No Way Forward
Tressie Lockwood
No Way Forward
Copyright © February 2020, Tressie Lockwood
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Cover art photos:
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No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, distributed, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, without express written permission from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.
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This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, or any events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story line are created from the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.
Contents
Also by Tressie Lockwood
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
About the Author
Also by Tressie Lockwood
Also by Tressie Lockwood
Shona and Neena
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Planning His Wedding
The Bribe and the Baby
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The Sartoris
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Accepting His Name
Raising His Baby
Reaching His Heart
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Single Title CLEAN Works
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Involuntary Daddy
Matching Tony
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tressielockwood.blogspot.com
Chapter 1
Zaid checked his gun, which was more of a routine than anything else. He kept it clean and loaded just in case he might need it. Up until now, he’d had no reason to shoot anyone. For that matter, he had never run into trouble staying by Richard Kagen’s side.
While Zaid’s job wasn’t exactly bodyguard, he might be called upon to risk his life on the older man’s behalf. He needed to be ready at all times. His primary job though was right hand man, if he had to give a name to his position. Whatever needed to be done, Zaid did it.
He stuck the gun in the holster he wore under his left arm and slipped his jacket on. After a final look in the mirror, he walked down to the mansion’s first floor and knuckled the door to the study.
“Sir?” Zaid called.
“Enter,” came the clipped command.
Zaid stuck his head in the room. Dark cherry wood met his gaze amidst a sea of law books and some other reference material. This space was Richard’s home office, the area he frequented when he was at home, claiming to be taking time off from work. That never really happened.
“I’m about to leave, sir,” Zaid told the silver-haired man at the desk. “Are you sure you don’t want to come along?”
Richard’s impatient gaze met his, and he frowned. “I told you, I’ve got too much to do here. This case isn’t going to solve itself, especially since my foolish client is guilty.”
Zaid stepped into the room. He clenched his jaw to keep from asking why Richard would defend a person he knew was guilty. It was a useless question. Richard Kagen had made a fortune as an attorney for those with money but no moral values. The harder the case, the more his hourly charge rose. To ask him why was pointless.
“There’s a chance I can’t convince her to come home.” Zaid almost laughed at the statement. He could guarantee even before he showed up at Novette’s place that she wouldn’t go along with his suggestion she visit her dad. In fact, if she knew he was coming, she would likely skip town.
Richard frowned. “You have your orders, Zaid. Bring her home. Period.”
“Yes, sir.” He rolled the tension from his shoulders. “To be clear, you’re saying I should make her if she doesn’t want to come?”
“You can try to talk her into it, but I know my daughter. She’s stubborn but also young and foolish. I don’t know how she’s been living all this time, but I imagine it’s not been easy. She won’t want to admit she misses the luxuries I’ve given her. So we’ll allow her to save face. Bring her home any way you have to do it.”
“Understood.”
Zaid started to leave the room when Richard called him back. The older man hesitated, something Richard didn’t often do. He never second-guessed his decisions or had trouble making the hard choices.
“About Novette,” Richard began. He shuffled up from his chair and walked over to the window. While he couldn’t see his boss’s face, Zaid had a good idea how the man felt. Richard’s neck flushed red. “You’ll keep your word…about what I told you?”
“Yes, sir, of course. I won’t breathe a word about it. My lips are sealed.”
Richard whirled to face him. The moment of awkwardness was gone. Steel lit his pale blue eyes. “Good because if you ever betray me, Zaid, you won’t live to regret it. No one is more important to me than Novette. Absolutely no one. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
Richard softened a fraction. “Okay, then. Bring her back to me, Zaid. Bring my daughter home.”
“Will do.”
Zaid leaned back in his seat aboard the plane. He checked the folder again with all the information on Novette. The pictures of the outside of her apartment building concerned him. The place looked rundown, far beneath the luxury she had grown up with.
He moved on to the sandwich shop where she worked, again not in the best part of town. By the look of the place, he wondered that they had customers. Dead plants in the picture window with a huge crack down one side of the glass. Someone had taped it up rather than replace it.
The sign over the door was missing a letter, and the grate, which the owner of the shop pulled down when he closed for the day, said what kind of unsavory element frequented the area. Zaid didn’t like to think Novette was unsafe, but she was tough. She could handle herself.
“Do you think we can convince her to come home, Mr. Sutherland?” the intern across from him asked.
The guy was a bit young, and according to Richard, moldable. He had a fresh face, but Richard believed he could change the kid in no time into being the kind of employee that would do whatever he was asked to do. Zaid had never argued. If anyone knew people, it was Richard.
“She’ll come home,” Zaid assured him. “But your job isn’t to convince Novette. Yours is to be quiet and learn, Jeff.”
The younger man grinned. “Maybe I’m being groomed to take your place.”
Zaid raised an eyebrow at him, and he flushed, uttering a nervous laugh.
“Just kidding. Everybody told me you’re the closest to Mr. Kagen. Ever since I watched him during the Wilson case last year, I’ve been determined to get on his team. I’m a little surprised to be sent on this trip to get his daughter. I thought I would be a part of the investigations for the current case. You know, digging up background, gathering character witnesses or something.”
Zaid snorted. “First of all, you aren’t finished school. You’ll never be up front with that kind of case. Not yet. This job is important. You need to get that through your head. If you can’t assist in br
inging Novette home, you’ll be tossed.”
Jeff paled. “I…but…”
“Relax. Like I said, I’m not requiring anything from you personally. I’ll handle everything. I’ll speak to Novette.”
Jeff sighed in relief. “You’re close to the family. How long have you been with them?”
“Long enough.”
“And you know Ms. Kagen? I heard she’s been gone for five years and nobody knew where she was.”
Zaid eyed him more critically. He wondered if Jeff could be trusted not to run his mouth to the press. Up until then, Richard managed to keep Novette’s disappearance low key. He lied and schemed until the news blew over. Not that anyone knew much about her.
Novette was never in the tabloids. Richard protected her before she left home, which pretty much allowed her to disappear safely. No one other than the private investigators they hired looked for the missing daughter of one of the wealthiest attorneys in the country. That was how Richard wanted it.
The pilot came over the intercom. “We will be landing at our destination in twenty minutes.”
Zaid rolled his head on his neck, working out kinks in his muscles. He slid sunglasses onto his nose. “You don’t need to know the details about Novette, Jeff. Forget whatever you’ve heard. We’re simply picking her up and bringing her home. Nothing more, and that’s all you need to know.”
Chapter 2
Novette sat on the side of the bed scrubbing a hand over her face. Her eyes burned, and every muscle in her body screamed for relief. She’d overdone it last night while working out. After five years, she wondered if she still performed the moves correctly.
“It doesn’t matter.” She rose to head to the bathroom. As long as she stayed in shape, that was enough. Besides, the dull life she led wasn’t likely to bring trouble any time soon.
After a shower, she dressed and walked across the bedroom to her tiny kitchen area. There were no walls separating any of it, except for the bathroom. This dilapidated drafty space was all she could afford. Being paid under the table at her job meant her boss didn’t have to stick to the laws for minimum wage.
The refrigerator door creaked when she opened it. She almost forgot to hold it up so it wouldn’t completely fall off. Every now and then she bitterly missed the life she’d had in her adoptive father’s mansion. Maids, chauffeurs, money, food, she’d had it all except for the one thing she wanted most—freedom.
“This comes with the territory, girl, so get a grip and just keep moving.”
Breakfast would consist of one egg with a bit of sausage plus some almost expired bread from the shop. She could eat a more “luxurious” lunch at work, so this small meal didn’t matter.
The floorboards outside her apartment door creaked, and her head came up. She frowned, listening hard. Living in a place like this, she knew the sounds around her. Creaking floorboards didn’t mean a thing. Heck, she could easily make out her neighbors’ conversations if she cared to listen. This sound, though, seemed like it came from in front of her door. No one ever visited her at home. Maybe they had the wrong apartment.
She waited to hear the knock, but it never came. Shrugging off her mistake, she made breakfast and sat down in front of the tiny TV on her table. It was the old kind that was thick and bulky. She’d found it at a second hand store and was shocked it worked.
Along with the TV, she had bought one of those ancient VHS systems. That worked too, and she’d gathered up a few VHS movies. It amused her that she even knew what this junk was, but one learned a lot when one was desperate for entertainment and couldn’t afford cable.
With her feet up on a crate she found by the Dumpster the other day, she laughed at Eddie Murphy playing the Nutty Professor. This was the millionth time she’d watched it, and she still laughed.
Something clicked. She set her fork down. Another creak, and her heart raced. She jumped to her feet. “Hello? Is someone there?”
Nothing stirred.
She crept toward the front door and listened then looked through the peephole. Her pulse jumped to hyper speed when she realized the lock had been undone. She always made sure to lock it at night and double-checked.
No way. I’m not going for this!
She grabbed the bat near the entrance and wrenched the door open. Stomping out into the hall, she growled, “I don’t know what you think you’re going to find in my apartment, but you’re going to be disappointed you tried to break-in!”
The neighbor across the hall opened her door. She frowned at Novette with a lock of silky hair wrapped around a flat iron. “Who are you talking to?”
“Nobody.”
“While I have you, you mind watching my little girl? I’ll give you five dollars. I have an interview.”
Novette eyed Cee-Cee. She wore a dress cut so low in the front it was a surprise her boobs hadn’t already fallen out. “Where at? A strip club?”
The girl rolled her eyes. “No, but I have to dress up if I want to get the job.”
“Dress up?” Novette snorted in amusement. “Cee-Cee, if you dressed down any more you’d be naked. And no, I’m not babysitting for you. You never paid me the last time.”
“I did to.”
“You didn’t, and I don’t have time for your mess. I need to be in to work this morning.”
Cee-Cee sucked her teeth. “Y’all don’t have any customers until lunch time anyway. Your boss won’t miss you. Come on. Do this for me.”
“Pay me for last time.”
Cee-Cee stomped a foot and then yelped because she burned her scalp. Groaning, she turned away. “Okay, fine. Come and get three dollars. I’ll have to owe you for the rest. That’s why I’m trying to get this job.”
“You mean you’re trying to seduce the interviewer. What if it’s a woman?”
“Then I hope she’s gay!”
Novette shut her front door, checked that the hall was empty, although she couldn’t see much of the second floor because a light was out. She followed Cee-Cee into her apartment. The breakfast still on the table called to her, but she would eat it cold when she got back. Even if Cee-Cee did give her the money, she wouldn’t babysit.
A minute after getting the money from her neighbor, Novette escaped back to her apartment without committing to anything. She grumbled to herself about the taste of cold eggs and the need to find somewhere better to live.
“I sure can’t do it on three dollars. God, my life though.”
She slammed her door and locked it. When she turned back to her breakfast she froze. The plate was empty. She couldn’t have eaten it all, not with her belly rumbling the way it was. Okay, sure, she hadn’t had much in the fridge for days, but she never went to bed hungry. Her superpower of stretching a dollar beyond all reason could attest to that.
A muddy scuffmark on the cracked linoleum brought bile to her throat. She licked her lips and turned around to grab the bat again. Too late, a shadow streaked across the room, and she recalled the other enclosed place in the apartment other than the bathroom—the closet.
A thick arm came around her middle, and she was hauled off her feet and slammed against a male chest. She kicked backward and heard him cry out. Reaching over her head, she got a hold of his hair and ripped a chunk from his scalp. He yelled. A huge palm slammed against her cheek. Stars danced before her eyes, but she resisted fainting.
“Get your hands off me,” she rasped.
He clutched her tighter. For a minute, she forgot all her training and visions of this disgusting beast doing whatever he chose to do to her in her own apartment ran through her mind. No way. She would fight even if it killed her.
The man pressed a hand over her mouth. She bit the living crap out of him, drawing blood. He swore.
“She’s a wild animal,” he snapped. “Help me!”
Novette’s stomach turned. There was more than one of them. She reached behind her hips and tried her best to castrate her attacker. The hold loosened, and she dropped to one knee. Adrenaline had her up
on her bare feet, and she jetted to the door, flung it wide and jumped down a flight of stairs.
Chapter 3
Novette raced down the stairs to the first floor of her building. She flung herself out on the front walk, thinking no one should ever run barefoot around that neighborhood. Not unless they wanted to risk cutting their feet to pieces or worse.
She started for the parking lot, noticing a car just pulling into the lot. Heavy steps sounded behind her. One of her attackers grabbed her from behind. At the same time, two more men climbed out of another car.
Her head snapped back when the man behind her pulled her hair. He growled in her ear. “That’s just the start of your pain for what you did to me.”
She screamed. Tears filled her eyes, cutting off her vision. Someone else shouted, but she couldn’t make out what they said. Blood roared in her ears. She jabbed two fingers toward the face of the man holding her, but he was ready this time. He lowered his head, and her fingers jammed into his hard forehead. More pain.
He twisted one of her arms behind her, and she grew weak. Someone rushed up to them. “I said get your hands off her.”
A thwack and she fell to the ground. Strong hands lifted her immediately. She tried to fight, but her muscles refused to obey.
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