I glanced at Oliver. His teeth were clenched, and his eyes glued to the road. No way would I give him up. Offering myself was one thing… but Oliver? Never.
“I truly don’t know,” I lied, keeping my cool because Henry could smell fear from miles away.
The arrogant prick laughed. “Well then stop moving,” he said smugly. “Wherever you are he won’t be far behind.”
“No really. He left me, for good. We had a fight and he is out of the picture. Permanently.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. So, I will only come back if you make me a deal.”
There was a pause. “Nah,” Henry said after a while, adding a dramatic sigh. “You know, I have the feeling you aren’t taking this seriously enough, Kaya. You might need some incentive.”
I held my breath when I heard the unmistakable sound of a man moaning in pain—of Luke moaning in pain. “Tell your darling Kaya to come home, will ya, Luke?” Henry ordered, and a sharp crack was followed by another moan. “Say it!”
“Luke!” Tears sprang from my eyes as his voice, breaking with pain, tried to soothe me.
“I’m fine. Run, Kaya.” Voice like butter… vivid blue eyes… “Get as far away from your monstrous father as you can.”
The world around me disappeared in a dizzy haze. I fought to breath. The cracking noise came again, and Henry spoke in a tone that buzzed around my head like a swarm of hornets. “Enough time wasting. Be at the gates in twenty minutes or Luke dies. After that, I’ll kill someone else every hour you are late, starting with Stephan.”
Stephan.
“I’ll be there,” I said.
Henry’s voice oozed with triumph. “Ah, that’s a good girl.”
“Don’t hurt him,” I begged, no longer calm, or in control.
“Just don’t keep me waiting. I’ll take one finger for every minute you’re late. Oh, and Kaya… I can’t wait to see you.”
Click.
I stared at the phone, clinging to the silence like it might bring Luke back. “And I—can’t wait to kill you.”
It happened so fast.
The truck came to a screeching halt on the side of the highway. There was no time to waste but Oliver was pulling over and now marching around the vehicle to the passenger side. My door was yanked open, I was pulled out by my sleeve, and now stood face to face with my ex-fiancé/ex-bodyguard, confused by turmoil in his eyes I had never seen before. He yelled over the roar of the rushing river as a semi-truck whizzed by.
“I can’t do this.” He was vibrating. “I can’t hand you over to your father. I’m sorry, I know I said I would help you get Luke back and I will. But not this way!”
I had fifteen minutes to get to the gates or Luke would be dead. Fifteen.
“Listen, calm down Oliver. I’ll go on my own. You don’t have to have anything to do with Henry. I’ll be perfectly fine. You just take me there and walk away. Like we planned.”
“No.” He was pacing. “I’m not ever walking away again.”
Thomas was out of the truck too, standing between us, eyes shifting from the empty road, to me, then back to Oliver. As dread compounded, the sky let loose thick flakes of snow.
“What exactly are you saying, Oliver?” I asked, the wind biting at my cheeks.
He rubbed his hand over his hair, shirt straining around his biceps. “I’m saying that I am not taking you back to the estate. Back to your father.”
“But I have to go. You know this.”
Oliver had that look on his face that meant all the arguing in the world wouldn’t sway him. “No.”
Panic twisted my stomach into knots. “Back me up Thomas,” I said, turning to face him, wondering why he hadn’t moved or said a word. “You know this is what I have to do. Get in the truck and drive me, please. We have to hurry.”
Thomas just stared at his feet.
“Thomas?”
His gaze lifted to meet Oliver’s in a wordless exchange. I backed away, sensing mutiny.
“You promised you’d help me,” I said, barely able to get the words out.
Thomas shook his head. “I know. And I’m sorry.”
My breath caught. “Sorry?”
Thomas checked his watch. “Oliver, you go. See if you can get Luke out on your own or at least buy him some time. If you’re not back at our rendezvous point in twenty-four hours, I’ll hide Kaya.”
Oliver tipped his head. He was considering it.
This wasn’t happening. “No, Thomas, you can’t be serious.”
Thomas ignored me, speaking only to Oliver. “Trust me. I’ll protect her with my life. You have my word.”
Feeling my world breaking into a million pieces and drifting through my hands, I clutched my chest as I glared at Thomas. “Your word? You gave me your word, too, ya know! Both of you promised you would take me to Henry. If I don’t go, Luke will die.”
A car rushing by kicked up a whoosh of air that had us shielding our eyes. When I took my hand away, I was staring into the truck at the keys in the ignition. I inched around the hood toward the driver’s door… Adrenaline flooded my veins as I dove into the truck, only to have Oliver follow and shove me over to the passenger side. I snatched the keys, got out, and did the only thing I could think of; I ran. I knew they would follow me and eventually I could circle back and get to the truck before they caught up. I was fast. I could do it… I could do it—
But I didn’t get far when I was slammed to the ground with bone-jarring force. My body collided with the asphalt and my arm was pulled back behind me. When I realized it was Thomas pinning me down, my pain was forgotten and replaced with fury.
“Get off me,” I yelled, writhing beneath him, face connecting with the road.
“I’m sorry,” he said. His belt was off, and he was using it to secure my hands behind my back.
“I’ll kill you! Let me go or I swear I will kill you.”
Thomas didn’t falter. He pulled me upright, tossed Oliver the keys, and began dragging me toward the ditch. When Oliver sped past us in the truck, terror escalated as my chances of saving Luke dwindled by the second.
If I could alert someone passing by, maybe they’d stop, maybe they’d help me. I fought with everything I had.
“Stop. I’m trying to protect you. This is for your own good,” Thomas begged, frantically heading down into the ditch and onto the river bank.
“I should have shot you when I had the chance!”
Horrible as it was to say, I just wanted him to let me go. Tears were rolling down his cheeks as I fought him. He was heading for a stand of trees—the best place to hide a screaming girl from oncoming traffic—and there was no way I was willingly going there. So, he picked me up and slung me over his shoulder.
Time was ticking…
Thomas didn’t falter. He was a man on a mission, marching over the slick, snow covered rocks, stumbling but not stopping. Then it hit me; his wound. The neat and tidy little hole from a bullet that magically missed all his vital organs was almost in proximity to my knee. And since it was still healing and very tender…
I calmed myself down, willing my body to be still.
Then I struck.
As he doubled over, I took advantage of the motion to fling myself backward. For a moment I had the upper hand, finally free as I fell from his shoulder… only to keep falling into darkness when my head hit the ground.
I thought I would never see that look again on Seth’s face, but there it was, pulling his features into an ugliness that matched the evil lurking in his heart. I was an idiot to assume that I had cleansed his soul, and that I had changed him into a better man because all at once, in the blink of an eye, it became painfully obvious that I hadn’t.
Thomas came in the door carrying Kaya, unconscious in his arms, and Seth’s eyes never left her face. His expression was dark, unsettling, cutting through the stale air in the dismal house like laser beams through fog. The way he clenched his jaw, wrung his hands, and cracked his neck set me complet
ely on edge.
Thomas was too wrapped up in his own torment to notice anything amiss. Covered in scratches, his stitches torn, a bite mark on his arm and what was sure to be a black eye forming rapidly, he carried Kaya into the dilapidated house and gently placed her on a ratty sofa.
“She’s going to hate me forever. I didn’t know what else to do,” Thomas moaned.
The paper-thin walls of our rendezvous point shook almost as much as the cowboy’s angst-ridden voice. He was beside himself, wincing with discomfort as he dropped down onto a wobbly kitchen chair. Attractive, with dark, soulful eyes, pouty lips, a jaw line sharp as a knife and a body lean and tight from hard work, he was so easy to get lost staring at I almost didn’t notice Seth drugging Kaya.
I really hoped I was seeing things.
The glass of water he’d put to her lips when she started to come around looked innocent enough, but Seth had added a clear drop of liquid taken from a vial in his coat pocket, and I’d been in enough seedy bars to know what that was about.
I felt sick.
“Is she going to hate me?” Thomas asked.
Seth was pacing back and forth alongside the couch, eyes not leaving Kaya even for a second. I pushed my questions into the corner and reached across the kitchen table to pat Thomas’s arm.
“She’ll get over it,” I lied. “Right Seth?”
There was a detached tone to Seth’s voice when he replied. “Of course,” he paused to press his fingertips to Kaya’s distressingly pale neck. “She’ll forgive you Thomas, when she understands that you were just doing what you thought was best for her.”
Is that what Seth thought he was doing? What was best for her? I could understand that motive… Maybe I was misinterpreting what I was seeing.
Thomas slammed his fists down on the table, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. “We need to take her to a doctor.” When he stood abruptly, the chair behind him wobbled. “I mean, she hit her head, but not that hard. How long has she been unconscious, a couple of hours? She was starting to come around and now she’s out again. We need help.”
I watched Seth’s reaction, waiting for him to admit to drugging Kaya, hoping he would clue us in to what was on his mind—but he said nothing.
And this set off every warning bell in my head.
“I’m taking her to a hospital.” Thomas snatched the truck keys off the table.
Seth’s whole body jerked into action. He put his hands up. “A hospital is out of the question, Thomas. You know that. She’ll suffer far worse than a concussion if Henry gets a hold of her and he has this entire town under watch. Besides, all her vitals are fine. She’s going to be all right.”
Thomas gave this some thought, then folded onto the kitchen chair and held his head in his hands.
“She’s a tough girl,” I reminded him. “When she’s awake, we can get her to her father like she wanted and get Luke back. That’s the plan still, right, Seth?”
Seth’s eyes met mine briefly and what I saw in them made my skin prickle.
“Sure,” he said.
I felt my entire world fall away. Right there and then. The life I’d dreamed of with Seth—of kids and dogs and Christmases in the mountains—all gone. It seemed the instant he got the call from Thomas saying Kaya was unconscious on the side of the highway and the plan had changed, he had changed. We’d shared everything—a home, our desires, a bed—but apparently, he hadn’t shared his intentions concerning Kaya.
I was in love with a total stranger.
Thomas could not sit still. He marched over to the couch. “She’s so pale… Oh, God…”
He lifted Kaya’s hand, and her lack of response completely rattled him. Catching his breath, he marched off into the kitchen, I suspected so we wouldn’t see the tears in his eyes. I would have comforted him, but I held my tongue. Seth was barricading the front door. Whether from intrusion or escape, I couldn’t tell.
“Think that will stop Henry from breaking in?” I motioned with a shaky hand to the chair he’d wedged under the doorknob.
“Uh, no. But you never know who else might know the code to this dump.”
Oliver had suggested this house as our rendezvous point. Apparently, bands from the local nightclub were put up here on weekends and it was empty during the week. It was right in the heart of Banff, and we were so close to rescuing Luke…
“Let’s get some rest. At ten o’clock tonight we will leave whether she’s awake or not,” Seth said, checking Kaya’s pulse again.
“Where are we going?”
Seth cleared his throat. “Not sure.” He was lying.
“Why at ten?” I asked, my girl senses going into overdrive, warning bells screeching.
“There will be less traffic.”
“What about Luke?”
“We’ll figure something out,” Seth said brusquely, and then to my horror, began tying Kaya’s hands together.
“Uh, why the ropes?” I asked, heart pounding.
“In case she fights us.”
Thomas bolted into the room, eyes widening at the knots Seth was securing. “What the heck are you doing?”
Seth didn’t glance up. He was completely focused on his task. “She’s not thinking straight. We must keep her safe. Get her out of here. If she wakes up screaming, I’d hate to have to—” Seth stumbled over his words. “Uh, try and calm her down if she’s unreasonable. It’s just a safety precaution.”
“It’s not right.” Thomas shook his head. “Untie her Seth. When she wakes up, we’ll ask her what she wants to do.”
Seth laughed. “First of all, did you not use your own belt to restrain her back there on that highway? You figure it’s okay if you do it, but not me? I mean, c’mon, Thomas. You know what she wants to do—give herself over to save Luke. Which is pure idiocy. Letting her do what she wants will be her death sentence. I thought you and I were finally on the same page about this.”
Thomas could finally sense that something about Seth wasn’t right, but I could tell he agreed with his logic.
“Seth,” he said calmly. “I’ve changed my mind. You have to untie her. I’m not going against her wishes ever again.”
“Oh really? Even if that means she ends up dead? Because that is most certainly what will happen if we let her have her way.”
Thomas shifted uneasily, conflicted. “I just want what’s best for her,” he said softly.
“We all want that.” Seth agreed.
I bit my lip because I couldn’t bite my tongue. “And what if I don’t agree?”
Seth’s eyes levelled on mine. There was no warmth in them. Nothing familiar. “I’m sure I can make you see it my way.”
Kaya started to moan. Seth jumped to his feet and Thomas dove to her side.
“Where am I?” she asked, eyes fluttering open.
“We’re in Banff, Kaya,” Thomas said sweetly, kneeling next to her and affectionately caressing her cheek.
Kaya scanned the room, then realized her hands were tied. “Why am I—” she paused, then jolted upright. “Luke! Oh my God. How could you, Thomas? I have to go to him.”
Thomas was muttering apologies as Kaya struggled against the ropes. “Please, Kaya, calm down,” he begged. “This is for your own good.”
Kaya fought harder, squirming away from him, pulling at her restraints.
“Settle down now and just stay where you are, Kaya,” Seth ordered. He had a glass of water in his hands and stepped in beside Thomas. “Drink this. You hit your head pretty hard and—”
“Shut up!” she screamed, throwing her shoulder into the glass and sending it to the floor. “Shut the hell up, both of you. Untie me now. I must go to Luke… don’t you understand? I’m running out of time. I have to go now.”
Seth grasped her shoulders. “You’re not going anywhere.” His tone was menacing. “Besides, you’re over four hours late. There will be nothing left of him now.”
I went numb and Kaya went into a complete rage. I watched two grown men wrestle her t
o the couch, Thomas with tears in his eyes pleading with her to calm down and Seth manhandling her with a detachment that gave me shivers.
“I hate you! I hate you so much!” she screamed at Thomas.
At those cutting words, Thomas backed away like he’d been shoved by a bulldozer. Kaya continued to scream. Seth—not wanting to alert the neighbors—slammed her down and pressed a knee to her chest. When he flattened his hand over her mouth, I had enough.
“Stop it, Seth.”
Kaya’s arms were flailing. I was worried he was cutting off her air.
“Let her go.” My numbness was replaced with rage. I began to reach for the gun at my ankle, tempted to point it at his head because I didn’t know what else to do to stop him…
I breathed a sigh of relief when Thomas finally snapped back to his senses.
“Get off her!” He grabbed Seth by the collar and swung him away from Kaya. The coffee table broke in half and an ancient television fell victim to Seth’s crash. Thomas was seething. “Don’t touch her. Don’t even look at her.”
Sweating and shaking, he stood between Kaya, who was gasping for air, and Seth, who was menacingly rising to his feet. As the two men stared each other down, I dove to Kaya and pulled her into my arms. I whispered that I was on her side as I frantically worked at the knots around her wrists.
“Don’t you dare untie her, Lisa,” Seth warned.
I ignored him, until a familiar click stopped me cold. It was the click that meant whatever we had between us was most certainly over.
“Thomas, put your hands up and move aside,” Seth ordered. “Go sit in that chair.”
With Seth’s gun pointed at his head, Thomas obeyed. There was no point arguing; Seth had perfect aim and a now-apparent lack of conscience that made him perfectly capable of killing.
“Get comfortable Thomas, because if you move from that chair, I’ll shoot you and Lisa.”
My blood turned to ice in my veins. “Seth, what are you doing?”
He tossed me the power cord from his cell phone. His lip twitched. “Tie Thomas’s hands behind his back to the chair,” he ordered.
“What? No! Stop acting ridiculous, Seth. We’re in this together, remember? You’re not thinking clearly.”
Rhapsody Page 2
