Aria

 

 

 

“You ruined, Alexander,” Mrs. Hawthorne sneered at me.

The guy who grabbed me from the motel room finally took the bag off my head. I had been pushed and pulled and shuffled around so much I didn’t know where I was.

I was thankful to be able to breathe. That bag was suffocating and I gulped at the cool, dry air around me. My hair was matted to my face and, with my hands tied behind my back as I sat on the metal chair, there was nothing I could do about it.

But the air felt wonderful.

“I don’t think I was the one to ruin him. If we are talking about ruining people’s lives, Mrs. Hawthorne, you’re going to need to sit as we go through the list of lives you ruined.”

Just because I was kidnapped, had my hands tied behind my back, had no idea where I was, and almost passed out a few times didn’t mean I wasn’t ready to take this bitch down.

“I saved lives, not ruined them.” She moved toward the desk by the back wall. She was impeccably dressed as usual. The steely Emma Hawthorne had a gray silk blouse on with a pencil skirt and heels. Who dresses like that to kidnap someone?

As my eyes adjusted to the light, I realized I was in a room with a window that overlooked a large warehouse.

I could be anywhere. Even if I screamed, I suspected the only people who would hear me worked for Mrs. Hawthorne.

“Do you really believe that? You kidnapped your son. No mother in her right mind would force her son to marry someone and then kidnap him when he walked away. Can you not see how crazy this appears?” I said as I stared at her.

This woman was so out of touch with reality. Now I know why Alex was laughing back in the hotel room. All of this was absurd.

“You have no idea what we’re up against, Aria. The power that these men hold, it’s deadly. We need to destroy that. Why do you think I let my son be with you?”

“Because he’s an adult and can see whoever he wants,” I mumbled as I rolled my eyes.

A loud bang had my eyes flip up toward her. She pounded her fist on the desk as she gritted her teeth.

“No, because you of all people should understand why I need to do this. I hate that I haven’t been closer with my son. Despise that, they made me live in fear for so long. But, sometimes, we need to make sacrifices for the greater good.” She gazed off into the distance and I wondered what world she saw there.

Maybe she saw her perfect crazy world. A world where she was the hero. Emma Hawthorne really believed that what she did to her son was necessary. She wasn’t some bitter woman who took her anger and need for control out on her son. She was like some loony terrorist who believed that something greater than themselves was telling them they needed to destroy innocent lives.

“But your son isn’t like those men. He’s a good one.” I slowed my words.

Big thugs don’t scare me. Even when that guy, who I never got a good look at, threw a bag over my head and dragged me here, I wasn’t scared. But a delusional person with thoughts of grandeur that involved destroying people’s lives . . . yeah, that scared the piss out of me.

And this crazy person had money and power. She had the means to do anything she wanted.

“Of course he isn’t. That’s why he’s perfect for the plan.”

The door flew open and then a man wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket walked in—the same man who grabbed Alex at the motel.

It’s over one hundred degrees outside and felt only twenty degrees cooler in here.

“You do realize you are inside or did you just have cataract surgery?” I said because beefy thugs irritated the hell out of me.

He turned his head toward me but ignored my words.

“He’s here, Jay. Should we put him in the same room as Alexa?” he said walking up to Mrs. Hawthorne.

Jay? I thought her first name was Emma.

“Yes. Is the minister here?”

I held my breath as I hoped they weren’t talking about Alex.

“He’s about ten minutes away. Soon your son and Alexa will be married. We haven’t found Grace,” he said.

My shoulders slumped in relief. I had never been so thankful that anyone had to make a run to the store in all my life. By doing that, Grace saved herself from being kidnapped.

Mrs. Hawthorne slammed the desk again with her fist. “She has the access to what we need. All those resources at Mimir. We need that. How are we supposed to expose and take down those high-powered men? Those politicians, CEO’s, media executives, and industry leaders?”

How does Mimir play into this?

“Do you really think Grace can get access to that information at Mimir? She’s only the receptionist.”

My eyes bounced between Alex’s mom and the thug next to her. There was something about that guy that seemed familiar. Then it hit me.

“Hey, are you the guy from the coffee shop?” I said but the guy never answered.

“You can go, Jagger. I have enough people here to help me with my son and his soon-to-be wife. Why don’t you head back to Chicago and try to find Grace? I have a feeling if she thinks everyone left her, she’ll give up and head home,” Mrs. Hawthorne said.

He nodded and kept his head down, turning his back to me as he left the room. He didn’t want me to see him. Maybe that’s why he wore the sunglasses inside like a douche.

He’s the guy that watched Alex and I in Wake Up Joe’s a few weeks ago. Mrs. Hawthorne had him follow us. What did he know? Maybe the guy found out about Alex buying Henrik’s place. Mrs. Hawthorne knows more than I had hoped.

I had to get out of here.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath ready to do and say anything to save us. To get Alex and Alexa to safety.

“Thank you, Mrs. Hawthorne,” I said as I willed my eyes not to leak for what I was about to do.

“Thank you? For what? According to you, I’m a terrible mom and a monster.”

You are.

“No, of course not. Once you explained why you did what you had to do and from what Alex told me, I get it. I really do.”

She narrowed her eyes at me, unsure of my sincerity. “And what exactly do you get, Aria?”

“These people need to be stopped. If I had a chance and the resources to destroy the men who killed my sister, don’t you think I would have? But, I’m not you. I don’t have billions of dollars at my fingertips. I don’t have access to people in high places.”

She scrutinized me for a moment. Despite all the Botox that tightened her face I could tell she was considering my words. She had to know what happened to my sister. The woman knew everything. She even had contact with my father.

“That was disgusting what your father did to his children. I hated dealing with your father, but he knew people that could help me. As for the money, well, Alex has it really. My husband left me nothing. That’s one of the reasons I needed Alex for this.” She shook her head.

“Between the Hawthorne name and money and Alexa’s family connection to members of Congress, we can do so much to not only get back at the men who hurt us, but the men who hurt you, Aria. And get the people who want to hurt our country.” Mrs. Hawthorne smiled. And she looked unhinged. “If we can get access to the Mimir information then I won’t need your father anymore.” Mrs. Hawthorne pursed her lips as she leaned against the desk. She muttered something about some Russians but I couldn’t make out exactly what she said.

“I could help you.” My heart jumped madly in my chest as I pushed out the words.

“How could you help?”

“I don’t know what you need, but since both my friends work there, I don’t think they would be suspicious of me stopping by.”

“Hmm.” Emma’s brow pinched as she tapped her finger against her chin. “We would need you to gain access to certain files that would only be allowed through a high level executive computer. These files contain very personal data on lots of people including politicians and leaders throughout the country and the world.”

Everything was coming together in my head. She was going to use their information against them in some way.

“Morgana is an executive. I could use her computer. Wait until she steps out to use the restroom or something and use it then.”

I made fists behind my back as I prayed she believed me. The woman was crazy after all. She could be playing me as I was playing her.

“That does sound solid. We have someone in the company who can tell you exactly what files to download,” she said before walking around the front of the desk.

Mrs. Hawthorne removed a cell phone from one of the desk drawers and tapped at it a few times.

“Hi, Trey, this is Jay,” she said as she placed the phone to her ear.

“I need you to contact Aria Dixon tomorrow. You are going to help her download the Mimir files. Yes, that Aria. How’s Damien doing? Uh huh. Just make sure those cops play their part. I’ll contact you tomorrow,” she said before putting the phone down.

She smiled at me. Or at least, tried to smile. Her cheeks and forehead were so tight it appeared she was in pain as she curved her lips.

Mrs. Hawthorne strolled over and looked down on me. “You understand Alex has to marry Alexa. He is a part of all this too. You will have to sacrifice him for the greater good.”

Her finger pushed away the hair that had dried to my face. I turned my head up and forced myself to keep my eyes on her.

I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. “Yes. I’m actually glad he’s marrying her instead of me.”

Her fingers pulled away from my head. “What?”

“Don’t get me wrong, Mrs. Hawthorne, I care for your son. He is a good guy, but I don’t ever want to marry anyone. Life has shown me that nothing good comes from marriage. When your son asked me, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. That’s why I said at the chapel that we didn’t have to get married that day. I was trying to get out of it.”

I took a deep breath before forcing the worst of my words out. “I wanted to break up with your son anyway. He’s good looking and it was nice having fun with him with the money, but I’m going to get rich from my artwork now. I really don’t need him. I already had a few galleries in New York and London contact me.”

A lot of what I was telling her was the truth, but when I said it out loud, it didn’t feel like the truth. Especially the part about wanting to break up with Alex. Because I didn’t. And it was hard not to let my tears show knowing he was about to marry Alexa and I would lose Alex forever.