Stolen Fate (5 page)

I’m lost in thought of trying to figure out where I’m going to have him deliver the money when I hear a knock on the door. It’s late now, inching closer to ten in the evening. My day has been a whirlwind of emotions. I was going back and forth between whether or not I should go through with it, but in the end I did what I felt I needed to do. The look of hurt and confusion that flitted across his face almost had me reconsidering, but then it was quickly replaced by his anger. And
his
anger stoked my own.

I’m angry at the world, at myself and at him for having everything when I have nothing.

I wait a few seconds, trying to see if whoever is at my door will go away. It isn’t safe in this neighborhood to answer to just anyone, especially at night. I don’t even have a peephole, for goodness sake.

Then the pounding hit off the door again. No one ever comes to see me. I don’t even think anyone knows where I live. I feel my heart start to beat faster and I’m getting ready to slink off into the bedroom, ignoring whoever is standing out in the hallway altogether, when I hear someone speak.

“Essie Smith, this is the police. We need to speak to you. Please open the door.”

Shit! He must have called the cops on me. Fuck! What am I going to do now?
Well, I guess I can deny everything. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll play it off, explaining this is his way of getting back at me for rejecting any further escapades with him. But how am I going to explain me showing up at his office earlier today? The door pounds again before I can give more thought to it.

“Hold on, please,” I utter, looking down at what I’m wearing. I have on a pair of pajama shorts and a camisole, sans bra. This might actually work toward my advantage. Yeah, if I can flirt with the officer enough to distract him and get him on my side, I may be able to get out of this whole debacle.

“Miss Smith, please open the door,” the officer shouts again.

“I’m coming.” I place my hand on the door handle, blow out a breath and turn the knob. As soon as my eyes come in contact with the form hovering over my entryway, they flare wide and my insides instantly start to constrict.             

No, no, no. What the hell is he doing here? How the hell did he find me?
I never told him my real last name. Shit! I can’t focus. All I can do is look into his stoic glare and do everything I can to remain upright.

Everything happens so fast. It’s only been mere seconds since I opened my door and already I wish I was anywhere but here, standing in front of him. But once I get a hold of my bearings, I quickly move to slam the door in his face.

But he’s quicker.

“Oh, no the fuck you don’t,
sweetheart,
” Drayden grits out, pushing his way into my apartment quite forcefully. Before I can protest his intrusion, he lunges at me, grabs a hold of me and pulls me into his strong form. “Now, we’re going to do things my way, Essie Smith. Or should I say Essie Horton? That
is
your real name, now isn’t it?” His words are dripping with disdain, his grip punishing, revealing his true intentions.

“Drayden, what are you doing here?”
You know what he’s doing here, Essie
. “How did you find me?”
Now
that
was a question I really didn’t know the answer to.

He walks me backward until I hit the edge of my couch. Then without warning, he shoves me until I fall onto the cushion. “Sit,” he barks at me, threatening me with his stance. “You obviously knew who I was when you trapped me that night. You knew exactly how much money I had at my disposal. I wasn’t just some random selection.”

There are no questions there. He’s simply stating facts.

“I didn’t trap you. You were all too willing to go along with it.”

He advances toward me, fists clenched in a tight ball. He stops when his knees hit the fabric, leans over so he’s right in my face and shouts, “Listen to me, you deceptive bitch! If you say one more word, you’re going to regret it. Do you understand me?” I’m silent, which is obviously a mistake. “Do you understand me?” he yells again.

“Yes,” I say, turning my head away and shrinking into myself as best I can. I’m clearly no match for this man. His anger has taken over, and it’s going to take everything I have to survive this. I know when to shut the hell up and when to push. And right now, I’m going to shut the hell up.

He retreats and begins pacing back and forth, clearly deciding what to do with this whole situation and me. I’m startled when he begins to speak again. “As I was saying, you obviously knew who I was. Therefore, you must have known I’m the type of man who gets what he wants, whenever he wants it and can easily obtain all kinds of information with a simple phone call.”

I still don’t know exactly how he tracked me down, but I’m not about to ask him again for fear I’ll regret it instantly. I’m so wrapped up in my own torrid thoughts I don’t even notice when he stops moving and just stands in front of me. When I draw up enough courage to glance up at him, I see he’s slowly perusing my barely-clothed body. Yeah, in hindsight, not such a good idea to wear so little clothing.

I move to grab a blanket strewn over the back of the couch but I’m stopped as soon as I hear his gritted words. “Don’t you dare move, Essie. Not one inch. If I have to deal with handling your little blackmail trick then the least you can do is let me look at that body of yours. Fuck! For as much as I want to end you right now, I can’t help but remember sinking deep inside you. Actually, maybe you would like to re-enact that little fantasy of yours again.” He licks his lips and starts walking toward me again. “What do you think?”

Damn it. I deserve everything he’s going to do to me. I really didn’t peg him for someone who would fight back, who would try to get even. I thought he was just a spoiled rich guy who would pay to get rid of the problem. Staring into his eyes, I know clearly I was wrong.

He must see the look of panic in my eyes because he stills in his movements, even taking a step back. He stares at me for another minute or so before pulling out his phone. Once he dials the number, he steps back further but never turns his back on me. I don’t blame him. He mumbles something into the phone and approaches the door to open it.

Thankfully, it looks like he’s going to leave but I’m not sure what he thinks he accomplished with his visit. Before I can even form words to ask, I hear loud footsteps coming up the stairwell, turn down the hall and come straight toward my apartment. Still crouching in the corner of my couch, I don’t have a straight shot to the front door so I’m not sure what the hell is going on. Within seconds, two large men, dressed like security detail, enter my residence and stop right next to where Drayden is standing. The shorter one of the two sports a crew-cut hairstyle and doesn’t pay me any attention, clearly focused on whatever job he was called in to do. But the other one, he scares me. His hair is a little bit longer than crew-cut guy and he’s sporting a shaggy beard of sorts. His eyes hone in on me as soon as I come into his line of sight. He
and he
gives me a smirk and winks before turning his attention back to his angry boss.

“Who are you?” I ask, staring at the two strangers who just entered our already-complicated situation.

“Essie, if I have to tell you one more time to shut up, you are going to find out what I’m truly capable of.” Once he knows he has my attention, he turns to the two men, clearly coordinating something. “Check every inch of this Goddamn shithole.” Once they start moving about my place and touching all my private things, he yells out, “Find it!”

I remain seated, knowing enough not to make any sudden movements. Drayden keeps watch over me while his men search for the recording but little do they know it doesn’t even exist. When I went to check out what was captured on the phone, it was blank. It never recorded a thing. But apparently, that nonexistent
evidence
is going to be my only bargaining tool. I hear a barrage of cursing when they come to the end of their search¸ becoming overly frustrated they can’t locate what they are so eagerly searching for.

His two
buddies
appear in front of me now, eyes focusing on Drayden the whole time. “We can’t find it anywhere. We tore the place apart and….nothing. She must have hid it somewhere else.”

His eyes instantly flick to mine, and the glare he’s shooting my way is enough to make me shiver. Yeah, I picked the wrong guy; I know that now. There is no telling what he’s truly capable of when backed into a corner. If I’m smart, I’ll call the whole thing off and tell him no such proof exists. But I can’t do that. I would rather be dead, rather feel his wrath in all its power, than live without the hope of something better. And damn it, that money will cure all of my problems.

If I live to see it.

He tells his men to wait in the hallway and give him a few minutes. Oh, crap. He doesn’t want an audience for what he’s about to do to me. I can’t move. I can’t think. I can’t breathe. I know I’ve created this dilemma, and now I must find a way to deal with it.

Once his men close the door, he just stands there, not moving a single inch. Looking like he is deep in thought is good for me because it gives me a few seconds to try and conjure up a way to get out of this. But before I can even form a plan, he whips around and comes at me. I cower as he approaches but that doesn’t deter him. Reaching out, he seizes me up again and drags me toward the back of my small residence, toward my bedroom. Once I realize what he’s doing, I start to struggle, trying to free myself from him. Glancing back at me as if I’m nothing but a mere nuisance, he just shakes his head and continues on.

“Please, don’t do this, Drayden.” I’m begging him now, trying to get him to let go of me. “Please, don’t hurt me.”

He tosses me aside once we’re inside my bedroom. Rummaging through my dresser and night stand is proving futile because he curses after every drawer he slams closed. “Where are they?” He stands there looking volatile, chest heaving and veins thrusting forward in his neck.

Thoroughly confused now, I ask him, “What are you talking about?”

“The pills. Where are your Goddamn birth control pills?”

There is no way out of this one. I lied to him when I told him I was on the pill because we forgot to use protection, and now he is calling me on my bullshit lie. There is nothing I can do. I can’t produce what I don’t have. I look down and avoid eye contact at all costs.

“I don’t have them.”

“Why? Where are they?”

I stumble over my next words to him. “I was never on them.”

I wait. I wait for him to do something. I wait for him to say anything. But nothing comes for what seems like forever. Then, when my head lifts and I meet his eyes, I’m thrown off. He looks like he’s just been told his best friend died. I’m sure he’s trying to compute the dexterity of my words, trying to understand fully everything unfolding right in front of him.

He closes his eyes, exhales a pent-up breath, and swallows slowly. “Are you pregnant?” When I don’t answer him, he speaks again. “Answer me,” he says through gritted teeth.

“I don’t know.”

“Was that your intention, as well, to trap me with a kid?”

Shaking my head, as if the motion is going to do the trick, I tell him the truth. “No, that was never my intention. I forgot about using a condom just as much as you did.”

“Well, forgive me if I don’t believe a word that comes out of that lying mouth of yours.” He looks around the room one last time, grabs my beaten-up suitcase tossed in the corner and starts throwing some of my clothes in it.

“What the hell are you doing, Drayden?” Instead of answering me, he just keeps packing up some of my things. I grab a hold of his arm to still him. Big mistake. He gives me another one of his death glares and forcefully shrugs my hand from his body.

“You’re coming with me until I can make sure you’re not pregnant. Although who knows, even if you are, what’s to say it’s mine anyway? Regardless, you are staying with me until I know for sure.”

I don’t know why I’m stunned after everything that transpired between this man and me, but I am. “I’m not going anywhere with you, and you can’t make me.” When he tilts his head to the side and stares at me, I continue to argue my point. “What? Are you going to add kidnapping to the list?”

I never learn. My big mouth always seems to get me into more trouble, not less.

He zips up my suitcase, takes the handle and makes his way over to me. Grabbing my arm hard, he drags me behind him out of the bedroom, down the short hallway and toward the front door. “I’m going to add murder to my list if you don’t shut your stupid mouth.”

The men hovering in the hallway stop short when their eyes connect on the both of us. Surely, they think they are only there to search for something, not to be privy to a kidnapping. Because that’s exactly what this is. He is kidnapping me.

Taking me against my will.

“Let’s go. She’s coming with us, and you guys are going to keep watch over her at my place so she doesn’t go anywhere.”

With no hesitation at all, they comply, but not without shaking their heads at me first. “Sure thing.”