Vanessa stands in the middle of my living room looking scared shitless of my wrath. She knows I’m not fucking around. I asked her here to talk. The most recent pictures I’ve recently received are from the time I spent with Siobhan in San Francisco. I needed to question Vanessa in person to check her bullshit meter.
“Grayson, I promise I didn’t leak the pictures to the dean. Although I think you can do better than Siobhan, I wouldn’t do that to you.” She backs up until her back is against the bar. I saunter over to her calculatingly slow until we are mere inches apart. She bows her head, but I lift her chin so that she is forced to look me in the eyes.
“By better, are you talking about yourself Vanessa?” She gasps and murmurs unintelligibly.
“What was that? Fuck it, I’ll throw you a bone here so you can save some dignity. You and me will never happen again. What we had was a fuck, but don’t confuse that with something it wasn’t.” Her lips begin to tremble. I fucking hate to see a woman cry. Sad thing is, this is the only way that she will see the reality of our past involvement. I know that she was hoping to have a crack at me when she came over since Siobhan and I are broken up, but she is sadly mistaken. I love Siobhan and I plan to make things right as soon as she graduates, but for now, my ruse is necessary for her benefit.
“Aargh,” I growl. “This shouldn’t be a surprise to you. I never pretended that we were anything more than friends that occasionally fucked. You were well aware. Or have you forgotten?” She regains her composure and just like that she slips her mask of indifference back up.
“You’re right Grayson. You were a nice fuck, but I’ve had better and I can do better.” Her jab at my ego is pointless. “You two deserve each other. I just wonder how in love she’ll be with you once she finds out the real truth about Celeste.” She smirks as that jab landed as intended.
“Is that a threat?” My nostrils flare. My past with Celeste is the one thing that can fuck my whole world— jeopardize my future with Siobhan.
“Nope. Not at all Grayson,” she smiles victoriously. “I’ll be going now.” I follow her to the door. I’m ready for her to get the hell out of here. She has managed to take my mind to a place I rather not visit and she knows it.
“Grayson, why is Jordan’s Mercedes behind mine?” I follow Vanessa’s eyes and sure enough, the car is blocking her in. I run past her toward the car. It has to be Siobhan. God, I can only imagine the thoughts running through her head to see Vanessa here. I know she thinks I’ve run back to her since this has been our tradition in the past. I get to the car, but it is empty. I look around, but I don’t see her. Vanessa leans across her car with her arms folded.
“Siobhan,” I yell out. “Where are you baby?” There is no answer. I run into the house to grab my phone. I dial her number, but it only rings before going to voicemail. I call Bailey to get Jordan’s number. She tries to find out what is going on, but I tell her I can’t talk now.
I dial the first few numbers for Jordan, before Vanessa bursts in the house yelling. “Grayson, I have Siobhan’s phone.” The current conflict between us is put aside. Although, she can be a bitch, I know that she really does care about me.
“What? Where was it?” I snatch the phone out of her hand and see my missed calls.
“It was in her purse in the car,” she says. We exchange worried glances. “How did she even get in the gate without being buzzed in?” That’s a great fucking question. How did I not know that she was here? I run to my office to check my security feed. The cameras display black fuzz.
“Fuuucccckk!!!” I yell. I open my desk drawer and pull out the business card I have for Agent Morris from the FBI and hand it to Vanessa. “Call this number on the card and tell them I need agents here now. After that, call my father.”
“You don’t want to make sure she’s not here on the grounds somewhere?” I point to my cameras. Someone cut the feed to the cameras Vanessa. I’m pretty sure they overrode the access to the gate too, allowing themselves, as well as Siobhan, to get in undetected.” I fall into my office chair. I can’t believe this is happening.
“Do you think this has anything to do with the pictures and the leak to the dean that you were accusing me of.” Her eyes are wide. She is genuinely afraid.
“Yes,” I say simply. “Please go make these calls for me. I need to see what I can find on these tapes before they cut the feed.”
“Anything you need Grayson. We’ll find her.” She leaves and closes the door behind her.
I slam my hands down on my desk. Fuck, I should have just told her. I started getting warnings of ‘I’m on to you’ in a manila envelope in my inbox at work. Then came the demands for a million dollars or they would share my dirty secret. The threats were vague in the beginning, but I contacted the FBI anyway and notified them of the attempted extortion. I assumed it was someone who was sour over losing their company to ours during a hostile takeover. My father’s start of this company consisted of some illegal practices, but everything’s legit now and the past has been buried. I thought whatever this person thought they knew about our company couldn’t be proven. A detail was put on me and I continued on as usual. They were pretty much invisible until last night when I got into that altercation with that opportunistic fuck at the club.
When pictures of Siobhan and I were leaked to the dean, I didn’t tie the two instances together. My suspicions were between Liam and Vanessa. Hence the reason I broke up with her and started being seen with another woman. I needed to make the break up seem real in case we were being watched. I couldn’t share that with her because her rebellious nature wouldn’t have gone along with it. I couldn’t risk her getting the deal I made with the dean revoked because she refused to stay away from me. It crushed me to see the hurt I caused her. I almost caved last night, but I had to stay strong. And now she’s gone. I had a detail put on her as a precaution, but there was no activity reported in relation to her so they backed off.
Now that she is gone, I’ll bet anything the two threats are related. She is what they were calling my dirty little secret not my father’s old seedy dealings. They are going to use her now to get the millions they couldn’t get before. I’m prepared to pay every damn cent. God, I couldn’t live with myself if they hurt her. She’s my world. I can’t go through this shit again. I comb through the video footage, but there’s nothing. I put my head on my desk. I feel so fucking helpless. My father walks into my office with Vanessa close behind him.
“The FBI is here son. They’re outside now scouring the property, looking for clues to Siobhan’s disappearance.” I look up at him and I don’t attempt to hide my watery eyes. “Stay strong son.”
“That’s easier said than done. Right now the woman I love is in the custody of some sick fuck who has an ax to grind with me for business that we have done!” I pound the desk again, but I really want to put my fist through a wall.
“You don’t know that son. It may be someone we’ve done business with and it may not. We are a pretty high profile family. Anyone could have seemed you out and realized Siobhan was your weakness.” Vanessa sits quietly in the corner listening to it all.
“Your father’s right,” Agent Morris says walking in. “This was a professional job. Whoever did this, had been studying the habits of you two. They took her quickly and quietly. They are expecting you to crumble so we need you to be strong. If you had a business trip to take, now would be ideal.”
“Well I was planning to visit Paris tomorrow to take a look at a potential clothing company I may be interested in. I'm looking to diversify our portfolio. Maybe Grayson and Vanessa can go in my place,” my father speaks up.
“Are you both fucking nuts? The woman I love is missing and you want me to leave the god damn country?” I can’t believe this was even suggested. I get up and begin to pace because I’m about to lose it. Vanessa gets up and tries to calm me down, but I shrug away from her.
“Listen for a second Grayson. Siobhan’s life may depend on it. Any weakness from you right now can be detrimental. You need to appear as the ruthless business man that can’t be broken by pussy.” I charge the agent for his insinuation that Siobhan is merely pussy, but my father grabs me. “You need to show that you are in charge and that the negotiation will be on your terms. They need to feel that they should take what you’re offering or they won’t get shit. After all, you haven’t folded up to this point. If you show weakness, they will up the anty and have you jumping through hoops and giving even more money. In the end, they’ll probably kill her anyway. If we do this right and make them work on your terms, it’ll give us more time to find her before the close of the deal. You leaving the country will stall their plans because they didn't account for you being gone.”
Fuck, I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this, but if it is my best chance at saving Siobhan, I’ll do it. “When do I leave?” I ask reluctantly.
“Tonight,” my father says patting me on the shoulder. Vanessa says she needs to go pack a bag so she was sent with an agent and my driver to collect her things. Agent Garrison and Agent Thompson join Agent Morris and my father to discuss a plan. They want me to be emotionally prepared for when this sick fuck finally calls. After a plan is in place, I pick up the phone to call Jordan. I will leave it to her to inform Siobhan’s mother.
“Hello,” Jordan answers
“Hey Jordan. This is Grayson.”
“Tell Siobhan, I’m going to kick her ass for sneaking off to see you,” she teases.
“Jordan, Siobhan has been taken. She’s not here.” There is silence on the other end of line as she processes what I just said. Her fear is almost palpable as she audibly swallows the lump in her throat.
“Taken where?” she asks shakily.
“She’s been kidnapped.” My own voice trembles at the reality.
“Noooooooo! Shit Shit Shit,” she swears. The line goes silent for a second and I wonder if she’s still there. “Grayson, there’s something I have to tell you.” Trepidation fills me as I wait to hear what has her so distraught with the little information that I’ve shared thus far.
“Just spill it Jordan,” I say impatiently.
“Siobhan has had a stalker since last semester. He or she admitted to tampering with her tire, which caused her accident. I’m so sorry. She convinced me to not to say anything to anyone outside of the officer she confided in because she didn’t want people to worry.” This is so much fucking worse than I ever could have imagined. What the fuck? How could she keep something like this from me? The irony is not lost on me that I kept the fact that someone was black mailing me from her for the same reason. I fall to my knees in the center of my office and my phone falls from my hands. I promise I will kill the sons of bitches responsible for taking her if it’s the last thing I do. The agents want strength. Well, there it is. This revenge will fuel me and propel me forward.