“I’m gonna be at the airport in twenty minutes, Jonathan. I need a jet out to Tucson immediately. If there isn’t a pilot going to Tucson, get anywhere near Arizona. I don’t care, but it needs to happen and we need to leave in the next hour.” Leo was panicked. He had never asked to book a jet so late. He didn’t even know if it was a possibility to fly that late either.
Jonathan paused for a long period of time and then said, “I can do it, Leo. But I need you to again swear to me that this isn’t going to be something I see in the papers tomorrow. I need to know you're going to stay out of it. This is for the cops to handle, not you.”
Leo scoffed. “I’m not gonna promise you that! This fucker has Bailey’s daughter. I’m involved now. I’ve gotta help out here. I’ve gotta get her back.” He began tracing the lines of the highway with his feet as he kicked up dirt. Bailey sat in the car, attempting to get ahold of Joe’s father via an old phone number she had saved in her contact list. Leo could see her slam her hand into the dashboard in frustration.
Jonathan sighed deeply into the receiver as Leo heard him hit his hand against something. He had obviously been pushing a nerve with his agent. But in the end, Jonathan gave in to his defeat, “Okay. I’ll arrange it. Show up at the airport and head to the loading area. I’ll have a pilot meet you two there.”
“Thanks man. I appreciate it.”
Leo was about to hang up the phone and jump in his car when Jonathan yelled, “Wait! I need to talk to you, Leo. It’s important.”
“Can it wait? There’s obviously something bigger going on here. I don’t exactly have time to chat about trainers or whatever.” Leo opened the door and sat inside the car as he set the phone down on the dash. Bailey studied him anxiously as she awaited the verdict. He nodded at her as she buckled up and he turned his key into the ignition.
Jonathan’s voice boomed on the car’s bluetooth speakers, filling the car with his rage, “No! This can’t. This is important. It’s about the blackmailer…”
Bailey turned to Leo. It was the first she had heard about blackmailers. And by the way Leo quickly grabbed the phone and turned off the bluetooth option, she knew he had no plans on filling her in. Her stony eyes turned away from him as she crossed her arms defensively.
Leo whispered back, “This isn’t the time, Jon. I can’t talk about this now.”
“Fucking hell, man! When are you gonna talk about it? I know who your blackmailer is! Don’t you give a shit about the person who is gonna either rob you of twenty million bucks or send you to prison for a very long time?”
“No, not righ—” Leo had pulled the car onto the highway as he tried to focus on what to tell Bailey after hanging up.
“It’s the guy’s sister!” Jonathan screamed it into the receiver. “It’s Alecia Rhodes. The girl’s a professional photographer, a paparazzo. She’s taken your pictures before.”
“What? I don’t understand…” Leo flashed to the unimposing girl in the jeans and t-shirt sobbing over her bloodied brother as he lay in the concrete. At the hospital, she immediately approached him with a sympathetic voice. It was just a fight…He was a jerk…You didn’t mean to hurt him like that.
“She's playing you. Either way, she and her family win. If you pay her off, she’ll get away with the money. If you don’t, her brother will win and most likely get a huge settlement from your estate. This is just added assurance.”
Leo was flustered. He understood her game. It was admirable. But he had no time to think about this with Bailey in the next seat over staring daggers at him and the thought of her daughter running through his head. He stopped the conversation, “Take care of it, Jonathan. Just take care of it. I don’t have time to deal with this.”
Jonathan’s rage grew to massive proportions. “Like hell you do! This is your life, goddammit!”
Leo hung up the phone on him, tossing it in the backseat of the car in anger. It bounced off the back seat and smacked against the window with a clang. Bailey followed it with her eyes and then returned back to him.
She wasn’t sure what to say to him. Part of her wanted to scream and holler about him concealing something so big as a massive blackmail conspiracy. The other part was tired. Their whole relationship was based on lies that kept cracking under the pressure. Eventually, she felt, all the secrets would be out and they would be left with no foundation to stand on. There was nothing true about them.
So instead of yelling or taking him down, she spoke softly and asked, “Did you get the plane to Tucson or not?”
Leo could feel the depths of her sadness and uncertainty but knew that there was realistically nothing that he could do about it. He pushed his foot down on the pedal as he sped towards the exit to the airport. Under his breath, he muttered, “Yeah. I got us a plane.”
The flight out of Chicago was in silence. Sitting on opposite ends of the aisle, Leo traced the stitches on the luxurious brown leather seats while Bailey pulled out some headphones from her purse and listened to the plane’s radio. She wanted to enjoy the moment. It was the first time she had ever flown, let alone in a private jet. The sensation of not having a real grounding was thrilling.
She couldn’t imagine what her daughter had felt when Joe put her on a plane. Would she have cried? Would she have laughed at the clouds passing by their windows? Would she have asked about the birds or if she could get another serving of the tiny airplane peanut bags? Would she have wanted her mother there with her at all?
The pilot’s robotic voice broke the deafening silence between the couple, “We're just about to land in Tucson, Arizona as soon as I get the all clear from the tower. The weather this very early morning is a steamy 89 degrees. Today’s high will be 104 with not a cloud in the sky. Our estimated arrival time will be 4:09am. I appreciate you using Howard Jets as your choice in private flight services, and we hope you enjoy the complimentary champagne toast to a smooth flight.”
A woman in a pressed blue suit who previously brought Leo and Bailey warm towels and snacks appeared before them with a silver tray of tall champagne flutes. She knelt before Leo first as she said apologetically, “I’m so sorry that this is not the Don Raphael. I remember the last time you flew, that was your favorite.” She winked at him with a wide, mischievous smirk, “But I hope that this will do.”
Leo took the drink from her and held it in his hand. Bailey refused hers politely as she watched Leo stare at the glass. He turned the liquid around, watching it float from side to side. He took a quick smell before placing the glass back down in the armchair’s cup holder and returned to occupying himself with the chair’s stitching and the movie playing in his seats entertainment center.
Bailey unbuckled her seatbelt and walked across the aisle to his row. He watched her as she took the glass of champagne and placed it on the seat in front of her and then lifted the same armrest. She lifted his arm up and over her own body as she snuggled into his chest. He kissed her hair gently as he rubbed his own fingers through the pile of brown locks.
“We can get through this,” she whispered, “We’re going to find Lily, and then we're going to track down the girl who’s blackmailing you. I promise you that.”
“Don’t do that.” She sat up, facing him directly on as Leo spoke, “You shouldn’t help me. I should have told you in the first place, not hid it from you. I was embarrassed and upset. I mean, what dumbass takes a boat out into international waters knowing he’s on probation and travel restrictions? To make matters worse, I was sleeping with Layana then.”
“Layana? The girl that was at the house a couple weeks ago?” She vaguely remembered that name through the list of the tons of other women that passed through Leo’s doors while she was still his employee.
“Yeah. She’s married to the commissioner of the American League of Boxing. And he’s not the guy you mess around with…or his wife. When those pictures come out, I'll never be able to box again.” Leo suddenly kicked the back of his seat with such force that it sprang up and then back, spilling the champagne on the floor. The stewardess appeared again from nowhere with a towel. The two watched her quickly clean up the mess and then scurry back to her position in the cabin.
Bailey lowered her voice in case the other woman could hear their conversation, “We can fight this, Leo. We can do this.” She took his large hand with all of its cuts and bruises into her own. “You taught me how to be strong. Now I'm gonna teach you to be brave. Trust me when I say you're not leaving me now for some prison. Nor are you going to pay off that conniving bitch. We’re gonna figure this out.”
He lifted her chin and used his arm to pull her into him. Their lips touched gently and then released as he breathed in her sweet breath. He held her there for a long time with their foreheads touching and their eyes meeting one another. Beneath their feet, they could feel the rumble of the jet’s tires release and then touch the ground. Together, still holding one another, they lurched forward with the landing.
As soon as the plane landed, Leo stood, taking Bailey’s hand into his. She only had seconds to grab her purse before he pulled her off the plane to the ladder and into a waiting black car. The driver, a stout man dressed completely in an ill-fitting black suit rolled down the divider window to ask, “Where to, sir?”
Bailey spoke first, “Do you know how to get to the Malnuty Ranch? I believe it’s out on the north end of town—I don’t have the exact address.”
The man scratched the hair tucked under his chauffeur's cap and then began to drive. He called back towards Bailey, “I think I know it. I picked up a man earlier today heading to the same place. Is there a party or something happening there?”
Bailey and Leo looked at each other, their eyes growing wider with shock. Leo tried to remain calm as he asked, “Did the guy you pick up earlier have a little girl with him?”
“Yeah, actually. She slept the whole time. She looked like she wasn’t feeling too hot. I think the fella said he was bringing her in from the Midwest for some medical help.”
Leo nodded at the man in acknowledgement and then rolled up the soundproof partition again. As soon as it shut, Bailey launched, “He has her! He has her! What has he done to my baby? What has he done?” She began to sob without tears as she contemplated the condition she must have been in to make the driver take notice.
He shook Bailey’s shoulders firmly as his own rage boiled inside of him. “Listen to me: that little girl needs you to be strong. She needs you to be ready for the fight ahead, you got me?”
Bailey shook her head as the car continued on the highway. Neither talked, just held one another’s hands as the roads turned from concrete to gravel to dirt. The scenery, now lit up by the early morning sun, soon became familiar to Bailey, despite it being over ten years since she first visited the ranch after their wedding. She remembered a young, still loving Joe hoisting her up on one of the wooden fence lines and bringing over one of the gentle horses for her to pet. They sat out in the same open fields the car passed as he promised her an amazing life full of love and dreams. She could have never guessed her life would have come to do this with her return to the ranch being in the course of tracking down her ex as he kidnaps their child.
The black car pulled into the entryway of the home as Leo and Bailey stay motionless in the car. Bailey took in some deep, soothing breaths as she kept herself from running out of the car like a madwoman. Leo, on the other hand, prepared himself mentally for the war he knew was about to come. A man like Joe didn’t fly a toddler all the way out to Arizona from Chicago without knowing he was going to be tested.
It was the driver who started it off. Bailey watched with large, bulging eyes as he got out of the car and opened her door. She exited slowly as Leo followed. He walked ahead of her, his body puffing out as a shield, towards the door of the large tan stone home. The two looked into the bay windows for some sign of life, but there was nothing. The front room was completely empty, and from Bailey’s ability to see straight into the kitchen, there wasn’t a soul on the first floor.
She turned disappointed back towards Leo who was peering out into the fields, “It’s clear. I don’t think he’s here.”
“What about the other buildings? A property this size has to have a barn or two.” Leo pointed towards a green building about a quarter mile down from where the main house was located. The two crept towards the building, each lowering their bodies out of site of the main windows in case they were being watched. They ducked under fences and sidestepped cow waste as they cut through the animal’s fields.
Bailey again checked the windows as Leo surveyed the grounds around the complex. From what she could tell, the barn, too, was empty as the house. She turned to run back to where Leo was standing. His arms were raised above his head as if he were holding a hat in place.
“It’s clear. I don’t think they're the—”
“PUT YA HANDS UP! GET ‘EM UP!” A shrill voice barked at her from behind the barrel of a shotgun. A man in his late sixties stood before them, his hands trembling as his finger grazed the trigger of his riffle. Bailey followed his instructions slowly as she stood by Leo’s side. “I don’t take too kindly to trespassers on my property, especially not city folks like you.”
Bailey took another look at the man who stood facing his back towards the sun. The halo of light had concealed his face, but as he lowered the rifle to his neck, she could make out the familiar lines of a man who aged drastically since she saw him last. “Papa Malnuty?”
The man softened, further lowering the gun to his side. He, too, looked at her, searching his memory for some clue as to who she was. Suddenly, it hit him as he lifted the barrel of the gun back up to his eye level, “Bailey Reed, what the hell are you doing on my land?”
Bailey placed her hands back on her head and sunk a bit behind Leo who had made no move or sound since being held captive. Her voice trembled as she said, “I’m here for Lily, sir. Joe took her yesterday morning, and we know he brought her here.”
“I don’t know nothin’ about that.” Yet the man still held the gun up to his face. Bailey could tell he was protecting something with that rifle. All of her memories of the elder Malnuty were of a proud, but kind man who believed in hard work and honesty. No doubt he would want to steer clear of Joe’s scheme.
“Please, Mr. Malnuty. I just want my daughter back...” Tears rolled down Bailey’s eyes as the thought of Lily hurt and now captive with gun toting relatives she didn’t know came to her, “You have to understand that. I’m a mother. I have to protect her. I know you had nothing to do with this, but if you know what Joe is doing, I need you to help me. Please.”
The man again lowered his gun and spit onto the ground. He adjusted the brim of his cap and then looked towards the house.
Leo took the opening. In a flash, he ran straight towards the older man and tackled him to the ground. Bailey cried out at him as he lifted his fist. “LEO! NO! DON’T! He knows where she is. He’s going to help us.” She ran to Leo’s side as he remained in place, pinning down the man as he cursed and twisted under his weight.
“Fine, but at least grab the gun. We don’t want him pulling it on us again.” Bailey complied as Leo stood up and offered his hand out to Malnuty Senior. He refused it and instead lifted himself off of the dusty, dried up ground.
The three stood looking at one another, neither knowing how to proceed. Leo panted while Bailey studied the man staring back at the home. “She’s in there, isn’t she?” Bailey asked quietly.
“Yeah, she is. Joe dropped her off this morning. I dunno where he went. He just opened the door, set the girl on the couch, and left. Didn’t say a word to us, but I knew you wouldn’t be far behind.” He began walking towards the house with Bailey trailing behind.
Leo shouted after her, “How can you trust him, Bailey? He pointed a gun at us. This could be a trap!”
The man turned and looked at the two. He removed his cap and wiped his brow, “I know she’s your daughter, Bailey. I know that. But she’s my granddaughter, too. Joe did some terrible things to you so I thought we’d never get to see her again. I don’t want to hurt her. I don’t want to hurt you or your…uh…friend either. I just want to make sure she is safe wherever she is.” He continued walking, this time with Leo following behind, too.
As he opened the door to the house, Bailey ran past him and inside the estate. She called out Lily’s name into the empty rooms of the first floor. A small voice from the top of the stairs called out. An older woman, Mr. Malnuty’s wife, ushered her upstairs as Leo waited for her at the entryway.
Within minutes, Bailey came running back down the stairs. Her face was streaked with fresh tears that washed away the dirt from outside. Pressed to her chest was the girl with the wavy brown hair Leo had seen only twenty-four hours earlier in the parking lot. Her skin was white as snow and her lips looked almost bluish. Leo ran to Bailey’s side as he lifted the girl out of her arms.
Bailey screamed at the couple to call an ambulance as she ushered Leo outside with her daughter. Leo could feel the girl’s body giving out from beneath his hands. She was breathing, but just barely.