He wrapped his arms around me. “Relax. I’m not going to throw you out of the plane.” He kissed my forehead, put his hand under my chin, and gently raised my face. “You are a shining light in my life. I found it almost unbearable when you were gone.” He wiped my cheeks with his napkin. “My family has been giving me a hard time over this whole thing. After I return the documents, I’m hoping they’ll ease up. I only wish you had talked to me when you saw those books. Now, it’s just more difficult to work out.” He softly kissed my lips. “I have never stopped loving you. I’ll find a way to satisfy my family. Everything will be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He grinned. “I’ve never enjoyed flying so much before. So, how about sharing the champagne?”
I gave him a half smile. “Okay.”
He raised his empty glass toward the stewardess. “Miss Jones would like some champagne.”
She handed a glass to me and refilled his.
It made a little more sense now why he acted distant sometimes. He was stressed. I knew how his family would like to take care of the problem. I didn’t think they ever liked me. Maybe they thought I was below Conner’s class since I was an employee. They were formal and polite, not warm and friendly. Then, when he read the note, he probably thought his family was right. I could never be one of them.
“Don’t look so worried. I’ll handle my family. In the meantime, you’re going to have to follow my rules.”
“Your rules? What rules?”
“I’ll talk to you about them when we get home.”
“What’s wrong with discussing them now?”
“No. Later,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Am I going to be your prisoner?”
Narrowing his eyes, he glared at me. “I said we’d discuss it when we got home.”
I felt a cold chill wash over me. My lips quavered, and my breathing became labored. Then suddenly the intense sexual desire began to creep through my body. This can’t be happening. Not now. My heartbeat raced as blood rushed through my veins. I gasped for air. I was on a sexual roller-coaster.
He caressed my arm. “Should we go into the bedroom?”
I attempted to control my breathing. The need churning inside me overrode my mind, and it devoured all my resistance. It dictated my every move as I stretched out my arms, pulled him closer, and kissed him.
We went into the other room, and on top of the terrible time I had in Nebraska, I couldn’t stop myself from enjoying the flight as our bodies became intertwined.
Later, we were snuggled against each other in sated bliss. “Let’s stay like this and shut out the rest of the world,” he whispered.
“That would be nice.”
“I know I’ll never be able to fly again without thinking about you.”
I kissed his neck. “I’m glad.”
He kept his arm around my shoulders as we drove to the house. When we stopped by the gate, a couple strolled along the sidewalk. I had seen them before, in the clearing behind Rex’s house. I sat up and pointed to the couple through the window. “I saw them in Billings.”
Conner pushed the intercom button, “Stay put,” he said to the driver. Then he looked at me. “Be right back.” He got out of the limo and walked over to a security guard.
I rolled down the window.
“Find out what you can about those two,” Conner said, nodding his head in the direction of the couple. “And don’t let them give you anything.”
“On it.”
While Conner climbed in next to me, I saw the guard moving toward the couple and another guard emerging from the security building.
“Did you tell anyone in Billings you were going to Houston?” Conner asked.
“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “And no one there has your address.”
“If they followed you, they made a bad mistake,” he said, pushing the intercom button. “You can go now.”
“Yes, sir,” the driver said.
As soon as we were inside the house, Conner led me into the den and shut the door. We sat on the sofa, and he held my hands.
“It’s time to tell you the rules,” he began. I bit my lower lip. He gently squeezed my hands. “It will be okay. First, you cannot leave the house unless it’s with me.” He paused. “You can go out to the swimming pool, but you can’t leave the yard. Okay?”
He asked as if he was allowing me to object. I knew that wasn’t an option. “Okay.”
“Second, you can’t make any telephone calls unless you are calling me. You can’t answer the phone unless I am the one calling.”
“Can I just call Paula? I want to know how she’s doing. I won’t talk about anything else.” Paula became my best friend after I started working for the Houston investment office. We went to lunch almost every day and often talked about marrying our boyfriends. We were both waiting for a formal proposal.
“No!”
“You can even be in the room and listen when I call her,” I said, trying to push a little more against his restrictions.
“No. And Paula isn’t with the investment company anymore.”
“Did you fire her? She didn’t know I was leaving.”
Conner shrugged. “I don’t know why she left. I just know she’s gone.”
“I wonder where she went.” Paula really liked her job. It didn’t make sense to me she’d quit, but right now nothing seemed normal. Nothing made sense.
“Third, if someone comes here, you are to go up to our bedroom and stay there until I tell you that you can come back downstairs.”
I spun my head and looked up at him. “Are you expecting company?”
“Sara,” he said, sounding irritated. “Do you understand this rule?”
He must be expecting company. Who? As far as I knew he had never had business meetings here before. Things might be changing.
“Sara?”
“Yes, I’ll go upstairs. What if I’m out by the swimming pool, and I don’t know you have company? Will someone come and tell me?”
“If you’re swimming or lying by the pool, you can stay out there. I’ll have someone tell you that you can’t come back in the house until I come for you. That’s all the rules. Do you have any questions?”
“No. It’s like I’m under house arrest. How can I go to work?” I asked, knowing that wasn’t a possibility.
He rolled his eyes. “You can’t.” A crooked smile crossed his lips. “Besides, you don’t have a job.”
“I have one in Billings.”
“You’re not in Billings.”
“Does this mean I can’t have my old job back at the Investment Company?” I asked, even though I knew that would never happen.
“Correct. You will never work for my family again.”
“Maybe I could just work for you.”
He kissed me. “What type of work would you like to do for me?” he asked playfully.
“What type of work do you think I’m qualified for?”
“How about cleaning the pool and doing a little yard work?”
I thought he was going to mention personal services. I was glad he didn’t go there. “You don’t think I can handle more than that?”
“Oh, you can handle more than that.” He caressed my arm. “When you moved here, I didn’t want you to work. I still don’t.”
“We’ve been over this before. I don’t want to be a kept woman. You already pay for almost everything. I like to work. It gives me a sense of independence. I don’t want to ask you for money whenever I want to go to lunch with someone or go shopping.”
“For the time being, you can’t do either one of those.”
I still wanted to work. I’d much rather be outside doing yard work than inside cleaning. “Okay, I’ll clean the pool and do some yard work. What is the hourly rate? Will I be reporting to you or someone else?” Then I added, jokingly, “And what are the benefits? You know, medical coverage, days off, retirement?”
He gave me a puzzled look. “I thought you were joking
about working for me. I don’t want you working around here. This is your home. I don’t want you to think of this as your place of employment.”
“Most people take care of their own yards, and to be honest, I enjoy yard work. I always helped Mom and Dad. I can’t just sit around and not do anything while you’re at work. Then I really will feel like a prisoner.”
He glanced at me and I gave him a sweet smile. “Okay, you can work for Emmanuel, but only work half a day. I don’t want you worn out when I get home.”
I kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
“Since you’ll be outside, you have to promise you won’t try to leave this yard.”
“I promise.”
“I don’t know how much Emmanuel pays his workers. You’ll have to ask him about that.” He raised my hand and ran his thumb over my palm and fingers. “I hope yard work isn’t too hard on your hands. Make sure you always wear gloves.” After I nodded, he continued, “We’ve had a long day. Let’s go to bed.”
14
The Job
It had been a long time since I did any yard work. I felt a little excited about it as I put on my oldest pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and my running shoes. After I tied my hair in a ponytail, I hurried down the stairs. As I pushed an unruly strand away from my face, I heard Conner in the den say, “They’ll want her…”
Assuming he was talking about me, I stealthily edged toward the door out of his line of sight.
“We need to get her on the ship tonight,” he said in a harsh tone.
I swallowed hard.
“I don’t care if she’s only twelve.”
I didn’t know whether to be relieved that he wasn’t talking about me or horrified for the girl.
“If she looks sixteen, it doesn’t matter how old she is,” he snapped.
Quietly, I turned and went to the kitchen. I poured a cup of coffee and got a bowl of cereal. The Lucky Charms were like ice cubes of sadness as I thought of the twelve-year-old girl, probably being sold. According to what I had read in their books, they used ships to transport runaway teenagers. The names of the girls were listed on some of the pages. Then, thinking back to my situation with the cult, I wondered if the Crussett family was the lesser of the two evils. The cult killed and mutilated. The victims I saw were adults. No children were on the altar. And murder, as horrible as it was, was a far cry from sex slavery.
Conner walked into the kitchen. “So, you’re all dressed for work,” he said, cheerfully. He was also dressed, wearing a suit. He poured a cup of coffee and sat next to me. “Emmanuel will be here within the hour to get you started. He knows you can only work in this yard.” He took my hand. “I’m counting on you to keep your promise.”
“I will.” I knew what would happen if I was caught attempting to leave.
“I’ll try to come home earlier,” he said and squeezed my thigh. “Then you can show me how much you missed me again.”
“Suppose I can’t wait. Can you come home if I call?”
“I certainly will try,” he said, standing. “Don’t work too hard.” He kissed me and went to the garage.
I wanted to use the computer to contact Paula. He never mentioned web browsing or emailing in his rules though I imagined he wouldn’t like it. After I strolled through the house and spotted Darcy busy ironing in the laundry room, I headed to the den. His computer was password protected. Crossing my fingers, I entered the password that he used before I left, Ladyluck12: Conner’s favorite dog and his age when she died. It worked. Paula’s only email address I could remember was the one she used at the office, not her personal one. I searched her name, Paula Sorensen, thinking I might be able to track her that way.
A listing came up indicating a newspaper site. I knew she’d have a wedding announcement if she got married. I checked the newspaper web page. There I searched for Paula again and two entries emerged; neither was about a wedding. One was an obituary. Maybe it’s a different Paula. I clicked on it and a picture of Paula, my friend, appeared. She died as a result of a car crash three days after I ran away.
Eyes watering, I sniffled and went to the other entry. It was the news article about the car crash. Her boyfriend was driving and crossed over into oncoming traffic on a small canyon road. He struck a truck head on. Paula and her boyfriend died. Miraculously, the truck driver walked away unscathed. His name was Alex Barton. Then a terrible thought crept into my mind—was her death really an accident? Grabbing a handful of tissues from the box on the desk, I dried my tears.
Emmanuel would be here soon. Not wanting anyone to know I’d been on the computer, I cleared the browsing history, turned it off, and went back to the kitchen. Tears continued streaming down my cheeks. Paula was gone. I would never see her again. I had to concentrate on calming down and think about something else. If Emmanuel thought I looked upset, he might call Conner.
A few tears still trickled down my cheeks as I drank coffee and skimmed through the newspaper to see if anything was mentioned about the spider incidents in Billings. There was one small article about the bicyclist who had been bitten. It stated that he lived in Houston and he was vacationing in Billings. I speculated that Conner or one of his employees gave the reporter the story about why the victim was there since he definitely was not on a vacation.
The doorbell rang. Going toward the door, I saw Darcy open it. I recognized the man standing there. I didn’t know his name. The only worker I had ever talked to was one named Fred. He was around often, cleaning the pool.
“May I help you?” Darcy asked.
“I’m Emmanuel. I’ve—”
I interrupted, “Darcy, Emmanuel is here for me.”
Darcy didn’t walk away. Instead she stayed beside me, making me think she was curious as to why the gardener wanted to see me.
“Hello, Miss Jones,” he said politely. “I understand you’ll be working on my crew. What time would you like to get started?”
“Since I’ll be working for you, please call me Sara.”
Darcy stared at me with a perplexed expression.
“Can I ask a few questions before I begin?” I said.
“What would you like to know?”
I wanted to appear like a serious employee in case Conner talked to Emmanuel. “What are my hours and how much will I be paid?”
He tilted his brows. “Didn’t Mr. Crussett discuss this with you?”
“No.”
“Mr. Crussett said you could only work three or four hours a day. He wants it to be in the mornings. You’ll have to ask him how much you’ll be paid.”
“How much do you pay a beginning person on your crew?”
He hesitated for several seconds and then said, “If they don’t have any experience, I start them out at $10 per hour.”
“That’s what you should pay me.”
He nodded. “Unless Mr. Crussett wants me to pay you more.”
“I shouldn’t be paid more than any other worker,” I clarified. “I’m ready to get started.”
“You’ll be working in the backyard weeding behind the bushes. There are gloves and tools in the truck.” His eyes scanned my face and his forehead creased. “Are you feeling well enough to work?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Your eyes are a little red and puffy.”
“Oh, that’s just from an eyelash that got in my eye. It’s out now.”
He seemed to believe my explanation or at least wasn’t going to question it. I followed him to the truck as Darcy watched from the doorway. After trying on several pairs of gloves, I found a thick pair that fit perfectly. He handed me two trowels and a shovel; he picked up a garbage can along with a box of plastic bags. We walked around the house to the back yard.
Darcy stood by the patio door, lending credence to my suspicion that Conner told her to keep an eye on me.
Emmanuel led me behind the bushes at the back of the yard next to the chain link fence that separated it from a heavily wooded area on the other side. Darcy could no longer see me. She’d
likely come out and occasionally check to make sure I was still here.
“The wires above the fence are electrified so don’t touch them,” he said.
Conner mentioned before that no one could climb over it. I never asked why. I looked up. “That won’t be a problem. I couldn’t reach those wires if I tried.”
Cameron and Carina, Conner’s siblings, allowed their kids to play in the woods. That was also where they walked their dogs. Beyond that, a stone wall surrounded all the Crussett property. The top of the wall was jagged to keep out intruders and surveillance cameras were situated at various locations, monitored from the security building next to the entrance gate. The security guards would know if someone tried to penetrate the wall. Once when I was lying by the pool, there was an intruder. The alarms blared and security guards rushed around everywhere. A man was captured. Conner said he had been turned over to the police. Now, I no longer thought that was his fate.
Lining this side of the chain link fence were two rows of thick, tall bushes, creating a heavy privacy barrier. Anyone in the woods was unable to see the swimming pool or any part of Conner’s house except for the roof.
I had never planned on attempting to escape by climbing over the fence since I’d also have to get over the stone wall without being detected. My best option would be to find a way to hide in one of Emmanuel’s trucks. I’d work on that scheme. First, I needed to gain trust so Conner wouldn’t expect me to try to leave.
The space between the fence and the bushes was overgrown with weeds. The backyard always looked immaculate because this area was unseen from the house and pool. Given the size of the weeds, I was sure it had never been weeded. This was probably the only job Emmanuel could give me, since I couldn’t leave the yard. It might take me all week to finish.
He put down the garbage can and plastic bags next to me. “Do you know how to weed?”
I smiled to myself. Maybe he thought I’d never done manual labor. “Yes, I do.” The urge to tell him I also knew how to mow lawns, trim bushes, edge the grass, and plant trees was strong. Instead, I started weeding.
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