Billionaire Undaunted: The Billionaire's Obsession ~ Zane (2 page)

The Present…

“W
here in the hell is she?” Zane Colter mumbled angrily as he drove his Bentley SUV up another steep, off-road track of dirt that would lead to
yet another
cabin in the desolate mountains.

How many days had he been searching? One day had rolled into the next, but Zane had been so laser-focused on his mission that he really hadn’t bothered to do much else except stay hydrated.

He was grateful that he’d bought the new SUV just a month or two earlier. It was snowing hard here at high altitude, and his speed had been beyond reckless on the slick mountain roads. He knew he was driving too fast for the rapidly worsening weather conditions. Problem was, he
was
getting desperate. He knew which area Ellie was in because of the soil samples he’d taken from an old pair of James’s shoes, and then from the tire treads from a late-model truck in his garage. After he’d found a tiny piece of a wilted, rare flower in the asshole’s house, on a hunch, he’d taken those dirt samples, an intuition that had paid off after some intense analysis, pinpointing the only areas where that type of flower could grow and the soil it needed to thrive. The dirt he’d gathered had confirmed his suspicions. He was doubtful that James drove that older truck for anything other than mountain travel. The shoes were old and tattered, and a superficial asshole like James wouldn’t wear them except in muddy areas where he wouldn’t be seen. After matching the soil to the wilted flower, Zane had a very good idea of the area Ellie could be hidden. But a search of cabins and properties in the vicinity had brought up nothing that James owned, so Zane had to assume it was a place that wasn’t titled under his real name.

“Where the fuck did he hide her? God dammit!” he growled as he slammed his hand against the steering wheel in frustration, knowing he was running out of time. Chances were he might be recovering a body instead of rescuing Ellie.

Not. Happening.

He shook off the possibility that Ellie could be dead and kept heading up to a small cabin a little bit farther up the nearly nonexistent dirt road he was currently climbing.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his hand and jamming his fingers through his hair in irritation, he deftly steered out of a spin on the ice and snow one-handed until he was climbing up the steep road again.

Pretty soon I’m going to have to face it; I’ve checked almost every cabin and home in this area with no fucking luck.

Zane had no idea how long it had been since he’d slept. He’d been doing research on the soil he’d found, and then working on pinpointing areas to investigate. He was exhausted, but a clock was ticking in his head, and if James
had
kept Ellie alive, she was probably running out of food and water. James was dead, and had been incapacitated before he’d offed himself. She’d been alone for too damn long.

I can’t stop looking. I promised Chloe I wouldn’t. I won’t stop until I find her.

He shook his head absently, knowing that was a good excuse as to why he was out here searching, but his dogged persistence wasn’t all about Ellie being his little sister’s best friend. Instinct was gnawing at his gut, and it hadn’t stopped.

He understood Ellie well enough to know that if she’d been able to get away, she would have. Some people claimed that Ellie was quiet, but he’d seen how bossy she could be when they were kids. As a teenager, she hadn’t changed. She’d never had a problem voicing her opinions. Not with him.

Honestly, he’d never minded her anally retentive desire to organize. In fact, he’d kind of liked it since he wasn’t exactly orderly in his personal life. Never had been. When it came to his work as a scientist, he was meticulous, but everything else went to hell outside of his lab. Truthfully, he’d always been fascinated by the way Ellie was able to juggle so many things at one time, and take care of them all in a hyper-organized way. She’d always been that way, even as an adolescent.

Zane could admit to himself that he’d liked Ellie in high school. But being his little sister Chloe’s best friend had put Ellie completely off-limits for anything other than friendship after they had become adults. In high school, she’d been too young, too closely connected to his family. Not to mention the fact that he’d been so socially awkward in high school that he never would have had the balls to ask her out on a date, even if she hadn’t been too young. But he’d liked her as a friend, too, and he still had fond feelings for her, even though he’d seen very little of her after he’d graduated from high school. He’d gone off to college, and had never come back home to live in Rocky Springs full-time.

He groaned as he pulled up to the cabin he’d been seeking. “Shit! It looks like a seasonal place.”

Although the dwelling was in decent shape, it wasn’t something a physician would own. It was tiny, and looked more like a hunting or fishing cabin.

Snow was drifted against the door, and it didn’t look like anyone had been here since the first snow had flown. The white flakes were blowing and coming down in epic amounts as he jumped out of his vehicle, not bothering to lock it. Hell, nobody was coming up to this off-road cabin in the middle of a blizzard.

He trudged through the drifting snow and then kicked the accumulated white stuff from the front door as he turned the handle to enter, finding it locked. Annoyed and determined not to leave a single stone unturned, he put his shoulder against the door until the flimsy lock gave and then pushed it open.

“Ellie!” he bellowed loudly, even though the place was so small he probably didn’t need to shout.

He strode through the small cabin with a living area to one side and a small kitchen in the other direction. He inspected the tiny bathroom before he came to an abrupt halt at the door of the only bedroom in the cabin. His body tensed as he saw the nearly unrecognizable figure shackled in the corner, huddled in a fetal position, completely naked.

“Fuck!” The curse exploded from his mouth as he entered the room and crouched down next to the woman, not knowing if she was dead or alive.

He pushed the filthy hair from her face. “Ellie?” he said hesitantly, feeling her neck for a pulse, his blood starting to boil as he saw all of the poorly healing bruises and cuts to her body, face, and limbs.

There was a portable potty next to her, but she’d obviously eventually lacked the strength to use it. Every limb was shackled with heavy metal, giving her very limited mobility. There was an empty water jug in the corner, and a plastic bag with nothing inside.

Zane got no response, but his heart started to accelerate as he found a weak pulse.

He ran out to the kitchen and found a glass and filled it with water, damn grateful that the place had indoor plumbing.

He paid no attention to how badly the woman smelled as he cradled her in his arms, forcing her to sit up. “Ellie? Open your eyes for me. You need water. You’re dehydrated.”

She was more than just dehydrated. She was starved. But he had to solve one problem at a time. Ellie used to be a curvy woman. Now she had no flesh on her bones.

He put the cup to her lips, tipping it up slowly. Her eyes flickered, but didn’t open, and he hoped to hell she still had a swallow reflex. The last thing he wanted was for her to aspirate.

“Swallow for me, Ellie. Come on!” He watched her as he dribbled the water slowly into her mouth, relieved when he saw the muscles in her neck move weakly to down the liquid.

She needed food, but he continued to try to hydrate her first before finally going into the kitchen to try to find something—anything—that she might be able to get down her throat. Before he started rummaging through the cupboards, he remembered that he had protein drinks and some beverages in his SUV that would help her replace electrolytes she was missing.

“Fluids are better,” he said absently to himself as he came back into the cabin with the supplies and tools he needed, then started his mission to get some more hydration and nutrition into Ellie.

He had to go slow, which irritated the hell out of him. He wanted to give her everything she hadn’t had, and he wanted her nearly lifeless form to spring back to life.

He wanted Ellie back, and no matter what it took, he’d see her smiling and whole again if it killed him.

I won’t quit. I never quit.

It took him a while to get her free from her bonds of steel with the tools he had in his car, and he continued to curse violently as he freed her.

If James wasn’t already dead, Zane would have murdered the bastard without an ounce of remorse.

After he’d given Ellie everything he dared give her at one time, he scooped her up from the cold floor.
Christ!
She was so light that it scared the hell out of him. Ducking around the corner, he went into the bathroom, hoping the hot water worked. He turned the knobs on the shower, relieved when warm water eventually emerged.

Setting her gently on the floor, he quickly stripped off his own clothing and hefted her back up and into the shower with him. The cabin had some heat, but it was still damn cold. Ellie had no meat on her bones to protect her from lying on a cold floor. He needed to start off easy and gentle, increasing the warmth to her body carefully.

He used a bottle of liquid soap he’d found in the shower, scrubbing her body and hair until she was clean again. A small, weak moan escaped her lips, and it gave him even more hope that she’d come around eventually. She shivered in his arms, another good sign. His slow warming of her body was starting to bring up her core temperature.

Frustrated, Zane knew there was no way he was getting her to a medical facility because of the blizzard roaring outside the cabin walls. If something happened on the way back out of the remote wilderness, she’d never survive. He was a doctor. Granted, he was in research, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t gone to med school. Since he was academically gifted, he’d sped right through his degrees and then focused on biotechnology. But he knew what he had to do, what she needed right now. Unfortunately, he had very few resources or equipment to help her as much as she needed.

He turned off the water and dried them both the best he could with the threadbare towels in the bathroom, and then carried Ellie to the only bed in the house, the one that had been denied to her because of her confinement. Pulling back the bedspread, he was relieved that the bedcovers looked fairly clean, and he tucked her beneath the blanket and the sheets. Sitting beside her, he attempted to comb her long hair with his fingers. Ellie had beautiful, light-blonde hair, and he was starting to see the fair locks again now that it was clean. Pushing the hair away from her face, he was practically ready to go ballistic over the healing bruises and cuts on her skin.

He’d looked her over while he was washing her, and he hadn’t seen anything life-threatening as far as injuries, but it fucking pissed him off that James had even touched Ellie.

Zane rose and went to work cleaning up the mess in the corner, washing down the floor and disposing of the metal bindings and the portable potty. When he was done, he wrapped a blanket around his nude body, put on his boots, and sprinted back out to his SUV, grabbing the overnight bag that he always had in the cargo space.

He dressed in the spare clothing he had, wishing he had something more he could put on Ellie except one of his flannel shirts that was tucked away inside the bag.

After he got her into the garment, he gave her a little more fluid, and then went and rummaged through the small dwelling, trying to find anything useful. He came across Ellie’s purse in one of the cupboards, but he didn’t see any sign of her clothing. Zane put his dirty garments in the sink and washed them by hand, and then hung them in the bathroom to dry. He didn’t think he’d need them because he planned on getting Ellie down the mountain soon. It was more his restless energy that wouldn’t let him keep still.

He found some basic supplies, mostly canned goods, but at least there was something.

Since the antiquated heating system was producing very little warmth, he loaded the old stove with wood that was stacked against the wall and started a fire that was soon blazing. He shut the metal door, glad that the old piece of crap actually worked. The cabin was so small that it should help keep the limited space warmer.

Having rummaged through every cupboard, Zane paced back and forth from the bedroom to the small window beside the door, wishing it would fucking stop snowing.

Ellie needs so much more than I can do for her right now. She needs IV fluids and feedings, x-rays, and testing.

Hell, he knew she was bad, but he had no idea if her body had more wrong than what he could see just from looking at her and doing a superficial exam.

Unfortunately, the blizzard was still raging, and he was frustrated that there was little he could do except keep giving Ellie everything he could in intervals that wouldn’t overfill her shrunken stomach.

He helped her swallow some nourishment.

Then he paced.

He did it again.

Then he paced.