Dangerous Thirst (Possessing Her Book 1), page 17
In addition to that, I’d used cell phones to track criminals in court several times and didn’t want an electronic device alerting police to our location. Opening her purse, I was elated to find her wallet. She had a few credit cards, a driver’s license, and twenty-six dollars. I would have to get her more money so that she could maintain for a few weeks.
Panic began to set in as I realized what I would have to do. Meeting with the blackmailers was no problem for me. I’d face them how I always faced criminals—with my arrogant smile as if I had more on them than they had on me. But first I needed to find out what exactly they had. It was rare to feel like I wasn’t the smartest person in the room, so I planned to use that against them to trick them into sharing without gaining an ounce of information from me.
Carrying the purse, I walked back into the bedroom. Olivia was watching me closely, the book she was supposed to be reading set beside her on the bed. The worry was clear on her face, and it hurt to know I could do nothing to calm her. What she was about to face would quite possibly be the scariest time of her life, but it was for her own good.
“What’s going on?” she whispered, eyeing her purse.
“Listen, I have a plan, but it’s going to take a lot of work on both of our parts. We don’t have a lot of time, so we need to make some things happen quickly.”
Staring into her eyes, I searched for any inclination that this was a bad idea but found none. She was ready, and I knew we could pull this off if we just stuck to my plan. Olivia was a good listener and knew how to take direction.
In a way, our time together had prepared us for this very moment, because she had to learn to behave and follow my instructions quickly. Now, we would see just how much she had learned. It was going to be close, and I needed to know she could handle it.
Nodding, she moved close to me, her right hand lying softly on my left. She wanted to know the plan, and I wanted to share. We were on the same team for the first time, and I felt exhilarated. She was mine, and I was going to save her regardless of what it meant for me.
For the first time in my life, I cared for someone else more than I did myself, but Olivia couldn’t know that yet. After I gave her the plan, I could assess how well she would fare on her own.
“If you want to survive, you have to pay close attention. Do you understand?” I asked.
“Yes.”
It was a simple response, but her lack of hesitation let me know she was with me 100 percent. I was ready to lead her to freedom.
30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
Olivia
Friday
My heart was pumping in my throat, and my anxiety was through the roof. My captor had said that he wanted to get me to freedom, but what did that mean? Everything was moving so fast, and I felt such a strong connection to him although I knew it was wrong. He was a criminal, but I was hanging onto his every word as if he were my savior.
“Today, I’m supposed to meet with a group of criminals and hand you off,” he began, and fear bubbled in my chest.
It was still crazy to think that anyone would want to bring harm to me or hire a kidnapper to take me from my home. What had I ever done to deserve such a thing? I never hung with criminals and didn’t have an enemy to speak of, but here I was trying to evade capture again.
“For a ransom?” The words fell from my tongue. I needed to know if he was in this for money or something else.
“No,” he answered flatly, but it wasn’t as cold as his usual voice. Something had changed, and he was different from the man who’d bathed me just a short few hours ago. He cared, but I wasn’t sure why.
“What are we going to do?” I asked, my hand trembling. He lifted my hand with his and looked deeply into my eyes.
“I have a plan, but you’ll have to pay close attention and do as I say. Can you do that?” I nodded, unsure of what that would mean.
He had proven to be a dangerous and dominant man, and I feared he would want the same from me. I couldn’t hurt anyone; it just wasn’t in my nature. How did he expect me to get away from a group of criminals without becoming a hardened person like him?
“Will I have to hurt anyone?” I questioned, afraid to hear his response.
He closed his eyes and lowered his head, which made me nervous. When he looked up, there was a strange emotion I couldn’t read swirling in his eyes. Something was bothering him, but I couldn’t be sure what it was. When he finally spoke, he appeared tired and exhausted, more mentally than physically.
“You don’t deserve this, Olivia. You’re a good person who wants to help others, and I don’t want to see you hurt or turned into something you’re not. The world needs more people like you, and I don’t want to change you any more than I already have. You won’t have to hurt anyone, and no one will hurt you, if I can help it.”
I nodded, more enthusiastically this time, and scooted to the edge of the bed. He handed me my purse and told me to get dressed. Rushing to the closet, I found another dress and glanced over my things. It felt like a lifetime had passed since I’d seen a snippet of my old life.
Inside of the purse, I saw a few of the leftover tickets from my fun day with the children at a recent carnival. We had spent the day in the sun and planned out the rules for my foster home. They were all so excited, and I wondered how they’d handled my disappearance every second I had been away.
I knew I had to do what he said, and I had to find my way back to my children. When he appeared from the bathroom holding a duffle bag, I smiled, silently letting him know I was ready.
“Let’s do this,” he announced before leading the way down the stairs. I followed him to the garage and sat in the front seat as I had a few days earlier.
He drove to a bank, which surprised me, but I bit back the questions clouding my mind. He told me to follow his plan, and I was going to do just that. He walked into the bank carrying what looked to be an empty duffle bag, and I could see the apprehension on the security guard’s face. I looked down, trying not to cause a scene or add to his suspicion.
When we finally made it to the front of the line, my captor grabbed my hand before leading me to the teller. “She would like to open a bank account in her name,” he said with his hand around my wrist.
The teller smiled at me. “No problem. I will need two forms of identification.”
I was stunned. What was he doing? I wished I knew what his plan was so that it could make more sense to me, but from the look on his face, I knew it was the wrong time for questions. I dug through my purse, retrieving my wallet before handing the teller my driver’s license and my student ID.
I could feel his eyes on me as I watched the teller type on her keyboard before sliding the IDs back toward me and reaching for her printer. I had to sign a few documents, and then she handed me a debit card in addition to a pamphlet with information about my new account.
“Would you like to make a deposit into the account so that you can begin using it? The minimum deposit is twenty-five dollars,” she explained.
I was searching through my wallet, trying to remember if I had any cash left when I heard my captor speak. “I’d like to transfer twenty-five thousand from this account.” He slid a card across the table.
I looked up at him in shock, and the teller sounded just as confused. “Twenty-five thousand? You only have to deposit twenty-five dollars.”
“I know. Twenty-five thousand, please,” he answered without turning to face me. I was sure I was blushing beyond belief.
I’d assumed he had money, but nothing like that. What kind of person could transfer such a large amount of money without blinking an eye? The teller began typing on her computer again before handing me a receipt that printed my new balance in bold black ink. I looked over the number in disbelief.
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” she asked.
“Yes. I want to empty my account, in cash, please,” my captor requested, again sliding his card across the table. I couldn’t make out his name, but I did see that it started with an H.
“No problem.” She nodded, typing away on the computer before continuing, “I’m sorry, sir. For an amount this high, we’ll have to bring your withdrawal to a private room. Please go to the back of the bank and enter room forty-eight.” She pointed down a hallway, and I followed my captor toward the rear of the bank.
The room was small and decorated with high-end furniture, a part of a bank I’d never seen before, but he appeared to be used to this kind of treatment. He paced the room nervously as I watched him with admiration. While I didn’t know exactly what he was doing, there was no doubt in my mind that he was doing it for me.
Before long, there were two knocks on the door, and a man in a security guard uniform entered the room carrying a steel box. He placed the box on the table and left as silently as he’d entered. My captor opened the box to reveal more money than I’d ever seen in my life.
Banded in five-thousand-dollar bundles, there had to be at least one hundred stacks of money. He worked quickly to stuff them in his duffle bag before placing one bundle in my purse without even looking at me.
“Let’s go.” He nodded before lifting the bag to his shoulder. I could tell it was heavy, but knowing how strong he was, I could only imagine its weight.
After the bank, he took me to a diner. We had just sat down when an older waitress appeared at our table wearing a red apron and holding a small notebook.
“Are you ready to order?” she asked.
“Yes. What do you want, Olivia? You need to eat. It’s going to be a long day.” It was like he was speaking in code because the waitress had no idea what we had planned or that I now had more money than I’d ever had in my life.
“I’ll have a cheeseburger and fries, with a strawberry milkshake,” I ordered proudly, happy to have my pick of food for the first time in days.
The waitress smiled before turning her attention to my captor. He ordered chicken tenders and fries, and she scurried off to place our orders.
“I guess you’re happy not to have to eat my food anymore.” He smiled from across the table. It was strange, as if we were on a date despite all we had already been through together.
“You make a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” I teased, and for the first time, I heard his laugh.
The diner was packed with people, but it felt like just the two of us. Without words, we said so much, looking into each other’s eyes, knowing what we were about to do. I didn’t know the plan, but I was certain I would follow him to the end of the world, without questioning his decisions.
I’d never been the one to blindly follow, but now that was all I wanted to do. I needed him to know I was committed to helping him and eternally grateful that he had decided not to turn me over to a pack of strangers who wanted to do me harm.
We had just finished our meal when the waitress returned with a bill. My captor paid it before rising from the table. I followed, walking back to his car, then climbed in the front seat. He sat in the driver’s seat and clenched his jaw tightly, deep in thought, before turning to face me.
“If I can’t trust you, this won’t work. I need to know that I can trust you, Olivia. Can I?” His eyes looked tortured, and I felt the strain. There was so much happening so fast it was becoming impossible to process anything.
“Yes. You can trust me,” I assured him, reaching across the center console to place my hand on his.
“You can’t talk to anyone or tell anyone what has happened. This is for you.” He reached into a bag from the convenience store he’d stopped in before lunch. Handing me a cell phone, he pulled another from the bag, placing it in his lap. “My number is stored in yours. Only use this phone, do you understand?”
“Yes. You have my number?” I wondered aloud.
“Of course. Are you ready?” he asked, turning over the ignition.
“Where are we going now?”
“The airport.” He took off with his answer, speeding through the city as I watched the familiar buildings pass, as everything grew foreign the farther we drove. I’d never traveled outside of Chicago, and I had no idea where I would be going or why. I wasn’t in charge anymore and hadn’t been for a while. This was his show; I was just a spectator.
31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
Hunter
Friday
Ever since I decided to free Olivia, I felt conflicted. It was a dangerous and impulsive decision, and I tried to make such large changes based on facts, not emotions. My feelings were wrapped up in my freeing her, and I feared that would be my downfall.
As I turned onto the highway, I glanced in her direction. She was gripping the purse in her lap as she stared out the window. She was the type of person to never venture past the city limits, and I tried to convince myself that it would be a good thing to give her the opportunity to see a place she wouldn’t otherwise.
“Where are we going?” she asked, turning to face me as I sped up the on-ramp.
“You’re going to California.” I didn’t look at her, but I could feel the shock on her face.
I’d booked the ticket while we were at lunch, buying an accompanying ticket for myself so that I could escort her to the plane. The plan required more trust than I was comfortable with because she would have the opportunity to turn on me at any time. I only hoped that my intuition was right. I felt in my heart that she was a good person and had made a promise to keep our history between us. I just hoped I was right.
The blackmailers weren’t the only ones who could send my life spiraling out of control; now Olivia had that same power. One scream or false move in the airport and I would be surrounded by police and dragged off to prison. She had too much power, as she had this entire ordeal. As I drove, I wondered if she was still oblivious to how much she could change things.
“And what about you?” She must have picked up on my exclusion in the plan, something I hoped would go over her head undetected.
I tried to explain the thoughts that had been plaguing me all morning. “I have to meet up with the people who contracted me, and my fear is that when they realize I don’t have you, they’ll send someone else to pick you up.”
“But I can’t leave yet. My kids will be moving in in a few days,” she reasoned, turning to face me.
Glancing away from traffic, I looked at her innocence, less present than it was when I first took her, but still evident in the way her lips trembled with sadness. She was still worrying about others, and that gave me the strength to do the same. If she could face danger so selflessly, then I could too.
“Olivia, you have to get out of town for now. You can come back once everything cools down, but for now, I need to know you’re safe.”
It was the truth. She was important to me, despite how we were introduced to each other or after all I’d done to her. She was all I could think about, and the idea of anyone hurting her made my hands ball into fists with rage.
I would face the blackmailers without her and stall as long as possible to ensure her safety, but I hadn’t yet planned out what I would say or how I would do it. If they had the evidence against me, I’d have to find a way to destroy it, otherwise it would destroy me.
All I knew was, by the time they knew Olivia was missing, she would be far away and safe. What they did to me, or my career, wasn’t as important. But how could I protect her if I was in prison? They had hand selected her; this wasn’t a random kidnapping. So I anticipated that they would not give up easily or accept anyone else.
“Are you sure you don’t have any enemies?” I asked again, trying to make more sense of the situation.
“I’m positive. It must be some kind of mistake. Maybe if I go and talk to the people, they will understand, and we can both move on from this.” She was pleading with her eyes, but I found it all to be amusing.
There was no mistake, and she had no idea the level of danger she was in. A group of criminals wanted her for something, so much that they were willing to ruin my life to get to her, and I was selfish enough to help them.
Signs for the airport warned her that we were getting close. I could sense her discomfort in the way that she fidgeted in her seat. She was nervous, and she had reason to be, but I didn’t know how to calm her, so I said nothing.
The silence was unbearable, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. She wanted answers I couldn’t give her, and I wanted a resolution I couldn’t think up. We were both confused and yet a part of the same plot.
In the past week, my life had changed more than I thought possible. I was unsure if I could ever reclaim the life I knew before. A week ago, all I cared about was making partner and swindling my opponents out of their money to close the biggest cases in the courtroom.
