I was speechless. Emilio and I had a few heart to hearts over the past months, but this one, I was not expecting him to say any of that. I had wondered about the lily and if it represented me, but I never in a million years would have guessed what the storm and raindrops represented.
This was the Emilio I had known all those years ago. The one I had been waiting to see for more than four years now. I didn’t know what to say to him. I just stared back at him. I could tell by the look on his face he was waiting for me to speak. I just couldn’t get my thoughts to align enough to talk.
“Emilio,” I whispered looking into his eyes as tears rolled down my face. “I… you…”
Get it together before he freaks!
“You don’t have to say anything Lily,” he said as he got up and headed out the door.
“Lily.” Violet’s voice was close.
“Are you okay?” Violet asked me as she passed Emilio outside the doorway.
“I’m fine,” I said, wiping my tears away.
“What’s going on?” Lucas asked as he appeared in the doorway.
“Nothing,” I quickly replied. “Nothing is going on. I was just borrowing Emilio’s hair gel,” I stated. “I should finish getting ready,” I said as I stood and made my way into the hall.
Emilio passed by me on the way back into his room.
“Thank you,” I said.
I hoped he knew what I meant by that.
He let me in.
Chapter 24
“What the hell happened?” Violet said as she shoved me into my room and slammed the door. “Did he hurt you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said as I headed straight to my closet.
“Oh hell no,” she said as she stomped behind me. “You’re not getting out of this one Lily.” Her voice became very hushed. “You were crying.”
“It’s nothing Vi,” I said.
“I’m pretty sure it’s something.” She gawked at me as I put my dress on. “What the hell happened in there?”
She wasn’t going to let this go.
I sighed as I bent down to pick up a pair of heels off the ground.
“He let me in, and for the first time, he was honest with me,” I replied, hoping she was satisfied.
Violet didn’t push the subject after I said that. We were crunched for time, but I was pretty sure I’d have to explain myself later.
“Do you have a necklace I can borrow?” Violet asked after a few minutes of silence. “My neck feels bare.”
I was already rummaging in my jewelry box for a bracelet and earrings to match my black dress. Nothing I was coming across really matched Violet’s dress. I was about to give up when I looked into the mirror and saw my locket staring back at me.
Of course, my necklace. Emilio said never take it off, but it’s only one night.
I reached up and unhooked it.
“Here,” I said as I held out my locket for Violet to take. Her eyes instantly lit up.
“Lily, are you sure?” She smiled as she took it from my hands. “Seriously, are you positive about this?”
The questions didn’t seem to stop her from running over to the mirror just in time to clasp it and watch it fall onto her chest.
“You won’t get into trouble will you?” she asked.
“It’s just a silly necklace, Violet. And I’m sure. Plus it matches your outfit tonight and clashes with mine.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said as she ran over and hugged me, squeezing the air out of my lungs.
“How does it look?” she asked as she let me go and stepped backwards.
“It looks marvelous!” I laughed.
“Ladies,” Dante called from downstairs. “We’re leaving in ten minutes with or without you.”
Violet and I looked at each other before we both rushed around to check ourselves in the mirror. We both looked stunning! I was excited to finally be out of the house for a while, even if it was just for a short time. Violet and I both had to be home at a decent time. We had an early meeting.
Usually, we didn’t work on the weekends, but if we somehow landed this deal, it would be beneficial to our business. Violet and I had spent the better part of the last week going over our pitch and preparing for this meeting in the morning.
I walked over to check my briefcase one more time before heading out. I wanted to make sure I had everything in place for tomorrow. I wanted to be organized and ready just in case we didn’t get home at an appropriate time.
“Violet,” I called. “Do you have the Glasgow-Meyers folder?”
“No,” she said as she walked back into my room. “The last time I saw it, it was laying on your desk.”
I could have sworn I had picked it up.
Now I was going to have to go by the office and pick it up before we headed out to the club. I grabbed my purse and headed downstairs.
“Hey, can we stop by the office before we go?” I asked as I came to a stop in front of Dante.
“Seriously Lily,” Dante whined. “We’re going to miss all the drink specials, and since the owner is an ass,” he said looking at Emilio, “and won’t give us a discount, what the hell am I going to drink? Water?” I rolled my eyes at him.
“I’ll take you,” Lucas said as he got up off the couch. “You and I can run by the office and then meet the rest of you at Insanity.”
“I’ll go too,” Emilio said as I reached the door.
“It’s not a big deal.” I turned and smiled at him. “Lucas and I will only be a few minutes.”
***
We had arrived at the office in no time. I insisted that I drive. My car hadn’t been driven in a while, and it was time to take her for a spin.
As usual, Lucas commented on my terrible driving. I was surprised he even noticed, because he hadn’t put his phone down since we hit the highway.
Usually when Lucas and I drove to a place, it was never silent, we always talked about something, but tonight, other than his comment on my driving, he didn’t say a word.
“I’ll be just a minute,” I said parking the car in front of the building. I smiled as I grabbed my office keys and ran toward the building. The emergency light, in the middle of the office, was the only light that was shining when I stepped through the door.
I made my way through the building to my office and turned on the desk lamp. The file wasn’t there. I opened my desk drawers and looked through them, and when I didn’t find it there, I started looking in the big filing cabinet beside my desk. I looked in every file in the first drawer, and when I opened the second drawer, I heard a noise that startled me.
“Lucas?” I called out. I stood there quietly, and when he didn’t call back, I called out again.
“Lucas is that you?” Still no answer.
I started to get an uneasy feeling, so I shut the cabinet drawer and made my way over to my desk. Emilio had installed a panic button under my desk and right now I was starting to feel a little freaked.
“Lucas this isn’t funny!” I turned to hit the button, but missed it.
Something hard hit the back of my shoulders and I fell to the ground. I scrambled to move and get up when someone grabbed the back of my head. I instantly grabbed the sides of my head, terrified the person behind me was going to pull my hair out.
My mind went blank. After all the training I had, I couldn’t remember what to do when I was in a situation like this. I froze in thought trying to contemplate how I was going to respond. Then the person yanked me into a standing position and reared my head back and flung it forward onto my desk. My hands flew up in a quick reflex to block the impact. I felt my head lift up again.
Get control of yourself before they kill you!
I quickly analyzed the situation, trying to get some sort of clue of how to defend myself. I noticed my attacker towering over me. That told me that this was probably a man, so he would be stronger than me.
I pulled up my le
g and slammed my four inch stiletto into his foot. He screamed in pain as I quickly punched him in the stomach and then swiftly between the eyes. He instantly let go of my head and I ran out of my office. I needed to get to Lucas.
I was almost out the door when his hand latched around my ankle and I fell forward and slammed into the concrete floor. I felt his other hand grab my other ankle and I immediately started kicking, hoping to weaken his grip. Then he started dragging me back to my office. I dug my fingernails into the store carpet trying, praying it would somehow stop me from moving.
Then he flipped me over onto my back and I hit the ground so hard it knocked the air out of my lungs. He was standing over me, and I stared at him, analyzing his every feature. I was right. He was tall, well over six feet. He had a mask over his face and his deep green eyes were staring back at me intensely.
I scrambled backwards across the floor, trying to gain control and get to my feet. He stood there and watched me. He even had a sly smile on his face. It was like he was taunting me.
When I hit the center of the room, I found enough balance to turn and roll onto my feet, but he was too quick. He caught me at the round desk in the center of the building and flung me across it. I landed on the ground and rolled a few times before slamming into the wall. I was hurting now. Every inch of my body was throbbing in pain.
When his hands wrapped around my throat, I panicked. He pushed me up against the wall and a knife caught my attention before its ice cold blade ran across my face cutting a line across my left cheek. I winced at the pain and instantly felt the warmth of blood roll down my face.
“Scream,” he whispered in my ear, “and you’re dead.”
The blade tip moved across my throat before he dropped his hand and twirled his other hand in my hair, gripping and yanking it tight. He pulled me to my feet and dragged me, once again, toward the back of the building. I tried to scream, but I knew it was useless. Lucas wouldn’t have heard me. My attacker flung the back door open, and a blindfold immediately flew over my eyes and everything went black. I heard the duct tape being pulled and then it wrapped around my wrists that were pulled together behind my back.
“You’re hurting me,” I hissed.
He picked me up and dumped me into a small space. The loud thud of the trunk closing made me jump and I hit the roof.
I can’t believe this is happening. Why did all the bad things happen to me?
The car’s engine roared to life, and seconds later, the car lurched forward and sent me barreling into the back of the trunk. Then something crushed into me. It was long and by the feel of it, metal. I guessed it was a toolbox.
I heard the sound of sirens in the background, and he must have too, because the car picked up speed. The further we went, the less I heard the sirens. I could tell as soon as we hit the highway that there was less traffic. We were headed out of the city, but which way? I didn’t know.
I tried to keep track of where we were, but being thrown around a tiny space tends to throw any sense of direction off.
I hadn’t panicked the whole time until we hit the highway. The sound of the city behind us and wide open road in front, not knowing where he was taking me, started to get to me. I was kicking myself for going to the office, and even more for realizing I could have just left it at the office until tomorrow morning.
Why did I go back? It wasn’t that important. What confused me was the envelope was missing? Where could it be?
I was thankful Violet wasn’t with me at the time, and where had Lucas been? Had they hurt him? Is that why he hadn’t come to my rescue? I had lost enough this year. I prayed he was okay. Then I wondered how my family would find me? Everyone would at least know I was gone, but how would they rescue me? The answer was… they wouldn’t.
My emotions finally caught up with me and I broke down. The quietness of the road and the likelihood I wasn’t going to come out of this alive was wearing me down.
The car slowed down and it caused me to roll into the back seat. I pressed my ear up to the back of the seats. I could hear them talking on the other side.
“Why in the hell did you cut her?” I heard a man’s muffled voice ask.
“Because she was kicking my ass and I needed the upper hand,” another muffled man’s voice said back.
“He isn’t going to be happy that you laid a hand on her.”
“Well, he will get over it.”
Then complete silence again. Who were these people? I started sobbing uncontrollably as the car lurched forward.
***
The car finally screeched to a stop. My eyes flew open a half second before my shoulder slammed into the corner of the toolbox, sending a searing pain throughout my upper body and down my arm. I moaned and rolled over into the fetal position. My blindfold slid down my face moments before the trunk flew open. Two figures dressed in black from head to toe stared back at me.
“Her blindfold came off,” the man on the left said. “Put it back on and grab her.”
I closed my eyes and the other man bent forward, placed the blindfold back over my eyes, and grabbed me. I thought I would play like I was sleeping, but the man grabbed my hurt arm and yanked it.
“Hey!” I yelled. “You do understand that my arms are attached to me right?”
Both men laughed as the one pulled my arm again. I tried to wiggle from his grip, but with my bound hands, it made it a lot harder.
“I can get out all by myself!” I said trying to shake myself free. They didn’t give me a chance, though. I was pulled out of the car and flung to the ground before I could even have a coherent thought.
Twigs and leaves scratched my arms and dug into my skin. When I felt the cold round circle pressed against my temple, my heart stopped. I never had a gun pressed to my head before.
Don’t move. Don’t let them know you’re scared.
I was scared, though. I tried not to move, because they were waiting for it. I did shiver, though, as the gun moved across my forehead to the other side.
“Get up,” a female voice spoke up. “Let’s go.”
A woman?
Her delicate, yet very strong hands grabbed my arm and I quickly stood. My shoulder was hurting from being in an uncomfortable position and the toolbox hitting it repeatedly.
The woman then came around to my backside and plunged the gun into the small of my back.
“Move!” she yelled.
Move!
I started walking, stumbling along the way. The ground was uneven and made of gravel. I took in a deep breath and noticed I could smell pine, and lots of it.
Were we in the mountains? The mountains are about an hour away from the city. Shit, how far away was I?
“Steps,” a voice from behind me said just as my shin collided with them.
A set of hands caught me from falling face forward. After steadying myself, I walked up the steps and shuffled into an enclosed area. I could tell by the scent that we had moved indoors. It was musty.
“Put her in that chair,” I heard the woman say.
I felt a hand firmly grip my throat and push me backwards toward the chair. I panicked and threw myself around. The hand tightened and I started gasping for air. My breath was getting harder to catch and when my body was flung into a hard chair, I groaned. I was hurting, scared, and already praying that my family could feel at that moment how much I loved them.
A set of hands tied me to the chair, and even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to, I still tried to free my arms. The blindfold slipped enough and I could see a silver light.
“Why is there blood on her hands?” a man’s voice demanded.
“I told you he wouldn’t be happy,” another man’s voice proclaimed.
“She was being defiant,” the other one said. “I had to teach her a lesson,” he said laughing.
I can’t believe he just laughed. He took pleasure out of cutting my face. What an asshole!
“I told you not to touch her!??
? the first man’s voice screamed out.
They began fighting, but I didn’t hear anything they were saying anymore. My heart rate increased and sweat started trickling down my face.
I knew that voice. I had heard it over the phone and in person numerous times over the past year. Why would he be here? I scrunched my face as I tried to get the blindfold off of my eyes. I had to see for myself. I had to know if it was him.
Finally, I felt the blindfold loosen and slide down my face. I was terrified, and I desperately wanted to be wrong. I had my eyes closed, praying when I opened them I wouldn’t see him standing there. I took a deep breath before I spoke.
“Lucas?” I whispered, and then I opened my eyes.
Chapter 25
His arm was held high in mid-air as he clutched the shirt of the man he was straddling.
“Lucas?” I said again, this time with more conviction. I knew it was him. He still didn’t move.
“Lucas!” I yelled again. “I know it’s you! What are you doing? What have you done?”
“Well, we might as well tell her.” The woman laughed, and I turned my head to see her standing there, still covered in black. “She recognized him.”
She put her hand on top of her head. “I'm surprised you didn’t recognize me though,” she said as she pulled her mask off.
“Faith!” I shouted in disbelief. “I don’t understand,” I said looking straight at Lucas.
No one else in the room mattered but him and nothing he could say would make me not hate him right now. I was beyond hurt. He just stood there looking at me with wide eyes.
“Who are you?” I yelled at him.
“You know who we are,” Faith spoke up and tapped her head. “Use that pretty little brain of yours.”
I sat there for a minute. I thought about everything that had been going on. I knew the Heinrich family was after me, but what would Faith and Lucas have to do with them? They never gave any indication that they even knew each other.
“Can’t figure it out, can you pretty?” She walked over and moved closely to me. Her face was inches away from mine as she ripped the partially fallen blindfold from my face. I held my ground and never looked away from her.