Locked Away (Living With Lies Book 2) (30 page)

I step into a building that looks like an old warehouse that’s been abandon for years. Boxes and papers are scattered everywhere, cobwebs and dust are on everything, but it’s not until I see an old mattress in the middle of the room that panic sets in.

“What are you doing, Manuel?” My voice cracks with fear as one of the other men twists my arm and shoves me on the mattress

“Shut up,” he growls. My eyes find Manuel again, hoping like hell the boy I once knew is still somewhere inside him. Manuel watches me, his eyes almost sad before he shakes his head, trying to clear whatever thought he had.

“He needs to pay for what he did!” Manuel screams at me. “An eye for an eye.” His eyes travel down to my stomach before he exhales loudly.

“It didn’t have to be this way. You belonged to me...You always have. Even that worthless piece of shit father of yours knew you belonged to me. Then you come up here.” He shakes his head while his eyes burn into mine. “You come up here and spread your legs like some fucking whore. The woman
I was going to marry
.” He pauses as his chest heaves with anger. “I was going to make you happy...so fucking happy, but you ruined it.” I’m watching Manuel so I don’t notice the other two men who crawled up next to me. They both grab a hand and cuff me to a bar at the end of the bed.

“I’m sorry it has to end like this...I loved you, Izzy,” Manuel says with more compassion than he’s showed me all night.

“I love you, Manuel. Don’t do this,” I plead as tears start falling down my face. He pauses long enough that the men standing over me start arguing in Spanish. I’m only catching every couple of words, but I heard enough to know they plan to kill me and they’re worried their boss wants to back out.

Manuel shakes his head and shouts, “Stop!” The room goes silent before he squats down next to me. “I’m sorry,” he says again before one of the men shoves a towel in my mouth. I panic, struggling for air until a tingle passes through my body. My arms and legs start to feel heavy. My eyes move back to Manuel’s sad ones for only a second before the room goes black.

****

Kiran

“I’m done,” I tell Alex as I rub my hands over my face. Hill Software, Gavin’s company, is merging one of our own programs with a company that’s hired Gavin to monitor their system, and it’s been anything but easy.

Gavin worked with us for most of the day but he went home to have dinner with Kate and Callie, then he plans to return. Now, I’m thinking he had the right idea because going home to Isabelle sounds great.

“I’ll stay until Gavin gets back,” Alex says, sounding just as tired as I feel.

“Dude, take a break. Go home, eat something, and unwind for a while,” I say through a yawn. The last two days, our lives have been consumed with this merger. As long as we don’t hit any snags, everything should be up and running by the time the baby arrives, which is what all three of us are hoping for.

After my son is born, I plan to take a few weeks off, and I expect Alex will miss a few days himself. “Nah. I’ll stay until Gavin gets back. We’re so damn close to having this done. It will be nice if I can go out and celebrate before Isabelle goes into labor,” he adds with a smirk. I’m sure his idea of celebrating includes a woman, probably Brooke.

“It might not hurt you to take a break and go see Brooke,” I add as I grab my phone off my desk.

“Things didn’t work out with her.” Alex shrugs. I haven’t known him for long, but long enough to know he doesn’t go through women as fast as I once did. He’s definitely had his fair share of hook ups since he’s moved to Denver, but he also seems like he wants a relationship—something I thought he was building with Brooke.

“What happened? She seemed nice.” I saw the way they got along when I went out on a date with them. They acted like two people who were most definitely falling for each other.

“She’s nice but ...” He takes a deep breath. “She upset Isabelle.” He pauses again. “Telling her about you and Kami and making it sound like it was a bigger deal than it was...that pissed me off.”

My eyes narrow from his comment. Isabelle didn’t act like Brooke was trying to cause problems. She just happened to mention something I should have told her about. “I don’t need a catty woman in my life...so we’re done.”

“Sorry, man,” I add before pulling out my keys.

“It is what it is. Go home to my sister and I’ll see you tomorrow,” he adds, cutting off our conversation about his love life.

“See you tomorrow.” I make my way outside only to discover it’s already dark.

Shit...how long have I been working? I glance at my watch, realizing it’s almost nine o’clock. I can’t believe Isabelle didn’t send me a text wondering when I would be home.

I push my hands-free button on my steering wheel and connect a call to Isabelle on the drive home, but she doesn’t answer. I’m guessing she’s already asleep. I hate that I’m working these crazy hours, but I’m doing it so I won’t leave Gavin and Alex in a bind when the baby arrives.

I pull in the drive of our new place, and as I was expecting, the house is dark. But as I step up on the porch, ready to unlock the door, my heart drops to my stomach when I see the front door slightly ajar. I swallow down my nerves as I push it open. I move from one room to the next, but everything appears to be in place, except for the fact that Isabelle is nowhere to be found.

I call her phone again, hoping like hell that she left with Kate and forgot to tell me, but my hope is crushed when her phone lights up on our kitchen table. My heart thumps wildly as my anxiety completely takes over my ability to think.

I hit Gavin’s number on my phone and it rings until I finally get his voicemail. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This can’t be happening. There’s no way Isabelle would have left again. She knows how much I want her and our child. We’re building a life, a family together. If she’s not with Kate then...someone has taken her.

Isabelle

My head is pounding as my eyes slowly open. I’m still chained to the filthy mattress, but I don’t see Manuel and his disgusting friends. I attempt to swallow, but my throat is dry and scratchy. I have no idea what they gave me or how long I’ve been here, but I’ve been out of it long enough that my bladder gave up. Now I’m not only lying on this nasty bed, but I’m also lying in my own filth. The only positive I can muster up is the fact that I can still feel my baby moving.

Tears form in my eyes as the thought that he won’t be okay for much longer sets in. In the thirty-six weeks I’ve been pregnant, I’ve put my child at risk more than a drug addict probably has, and now he’s more than likely going to die right along with me.

I close my eyes, fighting my tears, when I hear someone next to me. I hold my breath, waiting for something to happen, when I hear Manuel’s raw, almost exposed voice.

“It was never supposed to turn out like this. I spent my entire life loving you. Waiting for you to grow up enough that he’d accept us, accept that you weren’t a little girl anymore.” Manuel sighs but I’ve yet to open my eyes. I think it’s possible he believes I’m still out from whatever they gave me because this is a nicer version of the man who unwillingly dragged me out of my house.

“The first opportunity I had to speed things up for us, I took it, and look how it turned out.” His voice is still soft, verging on sad.

“Life has sucked without you and now...when I go back...it will be worse. Knowing you’re never coming back, and now I’m the person who has to ...” His voice cracks in pain.

If he’s planning to kill me, then why hasn’t he? Why would he keep a person he cares about alive only to kill them unless...unless he’s using me to trap Damian. My stomach turns knowing that has to be it...he’s using me to lure my father out of hiding. Once my initial shock of believing Damian had died wore off, I started to question if he could still be alive. The fact that Manuel and Miguel were able to take my father down was shocking, but Damian Paasch isn’t a man who will stay down. It was the day Kiran told me that Damian, Alejandro, and Richardo were all killed that my heavy heart settled. They’re too smart and were too prepared for something to have happened to all three of them at once. Whether Damian hoped I would figure that out or not, I did.

“It has to end like this. It’s not possible any other way,” Manuel says before I hear him walk away.

I have to get out of here. I have to fight for my child, and the only way that will happen is...“Wait,” I say as loud as I can. I open my drowsy eyes, pleading with a man who at some point in his life loved me. “We can still have that.” Manuel slowly turns around. His face is harsh, confirming he didn’t know I could hear him.

“I’m sorry. I ...” I take a calming breath, trying to push down my fear. “You were always with different girls. I listened to them brag about being with you so...so I turned off my feelings for you. I forced myself to stop thinking about you that way because I didn’t think you could ever see me as anything but your little sister,” I lie.

Manuel was always my protector. Next to my father, he was the only person I ever counted on, but the second he had the opportunity to screw a female he ditched me. More times than not, the woman he was with was someone who worked for my father, and stories always made their way back to me.

If he truly had feelings for me, if he wanted a future with me, he went about it the wrong way. “It wasn’t like that.” Manuel grits his teeth and shakes his head. He almost appears upset with himself. “Those women never meant a damn to me. It was always you,” he adds.

“But I didn’t know.” My voice cracks as a tear falls down my cheek.

“It’s too late now, Izzy. We can’t turn back from this.” I try to control my breathing as more panic sets in. “What did you do?” Manuel takes a step away from me, causing my heart to drop.

“We can fix it. Together we can fix anything,” I plead, hoping like hell the boy from my childhood is listening.

Manuel bites his lower lip as he closes his eyes. When he opens them again, he appears softer. “If you do anything—”

“I won’t. I swear,” I lie. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to save my child, no matter the cost.

Manuel digs a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocks the handcuffs. He pulls my hands around in front of me and re-cuffs me. I’m no longer stuck on that awful mattress, which is one step closer to getting out of here.

****

Kiran

My calls to Gavin continue to go unanswered. And so, I went straight to his house. Any reasonable person would have called the police, but I’m afraid the police will do more harm than good at this point.

For starters, Isabelle is still using a fake ID and passport, and once the police discover that, they will be looking for Isabelle for a different reason. My other hesitation in calling them is I know they’d spend more time asking me questions that I don’t have answers to.

I pull up to Gavin’s driveway. I barely have the car in park before I’m racing to their front door. Without knocking, I push it open and storm inside.

“What the heck?” Kate says, stepping out of the kitchen.

“Is Isabelle here?” I frantically holler. As she processes what I asked, panic takes over her expression.

“No.”

“When was the last time you saw her?” I hiss as my fear of the unknown takes over.

“I left your house this afternoon. Around three, I think...She was going through clothing for the baby.” It’s after nine. The last time anyone saw her was six hours ago, which means she could be anywhere.

“She’s gone,” I say, trying to gain control of my anger.

“Who’s gone?” Gavin questions as he walks into the room.

“Isabelle. I went home and the front door wasn’t shut tight.”

“She locked it behind me. She followed me to the door. I remember hearing her lock it,” Kate says as she places her hand on her chest.

“Has Alex heard from her?” Gavin asks.

“No, I just left Hill Software. Alex and I have been there together since you left.” Gavin swallows and takes a deep breath.

“Did you check the GPS on her phone?” Kate says as she breaks down and cries.

I shake my head. “Her phone is at the house.”

“Oh God.” Kate sobs as Gavin wraps her up in his arms. “We need to call Alex. One of us needs to get to the airport and make sure she’s not there,” Gavin demands as I start shaking my head.

“She didn’t willingly leave. Not this time.” I groan as I run my hands through my hair in frustration.

“I didn’t say she did, but someone could have her and we need to rule out that she’s not at the airport.”

“Do you have any idea how big the airport is?” Kate says with a sniffle.

“If one of you have a better suggestion, then let’s hear it,” Gavin growls about the same time a phone buzzes somewhere in the room.

“Call Alex. Regardless of where you think she went, he deserves to know his sister is missing.” His comment makes my stomach turn. Listening to someone else say she’s missing suddenly makes the situation feel painfully real.

“You guys,” Kate says with a strange look. “I have a text from an unknown number. It’s says 4515 Westbrook Drive.” Kate shoves her phone toward Gavin. I step closer and look over his shoulder.