Taken: The MISTAKEN Series Complete Third Season (15 page)

L
ast Night

T
here was
no way I was going to tell him. Senator Davis and I may have had an agreement, but I knew there was no way in hell I was going to let him in on
this
bullshit. She had crossed him. They all had—Jen, her mother, Krystal, Cade … all of them were going to burn for what they had attempted if he found out.

She should have known better. Jen had seen firsthand what happened to Daniel when he tried to cross her father. She of all people should have known more than enough to try to pull anything over on him. The fact that it had gone on this long only meant one thing—the hammer would be coming down on them. Soon.

Jen’s father had sent me up to that room for one thing, and it had nothing to do with what I
wished
I could have done with her alone in her bedroom. He only wanted to know who put her up to the disappearing act.

I slipped down the stairs and out the front door, away from where the senator was probably still drinking and making his plans for world domination. One of the security people nodded as I passed him on the porch. I may not have been an expected guest, but once these security people found out I was with Senator Davis, they didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with me.

I needed to find a way out—some way out of this place, whatever the hell
this place
was. I knew I had to have been close to a mile from the second gate we had passed when we came in. There was a road, but it was well illuminated—it wasn’t like I could just go for a hike back to the gate and expect they would let me out. Especially if I had Jen with me.

I walked out onto the road, trying to remember what there was around the houses. There were trees, but they were the purposefully planted type, not the forest that I would have needed to hide us if I was going to be able to sneak the two of us out of here. The ocean was in the other direction, and it was pretty clear why the Hennessey family had built their compound here so many years ago—it was practically inaccessible by water. There were huge rock walls on both the northern and southern sides of the compound. The southern edge had looked more promising, but it was dark and it wasn’t like I had a headlamp or even a fucking flashlight to get out of there. And I knew there had to be security watching the place.

Trying to come up with an escape plan helped to bury the other thoughts that I knew wanted to swirl around in my mind that night. The bullshit that Krystal and Jen had told me—DNA tests that showed I wasn’t related to Krystal and some unbelievable story about my mother accosting Jen in a bar. It wasn’t just that it wasn’t believable—it was insanity. No, planning an impossible escape from this place seemed to be much more likely than the thought that I would
ever
believe any of that other shit. Not that any of it mattered now. Not really. I had to remind myself of that—I had found Jen. She was here. I glanced up at the house I had just exited, trying to remember which window would be hers. I could go back to her. I could slip upstairs and go back to her and no one would be the wiser. I would tell Krystal to leave us the hell alone, and I would remind her why I had found her again in the first place. Nothing else mattered now. Only that we were together again and that I was never going to let her go.

I let out a long breath and tried to clear the familiar anger that still seemed to bubble up inside me every time something stood between me and the life I had been dreaming about for so long. The quiet, normal life that we both wanted.

I nodded to myself, taking in a long breath before starting back for the door of the carriage house. I hadn’t even taken two steps before I felt a hand over my mouth and the barrel of a gun against my temple.

“If you want to live, don’t make a sound.”

The voice was familiar, but the hammering of my heart in my ears and my sudden inability to think made it difficult to place. I could only nod in agreement.

He pulled me off the road and into the shadows, almost shoving me forward as the gun barrel moved from my temple to the small of my back.

We walked several feet before coming to another large path that I could see led to the main house in the compound. Calling it a house was more than an understatement. The “carriage house” that Jen was at was enormous, but the main house—the one I could only see from a distance from where I had originally been taken—was bigger than anything I had ever seen in my life. It was a monstrosity. And it occurred to me in that moment that it was an appropriate place for a monster to live. Jen’s mother, or the woman she used to call her mother.

“I told you she wanted to see you, Brandon.” He shoved the barrel of the gun into my back again, urging me forward.

It was Cade, but his voice was different, almost frightened. I didn’t dare turn to confirm his identity, but I had never been more sure of anything.

Just knowing it was Cade was almost calming in itself. The man and I had certainly had our differences in the past, but I knew he wasn’t about to actually hurt me. I sucked in a breath, trying to steel my voice. “Why the gun, Cade?”

“So you don’t run.”

“Why would I run?” It seemed stupid—the thought that I would actually try to take off, or at least the thought of leaving without Jen. I had spent too much time looking for her—invested too much. I wasn’t leaving without her, and every person here was going to know it, no matter how insane they were.

“And to remind you that you and your boss are not the proprietors of this establishment.”

“Ah.” It was like a lightbulb suddenly flicked on in my head.
This
had nothing to do with Jen. Well, maybe it did, but this was mostly a pissing contest between Marian and her husband—not between me and Marian. There was more to their story than I ever wanted to know about, but the way Cade was handling me made perfect sense now.

We walked in silence, the gun still pressed firmly against my back. We finally arrived at the house several minutes later, but we didn’t head for the front door. Instead, he shoved me in the direction he wanted me to go, heading for a darkened side entrance.

There were no guards here—none of the almost constant Secret Service protection that surrounded the senator everywhere he went. Marian probably felt comfortable here. This was
her
home and she didn’t need any more security than Cade or another bodyguard could provide for her.

The gun at my back guided me through a darkened hallway into a room that had to be a library—bookcases lined the walls. The room itself was dark; there were a few lamps, but no floor-level windows that would have let in any of the ambient light from the main pathway. The few windows in the room were above the bookcases—at least twenty feet in the air. It almost could have been a safe room—there was only one way in and it looked secure.

Cade closed the door behind us after dropping the gun from where it had almost certainly left a barrel shaped mark against my back, it had been held there for so long. He nodded at me, motioning with his head toward the desk at the back of the room. Someone was there, but their back was turned so I couldn’t see who it was at first.

I approached the desk, my heart beginning to hammer again. The person at the desk turned and I recognized her immediately. Marian Hennessey. She was what people probably would have described as a handsome woman. I had never seen the resemblance between her and Jen, and when the news had broken that she wasn’t biologically related to Jen, it had made sense. It wasn’t her looks that put people off, though. It was
her
. She had this air about her—something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but whatever it was scared the living shit out of me. I would have had a gun at my back or temple any day rather than face this woman.

Her eyes narrowed as I approached the desk. “Sit.”

She had made no motion with her arms, but I did as she commanded. I took a seat in one of the antique chairs in front of the desk, trying to let my chin quiver like a blubbering baby.

“Brandon Richardson.” She sat down in the chair behind the desk and began drumming her fingernails on the mahogany. She glared at me for what seemed like an eternity, not saying a word.

I had no idea what it was that she wanted me to say. What in the hell are you supposed to say when you’re brought in front of a woman that you’re sure would have no problem snapping your neck without provocation?

She let out an angry sigh, pursing her lips as she glared at me, waiting for my response.

I had never been a pussy. I had been through more—seen more in my short life than most people would have seen in a hundred lifetimes. But this woman—something about her was off. I wasn’t sure if I had ever known how to describe evil, but at that moment, I would have said hers was the face of it.

The only sound breaking the long silence was the constant clicking of her fingernails on the desk. If I hadn’t been so sure she would have broken my wrist, I would have reached out to make her stop.

She let out another angry sigh. “If you’re not going to say anything, I will. You have fucked everything up. Do you understand that? Fucked. Everything. Up.”

I let out the breath I hadn’t really known I was holding.
I
had fucked everything up? I couldn’t explain why, but my fear melted away in an instant and turned into something darker. Something I had been holding onto for too long. “From where I’m sitting,
you
fucked everything up.”

Her eyes widened for a moment, almost as though she was shocked that I’d had the balls to speak at all, not just to challenge her. “How so?”

“Well, Mrs. Hennessey-Davis. That is what you prefer to be called, right? Isn’t that what you said to me the last time we met?”

Her eyes narrowed in response, her lips curling into a sneer. But she said nothing.

“I had a plan, too. One that included Jen and I never seeing you again. I assume you’re on the same page with me there, right? That you’d also prefer not to see her again?”

She folded her hands tightly on the table, the drumming of her nails coming to a sudden stop. “You have no idea
what
I would prefer.”

I glanced over my shoulder toward the door. Cade was pretending to look at a shelf of books, but I knew he was listening to every word. I turned back to face her. “Maybe I don’t. But I know what
I
want. And what I wanted was to get your daughter…” I cleared my throat—I had no idea what she called Jen now that they were officially not mother and daughter. “I wanted to get Jen away from this circus. Forever. Never to see you or her father again. Because from where I’m sitting…” I turned and glanced at Cade again before lowering my voice so that only she could hear me. “That’s the best thing for everyone here.”

“We aren’t as far apart on your wishes as you realize. Your desire for the future, that is.” Her eyes narrowed, but it didn’t look like it was anger behind them this time. It was something else—regret, maybe. Her own voice lowered. “I have only one wish, Mr. Ri—“

She cut herself off, her voice almost breaking at the sound of my last name. My brow furrowed—I had no idea what it was that she was feeling when she heard that name, but there was something. I had a vague idea that it probably had to do with my father, but I didn’t challenge her with it.

She cleared her throat. “As I was saying, I have everything I could ever need or want in my life. I have only one wish—one thing that has eluded me for all these years.”

“Having to call Jenna your daughter sucked for you. I get it. But it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t ask for that—you have no reason…” I leaned forward to make my point—I knew I would never have this kind of opportunity with her again. “No
right
to do the things you’ve done to her. Bringing her here—forcing her to live some bullshit life hidden in plain sight—“

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her eyes narrowed to almost slits. “I forced Jenna to do
nothing
.”

Her words were like a punch in the throat and I lost my ability to speak for a moment. Jen had said she had done everything willingly—I just hadn’t believed it. I wanted to believe she hadn’t had a choice—that someone had forced her to stay away from me.

“As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, you ruined my plans.
You
.”

“If I had known about your plans, I might not have had to—“

Her hands balled into fists and I could see she was trying to shake with the anger that was building inside her. “You say you want Jenna, correct?” She spoke through her clenched jaw.

“Yes.”

“I have an offer for you, Mr. Ri—Brandon.” Her shoulders dropped slightly and I could see her jaw relax. “There is a way we can both have what we want.”

“I’m listening.”

“My only problem is with your employer, Brandon.” Not saying my last name made her fists relax, and she folded her hands together. Something of a smile formed on her lips. “I’m not sure I can trust you, but I’m going to give you an opportunity.”

“As I’ve said on many occasions, Mrs. Hennessey-Davis, I’m a freelancer. I don’t have an employer.”

She chuckled, pulling her hands into her lap. Her eyes crinkled with the first genuine smile I think I had ever seen on her face. “We both know
that
is a crock of shit, for lack of a more sophisticated term.”

I laughed out loud despite myself. “What is it you’re asking of me, exactly?”

The smile fell away from her lips. “I understand that Jenna told you tonight that I have been working with both Cade and Krystal for the past several months. When the opportunity to get Jenna involved presented itself, it was too good to pass up. I hope you understand it was nothing personal. For you, that is.” She took in a long breath. “It was intended
quite
personally for your employer.”

“I see.” I met her gaze across the desk for a long moment. “And you’re afraid that whatever we discuss is going to be relayed to him.”

“Precisely.” She smiled again, though it was more of the phony smile I had come to expect from the Davis women in these kinds of situations. “And that is why I’m going to give you the opportunity to prove yourself to me, Brandon. And if you should choose to do so, I can give you everything you want.”