Compromising Kessen (27 page)

“Is there a reason for your noise, Duncan?”

“She’s gone,” he said in panic.

Christian felt his chest tighten. He didn’t even want to ask, but knew he had to. “Who is gone?”

Duncan paused before answering, “Kessen.”

“Did she leave a note?” Christian felt stupid for asking, but he was hoping for a sign that would prove she cared for him, that she would forgive him for what had happened.

Duncan shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, but it doesn’t contain what you’re hoping.”

“Meaning?”

“It’s a ransom note, Christian.”

He felt his knees go weak as he stared at Duncan. “Please, tell me you’re joking.”

“I wish I were. Nick went in to see how she was earlier this morning, and she was gone. Things were thrown helter-skelter as if there had been a struggle. We telephoned the police; they are investigating now. We tried to wake you earlier, but you were so out of it. The authorities want your family to release a statement to the press. You may want to clean up a bit beforehand.

“A statement?” Christian echoed.

Duncan nodded. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. “They’ll be here in an hour.”

Christian had never been so angry and afraid in his life.

It felt as if the whole world was crumbling around him. Unable to walk or even utter a word, he fell to the ground in a heap and leaned his suddenly heavy head against the wall.

“What did it say?” His voice was thick with emotion as he looked into Duncan’s worried eyes.

Duncan sat next to him on the floor and pulled a note out of his pocket. “I wasn’t supposed to grab it. Evidence and all, but I thought you might want to see it.”

Christian, hand shaking, reached for the note and slowly unfolded it. Anxiety mounted as if the note itself was a bomb ready to explode.

His heart couldn’t take it if something were to happen to Kessen.

The note said, “I warned you this would happen.”

Christian read it again and again. “That’s it?” He turned the note over to look at the back “That’s the only thing the kidnapper left?”

Duncan shrugged.

Christian pushed himself off of the ground and began pacing in front of Duncan like a wild beast. “We have to do something. What are the police doing?”

“Their jobs.” Duncan’s voice was stern, but still laced with concern. Christian threw the note to the ground.

“Where’s Nick?”

Duncan also rose from the ground. “He’s talking with the police. After all, he was the last person to see Kessen.”

At that news, Christian bolted down the hall to Nick’s room. Nick was inside talking with police. Christian pushed himself through as two oddly-dressed cops exited the room.

“Why weren’t you watching her?” He shoved Nick against the nearest wall and put his arm underneath his neck in a chokehold. “How could you let this happen? What’s wrong with you!” He was losing control fast. He barely felt the frantic hands pull him away from Nick.

Nick, always the gentlemen, didn’t fight back. Once he caught his breath he answered, “She was upset. I left her alone.” He straightened his shirt and glared at Christian. “I’m guessing it’s probably something you said or did, or maybe it was something you didn’t say or do, my lord.” He bowed mockingly and exited the room, leaving Christian red in the face and torn between chasing after him and punching himself in the face for his treatment of her last night.

“The statement,” Duncan said. He was now standing next to Christian, a little too calm for Christian’s nerves.

Christian nodded numbly and went into his room to change. By the time he was decent, the press had assembled downstairs.

Each step he took down the stairs felt like lead. His whole body felt dragged under the weight of his guilt. What if something happened to her? What if someone was taking advantage of her? Did Kessen have any enemies? The only person who had threatened her had been…

Jenifer.

“We’ll release a statement, but please, no questions until we know what we are dealing with,” Duncan said diplomatically.

“I—” Christian looked at the eager faces and flashing lights and cleared his throat. “I—” He couldn’t say what he had written. It was too cold, too heartless.

He sighed loudly into the microphone and braced the podium with both hands. He closed his eyes and without hesitation or effort said, “I love her. She’s the love of my life, and I’ll stop at nothing to get her back. Thank you.”

Christian glared at the guys as they gave him smug grins from the stairway.

****

Kessen was furious. How dare they? She had been drugged, of that much she was certain. She had spent the majority of the night crying to Nick. At one point he left the room to chat with Duncan and came back with a small drink of tea and whiskey. She drank it, hoping it would help her sleep, but within minutes her vision became blurry and then everything felt like a dream.

She had the sensation of being carried somewhere, and then she heard voices, familiar voices talking about kidnapping and Christian.

It was all too much.

The only positive thing about her current situation was she was convinced she was still on Vandenbrook property. If this was Nick and Duncan’s idea of revenge, they had another thing coming. Who kidnaps a girl after she gets dumped?

Well, technically she didn’t get dumped, but it was close enough. The man didn’t love her and probably never would. He was marrying someone else because of blackmail, and now she was the hurt party.

She moaned until her voice went hoarse.

Maybe it wasn’t Duncan and Nick after all. Maybe it was Jenifer? No, that would be crazy. Jenifer was much smaller than she was, and it was definitely Nick and Duncan who had drugged her.

She laughed nervously out loud; it was most definitely crazy. It had to be Nick and Duncan. Who else could carry her up here?

Kessen looked around for food and noticed the ‘kidnappers’ had left her a sandwich with grapes and a juice box. How kind.

When they came for her—not if, but when—she was going to make them sorry.

She immediately set a plan in motion. If revenge was what they wanted, revenge was what they would get. Suddenly she didn’t feel as sad anymore. Revenge gave her something to focus on other than the condition of her lacerated heart. It felt nice. Until she started thinking about Christian again.

****

Nick was trying with every thread of his being not to laugh.

It wasn’t working.

Especially when Duncan walked in wearing a fake police uniform and said, “Is this really necessary?”

The guy looked like a poorly paid stripper. His pants were too tight, and the top collar of the police uniform had lipstick stains on it.

“That’ll do,” Nick said, bursting into laughter.

“I’ll get you for this!” Duncan roared as he left the room.

It had been a simple matter to convince the Newberry employees to play along with their little trick. Most of them were more than happy to throw their vice president, the future Duke of Albany, under the bus. Many of them were so eager they brought friends and family to play extra roles.

They had more than enough fake media and police officers to go around. As for their silence, they simply told everyone it was for a reality show in which companies play practical jokes on their bosses.

They ate it up.

As for Christian’s parents, they were so relieved that Nick and Duncan were taking care of Christian’s feelings once and for all, they were willing to sign over their summer home within minutes.

Nobody had gotten much sleep the night before. Nobody but Christian, who in his champagne stupor wouldn’t have awakened if a hippo had charged through his room.

Only true friends faked kidnappings so you would admit your feelings. All in all, Nick felt pretty good about his life at that point.

“Nick!” Christian’s voice resounded through the halls.

Duncan, who had just re-entered the room in his costume, hid behind the door. Traitor.

“My Lord?” Nick said just as Christian entered the room.

“Stop calling me that,” he grumbled, taking the first seat by the door. Nick hoped Christian wouldn’t turn around and ask why Duncan was trembling like a child behind the door.

“Lady Newberry said there was a new lead in the story?”

Duncan coughed; Christian turned in his direction. Out of desperation, Nick howled, “My eye, my eye!”

“Good Lord, man! What’s wrong with you?” Christian turned towards him.

“Oh weird. It’s gone,” Nick said once Duncan was safely out of the room. Christian eyed him as if he had just lost his mind, and then shrugged. It was obvious how tired he was.

“The lead?” Christian urged again.

“Ah, yes.” Nick went to sit on the bed. “It’s believed she’s still on the property.”

“And how did they come to that conclusion?” Christian asked in bewilderment.

Just then one of the Newberry/media walked in. “Um, sorry to interrupt, Nick. The employees would like to know when lunch will be. Someone said something about catering, and I wasn’t sure—” He turned to look at Christian and paled. “That is, I wasn’t sure if, umm…”

“We’re feeding the media?” Christian was perplexed. “Since when do we cater for the media?”

Nick laughed heartily. “Oh, young fellow, whom I’ve never seen before in my life, why don’t you go ask Duncan. I’m sure you can find him somewhere!” He hit him hard on the back and turned to Christian.

“Do I know you?” Christian asked slowly.

The young man turned to Nick, who shook his head slightly, but enough for Christian to notice. Finally, he looked at Christian and shrugged. “Sorry, I work for the news. Maybe you’ve seen me on the telly.” He trotted out of the room, leaving Christian confused.

“So we are feeding them?” Christian asked again.

“People have to eat, Christian.”

“Right.” Christian scratched his face. “And you say the new development happened earlier today?”

Nick shifted uncomfortably on the bed. “Yes, that’s right.”

“And which police officer made the discovery?”

Nick paused then answered, “All of them.”

“They all made the discovery?” Christian asked doubtfully. “At the same time?”

“They’re very good.” Nick nodded heartily.

Christian eyed him wearily. He looked suspicious.

Nick grinned clumsily as he guided Christian out the door. “Maybe you should join in the search? The police are out searching the grounds right now.”

Christian nodded and followed Nick to the back door.

****

Something wasn’t right. Of that much Christian was certain. For one thing, he could have sworn the young man who came into the room earlier was not an investigative journalist but one of the baristas at Newberry and Co.

Perplexed, he followed Nick outside. And why were they feeding the media anyway? And how did the police come to find evidence that Kessen was still around? If she was still on the grounds, they should have found her by now.

He scanned the outdoors where several policemen were scattered, looking at the grass. Some were even on their hands and knees sifting through the grass as if trying to find someone’s lost contact. Which was proved to be accurate when one younger fellow jumped up in the air exclaiming, “I got it! I got it!” He handed the contact to another policeman who promptly put the contact back in and turned around.

Christian got a good look at his face but honestly couldn’t believe his eyes. Either he was drunk or Duncan was wearing a police uniform. A police uniform, which upon further inspection, appeared to be much too tight for his body.

“Is that Duncan?” Christian asked, dumbstruck.

“Uh … no. You must have hit your head before you passed out last night,” Nick informed him, then turned him around to face the east end of the property.

“The only area left unchecked is the east end.” Nick subtly dropped the hint.

Christian looked between Nick and the policeman, who he was now convinced was Duncan, and crossed his arms. “What’s really going on here?”

Out of the blue, Lady Newberry approached Nick and began chattering, “Now, Nick, I know I’m supposed to act sad, but I’ve had a terrible time with these eye drops. You say to drop them into the corner of my eye and let them burn so I tear up, but I just can’t seem to—”

Christian’s mouth dropped open.

Lady Newberry straightened. “Oh hello, Christian. Dreadful, isn’t it? It’s times like these I wish I had one of those tracking devices they put into humans.”

Nick cleared his throat. “You mean the people finder devices, right, Lady Newberry?”

“Why, yes, of course. They have them in dogs you know.” She patted Christian on the arm and smiled. “Oh well, I’m just too upset to be outdoors. I’m going to go see about catering for our guests!”

All of Christian’s doubts were back full force as he scoured the lawn again. He was looking for a clue, for anything really, that would point out the strange happenings going on at the house.

Because of his grief he hadn’t noticed many of the police officers had mismatched uniforms. He asked Nick about them as he began walking, but Nick merely shrugged and said they were from different counties.

Christian finally hit a good question when he found a young fellow he knew he had trained at Newberry and Co. just the week before. He had on a shirt that said “BBC 2“ and a camera wrapped around his neck.

“George?” Christian asked.

The kid turned around and smiled. “Oh hello, sir. I must say it’s exciting to be out here for all of this. Hello, Nick!” He held out his hand to Nick, who shook it reluctantly.

“And what exactly are you doing out here?” Christian asked.

George looked to Nick for help. Christian stood between the two just in time.

“Taking pictures,” George said.

“Of what?” Christian asked.

“The kidnapping, of course,” George said gravely. He put his hand over his heart and sighed. “It’s been a trying day for everyone, sir. I’m just helping out the news channel.”

“Which channel?”

George stuttered before answering Channel 6.

Christian laughed as Nick cursed behind him.

“Thanks, George. That will be all!” George trotted off. Christian turned around and glared at Nick.