As if she was reading my mind, she spoke. “You’re a bargaining chip. If you stay quiet, you might have a chance. But they’re going to want something from Atlas. For you to be safe, he will have to pay.”
“Ransom?” I asked, completely confused.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “If only. That would be easy.”
29
ATLAS
I’d agreed to be blindfolded. A first.
I was directed to go downstairs and into a corner of the garage, facing the wall. Several men approached me from behind, frisking me and placing a hood over my head before placing me in a truck.
My senses told me I was in an older vehicle, maybe a Jeep Cherokee, and we were going off the beaten desert path if the jolts and bumps we were hitting were any indication. I hadn’t been seat belted in and I jostled around in the back. Two men sat on each side of me. They weren’t as large as me, but they were close.
I also sensed they were armed.
The agreement was that I would say nothing, do nothing, hurt no one, and they would bring me to Piper.
None of this seemed like Spencer. My gut told me this was about something else entirely. And I had a feeling that was very bad. For all of us.
Everyone thinks of the desert as arid and hot, but at night temperatures can plummet. As soon as we reached our destination and I was led out of the car, blowing sand stung my neck below the hood and a chill went up my back. That cold wind blowing through the Arabian night meant we were out somewhere open and desolate. The tall skyscrapers and buildings in Dubai would have blocked this kind of wind.
Shit. Not good.
I heard the loud screech of something heavy being dragged. A door. Made of sturdy metal; steel most likely.
I’d expected to go either through it or up it. Instead we went down narrow stairs. Once we were at the bottom, my hood was removed.
Who I saw standing there shocked me.
“Malcolm?”
It was Malcolm Chambers, the pilot who brought us to Dubai. Except now he stood in front of me in Banana Republic casual attire, looking a lot more debonair than he had just hours before.
“Hello, Atlas,” he smiled. “Nice to see you again.”
“I would normally say the same,” I replied.
“Understandable,” he nodded. “I know this is all a big shock. Care to follow me?” He started walking down the narrow hallway.
“Do I have a choice?” I asked, glancing at the two men one either side of me. I was pretty sure they were the ones who had been in the vehicle with me and, sure enough, they had AK-47’s slung over their shoulders.
Malcolm chuckled in a way that didn’t sound anything like the Malcolm I had known during our Coronado days.
“Not really,” he said. “You do want to see Piper, right?”
She was in a cell, but it was one of the most glamorous ones I’d ever seen. It was basically the inside of a luxury hotel room with a steel door. But as soon as I saw her, relief flooded through me, though I tried not to show any emotion, knowing Malcolm and his thug buddies were watching me closely for any reaction, anything they might use against me.
It was best they didn’t realize how much I cared about Piper. It would keep her safer.
So although she leapt into my arms, I played cold with her.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” I said, flatly. A flash of hurt went across her large eyes and she stepped back.
“I’m fine,” she responded. “I’ve made tons of friends. Or really just one. Zahra here.”
I looked over. What the fuck was Zahra doing here?
30
PIPER
He didn’t even seem relieved to find me alive.
Think, I thought. About what Zahra said. He can’t look like he cares about me too much.
I hoped that’s what it was. The memory of seeing him with her was still on my mind. Which was ridiculous because we had more important things happening at the moment.
Like the fact we were being held against our will and had no idea why.
Suddenly I realized I knew one of the other men in the room with us.
“Aren’t you our pilot?” I asked. I glanced at Atlas.
“Good memory, Piper,” the man said. “I’m Malcolm and yes, I was your pilot. I flew you right to where Zahra told me to. You met Zahra, right? Did she fill you in on her resume? Her story? No?”
I looked over at Zahra, who was still sitting in the upholstered chair that was at the foot of the bed I’d been lying in. She looked at Malcolm like she wanted to kill him. If expressions were weapons, hers would have been lethal.
“She doesn’t need to know who I am or what we do,” she said through clenched teeth. “She has nothing to do with this.”
Atlas spoke up, “Zahra’s right. Piper’s just a girl who my father is making me babysit. Whatever you need me for has nothing to do with her. She’s just a liability. Let her go. Take her back to my father so he can deal with her petty drama.”
My heart was thumping so loud I was sure the whole room could hear it. Now I knew Atlas was playing us down in order to save me. I was terrified to be separated from him again.
Malcolm laughed, “Just a girl you’re looking after as a favor? Right. Video doesn’t lie, Atlas.”
Behind us there was a flat screen television, something I hadn’t noticed while speaking with Zahra. Malcolm pointed a remote from his pocket at it and it was on. A large muscled figure filled the screen and the familiar sound of Atlas’s voice, beckoning me to come for him. It was a video of us taken just hours prior.
“Not like this. I need to be inside you again. Lay back and open yourself to me.”
“I can’t stop wanting to fuck you, Piper. Does it feel good to get fucked so much?”
“Yes. Only by you. My body can only do this for you.”
The video had been taken from the side and from up above. There had been mirrors on the ceiling and on the walls.
I wanted to be sick. I’d never felt so violated. Someone had been watching us making love.
My face was red from shame and Atlas’s fists were clenched as he stood
next to me.
“You’re fucking dead,” he bellowed. “What the fuck do you want, Malcolm? And Zahra?” His anger was pointed towards her now. “You set me up.”
Zahra had tears in her eyes and she vehemently shook her head, “No, Atlas. That wasn’t my intention. I didn’t have a choice…”
I looked back and forth between them, not understanding at all what was going on. Meanwhile, the video played on, drawing the attention of Malcolm’s muscle and making me want to curl up and die.
Malcolm was laughing at the entire scene.
“This is great,” he cackled. “So much awkwardness.”
He mercifully turned the television off, right in the middle of one of my loud climaxes. I had fallen onto the bed by then, so humiliated by what the entire room had just witnessed.
“Are you with Spencer then?” I croaked out. “Is this part of his plan?”
Malcolm looked at me confused, “What? No. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Malcolm looked at Atlas. “She really doesn’t know anything about you, does she?”
Atlas stood next to me, expressionless and stoic. He had taken my hand by then and was squeezing it so hard that it hurt, but I was afraid to pull away from him.
“No,” he said. “She doesn’t. Which is why you don’t need to keep her here. This is a little melodramatic don’t you think? If you needed to see me, you knew where I was. You didn’t need to resort to this shit. And I’m not employed anymore. You both know that.” He was glaring at Zahra now who was looking away from him. It was clear she couldn’t bear to make eye contact with him.
