Devil She Became (Devil's Angels Book 1) (32 page)

“So no one has seen Mr. Grantham or Ms. Vogel since approximately 12:30 p.m. today?” The young blonde policeman inquired.

They all shook their heads no.

“Do you think they are off somewhere together?”

“No, absolutely not. Reese wasn’t even wearing her gown, and Harrison’s shoes are still in his room. They wouldn’t do this.” Meg cried. She clutched Trisha’s hand tightly.

“And these are their phones? I didn’t see anything unusual other than the text.”

Mike spoke up. “Yes. My father and I discovered this weird text on Harrison’s phone right after he went missing.”

The officer glanced at the message.

“Very strange. I will take this back to the station and see if we can trace this.”

The officer then thoroughly searched both Harrison’s and Reese’s dressing suites and found nothing.

“Okay. Well, let me check with security here and see if we can pull any surveillance footage. Just hang tight. I’m sure they will turn up. They probably had a bit of pre-wedding jitters and are out arguing somewhere.”

“NO!” Meg screamed. “Not them. They get along great. They are both so happy… Reese… looked beautiful…” Meg crumpled to the ground and Trisha and Harlan assisted her up.

“What about that text?” Mike asked.

The officer rubbed his chin. “Don’t know. Could be a prank or something. I will see if we can get to the bottom of it.”

As the policeman left them, Meg sobbed hysterically and Trisha and Harlan attempted to calm her. Ashley sat on a settee trying to compose herself. Mike paced the floor trying to imagine what could have happened.

“Should we make an announcement? Several people are inquiring as to what is going on,” Mike asked his father.

Harlan nodded. “Yes, you and Ashley go make a brief announcement stating that a family emergency has arisen and the wedding will be postponed until further notice. Don’t answer any questions.”

********

A strikingly beautiful, tall woman dressed in a red full-length gown exiting the church caught McCallister’s eye. Her long dark hair streamed behind her as she quickly walked out to a Ferrari Spider.
Beautiful girl, beautiful car
, he thought. He wondered who she was. Suddenly, hundreds of other people began walking out. McCallister grabbed the shoulder of a young man exiting the church.

“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked.

The young man shrugged. “Wedding has been postponed. Family emergency.” McCallister released his arm.
How strange
, he thought.
What could have happened?

“Help! Please help me! Can anyone hear me?” Reese began to lose her voice again from screaming so much. Pulling against her, the ropes on her arms had caused her wrists to begin bleeding profusely. Panicked, she started to feel dizzy from the blood loss. A small furry figure ran across the floor.
Ugh. It’s a rat!
She tried to pull her feet up as much as she could, but she could barely move them.

Suddenly, she heard a key in the lock.
Oh, thank God
, she thought.

It was the same dark figure who had been in to see her before. It walked up to her and put a bottle of water to her cracked, parched lips. Greedily, she sucked down the water.

Looking down at her arms, she whispered, “I’m bleeding. Help me.”

“Stop it, Reese. Quit pulling on the ropes.”

“Please, let me go. I’m scared and it’s my wedding day. I want to go home. I want to marry my fiancé. Please.” Reese began crying again.

The dark figure stopped and looked at her. Reese couldn’t tell if it was male or female, but she had a strong feeling the person was a woman.

“Ava?” she whispered. “Is that you?”

“Ava? I know no one by that name. Please, Reese, do as I say.” As the dark figure crept closer to her, Reese caught the scent of perfume.

A woman.
It had to be Ava.
Oh, my God
, she thought.
She’s going to kill me
. The figure reached out to caress her hair, which was matted and dirty.

“Such pretty hair…” The figure whispered in the same raspy voice.

Reese’s tears kept spilling down her face. Mascara ran in muddy streaks down her cheeks. “Please tell me what you want.”

The figure pulled back and stared down at her.

“I want–”

Pulling the riding crop from behind its’ back, the dark figure struck Reese hard in the face with it, leaving a huge mark. Reese cried out from the terrible pain.

“I’m sorry… I don’t know what I did… I’m so sorry…” Reese screamed.

The dark figure pulled Reese’s hair back and pulled its’ mask up enough to spit into Reese’s face.

“You should know. You disgust me.” The dark figure’s whisper rasped in her ear. It turned and left her there bewildered and crying with blood trickling from the cut on her face.
Harrison,
she thought.
Where are you?

A few hours later, Meg was curled up on the couch in Reese’s dressing suite. Several tranquilizers had left her sitting in a quiet stupor. Ashley, Trisha, and Mike were collapsed on the other couch with drinks in hand. Harlan continued to try and contact his friends in the FBI.

Abruptly, the door swung open. “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” The young policeman came running in waving something in his hand.

Everyone jumped up. “What?” Harlan yelled, grabbing him by the shoulders.

Slipping a flash drive into his laptop, he pulled up what appeared to be the footage from the hotel surveillance cameras. On it, they saw Omar leaving Reese’s suite. Seconds later, two dark figures appeared around the corner and went into Reese’s room. Then the screen went blank. In Harrison’s suite, they saw a lone dark figure slip into his room carrying something. Moments later, another dark figure went into Harrison’s room. Then the screen went blank.

“Oh, my God, Oh, my God,” Meg whispered. “What does this mean? Who the hell were those people? Could they be the same people who sent the text to Harrison?”

“We can’t tell much from that footage other than that they were both taken against their will.”

“Are those men or women?” Mike asked, peering at the still-shot on the screen.

“We don’t know. It’s hard to tell. Our guys downtown are going to analyze these further and see what we can figure out. Meantime, keep your phones on. This could be a ransom kidnapping.”

“Ransom?” Meg went pale.

“Given that Harlan here is worth billions, it’s not so farfetched that someone may be holding them for ransom.”

Harlan nodded, his face grim. “Then it’s my fault.”

Mike held his shoulder. “No, dad, it’s not. We don’t know who took them or why.”

Everyone appeared pale and shaken. Who would want to hurt Reese and Harrison? They were the perfect couple. Was it some jealous ex of either one of theirs? Was it a ransom kidnapping? Or just some random act of violence?

********

Harrison summoned up all his strength and pulled on the leather cuffs. He had been doing this for hours, trying to make some progress on breaking his bonds. So far, all he had accomplished were several deep cuts to his wrists. Blood was running down the table, staining his expensive pants. Who had done this? He didn’t recognize the voice. Was Reese here too? Was she hurt? Raped? Or worse… he couldn’t stand to think of it. He didn’t hear any other sounds other than the squeaking of rats, which kept running dangerously close to his bare feet. He cringed. What did this person want if not money? Was it Ava? One of her cohorts? Ava had been back in Chicago, but why would she want him dead or hurt? It didn’t make sense.

A clicking in the keyhole indicated to Harrison that his captor had returned. Slowly, the dark figure walked over to him.

“What do you want?” he screamed. “Let me go!” The dark figure walked up behind him and slid the riding crop beneath his neck. Harrison felt his neck pulled back and he couldn’t breathe.

From behind his back, the figure slowly peeled back the mask.

His head jerked back as he heard a familiar voice.

“Hello, Harrison.”

THE END

Imprisoned in the damp darkness, Harrison’s hazel eyes fluttered open. Where was he? He struggled to remember. His throat ached with dryness as he painfully tried to swallow. Desperately, he pulled against the ropes binding him to a cold metal table. The acrid stench of his own sweat filled his nostrils. Looking around, he felt a strong, evil presence in the darkness with him. Where was Reese? What had happened? The last thing he remembered was a familiar voice whispering in his ear. Who was it? Suddenly, he felt cold steel pierce his side and pain shot through him like lightening. Jerking his head back, Harrison tried to see who his captor was.

“Who are you? What are you doing to me?”

A familiar, raspy voice whispered in his ear.

“Hold your breath, Harrison. Count to ten.”

Thrashing his head around on the table, Harrison pulled at his bonds in a frenzied attempt to free himself.

“What the fuck? Who are you?”

Vicious, evil laughter filled the dark room.

“Ahhh, Harrison, you know me all too well. In time, you will see the error of your ways.”

Peeling the mask back, the dark figure plunged its face right next to Harrison.

Upon seeing who was behind the mask, Harrison sucked in his breath sharply and began shaking violently.

“No… no… please, I–”

“–Please what?”

Tears streamed down his face leaving dirty streaks. Feeling a cold barrel pressed against his temple, he braced himself.

“Any last words, Harrison?”

“Forgive me… I didn’t…”

A black leather-gloved finger hovered on the trigger. The same evil laughter rasped against his ear.

“There isn’t any redemption for you now, Harrison.”

Looking up into his captor’s eyes he pleaded for mercy. “Please.” Tears dripped down onto his collar.

Click.