65

Rachel sat in the room aware that outside the door was the guard Jacob had stationed there to keep watch. Keep watch from who?

Aside from Mabel and Larry there was no one Rachel could confidently say was looking for her. Oh well, maybe the press would notice she was missing since they hadn’t seen her long enough to stalk her for pictures but she highly doubted that. The way the media worked, if you went under the radar they either (1) Come dig you up from under the radar or (2) Move on to the next hot subject. The way she saw it, in her case they definitely did number 2.

She chewed on her fingers thinking that maybe it wasn’t so bad if no one besides her sister and Larry knew she was missing. With all that was going on the last thing she needed was a fanfare. If Jacob knew there was a raucous out there and people were searching for her there was no telling what he would do. Would he go as far as kill her?

She was slowly beginning to understand the man she once thought she knew. Her journalist instincts were still at work piecing pieces of information together to get a clearer vision of Jacob’s life.

If she got out of here alive the first story she would do would be on Jacob Henderson…Argh! Why was she always thinking about what stories to tell?

It's almost as if I never learn my lesson, she thought to herself. First Nate. She had wanted him to be her first story since her public disgrace but look where that ended. Now Jacob. With her luck, she would probably never have any stories to tell because God only knew what plans Jacob had for her.

She chewed on her nail as she thought, her hand absentmindedly crawling over her belly. When she realized she was stroking her belly she looked away from the splashing waters to her still small belly. In time she would start to show. It hurt that the father of her baby was an asshole and it hurt that she was the one who gave him that power over her. But one thing she knew was, her baby will never know hardship. If she had to sell herself to take care of it she would. She would be both father and mother to it and Nate would never have to know about his child.

The tears began to pool in her eyes again and she groaned. In the past few weeks since learning about her pregnancy, she got really emotional and it was getting on her nerves. She suspected it was because of the pregnancy but she also suspected it was nostalgia. As if the nights of dreaming of being pressed up against Nate’s strong hard body weren’t enough, even her days were filled with thoughts of him.

Funny how she never felt this way for Jacob. She understood why now. He always held back because just like Nate he used her too. But unlike him, Nate never held back. He wanted her, he had her. It was stupid and hurtful to think this way but she discovered she couldn’t think about it any other way. Both men were idiots, assholes out to get her but she preferred one asshole over the other.

Nate, she knew. She knew his passion, knew the dark battles he suppressed, but the man never spoke about them because God forbid a man of his position and authority have any weaknesses. But Jacob, every day she realized she barely knew him at all and she spent 4 years of her life married to him.

Even with these thoughts and with her treacherous body missing him, she knew she couldn’t let Nate back into her life after everything he did. She couldn’t invite his darkness back into her already crumbling life.

Putting aside everything she felt she knew about him she saw the clearer picture and the point remained that he breached the conditions of their contract. Recording their sex, invading her private life with the cameras she didn’t know he had, their calls, texts, the letters of permission, everything! His excuse had seemed valid “I was trying to avoid another Vera situation!”

Right.

Yet he spoke of trust like he knew the first thing about the word. The point remained that whatever he did he did it because he felt strongly about her role in his divorce mess. She was remorseful about that, every day since Jacob locked her up here she thought about it and realized she wasn’t exactly fair in her biased opinion during the divorce. Yet, his punishment was far more extreme. Rachel realized with satisfaction that her eyes were dry now, no more tears threatening to fall. She smiled to herself.

This was now becoming routine. Every day she thought about Nate she would feel tearing-eyed and reminisce about what they had then she would think about what he did to her and her anger would make her more rational-minded, clearing the tears in her eyes.

She sniffed.

Suddenly she held the sound of an electric motor whirring. That was strange. In all the days she has been on the island, there was never a time she heard anything besides the wave of the ocean - maybe the occasional boat once in a while, but this was different.

Curious, she peeked out. At first, she couldn’t see anything. Then the motor whirr got nearer and from her position by the window she saw a white speed boat, it looked as big as a yacht, riding the waves. It moved to the left where she suspected there was port to dock. Rachel stood up and craned her neck to look outside and sure enough there was a dock there. Surprisingly standing Jacob was there waving at whoever was on the boat.

When it stopped, a door below the deck opened, she heard the creaking sound, and a tall figure – two tall figures – came walking out dressed in suits.

Rachel stood there rooted to the ground in shock. The Allen Brothers. What are they doing here?

She thought about screaming out to get their attention but her spider senses always at work warned her otherwise. Why were they here and why were they being too friendly with Jacob?

They began to talk. She couldn’t hear them over the running electric motor but once the driver turned it off, the waves carried their voices to her window.

“It is a pain in the ass doing business like this,” one of the brothers said. They were twins, joined at the hip but Rachel knew how to tell Dick and Harry apart – no really that was their names. Dick and Harry Allen.

Jacob laughed and clapped Dick on the shoulder. “Look on the bright side, you are traveling on the Atlantic, it’s an easy ride home and it is safe.”

Harry who was the more somber of the twins snorted. “It’s only safe because of the powers that be backing us. Now where is the merchandise? We don’t want to keep our clients waiting.”

Sne saw Jacob gesture to someone beside him and a few minutes later a line of half a dozen girls were climbing into the boat with the Allen Brothers’ eyes accessing them. Rachel slapped a hand over her mouth when she realized what was happening. The sex trade rumors were true. The girls were just between ages 16 to 19 from what she could see.

Ben had died because he knew this and he wanted to expose the Allen Brothers for their involvement in the trade.

He was right!

As the thought coursed through her, another feeling went through her spine. They killed Ben in cold blood. When Jacob was done with her would he kill her too? He would. No doubt. She was trembling when she left the window trying to process the exchange she just witnessed.

Even though she was shaking uncontrollably, trying to swallow down the bile in her throat, she was thinking about what an interesting story this would make in the headlines. How many ‘powers that be’ would be exposed if the truth of this illegal trade got out?

She was still thinking about this when the door to her room was thrown open and Jacob came in rubbing his hands together with glee.

“A couple of millions made in a few seconds. Get ready darling, you are leaving this place. We have a party to attend.”