Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series) (19 page)

“Five minutes,” I whisper with one
final push against his hands before I slip off his lap.

In the moment it takes me to regain my
footing and turn around toward the door
,
I snatch the
little black book in a discrete sweep of my hand over his desk and pull it
tightly to me.  It seems impossible to keep my cool in these heels with this
book in my hand
,
but somehow I’m managing it.  I tuck
my breasts back into my bra with my free hand as I walk.  I’m almost to the
door, within feet of being home free.

“Stop.”

Heavy footsteps pound against the floor
behind me
, and I
throw myself at the door handle,
turning and pulling on it with every ounce of strength in my free hand
but
with absolutely no results.

Strong hands grasp my sides and spin me
around, pinning me to the door.  Absolute rage covers every inch of Ruiz’s face
and radiates off his body.  He glances at the book in my hand before letting go
of my waist to grab for it, clawing at my arms with his nails in his attempt to
get the book from me, but I’m quicker than he is, managing to keep it out of
his reach.

My small size compared to Ruiz plays in
my favor.  I slip underneath his arm and away from his grasp, and before he can
turn around to find me
,
I see the gun tucked in the
back of his pants.  I snatch it and move the few extra feet I need to have
perfect aim and extension of the gun toward him.

For a moment time seems to stop.  Ruiz
bursts
into uncontrollable laughter
that after only few seconds
is
already making his eyes water when he returns to look at me. 
“You should put that thing down, girl.  That is a man’s toy.”

With an effortless flick of my fingers
,
I turn off the safety.  I divert the gun away from him for only
the length of time it takes to fire one
deafening
round
of the Springfield
1911 Operator
into the floor before
training it on him again.  He’s no longer laughing.

I motion the gun toward the desk.  “Sit
down.”

“Crazy bitch.”  He continues to curse
under his breath at me until he finally situate
s
himself back in the chair.

The gun remains fixed on its target
while my heart races around wildly within my chest.  Any second now that door
will open from the outside and a horde of men will come in to protect their
boss after hearing the gunshot.

I need keys.  Ruiz surely has them, but
how would I possibly get them from him when he’s three times my size?

There’s a loud crashing sound at the
door, rhythmic, one sound after the other until the splintering wood at the
door handle gives way and the entire door flings open.  Phillips is standing
there looking at me as I hold the gun on Ruiz with one hand and hold the black
book in the other hand.  He’s in absolute shock
while
I find myself feeling instant relief.

“Let’s go
,
”
I say as I kick off the pumps I’m wearing and quickly walk
backward
to
the door, the gun remaining fixed on Ruiz
the entire time.

I follow Phillips
in my bare
feet
as he pulls me
through the building to a side exit that bypasses the sentry at the
front door.  We burst out into the sunshine together, running as fast as
possible up the sidewalk to the parked SUV.  Phillips throws open the back door
for me to get in before
he jumps
in the driver’s seat.
 He wastes no time starting the engine and peeling the vehicle out onto the
street.

Gunfire
explodes from
behind us, and on the third shot the back window shatters
and
Phillips and I both duck down reflexively.  The gunshots
quickly become quieter in the distance behind us the further we get down the
road.

“Fuck.  Mark didn’t say you knew how to
use a gun.”  Phillips steals a glance back at me, and only then does it hit me
that I’m sitting in the back of a car with one of Mark’s men behind the wheel
and with a gun in my hand.  All I’d have to do it raise it up and threaten him,
and he’d probably do whatever the hell I asked if it meant keeping a bullet out
of his head.  I’m the one in power between us, and it feels fucking fantastic.

“Morgan,” Phillips says warily, almost
fearful.

It’s an interesting situation I’m in, a
strange choice before me, but I know what I have to do even before Phillips
asks me.  I hand the gun and black book forward to Phillips who reaches back
and takes them from me.  I grab the blindfold, securing it over my eyes.

“Next stoplight, tie my hands,” I say,
and Phillips looks at me through the rear-view mirror as if this is the first
time he’s
actually
seeing me.

Maybe it is.  Maybe this is what I’ve
become in the time since I was taken.  This really is the new me, though
whether it’s an improved version of me or not has yet to be seen.

Tomorrow

The familiar echoing space is
noticeable even before Phillips cuts the engine and opens his door.  We’re back
home, if that’s what I’m calling it now.  It’s all I have, and Leo’s here, so I
guess it is home.

Phillips opens the back door and helps
shuffle me out of the vehicle.  We
haven’t
spoken a
word the entire
rest of the drive
back, and he makes
no attempt to speak to me now.

I was grateful for the silence.  It
gave me time to think, though in all my reassessments of my life and
reevaluations of my decisions
while
in th
e
SUV
,
I couldn’t come to a clear
conclusion.  Do I like who I’ve become?  Is this risk-taking
,
scheming girl the person I’ve been all along, hidden somewhere
deep
inside
me all these years?

I feel like I’m in a catatonic state as
Phillips leads me through the innards of the building to Mark’s office.  Even
without seeing
,
I know when we’ve arrived.  My attempt
to commit the route between Mark’s office and the garage to memory proved
successful.

“Ah, Phillips.  Morgan.  You’ve
returned,” I hear Mark say
cheerfully
.  I’m sure he’s
been waiting this whole time for us to come back with nothing, looking forward
to having an excuse to berate or abuse us for our failure.

The quick scuffling of feet approach in
the hallway from behind us and abruptly stop.  “God, Morgan.”

It’s Leo, and his hands are already
around my stomach holding my back to his chest.  He holds me there only briefly
before untying my hands and
the
blindfold.  He spin
s
me around
and kisses me
with enough
passion to make up for days of being apart instead of just hours.

By the time he pulls back
,
he looks overwhelmed.  He can’t seem to speak or do all the things
he wants to do fast enough.  “You’re okay?  He didn’t hurt you?”

“I’m fine.”  I smile at him
,
and relief floods his face.

He pulls me into a tight embrace. 
“Thank God.  That was excruciating, you know.”

“Okay, okay,” Mark interrupts,
physically separating us with his hands.  He looks directly at me, and it takes
all the willpower I have not to look away.  I won’t let him make me
feel
weak.  “Do you have something for me?”

Phillips steps in, offering the black
book to Mark as if it
magically
appeared.

“Well then.”  Mark sounds genuinely
surprised.  He’s takes the book and inspects it as if still determining its
authenticity.  His skeptical look morphs into a wide and devious grin as he
flips through the pages.  “This is gold.  Pure gold.”  He puts his arm around
Phillips and shakes his hand.  “Well done.”

“Actually,” Phillips says as his gaze
meets mine
in
a mixed look of embarrassment and
respect
,
“
this
was all her. 
She got the book.  I got her out of the room.”

All three sets of eyes turn on me at
once, and I refuse to back down from their gazes.

Leo looks the most confused of all of
them.  “How the hell did she…
how
did you pull this
off?”

As he glances up and down my body, I
know exactly what he’s worried about.
 
“It’s not what
you think,” I reassure him.

Phillips pulls the gun out from behind
him, offering it Mark.  “She used this.”

Mark laughs hysterically.  “She did
what?”

“I pulled his gun after I swiped the
book
,
and
I
fired a warning
shot,” I say confidently.  “Phillips broke down the door to get me out after
the shot fired
,
and we got away.”

Leo instantly turns to Phillips,
completely irate.  “You left her alone with him?  You stupid fuck.”

“It’s fine, Leo.”  I grab for his arm
and pull him to me, taking the moment to ignore the other two men in the room
to
focus on
calm
ing
hi
m down
.  “He barely touched me.  I got away from him in time.”

Some of the worry works its way out of
his face
,
but
the anger is still there
.  He turns to Mark.  “I’m taking her upstairs.”

“Some well-deserved alone time,” Mark
says with a knowing smile.  “Treat her like a queen, son.  She did well today.”

Leo guides me by the lower back out the
door, completely ignoring Mark’s response while I’m swimming
in the
pride of it.  How fucked
-
up is that?  I’m
happy to have pleased and earned a tiny bit of respect from the man who stole
my life and brutalized me and violated me until I had almost nothing left.  But
he’s also the man who introduced me to Leo and the man who holds our fates
within his fingers.  If there is anyone in this world I should be trying to
please with my actions, it’s him.

Leo scold
s
me
softly the entire way up the stairs and down the hallways to
our
apartment.  The few
men
we pass by do a
double-take at the tight black dress I’m still wearing, but I don’t even care
anymore.  I’m so used to the stares and glances.  Perhaps the next time they
look at me they’ll see me for more than just my appearance.  I want them to
know what I’ve accomplished today, to see me as one of them even though I’m the
furthest from them.

Or am I?  Am I really that far from
them now?

This question plagues me by the time we
reach the apartment, and I’m no longer even paying attention to what Leo
is
saying.  I’m consumed by the thoughts that flood my mind. 
Trying to reconcile my past with my present is like trying to put a square peg
in a round hole.  There seems to be no right answer, no explanation for why
I’ve chosen this life over my family and what I had before.  Why do I have such
a need to please the man who did so many horrible things to me?

“Morgan.”  Leo’s voice is calling
for
me, but I’m so far away.  “Morgan?”  His tone grows increasingly
concerned.  He grasps my upper arms firmly and forces me to look at him.

In an instant I snap out of it and whisper
the first words that come to mind.  “I’m so scared.”

“Fuck.  I knew
Ruiz
did something to you.  Tell me the truth.  Tell me what he did.” 
Leo pulls me down to the bed, leaning me across his lap like he did for me at
the prison when I woke up in a similar position on my first day there.

“It’s not him.  It’s nothing he did,” I
say
quietly
.  Tears fall from my eyes now.  I can’t
hold them back any longer.  “It’s me.  I’m afraid of what I’ve become.  I don’t
know who I am anymore.”

Leo leans down
,
and I pull up just enough to make our lips meet in between, his
hand slipping behind my
neck
to support me as he works
his tongue further into my mouth.  He seems desperate to show me what he’s
feeling and thinking through our touch and not through words.

I reach my fingers around his neck,
gripping his skin as I pull myself up completely to him.  His hands wander more
now that I’m sitting up.  He pulls down the strap of my dress and runs his
thumb over the healing wound in my shoulder from Mark’s bullet.

Leo pulls back from my lips, observing
the wound for a moment before looking back at me.  “You’re strong, beautiful,
and confident.  You’re amazingly brave and selfless for what you did to be here
for me.  Though I didn’t want you to
do it
, you made a
difficult sacrifice for me, and I will be forever grateful for that.”

I’m
quickly enveloped by
Leo’s arms
, h
is hands and fingers grasp
ing
me tightly, keeping me grounded and reminding me just why I’m
here.

“I miss them,” I whisper, and a sob
immediately escapes me.  “My parents.  They were controlling and unreasonable all
the time, but they loved me.”

“They still love you,” Leo counters. 
“They’re out there loving you
right now
and you’re
here loving them
back
and loving me.”

I can’t help smil
ing
, and I already feel my tears subsiding at Leo’s words.  Pulling
back enough to look at Leo’s eyes, I ask the questions that I’ve been afraid to
ask since the moment we arrived here.
 
“Do you think
we’ll ever get out of here?  Will we be free, Leo?”

“I’ll get you out of here someday.”  I’ve
never seen such determination in Leo’s eyes.  “I don’t know how or when, but it
’ll
happen someday, and you’ll never have to question your decision to
be here again
,
because you’ll have it all.  I’ll give
you everything I can and help you live and thrive and we’ll be together away
from all this bullshit.”

Though his words are idealistic, I find
comfort in them, smiling and nodding my acknowledgement of what he’s trying to
tell me.

A shift occurs in Leo, something
drastic that I can feel in his body against mine.  His touch becomes tighter
and more frantic all over my back.  I feel him working at the zipper on my
dress.

Leo’s lips brush my ear.  “I don’t want
you to think about th
at
anymore.  Not right now.”  He
places a line of kisses down my neck and over my shoulder while unzipping the
dress at an agonizingly slow pace.  “I want to show you just how much you mean
to me.  I want to prove that you’re mine.”

The fabric of the dress leaves my upper
body.  Leo lifts me up just enough to slip it off me.  He unclasps my strapless
bra, letting it fall to the
floor
.  His hands are
immediately on my breasts, caressing them softly in his palms before
he
tak
es
my nipple in his mouth and suck
s
it
hard.

Leo lifts my leg over so that I’m
straddling him.  My hips start to move against his body, responding in kind to
these
actions that I’ve been trying to elicit from him the last two
weeks.  I grasp his shoulders and close my eyes as he splits his attention
between my chest and slipping his fingers down into my lacy
black
underwear.  I’m already wet and ready for his touch as he works me
in circles and throws my body into a fit of pleasure.

When Leo’s
gaze
returns to mine
,
I can feel the heat of
his skin against my cheek.  He’s breathing hard, just barely holding on to his
control.

“I can’t wait a second longer,” he
breathes into me.  “I need to be inside you.  I need you to feel me, Morgan.”

He doesn’t wait for me to respond,
already working my underwear down my legs before I can even catch my breath. 
In a quick movement
,
he flips me on my stomach on
to
the bed.  The anticipation as I wait for him to put on a condom is
excruciating.  I want desperately to turn around and watch him, but I want the
surprise factor more.

Firm hands grasp my hips and pull me
backward, sliding me effortlessly onto his firm cock.  I gasp as his full
length fills me, a perfect fusion of pain and pleasure the moment we’re fully
connected.  His movements are slow at first, easing me into this and letting me
savor the feeling of him inside me.  He reaches underneath me to knead my
breasts while he’s moving within me.

I lift my backside up just a little
more to give him even better access, and he takes full advantage.  The
combination of his forceful thrusts into me and his hands moving my hips back
and forth against him is enough to make me scream out from the overload of
sensation overtaking my body.

The pent
-
up
sexual energy from the last two weeks is pouring out of Leo now.  He’s giving
it to me rough, fucking me with
abandon
, and I’m rendered
speechless by it.  This sex is raw and powerful.  It’s possessive.  Leo is
showing me exactly what he intended: that I am his and no one else’s.

When Leo reaches his peak and explodes
inside me
,
I completely unwind, my body trembling
through the waves of pleasure rolling through me.  Leo takes us to the edge of
insanity, to a place untouchable by the rest of the world where it’s only the
two of us and nothing else matters.  He holds us there as long as possible
until there’s nowhere else to go and we must come back down.

Leo slips out of me and helps turn me
over onto my back.  When I’m sprawled out underneath him
,
he leans forward on his arms and knees over the top of me and
kisses the side of my forehead.  He remains there, breathing hard against my own
rapidly rising and falling chest.  His hands overlap mine and intertwine with
my fingers.  It takes a few minutes before we can catch our breath.

“You’re mine,” he finally declares. 
“You have been from the beginning, and I won’t lose you.  I don’t know who you
were before compared to who you are now, but I love every detail about this
girl in front of me.  You give me comfort and strength that no one else can. 
You make me laugh and smile when I’d all but
given up on
the thought of happiness.  You give me a fucking purpose to my
life, and I have so much to live for now.  I never looked forward to tomorrow
until I met you.”