But she couldn’t wait. She couldn’t take the waiting. Her sister had been kidnapped for days. She had been taken by some monster and was locked away in a cage. Did she know Chelsea was looking for her, or had she already given up hope? What if she did something foolish and reckless because she thought it was her only chance for freedom?
What if they were hurting her? What if they had been hurting her for days and Chelsea hadn’t done the one thing she should do? But Blue would never forgive her if she did it. She would never be able to look him in the eye again. But it was her only choice. The day of the fights was coming up, but how was she to know if the boys from Detroit would keep their word? What was money when it came to family?
She pulled Terrance’s number off of Blue’s phone and with a deep breath she called him. The phone range once and then twice and then three times, what would happen if he didn’t pick up?
“Hello, Chelsea,” Terrance said. His voice was as oily and over-confident as ever. She could easily imagine him sitting behind his desk, his feet propped up as he smirked into the phone.
“You did this,” Chelsea said into the phone. “From start to finish this was all you. You had my sister kidnapped. You’re marrying our mother; Jamie would have been your stepdaughter.”
“Jamie will be my stepdaughter,” Terrance said. “Nothing is going to happen to her. As I said before, she hasn’t been hurt. She’s just collateral.”
“Collateral for what?” Chelsea demanded.
“He hasn’t told you?” Terrance asked with mild surprise. “Well, how serious can the two of you be?”
“Don’t try that with me. I know all your tricks, Terrance. I know how you lie to people and get them to question everyone around them except you. I’m not falling for that. I don’t want to hear what you have to say. I’m going to do the talking from here on out.”
“All right.”
“How much for Jamie?” Chelsea demanded.
“In dollars? Billions, I would have to say.”
“Come on, Terrance. I’m serious. I have a lot of capital and I want my sister back, cut a deal with me.”
“My, my, you are a girl who is used to getting her way, aren’t you? Here’s the thing about pretty girls like you, Chelsea. Pretty girls are spoiled girls; they are constantly told how pretty they are and they are rewarded for their beauty. They have more confidence, they date whoever they want, and, in general, life is very good to them. This makes the beautiful girl think she is special. But she isn’t. The special girl is something different. There are millions of beautiful girls; you see them on street corners every night. They are raised to think the sun shines out of their ass and whatever they want will always be handed to them.
But the pretty girl has a short shelf life. Before she knows it she’s the beautiful woman, and then with the snap of a finger, she’s just another old woman, same as all the rest. Because, you see, Chelsea, you were never really that special to begin with. You’re just pretty and I can get all the pretty girls I want. I don’t take orders from you, I am not interested in your happiness, and you mean nothing to me at all.”
Chelsea’s whole body was shaking and she gripped the phone tightly. “Fine, I may not be special, but I am rich. I saw your house, Terrance, and I can tell you this: it’s garbage. My pool guy wouldn’t live in your house. Now I have money, Terrance, real money. What’s it going to take to get my sister.”
“You don’t have it, sweetheart.”
“Five million,” Chelsea said into the phone.
“No, no, you still don’t understand. These fights aren’t about money. I mean obviously money plays a part, but there’s more to it. These are elite fights, not just anyone can attend. People are desperate for an invite to these fights. People come for miles in the hope that I might bless them with an invitation. This is how I keep my business afloat, my dear. How can you put a price tag on that?”
“Ten million,” Chelsea offered. “I have it, Terrance. I can get it right now.”
“I don’t need your money. Wow, that does feel good say. Go to hell, Chelsea Riley, I don’t need your money, just your desperation.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I can hear your heartbreak. I can see your tears all over the internet. But I know this isn’t really about you and Ryan. I know you’re really crying for your sister and I know that every tear that slides down your perfect face is a knife in Blue’s side. It’s what I wanted.”
“I don’t understand...”
“If I took you, Blue would have gone mad. He would have tortured me and snapped my neck to get to you, I have no doubt about that. But Jamie? He wouldn’t go that far; he would fight for her, though. But really he’d be fighting for you. He could never stand to see you unhappy, or live knowing he was the cause of it.”
“Blue didn’t cause this,” Chelsea whispered into the phone. From the other side of the wall she heard Blue turn off the shower and the background noise of the falling water faded away. The house sounded deathly quiet without it.
“He didn’t cause it, but he can end it. You could have had your sister back days ago, Chelsea. All I wanted was Blue’s assurance that he would fight, but he refused to give it me, so I had to take your sister as collateral.”
“You want Blue to fight?” Chelsea demanded. “But it’s a fight to the death.”
“I know,” Terrance said. “But he’ll win. I’m betting my whole fortune on it.”
“You can’t make him do this,” Chelsea said, she was reaching for straws anything that would undo this horrible situation.
“I’m not making him. You and those tears are.”
“Stop it! You have Jamie! You brought the sponsors here, you did all of this.”
“And now Blue is going to undo it. He’ll win the fight, you’ll get your sister back, and I’ll get even richer. Everyone wins, Chelsea, can’t you see that?”
“Chels?” There were three quiet knocks on the door and Chelsea looked up with a gasp.
She looked down at the phone and hit end. She couldn’t talk to Terrance anymore; she couldn’t handle his lies. Or was he telling the truth. Blue had been acting strangely. But had he lied to her this entire time? They had been searching for Jamie for days and Blue hadn’t told her. She shook her head; she should have known better than to call Terrance. He was never any help, ever. He just fed into her fear and made everything worse.
“Yeah, one second,” Chelsea said, trying to hide the shaking sob in her voice. What was she supposed to do? If she confronted Blue she would have to admit she had called Terrance. He would think she betrayed him. Plus, she would be believing Terrance, the man who was legendary for his lies. How could Blue ever trust her again?
But what if Terrance was right? There was no other way that kidnapping Jamie made sense. They didn’t want Chelsea’s money; the just wanted the fight to go on. A fight to the death, and Blue was the best fighter any of them had ever seen. Jamie being collateral for Blue made perfect sense. Taking a deep breath Chelsea opened the voice recording app and hit stop. She saved the conversation and then backed it up to the cloud. She hadn’t been dumb that time.