High Stakes Seduction - Book 5 (18 page)

I had already discovered the cushioned interior, so I reached out with my hands, exploring the insides of the small confined space. It was soft and silken feeling, as if it was built for comfort. I had apparently been here for a while, yet I wasn't stiff or uncomfortable at all.

I couldn't raise my arms very high, but I could bring them up around my chest and if I was careful, a little bit above my head and body.

So, I was in this padded, small space and it was pitch black. Thank goodness I was only mildly claustrophobic. Otherwise, I might have been scared to death.

Death!

Holy shit.
That's right. I had been in Walker's office!

Walker may have had several businesses, but they all revolved around death, and the two things everyone knew death businesses had in common were…

No. Oh no. Please, it can’t be. No…

Suddenly my entire body went numb with paralysis. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move, I couldn't think.

In the next moment pure panic set in as a burst of adrenaline flowed throughout my body. I began to yell at the top of my lungs as my mind filled with visions of being buried alive, no one knowing that I was in a casket. I beat against the walls of my confinement with all of my strength. I pushed up against the lid, pressing with all my might, but it was locked in place and wouldn't budge.

I struggled to keep my senses in the blackness—to not let my imagination run too far away with me. But it was no use. Every terrifying thought and vision was worse than the last. So I yelled until my throat was hoarse. I beat against the walls of the small confined space, tearing at the fabric that just moments before I had thought of as being soft and comforting.

As I yelled, and screamed, and raged, and hit, the tears streamed down my face. It seemed as though there was nothing I could do, and yet, I had to keep doing
something
.

Suddenly, and without warning, bright light flooded my face. I was blinded, shocked into silence, blinking at the bright light. I couldn't see a thing, but I sensed there was someone beyond the disabling and disorienting brightness.

"That's about enough, if you ever want to get out of this box," came Walker's whiny voice, this time harsh and foreboding.

"Where am I?" I implored, tears in my voice as well as my eyes.

"Where do you think?” he laughed. "You should've worried about that before you stuck your nose where it didn't belong. If I were you, I’d take this piece of advice. Things will go much nicer for you if you keep your mouth shut." With that, he slammed the lid closed, thrusting me back into the silence and darkness of my own terrified thoughts.

Chapter Forty-Eight

MARIA

"Hello?" I grabbed the phone, hoping it was news of Angela.

"Hello, this is Ryan Burton. Is this Maria?"

"Do you have news about my sister?" No need to beat around the bush. In the last hour, I had gone through far too many scenarios in my head. I wanted some real news, not my vivid imaginary happenings.

"Sorry, I'm checking into things on my end. Nothing to report yet, but I wanted to find out if you'd heard anything?"

I exhaled the breath I’d been holding, pure disappointment running through my terrified mind.

"Not from Angela, but Antonio Mancini came by to see me. He thinks she may have been abducted." The reality of what I'd just said sunk in. "My God, Ryan, you have to find her, and quick."

"
Mancini
? Listen Maria," Ryan paused for a moment, as though planning what to say before he continued. "You need to be careful with that Mancini character. He's a 'person of interest' in a pretty high level investigation at the D.A.’s office."

I was silent for a moment.
A 'person of interest'? What was Ryan saying?
Mancini had been straight with me. He'd shared family secrets with me. He'd fulfilled his father's request without even knowing us. How could I
not
trust the man?

"I'm not sure what type of investigation you’re referring to, but you have to know, I trust him. He's been good to me, and he's been good to my sister. Whatever you might be doing with your 'investigation', Mancini is someone I can believe.”

I paused, realizing now wasn’t the time to get into a who’s right and who’s wrong debate. And the last thing I needed to do was to alienate the Assistant D.A. I switched the topic back to Angela.

“I appreciate your… concern, but please, tell me what I can do, right now, to help. Is there anything you need from me? I'll do anything to help my sister."

"Maria, I'm serious. Please be careful of that Mancini character. Con men are called con men because they gain your confidence. That doesn't mean that they should be trusted."

I kept my mouth shut. I trusted my own judgment. I'd had more than a few interactions with Antonio, but I didn't know this Ryan guy from Adam. Other than that he had taken my sister out, and he worked for the D.A.’s office. What made
him
more reliable than anyone else?

"Don't do anything, until I can get to the bottom of things on my end. I'll get back to you as soon as I know anything." Ryan hung up the phone.

I was getting pretty tired of everyone telling me to just sit and wait, to not do anything. It made me way too conscious of my own limitations. But it didn't seem there was much I could do to help.

I picked up the phone again, but this time I called another person I knew I could trust.

"Hello Mr. Conner, this is Maria Tilson."

"Maria! So nice to hear from you again. What can I do for you?"

"Mr. Conner, do you know anything about a Benjamin Mancini?"

There was only the slightest pause before Conner answered. "Benjamin Mancini is the name of Antonio Mancini's father. You already know who Antonio Mancini is. Why do you have an interest in his father?"

"This morning, he came by to see me. What he said disturbed me a great deal, but I didn't tell him that at the time."

"What did he tell you?"

"Mr. Conner, can you do me a favor, please? Can you check into Benjamin Mancini for me? "

"That's an interesting question, Maria. What are you looking for?"

"Antonio told me some things. Did you know Benjamin Mancini has been sending us money for years now? He sent me birthday cards until I was twenty-one, and we still get Christmas cards. Then there's the college money he sent when I graduated. I want you to tell me why he’s been sending money all these years."

Silence on the other end of the phone line.

"Hello? Are you still there?" I asked.

"Maria, is Angela there, please? Will you put her on the phone with me?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Conner, my sister isn't here at the moment. In fact… in fact, she’s missing. She may have been abducted."

Another long pause while I listened to him utter a curse and then a long exhale. "Maria. Are you serious? This isn't some kind of joke, is it?"

"Would I joke about something like that?” My words came out in a rush, fear and helplessness giving them a life of their own. “No, I'm serious. Very serious."

"Maria, have you called the police? Please promise me you won’t get involved in this. Just call the police, and let the authorities take care of everything. That's their job."

"I've already talked to the D.A.'s office, and Mancini is doing his own investigation. He thinks Angela may be in danger because of him."

"Maria, I told Angela that I would keep this between the two of us, but now that you've called me, I feel compelled to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Maria, Angela found a birth certificate. Yours."

"Yes? So?"

"Maria, this one had irregularities."

Irregularities? What was he getting at?

"Don't keep me in suspense…" I wanted to yell at him to get on with it. That I was in no mood for guessing games. My sister was in danger, and he wanted to play games?

"The document shows your father's name as 'unknown'. Angela asked me to look into it. She wasn't sure what it meant, or why that designation was there. And she asked me to find out for her before she showed it to you."

"And the two of you decided this wasn't important enough to tell me?" I kept my voice even, but now I was pissed.

"I'm sorry, Maria. I'm sure she didn't want to worry you. I haven't been able to find anything out, the records seem to have been lost. In light of what's happened with Angela, do you want me to keep pursuing it?"

Conner's revelation disturbed me. But for now I had other things to worry about, as I wondered what kind of game Angela was playing that had gotten her into such a mess. And right now I needed to explore every possible avenue looking for a way to help get her out of it.

"We'll deal with that later, Mr. Conner. Angela's safety is more important right now."

"Okay Maria, but please take my advice. Call the police. Be very careful with Mancini, he's not someone to be trifled with."

I almost snorted. "Mr. Conner, I appreciate your concern. And I realize there's not a lot I can do at the moment, but it appears to me that Antonio Mancini is the only one around here who has been telling me the truth."

Then I hung up the phone.

Chapter Forty-Nine

ANGELA

I was beginning to hate the darkness. It had never bothered me before, but I'd never been completely without light. I was at the mercy of Walker and whoever else knew I was in here, and that wasn't a pleasant thought.

The last thing I remember clearly, was the conversation going on in Walker's office. There was that Carmiante guy talking about some kind of money transfer, and Walker was spouting off at Naomi, telling her that she'd lost her edge or something. Well, clearly the three of them were connected. And oh yes, the alderman, Cartoli.

What I didn't understand was what they hoped to gain. It sounded like a blackmail scheme of some sort, but what could be their pay off? I mean, who was behind all of this, and how was it connected with the Children's Academy?

I had gone over and over and over everything in my mind, trying to fit the pieces together. Some part of me knew that Antonio was not only involved, but likely in danger. But there didn't seem to be anything I could do to help, even if I could figure out what was going on. Especially since I was locked in this casket, and it didn't appear I was going to get out anytime soon.

The panic started to rise again as I realized Walker was the only person I was certain knew where I was. And he wasn't likely to share that information voluntarily. I shoved the panic away, using a meditation mantra I had learned in college when I was playing around with Eastern religions.

I kept repeating the mantra, breathing as deeply as possible, and assuring myself that everything would be okay.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in... Breathe out…

After a while, I lost all sense of the continuity of time, it was as though I'd been in the casket for hours, but I had no way of knowing. With nothing to do, and no external references to focus on, I must have drifted off to sleep or some kind of alternate consciousness.

I watched as if from a great distance, looking down on a cemetery far below me. As I brought the picture closer, I saw two girls. That's when I realized I was in some kind of dream state, because those girls were me and Maria. We were running through the cemetery, chased by two goons, one with a scar on his forehead, and the other with a broken nose.

"Stop!" Came the piercing scream. I looked back over my shoulder, and Naomi stepped out from behind a tree.

"You have no power here!" she screamed at us. "And no one to protect you!"

I stumbled into Maria, who had stopped when she heard Naomi's voice. I grabbed my sister, hugging her close, staring wildly around, not sure which way to turn.

In the distance I spotted a blinking light. I nudged Maria toward that corner of the cemetery. She saw the light in the corner and began to run. As we got closer to that section of the cemetery, I heard a buzzing sound that seemed somewhat out of place.

I stopped for a moment, spinning around, trying to discover where the buzzing was coming from. The sound repeated, then stopped, then repeated, then stopped. There was a distinctive pattern that called to me.

Suddenly my eyes fluttered open, and I remembered where I was. Hopefully, not yet in a graveyard, but definitely in darkness, definitely the casket. Then I heard the buzzing once again. Then silence.

Something about it seemed familiar, I knew I should recognize that sound.
Wait.
I did.
My cell phone!

Afraid to hope too much, I began searching the area around me again. I had pretty much explored the upper part of my small confined space, and there was nothing here. Even in the confined space, the sound hadn’t seemed to be right next to me, in fact I couldn't even be certain it was in the casket with me at all. Except, I had heard nothing from outside—I'd heard nothing at all but my own breathing and yelling since I'd gotten here.