“Are you sure that’s all it is?” She tilted her head and smiled.
“I’m positive.” I gave her a quick hug.
“Okay. Well, if you need to talk, you call me anytime.”
“Thank you. I hope you had a lovely birthday, Holliday. Will you excuse me?”
I didn’t give her a chance to reply, with my phone in my hand, I rushed down the hallway and then pushed open the door to the ladies’ room. My chest tightened and I was having trouble catching my breath.
I splashed some water on my face and used a paper towel to wipe away my smudged mascara. My lips were puffy, too, and there were red splotches all over my neck. I dropped into one of the vanity chairs, and took a few deep breaths. It wasn’t until I heard echoes of laughter outside the door that I realized fourteen minutes had gone by.
Me: I’m ready to leave.
Marcus: Okay, I’ll pull around to the side entrance.
Me: Thanks, and I need to stop for a huge bottle of vodka.
Marcus: No need. I had the hotel staff stock the bar in your suite with all the essentials.
Me: You’re the best. Does this mean you will actually have a drink with me tonight?
Marcus: Sure, why not. Pulling out of the garage, now.
After I pulled myself together, I plodded down the stairwell. I decided that I was going to get Marcus tanked tonight and then pump him for information about Alex. The crisp fall air swirled around me as I pushed open the door. There was no sign of the Range Rover, only a town car idling by the curb. I tried to pull the exit door back open, but of course, it had locked behind me. Turning around, I let out a frustrated groan. That’s when I felt a hand wrapping around my neck and everything went black.
THE BLARING SOUND OF a horn awakened me. There was a sharp pain at the back of my head, which only intensified when the horn sounded again. Opening my eyes, sunlight from the windows spilled across the wooden floor. The smell of mold and fish nauseated me and my stomach lurched.
Blinking against the light, my eyes took in a wide space and I found myself lying on a wrought iron bed. I studied the pea-green and yellow paint chipped walls, as my fingers picked at the edge of the brown comforter underneath me.
Six wooden chairs with colorful cushions surrounded a large rectangular table that sat opposite the bed. Situated on an ornate woven rug were a black leather chair and a small coffee table. The décor was modest, fresh sunflowers sat in a plastic vase on the floor and red roses brightened up the table. The decorator had a varied sense of style.
Where in the bloody hell am I?
Despite the fact that I was confused and scared, I knew I needed to catalog as many details to memory that I could. I shuffled quietly across the floor, noting that I was still wearing the dress I’d worn to Holliday’s birthday party.
“Oh fuck,” I gasped as I peered out the small window.
Water surrounded the place, which explained the fish smell. Beyond that was a stone walkway lined with a few trees and a lamp post.
Could I be somewhere in The Harbour?
I spun around looking for a clock or my phone. My next thought was to find my clutch and my shoes.
After a few passes around the room without any luck finding my things, I ran towards the door. My heart pounded in my chest. Twisting and shaking the knob violently was of no use.
I was trapped and I could not remember how I got here. My mouth felt like cotton and my head throbbed with ache.
The pressure on my bladder was annoying and hurt like hell. Is there a toilet here? I trotted across the room, doing my best to not piss down my leg. Grasping at the window’s handle, I tried lifting. It wouldn’t budge. I slammed my hand on the glass, it was fucking painted shut. They all were.
“Help! Someone help me!” I pounded on the glass, screaming at the top my lungs for someone to help me.
In my fit of rage, I studied the drop from the balcony. If I managed to pop out the glass, I could jump and swim to the embankment.
When the urge to pee intensified, I scrambled past the kitchen towards the darkened hallway. I turned the corner and found a set of stairs. Moving with caution, I walked down the narrow steps. To my surprise, the first floor smelled brand new. The scent reminded me of Alex’s home. My fingers smoothed down the white walls.
Gorgeous glass doors showcased the boat dock and garage area. I tugged on the handles—locked. Of course.
Oars, fishing poles, and life preservers were staggered across the wall. A large first aid kit was bolted to the wall above a long wooden bench. I was wasting time.
Okay, pee and then escape.
I slipped into the washroom, and the sound of a motor paralyzed me with fear. My stomach growled and echoed off the walls.
Pee faster, Ella.
I finished in the bathroom and raced up the stairs. Adrenaline spiked in my veins. I darted into the small kitchen area pulling open the wooden drawers and cabinets. No knives, no sharp objects anywhere. I saw nothing that I could use to defend myself against the psycho who was holding me inside this dungeon on water.
I jumped on the bed and held my breath anxiously waiting for my captor to appear. With each sound of a foot connecting with a wooden step, my heart rate kicked up and I fought the urge to scream.
“Hello, Ella, glad to see that you’re finally awake.”
At the sound of his voice, I shot up off the bed. “Charlie, what the fuck is the meaning of this?” I screamed, as my hands balled into fists at my side.
He dropped the bags onto the counter and then marched towards me. When he stood too close to me for comfort, his eyes met mine and panic swept through me.
“The meaning of this is business. We have unfinished business.”
My hand connected with his cheek. He let out a haughty laugh and then backhanded me. I fell onto the bed. He grasped my arm and pulled me up to my feet. “Bitch, you’re about to learn a very valuable lesson.”
Rage set my blood on fire, mustering all I could, I hurled my body forward and darted towards the stairs. Charlie caught me by the waist and tossed me onto the bed. The mattress dipped and terror sparked inside me.
Please, do not let this man force himself on me.
Reaching his hand out, he smoothed his palm up my thigh. I flinched at the contact of his calloused thick fingers grazing along my skin.
Do I slap his hand away or will that anger him again? Jesus Christ.
Tears stung my eyes, but I would not cry in front of this man. I swallowed every emotion, and even though all the inconceivable things I thought he might do to me was fresh on the surface, I resolved not to falter.
Charlie pulled me from the bed, I struggled against his hold. He heaved me onto one of the wooden chairs.
“Does it make you feel all big and tough tossing me around?”
“You don’t know when to shut up, do you?”
My head snapped to the side, and my eye felt like it would explode. Fire blazed across my cheek and everything went blurry. I managed to bite my tongue in the process of his connecting with my cheek.
“Your mouth has always been the problem.”
The taste of copper was bitter on my tongue. “You can hit me all you want, Charlie, but it won’t make you feel better.”
Huffing out a laugh, he stormed into the kitchen and pulled something from one of the bags. “You see this?” He waved an object wrapped in plastic through the air. “This is my golden ticket, Lovie.”
I couldn’t really see what he held in his hands. “Did you shake down a pre-teen for a Wonka bar?”
He prowled towards me, striking me once more. The plastic cut my chin, blood dripped onto my dress. Charlie grasped the back of my head. “See, this is a burner phone. We’re going to call your boyfriend and your brother and I’m going to exchange your sweet ass for some cold hard cash. And once I have the money, I’m out of here.”
Sickness swirled inside me, and I struggled to breathe. “In addition to kidnapping . . . you want to add extortion to yo
ur list of crimes? The only place you’ll be going is jail.”
Narrowing his eyes, he grabbed me by the back of the head, pulling my hair. I cried out in pain. “Charlie, you’re hurting me!”
He released the hold he had on me and then tramped back across the hardwood to the tiny kitchen. The sounds of Charlie mumbling and rustling paper was all I heard. I wanted to know what he was doing. It was hard to see through the small space between the hanging cabinets and counter.
“The pictures I sent to your shop, I really thought that would have sent your bloke over the edge and I would get my payday. Lucky for him no media outlet gave a shit about photos from a fight at a polo match. So he got to keep his money.”
Light coupled with darkness swirled into a hazy shade of grey. It didn’t help matters that I was light-headed. My legs trembled, as I tried to stand. I took in a deep breath to shake the dizziness.
“Kidnapping you is a much better idea. I’ll get a payout from your rich bloke and your rich brother. It’s a win-win for me. Now I just have to decide what you’re worth to them.”
I crept towards the kitchen. It was odd how his words became softer with each step I took. A sharp jab made contact with my skin and pain screamed through my body. Warmth slid over me and I floated off onto a soft cloud. My eyes closed and through the darkness, a light appeared, it was Alex.
Alex.
I struggled to keep my focus on him. “Alex, come back to me.”
NOTHING ON THIS EARTH could have prepared me for the news about Ella’s kidnapping. On top of that, Marcus was seriously injured and lying in a hospital. Around two o’clock on Sunday afternoon, the hotel staff discovered that Ella had not checked out of her room. In between watching the Lions game and helping Ethan close up the lake house, I hadn’t bothered checking my messages. Otherwise, I would have been here sooner. My brother worked his magic waking every employee of Everett Sterling Aviation in the early morning hours in order to get me on a flight to New York.
No bodies matching Ella’s description have been found. Dean’s words grated on my soul like nails on a chalkboard. Where was she?
As I stood in the doorway, the scene around me unfolded in slow motion. The din of multiple conversations carried throughout the room. Dozens of people were bent over laptops or on the phone. It was as if I stepped back in time to the command center for an Elite Eight mission briefing. A base of operations had been set up at The Addison, one of the most famous buildings in New York City and residence of Ronan and Holliday. When Dean had called me about Ella’s disappearance, he’d informed me of the set up. My hands shook, fear and anger shot through my veins. I needed to focus. We were going to find Ella. I was going to find her and bring her home, and whoever did this to her was going to pay a very fucking high price.
“Alex, good, you’re here,” Dean called out, motioning me to the large conference table. With my bags still in tow, I walked through the mass of people taking in every detail that surrounded me.
“Celia, please take Mr. Robertsen’s bags to the apartment on the thirtieth floor.”
“Right away, Mr. Winters.”
I raked my hands through my hair. “What’s the situation, Dean?”
“Not much has changed since we spoke last. We had an eyewitness confirm the black town car at Lorenzo’s Saturday night, and we have video footage of the same car in the parking garage just before Ella disappeared.”
“Any change with Marcus?”
“I’m sorry,” he replied, shaking his head. “No word yet, he’s still in surgery.”
Earlier Dean had told me a van came out of nowhere and crashed into the Range Rover sending Marcus head-on into a cement pillar. That was all according to the parking attendant on duty. The hospital couldn’t give us much information since none of us were his immediate family.
Everything around us came to a grinding halt at the sound of Holliday’s raised voice.
“You said what to her?” Holliday screeched from across the room. “I understand that you can be a mega bitch at times, Charlotte, but don’t you ever speak to Ella that way again.”
“I wasn’t thinking.” Charlotte wiped the tears from her eyes and smoothed her blonde hair behind her ears. “Jesus, what if we never see . . .”
“Don’t you say it—don’t even think it.” Her tone was warning.
Dean held up his hands. “Anyone that isn’t directly related to Ronan, Holliday or Ella or connected to them in a personal capacity, take a lunch break. And, yes, I realize that we’ve already had lunch, but I need this room cleared. Phones on and we’ll text you when we need you back here. Thank you.”
The noise of shuffling feet didn’t mask the whispers and grumblings as the room thinned. Good man. That was exactly how I would have handled the situation. When the dust settled, it was only Ronan, Holliday, Charlotte, Lucan, Blake, Grady, and the eldest Connolly sibling, Molly—I recognized her from her picture—left standing. And then there was Liam Frost, the man who recommended me to his buddy for the job to protect Ella. He must think the worst of me.
Tension rolled into the room, casting a heavy shadow over all of us. All I could do was stand back and let this scenario play out.
“What the hell did you say to my sister, Charlotte?” Ronan roared, when the door to the suite closed.
“I was pissed that she blew off my Fashion Week event, I might have told her, in a not so friendly way, to never do that again.”
“Over fucking fashion week, are you serious?” Holliday threw her hands in the air.
Ronan’s hands balled into fists. “Goddamnit, you can hurl insults at me all you want, but don’t you ever talk down to my sisters ever. You got me, Princess?”
Charlotte glared at Ronan. “Don’t fucking call me that.”
Lucan stood, and grasped his wife’s arm. “Charlotte, la mia bella, you need to take a breath.”
“Ronan,” Molly began, taking a step forward. “Calm down, I am sure she didn’t mean anything by it, besides we both know Ella can be a bit flakey.”
“Flakey?” Ronan repeated, glowering at his sister. “Honestly, do you even hear the drivel spilling out of your mouth? Our little sister is missing and her bodyguard is lying in a motherfucking hospital bed. Yeah, I’m certain her former ‘flakey’ behavior got her kidnapped.” Ronan walked away shaking his head and Molly quickly followed.
Silence fell over the room, and all I could think about was the movie Summer School when Chainsaw screamed before taking the exam, “Tension breaker, had to be done.”
Charlotte turned to her sister. “It is just me or does his brogue get thicker when he’s emotional?”
Holliday let out a small giggle. “Sometimes, when we’re fucking, I can’t understand him at all.”
Liam and Blake exchanged smirks. Grady coughed out a laugh, and Holliday flipped him off. My shoulders sagged with relief and I was grateful for the humor dispelling the tense situation. Everyone was on edge and the lack of sleep didn’t help. I should order some comfort food, and then everyone could fall into a nice deep sleep while I get to work on finding Ella.
“If I may.” I cleared my throat. “I know Ella and Marcus pretty well. I think they’d laugh with us, and I have a feeling they know we’re thinking of them. We will find Ella and bring her home safe.”
“Oh really, pretty boy,” Ronan said, approaching me slowly. “Is that so? You know my sister well enough, so well that you up and left your job and now you’re back here acting as if you give a shit.”
“You think because I left that means I don’t give a shit about Ella? You can’t be serious.”
Dean stepped between the two of us. “Alex, now would be the time to tell him.”
My eyes went wide, and I felt the urge to punch Dean. My fingers curled against my palms, I wanted to pop Ronan in the mouth, too, but I knew his reaction wasn’t about me. His sister was out there, fuck knows where, and he needed someone to be his punching bag.
His eyes narrowed. “Tell me what?”<
br />
This was not the ideal time or place to let Ronan know I was in love with his sister. My eyes darted from Dean to Ronan and that’s when I noticed the peanut gallery had formed a semi-circle around the three of us.
“Hold on a minute,” Grady said, stepping forward.
I shook my head. “Don’t, man.”
Grady held up his hands in mock surrender.
Fuck.
I could tell that Ronan was a fairly well-built guy. A runner most likely and he probably lifted the occasional weight to maintain muscle mass. However, being an inch taller, not to discount that I easily had twenty pounds on him, add in all the years of combat training, in the event that he decided to take a swing at me, I was fairly confident I could defend myself. If I was being honest, though, and I had learned someone that I hired to keep my sister safe was actually screwing her—on second thought, yeah I’d definitely kick my ass.
“Look, Ronan,” I croaked out. “This wasn’t how I . . . how we planned on telling . . .”
“Oh my God,” Holliday gasped.
In that moment, I swore my balls jumped right up and into my throat. I felt like Chandler on the episode of Friends when Ross found out about him and Monica. Only I was pretty sure Ronan wasn’t going to be too pleased. I’d been watching way too much Netflix over the last two months.
“Oh, come on,” Ronan shouted, shaking his head. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” He ran his hands through his hair and it looked as if he’d been electrocuted, which was fitting since this news obviously came as a shock.
Shit. Yep, I was going to have to move to Yemen.
“You’re screwing around with my sister?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh, so what is it like, because I am certainly not paying you to sleep with my little sister.”
“Actually, you’re not paying him at all,” Dean pointed out.
Ronan shot him a confused look.
“Alex came to me a while back and requested the money from his paychecks be split between two charities.”
His gaze shifted to me. “Is that so?”
Bound to Me (The Harbour Series Book 1) Page 22
