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Chapter 1

What have I gotten myself into? I watch as the money goes through the machine and each stack of hundreds is counted; there has to be millions here. A man I've seen a few times around the office pulls the stack from the machine when it's finished and puts it with the others in a black bag.

So much for thinking I'm leaving a bad man behind, because I just walked right into another. Now I'm standing in the middle of something that doesn"t feel right. This isn"t a casino where you need machines to count money, it's a warehouse that makes ink. I found it all fascinating when I first started working here because I had no idea there were millions of colors that could be made. Now it's millions of dollars I'm staring at and it's not fascinating at all. In fact, I want as far away from this money as I can get. I didn"t want trouble, I wanted normal. Is that too much to ask for?

"Here's the address." My eyes move from the money to my boss, Monte. He's old enough to be my grandfather, but he looks harmless. I should have known this job was too good to be true. "And this is the key to the safety deposit box."

When he hired me, I felt safe for a moment, but I trusted too quickly and I'm going to get burned. Once again, it's me being na?ve. I thought Monte was a simple, hard-working man running a company he started on his own years ago. I just assumed he was the one taking a chance on me since I told him my secret. I explained that I have to keep my real name hidden so Warren wouldn't be able to find me. No wonder Monte was so willing to pay me under the table and help me get on my feet. He's using me just like Warren did.

I take the paper from his hand and I don't recognize the address, but to be fair I don"t know much about the city I chose to live in. I just booked a one-way ticket on a bus out of Chicago and I picked the first big little city I saw. It's big enough that I could blend in but not so big that I would feel overwhelmed.

"You won"t go getting any ideas, will you?" he asks, and I look up at him. "Wouldn"t want anyone to find out you"re here." He adds in the reminder that he knows I'm hiding.

Warren will never stop looking for me. He's crazy and the police were no help when I filed multiple restraining orders against him. He has too much money and can do anything he wants. He thinks he has the right to take what he wants even if it's by force. I had no choice but to disappear, and even though I wasn't walking away from much it still sucked. I was thinking things were starting to take a turn, but this isn't the direction I was hoping for.

I swallow hard. "No ideas. I just want to do my job." I have an idea, but it isn"t going to be stealing money from Monte. I already have one man looking for me and I don"t need another. I also don"t need to get tangled up in whatever mess this is.

There's a reason Monte isn"t taking this money in. If it were legal he'd be doing it himself. Why would he trust the girl he hired only weeks ago to handle God knows how much money? Two giant bags are being filled right in front of me and I'm wondering just how big safety deposit boxes are anyway because there's no way this will all fit inside one.

"That's real good, Jules." He smiles at me and he looks like the man who gave me the job.

I thought an office job in a warehouse would be easy. I would do my nine to five and be done each day. I went from being the assistant to a man who ran a multi-million-dollar company to filing paperwork and answering phones. I should be able to do this job with my eyes closed, but there's so much more to this position than I thought possible.

His right-hand man, Joe, sets the bags in front of me and I pull out my cell phone to see if I can try and find the bank from the address.

"Use this." Monte hands me a phone. "I can track you and you can drop the phone in the trash after you've done the deposit."

"Okay." I take the phone from his hand and get a little freaked out. Things are getting really weird now because why do I need a disposable phone?

"You come straight back here when you're done."

I nod even though there's no way I'm coming back here. I'm doing what he asks and then I'm getting the hell out of Dodge as quickly as I can. This money might be going into the bank, but it's not a deposit. This cash is going in there to be hidden. Maybe I'm overthinking all of this, but I'm trusting my gut this time. My gut is telling me to run not only because of what's happening today but because of what this could mean for my future. He used what I told him against me and I know he'll do it again and again to get me to do his dirty work. He has me under his finger and I'm not staying here. My fear of Warren is bigger than Monte, so him using that fear against me will get me to run faster than anything.

"Be careful. Little girls go missing every day," Monte adds, and my eyes shoot to his. He's smiling like he didn't just threaten to kill me.

No one would know if I went missing and the thought hits me hard and fast. Monte knows that he's the only person who would notice. Some people around the warehouse might ask where I went, but he could tell them I quit. No one would be the wiser and I would just be gone.

I fight back the tears that want to break free because I'm scared of what might happen. I swallow the lump that's forming in my throat as I think about Warren still out there wanting to find me. He wouldn't kill me, but he'd keep me as his toy to do whatever it was he wanted. Men like him and Monte enjoy seeing fear in others' eyes and tears are even better. I'm not going to give him the satisfaction and I square my shoulders to give myself strength.

This is all a reminder of how alone I really am and that's what has me wanting to cry. I've felt more alone these past few months than I ever have before. I've always been alone, but this is different now because I was forced into it. It's a product of growing up with a mom who was never home. I never knew where she went or when she would come back. Then one day she didn't.

It took me over three weeks to finally come to terms with it and I never filed a missing persons report. I was scared I'd get taken away, so I kept on paying the bills, which I'd been doing since I was thirteen and got my first job at a convenience store. From there I worked odd jobs until I landed in the mailroom of Warren's company.

I worked hard to move up quickly. When I look back I don't know if it was because I did a good job or if it was because Warren had taken notice of me. I went from a nobody in the mailroom to his assistant. I told myself it was because I worked hard, but the reality is it was too fast to have been anything other than his decision.

Like Monte, he hadn't told me all the details of what the job entailed. If I had known me being on my back was going to be part of the deal I would have quit the first day.

I jerk back from my thoughts when the bags of money hit the floor, ready to go. "I'll walk you out," Joe says, wheeling them out. I follow him as he lifts them into one of the company's vans before shutting the doors.

"I like you, Jules. Be smart like Monte said and don't get any ideas. I don't want to pack you inside of a suitcase next." He winks at me before he turns and goes back into the warehouse.

Joe always made me wary, but I didn't think he was capable of something so dark. Holy hell.

I see Monte watching me with his phone in his hand and he nods for me to get moving. My hands shake as I get into the van and I close my eyes as I try to pull it together. I look down to my purse with my keys in it. I'll go to the bank and drop the money. Then I'll get out of here as fast as I can. I need to be quick because I want as much time as I can to get myself out of the city before they realize I'm not coming back. I need to go by my tiny studio to grab the stash of money I have hidden away. It isn't much, but I need all I can get. I'm not touching this money because I don't want to give them a reason to come looking for me.

At least that's what I pray.

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