“No.”
“Okay. Try texting her now and tell her that you can’t let it go. You are coming to see her and see what she says.”
“Okay.” I pick up my phone and text her even though my hands are shaking. I wait for a response. “It says leave me alone.”
“Tell her no.”
I text back my reply. “It says she’s not at home. She went away.”
“Ask her if she is coming to work tomorrow.”
I do and wait. “No. Not coming back ever.” I throw the phone down on the couch. “Dammit, Theresa, I know someone has her. This is not how she talks and she would not walk away from her job.”
“Do you have people who can come over here and help us?”
“Yes.”
“Call them.”
I dial my sister and tell her what is happening. She says she and Stacey will be over soon. Next I dial Matt, Macy, and Dan. They all tell me they will get to my place as fast as possible. I look up at the investigator, who is making her own calls.
“What if we can’t find her?” I ask. “What if they hurt her?”
“Don’t even think like that, Brayden. We’ll find her. You have to believe that. What we can’t do right now is let the kidnapper know we are on to them. They obviously want you to believe that Mackenzie is the one talking. They don’t want a ransom.”
“Isn’t that worse?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
Ariel bursts through my door and into my arms. “Are you okay?”
“No, not at all. The person I love the most in this world is in danger. I’m not even kind of okay.”
“You love her?” Ariel asks.
“Yeah, more than I love myself.” I feel my eyes welling with tears and I refuse to cry. Not in front of people. Stacey walks over and rubs my shoulder while I hold my sister.
“I’m sorry, Brayden,” Stacey says. “We’ll find her.”
“We better or you might as well just kill me, too. I can’t live without her.”
Moments later, Macy and Simon walk in. Matt arrives a few minutes after that and shortly after that, Dan and Kelly. My condo is full of people with one mission. Find Kenzie.
Macy goes into my kitchen and makes coffee for everyone while we wait for Theresa to make our plan of action.
“Okay,” she announces. “We need someone to stay here, someone to go to the office, and someone to stay at Mackenzie’s apartment. Brayden needs to stay with me while we go and look for her car. Maybe that will give us some clues.”
Macy steps forward. “Simon and I can go to her place.”
“Good,” Theresa says and writes it down.
“I’ll go to the office,” Matt offers.
Dan walks closer. “Kelly and I can search for her car, too. We can cover more ground that way.”
“Good call,” Theresa says.
“We’ll stay here,” Ariel says and Stacey nods her head.
I shake my head. “What if someone comes here to hurt me? I don’t want you two girls alone.”
“I can call Matthew,” Stacey offers.
“Good idea,” Ariel says.
“Who is Matthew?” I ask.
“My boyfriend,” Stacey says.
“Okay. That would make me feel better.”
“Brayden,” Theresa says. “You come with me. We’re going to find her.”
“Yes. We have to.”
My eyes flicker open and I quickly shut them again. Why does my head hurt so much? And where the fuck am I? I open them again slowly, trying to take in my surroundings. It’s then that I realize I’m blindfolded. I move my arms to take it off, but feel the rough sensation of rope around my wrists. I sit motionless as fear takes over my body.
I hear a shuffling noise and realize I’m not alone. That’s when it becomes clear there are two people in the room with me as I hear hushed and frantic whispers.
“You do it,” I hear. It sounds like a woman’s voice.
“No, you do it.” Definitely a man.
I don’t even want to think what they want the other to do. Are they going to kill me?
“What do you want from me?” I ask.
Sudden silence fills the room around me and then more hushed whispers.
“What is your nickname?” the man asks me.
“What?” I ask.
“Your nickname, dammit. What is it?”
“I don’t have a nickname.”
“What does Brayden call you?”
My heart seizes as soon as I hear his name. “Why?”
“Just fucking tell me.”
“No.”
I feel the sharp tug of my hair and hot breath of my face. “Fucking tell me.”
I don’t know what they want with me, but I’m smart enough to know that I’m not going to answer that. “Fuck you.”
Suddenly I feel the sting of a sharp slap across my face. I will not cry, though. Not in front of these people. I hear another whisper and the man sighs.
“Tell me your nickname unless you want more of that.”
Thinking quickly, I decide I better come up with something. “Red,” I whisper.
The man laughs. “That’s dumb, but whatever.”
“Do you want money?”
“No,” the man says.
“What then?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
I lean back and notice the hard feeling of a wall behind me, maybe wood. I lick my dry lips only to taste my own blood. Cool glass touches my lips and I feel water against my tongue. I drink it, thankful for the small comfort. The person giving it to me is definitely female. I can smell her perfume and sense her gentleness.
“Why did you take me?” I whisper.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers back.
“Please help me,” I say.
“I can’t. He’s in charge now.”
I can feel her move away from me and more whispering. I know they have been talking to Brayden and I hope he caught on that it wasn’t me. He has to be suspicious. He has to know I wouldn’t run away again. Not now.
I don’t know how much time has passed, but it feels like days. I am cold, uncomfortable and my arms feel numb. Someone is still in the room with me, but I don’t think two people are. I shift and try to find a better position then suddenly I feel the rough hands of a man on my chin.
“You’re very pretty, but then I guess you know you that already, don’t you? You walk around so high and mighty like no one can touch you.” He slides his hand over my chest and painfully squeezes my breast. “Well, I can touch you and you can’t do anything about it.”
I hold my breath. His reeks of alcohol and he is slurring his words. There is something familiar about him, but I can’t place it. I know he must work with me. He has to from that last comment.
“I could do anything I want to you. I could fuck you if I wanted to and no one could stop me.”
I remain silent, not wanting to provoke him. Please, if there is a god, don’t let this man rape me.
“You don’t have anything to say, Red? Is that what your boyfriend says to you when he’s sliding his dick in and out of you? It sounds stupid, but he’s a dumb bastard so it doesn’t surprise me.”
“What are you doing to her?” I hear the woman ask.
“Nothing,” he says. “Just having a little fun.”
“You cannot have that kind of fun with her.” Her voice lowers to a whisper and I hear the word promise and hurt. Maybe he promised not to hurt me. I hope so.
“Come on, baby, you know I won’t fuck her. I only want you. I just liked scaring her.”
“Okay.” I hear her say. “What are we going to do with her? This isn’t what we planned.”
“I don’t know. Maybe we should ask for money. Or dump her somewhere.”
“We just need to make sure she doesn’t see us.”
“Yeah. Then I would have to break my promise.”
A shiver runs through my body. All I want to do is get away from these people.
>
“Just let me go. No one knows about this yet. I could just say I was in a car accident and I got disoriented and wandered off. Just let me go.”
I hear silence and then the woman speaks again. “We can’t do that yet,” she says. “We won’t hurt you as long as you cooperate and be cool. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll bring you some food soon.”
“I don’t want it.”
“We’ll bring it anyway.”
I try to run through a catalog of coworkers in my head and interactions I’ve had. While both their voices seem familiar, it’s not obvious to me. It’s definitely not Angelica. She has a slight East Coast inflection that isn’t present at all in this woman.
I wiggle my legs and realize they aren’t tied. If I could stand up without them knowing, maybe I could get out, but where am I? I can’t even see. I could run outside and fall off a cliff into the ocean or get hit by a car. In sheer panic, I start to resist and try to break out of my bindings. I stop when I’m met with another stinging slap and then darkness.
It’s been two hours since the last text from Kenzie’s kidnapper. We’ve driven all over the normal routes and can find no trace of her car. Finally, I ask Theresa to turn down Mission Boulevard and down another side street. It’s not the normal way I go, but every now and then I go this way when traffic is heavy.
As Theresa and I approach, we see police cars pulled to the side of the road and then my heart stops. That’s Kenzie’s car. We rush out.
“Officer,” Theresa starts. “My name is Theresa Green, of Green P.I. Services. This is Brayden James and that’s his girlfriend’s car. We’ve been driving around for hours looking for her and we think she’s been abducted.”
“Abducted?” he asks. “How long has she been gone?”
“At least three hours,” I say. “She was supposed to come over tonight.”
“Have you heard from her?”
I look at the car smashed and fear the worst. A trickle of blood lies ominously on the deflated air bag. “Oh god, she was bleeding.”
“Sir, have you heard from her?”
Theresa takes over and I sit on the ground next to her car in a daze. My mind runs through every horrible outcome. Maybe she needs medical help and someone is letting her suffer. Or worse.
“Give me your phone, Brayden,” Theresa says.
“We have to find her,” I mutter as I hand it to her.
“We will,” Theresa assures me.
I look up and the officer is looking through my phone’s text messages. He hands the phone back to me and I dial Ariel.
“We found her car on the side of the road. She was in an accident.”
“Oh god, is she okay?”
“She’s not here, Ariel. Someone took her.”
“We need to call the police.”
“They’re already here. They found her car. Theresa is talking to them now.”
“It’s gonna be okay,” she says. “I can feel it. Stacey said Mackenzie is a fighter. She’s strong.”
“What if she can’t? What if someone is hurting her?”
“Don’t let yourself think that, Brayden. We all need to be strong for her.”
“I know. I’m so scared. I can’t stand the thought of losing her.”
“You won’t. We’ll get her back.”
I hang up and lean against the car. She never even made it home. My poor girl has been through so much in her life and now this. Is she strong enough?
“Brayden?” Theresa approaches. “We’re going to file a report, but for now they think we should just go home and wait for more contact.” She gives me a look that suggests I should just go along with her statement.
“Okay,” I say. Standing up, I give the officers all my information and we get back in Theresa’s car.
“I think we need to force their hand,” Theresa says. “Someone has her and since they aren’t asking for money, we need to figure out how we’re going to get her back. They must want something.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Text her and tell her that you know she’s being held against her will.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I pull out my phone and text her. “How’s this?” I ask Theresa, showing her the screen.
“Perfect.”
Me: I know this isn’t Mackenzie. Where is she? What do you want?
I press send. There is no answer as we drive back to my apartment.
“Can I say this?” I show her the screen again.
“Yes.”
Me: If you hurt her, I’ll fucking kill you. I won’t rest until you’re dead.
“Now what?” I ask.
“Now we wait. They’ll respond.”
“Fuck, Theresa. I don’t know what I’m gonna do if they hurt her.”
“Let’s not think that way. Only think of how awesome it’s going to be when you get to hold her again.”
I just hope it’s not at her funeral.
We pull up to my apartment and go inside. When Ariel and Stacey see me, they both rush to me and hug me. Some man, whom I assume to be Matthew, stands and shakes my hand.
“Sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances,” he says.
“Me, too.” I call everyone else and tell them what we know. Kenzie isn’t going to show up in any of those places. Before long everyone congregates at my apartment. Ariel orders in food while Macy keeps the coffee coming and Theresa keeps making phone calls. I’m going crazy with all these people around. I only want Kenzie.
“Why don’t you try to sleep?” Macy suggests.
“I can’t. I don’t want to.”
“I know you don’t, but you need to be strong for Mackenzie. When we find her, you’ll need your strength. Go rest, please. No one will let you miss anything.”
“She’s right,” Ariel says. “We’ll all be here and I promise to wake you if anything happens.”
“Okay.” I relent and go in my room. All I do is stare at the ceiling, though, wondering if she’s okay. I close my eyes and try to rest, but I can’t get the image of Kenzie out of my mind.
My face hurts. A lot. I struggle to move, but I can’t. I seem to be tied to a pole or a column of some kind. When I open my eyes, I don’t have the blindfold on anymore, but it’s pitch black. I can’t see anything, but I know someone is in the room with me.
“I’m sorry he hit you,” the voice says softly. “I didn’t want him to hurt you.”
“Who are you?” I whisper. “Why did you take me?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We just wanted to scare you.”
“Why?”
“I hate you.”
Her voice suddenly becomes very cold and I can feel her venom towards me in every part of my body.
“What did I do to you?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why do you hate me?”
“Because he loves you.”
Oh shit. This is one of Brayden’s scorned women. She targeted me because of our relationship. I decide to try to keep her talking to me. Maybe it will give me a clue who she is.
“How did you know about our relationship?”
“Because I know everything about Brayden. I watch his every move. It was obvious.”
“Did you send the email to everyone?”
She laughs softly. “Yeah.”
“Do I know you? Have we met?”
“Nice try, Mackenzie.”
I sigh. “Are you going to kill me?”
“Oh god, no. I would never do that. Neither would…” She catches herself and abruptly stops talking. “We’re not murderers. We’re not even kidnappers. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Okay, if you don’t want to hurt me, why am I here?”
“Because I want to hurt Brayden.”
“Why?”
“Lots of reasons.”
“Tell me some of them.”
“That’s enough talking. I know wh
at you’re trying to do. If you just do what you’re told and don’t piss him off, then everything will be fine. I can reason with him and he’ll let you go.”
“Does he hate Brayden? Does he want to hurt him?”
“No,” she says quietly. She walks behind me and puts the blindfold back on. “He wants to hurt you.”
I close my eyes and wonder how Brayden is doing. He must be sick with worry. All I know is I need to keep my strength up. I need to fight.
I’m not sure how much time passes before I hear the man’s footsteps again. As soon as he enters the room, I can smell alcohol. It’s definitely not comforting knowing that he is drunk. I hear the hushed whispers again and then their presence beside of me.
“I don’t want to right now,” the girl says.
“You’re going to. I have needs and you know it.”
“Not in front of her,” she pleads.
“She can’t see anything.” He pats my leg. “Isn’t that right, Red?”
I refuse to speak. It’s clear this pig plans to have sex with her right next to me. The thought is repulsive. She obviously doesn’t want to. I hear the rustling of clothes and the girl’s weak protestations. In response, he grunts and directs like he can’t even hear her. I freeze when I hear a slapping sound and the woman’s gasp. It’s quiet after that except for the man’s heavy breathing as he does what he needs to do. In this moment, I’m thankful it’s her and not me. She chose this loser.
His hand touches my leg again. “She loves it,” he says. “You would love it, too. My dick is huge, right, baby?”
The woman is silent until he says it again with force. “Right?”
“Yes,” she murmurs.
“And you love it, right? Mackenzie wants it, too. Tell her she would love it.”
“Please stop this,” she says.
“Tell her!”
“You would love it, Mackenzie,” she says through obvious tears.
I shake my head in disbelief that this is happening to me. The man grunts and I can tell he is finished. I hear him stand up and walk out of the room while the girl lays motionless next to me.
Chasing Desire Page 41
