Chapter 7

Emma

My dreams went strange on me—deep, vivid, and completely nonsensical. Odd smells and fog. A sensation like drowning or being smothered. Motion.

Nick was in bed with me, curled up against me like he did whenever he came in after a nightmare. But the bed was wheeled and moving, and had escaped the house, rolling off with us down the street while the fog parted for it.

I could almost hear deep voices talking. I caught a whiff of familiar cologne. Felt a hand smooth my hair. Then I was back to drifting along a road on my bed, which was picking up speed until it hurtled along into the unknown dark.

The feeling of being half-smothered, of being helplessly moved, faded finally as I started to wake up. My head was foggy, my eyesight blurred. Nick was cuddled up next to me, sleeping peacefully. It reassured me some, but everything still seemed strange. Out of place.

I opened my eyes.

Wewere out of place.

The bright, pretty, white-walled, blue-curtained room we were lying in, the big four-poster bed with its patchwork comforter cover and white iron frame… the new hotel-quality pillows under our heads… none of it was familiar. We had been moved.

I drew in a huge gasp of air that burned in my lungs like cold smog as adrenaline shocked me all the way awake. I sat up in panic, beside me, Nick stirred and rolled over but didn’t open his eyes. Maybe that was good. I didn’t have to deal with his fear and my own at the same time.

I got up gingerly and looked around. The room was twice the size of my bedroom back home and high-ceilinged, with an ensuite bathroom, an empty closet, and a closed door with no doorknob or lock on our side. Just above it, a security camera peered at us, and it suddenly became clear.

Oh God. We’ve been kidnapped!

My breath hitched and my eyes stung as I fought the breakdown that was threatening to engulf me. I didn’t want to show weakness in sight of whatever prick was on the other end of that camera.

Instead, I put all that adrenaline into searching the place. I was still in my pajamas, same as Nick. The thick carpeting felt almost pleasant under my bare feet, but I barely noticed. I was shaking. Every hair on my body stood up as I struggled with my fear. You can do this, I told myself firmly. You have to handle this situation and not fall apart. Nick needs you.

I soon realized that every single piece of furniture in the room was built into the floor or walls. The bed was bolted to the floor. The table was a long counter. The chairs were bolted down too. The shelves were built-ins. There was a flat-screen TV mounted on the wall, but it sat inside a clear box of armored glass to keep anyone from tampering with it. Even the remote was fastened to my bedside table.

The bathroom had soap, shampoo, towels, a change of clothes for each of us that included socks but no shoes, a comb, toothbrushes, and toothpaste—enough of the usual supplies to keep us going for a few days. Somehow the sight of my white jeans and fluffy gauze blouse was both comforting and infuriating at the same time.

Someone had taken us, locked us into this suite, gone through our belongings, maybe done other things, and yet left us with a change of clothes and toiletries like a thoughtful host. The dissonance confused me. What was the point of taking us? Who would do that, and yet worry about hospitality at the same time?

This has something to do with Uncle Charles. The thought popped into my head as I poked through the softcover books lined up on one shelf of the built-ins. This room had been carefully prepared to hold us, to keep us contained but safe and well cared for. If the kidnapper wants us both alive and healthy, that means…

A kidnapping for ransom.

It was one of the things that Uncle Charles had always feared would happen to one of us. Probably one of the reasons why he had us watched. Certainly, it was part of why he’d never wanted me to leave his penthouse and go live on my own.

I thought he was trying to clip my wings. Control me—keep me from living a normal life around normal people. But he knew, didn’t he? He knew. Oh God, he was right after all…

I heard a whimper escape my throat and covered my mouth with my hand. No. Don’t you start crying. Don’t do it. If Nick woke up and saw me crying, he would be even more scared.

Okay. Okay. Think. Be smart. If it’s a ransom they’re after, we’ll be out of here soon. Between his fortune and what he inherited from my dad, Uncle Charles is richer than God. He’ll write a check that probably won’t even put a dent in that, we’ll go home, everything will be fine.

I hoped.

I finished my sweep of the room. There was no way out. Nothing that could be used as a weapon. Disturbingly, behind the curtain were windows that looked out onto nothing. The glass was frosted and very thick, letting in a diffuse white light that reminded me of grow lights. I pressed my ear to the glass and couldn’t hear any traffic noises. Not even the sound of the wind. Did the windows actually lead to the outside, or were we in a room within a room?

As I was listening, I heard a rustle behind me. I turned and saw Nick roll over and blink up at me with bleary eyes. Then he noticed the room and slowly sat up.

“What’s happening?” he mumbled. “Where are we?”

I moved to him quickly, putting my arms around him. “Shush, sweetie, try to keep calm. I woke up a few minutes ago and found us here. I think we’ve been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped!” He blinked up at me in open-mouthed horror. “That’s when they steal people!”

“Yeah,” I murmured, stroking his hair soothingly as he started to tremble. “It is. It looks like we got stolen. But don’t you worry—”

Too late. The poor kid was too young to understand. All he knew about kidnapping came from everything I’d taught him to keep him from getting grabbed at school or during a playdate. I’d never taught him how to cope with actually being kidnapped. I had never expected the situation to come up.

He started wailing—shaking and crying in my arms, while I held him tight.

“Shush, baby, it’s okay, we’re going to survive this, it’s gonna be okay.” I was telling myself this as much as I was telling him, but he sure didn’t need to know that.

“Why’d they steal us?” he sobbed. “Why’d they steal us?”

“It’s money, sweetie. It has to be. They’re clearly planning to keep us here and not hurt us. They just want money from Uncle Charles.”

He sniffled and looked up at me, cheeks wet and eyes huge. “So, they’ll pay money, and we’ll get to go home?”

“That’s how it works, sweetie. I know it’s scary, but it’s gonna be okay. Seriously. This kind of thing is just business to some people.”

“They did it cuz Uncle Charles is rich, huh?” He pressed his lips together, eyes welling up again.

“Yeah. That’s right. That’s why he has guards and stuff.”

“I wish we had guards and stuff,” he mumbled into my neck.

I sighed into his hair. He was right. A security system, a good neighborhood, bars on the windows, steel core doors—none of it had helped. Maybe a bunch of guys with guns would have made the difference.

Or maybe not. I still didn’t know who we were dealing with. And until I knew that, I had no idea how much trouble we were actually in.

***

It took Nick a while to calm down. I got us both cleaned up and changed, avoiding trying to get the attention of our captors. I had to force myself not to bang on the door and demand they talk to us. I wanted that confrontation very much, but I had to think about how much it would affect Nick. So instead, I waited. Watched. Hoped that soon, I would learn more about our captors.

Nick stuck very close to me. He didn’t whine, and he’d only cried twice, but I could tell he was scared. I wanted to be strong for him, but when I saw the fear in his blue eyes, I felt like crying myself. But I just couldn’t allow it, he was looking at me for strength, and if I appeared in control and not scared witless about the situation then he would remain calm.

Be strong,I told myself over and over again. For him, you have to.

Finally, Nick stirred where he’d been leaning on my shoulder and said softly, “I’m getting hungry.”

A chill went down my spine. What if they decided not to give us food? What if they did and it was drugged? Or poisoned? Then again, if they wanted to drug or poison us, they could have dne it at any time. They did do it, that’s how we got here.

“Me too, sweetie. I’m trying to figure out what to do about that.” I glanced up into the impassive black eye of the security camera, tempted to yell at whoever was sitting watching us on the monitor and try and get someone to come to the door. But I was wary. The peace and quiet of this room felt like it could shatter if I did anything to disturb it.

But my boy was hungry, and God damn it, that was more important than my fears. I got up, walked toward the door to our pretty little cell, and stared up at the camera, hands on hips.

I was opening my mouth to speak when I finally heard something outside. Very faint. A door opening, and then brisk but heavy footsteps coming down a long hallway toward us.

I backed away from the door, instinctively getting between it and Nick. Seconds later, I heard the turn of a key in the hidden lock, and the door swung open.

My heart leaped into my throat. “You!”

It was Viktor.

He looked taller and more imposing now than he had on the street, he filled that doorway so thoroughly that I could barely catch glimpses of the dim, featureless hallway beyond. He was wearing another of his dark suits, and he had a couple of bulging takeout bags in one hand.

He shut the door behind him and hit a button on his black keyring. I heard the deadbolt clunk back into place.

“Yes,” he said, “Me. Regrettably, I find myself in a position where this had to be done.”

“What do you mean had to be done?” Nick was trying to peek around me at the newcomer. I tried to stay between them, not knowing why I bothered. I wasn’t helpless, but Viktor could have simply picked me up and moved me with ease. “What is this about? And why involve a five-year-old boy?”

“Unfinished business with your uncle, I’m afraid.” He set the bag of food on the table, the smell of hamburgers got my mouth watering. “The only reason that the two of you are involved at all, is that he insists on hiding in his penthouse and will not face me.”

I frowned. “Unfinished business” implied that Viktor and Uncle Charles knew each other. But I knew that wasn’t true. Otherwise, my uncle would have recognized him. So that’s one lie I’ve caught you in. “You’re holding us for ransom, then.”

“Your uncle owes me a great debt, yes, one he is reluctant to repay. I exhausted other options in trying to resolve this situation. Ultimately, I was required to use you as leverage.”

His voice was calm and businesslike, as if he was discussing stock trades. But I caught a flash of anger in his brilliant eyes. Not directed, I suspected, at me.

I tried to reason with him, I had to try it once. “Look. Nick’s too young to deal with being somebody’s hostage while you hash out my uncle’s financial debt. I don’t know who you really are—”

“Viktor Kozlov, leader of the most powerful Bratva in Los Angeles.” His smile was calm, casual. This was a man who didn’t give a damn whether people knew who he was. That and the mention of a Bratvafelt like a splash of icy water.

Mobsters. Goddamned mobsters. Of course. I felt a cold jolt of terror—and somehow, that just made me angrier. In the back of my mind I worried that I was being stupid, but I couldn’t just lie down and be a scared little doormat after watching Nick cry like that. I had to remain strong for him.

“There’s no excuse for involving a kid in this,” I snapped, looking him in the eye. “Let him go. I can tough through being a damn hostage if I have to, but not him.”

Viktor hesitated, looking down at the boy peeking out at him from behind me. Something in Nick’s appearance seemed to startle him—like he hadn’t seen him in good light up close before.

“That’s very brave of you, and I can certainly understand your position. But what is done is done. It will be over, and you will be returned safely home, as soon as your uncle agrees to our terms and we make the exchange. Until then, you and he will remain our guests.”

“You mean your captives.” Hot or not, I hated him right now. I wanted to punch him in the balls, take his keyring, and get us the hell out of here while he was still writhing on the floor. But I knew that would be a perfect way to get us shot. Even if I could put him on the ground, I doubted I could keep him there long enough for us to get away. And he likely wasn’t alone.

“Call it what you wish.” His face was impassive, but his eyes kept flicking back to Nick in a way I really, really didn’t like. “You will be fed, and your needs seen to in the interim. Behave, and this will all end peacefully and quickly.”

Nick was staring back at him defiantly, pale and shaky with fear but with his jaw set and his eyes steady. I put an arm around him and stared back at Viktor too. “You say my uncle owes you something, but we’re the ones suffering for it.”

“Again, regrettable. But unlike your uncle, I keep my word. Provided that you cause us no trouble, you will both be well cared for, and released unharmed.”

I stared at him, wondering if I could trust anything he said. It really didn’t help that he was just as attractive as he’d been when I’d first met him. “You already showed me I couldn’t trust you when you came to me on false pretenses. Now, I don’t know how you pulled this off or who you hurt doing it, but know this. If you do anything to hurt Nick, I will make you pay for it. I don’t care if I die doing so.”

Nick whimpered and buried his face in my side, and I tightened my grip on him protectively as I glared back at our towering captor.

He smiled faintly in response. “I have no doubt of it. But there’s no reason for us to ever test that.” He reached over and patted the bag of food. “Have something to eat, get some rest. You will be expected to sit for a telephone call with your uncle later.”

Before I could formulate a response, he had turned on his heel and walked to the door, fishing his keyring back out as he did so. I heard the locks disengage and saw the door swing open a little to let him out. He pulled it wide, I caught a glimpse of that long hallway again, and noticed the only other door was on the far end. Then he stepped out and was gone, locking us in behind him.