Chapter 64

* Ryder *

I can’t believe the pace at which this has all gone down. Everything around me was imploding, and I was barely able to keep up. I thought for sure this was all going to take at least a couple of months, but here we were, just a few weeks later. I get it, though; while I’ve been stuck in my own little world of complications, these men’s real purpose here was to bring home the girls, some of them now women, who have been suffering years of degradation and pain.

I’m not sure what all was supposed to happen next, but after Janie’s colossal meltdown on live TV, Lyon packed me off to New York a day early to be with her. I guess he saw the strain and stress I was under worrying about her. In my mind, even though her name was yet to be mentioned, they hated her so much, especially Janie, that I was afraid they might come after her.

Now I’m tasked with the unenviable duty of telling her about Rachel and what had gone down in the last few days. I know she hasn’t been in contact with the other woman because we talked every night, and she hadn’t mentioned it. My only worry was that this was going to hit her hard, losing a friend, but I didn’t want her finding out from anyone else but me.

I guess Scott and Mary must be in deep with some very bad people because I’ve never seen them move this fast on a deal as they have with the catalog business. The money went through in a matter of hours when usually they’d tell me that anything I wanted would take days. Now I know that it was all a lie and that letting anyone else control my life was a bad idea.

One good thing, other than the money that came out of that deal, is the fact that I now own all the rights to everything. I can cut Scott and everyone else involved in this mess out of my life without a backward glance, which is something I’d stressed about for a while now, ever since the truth came to light.

Whoever had drawn up the contract was a phenom, and the fact that Scott had signed it was still a bit of a surprise to me. There was no stone left unturned, and quite frankly, he stood to lose way more than he gained, which made it even more implausible.

But once I learned how he was held over a barrel, I got it. The fact that they claimed it was some ten-year-old named Nia who drew up the contract is where I draw the line, though; there’s no way. I don’t know why, of everything I’d seen so far, this one thing should stump me, but after years of dealing with legalese that I still don’t understand where contracts are concerned, I find it hard to believe.

Scott is the quintessential businessman, and there’s no way other than the present situation that would cause him to let go of the hold he had on me and many others, and it looks like those girls chose the right opportunity to get him for everything, and I mean everything.

I haven’t spoken to him since the day I went to his house with the contract, and I don’t plan on it unless I have to, which I may no longer have to. Once Cord, the SEAL, found the bunny Janie had been hiding, it was game over.

It’s hard to believe, but she had it all in there. I doubt they knew she was keeping tabs on everything, and between what the men had got off of my home security and the phone lines they’d tapped ever since Tyler and Zak moved in, plus the well-organized notes and recordings she kept in there, they had more than enough now, that they didn’t need me to fake another concert tour, which could’ve gone on for months.

According to Lyon, the reason they’d suggested the tour in the first place was to fish out the buyers that Mary and Scott worked with. Since everything had been heavily coded, they couldn’t quite make out the names of the men and women involved, not all of them anyway. But now they had all the information they needed, thanks to Janie’s meticulous note-keeping.

It was much worse than I thought; what they did to Elena and me was only the tip of the iceberg, these people are true monsters in every sense of the word, and the scariest thing of all is that I never saw it. Elena did, at least in part, and I won’t ever forget how she tried to warn me, to save me.

I pulled her a little bit closer because I could tell she was tired. The fear I’d felt in the few hours it took to get to her was finally backing off, and I could breathe again. I kissed her hair and breathed her in, finally allowing myself to believe that it was all coming to an end.

I have no idea what happened to Janie, and quite frankly, I don’t care. Part of the reason Lyon wanted me here, away from L.A., was to keep me out of the line of fire when the story broke. I’m still not sure which story he was referring to since there was so much going on, but I was just simply advised to wait for his call.

I get the feeling in a sense that his time with me was so that he could feel me out. The others seemed sure that I had no hand in the trafficking thing, but the big man himself seemed to want to make doubly sure for himself, and all I can say after seeing him in action is I’m glad I never took part in that filthy shit. It seems to bring out the worst in him.

The car finally came to a stop after making about ten twists and turns, sometimes going the wrong way down the now-empty New York streets and coming to a stop on Fifth Avenue in front of an old mansion that I didn’t even know existed.

What I know about this place is that it’s old money, the kind of money most people could only dream of, and the kind of bloodlines that go back generations. “Where are we? Whose place is this?” I asked Travis, another one of Lyon’s men who had been in my home back in L.A. with Cord and a few others who I was never introduced to.

The other guy was someone named Jared, Lyon’s right-hand man, or so it seemed since they went back the longest. The fact that Lyon had sent his cousin and his best friend to watch over her meant a lot to me, and not for the first time; I wondered how I got so lucky as to have the help of this amazing team of men.

The fact that his daughter and his nieces were the ones who pulled it all together is something that will take me a very long time to come to terms with, but that’s just my ego, I guess. I mean, who would believe that a bunch of little girls could plan out something like this and carry it through, and from what I heard before we left, they weren’t even done yet.

“You’re about to meet the great Russo. Don’t let his cold demeanor throw you off.” Jared looked back and smiled at her on my lap. “He’s a good kid, just one of those who could do without human contact.” I didn’t know what that meant, but he seemed to find it funny.

They whisked us out of the car, and the door opened right away as if someone had been watching for our arrival. A butler, yes, a butler, stood there and ushered us in. Behind him was a kid in his late teens or early twenties, I would guess, who looked at me like I was something he stepped in.

Travis and Jared came in behind us, and he gave them what I guess is his idea of a smile. It was gone as quickly as it appeared. “Were you followed?

“No, we made sure of it,” Jared answered him with a smirk and a twinkle in his eye. “We saw your men around the perimeter, though.”

He didn’t answer Travis’ jibe with anything more than a look that said ‘of course’ before turning his attention to us. I got the feeling that had Lyon’s men not been there; we wouldn’t have made it past the front door.

“Ryder, Elena, welcome to our home.” He held out his hand for us to shake, and I have to admit, I felt a little bit intimidated. I had to remind myself that I was a multi-millionaire with at least ten years on this kid. But there’s no mistaking the elitism that came off him in waves, or was that just confidence?

“Lyon said you will be here for a few days until things settle down. Come in, make yourselves at home. My wife is putting the kids to bed; she should be here any minute.” Wife? Kids? He looks like he should be in a classroom somewhere.

I thought I was big shit, but two minutes in this kid’s company, and I felt like a damn worm. Damn, where does Lyon find these men? Every last one of them is some kind of superhuman in one way or another.

* Mary *

“What do you mean? What kind of problem?”

“Did you hear all that noise out there a while ago? There’s a line of reporters outside your gate. I think something happened with Janie.”

“What do you mean? Is she dead?”

“No, but I think you should turn on the TV.”

I noticed then that he had his bags with him and was looking rather jittery. “What’s got you so nervous?”

“I don’t think they should find me here. I’m gonna slip out the back.” He was gone before I could question him further, and both Scott and I exchanged a look.

With the way things were going, I was almost too afraid to turn on the television, and I wish I hadn’t. I stood there like a comic character as my whole life flashed before my eyes. “What a stupid bitch.” What the hell has she done?

“Where’s Ryder?”

“Last I saw, he was with Saunders’ men. Never mind that. What the hell are we going to do? We’ve got to get our hands on her before she talks to anyone else.”

“She used my name. What the hell did she think she was doing?”

The phone started ringing, and within ten minutes, I had to turn it off. “I think we need to call in the others. This is going to get real ugly real fast.” And I thought the two hundred million dollars was a big deal. This was life or death.

***

* Rachel *

“Rachel Gibson.”

“Yes?” I turned to look at the two men in suits who approached me as soon as I got off the plane and walked outside from baggage claim to hail a cab.

“You’re gonna need to come with us.”

‘Who are you?” I started backing away, dreading the worst.

“FBI!” One of them flashed a badge, and I felt my heart drop.

“What is this about?”

“Illegal drugging, illegal wiretapping, just to name a few.”

“How?” I shut my mouth before I said anything that might incriminate me. Those bastards. They promised they would let me go if I left everything behind.

One of the men’s phones rang, “Yeah, we’ve got her. Here it’s for you.” He passed me the phone as I walked between the two of them, and I thought of all the ways I could escape since they hadn’t cuffed me or anything. But they were walking so close that I knew it would be a wasted effort.

“Hello!”

“I would tell them everything if I were you.”

“You lied to me. You said….”

“I always lie to people I don’t like. How does it feel?” How does it feel? I thought I had gotten away with it. I had some time to think on the plane and decided that losing one friend wasn’t the end of the world.

So what, I would have to start over again, maybe in some small town where no one knew me or had ever heard my name. I was even starting to look forward to a new start. I’d already mourned what was by the time the plane was in the air, but now I could see all of that slipping away.

“I did everything you asked; what else do you want from me?”

“Do you have any idea what it feels like to think that you’re losing your mind? To lose your freedom because your mind is working against you? Would you like to find out? Trust me; you’re better off behind bars. In a few hours, there’s going to be people looking for you. People who are not as nice as the two agents there with you now.”

“You’ve had time on the plane. Did you think of what you did? Or did you think of moving on?” How does this person know what’s going on in my head?

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“I told you. I don’t like you. My Daddy told me I can fuck off anyone I don’t like.”