His Price (20 page)

I knew what I wanted, what I needed. It was her, Noella.

She needs to be in my life, I can feel that. I don't want to be without her, ever.
All of my life had been dictated by my father and his thoughts. But not this, this wasn't his choice, it was mine.

And without her, nothing else would matter.

Turning around, I walked with hard strides away from his downed form. A surge of people had surrounded him, helping him up off the floor. I could hear the faint yell of my mother from the back of the room.

Glancing over my shoulder, she had crouched down next to her husband and was angrily yelling at me to come back. Holding my head down, I just shook a silent no.

Not this time.

Throwing my arm out in front of me, I shoved the door open that Noella and Stefan had gone through. There were several different phones in the house, which one did he take her to? I had no clue. It was going to be a matter of hunting them down.

Stefan was going to be the next one to get a piece of my mind. He had obviously been the one to tell my dad about her being a stripper. It wasn't his business to do that, and he was going to find that out first hand.

I was fucking pissed, a shaken bottle not done popping yet. My dad went down, and now it was Stefan's turn.

He had wriggled his fingers into my world. And I didn't like that one bit. I thought he had let it go after the whole incident at the mansion. A couple weeks had gone by, and he acted like his usual self. A sneaky, creepy butler.

I was able to relax, thought he maybe realized that he'd gone too far. Now I knew he didn't, he had just waited to tell my father. Waited to make sure he had exposed her at the perfect time for my dad to really jab her with his serrated blade.

He was going to pay for this, and I was going to make sure he understood how badly he fucked up.

Crossing through the living room, it was empty. He hadn't brought her to that phone, but it was close to the party. For an important phone call like that from her family, she might have wanted to have a little more space from the hoots and hollers of drunken guests.

“Noella? Stefan?” I called out through the hall as I entered. There was nothing but silence, no muffled voices, no patter of feet.
Where the hell did he take her?

Spotting Claudette, one of the maids, I asked, “Claude, have you seen Stefan and Noella? She had a call and I'm not sure what room they went to.”

“No, Sir. I haven't seen them. But maybe they went to your father's office.” Shrugging her shoulders, she continued dusting the pictures lining the walls.

Turning towards my father's office, I stopped to listen. There was still nothing, no sounds, no movements. Everything was dead silent.

My heart started to beat against my chest, breathing heavily, my lungs strained to keep calm. The two of them were nowhere to be found.

Alright, calm down. They have to be around here somewhere. Maybe she got bad news? Maybe she needed to get some air?
Rubbing my forehead, I started for the backyard.

There was a courtyard outside, plenty of lounge chairs filled the area around the pool.
Noella could be there, getting her head together,
I thought, as I scanned a few more empty rooms. She had just been belittled and embarrassed, and I had no fucking clue what her phone call was about.

Standing at the double glass doors, I tried to look through the glass. The reflection from inside mirrored the room behind me, I couldn't see a damn thing. Gripping the handle I tore the door the open, and walked briskly into the darkness.

Shifting my head side to side, my eyes bulged out, trying to make out any shapes in the black winter night. “Noella! Stefan!” I yelled out. And still nothing.

Fear began to settle in my skull, crawling down my spine and wrenching its fingers into my chest. Running through the snow, I reached the front of the house. Twisting my head in all directions, I looked for anyone. Any shape, any person I could find.

“Mr. Alexander? Is everything alright?” Anthony, the valet attendant asked, walking up from behind.

Jerking around, I ran my hand over my jaw. “Have you seen Noella? Or Stefan?” Leaning forward I rested my palms on my knees. I was out of breath from running and the frozen air I had swallowed.

“Yes, they came through a little while ago. Why?” Arching his brow, he drove his hands into his pockets.

“Where did they go? Did you see where they went?” Gripping his shoulders, I squeezed down hard, shaking him.

“Stefan said he needed to drive her somewhere, they seemed to be in a rush too. What's going on, Sir? Are you okay? Concern started to blend with his confusion.

“Where did they go, Anthony? I need to know where they went.” For the first time in my life, I felt completely lost. My head ached, trying to put pieces of vague insight together. Why would she leave without coming to tell me? Why would she leave with him?

“I'm not sure, Sir. Stefan said something about her family and getting her to them.” Furrowing his brows, he said, “I think he said a name... Uh, Bernadette.”

Opening my eyes wide, my mind was spinning.
Bernadette? Bernadette? Is that a hospital? Her mother's name?
I was trying to figure out what place he was talking about exactly. If Noella needed to leave and be somewhere, why didn't she come and get me? Or waited for me and told me what was going on?

Digging into my pocket, I yanked out my cell phone. Scrolling to her name, I hit the call button. The ringing seemed to climb through my whole body, vibrating through my bones and shaking me to the core.

The sound was endless, each drawn out tone, rolling and being followed by another. A click echoed and it was her voicemail.
Fuck! Answer your phone!
Dialing again, I still got nothing.

Even my text messages went unanswered. Anthony's words replayed over and over in my head. Then it hit me.

Bernadette, it wasn't her mother's name or a hospital. Bernadette was the name of my father's boat, the one he had been renovating for a couple years now. I had totally forgotten about it, he basically gave up on it the day he decided to start that project.

My mom always gave him the benefit of the doubt when it came to my dad and his 'hobbies,' I however knew the truth. He liked to just have things and say he was working on them. When in reality, all his projects went unfinished. Until he finally payed someone else to pick up the pieces and fix it for him.

Why the fuck would Stefan bring her there?!

My blood had started to boil, bubbling up and driving into my veins. He had taken her from here, taken her from me. But why? What was he doing?

Fear for Noella and her safety, fear that he might try and hurt her, settled in my mind. Stefan was a cold and calculated person, I learned that first hand.

In the mansion that night, when he confronted me about her. I got a glimpse at his darker side, the one he had hidden from my family. I didn't know what his motive was or why he felt so compelled to ruin my life, but he hated me with a passion, and now I knew he would do anything to get me out of this family.

Stefan always looked at me with a sense of disgust, an eye of disdain. And when he was around my father, it went a whole level deeper. I had put up with it for years now, and tonight I was going to finish it.

This time he had gone too far.

He took what was mine.

Now, he had to pay. No one fucks with what I've claimed.

Noella, she wasn't his to take.

Noella

T
he sounds of the party started to fade, voices turning into whispers in the distance. Following Stefan down the hallway, he seemed to be turning in so many different directions. I wasn't familiar with this place yet, I'd only been here a few times since leaving Martha's Vineyard.

“Where are we going? There isn't another phone closer?” I asked him, trying to keep up with his pace. I was afraid to lose him in the maze of doors and halls.

“We're close, Noella. This phone is in a quieter spot of the house.” His head stayed forward, the sound of his voice riding back at me over his shoulder.

“Any phone is fine, Stefan, really,” I said, an uneasy feeling started to well up in my stomach. He seemed to be teasing me further away from everyone, further away from Hegan. It wasn't sitting right, and the sickening feeling floating around in my gut, made that clear.

“It's just over here.” Pushing open a door, the hall lit with a soft glow from inside the room.

Stepping inside, I noted the phone on the desk, placed off the receiver. Stefan held his arm out, and said, “See, here we are. Go ahead.” Nodding, he stood off in the corner, taking up what must be his standard placement in a room.

Grabbing the phone, I drove it into my ear. “Hello?” Listening for a moment, I asked again,
“Hello?” 
The word strained over my tongue.

But the phone was silent, there was no one there.

Suddenly, a hard object jabbed into my lower back, my entire body shook from surprise.
What the fuck? What the hell is he doing?

Stiffening my shoulders, my spine went taut. A low devilish tone filled my ear in a whisper. “Don't scream, and I won't shoot you.”

“Wh... What?” I was trying to process what was happening. Confusion had blanketed my thoughts, a dull numbing sensation had started to trickle through my nerves. “What are you doing, Stefan?”

“Shut up, and just do what I say.” His fingers twined the fabric in the middle of my back. Digging the gun in deeper, he said, “You're coming with me.”

My heart started to race, sweat beading up on the back of my neck.
What the fuck is he doing this for? Shit, what the hell do I do? Think Noella, think!

I was trying to clear my head, focus on thinking straight. A gun to my ribs, a man who had peeled off his mask and was letting his true colors shine, and me. I had to do whatever I needed to keep me safe, to keep me alive. And to keep...

Would he really shoot me?
Here and now, with all these people?

Inhaling a deep breath, I said, “I'm not going anywhere with you.”

I could feel his breath against the back of my neck, a soft chuckle began to roll across my skin. “Are you kidding me? You stupid bitch, I have a gun to you and you think you can tell me no?” Whipping me around to face him, he spun a curl of my hair around his finger. “You know I could shoot you here and now, and no one would hear the shot.”

Veering my eyes, I glared at him. “You won't shoot me here. I'm sure someone would hear it.”

“Really?” His lip arched up, head tilting to his shoulder. Lifting the gun up, he rolled it in front of his face. The shiny metal flashing with light from the room, his face warped in different directions across the mirror finish.

A deafening boom rang out, my ears buzzing and ringing from the sound. Stefan had pulled the trigger, aiming it at the ceiling. His eyes set firm on me, face an emotionless piece of rock.

He had pulled the trigger so fast I didn't even have time to react. A white dust had started billow out of the ceiling, small bits of plaster coating the floor around us.

Looking around the room, he turned and look at the doorway. “See? Not a soul heard that.” Replacing the gun on my side, he shoved me forward. “Let's go.”

“Stefan, please don't do this.” I tried to slow my feet, trudge them across the floor to keep us in that room as long as possible. I didn't want to be there with him, but I was hoping and wishing someone, anyone, had heard the test shot he fired.

“Shut up and walk.” Jamming the barrel into my back, he forced me through the door. Turning away from the direction we had come in, he started down another unfamiliar hall.

“Why? Why are you doing this?” Pleading with him for an answer, I attempted to look over my shoulder. Catching a quick glimpse of his expression, there was nothing there.

He had no feeling or fear on his face. His eyes were blackened, a deep charcoal gray ate up his pupils. Stefan wasn't looking at me, his head flicked around wildly, taking in the entire hall and any doors we passed by.

I couldn't figure out why he was doing this, what reason he had for taking me this way. I never did anything to this man, did I?

The question sat like glue, I replayed the times we met and the conversations we had. There weren't many, but in the few words we exchanged, nothing stood out. How could I have wronged this man to make him do this?

My entire body was a blended mess of fear, worry, and anger.

He was starting to piss me off, rage over what he was doing was starting to deepen and overtake the other feelings.

A lone door stood at the end of the last hall we turned down.
Good, no place else to turn. Alright, that's good. I need to try and talk him down.
Maybe... maybe if I could connect with him on some common ground, I could talk him out of this.

“Please, Stefan. If you just let me go now, and walk away, nothing bad will happen.”

Huffing under his breath, his fingers tightened around my dress. “Didn't I tell you to shut up?” Stefan forced the gun in deeper, driving it in between my ribs. “If I let you go that's when the bad shit will happen.”

What is he talking about?
He had to be crazy, lost his mind. What bad things would happen if he let me go? It didn't make any sense.

Closing in on the door, he ducked to the side, reaching forward and throwing it open. The ice cold breeze from outside whipped across my face, turning my body frigid. My skin began to harden, trembling to the ten degree weather.

“Stefan, it's cold out and I don't have my coat.” Wrapping my arms around my torso, I tried to rub the heat back into my body. “Can we go get my jacket at least?”

“I swear, Noella. If you don't shut your fucking mouth right now you're not going to make it another step. I'll blow your fucking brains out.” Shoving me forward, he guided us around to the front of the house.

Staring up at the windows, the light from inside filtered out against the snow. I could see the figures of people walking by, the dull sounds of Christmas music and laughter were still faintly audible.