Thank you for reading. Any constructive comments are always welcome and gems are appreciated.
Lindsey I drug Angie down the hall to Reece’s office. She was not getting out of this and I have been on a version of lockdown since the incident at the restaurant. Don’t get me wrong, I love Reece and James and Dominic, but I have had a babysitter at every moment of the day since then. I already have to watch what I do and say in public because of what is going on with the company, but now I feel like I can’t even be myself around my friends. Sometimes a girl just wants to dish about what is going on in her love life without the love of her life being in the room, is that too much to ask? I walk up to Reece’s door, which is wide open, he’s sitting at his desk deep in thought staring at his computer. I knock on the door frame and he looks up quickly like I startled him. “Hey Dove, come on in.” He scrubs a hand over his face like he’s trying to wake himself up. He notices my dragging Angie and looks at us questioningly. “What’s going on?” He raises one eyebrow. “I need a girls
Lindsey Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump…. Ugh! Did Angie overload the washing machine again? What the hell? I don’t want to open my eyes. My head feels swollen and my brain feels sluggish. What did Angie and I do last night? I just want to fall back to sleep, clearly my body wants nothing to do with being awake right now. Thump, thump, thump…. I tried to turn over to see what time it was and if I could reasonably ignore the rhythmic destruction of our laundry room, but I couldn’t move. Huh?! I inhale sharply taking in the tangy, spicy scent of a man’s cologne and my eyes fly open to find my face pressed up to the hard planes of a chest. My arm is carefully draped across sculpted abs. I’m so confused right now, where am I? I slowly drag my hand up the ridges of muscle, letting my eyes shamelessly watch them ripple under my touch. The smell of all man engulfs my senses and I decide that I don’t care what Angie and I got up to last night, if this is what came back to our apa
Reece This meeting has been going on for hours and I am about done with all of these guys. They can all go to f*cking hell for all I care. We are all businessmen. We have all done what we needed to do to make our businesses the best, and not all of those things were on the up and up. But, the sh*t that started to fly when I confronted them was ridiculous. No one wants to take ownership for their own involvements, placing blame and responsibility on anyone else in the room including me. I just roll my eyes and rub my temples, a headache forming at their bickering. I can’t even check on Lindsey to see how she is feeling. I made all of us turn off our phones and computers and leave them in another room that is locked. I don’t trust any of these guys anymore. Even Reg, although I don’t think he ever did anything to intentionally hurt me or my company, he has been just as involved as myself with these dealings and we are both going to pay for the greed of the rest of these idiots.
Lindsey What did Angie give me last night? Seriously, I can feel my arms and legs but moving them is a whole other story and my head is pounding yet again. Reece is right, I really need to get this checked out. Without opening my eyes I turn my head to the side hoping my body will follow and get the blood flowing so I can at least hit the bathroom before I pee myself. As I roll over, instead of finding the edge of my bed, I am met with another person. It’s definitely not Reece though based on the soft feel. My eyes shoot open, the f*ck? I’m met with a whole mop of bleached blonde hair and the smell of drunkenness and vomit warmed over. I wanted to gag, but I had bigger problems. I sat up slowly and took a good look around for the first time. I’m in a giant king-sized bed with crisp white sheets and an extra fluffy comforter. The walls were a pale shade of tan with a couple generic teal and white abstract paintings hanging. To the right of the bed was a small dining area wit
Lindsey The grainy, almost out of focus picture on the cover of the tabloid was unmistakably Reece. He looks terrible. His eyes have dark circles under them and his mouth is set in a defeated scowl. He looks like he hasn’t shaved in days, but he still has his trademark pristine three piece suit on. James and Max are flanking him, both looking equally tired. James has the purpling of a bruise on the upper portion of his cheek close to his ear. That must be from the night of the attack. My chest clenches at the thought of him being hurt so they could get to us. I jolt a little, thinking of the night of the attack. I start frantically searching for the date on the tabloid. It actually takes me a minute to sort through all of the text on the front cover. Apparently celebrities have been busy in the last few days. Finally in the bottom corner, I see it. The date is five days after the night of the attack. So we’ve been here at least that long. I slide that one to the side to
Thank you everyone for sticking around with me, you truly are amazing and appreciated.. . I started a new job as a librarian teaching kindergarteners to love books and reading! So it has been a whirlwind for the last few weeks getting settled in, to say the least. . I am editing and posting an extra long chapter to make up for lost time, and I will be back to my two times per week posting schedule next week as I get all caught up. . Thank you for all of the constructive comments and editing suggestions. I appreciate all of the help with writing.
Lindsey “Well that was a sh*tshow!” Dominiques exclaims. “And may I say I’m very impressed with your dramatic storm out.” “I’m not in the mood for your jokes today, Dominique. These people have put my family and friends in danger and have taken us. Save your insecure prattling for someone else.” I put as much venom in my words as possible. Her eyes bug out of her head, and then I see her whole mood change as she storms over to me, her full Diva showing. “I was just trying to lighten the mood, you don’t have to be such a b*tch!” She almost snarls getting as close to my face as she can without touching our noses together. “Of course you were, because you don’t take anything seriously. Is that why you’re thrown around from guy to guy?” I’m so over all of this right now, I’m taking it out on her. But, I want an angry reaction from her, and need her to lash out. “What the f*ck!?! You really are a spoiled b*tch aren’t you? Stop acting like you’re better than everyone else.” “
Reece It’s been a week and nothing. Not a single damn thing. I would have expected a ransom request at least if she was being held somewhere. I am losing hope day by day that she is still alive, and yet I can feel it in my soul that she is still alive. Her stubbornness is radiating through the universe and letting me know not to give up. The thought makes me smile for a brief moment. I hope she is giving hell to whoever decided it was a good idea to take her. Max has interviewed everyone that was here the day she was taken. We’ve reviewed all the cameras and even tried to get into Lindsey’s computer, but the cords were missing from the back, which delayed us. It looks like someone was trying to take her computer and was interrupted. Whoever took her used all the blind spots in our security system. We only know that whoever took her used James’ vehicle. James keeps mentioning something about a secret closet, but when we ask for more details, he gets confused and can’t remembe
Epilogue Lindsey Well Reece was true to his word and has kept me barefoot and pregnant for the better part of 3 years. He was intrigued by the idea of practicing to make babies and took his job very seriously, and so did his DNA. When I am done with this pregnancy I will be 21, almost 22 and have 5 kids under the age of three because fate seems to like to mess with me and I was blessed with two sets of twins. Angie is convinced that our oldest, Carter, would have been a twin or was probably a twin, but due to all of the trauma he was my miracle baby. The thought makes me laugh and also makes me sad that I might have had complications we knew nothing about. He was what helped me get through the worst of the healing from my time in captivity with Vaughn Benedict. Although I wasn’t harmed much, the memory of the isolation and waking up alone still haunts me and Old Man Raines’ death gives me nightmares. The dreams seem to be more vivid as I get further along in my pregnancies too. Reec
Reece “What if the baby is yours?” Angie pulls up a chair and sits so we are almost at eye level and cocks her eyebrow at me. “I’m really not sure how, we never talked about kids and were always careful. I was always careful with her.” “Always?” She has this sarcastic tone that tells me she knows more about my sex life with Lindsey than I do. “As far as I know, we only had one time that I didn’t wrap it up.” “So, what you’re telling me is you need to get off your doomsday mind track and wait to hear from the doctors and talk to Lindsey. It only takes one time, genius.” She looks like she wants to smack me upside the head. And she’s seriously considering it. I really need her to stop pushing my buttons right now. “But when you do go in and talk to your wife, and my best friend, you will do it calmly and respectfully. Because I will beat your ass if you hurt her with your accusations after everything she just went through. Like you said you only had contact with her twice while she
Lindsey What the f*ck? Cousin? I am stunned and have nothing to respond to that revelation. “We have a deal.” Benedict says after I sign the documentation with all of my stipulations written in and initialed by both of us. “Come get your girl cuz, we just opened up the IP address for you to search. Although, I wouldn’t mind a bit more alone time with her, seeing as you’ve been with mine, it’s only fair.” He laughs at Reece’s look of pure fury as he touches my face again. This time I did pull away and gave him my most murderous look. He better not come anywhere near me, the sleezeball. Dominique looked offended at the exchange, but what can she expect, this douchebag thinks he has everything. What he doesn’t realize is I didn’t sign everything and I used his inability to keep his hands off Dominique to my advantage while his lawyers and I handled the paperwork. And his lawyers really aren’t that smart or they straight up let me get away with signing my maiden name and ‘under duress’.
Lindsey As I am being escorted down to meet with, I assume Benedict, I make a decision. I believe I am going to die here no matter what I do, so I need to think through what is going to happen to everyone that depends on us. “You look positively radiant today” Benedict sneers from the table as I walk in. What the hell does that mean? Does he know about me being pregnant? I should assume no one here is on my side and figure he knows, but is probably playing me to see if I confirm his suspicions or what doctor Beth told him. I hate not having information. And where the hell is Dominique? “That’s the result of being fed for the first time in days, I guess.” I try to keep my smartass remark to a minimum, but I also want to see if he will let anything slip as well. We can both play this game. “How can I help you today Mr. Benedict?” I try to let as much sarcasm lace my sugar sweet tone. “You know what I want, and I will have it today.” He gestures for me to sit across from him.
Lindsey HOLY SH*T! HOLY SH*T! HOLY SH*T! I can’t move and I’m barely breathing. I think I’m in shock. I sit there staring at the screen, I know Reece is still in front of me, but I’m not really seeing him, not anymore. Someone shot a gun right behind me and a thump tells me someone was hit. The gunshot came out of nowhere. There were no threats made, we were just having a conversation. Although, I was trying to stall for enough time for Reece and Max to hopefully get closer to figuring out where we are. The old man was just whimpering like the weak little man he truly is, was. How he ever ran a company like Raines Corporation is beyond me. He was a great actor I guess. I really should feel bad for him, but I am just scared for myself now. They aren’t going to hesitate to do what is needed to get what they want now, and they just proved it. “Every time we all meet and this isn’t resolved, someone else loses the privilege to go home.” Benedict says from somewhere near me. It
Reece “Reece.” Her breathy little whisper is all my heart needed to jumpstart and start racing like it was trying to jump out of my chest. “Lindsey, baby.” That's all I can get out. I just stare at her beautiful face. She’s thinner, her cheeks are sunken in and her hair is dull and flat, but she’s alive. I can feel my heart beating wildly in my chest like it trying to jump out and get to her. There is so much I want to say, so much I need to say. We talked about what to do once we were able to get her on, but I just froze, my mind seizing up completely at the sight of her sitting there. “First things first, Mr. Raines. We have made contact as requested, you see your wife is unharmed, now we want the documents signed and you can have her back within the next 24 hours.” A deep voice off camera instructs. Lindsey looks down and if I wasn’t staring at her so intently I would have missed the slight head shake she gave me. She’s telling me not to agree, but what the hell else am
Reece We are now going on a month of Lindsey missing. We have been tracking Eyler for a few weeks and Conrad is building a case against him, just on his activities here. Thank God Eyler doesn’t look too closely at his phone. I do know that they are trying to turn people he has contact with into informants, but it all takes time. I did receive a proof of life photo about a week and a half ago, but that is all I have heard. It was of Lindsey sleeping. She at least looked peaceful, but I could only see her face, the covers pulled all the way up to her chin. I don’t know if she’s actually sleeping or knocked out. I can’t see if she’s injured or harmed in any way, but it’s the only thing I have of her right now. I have the photo in my wallet and pull it out every chance I get. I have actually started talking to her photo. Telling her it’s going to be alright and we are coming for her, that I am coming for her. I have started asking her what she would do when I come across a situ
Reece The elevator to the top floor seems like it is taking forever. I just want to get this over with and clear up all of the misconceptions that have been going around for the last decade in my business. When the bell chimes as we hit our floor, Max and I walk out full of angered purpose. I am doing a full house cleaning, but I also need to know if any of these guys have information on Lindsey’s whereabouts. I trust no one outside of Max, Brandon, Angie and Anton. I feel like all of them have had some part in this for their own gain and Eyler and the old man were just crazy enough to take it this far. “Down to business gentlemen.” I say sitting at the head of the table. Max to my right. All of the guys look paler and more ragged than usual. Being cut-off doesn’t suit many of them. Only Reg seems to have been able to maintain his usual lifestyle. Good, I think to myself. They know I mean business now and won’t be complacent any longer. “I’m glad your investigations are ov
Lindsey “What are you going to say to Benedict? We need to have the same or at least a similar story as to why I am here. I still have to figure out what he wants exactly. I don’t believe he would put this much effort into taking over a company. From what I have heard he’s more likely to kill the person in his way and replace them with his own people. What’s he playing at?” “With your current condition and the test I have run, I can easily claim you are diabetic. Similar signs and symptoms and necessities to control it as your pregnancy. Like food and vitamin regulation, also lowering your stress levels.” “Okay, I guess that works. I don;t know anything about the condition though.” “That will work in our favor. I can keep regular, daily checks on you, which is what I would do with an actual newly diagnosed patient here.” “What about me?” Dominique almost whines. “Is he going to try and keep us separate? I’m pretty sure she is the only reason I am still alive right now