Chapter 11

Parker

From where I sit, just outside the hospital, I watch Carlos’ town car leave exactly when Amaya said it would.

I jam my untraceable new cell phone against my ear and dial Luke. “Is everything set your end?”

“Yeah. But I don’t like being kept out of the loop.”

I keep my eyes locked on the exit and roll forward slightly to make sure no one is following before I reply. “The less you know the better.”

Luke scoffs down the line. “I’m already in knee-deep. Just get this sonofabitch and make him pay for what he did.”

“I’ll let you know when I have confirmation of his location.”

I can hear the emotion in his voice. “I’m still hoping.”

That he still thinks there’s a chance, makes me wince. “You need to prepare for the worst.”

He doesn’t say anything, but I know he will be. “Watch yourself. I don’t want to have two funerals to attend.”

I don’t need the reminder, so I mumble a response and sign off.

With my eyes locked on the exit to the hospital, I check the time and steel myself for the other phone call I need to make.

Since it’s an unlisted number, I’m not surprised when Carlos picks up on the second ring.

“Who is this?”

I infuse as much malice into my voice as possible. “It’s Parker Novak. I think we need to discuss a mutual friend.”

He exhales slowly. “How is it you’re calling me Mr. Novak? Amaya assured me you were at the lookout as per my instructions.”

“I’m five minutes away. I left so we could have a conversation about something you lost.”

I can hear him breathing on the line. “And what is it you think I’ve lost?”

With my eyes locked on the exit, I smile. “Something you’ve been hiding for two months.”

Carlos exhales heavily. “I don’t have time to play games with you, Parker. This line is secure. If you have something say, spit it out, otherwise get back to the lookout.”

I bristle but keep my voice steady. “Fine. No games. I want ten million transferred to the account I’m about to send you.”

He laughs. “And why would I do that?”

I keep my eyes on the ambulance as it pulls into the hospital. “I have Laurie, and I know why you need to marry her.”

I end the call and pull out into traffic. I have one chance to get this right.

It might cost me my life.

But it’ll be worth it knowing she’s safe.

***

Laurie

I’m caught in the throes of a nightmare. The same nightmare that wakes me each morning.

It begins just like it always does, I’m nineteen years old, scared, alone and vulnerable.

It’s after service. The restaurant is empty, and the kitchen is closed.

All night I’ve been smiling at grabby upper-class sleazes, handing out overpriced salads to starved looking women drenched in diamonds, all while hiding my exhaustion, and praying my rent check doesn’t bounce.

My landlord is a slug. And I know if I default again, the only payment he’ll accept is me for the night.

I creep out the fire door and prop it open, so it doesn’t swing shut.

When I’m sure no one is outside, I pull out a joint and light it. I inhale deeply, dragging hard until my body is filled with warmth and the world seems a little brighter again.

I slump into the gutter, alternating between dragging and checking the alleyway in case someone catches me.

I hear a smooth voice and jump to my feet. It’s Carlos Rodrigues. The man who’s been flirting with me for months.

I try to hide the joint, but he steps closer, and grabs my hand. But instead of a reprimand, he smiles, and brings the joint to his lips.

“You aren’t twenty-one, are you?” he says.

I swallow hard and wonder how he knows I have a fake ID. “I need this job.”

He shakes his head and looks me up and down as he takes another long drag. “You’re a terrible waitress. Jarod keeps you around because he’s planning on fucking you.”

I scowl, ready to tell him where to go when he pulls out his phone and switches it to speaker.

He winks at me and gives me a warm smile. “Jarod? This is Carlos.”

Panic flares to life as I hear my boss’ voice come through the speaker. “What can I do for you?”

Carlos smiles again. “Remember that favor you owed me?”

I’m sure I hear a measure of unease come through the phone. “Yes.”

His eyes wander over me, and I have to force myself not to react. “I’m calling it in. You have a waitress, a pretty brunette, Laurie. She no longer works for you. She is now in my employment.”

My mouth flaps open as I start to protest, but Carlos just holds a hand up. “Is that agreeable?”

When my boss just agrees placidly, I’m through pandering to this asshole. “You can’t do that.”

Carlos ends the call and starts to laugh as he pulls out his wallet. “I just did.”

I’m so furious I move to hit him, but he just grabs my hand and shoves a wad of cash into it. “For your rent,” he says.

I stare at the cash in my hand and mentally count the bills. When I get to a thousand dollars I desperately need, I shake my head, and glare up at him. “This is more than my rent, and I’m not taking a damn thing from you. I don’t know you.”

I shove the money into his chest, which seems to amuse him even further. “I know you can’t make your rent this month. And I know I’m not the only man interested in you,” he says.

He grabs my arm and yanks me close. There’s something in his eyes that terrifies me, but I’m pulled toward him like he’s a magnet.

I think he’s going to kiss me, or tell me he wants sex for his money, but he just runs a finger down my cheek. “You’re so ignorant you don’t even know who I am. I’m offering you something most people would kill for.”

I try to struggle, but his arm presses into the small of my back, locking me against him. “I know how scared you are. Scared you’ll end up like your junkie mother,” he whispers.

I’m trembling, terrified of this maniac holding me captive. “How did you know—”

He shakes his head, eyes still locked onto mine, like he can see something other people can’t.

“I know everything about you. I know you had a reputation in high school as a slut, and that’s why you never graduated.”

Hot tears are stinging at my eyes. “How could you possibly know that?”

His eyes drift over my body as though he’s assessing me. “Are you still a slut, Laurie?”

Rage starts to build as I struggle in his grip. “I was never a slut. That was a lie!”

He chuckles. “All girls turn into their mothers, and your mother was a whore, wasn’t she?”

I clench my fists at the familiar insult. “I don’t know where you are getting your information from, or why you think you can talk to me like this, but I’m not fucking interested in working for you.”

His lip curls into a smile. “I’ll send my car for you tomorrow morning. You can have a month’s trial.”

The scene switches, just like I knew it would. I’m sitting on the edge of my bed in the tiny bedroom I share with another of Carlos’ waitresses.

She’s pretty. Blonde and curvier than I am. I’ve been working here for four weeks, living on-site in Carlos’ enormous apartment building and aside from seeing him at his private parties, he’s not spoken a word to me since I agreed.

There’s a knock at the door, and I know it’s time to work. I smile at Julie and rise to my feet. “Still can’t believe we’re getting paid for this.”

She grins at me. “I know. He’s paying my tuition and we get to stay here. He’s such a good man. I can’t believe we’re so lucky.”

I smile and open the door and instead of Emile, the head of the kitchen staff, it’s Amaya, the head of security.

As usual, she doesn’t smile as she greets me. “Come with me. Your month is up. Carlos wants to see you.”

I glance at Julie and she frowns. “What about me? Do I need to come too?”

Amaya’s lips twitch but she remains impassive. “No. You stay here.”

My stomach twists as I try for a smile as I step outside into the hallway. Amaya looks so serious, my nerves increase. “Am I in trouble?”

She doesn’t answer me, but there’s something in her posture that makes me uneasy.

I stay quiet, sure this free ride is about to end, and I’ll have to go looking for work and an apartment when she presses the elevator to the penthouse suite.

I swallow, step inside, my fear building as I try to think about what I might have done wrong to mess this up.

By the time the doors open, I’m trembling more from anticipation than fear.

Amaya leads me to the end of the hall and knocks on the door. After a moment, she looks at me and slowly nods. “Welcome to your new life,” she says.

I open my mouth to ask a question, but the door opens, and Carlos appears.

He smiles warmly and invites me to step inside. I’m momentarily overwhelmed by the extravagance of the suite that I forget he’s watching me.

I straighten. “Did I do something wrong?”

He shakes his head and sits on the leather sofa. “Take a seat.”

I do what he says, and perch on the couch. “If I’m going to be fired, tell me now. This is torture,” I say.

He laughs and leans forward, so he can place his hand on my knee. Since he hasn’t touched me since the night we met, I don’t move.

“You aren’t going to be fired. You’re going to be promoted.”

My eyebrows rise. “To what?”

He removes his hand and sits beside me, uncomfortably close. He holds out his hand and in his palm is a strange-looking electronic key card. “Only two people have this key.”

I frown and try to sit a little further away from him. But when he hands me the card, I accept it with a wary smile. “Why are you giving this to me?”

He reaches over to the coffee table and pours two glasses of scotch. “Drink first. Then I’ll tell you.”

I accept the glass and swallow it down, more in the hopes it’ll calm my raging nerves than to please him.

Just when I thought I’d never have to be alone with him, I’m back in that alley wondering how Carlos knows so much about me.

Liquid warmth slides through my veins making my body buzz pleasantly. “What is this?”

He smiles and downs his own drink. “My own special cocktail. A few drugs, some legal, some not.”

His hand slides to my knee, and this time, I’m aware of the way his fingers feel against my skin. I’m aware of his aftershave, how masculine he is, the way he’s looking at me.

His face is starting to blur, and in a moment of clarity I realize he just drugged me.

Worse, my body is moving into his. “Do you like working for me, Laurie?” he says.

My tongue is thick as I speak. “Yes.”

His hand is tugging at the hem of my skirt. “Do you like my apartment?”

I glance around the room and nod. “It’s fucking amazing,” I slur.

He chuckles. “Would you like to live here with me?”

My fingers close over the card he gave me. “Are you serious?”

He pulls me to my feet, and I sway as though the floor is moving. “I can give you everything you want except for one thing.”

“What?”

His lip curls. “Do you like to have sex with men, Laurie?”

I blink. Sure I misheard him. But for the oddest reason I can’t seem to stop myself from answering him. “Yes.”

He releases me. “What do you like about it?”

It’s such a strangely personal question, I stumble over the answer. “The feel of a man inside me. His muscles, his skin against mine.”

Carlos seems to be breathing faster. “What else?”

I shake my head. “Everything. The way we fit perfectly together, the intimacy, the affection, and the connection.”

He smiles but there’s no warmth in the smile. “And you’d miss it if you couldn’t have it?”

I swallow as I try to figure out why he’s asking such personal questions and why I feel compelled to answer him. “Yes.”

His smile grows and his hands slide to my arms. “Perfect,” he says.

But the drug and his touch is making me horny. It’s making me realize I haven’t so much as kissed a man in months.

I move closer to him and try to touch him, but he jerks away from me, and I see no trace of the lust I’m feeling on his handsome face.

Only disgust.

I groan as my eyelids flicker open. But it’s not Carlos sitting beside me, it’s Amaya, his head of security, and she’s not sitting, she’s pushing my bed down the corridor.

She glances down at me, and she shakes her head. “Shut your eyes,” she hisses.

Since I’m not dead the way I thought I’d be, I jam them tight and stay silent as I try to fight past the confusion of why I’m being transferred.

I clench the sheet in my fingers and try to hold on as Amaya comes to an abrupt halt.

I recognize a guard I only know as Cal when he speaks. “Where’s she going? Carlos said she was staying here until the morning?”

Amaya growls a response. “The doc released her early. There’s another ambulance waiting, he wants her back home.”

My pulse speeds and have to bite on the inside of my cheek to stop from reacting.

I hold my breath as I wait for Cal to reply. “Where’s the Doc?”

Amaya’s reply comes out caustic. “You really think I’d trust anyone else to move her?”

“Why didn’t I know about this in advance? You always let us know her movements in advance.”

“I can’t let you know her movements in advance if I don’t fucking know them you moron. Now shift your ass before I tell Carlos you were the reason he was kept waiting.”

“I’ll give him a call—"

I stay still and keep my breathing slow as Amaya rolls the bed away from Cal. “You will not. You will follow and you will take the stairs and make sure the garage is clear,” she snaps.

I’m sure I hear the slightest puff of air but Cal’s not protesting anymore. I can hear his footsteps hurrying away.

At the ding behind me, and the curse that Amaya utters, I start to open my eyes. “Not yet. Camera in here,” she says.

It takes all my self-control to keep my eyes shut when she leans over me and checks my restraints. “Whatever happens. You do not move; you do not open your eyes.”

I can’t exactly argue or ask what’s going on, but when she slides something under the sheet, I know I have an unlikely ally who I’m going to have to trust.

I stay still and keep my breathing shallow as we descend. I don’t move as the stale basement air fills my nostrils.

I can hear heavy breathing as Cal comes to a stop close to us. “Garage is clear,” he pants.

Amaya doesn’t reply, and the only warning I have is the slight movement as she steps away from my bed.

Plink. Plink.

My heart starts to beat faster as I hear a thump. The urge to look is growing so strong, I can’t fight it anymore.

When my eyes focus, I wish I hadn’t opened them. Amaya is putting her gun away, complete with a silencer, and staring at the guard slumped on the ground.

“What did you do?”

She frowns down at me. “Shut them. And relax. He was wearing a vest. I’m going to need him later on,” she mumbles.

Since I’m now on the way out of the hospital, which was what I wanted, I stay silent, and keep my eyes as closed as I can manage.

True to her word, another ambulance is sitting, doors open, and a female EMT waiting.

Amaya doesn’t say a word, just helps to push me inside it. She closes the doors without a word, leaving me enclosed in darkness.

Unsure if I can move, I test out my hands and feet, and find I’m barely able to move my toes.

Before I can think about what is going on, the ambulance starts to move. I concentrate on moving my fingers in case I need to use them and touch the object Amaya hid in my blankets.

My fingers close around on the object, and I know in a heartbeat it’s a cell phone. I slide my fingers over the screen and grip it as tightly as I can.

I have no way of marking the time we’re driving, so I listen to the wheels bump over the road.

I’m starting to drift off, lulled by the motion and the drugs still weighing my body down when we come to an abrupt stop.

At the appearance of the EMT, I try to sit up. She smiles, blue eyes looking me over. “Don’t worry. Carlos has no idea where you are.”

My eyes pop. “Who are you?” I croak.

She shifts closer and pulls the sheet covering me down. My fingers close around the phone, but she takes it from my hand with ease.

She holds it up and shows me the screen. “A friend of Amaya’s. I don’t know who this Parker guy is, but if he can pull this off, we’ll all sleep easier tonight.”

My brows knit together as I try to make sense of what’s she saying. “Where is he?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t know.” She punches in a few numbers, then leans over to place the cell back in my hand. “If you wake up in a weird-ass place, don’t panic. Just keep the phone with you at all times.”

I nod, and find the strength to try to sit up, but she’s already moving past me to the back door.

The doors open and at the broad-shouldered man with a horrendous scar across his cheek, my heart leaps to my throat.

He looks so much like the thugs Carlos’ hires that I start to struggle against my restraints.

He nods his head at the EMT, and then at me. After a strange exchange with the EMT, I still have no name for hops down; I find him staring down at me, with an intense expression that reminds me of Parker.

I’m sure I hear the sound of waves crashing before a door slams and an engine starts. “Who are you?” I whisper

He frowns hard like he’s trying to figure me out then leans over me.

I flinch in preparation, but he’s just tugging at my wrists and unbuckling the bonds. “I’m Luke. Parker will explain everything when he gets to you.”

This is beginning to feel like a nightmare I can never escape from. “Where is he?”

He gives me a curious look. “I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me.”

I’m so exhausted, so groggy I can barely find a response. He seems to notice and gives me a half-hearted smile.

“You’ll be feeling drowsy for a good ten hours. Plenty of time for you to sleep it off.”

I try to growl at him, but my voice comes out a slur. “I’m sick of everyone saying that. I don’t want to sleep. I want someone to tell me what is going on!”

He flinches. “I could tell you, but I don’t know the end of the story yet.”

He shakes his head and runs a hand over his face. “Parker will be with you as soon as he can. In the meantime, you’ll be staying at my brother’s beach house.”

There’s a sadness in his voice that makes me want to ask him for more information.

His smile grows when he sees the cell in my hand. “And don’t worry, Parker won’t let anything happen to you. And neither will I.”

Despite myself, I find myself nodding weakly. I can’t exactly argue, I can’t do anything, so I just let the drugs pull me under, and pray Parker will be at my side sooner rather than later.