Taken (2 page)

Her social life consisted of pretend friends, who milked her social standing to increase their own, and her financial advisor, Anthony Henderson. He was constantly asking her out. Nigel, however, had been true in his personage with her and the only family she’d ever really known. She looked over the vast yard of the back lawns and longed for something more. Sure she had a nice home, fancy clothes, expensive jewelry and anything money could ever buy. For everything Kitty had, the one basic emotional need in her life was missing.

 All of that was about to change, though. She smiled, picturing Gregory’s face when she told him on her twenty-first birthday that her present to herself was to give three quarters of the family fortune to the Callaghan Charity Group. The other quarter she planned on giving to third-world country charities for children. Twenty billion dollars would be allocated to so many worthy causes. In less than a month, she’d be of age and free of Gregory and his control. Free to find someone, to live and be happy.

 Of course she’d set Gregory up with a nice compensation package for his years as her guardian. Then she’d wash her hands of him completely. Mr. Henderson had thought all of it to be a terrible idea. Even her getting Gregory out of her life, but then again, Gregory thought Mr. Henderson would be suitable for her to date.

* * * *

Kaiden looked at his brother as he sat in the small visiting room of the jail. Their mother had just left almost in tears less than half an hour ago. She’d wanted to call their father for help, but owing his father anything could be far worse than sitting in jail. After they’d left their father, things had been different. They were much poorer, but at least they didn’t have to play guard dog to his shipments anymore.

Although they’d had to leave, their dad had taken it hard and had washed his hands of their mother completely for many years. She was virtually penniless and had to struggle to keep her bar open. Now she struggled to find a way to get him out of jail, and by the look on his twin’s face, he too was cooking up something. Kaiden just hoped it wouldn’t land his baby brother’s ass right next to him in a jail cell.

Caleb sat, looking uncomfortable. None of their kind liked to feel trapped, and Kaiden was already half-nuts with being locked up.

“I met with your friend from the bar,” Caleb said, getting right to the point.

“Please tell me you told him the same thing I did.” Kaiden growled.

“Well, yeah, I did, but then he said it would also be a ticket out for you,” he told him in a whisper. One of the guards eyed them from about fifteen feet away, but he seemed not to care about what they were talking about.

Kaiden shook his head. The last thing he’d wanted was for Caleb to get mixed up in all this. “You can’t do it,” he whispered.

“Look, if I don’t, I end up in here with you. If I do, you end up free.”

“You know they’re not going to make it easy.”

“I know. I’m already working on a plan for that.”

“Please tell me it doesn’t include our father.” He growled low.

“No…Uncle Tim and the boys,” he told him with a weak smile.

Kaiden raised an eyebrow. Their Uncle Tim was not only the alpha lycan to the pack in the Barrens, but also the leader to a group of bikers, who all happened to be werewolves as well. The bikers were a bit rough and tumble, but unlike most, they weren’t into the criminal aspects of it. Well, for the most part, anyway.

“You’re going to set the Road Demons on them?” he asked, hoping that wasn’t Caleb’s plan.

“No, but they’re going to be a distraction for when Trites and Henderson try to twist this back on us.”

“Oh great.” Kaiden let out a low huff.

“It’s that or I call Dad.”

“No, don’t call him. We don’t need to be indebted to him again,” he stated.

Kaiden listened while Caleb explained the plan in a low voice. It might work, but his gut told him Caleb was in over his head. His little brother wasn’t like him, and although a mercenary like himself, he was neither as aggressive nor as quick to anger. Caleb’s heart was a bit on the soft side. For his twin brother to get mixed up in something that could get an innocent girl killed might very well destroy him.

Chapter Two

The meeting with her party planner went off without a hitch. Her birthday party was to be a small function of maybe fifty people. Only those close to her uncle and herself were invited. Kitty hadn’t wanted a party at all, however, Gregory had insisted on the birthday bash. He’d said it would be good for their image. The individuals he’d invited included investors, brokers and business people. Anything to give him his next big investment edge. It was embarrassing. Out of the fifty people invited she’d only personally asked six.

The charity bash she looked forward to, though. It was to be a five-thousand-dollar-a-plate affair, and every prominent family in the States had been invited. The meal was being prepared by France’s top chef, and the entertainment would be an assortment of instrumental pieces played by the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.

Today she and her party planner, Iva, ordered the carnations and prepared the invitation designs. Kitty liked to get involved with the charities and had spent many endless hours helping to plan and organize events, parties, walk-a-thons and an assortment of things. All in an endeavor to generate much needed financial support to the causes she believed in.

She was running a little behind schedule as she made her way down the crowded road. Her heart raced the closer she got to the all glass three-story car dealership. The building was as ultra-modern looking as it could get and they had orange trees blossoming inside. The smell of them filled the building with the sweetest fragrance. The luxury import dealership had an exclusive clientele, and to even get on that list was a feat in itself. Nevertheless, Mr. Mario Giovanni had been an extremely close friend of her father and she didn’t have to worry about lists.

Kitty walked into the dealership and Mario lifted his head from his latte and smiled a warm, welcoming greeting. His deeply tanned skin was accented nicely by his salt and pepper hair. He kept his appearance in the same manner as his business—up-to-date and in style.

“Kitty! Good morning,” Mario exclaimed in his thick Italian accent.

“Good morning, Mario. Is it ready?” She didn’t hesitate with further pleasantries. Her excitement reminded her of her younger years before her family had died.

“Yes, I’ll ring the back and have them bring it around front for you. Now we have a few papers for you to sign, and of course, we need your uncle’s signature on them as well,” he said as he looked around her to the door with a questioning expression on his face.

“Yes, he should be in momentarily,” she told him. She couldn’t wait for the day she no longer required his signature on the things she wanted.

“Cafe mocha latte?” Mario asked.

“Yes, please, that would be delightful.”

“Ginnie, please get Miss Callaghan her latte and bring it to the office,” he told his assistant and secretary.

“Right away, Mr. Giovanni,” the short-haired brunette said before she walked to the small kitchenette area at the back of the room. Like everything else there, Ginnie was new, exotic and beautiful.

 Mr. Giovanni’s assistant looked as if she’d walked out of a centerfold. She was tall, leggy and all curves. The kind of woman she figured men liked. Kitty was a little jealous. At five-foot-three and a little on the thin side, she thought she kind of looked like a teenage boy. Her butt was small and her breasts, well, they weren’t a hallmark of her figure. An A cup was a little bit too tight, but a B was a tiny bit too big. With thin legs and arms, she looked scrawnier than anything else.

Her eyes, though, she liked. They were a silvery-blue and big. Her hair she could say at least wasn’t unruly. It sat pin straight down her back. She had an overabundance of it and had wanted to get it cut, but Gregory wouldn’t let her. It sat around her waist and was a deep honey-blonde. The hair was something else she planned on getting rid of the day after her twenty-first birthday. Kitty had already made the appointment to get it cut right to the nape of her neck.

“Please, this way, Kitty. I can’t wait for you to see the office. They finally finished after a month and a half of delays,” Mario told her as he guided her to his office upstairs. It overlooked the posh all-glass encased showroom floors.

The custom-made furnishings and finely-decorated space of the recent renovations was a statement of decadence, and they’d done a wonderful job.

“It looks absolutely divine, Mario,” Kitty said.

She admired the artwork and clean, crisp lines of the furnishings. It was ultra--modern with steel, chrome and glass tables. His large desk looked to be made to match the room. However, its top had a black shiny marble slab on it. The walls had glass covered boxes, which showcased his collection of miniature scale cars. Each one was sent to him from the manufacturers of his luxury imports.

Kitty sat in one of the sleek chairs. She realized although it was a wonderful look for this place, it wasn’t something she’d want for herself.

“Your latte, Miss Callaghan. Can I get you anything else?” Ginnie asked as she set her cup down.

“No, I’m good, thank you.”

“Oh, I see your uncle has arrived,” Mario said with some distaste. “Ginnie, please escort the gentleman in.”

They watched as Gregory eyed the room before he came and sat beside her. He was nothing like her father. Where her dad had been a tall thin man with genteel social graces, her step-uncle was not. Average height, stocky build and faded brown hair. He had an air of demand about him. He’d come from an upper-middle class family, and his father had married Kitty’s grandmother when her father was in university. There had been a ten-year age difference between Gregory and her dad, and they hadn’t liked each other.

She held her breath as he read the paperwork for the car. If he saw his name wasn’t on the registration this time, he might not sign it. He looked at her, raising an eyebrow, then at Mario.

“Looks good. Where do I sign?” he asked as he held his hand out for a pen.

“Here…here…and let’s see…yes, here,” Mario told him.

After Gregory signed, he stood and walked around the room. He seemed to be admiring all the mini cars in the glass displays.

“Now, Kitty, you need to sign it as well,” Mario said. She felt butterflies in her stomach. Gregory had said nothing about the registration.

“Excellent. Now, Kitty, if you don’t mind, I can tell you about your warranty and such.” Mario proceeded to go into the details of her car’s warranty and maintenance schedules.

A loud crashing sound had both of them staring at Gregory. He stood in the remains of a smashed glass case that had held a mini Viper. The glass shards were scattered all around his feet and the car lay on its side. Its hardwood base hung from one L bracket on the wall. The other had skidded across the floor. Kitty saw blood. He’d cut his hand and deep red rivulets ran down his fingers onto the floor.

* * * *

Kitty sat for six hours in the emergency room before Gregory was stitched up and ready to go. Now as they packed the SUV for the weekend trip, she thought about faking being sick. However, he’d just stay home and he’d already given the staff the weekend off. At least at the ski lodge there would be other people.

“Can you put my briefcase in the front?” Gregory asked as he babied his hand.

“Yes,” she said gloomily.

“So do you want me to drive? It’s a three-hour trip. You looked tired.”

It had her giving him a weird look. Gregory had never been concerned about her tiredness before. He acted strangely, and she didn’t like it.

“No, I’ll be fine. If I get tired I’ll let you take over,” she told him as she got behind the wheel.

The drive was long and quiet. They were nearly halfway there as she began to drift off to sleep. She shook her head and rolled down the window to get some of the cold mountain air into her lungs to help wake her up. Gregory’s cell phone light flashed. It irritated her as he texted someone.

“Gregory, can you please stop texting. The light is very distracting. Besides, what’s so important you need to text someone this late at night,” Kitty said as she slowed down to make the next sharp turn.

“Oh, sorry. That’s a new business partner. We’re about to embark on a most lucrative business contract.” He shifted in his seat, moving it back. He was having a hard time with it, as the bandage wrapped around the nasty “C” shaped cut from the broken glass was a bit bulky. The doctor had told him he needed to remove it and let the air get at the stitches after a few hours, but Gregory was being a baby about taking it off.

They drove in silence for another ten minutes, and as she turned another bend, she could make out a minivan broken down on the side of the road. A woman stood beside it, waving her arms.

“Pull over,” Gregory told her.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“It’s just a woman.” The way he said it made him sound so sexist.

“All right.”

“I’ll get out and see if they need help. I’ll leave my cell in the car with you,” he said as she pulled up behind the van.

“Okay, but I’m leaving the car running.” It was dark with no street lights, and it was a bit creepy.

Kitty watched as he walked to the front and then could just hear them talking, but not what they said. The woman had her hood propped open and Gregory looked to be investigating the situation. He poked his head out so she could see him.

“Bring me my cell. This poor lady needs to call her babysitter to let her know what’s going on,” he said.

Gregory acted weirder and weirder. Her birthday coming up made her believe he tried to get on her good side so he wouldn’t be completely cut off from her wealth. She grabbed the phone and got out, then took three steps. She heard a scuffle and saw Gregory fall to the ground. Out of nowhere a hand wrapped around her mouth. She struggled as something stung her hip. Everything became foggy very fast as she felt herself being lifted and carried toward the van.