“I don’t understand, Son. He told me he was following you, in your Audi. You have an Audi right?”
“I did have up until about an hour ago!” I roared, unable to control the anger that was surging through me. “Don’t you get it? Are you two as fucking stupid as each other? Emily’s driving the fucking Audi! So, by getting Emily out of the way, you’ve probably just handed her to him!”
Fuck.
Fuck!
What could I do? I had to find her.
“What would he want with Emily, darling?” my mother asked in a disturbingly calm voice. How could she not see what I was seeing? Okay, my mother had difficulties in thinking straight, but Natalie? Natalie had no fucking excuse.
A loud, almost growling sound erupted from deep in my chest as I slammed my palm against the steering wheel. “You just said it yourself, Mum!” I screeched. “You said he was following me and Isabella. He thinks Emily is Isabella!”
Never in my life had I felt so helpless. And never in my life had I been as goddamn terrified as I was right now as it suddenly dawned on me that this could be it. This could be the moment when my heart would be ripped from my chest, the moment I had had nightmares about since the day I met Emily. She was going to be taken from me, and I had no idea how to stop it. I had had a strange feeling in the very pit of my stomach from the minute I had woken up this morning, this was it. I knew it.
I called Emily again but it rang and rang before going to voicemail.
Fuck!
I tried Natalie’s mobile and my heart skipped when I heard her voice. “Hello.”
“Natalie, where are you? Where’s Emily? Have you spoken to her?” I restarted the engine so I was ready to head straight to her, as soon as I knew where the hell she was.
“Julian, calm down. I just spoke to her five minutes ago, she’s on her way home, I’m here waiting for her. I thought you’d be pleased.”
“Pleased? You have no fucking idea what you’ve done. You should have called me.”
“I’m sorry I went behind your back, but I knew you’d confront him if you knew; I just needed to distract you until I figured out how to get you back safely. Is Ryan with you yet?”
“No! You need to call Emily now, she won’t answer to me! Tell her under no circumstances to stop that car until I’ve got to her. Where is she now?”
“Well, she had to take a little detour but she should be close to home by now, why? Oh God, is he still following you? Ryan will be with you any minute. Just promise me you won’t get out of that car, Julian.”
“Natalie! Listen to me!” I shouted, interrupting her mid-flow. “He’s not following me, he’s following Emily. At least I think he is. Call her now and tell her not to stop that car. I’m coming now, I’ll find her.”
“Julian, you’re not making any sense. Why would he be following Emily?”
“Because he thinks she’s
you
! Fucking call her!” I heard Natalie’s sharp gasp before the sound of the phone connection dying.
I spun out of the car park and raced back to where Emily must be. I was only about twenty miles from home, so she couldn’t be far. My hands trembled slightly as I reached 150mph down the last stretch of parkway before I entered the hell that was London’s centre. Natalie called back and informed me that she had spoken to Emily and she was heading back up towards me, although she couldn’t exactly remember where that was. Oh yes, useless with directions, shit. I dialled Emily and sat my phone in its cradle on the dashboard, praying out loud that she would now realise the urgency and answer her damn phone.
“Julian.” Ah, her voice was like heaven as it sounded through the car speakers and I instantly felt like I could breathe again.
“Emily, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I just spoke with Natalie, I don’t get all this, what’s going on, Julian? I’m sure no one is following me.”
“Just don’t stop the car. Where are you?”
“Um ... I’ve pretty much been circling the same area for the last five minutes, Julian, no one is following me.”
“What area, Emily?” I braked too sharply as I came to the roundabout that would lead me into the centre and I heard the tyres screech in response.
“Um, Kensington, near the park.”
“Okay, stay there, keep circling.”
At least if he was following her, she was in a busy area where he couldn’t do any harm without hundreds of witnesses, and I knew even
he
wasn’t stupid enough to risk that. I stayed on the phone to her, rarely speaking, but just so I knew she was safe as I made my way towards her. I had no idea what I was going to do when I actually got to her, I couldn’t lead my father to any of our houses. We’d have to stop somewhere very public, I concluded, which went against the majority of my instincts. I wanted to lead him to some place remote, somewhere where no one could witness what I wanted to do to him. But Emily’s safety had to come first, so that would have to wait for another day.
“I can see you. Wait until I’m behind you then pull up at the side of that building on your right,” I told Emily as I spotted the Audi in the opposite lane.
“You can’t park there.”
“Emily, do you really think I’m in the least bit concerned about a parking fine right now? Park there, I’ll be behind you.”
There was no sign of a following car as I opened Emily’s door and took her hand as she exited the car. I pulled her closely into me and kissed her with everything I had. I wasn’t usually a fan of public displays of affection, but I was so relieved to have her safely in my arms that I didn’t care who could see me. And then the thought crossed my mind that my father could be watching us and I kissed her even harder.
“You okay?” Emily panted as she pushed at my chest to distance herself, her cheeks glowing crimson.
“You have no idea how good it feels to have you in my arms right now. Plus, if my father was watching you, he will now know that you certainly aren’t my sister.” I smiled and kissed her once more before taking her hand and leading her into the busy coffee shop. Today, I would give the biggest public display of affection possible. If he was watching, which I was assuming he was, I would make sure there was no way he could think this woman was in any way related to me.
As we waited in the long queue to the coffee counter, I grasped Emily’s waist, causing her to squeal out loud, and pulled her into another heated kiss, hungry mouths, exploring tongues, fingers in hair, the whole lot. I must admit, putting on a show like this was really a lot of fun. Well, it would have been if I didn’t have to constantly try to hide my growing arousal against the seam of my fly. Thank God I wasn’t wearing suit trousers. I suppose I looked more like I was extremely well endowed rather than some sort of pervert who found himself sexually aroused in the middle of a busy coffee shop.
“What are you going to do about your mum? Will you need to move her again?” Emily spooned the top of her latte before popping it into her mouth, her full lips sliding over the metal as she extracted it. I tore my gaze away as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I was aroused enough just by looking at her before me, let alone watching her slowly sliding things in and out of her mouth. I was pretty sure that would be too much to handle for any man, let alone for myself, who seemed to find every single movement of hers arousing.
“There’s no point. She only went back there yesterday; if he knows she’s there already, it won’t take him long to find her again. They have tight security plus a couple of my guys so she’ll be safe there.”
“I don’t get it. You say he wants revenge, but why? What is he actually planning to do when he finds Natalie? He’d be straight back inside, it doesn’t make any sense.”
“I have no idea. But he’s not interested in anyone except her, what else could it be?”
Emily seemed to lose herself in private thoughts as she stirred at her coffee with her spoon, the metal clinking against the glass lazily. I had to look twice when Ryan walked through the door and marched towards our table. He had had a drastic haircut. Where his usual waves framed his face and covered a little too much of his ears, was now nothing but skin and stubble. The sides of his head were short, very short, with the top honestly not much longer. It was a typical buzz cut. I couldn’t resist a quick salute as he pulled out a chair from the next table and spun it around to join ours.
“God, I’ve been chasing you around like a blue arse fly all day and here you are, enjoying a coffee.” He looked more than a little irritated.
“Well, I’m glad you found me. You can take care of the Audi for me; I’m not letting Emily out of my sight.”
Emily’s ringtone blared from her bag and I stopped my conversation with Ryan to listen to hers.
“Adrian, hi. Everything okay?” she asked with a natural smile on her face. I still hated the fact that Adrian was able to make Emily smile as easily as I seemed to be able to, but now I could notice the obvious difference in her smile when talking to him. There was no desire in her eyes, no intensity, unlike when she looked at me. I watched her smile slide off her face as a look of pure terror took over and my chest tightened.
“Emily? What is it?” I asked, standing from my chair to tower over her protectively. She held her hand up dismissively and continued to listen.
“No, Adrian, I didn’t. He didn’t.... Then who the fuck did?” Emily screamed as her eyes pooled. Every pair of eyes in the coffee shop settled on Emily as she screamed down the phone. “They must have made a mistake... Well, check again! I’ll be there in a minute!” She slammed her phone against the table. Her hands trembled violently as she swirled it round and round on the wooden table top, seemingly lost for what to say, what to do.
“Emily? What the fuck is going on?” I asked through my tightly clenched jaw. I was confident I had gotten enough from the one-sided conversation to already know the answer to my question. But I was praying so hard right now that I was wrong.
“That was Adrian. Someone has picked Maia up from nursery.” My stomach twisted painfully as I fought against the bile rising in my throat, swallowing hard. Ryan’s eyes were wide and almost disbelieving as he stared at Emily, seemingly in shock. “I need to go, there must be a mistake,” Emily said as she stood and made for the door.
“Ryan, go straight to Mickey’s and wait there until I call you. I’ll inform security at my building, no one will get in there, but warn Natalie not to leave,” I discreetly told Ryan as Emily buckled herself into the passenger seat of the Bentley.
I couldn’t even look at Emily. It was too painful. As much as I hoped that there had been a mistake, I knew there hadn’t. I knew in my heart that something was wrong. Very wrong. That feeling in the pit of my stomach hadn’t been there to warn me about Emily; it had been there for Maia. How could I not have figured it out sooner? The twist of my stomach when Emily had said that Maia was at nursery had already as good as told me that Maia was in danger. Why hadn’t I realised that? How could I have simply dismissed that? I had a fucking good idea who this was down to, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to get away with it. My phone burst to life and my heart sank, my suspicions confirmed, when a number I didn’t recognise flashed across the screen. I clicked it onto loud speaker after warning Emily not to say a word. I already knew who it was.
“What have you done?” I asked before he had the chance to speak.
“Hello, Son,” my father’s rough voice echoed from the speakers. Emily’s face dropped as she appeared to suddenly notice the connection between today’s events. Her breath appeared to stick in her throat as tears spilled over her lashes. I put a hand on her thigh and squeezed gently, hoping she would recognise the gesture as a reassurance.
“Isabella sure is a tough cookie to find, you, on the other hand, aren’t so tricky. I have someone who wants to say hello.” I held my breath as my chest tightened painfully. Surely he wouldn’t go this far? Emily was nothing to do with this mess, neither was an innocent child.
“Mummy?”
Emily’s sob came out as a loud scream as Maia’s soft voice sounded throughout the car. I placed my hand gently over her mouth to quieten her before swiftly yanking her body against my side and pressing a firm kiss to her temple. It was then I realised just how much I was shaking. Every single muscle in my body shuddered with unbelievable force and I struggled to keep the car heading in a straight line. I released Emily briefly to pop my hazard lights on and stopped the car, not even bothering to pull over to the side of the heaving road.
“You get me to Isabella, I’ll hand her back over, no harm done. I think we have a deal, don’t you?”
The thought of my father being anywhere near Maia made me feel physically sick. Dry heaves wracked at my stomach as Emily sobbed uncontrollably at my side, her hand covering her mouth to muffle the sounds. The very sounds that were tearing me apart from the inside out.
“I swear to God, you so much as even touch that child and I’ll fucking torture you slowly before I kill you.” My voice sounded evil, menacing, and I didn’t even recognise it myself. “Tell me where you are.”
“You know it really didn’t have to come to this, Son. I’m waiting for you outside your apartment. You can meet me here and lead me to Isabella. I only want what’s mine,” he explained calmly, sending a chill down the length of my spine. If he could discuss something as terrible as this so calmly, could he hurt Maia just as calmly? She was just a child, she didn’t deserve to be in the middle of this, and she certainly didn’t deserve to be anywhere near such a monster. I had to get to her. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I was going to let him hurt Maia. He’d have to kill me first, and I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
I pulled the car into a steady lane of traffic, ignoring the horns and hand gestures from other drivers as I weaved in and out of the lanes of cars.
“I’m calling the police,” Emily said as she reached for my phone. My hand shot out, stopping her approach, before I had even registered the thought.
“No police. Let me deal with this.”
“I hope to God you’re fucking joking! No police? That’s my fucking daughter!” she screeched before breaking down into heavy sobs again.