~Eve's Point of View~
My phone dinged and I ran to it. “Keep everything the same for next time, but this time wear panties, I want something to keep.”
I laughed out loud.
You could just take me home with you, I thought, sitting on the couch.
Jeez!
I had no shame all of a sudden! Now I had to go shopping for the perfect panties.
My mind started going through all the possibilities.
“Did you tell literally everyone in the hotel to address me as Mrs. Russell or are they all just overly assumptive?” I wished I could see his reaction to that!
“Oh, I told them to take extra special care of my wife ;).”
I gaped at my phone and threw my head back on the couch and caught the sun coming up. It was unusually beautiful, and bright and it held my attention until it was fully up. I laid my head down on the arm of the couch
I spent the rest of the day in bed, half in a coma. My whole body ached but also longed for Derek to be all over me again.Now that I felt like he was serious, like he would keep wanting to see me, I relaxed. But I kept telling myself I needed to keep a boundary between relaxing and fully thinking this guy was going to be mine. I still had no idea what he was really thinking.I was like a lost fucking puppy dog for him though. If he broke my heart, it would just kill me. That would legit be it and I would become a nun.I was also convinced that I likely burned 20,000 calories last night so I ordered a whole pizza and wings just for myself.I was just getting into my Law and Order marathon when it dawned on me I never thanked Derek for the flowers. Shit! I tried to think of something witty to say but I came up empty.I simply said, “thank you for the amazing garden, no one has ever sent me flowers before.”
My eyes went cross eyed and I abruptly sat up. His hand immediately went to my lips, as if to silence me, how could he even see where my lips were?“Yes, or no … I don’t want to hear anything else baby,” he whispered.“But I--”I stopped myself. He began kissing my neck, he wasn’t fighting fair.“Will you marry me, Eve, yes or no?”My mind immediately raced a thousand miles a minute. He couldn’t be serious, we were strangers! I mean … I guess we knew each other about as intimately as it gets but … there’s so much more to being with someone.He began tickling my tummy and I laughed in his ear. Maybe I just tell him what he wants to hear, hell it’s not like we’d get married tomorrow. We could have a long engagement, meet each other’s families, break up if it doesn’t work out.Why does he need
We had just finished breakfast and Derek was sitting up in bed, I was in his lap, cuddled into his neck and he was on the phone with his assistant. I just tuned him out and felt his warmth. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally hung up.“Your assistant is a guy,” I said, curiously.“Yep and a huge pain in my ass, but he’s damn good at his job, so I keep him around. I’ve had him about five years now. His husband is one of my lawyers,” he said, turning his lips into my neck.“Sounds interesting,” I said.I pulled away and held his face, “so what happens now … Mr. Russell?”He grinned and said, “no more of this hotel nonsense, I’m taking you home with me. We can stop at your place and get anything you might need for now, but anymore will have to be another day.”“Huh, already thought this through have you,&rdqu
The next day, Derek and Heath left to go to his actual office and since I had some time I knew I had to call Martin. I took a deep breath and decided just to go for it.This was one of the most awkward things I’d had to do but I could never just fully ghost Martin, I really did consider him my friend. It rang and rang, and I thought I should have texted him, of course he was likely working.Just when I was about to get his voicemail, he picked up, “hey stranger.”I relaxed, “hey Martin, how are you?”“I’m good … what’s wrong honey you never just call me in the middle of the day.”“Yeah … I’m … I ... uhm, I met someone and I quit working for Haven, I wanted to meet you at least one last time and tell you in person but--”“If you were mine I certainly wouldn’t let you around other men,” he said.&nbs
Derek and I could talk about everything and anything. We liked the same movies, the same music, and thankfully held the same political and religious beliefs. Being with him was just so easy, so natural, it had felt like we knew each other for years.Having all this money flaunted around was hard for me ... just a couple weeks ago I was shopping at thrift stores … happily! Now my fiance was begging me to take his black Amex and hit the mall. I just didn’t see the point.I’m not a better person, I’m not smarter or somehow elevated because of the labels on my clothes. I just didn’t care about it all. I had learned some stuff from the closet at Haven’s, like about the red bottom shoes supposedly being a status symbol. Some handbags were worth so much they were basically an investment just as much as buying a stock would be.But most of those clothes and shoes ... were also the most uncomfortable things on the planet!
We were now turned so his head was on my chest and I was stroking his hair.“Keep going baby,” I said.He let out a long breath.“When I was real little, my grandparents were trying to figure things out, you know long term. My grandmother’s family had money too, so there was a ton of inheritance to be had. Neither of them trusted mom and neither wanted her to get it but she was blood so it was tricky.Luckily, mom didn’t know much about how it all worked, and so … nobody bothered to tell her. There were certain, I guess you’d call them milestones that you had to hit. The first was being married by a certain age, then having an heir by a certain age. My grandfather seemed to think that by having a child so young, out of wedlock and by a married man, she forfeited it anyhow.Everything got transferred to me, but until I reached the milestones, I just got like a monthly allowance
The money obviously didn’t mean shit to me. But not having to sign a prenup, was real trust. It was a clear message to his family that he trusted me. Why did he trust me though, he barely knew me!It was all still too much. Literally just as soon as we were done with our little romp, the plane was about to land.We quickly dressed and my once decent looking curls were now a frizzy mess. I got my hair a bit damp and put it up in a bun, oh well. So much for making a decent first impression.I was pretty sure I’d been quiet, but when I came out I noticed literally everyone had in headphones anyway, so I relaxed. Derek wandered out, looking perfect and like nothing happened, of course. The stupid grin plastered on his face told the story.There were two cars waiting for us, and Heath drove for us and Marcus, Derek’s assistant. I had barely ever even seen Marcus’s eyes, they were always buried in an Ipad or
Derek took me upstairs to get dressed, which turned into him going down on me and I was sure everyone would notice how long we were gone.By the time we came back, some of the smaller kids had gone to nap and it was a bit quieter.There was a ton of bar-b-que and desserts. I made small talk with some of his … aunts? Cousins? I guessed they were his second cousins. I talked to them about where I was from and what I was doing in school. It seemed they were all a part of the family business in some way.His grandfather mostly sat and listened to all the chatter, seeming to enjoy himself. I wondered what all Derek had told him about me. I really enjoyed Sally, she obviously didn't come from money, you could even just tell by the way she spoke. It was a lot more on my level.“So Eve, is Derek going to meet your family soon,” his grandfather asked.“Oh, we haven’t made plans but I guess we should. It
~Heath’s Point of View~This is it, the day I’ve been waiting for my whole life. My perfect redhead, my dream girl. Only she’s not a dream, she’s real, and she loves me. She loves me and she’s giving me a baby.I couldn’t even wrap my head around it all still, and I just knew I’d cry at the wedding. I hated that my dad couldn’t be here, but it meant everything to me that we could speed things along for my mom’s sake.I’d had dinner sent to Liz’s room, Chinese food to honor our first night together. I had a special fortune cookie made for Beth with a slip of paper in it, asking her to marry me. Around the paper was an engagement ring.She wasn’t going to be allowed to come see me t
~Beth’s Point of View~I had started wondering when we might all go back home, but everyone seemed to be happy out here and I didn’t want to rock the boat or seem as if I didn’t like it. Heath really liked being able to see his family, and I did greatly enjoy his mom.There had been a couple times I caught everybody whispering like, hushed voices. They’d shut right up and move on once they saw me. I just thought it was stuff about Miss Reba, but I was starting to get annoyed.Heath better never keep stuff from me, and if he did, I’d punch him in the nuts!Heath’s sisters went on and on at dinner one night about some spa in town, and I didn’t care for that stuff. But as they went on I started to reckon that a m
~Eve’s Point of View~We had been out at the Jackson ranch through Christmas, and it was certainly a much more different Christmas than I would have imagined a month ago.I also wasn't thrilled to have my ankle in a cast but I was dealing with it. There was still total radio silence on Haven and her brother, but Derek still had everyone possible trying to track them down.At last count, his hackers were able to recover about $39 million of the ransom, which we all thought was pretty remarkable.It was great to meet Heath’s family, and they were the distraction that I think we all needed. They knew nothing about what had happened to Beth and I, and I was so glad for it. Being around our group would have given me nothing but sad, pitiful faces.
~Beth’s Point of View~“Ugh my momma keeps callin’, lemme see what she wants,” I said to Heath.I ran out of the hospital waiting room and into a stairwell.“Hey momma,” I said, answering the phone.“Bethany I have only talked to you twice in the past month, and now you’re onto only texting me all the time. Explain yourself young lady,” she said.Oh shit.“Well I did text you at least,” I said, lying.Heath had texted her from my phone since it was recovered when they found the car we were abducted in.I h
The cops were trying to get ahold of the landlord to ask about breaking out a wall or taking up the floor and I didn’t give a fuck about all that. I’d buy him a new goddamn building if wasn’t in on the scheme.About four hours went by and I was seriously losing any ounce of patience I had left.Heath had me on speakerphone in his pocket so I could roughly hear what was being said inside.I heard a guy in the crowd yell that he was the landlord and I immediately rushed him but Mick held me back.A cop went at him, “sir we believe there is a kidnapping victim being held here, is there a basement or a false wall anywhere?”“What, someone was kidnapped? You think they are here?”
~Derek’s Point of View~It had now been nearly two days since Beth was released and I was really close to losing my shit. There was just nothing more we could do, we were totally helpless.The kidnappers had been more than careful and if I hadn’t been so insaney furious I might have admired their work. They had to have slipped up at some point, we just had to catch a break.It was extremely illegal but Mick was running the photo we got of the driver from a street camera through the DMV. It was the middle of the night and everyone was half asleep or actually asleep.Heath and Beth had been holed up in his place and I didn’t want to bother them, not that I had any news.I was in the kitchen
*Warning, this chapter depicts an assault*~Eve’s Point of View~I guessed it to be about a day since they snatched Beth away from me. The whole speech I gave at first about us having a united front and not showing we were scared was pretty much going out the window.I didn’t know what the hell Derek was doing, did he not give them all the money? I had no clue. Since they took Beth nobody has come back. I don’t have much food left and I’m starting to have to fill up my water bottles in the sink.Maybe they’ll just leave me here to starve, I thought.No, they said they wanted me, they have to want me for something … sex? I mean they hadn’t so far t
~Derek’s Point of View~Our hackers were working non-stop to trace the money we already sent. As soon as it hit the bank it went to three other accounts and so on. It seemed like they were just trying to put it through so many places to keep it from being traced but we weren’t giving up.We had the FBI and different forensics teams monitoring the video they made the girls take, but we were getting nothing there.I was completely torn on whether or not to send the rest of the money … I didn’t care about the actual money of course but just the fact that I would be sending it with no guarantee of getting them.After some back and forth we went ahead and sent another 15 million, and decided to wait and see if they responded.
~Heath’s Point of View~All I could think about was how scared the girls had to be. My poor little Beth, my innocent little Beth. She’s never even remotely experienced something like this. I had a Bronze Star, I’d been shot down behind enemy lines. I’d known hand to hand combat, I’d know the terror of a real fight.I never wanted her to have to know anything like that.Derek was in full on control freak mode. This was supposed to be my domain, security. But everything seemed to be moving around me in slow motion, I couldn’t focus.The FBI was able to track down the car and in it was a note with instructions. They wanted 50 million dollars wired over ten different bank accounts.