Bound by Lies: Bound #1 (Adult Romantic Suspence) (22 page)

I feel a hand grab my collar and I almost yelp out loud.
It’s Mick. He yanks me back and pulls me through an open grey door into a dark
stairwell. The fire escape. As he closes the door behind us, shutting out the
light, I see the fading image of Mick holding his finger up to his lips,
signaling me to be quiet. I hear a soft click as the door slips into place.

In the dark, with nothing to see, I am reminded of all those
nights spent behind blindfolds with Caden’s hands and lips all over me. My
traitorous body still reacts with heat even after what I have discovered. Along
with this heat is another feeling… another feeling that I have never felt
before with Caden.

Fear.

Oh my God.

I let him touch me. I let him inside me. Inside my body and
inside my heart. I let him into my life, as far as I have let anyone in over the
last five years. He’s just another man with his own secret agenda, another man
I’ve fallen in love with and don’t truly know. Suddenly, I feel sick. I make a
small retching noise from my diaphragm. I put my hand on my stomach and the
other over my mouth and try to keep my breaths calm. I can’t freak out right
now. I could still get caught.

We. We could get caught.

Mick is here, too. If Mick got hurt because of me I couldn’t
forgive myself.

“You okay, kid?” Mick whispers to me in the dark.

I nod then remember that he can’t see me.

I slowly take my fingers from my lips, testing my nerves
with each one. “I’m okay,” I whisper back.

Then I hear, “He should be in his apartment by now. I’m
going to find a light switch so we can go down the fire escape.”

There is some fumbling before the light flickers on,
illuminating the grey block stairwell. Mick directs me down the stairs. We
don’t talk as we descend.

The stairs lead to a small back courtyard. Mick leads the
way as we slip around the side of the building. I wait against the building as
Mick gets the car and pulls up in the driveway. I slip in and he pulls out. I
slump into my seat and keep my face turned away from the windows in case Caden
is looking out.

“Let me take you back to your place,” Mick says.

I nod and give him quick directions.

He frowns. “That sounds close.”

“It’s only four blocks away,” I admit.

Mick lets out a string of curse words. “The fucker lives
four blocks away from you? What the hell, kid?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know either, Mick. I thought I
knew him.” My voice sounds wooden. It sounds like a stranger’s voice. A
stranger. Like Caden Thaine is to me. Or Harper Lexington. Or whoever this
son-of-a-bitch is. I can’t deny anymore that I don’t know Caden at all.

I have to blink back hot angry tears. He stalked me. Took
pictures of me at my gym, at my work, at my goddamn home. My home. Then he
orchestrated his arrival in my life. And he made sure that I would trust him.
And care for him. Bastard.

Why would he do this to me? Was I just some kind of sick
game to him?

Jacob Tyrell flashes back into my mind. Is there a
connection there?

Inside, it feels like part of me breaks off from the rest.
But
Cade loves you,
it cries.
You have to have faith.

Fool. Look at the evidence. You’ve seen those pictures of
you with your very own eyes.

But remember how he speaks to you, how he looks at you,
how it feels when you are with him. You know he would never intentionally hurt
you.

Do I really?

“I’m going to keep digging into him,” Mick says, pulling me
out of my thoughts. “I’ll see what I can find. I can pull some favors with my
friends still on the force. In the meantime, you stay the hell away from this
guy, okay?”

I can’t speak. I am staring numbly at the blur of things
moving past my passenger window, my mind whirring over all those photos, then
to the night we met.

“You don’t want to mess with me…I never should have
approached you.”

That night he sounded like he was warning me away from him.
But why? If he was deliberately trying to insert himself into my life, why
would he warn me away? Or was this another manipulative trick of his to make me
feel like he wasn’t trying to push his way into my life? To make me feel like
it was my choice to bring him into my life.

This small voice inside keeps screaming that there has to be
some other explanation, some other reason… but I shut it off. No. There needs
to be no damn room in my heart for doubt, no doubt about what I saw and about
Caden’s devious intentions for me. I’ll get enough attempts at creating doubt
from Caden when I confront him.

“Kid,” Mick’s harsh voice snaps me back to the present. I
notice that Mick has pulled up into my driveway. “Did you hear me? Stay the
hell away from him.”

I nod, mutely. But hidden by my side I have my fingers
crossed.

I’m sorry, Mick. But I’m not staying away from Caden Thaine.
I’m going to follow him like he followed me and find out why the hell he wanted
to fuck with what little of my life I have left. Then, if I have to, I’ll put a
bullet in him.

That night, I’m sitting in a car outside of Caden’s
building. Earlier today, I traded in my white ratty car for this black sedan
with tinted windows. I couldn’t take any chances. Caden would recognize the
other car. Under the passenger seat I restashed my small bag of clothes and
cash. My GPS sits on my new dash and my gun is in the glove box.

I match the car in head to toe black. It’s my first official
stakeout and I’d probably feel like a badass if I wasn’t so God damn twitchy.
My fingers tap on the steering wheel. The radio is on, but I can barely hear
what is playing as it’s set so low. I can’t sit in silence, but I can’t turn up
the radio so loud that it will block my hearing.

The street is quiet. Most of the residents are inside having
dinner. Just like I should be. My stomach growls. What am I doing here?

But my growing hunger is put aside when I hear a low rumble,
then see Caden driving from the building on his bike. My heart skips. As he
moves under the driveway light, I catch a glimpse of him. He looks devastating
in his dark blue denim, black t-shirt and his brown leather jacket. It sends an
ache through my stomach. I grip the steering wheel, trying to focus on how much
I hate him instead.

He pulls out into the street and rides towards me. I duck
into my seat and wait until the rumble of his bike moves past me. I slide up,
turn on my engine, pull out and start to follow him, my eyes glued to his red
back light.

Caden stays away from the main roads, making it easier to
keep up with him but easier to spot me, so I drop further behind him. I don’t
want to hang too close to him, but what if I lose him in the night?

It doesn’t matter. If I lose him tonight, I’ll follow him
again tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after that if I damn well
have to. Oh, how the tables have turned.

The buildings start to change from the houses and apartments
of a well-lit blocky residential area into warehouses and concrete lots when he
enters an industrial part of town. We’re near the docks. What is he doing by
the docks? My nerves ratchet up as I notice fewer and fewer people on the
street and more and more dark buildings.

Finally, he pulls into a fenced warehouse area up ahead. I
slow down as I approach.

I hold my breath and grip the wheel as I pass the open gate.
Just inside I see Caden parking his bike in a small flat parking area with
several cars already parked there. Odd. I wouldn’t think that a place like this
would be open this late at night. I catch the outline of boxy structures behind
the car park, but I don’t have time to notice what they all are before I have
passed the gate and my vision is obscured by the wall that fences off this lot.
I keep driving along the road. I need to find somewhere safe to stash my car.

A few driveways down I spot an empty warehouse parking space
lit up by a single spotlight. This lot is more open with no gate, just a line
of concrete-trimmed garden beds to separate the lot from the street. I pull
into this lot and park in the far corner away from the light. From the glove
compartment, I take my gun and a small torch and tuck them into my pants.

I take a deep shaky breath before I get out of my car.
Slipping through the shadows, I creep out of this parking space and onto the
cracked sidewalk. Here the streetlights are far apart and make sick looking
pools of light against the concrete, made rough and cracked from the treads of
heavy trucks. I keep against the fencing as I make my way towards the warehouse
lot that Caden entered, my neck twisting and my eyes darting around, alert for
anyone. I can’t see anyone else walking on this road at this time of night. I
can’t decide whether I am happy that I’m alone or not.

I slow my steps when I start walking along the edge of the
lot that Caden disappeared into. I gaze up towards the top of the wall. Shit,
it’s high. It must be double, even triple my height. And the wall is flush with
no obvious handholds. I squint. There looks to be barbed wire strung across the
top. There’s no way I could get over that. Which means this entrance that I’m
coming up to is likely the only way in or out. I stop just before the entrance,
thankful that the gate, which I can see now is a tall black metal sliding gate,
has remained open.

I slide my body up to the edge of the wall and slowly peer
around the corner. I can see Caden’s motorbike in the parking area, but I can’t
see Caden. I scan the rest of the area. There is a field of large shipping
containers all around the large concreted area, creating a metallic garden
around the sparsely lit driveway between them. Rising up from beyond the
containers are two large warehouses and the reaching limbs of several cranes.

I jump when I hear a dog bark in the distance. Please, God,
let there be no guard dogs on this property. I eye the entrance yawing open at
me, my only way out. Shit. Am I really doing this?

Yes. I’m really doing this. I have to know who Caden is and
what he wants from me. I have to. My heart, maybe my life, depends on it. I
slip through the edge of the gate and against the row of bushes that line the
parking space. I bolt crouched over between the cars, staying out of the light
until I get to the other side, where the field of shipping containers begins. I
cringe when my boots crackle on gravel as I press up against the closest
container. I can smell oil and salt on the air.

I scan the area looking for where Caden might have gone. To
my left there are just more rows and rows of containers drowned in shadows. To
my right, even more containers. Up ahead at the end of the driveway I spot what
looks like an office shed. A dark car is parked at the front. The shed is lit
from inside and I can see shadows moving across the windows. Is that where
Caden went? If I can just get close enough to see who is inside…

I glance back at the entrance – God, it seems so far away –
and pray I’m not making a huge mistake. I turn back to stare at the depths of
this lot. I creep, slowly, placing each step so that the gravel makes as little
noise as possible, moving slowly along the rusty metal containers, trying to
stay in the dark, my eyes flicking, darting, about me. I am barely breathing as
I press up against the closest container to the shed. I peer again around me.
I’m okay. I’m okay. No one’s around.

From here I can see the car parked outside the shed is a
black Mercedes. Fancy car. The front of the shed is splattered in places with
dirt and mud, probably flicked up by cars’ tires.

I slide around the corner of the container and duck against
the side of the shed. The outside is made of sheets of corrugated metal layered
with dust. There are two dirty square windows set in the side, but the view
inside is obscured by the closed ribs of cheap blinds. Wait, I can see light
peeking out through the bottom of one window. One corner section of the blinds
is bent up, out of shape.

I crouch under the window. I can hear the hum of muffled
voices through the thin glass above. Up through the broken blinds I see shadows
moving across the ceiling inside. My fingers curl lightly on the sill. I ignore
the layer of grime sticking to my fingers as I pull my eyes up to the gap.

Inside is a chaotic office space, one paper-buried desk and
a wall covered in racks of files and more papers. I can see Caden at an angle
from where I stand. He seems agitated and he waves his hands about as he talks.
I can see his mouth moving, but I can’t hear what he is saying.

There is someone else in there with him. Another man. But
his back is to me. He wears a dark shirt and dark pants over his thin, wiry
frame. I spot a gold watch on his left hand as he shakes his hand back at
Caden. The owner of the Mercedes, I assume. A lump develops in my throat when I
spot the handle of a gun peering out from the back of his pants. Who is this
man? And why does Caden look upset?

A hand grabs my collar and pulls me up roughly, choking me
so that my yelp turns into a gasp. “Oi. Whatchu doin’ ‘ere.”

His voice causes a frenzied rush of fear to rise up through
my body. I think I know that voice. It echoes in some of the memories of my
past. He spins me around so that I slam against the shed wall, causing it to
bang. In my periphery, I spot the gun tucked into his belt at his hip. But that
doesn’t scare me as much as what I see across his face. The familiarity of his
features – hook nose, dark-slit eyes violently framed with thick brows – tickle
my insides.

Shit. I know that face. Do I know that face? Oh God. Is this
one of Jacob’s men? I stare at Hooknose, willing my memory to place him.

No. You’re paranoid. You’re seeing connections to Jacob
everywhere. This can’t be one of Jacob’s men. It can’t.

“I said, whatchu doin’ ‘ere? You mute or sumthin’?” His
brows press down, further narrowing his eyes, and I can see the gears working
in his mind. “Wait a minute… Do I know you?”

Oh God. I hear noises from the shed and the door unlocking.
Caden and the man he’s with. They heard me bang against the shed. Caden’s going
to catch me snooping. I have to get out of here.

My body reacts of its own volition. I knee Hooknose fast and
hard in the crotch, then send a right elbow to his jaw, knocking him to the
side. He lets out a pained groan as he hits the ground. “Bitch.”

I run for the entrance, my heart crashing as loudly as the
gravel underneath me. My eyes focus on the dark open gate like it’s the light
at the end of my tunnel.

“What the fuck’s going on?” the other man calls from behind
me. I swear I know that voice, too. But I don’t look back. Caden can’t see my
face.

“Stop her!” I hear Hooknose yell.

Their footsteps crunch on the gravel behind me. I curse when
I see the gates ahead starting to roll closed. Someone has turned on the
automatic gates. I put on a burst of speed and I can feel the spray of gravel
flicking up from my heels. But I’m not going to make it. The gate is closing
too fast. I hear them yelling for me to stop, but the sound only causes me to
sprint faster.

Then the first shot is fired. The bullet clips part of a
container that I race past and I let out a scream. Oh God. They’re shooting at
me.

I veer right and dart into a dark slip between two shipping
containers. I keep running between these rows of containers, not knowing where
I’m going, not knowing where this is leading me, just knowing I need to get
away from them.

“There she is.” I turn right. Then left. I am running deeper
into the heart of the compound, but I have no other choice. I swerve in and out
of the shipping containers, eyes darting about me to look for some way out of
this mess while keeping an eye out for an ambush.

I can hear them faintly behind me. They’ll have spread out
across the lot and are searching the area for me. They know I’m here somewhere.
I doubt that they’ll stop looking before they find me. Maybe kill me. I need to
get off this lot.

Shit. I am coming to the end of this labyrinth of
containers. I press up against a container for a second to figure out what I’m
doing next, one ear open for the sound of someone approaching. This is the last
row of containers. Beyond here are the two large warehouses sitting side by
side. I can see them looming up above the container I am pressed against.
Peering around the corner, their matching wide entrances look like grinning
toothless mouths. There is light oozing out of the left warehouse, but the right
one looks dark inside.

These two warehouse go all the way to the edge of the
portside. I can smell the water from here and feel the moisture against my
skin. The water. The only way off this lot now is by the water. There is a
space that runs between these two warehouses to the edge of the docks and into
the river. If I can just make it down to the end of the dock without being
seen…

Through the path between the containers, I aim right towards
the dark warehouse until it looms directly above me. After checking that no one
is watching, I run out from the containers and press into the shadowed wall of
this warehouse. I have to be quick. It’s only a matter of time before they
realize I have exited the area of shipping containers. I skirt along to the left
corner of the building before I peer around. There, between the two warehouses,
the water glints at me, mocking me. God, it’s so far away. This warehouse is
huge.

Movement to my left makes me flinch. Someone steps out of
the brightened warehouse across from me, his shadow long and menacing against
the light inside the building. I gasp and pull back along the wall until I am
just inside the entrance of the dark warehouse. Peering around, I can see that
he has lit up a cigarette; the end of it glows with every inhale. I don’t have
time to wait for him to leave.

Something moves between two of the shipping containers,
catching my eye. Shit. It’s one of the men after me. They’re getting closer. I
can’t stay out here. I do the only thing I can. I back into the dark warehouse.

Inside, the warehouse is dim. Only a few of the overhanging
lights are on, casting a bare-bones light across the space. It spans from here
to the edge of the water, where I can see the moon and the night sky blinking
with stars out the open end. Freedom. Between us are rows and rows of large
crates, each the size of a small living room.

If I can just make my way through this dark maze to the open
side of the warehouse I can get to the water. If I can get to the water, I have
a chance at swimming down the river and pulling myself out at a safe place
along the bank, far away from here. If I can just make it to the open end
without being caught…

I creep across the hard concrete floor, weaving through the
maze of crates, most of them still nailed shut. I press up along the crates,
feeling the rough wood rub against my skin, to peer around corners into the
gloom. I ignore the splinters that catch on my shirt. So far, I haven’t seen
anyone else in here.