CHAPTER ONE
Zek
How everything had gotten so incredibly fucked up was beyond me. Not only was Melissa Mills free in the world with a few screws missing, but her brother had been accepted at Lizzy and Alisa’s firm. Dillon Starling was not only a playboy and a half, but he was cunning, conniving... he was just like his father.
I slid my hand up the wall just beside the front door at Alisa’s place and took a shaky breath as my sister-in-law went off on a tangent over Dellup’s partners not realizing they were hiring Jon Mills’ son. I pressed the phone to my ear and tried to think through what the hell to do next.
My hands were tied thanks to my house arrest, and though my parole officer, Ronald, was beyond laid back, I was pushing my luck as it were.
“They don’t have the same last name!” Lizzy’s voice bordered on something like hysteria. I’d never seen or heard the woman lose her cool in all the years she’d been married to my brother.
“It’s Jon’s stepson, but he raised the guy.” I turned and pinned Ronald with a look, whispering, “We need to go.”
“We’re almost to Alisa’s. Get out of there and head back to your house now.” Lizzy growled softly through the phone. “I’ll have the cops there in a few minutes and we’ll continue the search. Melissa isn’t stupid enough to hurt Alisa, right? The girl isn’t that off her rocker, right, Zek?”
I let out a long sigh. “I don’t know. My instincts tell me no, but none of us really know this woman at all. Jon was a mess when I spoke with him a few minutes ago. She’s hell bent on taking me under, which I guess I understand, but Alisa shouldn’t suffer on my behalf.”
The phone buzzed as Ronald and I walked from the apartment. I’d have to leave the investigation part to the cops, but I wasn’t planning on returning to the house just yet. Jon Mills had been my lawyer for more years than I cared to count. I was hoping like hell Ronald would let me pay the old man a visit. We needed to see if Jon knew where Melissa was. He was our only hope for information, and though he was knee deep in his own agony over everything, he still had some good inside of him. He had to.
“Someone’s buzzing in, Lizzy. I’ll call back later.” I didn’t wait for her reply, but hit the button to answer the incoming call as I realized it was Alisa’s number.
“Alisa?” My voice broke, and I realized then and there that I could hide my fear from everyone else, but not to myself. The thickness of my despair was suffocating and hard to breathe past. A loud cry lifted from the phone and caused my blood to run cold. It was her crying out in pain. It did something inside of me. It broke me.
I stopped in the hall and pressed my hand to my face. “Baby? Where the fuck are you? Tell me where you are now. Alisa. Please.”
“I’m okay. I’ll see you soon. Just take care of—” I could hear the despair in her voice, though she seemed to be trying to mask it.
The line went dead. I turned to face Ronald as I started to hyperventilate.
“Hey, buddy. Pull it together.” He took the phone from me as my legs shook beneath me.
“This is Ronald. Who’s this? Where are you?” He pulled the phone from his face, studying it.
“They hung up. Someone has her, Ronald. Fuck.” I snatched the phone from him and tossed him the keys before walking to the car, getting in and leaning back as I called Jon Mills again. He didn’t answer, but I wasn’t too surprised about that. He wasn’t willing to help any more than he had to, simply because he was Melissa’s father. Where some part of me understood his need to protect the girl, the rest of me knew that if something happened to my woman, I wouldn’t stop to get to his daughter, his son and everyone else in the line that led directly to him.
“Fuck you too, Jon. Sorry bastard.” I turned to Ronald. “Take the turnpike and get us to River Oaks as fast as you can. I know where he lives, but I don’t know the address. Just follow my directions and hurry like hell. They have her, or I assume it’s them. I don’t know of anyone else who’s out to ruin my life.”
A numbness settled over me that I was almost grateful for. I needed to keep my wits about it, but it was like trying to win a fight against a tornado. Impossible.
“It will be fine. Just keep thinking positive thoughts and we’ll find her. I promise.” He turned off the freeway and pointed ahead. “That big ass white house up there? Looks like the White House in Washington.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Jon’s made a name for himself and loads of money to go with it.” I pressed my hand to my mouth and tried to let my thoughts shift to some of the good times Alisa and I had as kids, getting to know each other and starting to fall in love, but it was a moot point. I couldn’t shake the image of her hurt or scared.
Or dead. Knowing that she was with Melissa was nothing less than terrifying.
My phone buzzed, and I pulled it to my ear as Ronald parked in front of Jon’s mansion.
“Clark. You need to get over to Alisa’s place.”
“I’m already here. What the fuck happened? Have you found her? Is she with you?” Alisa’s older brother was in the middle of a panic attack quite capable of rivaling my own.
“I think she was taken by Melissa Mills, the girl I told you about from the mental hospital. I’m at Melissa’s dad’s house right now. I’ll call you back. Just wait on my brother and his wife—”
“Just sit here while my sister is missing. Is that a joke?” He wasn’t just terrified, but pissed.
“They’ve called the cops, Clark. You’re going to need their help. Let me talk with Jon, and I’ll call right away with the location where Melissa is staying. We’ll get over there and get Alisa back. I’m scared too, brother. I’m fucking beside myself.”
“Hurry.” Clark hung up the phone as other voices lifted in the background, and I had to assume that Lizzy and Mark had arrived.
I got out of the car and jogged up to the front door, not stopping to think before I banged on it several times. Ronald jogged up beside me and shook his head.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but we’re going to have to make a quick stop by a grocery store or the house or some place that makes sense for us to be out this long.” He patted my back.
I nodded, but kept my attention on the door. There was a slight chance I’d be going back to prison for breaking the rules, but all bets were off. I knew Alisa was in trouble. Nothing was going to divert me from finding her. Nothing other than being carted off myself.
Jon opened the door and moved back, making room to let us in. “I knew you would come by. Come on in.”
“No. Tell me where Dillon lives, Jon. Or Melissa. They have Alisa Manning. She called, screamed into the goddamn phone and then it went dead. You know as well as I do that if anything happens to her, you’ll be dragged into the center of it.” I pressed my hand to the brick wall beside me. “Melissa is a sick woman, and this isn’t just about her hurting someone’s fucking future. It’s about her possibly murdering someone.”
Just the thought of it caused my stomach to turn over. Nothing better happen to Alisa. I couldn’t stand to even contemplate it, and yet my thoughts kept sweeping back to the scene of her lying dead in a grungy apartment somewhere.
“I understand. Dillon lives in the Ridgeway Villa’s in downtown. It’s a ten minute drive. Go now. He’s close to Melissa. I don’t think—”
“Let’s go.” I turned and ran back to the car as I pressed the phone to my ear and called Lizzy.
“Tell me you have good news,” she barked at me. Everyone was unraveling fast, and I was no exception.
“I don’t, but tell the cops to get over to the Ridgeway Villa’s near downtown. You go there too. You’re much closer than I am. Don’t go into that place without help though. We don’t know what we’re up against.” I slammed my door as Ronald spun the wheels out and took off down the quiet street.
“We’ll be careful. Just be safe getting over there. The cops are headed over here now, but I’ll put in a call to tell them to head over to Ridgeway. Is that where Dillon’s apartment is?”
“Yes.” I took a shaky breath and had to fight against tears as my brother’s voice filled up the line.
“Hey. You holding up, okay?”
“No. Just help me find her, Mark. I’ve been looking for her my whole life and she was right there the whole time, right under my nose. I shouldn’t have left when we were kids, I just figured I knew better.” I turned to look out the side window and pressed my fingers to my eyes.
“You’ve always been a martyr. It’s not a bad thing most of the time. I think maybe when we get Alisa back, the two of you should seriously stop dicking around with each other and just dive in deep. There’s a lot there between the two of you. We’re all aware of it. You both have to be too.”
“I agree. I’d give just about anything to have this work out. Some part of me has already resigned to her being dead.” I choked on fear as it lodged in my throat.
“Stop that shit. You know that will only shut you down and leave you paralyzed. She’s a tough girl. She’ll have Melissa on the ground and the guy helping her in a headlock. Don’t turn her into the spring flower that she’s not.” He chuckled, and I forced a soft laugh of my own.
“I guess. I just don’t want her to suffer because of me. This is all my shit. Everyone’s had to deal with this when it should have been just m—”
“Shut up. I’m heading over there now, and Lizzy is driving like a bat outta hell. Pray that we don’t die, and I’ll text you the minute we get there.”
“Alright. Thanks, Mark.” I hung up the phone and turned to Ronald. “Man, I know we need to make this look legit, but I won’t be able to stop until I have Alisa in front of me. If that means I go back to jail, that’s fine.”
“I get it. It will be okay. We’ll work it out. There are special cases all the time.” He turned a corner a little too fast, and I grabbed my door to hang on. “Sorry. My heart is racing. I didn’t know this assignment would turn out to be so damn crazy.”
“My whole life has been nothing but crazy lately.” I tried to get a hold of myself, but it was damn near impossible. I could only hope that my brother made it to her before anything happened. Clark was headed that way too, and if I knew anyone would be willing to barge into the middle of a hostage situation and bust a few heads, I knew it would be him. He loved Alisa far too much to do anything less.
Otherwise, my next time in court would be because I had blood on my hands, not dollar signs in my eyes.