The Scandalous Billionaires Collection (72 page)

"But he's a violent drunk, he beat you every
day. How could you be responsible for turning me against him? The
man is a monster who has to be stopped."

"There's no sense in it baby, no reason. He
just hates, hates, hates. Don’t be like him. Don’t hate."

"I don’t hate anyone mom. I just… I just want
us to be happy and I want him to get out of our lives."

"He was a good man when I met him baby, he
was good cop, an honest cop. I know you can't understand it because
you never knew that man, but you have to try baby. It's not as
simple as you think."

Bella looked away. Her mother was right; she
didn't understand and she didn't want to.

"You know they kicked him off the force,
right?" Her mother said.

"No. I didn’t know that, but I'm glad. Just
look at what he's doing now, is this a good man? Is this the man
you married?"

"Bella, I know you won't understand this
honey, but if he just gets that money I know everything will be
okay."

Bella was horrified, she shook her head in
disbelief.

"Tell me you aren't a part of this mom.
Please tell me you aren't in on this as well." The memory of
Stacy's betrayal was seared into Bella's mind.

"Of course not baby, don't ever say that. He
just tells me what to do. He heard about you in the news and then
he dragged us all the way over here to the East Coast to find out
what was going on. He's an ex-cop so of course he began snooping
around and soon he was on to Stacy and Steve. He leaned on them to
set this whole thing up. I think they were happy with the little
bit of money you were giving them but Frank wanted more. He
convinced them they could do it, that they could get a million
dollars, but that they couldn't do it alone. He knows how these
things go from being on the force. He's worked cases that never
made it to the media 'coz rich parents just handed over money to
get their kids back. He knows the ones that got away and the ones
that got caught and why. If you ask me I think he's setting up
Stacy and Steve, but they won't catch him. Not a hope in hell, he's
way too smart for them. He's too smart for any of us. I should
never have gone against him and God, baby I'm so, so sorry you had
to suffer for me because of him. This whole thing is all my
fault."

Mabel descended into tears and Bella couldn’t
help herself. It was all crazy talk but her mother just couldn't
see her way out of it. Somehow she would have to help her. She
reached over as far as she could to put a comforting hand onto her
mother's arm. It was as far as the cuffs would allow and all she
could do.

"It's okay mom. We're together again now.
Don’t worry. I'll figure this out."

"Don’t go against him Bella please, just do
what he says. Look what happened to us last time."

"Don’t worry mom, I'll do everything he
asks." She stroked her mother's arm and looked around. Way out of
her reach on the other side of the room was a piece of loose piping
like a mocking invitation from her past. Bella looked at the length
of dented metal and felt a heavy shadow of fear cross over her
heart.

"Demovic. You want her back it's ten million. Plus a
million for the pile of marked garbage you dumped on me in Penn
Station. I want all unmarked this time. No bullshit."

Harrison didn't waste time calling back to
find out conditions or where the exchange would take place. He
called his personal assistant immediately.

"Get me eleven million in unmarked bills.
Now."

He turned to Marsha. The normally confident
woman looked distraught but he didn't waste time blaming her.

"Advice." He said shortly.

Marsha put her confusion aside.

"We need to wait. They're in New Jersey. The
location is pretty deserted but we can be there in thirty minutes
by chopper. The nearest helipad is about fifteen minutes from
there."

"Let's get going."

"Wait a second." Marsha was looking at the
monitor that was tracking Bella's location from the souvenir
pendant Harrison had given her before the drop. Under Marsha's
advice he had lied about it being a good luck charm with
sentimental value.

"They're on the move again." Marsha said.

"Do we have eyes on them?"

"Not yet. Too risky, the spot is too
deserted."

"Where are they headed to? Are they coming
back to New York?"

"Doesn’t look like it. I think they're headed
south."

"Let's get in the air." He nodded to his
driver to get going to the helipad where his personal helicopter
was waiting.

"But we don't know where they're going?"

"We can track them in the air."

Harrison didn't want to waste a second more
but he stopped when another call came through from Bella's
father.

"Your family is going south in case you were
wondering. We'll meet at El Paso in ten days. Don’t get clever or
you'll never see them again."

Harrison ended the call without a word and
nodded to his driver to keep going.

********************

Bella was driving the car while her father
sat in back with her mother. She could barely focus on the road in
front of her. They stopped off at a bus station on the way to leave
the marked bills in a locker. Frank figured he would leave the
worthless cash for Stacy and Steve. The suckers were easily fooled
and would soon be tracked and in jail where they belonged. He hated
con artists, even if he was behaving like one himself in order to
secure his retirement and take revenge on his daughter.

All Bella could think about was how much pain
she had brought to the people who were sacrificing the most for
her. If she had just been honest then none of this would ever have
happened. She wasn't religious but she figured that now was as good
a time to pray as any.

God, if you can get me out of this I swear
to you I'll never keep a secret again. And I'll never hurt these
people again. I'll go away and they'll never find me. Suzy and
Harrison deserve better than this.

"Seems like your boyfriend is gonna pony up
for you Bella." Her father's voice drew her back to reality. "He's
a bigger sucker than I took him for."

"He's not a sucker." The rage and disgust she
felt for her father was matched only by her need to defend
Harrison. "He's a billionaire, self-made. What are you? A disgraced
cop with a history of domestic abuse. A wife beater. Yeah, what a
big man you are Daddy."

"Shut up!" He pounded the back of the seat
with his fist making Bella jump and swerve the car in shock. Her
mother cowered in fear.

"At least I didn’t beat up my old man with
piece of lead pipe. God damn sucker shot from behind when--"

"When you were beating your wife
senseless?"

He pounded the back of her seat again.

"You better shut the fuck up Bella, or you
won't make it to Mexico in one piece."

Bella ground her teeth and looked at the
road. She could end it all now if she wanted to; just swerve the
car off the highway and that would be it…

Except it wasn't just her and her father;
there was her mother and unborn child to think of as well. She
gripped the steering wheel and drove on. Her father hadn't revealed
his plan to her but something told her he had no intentions of
handing her over when the time came. Even if he did there was no
way she was going to leave her mother with him this time, no matter
what that meant. It was only a matter of time, but she would do
something to end this and then she would disappear.

Maybe Mexico is the best place for us all
anyway. Even Harrison won't be able to find me there.

She would hold on until then, unless her
father forced her hand.

Looking up at the clear blue sky she noticed
the chopper crossing over in front of them. It was the second time
it had passed them since they had gotten out onto the
interstate.

Her father peered up into the sky as
well.

"Not the cops anyway." He said. "You better
hope it's not that rich boyfriend of yours playing hero because I
mean every damn word I say."

Would he really do that? Would he track her
down in a helicopter? Pay eleven million dollars just to rescue
her? There was his unborn child to think of as well. But chasing
them in a helicopter? How could he even have found them?

The chopper banked away and then disappeared
over some hills. Frank looked satisfied that they were out of
danger. After that the drive continued for hours with Frank
refusing to stop anywhere until they were getting short of gas.
Everyone badly needed a break but Frank was intensely paranoid. He
let his wife take a bathroom break first while he filled the car
with gas, then he accompanied Bella to the ladies room. He was sure
his wife wouldn't go anywhere. She had never tried to escape in the
past, she had no money and no way of starting the car without him.
His daughter on the other hand? He figured she was capable of just
about anything.

He went into the ladies room with her and
waited. Bella didn’t even bother protesting. He watched her like a
hawk all the way back to the car and then accompanied her to the
driver's side.

"Get in. We still got a long way to go."

"Where's mom?" Bella said. There was no sign
of her mother anywhere.

Grabbing Bella by the elbow he pushed her
into the driver's seat.

"Start the car." He shouted. "Let's get out
of here. I don’t need that stupid bitch anymore anyway."

Bella pushed the keys into the ignition and
turned them over but nothing happened. There wasn't a sound.

"Get it started I said, I'm not staying
around here to find out what that stupid bitch is up to."

"Here, you start it." Bella threw the keys at
him and then jumped from the car. There was nothing to stop her
now. If she could find her mother they could run or get help in the
gas station or maybe someone would see them and call the police.
She was barely outside the car when a set of arms wrapped around
her and dragged her away. A woman's voice hissed in her ear.

"Bella, stop fighting for Christ's sake."

Franklin snatched at the keys and then
fumbled to get his door open but someone blocked his way.

"Get out of my way." He shouted, pushing the
door against the tall man's legs. The long figure stood back and
let him out but as he turned to chase after his daughter a huge set
of circled around him.

"What the fuck?" He shouted and wrestled
insanely with the large man.

On the other side of the car Marsha was
holding onto Bella. She watched as her father managed to extricate
himself from the bear hug and struggle to get out his pistol.

Then she saw Harrison racing to
intervene.

"Mr. Demovic! No!" Marsha shouted, but he
wasn't listening. Bella dragged herself free from the tall woman's
grasp as the security professional moved to protect her employer.
Marsha ran one way, readying her licensed firearm, while Bella who
raced around the other side of the car.

Franklin brandished the weapon he had drawn
out and now customers in the gas station began screaming and
ducking for cover.

"Not another move Demovic. Not another
fuckin' inch. No-one."

Marsha, Harrison and the other security
people all froze.

"That's better." He said, steadying himself
on his feet. "Now all of you clowns are going to back away and let
me get to a vehicle that actually fuckin' works."

"This is over Franklin." Harrison said. "You
need to drop that weapon and walk away from this."

"That's right Franklin, the police are
already on their way. You can stand down now and do a little jail
time, or you can make this a whole lot worse." Marsha added, her
weapon aimed at his head.

Frank was trying to play it cool but his
breath was rattling in his throat. This plan going about as badly
wrong as it possibly could. He had never done jail time and didn't
intend on going down now.

"Where's that stupid bitch wife of mine?" He
looked around wildly. "Mabel? Where the fuck are you Mabel? Why the
hell couldn't that fucking moron just stay in the car like I told
her to?" He shouted with rage.

It was enough for Bella. Even this situation
he was going to blame on her mother. She was almost behind him now
and he still hadn't noticed her. With a gun waving around at a gas
station she was no longer a part of anybody's attention except, of
course, for Harrison's. He had watched her carefully position
herself behind the gun wielding ex-cop, but his dark, hooded eyes
had betrayed nothing of her movements.

What the hell is she going to do?
He
readied himself to intervene. Was she holding something in her
hand? She had gone to jail for assaulting him before, was she about
to do it again? He prepared to make a dive for her.

"Daddy." She shouted.

Her father spun around, shocked and surprised
to see his daughter so close behind him and it was enough, Harrison
and his security people closed in and separated the firearm from
the raging man. By the time they had immobilized him patrol cars
were already arriving. Bella's mother watched in tears from the
safety of the van that Harrison and his team had travelled in from
the helipad. She saw the tall, handsome who's face she had seen on
TV and in magazines turn to her daughter, pick her up in his arms
and hug her to him. He buried his head to her chest and closed his
eyes as though he were guarding the most precious thing in the
world.

"Bella!" Her father screamed making the
couple turn to look at him. He was struggling wildly, but
uselessly, "Tell these shitheads to back off, you know this ain’t
over yet."

"It's over Frank." His daughter said, "You're
finished this time."

"I still have his fuckin' precious
information. Do you hear me Demovic? Do you really think I don’t
have copies of all your shit? Or maybe you want me tell everyone
here right now what it is you go to hide, 'coz I can do that do you
rich prick."