Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series) (21 page)

Warning

It’s the first real day off we’ve had
in a
while.  Most of the men,
including Mark, are gone for the rest of the day, enjoying a night out at a
nearby strip club as Mark’s treat for their loyalty and hard work.  He left
only a skeleton crew behind to stand watch at headquarters.  I don’t doubt that
the majority of their purpose here is to make sure that Leo doesn’t try to run
off with me while Mark’s gone.

The mess hall is quiet today. 
Christophe, the chef, has even taken the day off, so Leo and I attempt to make
dinner with what
’
s available in the pantry.  We decide
to embrace Leo’s Italian heritage by making spaghetti with marinara sauce.  It
sounded simple enough, but it turns out to be an interesting endeavor, made
even more so by the
bottle of wine
that Leo procured for
us.

We laugh and joke around with each
other the entire time.  Leo takes advantage of the opportunity to stand behind
me with his hand over mine
,
grasping the spoon we
’re
using
to stir the sauce as it heats up on the stove.  He hugs
my back to his chest and sways us back and forth to the stirring motion of our
hands.  His touch and comforting hold transport me elsewhere, perhaps in our
own house enjoying a nice weekend meal together.  I experience pure and simple
happiness unlike I have ever known before.

By the time we’re sitting down to eat
,
I’m already halfway through my second glass of wine.  The alcohol
in my system has warmed me from the inside out.  I feel the blush in my cheeks
and the tingling all the way out to my fingers and toes.  Everything Leo says
makes me laugh and smile twice as much as usual.  We’re both looser than we’ve
ever been together, and I wish we could stay this way.  Alcohol and this rare
moment of absolute contentment leave us ignorant of the reality of our
situation.  I could get used to this feeling, but even through the effects of
the alcohol I know it’s only temporary.

When Jack walks in the room halfway
through our meal
,
I feel the slight disappointment of
our private time coming to an end.  He’s not an unwelcome sight
. 
Leo and I both adore Jack.  We don’t see him often enough, which in
reality is a good thing as he is the exclusive doctor who treats
the
injuries and sickness
es
in Mark’s crew
that are beyond Leo’s limited medical abilities.

“Hey, Jack,” Leo greets him cheerfully,
raising his
wine
glass to him as he walks in and shuts
the door behind him.

Jack smiles at us, though there’s a
tinge of concern in his face that I haven’t seen before.  It’s only then that I
realize his gray hair is more frazzled than usual.

“Good to see you two.  You have the
entire mess hall to yourselves tonight?”

Leo stands to pull an extra chair to
our table.  “Not anymore.  Join us.  We have extra food in the kitchen.”

Leo turns in that direction
, but
Jack catches him by the arm.  “I appreciate the offer
,
but I can’t stay.”  His face turns serious, his voice quieting to
a whisper.  “I need to talk to you.  Both of you.”

The concern in Jack’s voice puts me on
edge, the adrenaline in my veins overpowering the effect
s
of the alcohol almost instantly.  Leo takes his seat again
,
and Jack joins us in the extra chair.

Leo looks my way to check on me before
turning back to Jack.  “What’s going on?  Did something happen?”

“Sort of.”  Jack seems hesitant to
continue,
as if having trouble finding
the right
words.  “Leo, you have to promise me you’ll stay calm about this.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” 
Leo’s getting angry now.

“You need to keep your cool, now more
than ever, and Mark cannot know that you know what I’m about to tell you.  It
will only mean bad things for you and Morgan if he has even a clue that you
know, but I need to tell you.  I have to warn you and put a stop to this.”

I appreciate Jack’s warning, but I
almost don’t want to hear it.  We were so happy.  Minutes ago it was just me
and Leo and we were carefree and normal and all of this other bullshit seemed
to leave our world for a short period of time.  Now we’re being thrown directly
into the fire again, and I know from experience that it’s impossible to escape
unscathed.

“Okay.  I’ll be calm,” Leo says
unconvincingly.  “Now tell me what the hell is going on
.
”

“It’s Mark.
”  Jack sighs deeply.
 
“
A couple weeks ago we met for dinner. 
Mark drank that night.  A lot.  He was so drunk by the end of the meal that he
became very emotional, bringing up his family and how much he missed
Stella
and Elise
.”

“He never talks about
his family
,” Leo comments with concern.

“No, he doesn’t.  He never talks about
anything that could conjure up emotions about
them
,
but that night he couldn’t stop.  He was to the point of tears when he talked
about his lack of a true heir to his empire.  I knew all these thoughts were
coming from his drunken stupor, and when I called to check on him the next day
,
he didn’t even remember the conversation we had the night
before.”  Jack pauses a moment and looks around the room uncomfortably.  “I didn’t
think much of it again until this morning when Mark gave me
a
prescription drug
request
.  There’s
something on it that concerns me.”

My heart is about ready to beat out of
my chest.  Leo sees my discomfort and grasps my hand under the table.  I hold
on to him for dear life.

Jack’s voice is barely audible now. 
“He asked me to procure a certain pill that can be used as a date rape drug,
completely odorless and tasteless.”  Jack’s gaze turns to me
,
and I immediately want to run from this conversation.  “I think he
intends to impregnate you without your knowledge and make you think that you
and Leo are having a child when indeed it is Mark’s baby growing within your
belly.”

Leo and I look at each other as my face
blanches.  He’s next to me in an instant, wrapping his arms around me as my
body starts to shake.

I was convinced we were past all
of
this.  I thought I had earned Mark’s respect.

This was never just about ransom.  This
was never just about getting me to choose Leo and Mark’s crew over my own parents. 
Mark’s end game was to use me in this way, to exact the ultimate revenge on my
dad and my family while fixing the problem of his lack of
children
.  He had me trusting him despite everything he
did
to me at the prison, and in the end he
planned
to take this one last thing from me.

A baby.  Not just any baby.  Mark’s
offspring.

I’m hyperventilating now.  I think I’m
going to be sick.

“Breathe, Morgan.  Breathe through it. 
I’ll keep you safe,” Leo whispers in my ear while running his hands over my
back soothingly.  He’s holding me tightly, desperately, as if our days are
numbered.  It’s almost like a goodbye.

Leo releases me from his grasp and
pulls his chair close so that he can still hold on to both of my hands.  He
redirects his attention to Jack.
 
“How sure are you? 
Do I need to get her out tonight?  How much time do we have?”  The questions
are pouring out of Leo as quickly as he can speak while he tries to calm my
panic with his touch.

“This is my gut feeling, Leo.  That’s
all I can tell you.  He’s never asked for this kind of drug
before, and
I can’t imagine what other use he’d have for it
.  This plan
would
also
explain why he’s so content
having you two together.
”  He pauses a moment, taking in a deep breath.
 
“
The good news is you have some time.  I
told him I need a couple days to
get
what he needs
. 
It was the best I could do without arousing suspicion. 
He won’t try anything before then.”

“How do we get out?” I ask quietly, even
though escape feels like a hopeless endeavor.

“Getting you out of here would be
difficult.  Mark has too many men and too much control here, but I think we
might be able to get you out offsite.”

“What do you have in mind?” Leo asks tentatively.

“We need to stage a meet, something
that will require an offsite meeting with the two of you and Mark.  I know a
guy with an operation large enough to pull this off, and he’s not afraid to get
his hands dirty.  We’ll have him pretend to capture you both to make it look
like a kidnapping so Mark doesn’t suspect anything.  If we’re lucky, my friend
will put a bullet in Mark’s skull.”

Leo looks at me, optimism replacing the
worry in his eyes even though I find little comfort in this plan.  “This could
work.”

“It may be the only move we’ve got,”
Jack continues.  “I have a place up in the mountains.  It’s a secluded cabin
that Mark doesn’t know about.  I can send you both there afterward until things
settle down and we’re able to get you setup with a new place to live.”

As much as I want to cling to the hope
Jack is trying to provide us, I’d love nothing more than to go upstairs with
Leo, lie down in our bed together, and forget that this entire conversation
ever happened.  We were finally content, almost happy even under our imperfect
circumstances, and it’s all being shattered before our eyes.

Leo turns to me
,
and I can barely look at him.  I don’t want him to see the fear
reappear in me that I had successfully overcome these last few months.  It
seems like all the progress I made was for nothing, like I’m right back where I
started, only this time I know my fate.  Knowing what to expect is almost worse
than going in blindly.

“We can do this, Morgan.  We’ll get
out.  We’ll get you safe.”

Leo’s comforting words are lost on me. 
I appreciate that he’s trying to get me to see the light in this, but he
doesn’t know what I’m feeling.  He’s not the one
that
Mark
wants to fuck and plant his seed inside to grow a human being.  He’s not the
vessel that Mark w
ants to
use to create and deliver
an
offspring to be raised as a future replacement for Mark in his business
.

I stare blankly between Leo and Jack. 
My brain can’t formulate words.  My heart can barely keep beating.  I feel too
much and nothing all at once.

“It’s okay,” Leo says, pulling my chair
out and lifting me under my back and legs to carry me.  “I’ll get you upstairs,
then I’ll come back down to discuss the details.  We’ll get this figured out.” 
He moves us toward the door before turning back around.  “Thank you, Jack.”

Leo
takes me
up the stairs quickly and quietly.  He’s whispering sweet words to me
,
but my body is too overwhelmed by everything I’ve just learned to
have any emotional response to what he’s saying or what’s going on.

He manages to hold
me and get the lock
open on our apartment door
at the same time
.  He lies
me down on our bed and sits next to me before
leaning down to
rest his head on my chest.  Just knowing that his ear is there
listening to my
racing
heart helps to calm me down.

In the few minutes he sits with me
,
we say nothing and do nothing.  I close my eyes and actually
pretend for a moment that everything is as it was, that Leo and I just came
back upstairs after a wonderful self-cooked meal together without a care in the
world because today is a day off and we earned it and were meant to enjoy it.

I hear Leo’s steady breathing and match
mine to his.  I’m almost drifting off to sleep, and then I see him.  On the
precipice between reality and dream-filled slumber
,
Mark’s face flashes across my mind, and I burst into a scream.

In that moment that I’m startled awake
and the scream subsides, my body moves to get away from there, trashing wildly
against the strong hands that keep me held down to the bed.  Leo’s voice is
calling for me, trying to bring me back to reality
,
but I don’t want to be there.  I don’t want to go back into my nightmares,
either.  I want to shut off.  I want to be nowhere.

“Leo,” I cry out for him.  I need him
to bring me back.

“I’m here,” he says softly.  I focus on
his words.

“Leo, please.”  I don’t know what I’m
begging for.  Anything.  Anything but this.

“I’ve got you.  Stay with me, Morgan.”

I feel the warm, wet drop of something
fall on my cheek, and my eyes instantly open.  My mind awakens.  I’m back where
I need to be.

I look up to Leo’s crying face, my hand
automatically reaching to touch his cheek and absorb his pain.  I’m back for
Leo.  I’ll always come back for him.  I’
ll
do anything
for him.