Dancing With Redemption (Barre To Bar Book 5)

by Summer Cooper

  The one-sided conversation had gone a little dark there, but it wasn’t like anyone was around to hear her. Roxie heard a twig snap and looked around. There wasn’t anyone about, not that she could see, so she put it down to a cat or squirrel.

  “I’ll make sure you two are always proud of me, no matter what I do with my life,” she said at last, and got up from the ground. “I’ll come back before I go back to Myrtle Beach.”

  She touched the gravestone and held her fingers there for a lingering moment. It was as near to her parents as she’d ever get again. She wanted to hold onto them for just a moment longer.

  5

  Roxie

  “Where the fuck am I?” Roxie demanded to know as soon as the gag was removed, but a bottle of water was shoved into her mouth right away, cutting off her words with sharp pain. The lid of the bottle pushed her lip into her teeth and she tasted blood with the water. Asshole.

  But she only thought the word at the guy, without actually saying it. They wore black balaclavas, black clothes, and kept their faces turned away as often as possible. She knew they were the two that had snuck up on her because she could smell the gallons of cheap cologne one of them had on. It was so awful it nearly took her breath away, but at least the rag they’d tied around her head was gone now.

  She’d nearly gagged when she woke up to find her mouth filled with cloth, but the terror had soon replaced the sick feeling. One minute she’d been looking around at the cemetery, the next she smelled that horrible cologne and felt something pierce her skin. They’d drugged her with something to knock her out. She knew that because she’d woken up in the back of a van moving down the road.

  When the van stopped, the two men opened the doors, one with a gun trained on her while the other dragged her out of the back. That guy had thrown her over his shoulder to carry her to a chair. He’d tied her to that chair with twists of rope around her body, down to where he’d wrapped the rope not around the back of the chair, but the chair legs. She wasn’t getting out of all that rope easily.

  Everything was kind of jumbled together now, and her cheeks were bruised. She’d tried to ask questions, but every question had resulted in a slap that stung and made her ears ring. She’d stopped asking after a while, but had hoped they’d mellowed a little as time passed. Obviously not.

  She was afraid but would be damned if she’d show it. She’d looked around the empty apartment, but it was empty. Just bare white walls, a few strips of pine here and there, on the floor and the baseboards, but otherwise, no color. At least it was still sunny, so she could see what was going on. Though, as high up as it seemed they were, she didn’t see a lot. Just the sky changing as the hours passed.

  There were probably things she should say, that Lincoln would kill them all, or he’d pay them any ransom they wanted. That she didn’t know what they wanted but she’d figure out how to get it to them. She didn’t even know if their plan was ransom. They might be about to sell her to the highest bidder, for all she knew.

  The two men, both over six feet tall, hadn’t said a single word in her presence. They just glared at her questions, after one of them slapped her, of course, and kept their lips sealed.

  She’d wanted to know who they were, who they worked for, and what they wanted, but there’d been no answers, only violence. A phone chirped on one of the duo and the not-stinky guy pulled it out to read the message. He showed it to the other guy, who looked over at her with a malicious smile.

  Roxie’s blood went cold and if she hadn’t been so securely tied to the chair she might have started to shake. The circulation to her hands and feet was cut off, she was tied so tightly. Still, fear replaced her bravado of a moment ago, when she tried to ask another question and got a busted lip for it.

  “Stop. You don’t want to do anything to hurt me.” She tried to implore them with her eyes, but they weren’t looking at her. They were too busy untying the yards of rope they’d wrapped her in. Which could only mean they were about to move her. Why? Were they planning to kill her? The stinky guy had the gun, it was in a shoulder holster.

  If she could get her hands free, she might be able to grab the gun. Distract them. Questions seemed to piss them off, that would do the trick.

  “Come on, guys. I know a lot of rich people. Tell me what you want, what I’ve done, how I can make whatever is wrong right, and I’ll do what I can, really.” She paused when the stinky guy stopped to glower at her. “Seriously now, dude. What have I done to you? Do you want money? I can get you money, just give me a phone, and I’ll get you all the money you want.”

  Her answer was another slap, this one spun her head off to the right and she felt her bottom lip split. She gave a short scream of pain, but shut up after that. They weren’t in charge, that was clear from that text message and what they were doing now, but she didn’t want to die. Were they taking her off to kill her?

  The not-stinky guy yanked her up, threw her over his shoulder, and carried her into a dark room. Mr. Stinky held up a flashlight to a length of chain that was secured to the wall. Her hands were tied in front of her so when not-stinky guy looped the chain around her waist she had to hold her hands up. The chain didn’t hurt, it just added a weight she didn’t want to feel. She could see from the length of the rope that she could walk around the room, and knew she wasn’t leaving it when Mr. Stinky turned the beam of the flashlight to a bucket in a corner of the room.

  Horror filled her as she realized what it was for, but she tried to look around, to find a way to escape. There was nothing in the room that could help her save herself though, not that she could see. Just a chain and a bucket.

  The two men left her, with one of them patting her on the ass before they left. That made her skin crawl, but she was used to the unwanted touches of assholes like these two. She ignored the touch, as she had so many before. Before, she’d needed her job, so she hadn’t broken the assholes’ fingers. Now, she was tied up, she wouldn’t be breaking anyone’s anything.

  Not-stinky guy came back in with a case of bottled water, put it just within her reach, then left. She heard the lock on the door click, much like the padlock they’d locked the chain around her waist with. Dammit.

  There was no food, but her stomach was in so much turmoil she wasn’t worried about food anyway. There’d been so many lean days in the past, days when she’d put off meals so that Lily could have new shoes, or take a trip with her school, that going without food wasn’t a big deal to her. She’d learned last summer about some diet thing called intermittent fasting, which was basically what she’d been doing all these years. Even when times had been a little better, she’d often gone without so that she could send Lily a nice outfit, or to help Aunt Katie with the power bills during the cold months.

  When she’d learned about the benefits of fasting, she’d decided she was ahead of the times, that’s all. Now, she just had to prepare her mind for no food, but a lot of water. Not even broth, just plain old water. She could do this, she knew she could.

  An outer door slammed, leaving Roxie to wonder if she’d been left alone, or if someone had come in. There was no new noise outside the room, so she believed she’d been left alone.

  The plastic wrapped around the water bottles was a pain in the ass, especially when her hands were tied, but she managed to get one bottle free. Taking the bottle with her, Roxie went to the wall and slid down it to the floor. How had she ended up here?

  Her thoughts flew back to that night, to the flames and the pain that had nearly destroyed her when she learned her parents were dead. It had been a relief to find out Aunt Katie was still alive, she’d forgotten for a little while that Aunt Katie had taken that night off, but still. She’d gone into a deep depression that only her pregnancy had been able to relieve.

  Her thoughts came forward, spinning through each success in her career, the awards she’d received, the piles of cash she’d made and spent. Then the fire at Elmo’s, the way things had turned out with her ex-boyfriend. The insan
ity that had taken place over the last few months, over her whole life, hadn’t prepared her for sitting in the dark with a bucket for a toilet.

  Lincoln’s face flashed in her mind. So many impressions of him had imprinted on her brain. The way he sighed and his face relaxed when he slid into her. The way he smiled at her when she ate the pancakes he brought as a treat for her. Then, many different images, from a pleased smile, to relief during their time in Cambodia, their stolen nights there, in her tent. The anger on his face when he’d confronted her about Lily. The coldness as he’d told her he was taking custody of her daughter away.

  The uncertainty she thought she’d caught a glimpse of when he’d shown up to confront Nick. That had confused her, but now, she wondered if he’d been unsure about his decisions.

  She could only hope that he was already looking for her. That she hadn’t burned the bridge with him entirely, and that he hadn’t washed his hands of her.

  “Please, let Lincoln be looking for me,” Roxie said out loud, just to break the silence. And just in case it made it more meaningful to whoever might be listening. “And also, if I die, please don’t let my daughter hurt too much. Don’t let her live her life with the pain I’ve had to endure. And don’t let my death be horrific either, please. Not for me, but for her.”

  Roxie’s head fell back to the wall. She was tired, so tired now.

  Instead of going to sleep, she reached down in the dark to try to untie the rope around her ankles. She wasn’t going to hobble all over the place. If they wanted her feet tied, they’d have to tie them back up. There was also no way she was going to be able to hover over a bucket and pee if her ankles were tied together. It was one thing to squat behind a bush and pee, but using a bucket with your ankles tied was impossible.

  Roxie was fairly certain she’d torn one nail loose from the nailbed by the time the rope loosened up and she pulled it off, but she managed it. She shuffled her legs on the floor, trying to get the circulation back into her feet. She had to wiggle her toes and both feet when the blood rushed back in painfully. That was okay, at least her feet were free.

  She thought about gnawing at the rope around her wrists with her teeth, but decided to forego that horror for now. There was no way to get the padlock off the chain around her waist. Even if she got her hands free, she’d still be locked to the chain and wall.

  But what if she could get the chain loose from the wall? Roxie pushed herself up from the floor and felt around on the wall until she found the bolt the chain was attached to. The chain links were thick, heavy metal, so it was hardly a surprise when the bolt the chain was attached to was much thicker and didn’t budge a bit. She yanked at the chain, but the bolt still didn’t shift.

  A shriek filled the air, an angry sound, not one of fear.

  She was afraid she’d die, but the anger was keeping the fear at bay for now.

  With a sigh, Roxie slid down the wall, wondering if the room had been prepared just for her, or if someone else had once inhabited the space. There was no doubt in her mind that those men who’d brought her here were killers. There’d been something dead and malicious in stinky-guy’s eyes that worried her, a lot. But who had hired them?

  There were no answers and, for the first time, she began to wonder if she’d ever get any. Or if they’d just leave her here to die of starvation. If she was careful with the water, dehydration wouldn’t get her, but hunger might. If Lincoln didn’t find her before it got that far, starvation would definitely kill her.

  Dark thoughts fought to replace the anger that kept her from sprawling out and falling asleep. Exhaustion tugged at her, but she fought it off. That must be from shock and maybe whatever they’d injected her with. Carefully, she brought the bottle up between her legs, undid the cap, and took a long swig of the water.

  She wanted to put off having to use that bucket as long as she could, but she was thirsty. Besides, a little pee never hurt anybody. It was the other thing she had to worry about. Although, if she didn’t get any food, then she wouldn’t have to worry about the fact that there was no toilet paper, would she?

  The situation was impossible, but there was nothing else she could do, for now. The only option available was to wait, even if she hated that option. Beggars can’t be choosers, that was something Aunt Katie had said often when Roxie was growing up. It was a truth Roxie had faced many times before.

  Sighing deeply, Roxie gave in to the exhaustion. She cushioned her head on her hands, wishing the assholes had left her a blanket at least. It was cold and those bastards had taken her coat off. All she had on was the sweater and her jeans. The temperature would drop even further, as the day went on.

  The thought chilled Roxie’s blood even more than the air outside her body. Was that how they planned to kill her? Let her freeze to death?

  6

  Lincoln

  Lincoln ran a hand through his brown hair while casting his eyes of a deeper brown around the kitchen of his house. Roxie was nowhere, absolutely nowhere to be found. How could she have slipped past his security people, and every other fucker watching her?

  Anger flushed his cheeks and clenched the muscles in his jaw, but he wasn’t sure who to direct the anger at. He didn’t know for sure whether Roxie had just got pissed off and run away or if someone had taken her. That left him not knowing what to do and he was not a man who enjoyed feeling helpless in any way.

  He paced the floor, decided to have some coffee, then decided he didn’t need any more caffeine. When you were already pacing, adding more anxiety wasn’t a good idea. He stuck his hands in his pockets, glad that Katie was there to get Lily from school. He’d managed to get her off to school without too many fibs about where her mother was.

  The truth was, he didn’t know where Roxie was. He didn’t want to explain that to his daughter, not until he knew something was wrong. If she’d just taken off, that was one thing, but what if something had happened to her?

  The muscles around his heart knotted up intensely, making him hiss from the discomfort. Is this how she’d felt when he was missing? Like the world was about to collapse on top of him?

  “Don’t panic yet, Lincoln. Not yet.” His phone chirped and he moved to the table to check the notification. It was from Kai. There was no sign of her anywhere in South Carolina, it said, but there was someone staying with his siblings at the old house. Was it her? Had she gone to New York?

  Lincoln scrolled through his phone then hit the call button under June’s name. He started to pace again as the call went through. June’s voice answered but it was her voicemail.

  “Shit!” Lincoln mumbled, flicking the end call button angrily.

  June might be doing rounds or performing an operation. She’d call him back when she had time.

  Lincoln left the house, sliding the phone into his back pocket as he did so. He walked along the surf, staying far enough out of it to keep his shoes dry. His eyes were on the horizon, off in the distance, tracking the sails of a yacht, but he didn’t really see it. His mind was on Roxie.

  If she was the guest at the house then she’d decided to go to New York for some reason. Why, he couldn’t say, but he knew she’d have her reasons. Perhaps it was something to do with Lily, or maybe not. There’d been no closure for her when her parents died. He hadn’t been able to find the answers, though he did have a few leads about those two guys she’d seen. He’d caught brief glimpses of the men that night, but it had been enough to implant their images in his memory.

  He had worked with some of the best people in the world to find answers, but there was a piece of the puzzle missing, a very vital piece. Without that piece, he couldn’t move forward.

  It hadn’t helped that Roxie’s parents had been intensely private about their families, and had done a lot of work to hide their origins. Lincoln knew people had their reasons for doing things like that, but the things her parents had done to obscure their pasts made it hard for Lincoln to get a grip on what had happened exactly.

  She
wouldn’t find answers up there, she’d find only danger. Someone had deliberately set that fire, had murdered her parents, he was as convinced of it now as he’d been the night they died. Her father had loved her mother deeply, and he’d loved Roxie just as intensely. He’d decided to move the whole family to Paris to keep them together. A man who went to that much trouble didn’t kill his wife in a fit of rage and leave his child an orphan.

  Something had gone terribly wrong in their lives, and that meant Roxie was now in danger if she was in New York.

  Swiping at his face with both hands to clear his mind, Lincoln inhaled deeply and then reached for his phone. He sent a text to both of his PAs, not sure which was in the office today, and directed them to get a plane to New York organized for him, and to have a car ready for him there. He then sent a text to Kai to up the security around his house and to let his friend know where he was going, before he called Katie, who was out shopping again.

  “Hi Katie, I’ll be gone this evening. No, I don’t know when I’ll be back. Keep Lily safe for me, okay?” Lincoln paused, listening to her question. “Yes, I’m going to look for Chloe. I’ll let you know as soon as I know something, yes.”

  Lincoln ended the call as he walked into the house and packed a bag quickly. He had clothes and other things in New York, but he’d need a coat as soon as he landed, and some of his electronics. He was in his car and on the way to the airport when June called him back.