Romance: Untamed Stepbrother (8 page)

She walked there at midnight and completed her usual elliptical machine training. After about an hour, she drank a bottle of water and headed back home. As she walked through the empty parking lot, she noticed a lone cargo van parked near the street. She figured it probably belonged to the hunky guy she usually saw at the gym when she worked out at night but thought it was weird that it was parked so far away from the business front.

As soon as she passed it, she realized it had pitch black windows. Thinking nothing of it, she continued on while she thought about Adrian. She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her lower back. She yelped out in pain and reached behind her to feel the spot. She felt a small metal cylinder protruding from her skin and pulled it out. As she brought it to her face for closer examination, her vision began to blur. She looked at the little thing that caused her pain and realized it looked like a small dart. She turned around to see someone standing next to the van with their hands held out in front of them. The next last thing she remembered was her face hitting the ground hard and the smell of blood.

Two days after Christa went missing, Adrian began to worry. When she would not answer her cell phone, he decided to stop by her apartment. Figuring she might be sick in bed, he knocked softly at first. After a few minutes, he did what most men would. He tried the doorknob and found that it was unlocked. He peeked his head inside and called for her but she did not respond. He opened the door and stepped in. His heart began to race as he feared the worst. He suddenly had an errant thought of her lying dead in her bathtub, having slipped and fell.

He carefully walked through her apartment and found it empty. He did find her cell phone lying on her bed, along with the clothes she wore when they saw each other a couple nights before. Her journal was still open to the last page she wrote on and he peered down to look at it. He noticed her detailing the trafficking and saw that she had made several notations to it. The part where she circled Gerald’s name a few times suddenly jogged his memory. He thought back to the day Gerald was hired to be the pilot of his private plane. He had made a quick joke about an attractive young flight attendant and said he would not mind tranquilizing her and taking her home.

Adrian ad originally thought about it as just regular dirty guy talk, something he did not share in common with him but it started making sense. The news reports he had heard about young women going missing and the fact that Christa had proof Gerald was involved with girls being sold as sex slaves connected all the dots. He felt a big knot in his stomach as he realized he knew where Christa had been. He skimmed though the last few entries in her journal for any more information and then it hit him. Reading that she may be pregnant with his child almost brought him to tears. He then read that Lance was also a candidate for being the father.

Knowing what he had to do now, he called Lance to let him know the situation. Lance agreed to help find Christa and he and Adrian began their search.

Christa woke to her nose throbbing painfully. She tried to sit up, only to find her hands and feet were bound. She looked around as well as she could and determined she was in some sort of cell. It was a room made of concrete with only one steel door and no windows. Not sure what to do, she bent her legs up towards her the best she could and brought her arms from behind her back. She maneuvered her hands under her feet and managed to bring them to her front. Being able to sit herself up felt loads better and she was able to recover her bearings. She could hear people talking through the door and the small amount of light that shinned through the cracks along the side cast shadows into the otherwise dark room. She crawled towards the door so she could better hear.

“What do you mean we have a small problem,” a woman’s voice could be heard yelling. “I thought I told you to take extra special care with her!”

“I know you did sir,” a man’s voice said. “I wasn’t expecting her to fall flat on her face.”

“Well because of you her nose is broken,” the woman’s voice replied. “She’s unsellable now. Do you seriously think the sheik would want to buy a broken toy? And for the love of Christ Gerald, would you stop calling me Sir already.”

“Okay, okay,” Gerald replied. “Well, she’s in there if you want to take a look. I have to go find one more girl before we can make the shipment.”

“Fine,” the woman said. “Just don’t fuck it up this time.

Christa realized they were talking about her when she reached up to find the source of her pain. Her nose was definitely broken as the pain she felt race through her head brought tears to her eyes. She did not know why she was there but she determined that since Gerald was involved, she was probably targeted. She surmised that she was in a holding cell for girls like her waiting to be shipped and sold. She did not get much more time to think as the door to her cell opened and the person standing at the doorway made her gasp.

“So you know what’s happening then,” Amanda said loudly. “Fucking Gerald. I knew I trusted him too much to do anything right.”

“Why are you doing this,” Christa asked with tears running down her face. “Why would you be involved in something so horrible?”

“It pays better,” Amanda replied flatly. “After fifteen years working at that lousy company, you’d think I would have made something of myself. I had finally made it on the fast track to success when you showed up and ruined everything.”

“I don’t understand,” Christa said.  “I thought we were friends.”

“Friends,” Amanda replied. “Friends don’t steal each other’s thunder. Friends don’t pretend to like you and then take everything you worked so hard for.”

“What are you talking about,” Christa asked confused.

“I’m talking about you,” Amanda said. “Before you were hired, I was the star flight attendant. I spent years working hard to get noticed by Adrian. I was on my way to being his personal assistant on his private flights and I wanted him to notice me. Then you came along and in a moment, all of it was taken away.”

“What do you mean,” Christa asked again. “I invited you to come with me when Adrian offered his private flights. And what does that have to do with your involvement in all of this?”

“First of all Christa,” Amanda said annoyed at her ignorance. “You stole Adrian away from me. He was going to be mine and we were going to live happily together. I wanted out of all of this. I’ve spent too long and worked too hard in the criminal underworld and when I met Adrian, I knew he was my way out.”

“Adrian would never have fallen for your fake charms,” Christa said as she sat up. “He’s much more intelligent than you think. He would have seen right through you.”

“He fell for you,” Amanda fired back. “Can’t be as intelligent as you give him credit for. You seem to think you know it all Christa, but you fail to remember that you do not even know whose child you are carrying. Do you really think I would believe that you are just some young girl that suddenly decided to become a flight attendant on a whim and as luck would have it, end up in the arms of two attractive men?”

“What are you trying to say,” Christa asked.

“I’m saying that you are a gold digger Christa,” Amanda replied. “You planned all of this from the very beginning. You knew that you could not get Adrian’s attention on your own so you staged a little turbulence so you could accidentally spill something on him. Your knowledge of avionics gave you away. And when you saw Lance, you decided to increase your chances of success by getting him in bed too. Now you have two chances of carrying the child of a rich attractive man. You wouldn’t ever have to work again.”

“You are deranged,” Christa said in disgust. “You honestly think that I would do something like that. Even if I did, are you trying to tell me that it was worse than selling people into the sex trade? Adrian would never fall for your bullshit!”

“Oh I think he would Christa,” Amanda retorted. “You did.”

“Fuck you,” Christa yelled. I can’t believe I ever called you friend.”

“Oh Christa,” Amanda said. “What shall I ever do with you?”

“You could untie me so I can come over there and kick you in the face,” Christa replied.

“That won’t be in the cards my dear,” Amanda said as she pulled out a small revolver out of her coat pocket and pointed it at Christa’s head. “If only you hadn’t broken your nose, I could have sold you for a premium. Now you are worthless to me.”

“W-what are you going to do,” Christa stammered.

“I’m going to tie up loose ends and cut my losses,” Amanda replied. “I can’t have you running your mouth to anyone. I’m sorry it has to be this way.”

“No you’re not,” Christa said as she started to cry again. She feared for her life and for her baby. She did not know what would happen but she started to feel like she was going to die any moment. She sobbed as Amanda walked up to her and placed the muzzle of her gun on top of Christa’s head. She heard Amanda say goodbye and she closed her eyes expecting to never open them again.

Just as Amanda began to squeeze the trigger, the small radio she had in her other coat pocket crackled and a voice could be heard trying to get her attention. She lowered the gun and spoke into the radio, yelling at the person on the other end for interrupting her. She was told that intruders had made it into the building and were making their way towards her. Amanda smirked as she looked down at Christa.

“Looks like your luck wants to change,” Amanda said. “Sounds like someone is trying to rescue you. Unfortunately, your luck has already run out.”

Amanda put the muzzle of the gun back on top of Christa’s head and squeezed the trigger. Christa heard a loud bang as she closed her eyes tight and cringed. Amanda stood above Christ’s motionless body for a moment. She looked down and her and muttered something just before she fell backwards onto the floor. Christa opened her eyes and looked up to see Amanda holding her chest as blood began to soak her clothes. She looked at Christa just before the life left her eyes. Christa looked towards the door and saw Adrian standing just outside the cell holding a gun.

He looked up to see Lance standing near several law enforcement personnel. They nodded to each other and Adrian carried Christa over to the paramedics who were waiting. She smiled at Adrian and mouthed an ‘I love you’ to him just before she fainted. When she opened her eyes again, she was laying in a hospital bed with Adrian and Lance standing over her. She looked up and smiled as they both fought back tears.

“What happened,” she asked as she began to feel the pain in her face.

“You were out for quite a long while,” Adrian replied.

“We were so worried about you,” Lance said.

“I’m glad you are both here,” she said slowly and softly.

“How did you know where to find me,” she asked.

“We knew that since Gerald had been using my planes as his taxi for trafficking girls,” Adrian started, “We figured he would most likely be using one of the older storage facilities at the hangar for his base of operations.”

“It wasn’t just Gerald,” Christa said trying to sit up. “Amanda was behind the whole thing.”

“Take it easy baby girl,” Lance said as he helped her lay back down. You don’t have to worry about either of them anymore.”

“I like it when you call me baby girl,” she said smiling. The morphine drip she was on kicked in again and she felt the pain in her face retreat. “Wait, Baby, Where is my baby?” Christa frantically felt her stomach and realized it was no longer round and firm. She began to cry as she realized she was no longer carrying her child. “Where is my baby?”

“There were complications,” Adrian said softly reaching for a tissue and whipping her eyes. “The stress of everything that had happened to you caused your baby to be born prematurely.”

“What happened,” Christa asked sobbing. “Where is my child?”

“Don’t worry baby girl,” Lance said. “Your baby is being taken care of and should pull through, though he’s having a hard time breathing on his own right now.”

“My baby is a boy,” Christa asked as her tears of sadness quickly changed to tears of joy.

“That is right my dear,” Adrian replied. “Tough little bugger.”

“I’m so happy that he’s okay,” She said trying to fight back tears. “When can I see him?”

“It won’t be for a while still Christa,” Lance said. “He’s being observed and you’ll get to see him soon.”

“I’m sorry to both of you,” She said. “I should have told you both sooner.”

“Told us what my dear,” Adrian asked.

“I should have told you both that either of you could be the father,” she replied looking at them both.

“Well we kind of already know who the father is,” Lance said looking at Adrian who glanced back at him.

“What do you mean,” she asked.

“Well there is a very simple process of elimination that we did after Lance told me something very interesting,” Adrian said.

“So tell me then,” she said. “Who is it?”

“I am the father,” Adrian replied.

“How do you know that for certain,” she asked.

“It really quite simple really,” Lance began. “I’m sterile.”

“Wait what,” Christa asked surprised.

“Yeah,” Lance said as he looked around the room. “It must have been all the years of partying and drugs. The doctors took samples from both of us and tested them before administering a DNA test. They confirmed that I can’t have children.”

“Oh Lance I’m so sorry,” she said fighting back tears again. She knew how happy he had been with the possibility of having a child.

“It’s ok Christa,” Lance replied. “I kind of knew it would never happen anyway. Most gay men adopt anyway right?” He fought off his own tears as he chuckled to himself and looked away. He walked over to Christa and they hugged for a few moments before he excused himself. He wanted to make sure Adrian got to have his time with her before visiting hours ended.

“So,” Adrian said to Christa.

“So,” she replied as he sat down on the edge of her hospital bed.

“Are you happy it’s mine,” he asked.

“Of course,” she replied. “I had already thought about what I would do when I found out it was yours.”

“And what is that exactly,” he asked.

“This,” she replied as she reached up and wrapped her arms tight around him. She professed her love for him and they kissed. She let the tears flow and they embraced.

“So what happens next,” she asked him when she finally let go.

“I would think that to be painfully obvious,” he replied. “I’m going to marry you and we are going to live happily ever after.”

“I think I am ready for that,” she replied smiling.

Two months went by before Christa’s son was able to leave the hospital but he recovered and was breathing on his own. The doctors told Christa and Adrian that, as luck would have it, he would live a normal healthy life. That was the day Christa felt true happiness.