Damien: Billionaire Bad Boy Romance (22 page)

“That’s the spirit,” Seb said. He clapped me on the shoulder again and I realized that I couldn’t stay mad at him. Seb may have been an old partner in crime of mine, but it took a true friend to say the things that he’d just brought up. I knew he didn’t think less of me for doing what I’d done, but I was starting to realize that after this whole ordeal was over, I was going to have to make some massive changes in my life.

We walked back into the shoe store and then left through the back door that we’d slammed open. The nighttime air was cold and smelled vaguely of fish and rotting garbage. Seb sniffed the air and then gave me a disgusted look.

“You ever think about how fucked up it is that this city reeks of garbage and fish year round? Most places only have to deal with that shit in the summer. But we have it year round.”

The skyscrapers of Chicago loomed above us like giant sentient guardians and for a moment, I felt incredibly small.

“It doesn’t seem fair,” I said darkly as we climbed into the car. “It doesn’t seem goddamned fair at all.”

There was buzz in my pocket and I reached down and grabbed my phone, praying that it would be O’Brian. When I realized that it was an unknown number, a shiver of fear crawled down my spine.

“Damien, did you really think you could get the best of me?” Hodges laughed before I had a chance to respond. I held the phone at a wary distance from my face, staring at the blank screen and imagining his smug pink face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied. “Now where’s Audrey?”

There was a pause, then Hodges laughed again. “I don’t know why you have to be so demanding,” Hodges said. “After all, we’re not even working together and you’re still demanding things from me. Don’t you know that you only get to act that way with business associates and colleagues?”

“Fuck you,” I spat. “You kidnapped my fucking girlfriend, I’ll talk to you however I want.”

Seb’s eyebrows raised but I held up a hand and gestured for him to be quiet. The last thing I needed right now was another one of his smart-aleck remarks.

“Oh, she’s your girlfriend now, is she?” Hodges chuckled again. “Well, if you want to hear her say hello…” He trailed off and there was static as he lifted the phone away from his hear. I heard him yell something indistinguishable and then there was a bloodcurdling scream that punctured the air with horror.

Oh my god. He’s hurting her. He’s hurting Audrey
. Panic bells went off in my head and I felt like I was struggling to breath underwater. Blood rushed to my face and damp sweat broke out on my forehead as I waited in agonizing silence for Hodges to say something.

“Well?” Hodges chuckled. “How was that? I think she misses you, Damien. You’d better hurry up and sign HodgesCo…oops!” He chuckled again. “I mean, LennoxCo. You’d better hurry up and sign LennoxCo over to me, Damien.”

“That isn’t happening,” I said through gritted teeth. “Where is she? And what the fuck do you want with her?”

Hodges laughed. “Well, she’s down hanging out with a couple of my
friends
,” he said, putting a cruel emphasis on the last word. “And they brought their dogs with them! She likes dogs, right? She kept asking about some stupid dog.” Hodges sighed and I felt anger rise through my body like a tidal wave. “Anyway, some of
my
dogs are getting a little hungry. It’s been a few hours since they ate, Damien. And even though your girlfriend is pretty skinny, I think she might make a nice meal for them.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I hissed. “Where the fuck is she?”

“She’s down in a warehouse by the waterfront,” Hodges said casually. “And if you don’t come here soon and give me that flash drive that you
stole
, we’re going to kill her and throw her body into Lake Michigan.” He paused. “I mean, the pollution might be bad enough to kill her on its own. Or maybe we’ll feed her to the dogs after all. I haven’t decided yet. You’d better hurry up,” Hodges added. Then he hung up.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it in shock. “He’s going to fucking kill her,” I said miserably to Seb. Then suddenly, I sprang into action and rapped on the partition. “Waterfront,” I yelled to the driver. “Now!”

Audrey

It seemed like hours had passed. Maika was snoring, leaning against one wall of the warehouse with the German shepherds sleeping at his feet. The sun had gone down but I couldn’t see any moonlight filtering through the ruined ceiling of the building. It was dark and cold, and I was feeling more afraid than I ever had in my life.

Richard hadn’t come back. I’d heard footsteps outside earlier and my heartbeat had sped up so fast that I thought it was going to pound right out of my chest and leap away. But nothing happened, no one came in, no one called to Maika or the dogs. Sergei hadn’t come back either. I was even more glad for that.

I wondered what Damien was doing. The longer I went without hearing word from him, the more I began to worry that something really sinister and awful had happened. What if he’d been killed in the car wreck? It had been powerful enough to knock me out, and he’d been closer to the side with the impact. I knew Damien was strong and in good health, but I still worried. A head injury could knock anyone would. What if he forgot who he was? What if they took him to the hospital and he couldn’t remember what had happened?

I tried to keep telling myself that it would be okay, that he would come for me, but it was hard to sustain hope when I hadn’t had any good signs. I had no way to keep time except for watching the movements of the sky, but I knew that things weren’t looking good. Richard would come back and kill me at any moment. I just hoped it would be quick.

And Pepper. My poor, poor beloved doggy. What was going to happen to her? I cringed thinking about what could have happened after the accident. Had she been killed? Had she run out of the car into traffic? I didn’t see a lot of stray dogs in Chicago, so I had to assume that maybe someone would have taken her into a humane society. But she didn’t have a microchip. Even though she’d been wearing her collar, I worried that someone could have ripped it off of her and then paid the nominal fee to adopt her.

Stop worrying
, I tried to tell myself.
It’s going to be alright. Whatever happens, you won’t have to worry for much longer. Maybe someone really nice found Pepper and they’re going to give her a good home
. A tear leaked out of my eye as I thought about whether or not Pepper would miss me. I’d given her a good home—lots of love, snuggles, and table scraps. She’d been a loyal best friend. But I didn’t want her to spend the rest of her life in misery. If I couldn’t take care of her any longer, I prayed that she’d find someone who could.

Maika stirred and one of the dogs opened its mouth, yawning widely and then snuggling back down against the others. Richard had left the woolen blanket wrapped around me but I wasn’t able to move much and the cold had sunk so deeply into my bones that I felt like I was never going to be warm again. My teeth had stopped chattering long ago and my hands had been numb for so long that I’d almost gotten used to not moving around. Every time I closed my eyes, I prayed that my torture wouldn’t last much longer.

The sound of footsteps outside made me jump. They weren’t like the footsteps from earlier. Those had been tentative, like kids playing around in a place they weren’t supposed to be. These footsteps were heavy, purposeful. Whoever was approaching knew what they were doing. I closed my eyes and tears leaked down my frozen cheeks.
Please be Damien
, I begged silently.
Please, please, please. I can’t stand seeing Richard again. Anyone but him. Even Sergei. Please!

The double doors swung open and Richard’s heavy, meaty frame strode into the warehouse. The gag had long since made my mouth feel dry and full of cotton, but I swallowed all the same. He walked over to me, his face barely lit in the low light.

“Ah, Audrey, I see you’ve been a good girl,” Richard said. He clasped his hands together in front of his chest. “You haven’t moved at all.” He leaned down and looked at my face. I felt blood rise to the surface of my cheeks. I knew exactly how I must look to him—beaten down, weary, and crying like a little girl.

I tried to speak but it just came out as a soft mumble with the sock in my mouth.

“Ah, ah, ah, Audrey, no talking, remember?” I shuddered. Richard’s voice was almost kindly. I closed my eyes as he stepped closer. “Audrey, not very much longer now. I know this hasn’t been a fun very wait for you. If only Damien hadn’t been so selfish!”

My eyes flew open.

“Ah, but you didn’t know that, did you?” Richard frowned. He let out a long sigh. “It’s always so unpleasant discovering things about someone that you wish you wouldn’t have known. Isn’t that right?”

I almost nodded but managed to stare straight into his eyes.

Maika woke up and scrambled to his feet, running over to Richard with a gleam in his eyes.

“Maika, enough,” Richard said. “We’re not acting yet.” He held up his wrist and checked his watch. “You know, we still have a few hours.” Hope welled up in my body as big as a balloon. Richard yawned. “But you know, I don’t feel like waiting much longer,” he added. “I’m tired, and I want to go home.” He chuckled and I felt my anger come back tenfold. “It’s so tiring, waiting around on people like Damien Lennox! I feel as though I’ve been waiting for him my whole life. And now I have to find someone else since Damien didn’t work out. I have to find someone else to help me. I’m certainly not going to retire in the state that I’m in!”

Maika didn’t respond. He stood there behind Richard, a hulking figure in the darkness.

From outside, there was a loud noise. At first I expected to see Sergei dashing through the open doors. But instead, I heard voices. Lots of voices. Masculine, deep voices. Like Damien’s.

I shivered. Richard’s head snapped up.

“What the fuck?” Richard turned to Maika. “What the fuck is going on? What the fuck are the cops doing here?” I saw the flashing lights through the lone vents on the top of the building.

Maika shrugged.

Richard glared daggers at me. “You,” he hissed, leaning close. “If you had anything to do with this, I’ll kill you right now.” He reached into the pocket of his overcoat and pulled out a gun. “If you make so much as a peep, I’ll kill you and feed you to the dogs. By the time the cops get here, you’ll be nothing but dog meat. Sound good?”

Tears of fright began to spill down my cheeks and I nodded as emphatically as I could.
Please don’t kill me
, I silently begged.
Please, Damien, hurry up!

Damien

As the car lurched away from RH Shoes, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and began to dial. My fingers felt like clumsy sausages as I punched in O’Brian’s number and held the phone to my ear. When I heard a busy signal, I screamed and threw the phone at the floor.

Seb held his phone out to me quickly. “Try mine,” he advised. “We don’t have much time.”

With numb fingers, I began dialing O’Brian again. This time, thankfully, he picked up.

“O’Brian.”

“It’s Damien!” I yelled into the receiver. “You need to get your men down to the waterfront
now
!”

“Hold on,” O’Brian said. He coughed. “What was that? Damien, I can barely hear you. Are you somewhere with bad reception?”

I could have reached through the phone and strangled him. “You need to get your men down to the waterfront, by Lake Michigan, right now,” I hissed. “Hodges is there and he’s got someone tied up. He’s going to kill her unless we show up and intervene.”

There was a pause. “Damien, I told you to stay out of this,” O’Brian said in a flat, reedy voice. I could tell he was angry, but I didn’t give a shit. This was Audrey’s life on the line, and if we didn’t save her, I knew no one could.

“I don’t care,” I said quickly. “This is too urgent, and someone’s in trouble.”

“Alright, I’ll grab a team and we’ll go down there,” O’Brian replied. “Where exactly?”

“Down by Navy Pier,” I said darkly. “South of the Loop. Look for abandoned warehouses. I’m on my way there now.”

“Damien, no,” O’Brian said. “Let me handle this. You’re not authorized—”

I hung up before he could say anything else. The driver of the car was speeding through downtown Chicago but I was worried that we would be too late. Richard had a sadistic cruel streak running through him and somehow I knew that he’d take any chance to punish me that he got. Even if that meant hurting Audrey.

“I feel like such an idiot,” I said to Seb, shaking my head. I could feel that my face was pale with fear. My stomach was empty and growling and I still felt weak and achy from the concussion, but somehow I was able to push all of that to the side. “When this is over, I’m taking a long vacation,” I said.

Seb scoffed. “I’m taking a vacation as soon as we wrap shit up tonight,” he said. “I’m fucking exhausted.”

The car bounced into an empty parking lot. I could hear the angry waves of Lake Michigan beating against the pier and bulkhead. There were giant lumps of ice far out into the water and I shivered—as cold as it was outside, I knew the lake had to be positively frigid.

I opened the car door and ran towards the row of warehouses. To my immense relief, I heard sirens in the distance. When I looked back over my shoulder, police cars were spilling into the lot. Seb was standing there, watching me, with an odd expression on his face. I knew that we’d been through a lot together, but this was going to change our lives forever. We’d never go back to being drinking buddies, or the kind of office friends who high-fived over fucking the same secretary. Everything was different now. Everything had changed.

“Audrey!” I yelled as loudly as I could. The wind was whipping so fiercely around me that my voice seemed to disappear into the night, like someone had come down and snatched it from me. “Audrey! Audrey! I’m here, Audrey!” I yelled loudly. My legs ached and my adrenaline was pumping but I forced myself to run even faster, until my feet were practically eating the pavement with each stride. “Audrey! Audrey! I’m here!”

From inside one of the warehouses, there was a shrill scream.
Audrey!
I pulled my gun out of my pocket and ran towards where I’d heard the sound. The cops were behind me, hot on my heels.

When I reached the building, I saw the double doors at the back were flung open. Inside looked dark and foreboding. I was afraid of what lay ahead and afraid of Hodges, but I knew I couldn’t let that keep me from Audrey any longer. I had to find her. I had to save her. I couldn’t let Hodges hurt her, not anymore and never again.

“Audrey,” I said loudly as I bolted into the warehouse. “I’m here!”

Richard stepped out of the shadows. He was wearing a black woolen overcoat and a hat with the brim pulled low. “Damien,” he said, spreading his arms wide like he was greeting an old friend. “So nice of you to join us. I thought you’d never come.”

There were footsteps behind me and I turned around, expecting to see the cops. Instead, it was Seb. Shocked, I walked over to him. “What are you doing here?” I hissed in a low whisper.

Seb pressed something into my hand. “You’re going to need this,” he whispered back.

I shoved it in my pocket without looking at it.

“What’s all this?” Richard strolled over. “A fun reunion?” He looked behind me. “Oh, and the police. Well, now this is a fun party.” He snapped his fingers and I struggled not to gape as two hulking, muscular men came out of the shadows. They dragged Audrey between them. It looked like her hands were tied behind her back and she was gagged with duct tape. Her face looked terrible—bloodless and pale, with obvious grimy tear tracks on each cheek.

“If you’ve hurt her,” I hissed in a warning tone, “I’ll fucking kill you, Richard.”

Richard grinned. “We haven’t done much…yet,” he replied. “After all, I was waiting for you to join the party. So, Damien, hand over that damn flash drive. And then we’ll be done here. You and Audrey can go home, and everything will be just fine.”

Suddenly, I knew what Seb had pressed into my hand.

“Fine,” I said. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the flash drive and handed it over. Seb gave me a knowing look when it was in Richard’s hands.

Richard looked down at the tiny device like he was staring at the crown jewels. “Damien, I don’t think I trust you,” he said cautiously. “How do I know that you didn’t copy everything on here?”

“I didn’t—”

There was a loud bang and Richard crumpled to my feet. Dark red blood began pooling around his body, so dark that it almost looked like paint. Gaping, I turned around to see O’Brian and a bunch of other cops standing there, holding their guns.

“Sorry I didn’t believe you,” O’Brian said gruffly.

The shock barely had a chance to sunk in before Audrey fainted, collapsing on the wooden pier right before my eyes. I rushed over to her and pulled her into my arms. Her wrists were cinched tightly behind her back and I frantically untied the knots and began massaging her hands to bring blood back into the skin. Her face was pale and I pulled off the duct tape as gently as I could before removing whatever hunk of fabric they’d stuffed in her mouth to use as a gag.

“God, Audrey,” I pleaded into her soft brown hair. She smelled like the cold air itself, but there was still a faint hint of strawberries and talc. “Audrey, I’m so sorry.” Audrey stirred in my arms but her eyelids didn’t open. I held onto her firmly as I stood up, cradling her in my arms.

“She needs medical treatment,” I said loudly.

“We’ll take care of the situation here,” O’Brian replied. “Want me to call an ambulance?”

I shook my head. “I’ve got it, thanks,” I said. I began the slow walk of carrying Audrey back to the car. I thought Seb would join me but instead, he hung around with the cops. The sirens flashing reflected off Lake Michigan’s black waters, making the whole thing look like a scene from the depths of hell.

“Audrey,” I crooned softly into her ear. “Audrey, wake up, please. Wake up for Damien. Please, please wake up.”

As if by magic, Audrey stirred in my arms. She swallowed and her eyes opened wide when she saw me.

“Damien?” Her voice was fuzzy and hoarse, like she’d been screaming for hours. “Is it really you? What happened?”

“Don’t worry about that,” I told her firmly. We’d reached the car and the chauffeur darted out and opened the wide backseat doors for us. As I slid inside after Audrey, Pepper rushed to her and barked happily, jumping into Audrey’s lap. I tried to push the dog away but Audrey held on firm, fresh tears running down her cheeks.

“Pepper, my poor baby,” Audrey cooed. She buried her face in the dog’s neck. “What happened to you?”

I swallowed hard. “I went back to the scene of the accident, looking for clues,” I said softly. “I knew that Richard had taken you, but I didn’t know where. Pepper was right there, and I picked her up.”

Audrey swallowed hard. She closed her eyes and sank back against the seat. “I’m so tired,” she mumbled. “So tired.”

“I want to take you to a hospital,” I said firmly. “Driver, get us to a doctor. Quickly!” I rapped on the partition between the back seat and the front. “Audrey, try to stay with me, okay? Please. I’m taking you to a hospital. You need medical care; you’ve been out in the cold for hours. The cops want you to go, too.”

Audrey’s eyes flew open. “No,” she argued. “I don’t want to go to a hospital.” Her lower lip began to tremble. “I’m fine, Damien, I just want to go home.” Her lip quivered and tears welled up in her eyes. My heart broke—she looked so innocent and so pathetic. I just wanted to take care of her forever.

I scowled, then gave the driver the address to my condo. By the time I turned back to Audrey, she’d fallen asleep.

After I carried Audrey upstairs, I put her in my bed and waited with Pepper in the living room. I was exhausted, but I was also wired, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Instead, I made myself a salad and sautéed a steak for Pepper, dumping it in one of my bowls on the floor. She ate the whole damn thing and then passed out in the kitchen, snoring loudly. I hated to admit it, but the stupid mutt was growing on me. I knew she made Audrey happy, and, well, it was like nothing else mattered.