The Determining (33 page)

“Were you waiting long?” Charlie opened her menu, all written in Italian.

“Just long enough for Mother to remind me what time I need to be at the club tomorrow.”

Much to her surprise, Charlie felt a pang of longing. Margaret wouldn’t ever nag her about events at the club again. Not after everything that happened with Mason. Her mother might not have loved her, but she was still her mother. Charlie wished things could have been different between them.

Rather than wallow, Charlie changed the subject. “This place is adorable.” She glanced around at the brick walls and dark interior. A fireplace set in the far wall smelled pleasantly of burning wood. “Where did you find it?”

Ruth picked up her menu and perused it idly. “One of my father’s business partners opened it a few years ago.”

“It’s great.”

“I was thinking of ordering a bottle of wine.” Ruth glanced up. “Would you have some if I did?”

“Sure.” Charlie didn’t like drinking in public, but after the day she’d had, a drink sounded like a good idea. It might help calm her frayed nerves.

Aided by alcohol, their conversation pulled Charlie’s mind away from thoughts of Thayer. But when she caught a glance of Liam at the front of the restaurant watching them, Thayer returned with force. The driver was on his phone, but his eyes never left Charlie. The intense scrutiny made her uncomfortable. She took another big gulp of wine. If Liam’s presence was going to keep Thayer at the forefront of her mind, Charlie was going to drink until it didn’t matter if she remembered or not.

By the end of dinner, the bottle was empty and Charlie couldn’t stop giggling. When the waiter came to see if they wanted dessert, Charlie ordered an Irish coffee.

“What a lush!” Ruth accused, giggling just as hard as Charlie.

“Am not!” The words jumbled in Charlie’s mouth, making her laugh harder.

Ruth laughed so hard she snorted. “You’re drunk.”

“Mrs. McLean.”

Charlie turned to look up at Liam and the room started spinning. “Stop moving, I can’t look at you when you move like that.” She blinked, trying to focus on the driver.

A frown pulled his mouth down. “Are you ready to go, ma’am?”

“I have to pee.” She said with a straight face. His eyes widened a fraction and he flushed a bright red. The effect had Charlie reeling.

Behind the laughter, she heard Ruth slur, “I’ll go with her. Why don’t you get the car and we’ll be ready by the time you pull around front.”

“Thank you, Miss Andrews.”

Charlie was still a giggling mess when Ruth guided her into the bathroom. She didn’t stop until Ruth wound her arm back and slapped her across the cheek.

“What was that for?” Charlie demanded, the room spinning and her jovial mood dying.

“That was for Thayer.” The smile Ruth had worn all evening was gone. In its place, a menacing scowl.

“You’re not drunk anymore,” Charlie muttered, noticing how Ruth’s slur had disappeared. She watched, dumbfounded, as Ruth strutted to the door, locking it with a definite click. The girl turned on her heel, revealing the pure hate in her eyes.

Charlie stepped back, her inebriated mind slowly picking up the danger. “Why did you pretend to apologize?”

Ruth didn’t answer. She was too busy fishing through her purse. When her hand touched the object she’d been searching for, a sinister grin crossed her face. It took Charlie a minute to recognize what she was seeing. A syringe.

Before Charlie had a chance to scream, Ruth was on her, hand covering her mouth. Charlie struggled against the woman’s tight hold. Unbalanced by the alcohol and her tall heels, the two girls came crashing to the tile floor. Charlie tried to push Ruth off, but her limbs were uncoordinated and weak.

“Stop struggling!” Ruth hissed.

Charlie refused, deciding instead to bite Ruth’s hand. She was rewarded with a sharp sting as the syringe punctured her neck.

Her eyes widened and her body went limp. Whatever the needle injected into her body worked quickly. Her fingers tingled and dark spots swam in her vision.

Seeing that she’d stopped struggling, Ruth got to her feet, brushing dirt from her dress. Leaving the needle by the sink, she washed her hands and took a moment to check her hair and makeup.

Charlie’s stomach rolled and she started to gag.
Am I dying?
Had it been poison in the syringe? Her palms started to sweat and tears stung her eyes. She blinked, trying to see again. She thought of the kubaton still attached to her backpack and wanted to scream.

“Why?” Charlie barely managed to get the word out.

Ruth spared her a quick glance. “Thayer.”

A knock sounded at the door. Hope pulsed through Charlie. It had to be Liam. He’d save her. Ruth’s heels clacked against the tile.

“Yes?” she called sweetly.

A man’s voice replied, muffled through the door.

Charlie blinked and, when she opened her eyes, the waiter stared down at her.

“Ples … hep …” Her tongue felt like it had swollen in her mouth, making coherent speech impossible. The waiter stooped down and grabbed her. His hands cut into her arms, drawing a whimper from her throat. He tossed her over his shoulder and walked out of the bathroom.

Upside down, Charlie watched as she was carried through the kitchen and into an alley. Just before the man tossed her in the back seat of a black SUV, she spotted a figure in the shadows at the edge of her vision. Liam. She tried to call for help but her mouth had turned to mush.

The shadows engulfed Liam and snaked toward her. They pressed in around her, suffocating her. A pair of glowing red eyes stared down at her.

“I always win,” Richard’s voice hissed in her ear.

Gunshots split the night.

Once again, Nemo found himself in the conference room surrounded by screens. This time, only one face looked back at him. Even on the screen, Thayer’s blue eyes burned with frustration.

“Are you sure Charlotte’s safe?” Thayer frowned. “Liam said she was drinking pretty heavily and now I can’t reach either of them.”

“Thayer, you have nothing to worry about. Like you told me, she went out with Ruth and wisely took Liam with her.” Nemo kept himself from accusing Thayer of overreacting.

“What if something happened to Liam? There’s no one else watching her tonight.”

“I trust him and I trust the men I have monitoring her chip. She’ll be fine,” Nemo reassured.

Thayer’s jaw tensed in annoyance. “I trust your men, but something doesn’t feel right. All I’m asking is that you send someone to check on them.” He paused before adding, “She’s an asset. We need to be careful.”

“Don’t worry, I have every—”

Owen barged in, cutting Nemo off mid-sentence.

“We hacked into Grey Technology’s mainframe,” he blurted.

The declaration was like ice water being poured over his head. As calmly as he could, Nemo spoke to Thayer. “I need to handle this. I’ll call you back.” Without giving Thayer a chance to reply, he ended the call.

Nemo turned his chair to face Owen. “What do you mean we’ve hacked into the mainframe?” He sat up straighter. The monitor behind him pinged with an incoming call. He ignored it.

“I mean, the bug we loaded onto the girl’s chip worked. It allowed us to enter their system. We’re in!”

Nemo’s stomach dropped. “Who’s been monitoring her?”
I should have listened to Thayer.

Owen looked uncomfortable. “No one.”

“What?” Red tunneled Nemo’s vision, focusing in on Owen.

“Liam checked in with us when Charlotte arrived at the restaurant.” The broad man shifted from foot to foot. “We figured she’d be fine with Liam there so the men took a few hours to sleep. They haven’t had a chance—”

“And how long ago was that?”

“Over two hours ago,” Owen admitted, not looking Nemo in the eye.

Nemo exploded, fear fueling his anger. “And no one thought to inform me? No one thought that I should know that she wasn’t being watched?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Owen mumbled.

“Do you realize how the program works? The one we loaded on her chip?” Owen shook his head. “She needs to be connected to Grey Technology’s mainframe.” Owen still wore a blank look. “She needs to be
inside
their building. She’s with her father!”

“I thought that’s what you wanted. You said she needed to work with her father. She was bound to face him at some point.”

Nemo jumped to his feet, pacing back and forth. How could this all have gone so wrong? “Yes, at some point. I didn’t mean to let her get captured so Richard could torture her.” Dread twisted his stomach into a knot at the thought. “I wanted her to work for his company. That way, the other employees would know her. That way, Richard would be forced to behave with her. Now there’s no one to keep him in line.”

Understanding dawned on Owen’s face. “What do you want me to do?” he asked, frantic for some way to fix the situation.

“Get someone to go through her chip’s records. We need to gather as much information as possible before our access to her is cut off.”

Owen nodded. “Is there anything else?”

Before Nemo could respond, his phone rang.

“Yes,” he answered, dismissing Owen with a look.

“What’s going on?” Thayer demanded on the other end.

Nemo couldn’t avoid this conversation, no matter how much he wanted to. “Charlotte’s been taken.” He heard Thayer’s sharp intake of breath through the phone. He could almost feel the man’s rage radiating from the device.

“How are we going to get her back?” Thayer spoke evenly, forcing himself to sound calm.

“I have someone monitoring her right now.” Nemo avoided the question. The truth was, he didn’t know how they could get her back. He needed to think, to come up with a plan that wouldn’t put them all in danger.

“That isn’t what I asked.” Anxiety and impatience broke through Thayer’s calm. “How are we getting her back?” Thayer bellowed.

“We need to wait for the right time.” He spoke softly, wishing more than anything that they could just rush in and rescue her now.

Thayer huffed angrily. “You don’t give a shit about her. All you care about is ruining her father.”

“I care about her, even more than you.”

“No. She’s just your asset, your pawn.” Thayer accused. “She’s my wife, Nemo. We need to get her back.:

The anguish in the man’s voice sent chills down Nemo’s spine. He couldn’t believe how deeply Thayer had come to care for Charlotte in such a short amount of time. If he hadn’t witnessed it himself, he wouldn’t have believed it.

“I know how you’re feeling, but—”

“Don’t give me that bullshit!”

Exhausted with this pointless argument, Nemo snapped. “I’ve been fighting this battle longer than you’ve been alive. If you think you can do better, go ahead.”

Thayer persisted. “We can’t leave her there to rot.”

“I won’t. I can’t,” Nemo vowed.

“I wish I could believe you,” Thayer said wearily.

“Believe it.” Nemo paused, debating how much he should say. But, the time had come. He couldn’t keep the secret forever. “She’s my family, and like you, I protect family.”

Silence.

“What did you say?” Thayer asked.

“Charlotte is my niece,” answered Donovan Grey.”

First, Mom and Dad. Thank you for your endless support and encouragement. It’s because of you both that I finished this book and had the courage to believe I could be a writer. Mom, you read every chapter when they were unedited and total crap. You are the best soundboard I could ask for. Dad, thank you for always encouraging me to keep writing!

Annie, my wonderful cousin and editor. The things you saw when you edited my book were nothing short of revolutionary to this story. You amaze me! Thank you so much for your hard work.

To my aunt and mentor. Kim. Thank you for all the hard work you’ve done on this book! Your support has meant the world to me. I can only hope that my writing will reach the caliber of yours.

To LuAnn who read this story and gave me honest feedback and Kristy and all the ladies at the Nail Spa who had to listen to me talk about this book for months on end.

Jen, Amy, and Shannon. Each of you were willing to read my book and give me your feedback. You’ll never understand how much I appreciate the time and effort you all put into reading this story.

Finally, and most importantly, it’s only because of the gifts that my Heavenly Father gave me that I even have the ability to string words together. He has blessed me beyond measure!

Rebecca is really bad at talking about herself and she finds this section of the book to be tedious, but she decided to give it her best shot. (She refuses to be held accountable for the quality of what follows.)

Rebecca lives in Nebraska with three fish, one dog, and a ginger roommate. She has definite opinions on many varied subjects, but nearest and dearest to her heart are her thoughts on ice cream and cake mixing. It should never happen. Ever. (And she’s happy to talk about mixing ice cream with brownies and pie but she won’t go into that here.)

Writing a book has been a lifelong dream for Rebecca.
The Determining
is her first novel.