“I’m sorry,” she whispers.
“I am, too.”
“Wake up,” the man’s rough voice says. He shakes me and it makes every part of my body hurt.
I open my eyes, but the blindfold is still on. He shakes me again.
“I’m awake,” I say.
“Good. Open your mouth.”
“No.”
“Do it.”
“Please do it,” the girl says.
I can tell from her tone that he’ll hit me again if I don’t. I’m afraid of what will go in my mouth, but I open anyway. I feel food of some kind. I don’t want it, but I know if I’m going to get out of here, I better eat. I can tell right away it’s a breakfast sandwich from a fast food restaurant and that means we must be near town at least. I haven’t heard any traffic passing, though.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” I say.
The man sighs. “Pain in the ass.”
“I’ll take her,” the woman says.
“Fine. I’ll untie you, but don’t pull any shit or I’ll beat your ass,” the man says to me as he roughly cups my chin.
“I won’t.”
The woman helps me stand and we walk across the space. I can tell the flooring beneath me is wood from the sound my shoes make as we walk.
“We’re here.”
I feel my way to the toilet and take care of my needs.
“Are you going to let me go soon?” I ask.
“I don’t know yet,” she whispers.
“Whatever I’ve done to you, I’m sorry. Just please, you have to let me go.”
“Come on. He’s waiting for us.”
She pulls me by the arm back to where I came from. The man pushes me to the floor and ties me up again. I’m so frustrated I just want to scream.
“We’re going to work,” the man says. “You’re going to stay here until we get back.” He yanks my hair so hard I want to cry out, but I won’t. “If you try to run, you’ll die. No one can hear you out here so there is no reason to cry, but we’ll make sure you don’t.” He ties another cloth over my mouth.
“Go to the car,” he says, I assume to my female captor. His hand goes under my blouse and squeezes my breast again. He yanks the material up and runs his hands over my cleavage. “These are nice,” he whispers in my ear. “I can’t wait to stick my dick between them. As soon as she’s not looking, it’s on.” He licks the side of my face and I cringe. “I know you were jealous last night when I fucked my girl.” He rubs between my legs, causing me to squeeze my legs shut as tightly as possible. “Maybe I’ll send her to the store tonight and have my way with you. You’ll cry for your lover boy, but it’ll be me fucking you. Not him. How does that sound?”
“Fuck you,” I murmur through the cloth tied around my mouth. He shoves me hard against the wall.
“No, fuck you.”
I hear his heavy footsteps cross the room and the door slam and lock. It’s only then that I let the tears I’ve been holding back slide down my face.
“You should go to work, Brayden,” Theresa says. “You can see who isn’t there today and maybe find out a clue.”
“I don’t want to go to work. I can’t function like this.”
“I know, but whoever did this is watching you. They might contact you again if they think they can get away with it.”
“No.”
Ariel steps forward and takes my hand in hers. “Brayden, listen to me. You have to do everything you can right now to get Mackenzie back. If that means playing the part and going to work then that is what you do. You do not want to be in a place of regret.” She strokes the hair off my face. “Listen to Theresa. Everything you do right now is for Mackenzie.”
I stare at her for a minute before I finally sigh and give in. She’s right. This is for my girl.
“Okay. I’ll go.”
“I have two cars that will be on the property and we’ll be working with building security,” Theresa explains. “You won’t be alone and all your phones are going to be tapped. If someone calls you, we’ll be able to trace it.”
“Don’t you think they know that?” I ask. “They’ve been able to do a lot of stuff.”
“That’s why you have to keep them talking. No matter what, keep them talking.”
“Okay.” I say goodbye to my sister and Stacey. Her boyfriend left a few hours ago, as did the rest of the group. Theresa stayed all night. Walking into the bathroom, I start the shower and then brush my teeth. How I’m going to make it through this day is beyond me.
Macy brings me lunch and I eat at my desk, refusing to walk around. I only want to be here in case she calls. In case anyone calls. My intercom buzzes.
“What?” I answer.
“Matt is here,” Macy says.
“Okay.”
Matt walks in and sits down. “Everyone came to work today, boss. Everyone. No one is acting weird or unusual and everyone has asked where Mackenzie is, since she never calls out. I don’t think it’s anyone on our team.”
“What did you tell them?”
“That she called out sick.”
“No one is acting suspicious?”
“Not at all.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Yeah. You holding up okay, man?”
“Not even kind of. I‘m going crazy. I hate being helpless.”
“I can’t even imagine. I know how I feel about my wife and I would be losing my shit right now.”
“I am.”
“Let me know if I can do anything.”
“I will. Thanks.”
“Of course.”
Matt leaves and I stare at my phone just as a text comes through.
Kenzie: Leave us alone and we won’t hurt her.
I immediately pick up the handset to my desk phone and call Theresa.
“They responded to me. They said ‘we won’t hurt her.’ There’s more than one of them.”
“Meet me downstairs in the lobby. I’m at the coffee bar. Bring your phone.”
“Okay.” I grab my phone and head downstairs. On my way, I bring Macy up to speed. When I see Theresa, she waves.
“Okay, so they’ve admitted they have her. That’s good. They haven’t hurt her.”
“How do you know?”
“Because they aren’t pretending to be her anymore and they have said they won’t hurt her.”
“What if they’re lying?”
“These are amateurs. I can tell. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
“I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.”
“I don’t either, but I know it means that Mackenzie is alive and unharmed. Text them again and ask them what they want to return her. Maybe they’ll come up with something now.”
Me: What do you want? What will it take for you to give her back?
Kenzie: I hope this hurts. I hope you’re so scared. She is. She is terrified.
I start to slam the phone down on the table, but Theresa grabs it. “Don’t break your phone. This is all we have.”
“What the fuck do I say now?”
“Ask them again what they want.”
Me: Just tell me what you want.
Kenzie: We’ll let you know.
“That’s it? We’ll let you know? How long are they going to keep her, Theresa?”
“I don’t know,” she says. “Keep your voice down. We don’t know who is behind this and it could be anyone around here.”
“Fine.”
“Finish your work day. I’ll be right behind you when you drive home and let me know if you get any more messages.”
“I will.”
I walk back to the elevator and look at everyone I pass with suspicion. I ride up to my floor quietly. Inside, my heart is being clawed out of my chest. Outside, I have to stay calm. When I get to my office, Macy jumps up.
“I just thought of something,” she says.
“What?”
“What if it’s not our team? There are five other divisions in this bui
lding, plus IT, security, and HR. We could be overlooking someone.”
“Who would hate me enough to do this?”
“Sam?”
“We think it’s a female behind this.”
“Yes, but what if he had someone do it for him?”
“Kidnap my girlfriend? I don’t know.”
“He’s always bothered me, like he could be a pedophile or a serial killer.”
“Yeah, I guess he is a little creepy.”
“I checked with his admin, Brayden. He called out sick today.”
“He did? Motherfucker!”
“Wait, calm down. We don’t know it’s him. I’m just saying he called out and he doesn’t do that very often.”
“I’m calling Theresa.” I pull my cell phone out of my pocket and tell her what I know. She tells me she’ll have someone check to see if he’s home. I pace nervously for half an hour until she calls me again.
“Sam is at home sick with the flu. His wife answered and when he came to the door, he looked like a man who’s been in bed for a couple of days. I don’t think it’s him.”
“What did you ask him?”
“I sent one of my guys over and told him we had a delivery for him. We gave him some cookies.”
“Did he wonder who they were from?”
“I’m sure he did, as did his wife.”
“What do we do now? Macy suggested maybe I start thinking of people outside of my department.”
“Yes, definitely start doing that and make a list of anyone you think might be capable of this. I’ll check everyone out.”
“Okay.” I sit down and start jotting down names. “Tony!” I say out loud to no one. I know he hates me and he wants Mackenzie for himself. I stomp down to his floor and see him sitting at his desk. He looks up at me and frowns.
“What are you doing here?” he asks.
“Where were you yesterday?”
“None of your fucking business.”
I grab him around the collar. “Answer me!”
He puts his hands up. “Geez, Brayden, what the fuck. I was here.”
“After work? Where were you?”
“At the gym until eight and then…” he stops, clearly trying to remember. “After that, I went and had a drink at Bobby’s and then I went home.”
“Alone?”
“No, with a cocktail waitress. Her name is Jazz.”
I release his collar and realize everyone is staring at me. I lost my cool.
“I…um, I apologize, Tony. I’m under a lot of stress.”
“Why are you asking me questions like I need an alibi or something?
Thinking quickly, I come up with an excuse. “Someone scratched my car last night and I kind of thought it was you.”
“Dude, we may not be the best of friends, but I’m not gonna vandalize your car. It wasn’t me.”
“Okay. Again, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, okay.”
I walk away, ignoring the stares of everyone. I walk by Sydney who looks shocked and for good reason. I’m too embarrassed to talk to her so I just keep walking and go back to my floor. I still plan to tell Theresa about Tony. I don’t know if he’s telling the truth.
After I tell my investigator what happened, I sit back in my chair staring out the window. Somewhere out there is my Kenzie. My phone buzzes and I practically leap for it.
Sis: Are you holding up okay?
Me: No.
Sis: We’ll get her back. I know we will.
Me: Yeah. I’ll believe it when I see her.
I don’t know what to do. Just sit here waiting for contact? Drive all over San Diego looking for her? What do I do besides sit here?
Five o’clock comes and I shut down my computer and head for the lobby. I look around for anyone suspicious, but see nothing. I know Theresa is waiting in the parking garage for me. In my car, I drive back to my apartment. I told everyone to stay home tonight. They can’t help me. No one can until Kenzie is back. Theresa and her crew keep watch out front.
I climb into bed, clutching my phone. I can’t stay awake any longer and succumb to sleep.
I hear the door open and freeze. They’re back.
“There she is,” the man says. “Did you miss us?”
I can’t say anything and wouldn’t even if I could. I feel his rough hands on my face.
“Go to the store and get us some dinner,” he says.
“You go,” the woman replies.
“Do as I say!” he yells. “It’s your fault we’re in this situation so you can be the one to feed the stupid whore.”
“It’s not my fault! It’s yours.”
He moves away from me. “How is it my fault? It was your idea to chase her.”
“I just wanted to scare her. You caused the accident.” I hear the woman start to cry. “Why didn’t we just leave her there? Now what are we going to do?”
I hear the sharp sound of skin being slapped and the woman cries out. “Go to the fucking store, like I said.”
“Okay,” she whimpers. I hear her walk out the door and cry out even though my screams are silent. She is the only thing keeping this monster off of me.
He tears at my blouse and I hear the buttons snap and fly away. His lips touch my skin and it causes me to convulse. I can feel the scratchiness of his beard as his face moves over my body.
“I’m gonna get what I want from you,” he says. “Brayden’s not the only man that can bang a woman like you.” He pulls the tie from around my mouth.
“You can only get women like me by force, you bastard.”
“I’ll take what I can get.” He grabs my chin hard. “I can’t wait to see what you look like with my cock in your mouth.”
“I’ll fucking bite it off.”
He backhands me and I don’t care. I’d rather get beat up than have sex with this man. I will fight him until my last breath if that’s what it takes.
“I’ll kick your ass,” he threatens.
“I don’t care.”
“Oh, really? You think you’re so tough?” He slaps me again and yanks my skirt up. “We’ll see how tough you are when I’m done with you.”
I will not cry. I will not cry. I can fight. I will fight.
The man’s hands touch me everywhere and I hear him unzip his pants. As soon as he gets close enough, I’m going to make my move. I can feel his presence above me, lowering down and just as I lift my leg in an attempt to kick him in the balls, I hear a huge thunk as he slumps on top of me. Moments later, he’s off of me and I can breathe.
“I knew that son of a bitch was going to try to rape you,” the girl says. “I could see it in his eyes.” She pulls my skirt down and tries to close my blouse. “We need to get out of here before he comes to. He’ll hurt both of us.”
“Untie me,” I plead.
“I can’t do that. Come on.” She helps me to my feet and we walk outside and get inside a car. She pushes my head down so that no one can see me and drives me somewhere. I can hear the ocean waves as we travel, but nothing else. “I know another place we can go.”
“Just let me go.”
“No, I can’t. Not here.”
“Take me home.”
“I can’t do that!” she screams. “Just stop talking.”
She rubs my hair as if she is trying to comfort me. We come to a stop and she pulls me from the car. Judging from her hand on me, she doesn’t seem like a big woman, but being tied up and blindfolded renders me completely helpless.
She drags me into a building and shuts the door.
“Come on,” she says, pulling me up a flight of stairs. “He won’t find us here.”
We walk up for quite a while and then stop. She opens another door and leads me in. “Sit down.”
I sit and find a mattress below me. It feels good after the hard surface I was on before. I hear the girl sobbing and it makes me feel a little better, actually. She doesn’t want to hurt me.
“I don’t know how things got so out of hand,” sh
e cries. “I didn’t want anything like this to happen."
“What did you want to happen?”
“I just wanted to…I don’t know. I just wanted to be noticed. I wanted him to see me.”
“By taking me? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, it doesn’t. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Now I don’t know what to do.”
“Let me go.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to go to jail!”
“I don’t even know who you are. You could just let me go. They’ll never know it was you.”
“They’ll figure it out. Brayden will. He’s determined to find you.”
My heart swells when I hear those words. He hasn’t given up on me. I knew he wouldn’t.
“He was so angry today,” she says.
“You saw him?”
“Yes.” She pauses for several minutes. “He’s going insane looking for you. He still doesn’t notice me, even though I’m right under his nose. And I have you.” I feel her walking towards me and her hands smoothing my hair down.
“You look terrible,” she continues. “That bastard gave you a bruised cheek and a split lip.”
“I’m okay.”
“You hit your head in the car accident, but it’s just a small cut.” She touches the place where it is and I grimace a little. “It will heal and you’ll still be beautiful.” She runs her hand over my cheek and onto my neck. “You really are spectacular, even like this.”
Is she trying to seduce me? This is so weird. Am I about to be raped by a woman? I hold my breath.
“I know what he sees in you. You are like him.” She leans in and softly kisses my lips. “That’s what he feels when he kisses you.” She runs her hands over my breasts and then back up. “Your skin is so soft. He must love touching you.” Her hands run up my thighs and then gently tug my skirt back into position. She kisses me again, letting her lips linger over mine.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“I just wanted to feel what he does when he touches you.” Her hands brush over my breasts a second time. “I won’t hurt you, Mackenzie. I can’t. I’ve always wanted his attention, but not like this. I’m going to let you see me now.”
“No! I don’t want to see you. I just want you to let me go.”
Chasing Desire Page 42
