Chapter Five
The next morning they traveled the rest of the way in silence.
Mary had tried to speak up several times, only she didn’t have a clue what to say so she’d held her tongue. Something had changed between them last night, and neither one of them was comfortable with it.
Last night, when Chase had returned with a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and a pair of sweatpants, he’d mumbled something, tossed them on the bed, along with her can of soda and then locked himself in the shower for twenty minutes.
So much for his Speedy Gonzales ways.
Mary didn’t allow herself to speculate on what he might be doing in there.
Instead, she’d shimmied into her new clothes, feeling marginally better about wearing clean duds. When Chase finished showering, he’d released her and fallen asleep on the chair while watching television, instead of the bed. Only this time, he’d propped it against the door, so she had no way out, besides the big picture window next to him. For some reason, Mary had been disappointed he hadn’t slept beside her, which was insane.
Finally, they pulled up in front of an ordinary suburban house. Sure, it was nice, much better than the hotels they’d been staying in, but it was a far cry from the Cobb mansion. Evidently, these folks weren’t as fortunate as her granddad. Although, there was a gate out front, and Chase had to enter a security code to get in, but there was no guard on duty.
“Come on, let’s go inside.” Chase shut off the engine and pocketed the keys.
Mary was reluctant to leave the truck. She knew what to expect from Chase, even if she didn’t like it and Mary wasn’t ready to meet more people, especially the people who’d arranged her kidnapping.
“Why?”
“You’ve gotta kiss the ring.”
“What?”
“It’s a figure of speech, forget it.” He hopped out of the truck. “Let’s get this over with, and we’ll go to my place.” Evidently, he wasn’t looking forward to the encounter either.
“I’m not gonna stay here?”
“No, you’re bunkin’ with me. We’re strictly here for a meet and greet. We’ll get in, get out, and then move on.” She wasn’t sure what to make of his behavior. Did the other members of his group scare him?
“Okay.” She left the relative safety of the vehicle and tried to keep calm.
“Let’s go.” Chase grasped her arm, but the gesture was supportive, rather than controlling. He walked her to the back door and a guard stopped them on the staircase.
He nodded to Chase. “This is her?”
“Yeah, where’s my dad?”
“In the livin’ room.” He moved aside so they could enter. The man wore a handgun in a holster beneath his jacket, just like Ten and Jasper.
She didn’t like the way he looked at her. Somehow his gaze was appreciative but cold at the same time, as though he were sizing her up, and imagining doing reprehensible things to her.
Chase’s grip on her arm tightened incrementally, as though staking his territory. As the two men talked, her thoughts drifted.
I wanna go home.
Not even back to Harvard. No, right now she wanted to be in her bed in Crimson Creek, behind the guard tower, with the covers over her head. Maybe she’d watch shows on Netflix and then have some of Jasper’s famous barbecue.
That sounded good.
But fantasies wouldn’t get her out of this predicament, so she had to figure a way out of this.
Think, dammit, come up with some options.
If Mary could get her hands on a cell phone or computer, she’d be in business.
Mary looked around the room. The house was ordinary looking, which was sort of a disappointment. Maybe she’d watched one too many movies, but Mary expected unscrupulous people to have an evil lair. Instead, they stood in a kitchen with white cabinetry and gray linoleum floors, like any other home.
“I’ve gotta search her for weapons.”
Chase stepped in front of Mary. “She doesn’t have anything. I already checked.”
“You know the rules. The boss says everybody gets inspected, except for members. Nobody else comes in here without a pat down.”
Grumbling, Chase stepped aside, and the man advanced on her.
Mary shrank from his touch, but there was literally nowhere to go. Her back was already against the wall, in both the literal and figurative sense of the term.
“Hello, darlin’. You’re a pretty thing, aren’t you, Mary?”
I’m not a thing.
Although Mary was wise enough to keep her smart comments to herself. She’d given Chase some sass without hesitation, but Mary didn’t know this man.
“I’m Harry Cook, pleased to meet ya.”
Mary nodded in response but didn’t speak.
“Quiet too. My kind of woman.” His brown-eyed gaze was hungry. Harry had a thick, muscular build with a barrel chest and a shaved head.
What an asshole.
“Can we get this over with? I’ve got things to do.” Chase glowered at Harry. If Mary didn’t know better, she’d think he had a problem with the way Harry looked at her, too.
Harry’s hands roughly slid over her, and she grimaced, barely tolerating his touch. He had this leering glint in his eyes as he patted her down. His fingertips drifted up and down the length of her legs, over her hips, along her sides, and for a split second, he touched her breasts.
Mary gave a startled gasp.
“That’s enough. She isn’t hiding any weapons.” Chase clasped her hand, and she must be crazy, but Mary found it reassuring. He hustled her out of the room.
They found Chase’s father in front of a wide screen television watching a football game. Mary didn’t recognize the team, but she didn’t pay much attention to sports.
“Who’s winning?” Chase asked, sitting down on the opposite couch and Mary sat beside him.
“It don’t matter.” He lowered the volume and then inspected Mary. “I’m Noah Warren, and you must be Mary Cobb.” Noah raised his brows. “No wonder my son wants to keep you all to himself. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The man offered his hand as though he expected her to shake it.
Mary had to achieve a delicate balance. She didn’t want to anger him, but she refused to act like a doormat by pretending this was an ordinary social call. Instead of a handshake, Mary nodded coolly.
“You’ve inherited your grandfather’s grit.” There was something predatory, wolfish about the man.
“Maybe.” Mary studied him in return, and she could see the family resemblance. He was an older version of Chase. Although, Chase had a much kinder face, or perhaps Mary liked his company more. At the very least, she was used to it.
“The last time I saw you, you were knee-high to a grasshopper.” To illustrate his point, he lifted a hand a couple feet off the ground. “Do you remember me?”
Mary shook her head. She didn’t recall meeting him, but children didn’t usually remember boring adults they came into contact with, so she didn’t think too much of it.
“What do you want with me?”
His smile was oily. “I want to share my hospitality with you.”
He’d arranged her abduction so he could play the perfect host? Nope, try again.
“You know my grandfather somehow?”
Noah leaned back in his easy chair. “Why, yes, Tucker and I go way back.”
“Are you friends…? Colleagues?”
“No, not even remotely. We’re rivals.”
Crap.
“You’re in the same business then?”
His eyes narrowed. “You don’t know what your granddad does for a living?”
“No.”
“Dad, don’t…” Chase scooted closer to her, almost protectively.
Noah ignored him. “You honestly have no idea?”
“No, he’s refused to tell me.” Mary held her breath. She’d wanted this answer for a very long time, and she was about to get it.
He chuckled. “I’ll be damned, the sly old dog kept it from you all these years.”
“What business is my granddad in?” Mary braced herself, ready for whatever he might say. In her heart of hearts, she already knew her grandfather wasn’t a simple businessman, not if he was mixed up with these people.
“Darlin’, you’re granddad’s a notorious mob boss with a double-digit body count to his credit.” Noah gave a toothy grin. “And so am I.”
***
“Talk to me.”
“Why should I?” After her disastrous meeting with Noah, Chase had taken her to the Forrester once more, and they were headed to Walmart. She barely remembered the rest of the conversation.
Finally, she’d gotten the answer to the question she’d been asking for years. And now Mary wished she’d left it alone. Funny, both Jasper and Justice had told her to let it go, but she hadn’t listened, and now she regretted it.
Too late now.
Mary couldn’t pretend otherwise, and she no longer had the luxury of being clueless.
It made her call everything into question—conversations she’d had with him, strange occurrences. She not only examined her relationship with her grandfather but other people, too.
Like Jasper.
Sweet, charming Jasper had been lying to her for years. And Vick, too. Mary had considered them friends, but they had this whole secret life they’d kept from her. Even Byron, who was so smooth and movie star handsome, was a killer. It’s like waking up one day to find out everyone else was an alien or something.
What else didn’t she know? How many other secrets were there?
“Mary?”
“What?” she snapped.
“Talk to me. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“Why should I?” Mary knew this wasn’t Chase’s fault, but somehow she blamed him anyway, because she wouldn’t have found out if he hadn’t taken her.
“Because you need to talk to somebody and I’m the only one who’s here.”
Like it or not, Chase had a point, but Mary couldn’t sort through all of the shifting emotions, let alone hold a coherent conversation. Not yet.
“I’m fine.”
“No, you aren’t.”
No, she wasn’t, not by a long shot. How could I have been so blind?
“For the record, my dad didn’t lie to you, and this isn’t some kind of sick mind game.” Chase had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel, as though this revelation bothered him as well, which was absurd. Why would he care?
“That’s what I’m afraid of, and now that I know, it makes a lot of sense, actually.”
“Which scares you?”
“Exactly, everything came into focus.” She sighed. “Know what’s funny?”
“Tell me.” Chase kept his eyes on the road and didn’t glance at her, which made talking easier.
“I’ve been searchin’ for the truth for weeks, and now I don’t know if I can handle this.”
“Nobody can prepare for this kind of news.” Chase almost sounded sympathetic, as if he’d been through the same thing.
And then she put it together.
His father was in the mob, so at some point, he’d had the same realization. However, Chase decided to follow in Noah’s footsteps.
“How’d you take it? When you found out Noah was a hit man?”
Chase snorted. “I lost my shit. At first, I didn’t believe it, and then I started actin’ out. Eventually, I joined the home team, but we’ll save that story for another time.”
“And yet it feels like we’re talkin’ about two different people. There’s my granddad, the man who loves me and then there’s this mobster guy, and I swear to God I’ve never even met him.”
Mary couldn’t quite wrap her head around it. Tucker was a kindly old man who wanted her to check in with him every evening to make sure she was safe and gave her money for treats.
How in the world can he be a heartless killer?
“They do their best to fit in with the rest of society and fool everybody. Believe me, people in this lifestyle cover their tracks. ”
“Are you talking about yourself, too?”
His nostrils flared. “Yes.”
Mary buried her face in her hands. “I still keep hoping this is some kind of freaky dream and I’ll wake up in my own bed in Texas.”
“Sorry, princess, but this is reality.”
“Well, I hate it.” She shook her head, trying to clear it. “Should I be screaming or crying or something?”
“No, I think it’s still sinking in. If I remember rightly, those stages will come after the initial shock wears off.”
Mary doubted it ever would.
The rest of the drive was quiet, interrupted only by the hum of the engine.
“Come on, let’s get you something to wear.”
Chase parked near the door and shut the engine off. It was around eleven at night, and yet the Walmart parking lot was almost full.
For a moment, she toyed with the idea of asking for help. All she had to do was approach a likely candidate, and tell him she’d been abducted. Could she get to someone, before Chase figured out what she was doing and then dragged her back to the vehicle? Probably not. And when she’d proven herself untrustworthy, what would happen to her?
Mary probably didn’t want to know.
Besides, where would she go now? Back to Tucker, the Southern version of the Godfather? No, not until she’d made sense of this.
“I don’t feel like shopping.” Mary made no move to get out of her seat.
“What are you talking about? Women love to shop.”
“I’m not like other women.” Mary was spoiling for a fight.
“Too bad, because you don’t get a choice. You can’t stay in those clothes for the rest of your time here.”
Mary couldn’t believe his choice of words. He’d made it sound as though she were a houseguest instead of a hostage.
She heaved a sigh. “Fine, let’s go.” He was right; she needed something to wear. They got out of the car, and he took her hand in his. She tried to pull it away, but he held onto her.
“Promise me you won’t do anything stupid in there.”
“Like what? Scream for help?”
Mary didn’t know what was wrong with her. Antagonizing him was a terrible idea, yet she couldn’t seem to help herself. She was angry at the world, especially her grandfather, but he wasn’t here to scream and yell at.
He nodded. “Or do anything else to draw attention to us.”
“I understand.”
“Do you? Because you don’t seem scared enough.”
“What do you mean?”
“Believe me, when I tell you, I don’t want to hurt anybody, so please play along, and everybody lives, okay?”
A chill slid down her spine.
“Mary?”
“Meaning…?”
“You’re valuable to us, but other people aren’t. Understand?”
“Yeah, I got it.”
Once inside, he led her to the clothing racks. The duds weren’t fancy, but they were a hell of a lot better than spending another night in her tacky bright orange gift shop clothing or the grungy jeans she’d been wearing. And she hadn’t changed her underwear for three freaking days.
Mary was dying for a long hot shower and some alone time. Then she wanted to sleep and maybe do some thinking while Chase wasn’t bothering her. In the meantime, it was nice to have a practical distraction, tasks she could accomplish, which required very little brainpower.
“Pick out a couple pairs of jeans, three or four tops, and whatever else you need.”
As Mary rummaged through the rack, she kept an eye on Chase. Women walking by looked him up and down and she couldn’t blame them. He was handsome and they didn’t know he was a hitman.
Stop thinking about Chase. Don’t be an idiot. He’s your jailer, not your date.
She found a couple of pairs of size six jeans and tossed them into a cart, along with a brand new hoodie, and a few t-shirts. Chase didn’t say a word about what she picked out, so she figured the price was fine with him.
Her sneakers were okay, but she needed socks, bras, and underwear. And she had to pick them out under his watchful eye, even the thought made her cheeks flame.
Seriously? After everything, you’re embarrassed about picking out panties?
“Need anything else?” he asked.
“I have to get a couple more things.”
“Well, get them. I don’t know about you but it’s been a long couple of days, and I’m ready to go to bed.” He snapped his fingers. “Come to think of it, while we’re here, pick out some toiletries, unless you wanna use my Old Spice shower gel.”
She scrunched up her nose. “Yeah, no thanks.”
Mary was about to head over to the underwear and then chickened out. Instead, she pushed the cart toward the hygiene products and chose shampoo, conditioner, and soap, along with other things she’d need like a razor and a shower pouf.
And then it was time to select the rest.
No more stalling.
Chase followed her down the aisle. Mary grabbed a multi-pack of white socks and pitched them in the buggy. Then she seized some white cotton granny panties, but before she tossed them in, his voice forestalled her.
“You don’t have to get those if you don’t want.”
She froze. It’s not like she was picking out lingerie for company.
“They’re fine.”
He smirked. “Are they?”
“Yes.” Mary scowled.
Chase chuckled. “Well, they’re very, er, practical.”
“Why? Do you want me to choose something else?”
He ignored the question, but somehow she had a feeling the answer was “yes.”
After pitching the underwear in, she grabbed a couple of white cotton bras as well.
“This is probably more your style.” Chase grabbed a pink thong from the rack and placed it on top of her white lingerie.
“You’d be wrong.” Mary had the urge to sock him right in the jaw. She’d never thrown a punch, but he deserved one. She picked the thong up by the edge of the fabric, holding it between two fingers, as though afraid it would taint her and laid the item on a nearby shelf.
Chase flung it back into the cart.
“Hey!”
“Hey what? I’m buyin’, and I say you need somethin’ fun.”
Fun for who, exactly?
Mary opened her mouth to protest, but couldn’t think of anything to say, so she kept walking down the aisle.
“I almost forgot, you need a nightgown.”
She whipped back around to stare at him.
Mary had planned on sleeping in the shirts she’d picked out, but Chase led her over to the nightgowns. Before she could get a demure flannel one, Chase selected a couple of lacy black chemises.
If she didn’t know better, Mary would think he was trying to provoke her.
“I’m not sleeping with you.” The words popped out before she could stop herself. Mary’s cheeks burned.
“Well, I didn’t ask you.” Chase smirked.
“Then what’s up with the sex clothes?”
“They aren’t sex clothes.”
“And what do you call this butt floss?” Mary waved the pink thong like a flag. “Women don’t wear these for comfort.”
“You don’t say.” He scratched his chin. “Then why do they wear them?”
Mary didn’t understand his motives. Was he teasing her, hoping to lift her mood? Or just plain annoy the crap out of her? And wasn’t he the one who said they shouldn’t draw attention to themselves?
She balled up a fist. “For guys. That’s the whole point of lingerie, to entice men.”
“Waste of time, if you ask me.”
“Huh?” Mary was exhausted, and he was getting on her nerves.
“Men don’t need much encouragement.” And then he winked at her. The jerk actually winked! “A pretty girl like you could get any man she wanted while wearin’ a burlap sack if she took a notion.”
Once again, she blushed, and her mouth went dry.
Chase locked eyes with her, and neither of them glanced away.
“Miss, is he bothering you?” An elderly man walked over to them. An older woman, Mary assumed was his wife, perused the flannel nightgowns and ignored them all.
“Uh…” Mary trailed off.
Chase’s expression went stone cold and he shook his head, almost imperceptibly.
Mary gulped. “No, I’m fine.”
“See, we’re together.” Chase wrapped an arm around her, all sweetness and light once more.
The old man cackled. “Oh, I see, a lover’s quarrel, eh?”
“Something like that.” Mary walked away, with Chase hot on her heels.
“I’m glad you didn’t force me to do anythin’ we’d both regret.”
She snorted. “Evidently my granddad isn’t the only Jekyll and Hyde I know.”
After they went through the checkout, Mary stopped in the bathroom. There were no outside windows, so Chase stayed near the door and waited. At least, she didn’t have to pee while he observed this time.
When she finished, Mary washed her hands and wiped them on a paper towel.
“Here, you dropped this.” A woman handed her a cheap flip phone.
“No, I didn’t.” But the woman walked out the door and then the phone rang. She stared at it in consternation for a moment. It kept ringing, and everyone looked at her expectantly.
Crap, I gotta answer this.
“Hello?” Mary asked as she pressed it to her ear.
“Mary Cobb, this is Agent Hawthorne with the FBI. Are you being held against your will?”
Woah.
Mary recognized the voice, but couldn’t quite place it. And then she realized this wasn’t a mistake, the woman who’d handed her the phone must’ve been an agent too.
“Hello? Mary? Can you hear me?”
She didn’t know what to say.
After the revelation, how could she go home? And yet, staying with Chase wasn’t a practical alternative either. She literally had nowhere to run. Under normal circumstances, she’d go to Jasper for help, but he was one of them too.
I’m trapped.
And what about Justice? How did he fit into this? Mary didn’t know what to do or who to trust anymore.
“Yes, I can hear you, and I’m fine. Did my grandfather contact you?”
“No. Were you taken against your will?”
Mary didn’t want to lie to a federal officer, but she couldn’t set anything official in motion either. How did they know she’d been abducted? And what if they came after Tucker, too? She didn’t want to be responsible for sending her own grandfather to prison.
“How did you find me?”
“I’ve been followin’ you all the way from Texas. I want to help you, Mary, but I can’t until you tell me what happened. ”
“Why were you following me?” She’d never even had a traffic ticket, for pity’s sake.
“Mary, we only have a few moments, and I need you to answer me. All you have to do is say the words, and I’ll come for you. I can’t intervene until then.”
Where have I heard his voice before? She still couldn’t place it.
“And where would you take me? Back to my grandfather?” Mary wasn’t ready to see him yet.
“I could take you back to Boston.”
Harvard. Funny, she’d been so eager to get back there until this stunning secret had landed on top of her. Now, nothing seemed real, and for once in her life, Mary didn’t have a plan or a path forward to follow.
“Mary, are you in there?” She heard Chase’s voice on the other side of the door. “You’ve been gone an awfully long time.”
“Quick, hang up and toss the phone in the trash. I’ll find a way to check in with you again.”
“Hello?” But there was no reply, so reluctantly Mary threw the phone out. If Chase found her with it, who knows what he’d do. She finished wiping her hands and walked out of the restroom.
Chase was pacing back and forth, and he glanced up when he saw her.
“Everything okay?”
Mary had no idea how to answer the question. She’d possibly just made a huge mistake by not asking for help, and Mary wondered if it would come back to haunt her later.
“What a loaded question.” She sighed. “I’m ready, let’s go.”