Seducing Celestine (14 page)

“How would they know I had the money when I didn’t even know?” There were a lot of people and cars in Brisbane. It would be hard to track down one woman with a car.

“Maybe they saw you buy the car or suddenly saw you drive past in it,” surmised Nick, thinking about their next move. The sooner the money was out of Celestine’s possession the safer she would be. “We have to tell the police.”

“Oh, yeah, absolutely,” murmured Celestine, not sounding entirely like she meant it. She knew calling the police was the right thing any upstanding citizen to do. This amount of money obviously came from a crime of some sort. There were laws and rules to obey. And although she knew it could never be hers, it did not stop her from wanting to look at it, maybe touch it. The last year without money had been awfully hard and a little fantasy never hurt anyone.

“You are way too honorable to take this money, baby.”

“Yes…of course…” Celestine murmured in a half-assed manner. She wondered what would have happened if Nick had not been with when she had found it? Would she have been so honorable?

“I’m going to call the police.”

“I’m just going to stand and look at the pretty money.” Celestine saw the amused look Nick gave her. “I swear on a packet of double choc-coated Tim Tams I will not touch this money.”

“Uh-huh,” Nick murmured, eighty-eight percent certain Celestine meant it. “I won’t be long.”

Celestine just nodded and stared at the money. She half heard the footsteps behind her. She assumed it was neighbor Steve back for another look.

“You are a complete and utter pain in the backside, lady,” a harsh male voice snarled at her.

Celestine looked down at the hand that clamped cruelly around her arm. Not neighbor Steve. She looked up at the man beside her. It was the blond man who tried to steal her car. He looked pissed off. Now she knew why.

“I have been called worse,” replied Celestine coolly as she tried to break his hold on her. But he held firm and grabbed her other arm as he tried to push her into the car. However, Celestine was not about to be pushed anywhere without a fight. She dug her feet in to stop any forward motion, hoping to delay any action this thug had planned to allow time for Nick to appear. “How did you find me?” She knew she was fighting a losing battle. The man was bigger and stronger than her.

“I have been tracking you for days.” The man pushed her toward the front passenger seat. “Get in the car.” He jabbed his finger in the direction of the car and pulled out an ugly-looking gun, shoving it in her face for added encouragement.

Stalling for time versus a gun in your face. Her options seemed limited.

“Why? You don’t need me.” Celestine knew by the look in his eyes this man would kill her if he had to. “Just take the money and I’ll say nothing.”

“I need a hostage.” The man leered sickeningly at her as his eyes roamed over her body.

Well, that was a look that made her want to puke or shower. It was a look that bespoke only trouble. And she wasn’t going to be a hostage for anyone who looked at her like that. Though no cunning plan to avoid being taken as a hostage came to mind. “Why do you need a hostage?” Where the hell was Nick? How long did it take to tell the police you had a gazillion dollars in your possession that clearly came from a crime?

“Because, and shut up!” he barked simply as he grabbed Celestine by the shoulders and shoved her into the front seat of the car.

Celestine started to get out of the car but the gun to her head stopped her.

“Where are we going?”

“Stop asking stupid questions and drive.” He pushed her over the handbrake and into the driver’s seat. “And don’t do anything stupid.”

It was too late to warn her about doing stupid things. Stupid had been buying the car two weeks ago. Stupid was not going inside the house with Nick while he rang the police. Stupid was quibbling with a madman holding a gun. Still, she couldn’t stop her natural instincts if she tried.

“I still don’t get why you need me when you have your money.” Celestine turned the key in the ignition, willing the car to refuse to start. But being the perverse bastard of a car it was it started straightaway. Damn Nick for being such a good guy and fixing the car like he promised. She drove slowly down the driveway. She looked in the rearview mirror and saw the door to the house open. Nick was looking at the car driving out. Celestine hoped to God he would work out she wasn’t leaving because she wanted to. He had to know it was under duress.

“Step on it!” the man snarled.

How dumb was he? This car was not built to “step on it”. Celestine watched in the mirror as Nick started to run toward the car but she knew he would not catch them. As much as Celestine wanted to slow down so Nick could catch up with them, she did not want to get shot for doing it. She also did not want to get Nick shot. He had suffered enough because of her.

“I’ve been watching you. I reckon your boyfriend looks like he would pay to get you back. And your friend Julia seems to think your rich sister may be persuaded to come to your aid.” The man smiled evilly at her as his gun remained trained on her.

Bloody Julia! Celestine cursed in her mind as she trotted out all the nasty words she could think of to call that woman. Of course that ratfink, scheming cow was involved in this. She had been stuffing up Celestine’s life ever since she had met her.

“My sister hates me and she will not pay any ransom for me.” Celestine knew this for a fact. Grace was indeed rich. And many times in the last year Celestine had come close to swallowing her pride and asking Grace for money. But she had never become quite that desperate. She could just imagine Grace’s face when they asked for money to save her. It would be “Why? Is Celestine worth it?” Grace would ask in the debutante voice of hers.

“Your boyfriend will pay then.” The man barked out a series of directions to Celestine. They were heading north along Gympie Road and heading out of the city.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Celestine did not know exactly what Nick Swan was to her. She did know that he was the type who would pay to save her. If she knew nothing else she knew that.

“Yeah, right, not your boyfriend. I saw the two of you before on the backseat getting all hot and heavy. You like it shoved in from behind, do you?” The man’s foul breath was close to her ear.

Ewww…the thought that this man had watched her and Nick made her skin crawl. He was icky and dumb and Celestine was beginning to wonder if he was the brains of this situation. How many people kidnapped someone they thought they may get a ransom for on that word of a liar like Julia Bailey? Surely it would be less of an aggravation to leave the intended captive behind and take the thousands of dollars. But then again this man was most likely the one who had written “
Suffer the conquests
” so how bright could he be? Sure, he had a gun but Celestine would rely on natural rat cunning to survive.

“You’re insane and you have bad breath.”

“I have a gun on you. I will win any insult contest between us so shut the hell up!”

Okay then, not a game she could win just at the moment. However, if she remained calm and collected she could look for her chance to escape.

“So where am I going?” The car continued on to the Bruce Highway. It was the same route she and Nick had taken only the other day when they went up to the Caloundra.

“Do you always talk so much?” The man looked at her in frustration. He had no patience for idle chatter.

“Pretty much,” murmured Celestine, beginning to see he may not be as threatening as she thought if he could be aggravated by mere talking.

“Well, shut up and keep driving.”

After thirty minutes, the man directed her to follow a dirt road off the side of the highway. They stopped fifteen minutes later at an old weather-beaten house that looked like no one had lived in it for a while. The paint had all but peeled off the dry wooden boards and the garden was a nightmare of weeds.

The blond man ordered Celestine out of the car. She wondered fleetingly if this was the last place she was ever going to see. People killed for money. Would she ever see Nick again? Had she screwed up her last chance of any sort of happiness by not admitting to her feelings for him? Was this some karmic payback?

Celestine was pushed inside the house and onto the dirty floor. As she landed with a thud she looked around her surroundings. Dirty, dismal and no phone on the wall. The chance of escape appeared to be zip. She tried to fight the ropes that the blond man was applying to her hands and feet but this guy was bigger and stronger and he had a gun so the ropes were put on despite her struggles. As the ropes cut into her skin, she knew for the moment there was no escape.

“This is not very comfortable.” Celestine tried to sit up but her legs were bent in front of her and her hands were behind her back. She saw the frustration in the man’s eyes.

“I don’t care,” the man snarled as he kicked shut the door they had come through.

“Well, I was just thinking that if you are going to ransom me you have to look after me.” Celestine wiggled around trying to get comfortable on the hard, dirty floor.

“For God’s sake, shut up!” the man yelled at her. “I don’t want to shoot you but you are pushing it, lady!”

That was all the information Celestine needed. The blond man was not as tough as he made out because if he really wanted to shoot her he would have done it already.

“Who are we waiting for?” Celestine suspected it was Julia. She was a completely different kettle of fish from this man. She was completely ruthless. If Julia wanted something it would not matter to her what she had to do to get it.

“Why do you think we are waiting for someone?” the man asked in exasperation as he looked down at her on the floor.

“Just a feeling.” Celestine decided to try being his friend, not that she would ever be. But she could pretend to be to save her ass. “If I was in your position, I would just put me back in the car, drop me at the nearest service station and take off with all the money. Why share it with anyone else? There must be thousands in the car.” Celestine looked at him as if this was a great plan that he should take up instantly.

The man looked at her thoughtfully as if weighing up her words.

“Fifty thousand to be exact.”

Oh, what she could do with that money!

“Wow! Did you get it in a bank robbery?” Celestine tried to sound interested, hoping she could to talk the blond man around to her way of thinking.

“Yeah, it was at…” The man stopped and scowled at her in irritation. “Why am I even discussing this with you?” he asked, more to himself than Celestine.

“Maybe because you like me,” Celestine responded with just the hint of an encouraging smile. However, she did not want to encourage too much friendship from him as the bottom line was that he was a lowlife scumbag.

“What?” he snapped as if she had lost her mind. His attention remained focused on her as he could not believe she would not shut up and be frightened as any normal hostage would be.

“Well, you haven’t shot me. That must be a good sign of friendship.”

“Are you nuts?”

“No, I just think you should take the money and forget about Julia. I swear I won’t tell a soul what happened here.” Plus, it would annoy Julia no end to know she missed out on fifty thousand dollars. That was a bonus in itself.

“Sure, and I’m Little Bo Peep,” the man snarled sarcastically, as he leaned down to look at her.

If Little Bo Peep had bad breath, dirty clothes and greasy facial hair, thought Celestine, trying not to cringe at the smell emanating from him.

“So what’s your name?”

“It’s Le—right, shut up or I will shoot you!” the man warned in a tired, harassed voice. Clearly he was losing any patience he had.

“You can see why no one is going to pay a ransom for me. I’m too annoying. You may as well let me go.”

The man considered this for a moment as if he did agree with her assessment.

“I’m going outside where it’s quiet. You can’t escape so I suggest you sit still and be quiet.” He wrenched the door open and slammed it shut behind him in his need to get away from her.

Interesting, thought Celestine. This man was not a killer. He would rather go outside than deal with her any further. It gave Celestine hope.

Chapter Nine

“We’re calling your boyfriend. He needs to know what we want from him.”

“How do you he will give you what you want?”

“Because no man is going to willingly let go of a woman that begs him to shove his cock up her ass.”

Any theories Celestine had about trying to ingratiate him into her way of thinking had just disappeared.

“Nothing to say to that?” The man smirked at her as he dialed Nick’s phone number.

“Other than you are a disgusting prick, no…” Celestine mumbled under her breath. She wondered who the hell had sex with people like this man. Could any working girl be paid enough to screw him?

“How did you get Nick’s phone number?”

“I’m not as dumb as I look.”

“That’s lucky for you then.”

The blond man looked at Celestine, unsure whether he had been insulted or not.

“Just shut up for five seconds and listen to what I want you to tell your boyfriend.”

Celestine listened. It sounded like the standard stuff kidnappers on television said. The man had no imagination. He must drive Julia insane. At least that was a bonus. The man handed her the phone and looked at her as if he would gladly slap her if she said anything the slightest bit wrong. As Nick’s voice came on the line, Celestine felt her heart soar.

“Nick. It’s me.” She grasped the phone in her hand and tried to sound cool and in control despite the fact that she was neither at the moment. She was more cranky and frustrated than anything at the situation she was in. She hated feeling helpless. The fact that Nick sounded so relieved to hear from her made her feel a little happier.

“Baby, where are you? Are you hurt?” There was an edge of desperation in Nick’s calm voice.

“Nick, I’m okay and I have no idea where I am. Ouch!” Celestine yelped as her captor yanked hard on her hair to get her attention. She glared angrily at the blond man. “I am to tell you that the blond, greasy carjacker…” Celestine turned to the man beside her. “Well, you are and don’t pull my hair again. Hey! Don’t look pissed off at me ‘cause I’m not real happy with you either, mate,” she snapped at him. “Anyway, Nick, he wants fifty thousand dollars for my release. He has some insane idea that my sister Grace will fork it over.” Celestine turned to her captor who cursed at her furiously. “Well, she doesn’t like me, I already told you that.”