Kidnapped Hearts (18 page)

His body pulsed with need. Wiping his
hand down his face, he followed her out of the bay.

Chapter
Thirteen

Holding her towel firmly, Pamela trotted
up the boardwalk toward the house. Jake’s footsteps sounded behind her. She
wanted to reach her bedroom before he could say another word. What had she been
thinking to disrobe the way she had? The discarded bathing suit lying on the
beach flashed in her mind. Tomorrow, she’d unearth it. Hopefully, the tide
wouldn’t sweep it into the water. If it did, she’d leave some money in the
drawer with a note of apology.

She edged around the group of flowering
bushes hiding the outdoor shower and washed her feet, then turned to ascend the
steps. A hand on her waist stopped her. Jake had caught up with her. “I don’t
want to talk about it.”

The hand dropped, and the voice that
responded made her skin crawl. “It’s nice to see you, Pamela.”

She recoiled. “Nicholas.” With the towel
taut against her, she rubbed her arm absently. How had he found her? Her eyes
darted beyond him toward the bay, expecting Jake to appear at any second.

“He’s not there. My men are taking care
of him. A few minutes ago, I was afraid I would have to witness a little
fornication before I could speak with you. I’m glad you didn’t put me through
that.” He cleared his throat. “Pamela, you need to keep your clothes on while
in public. Your boyfriend concealed your body pretty well. Then again, I can’t
say that my men didn’t get their eyes full first.”

Her stomach twisted in knots, and bile
rolled to her throat. It grated on her nerves that Nicholas and
his
men
saw her nude. Even worse, the man standing before her was the root of all her
problems. She just hadn’t puzzled out how or why. The safe house definitely
didn’t achieve its purpose. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she became woozy.
Where could she hide? She swallowed, shoving the frail part—the scared shitless
part—to the back of her mind and asked, “How’d you find me?”

He tapped a finger against the tip of her
nose. “I have a man watching out for me.”

“A man?” Her chest grew heavy with the
implication of his words.

“Yes, I have a man on the inside.” He raised
a hand and waved it. “I’ve said enough.”

He hadn’t said nearly enough. She wanted
to know the man’s identity, and who was the man on the inside? Instead of
inquiring, she asked a more pertinent question. “Nicholas, are you responsible
for the threats?”

He gave her a blank stare.

“Mom’s car accident?” she persisted
before he could answer.

He flinched, and sadness flashed in his
eyes. A second later, he was back to his usual smugness. “Ah, so you call her
mom nowadays? I’m glad to hear it.”

“Don’t antagonize me.”

Nicholas jabbed his hands on his hips and
released a breath. A foul odor penetrated the air.

“Have you been drinking?”

“I’ve gotten myself into a sticky
situation, Pamela. Some men want something that I gave to you for safe
keeping.”

“So, you have been drinking.” Pamela
firmed up her grasp on the towel, wishing for some sort of clothing. The skimpy
bathing suit would be better than this. “Nicholas, you’re drunk and talking out
of your mind. You haven’t given me anything.”

“I did. You’re just ignorant.” He tapped
the side of his nose. “You could never see what was happening right under your
nose.”

“That’s the alcohol talking.”

His head swung side to side. “No, Pamela,
it’s not. Don’t you remember me coming to visit your mother at The Memory Café?
That cafe your father forced her to work in, sticking her in a small room so
she could do the books, the ordering. Well, I got her away from all that. She
was, is, a beautiful woman, and she didn’t belong in a back room.”

Pamela’s mouth gaped, and her hand slid
down. Her towel started to slip. She jerked it up. “You asshole! You stole her
from her family.”

“Don’t be childish. You were instrumental
in what happened.”

Pamela’s knees buckled. “I was a child. I
had nothing to do with it.”

“This might be a useful conversation, but
one that can be put off until another day. You have something that I want.”

Pamela smashed her lips together as her
mind jumped to what he said earlier. “What did you give…” She paused as her
eyes widened. “The books?”

“Now, you’re catching on. I’ve given you
several books. Where are they?”

She poked her finger at him. “I knew it.
You’re not genteel enough to give a gift to somebody out of the goodness of
your heart.” Pamela wiped her hand across her forehead. “Why couldn’t my mom
recognize the animal you are?”

“Enough!”

Jake,
where are you?
Her legs trembled. She should have never
left him.

“I’ve
searched.”

Nicholas’ words
returned her to the present. “You what?”

“I searched The Memory Café and your
townhouse. I can’t find them.”

The ache in her chest dropped to her
stomach. Not able to think, she repeated the words she said a moment ago. “You
what?”

“Do I need to get you a fucking hearing
aid? You heard what the hell I said.”

She swallowed and chewed the inside of
her cheek. “When did you search them?”

“Does it matter?” he snapped.

It mattered to her. She waited.

“Today, after I had realized you’d
vanished. Since they weren’t at your home or work, I had assumed you brought
them with you.” He grabbed her arm. “Now, go get them.”

“I don’t have them with me.” She couldn’t
hide the shakiness in her words. “I didn’t bring the books. They’re at home on
my book shelf.”

“I explored the area. They’re not there!
Where are they?”

“I don’t know.” Her mouth went dry. “I
haven’t even glanced at them.”

“What about the one I gave you at the
hospital?”

“It’s at home, too. Celine took it home
for me when she got me a change of clothes.”

“Celine? One of your Band of Friend
buddies. I’ll deal with her.”

Fear flanked her body.
Jake, oh God, I need you
. She waited for
Jake to come to her rescue as he had at The Memory Café. No one appeared.
Everything seemed quiet, eerie even, as if something lurked in the brush.

Bang
.

Pamela winced. The report reverberated
through the night air. She peered in the direction of the water. Where was
Jake? Who was out there?

“Damn.” Nicholas scanned the area as if
he knew exactly who hid in the dark. “Those jackasses are going to have every
agent in the region after us.”

What did he see? Pamela’s eyes tried to
see through the dark. The moonlight, now blocked by a cloud cover, made it
extremely hard to see more than a few yards in front of her. Jake couldn’t have
been on the receiving end of the bullet, could he? Pamela’s lips pinched
together as she fought the tears. Crying would not help her situation.

“If you’re looking for the other agents,
you won’t find them. They have been disposed of.”

Pamela’s eyebrows rose. She was
officially petrified.

“Pamela,” Nicholas’ grip tightened.
“Locate the bonds or you will end up like the rest of the agents. You know what
those men are capable of. They went after my beloved Vivian.”

“W-what m-men? Do they work for you?”

“No, they don’t.”

“Who then?”

His hand tightening on her arm, he sucked
in a breath and released it slowly. “A man that’s willing to kill for what he
wants.”

A loud sob escaped her. Nicholas was the
reason her mother had an accident. His words filtered back into her mind. “She
is not your beloved Vivian. If she was, then you wouldn’t have put her only
child in this situation and she wouldn’t be lying in the hospital.” She gasped
as an ambush of emotions crashed down on her, and the enormity of the
circumstances overcame her. “You bastard.” She jerked her arm trying to break
free. His fingers dug into her.

“Careful, Pamela. Perhaps, I should make
a visit to Celine.”

“No!” She wept.

“If you don’t want any more harm to come
to your friends, then you will find the bonds, or I will have someone find the
pretty blonde.”

Her hands balled into fists. She had
never wanted to hit someone as much as she wanted to hit her stepfather. Was he
out of his mind? “I knew you were crazy, but I had no idea you were a
murderer.”

Nicholas stiffened. “I’m not. I have men
to carry out that job for me.”

What
kind of monster did mother marry?
Questions inundated
her as she tried to make heads or tails from the situation. Did
he
throw the rocks through her windows?
Shoot into her café? And, why did he hide bonds? Something illegal? “Are you to
blame for the horrible things that have happened the last few days?”

“Despite what you think, I’m not
deplorable. I’m trying to do the right thing.”

“By giving me what I guess to be stolen
bearer bonds and sending me notes?”

Releasing her, his head pulled back as
his shoulders shoved forward. “Come again?”

“Did you send me threatening notes?”

“What notes?”

“The ones that crashed through my café
stating I needed to bring the bearer bonds to the City Docks.” She paused,
trying to calm herself, so her next words would be audible. “The threatening
note that said, ‘
Leave the bonds in the
trashcan by the City Docks, or your mother will suffer the consequences
.’
”

Nicholas slumped as if her words knocked
the wind out of his sails. He stared at the ground, rubbing his forefinger and
thumb along his jaw. “Pamela, regardless of what you might think of me, I
didn’t threaten your mother. I love her. And I haven’t sent you any notes.”

“Did the men that work for you?”

He shook his head. “No, they would never
touch your mother or you.”

“Yet, you threatened me by saying you’ll
visit one of my best friends if I didn’t locate the bonds. I can’t have faith
in a word you say, Nicholas.”

His face reddened, and his eyes
tightened. “You’re twisting my words, Pamela.” His tone deepened. “Find those
fucking bonds.”

A tremor vibrated through her body.
Feeling defenseless, she moved up a step. “I will. I promise, just leave
everyone alone.”

Nicholas’ head jerked up. “Where are you
going?”

“I need clothes.” Her chin quivered, and
her voice quaked.

His eyes flicked to her towel, and he
rocked his head. A bit of sympathy showed on his face. “You do.”

Not wanting her back to him, she let the
railing guide her backwards up the stairs. When she reached the top, she
swerved to flee into the house. His tone halted her. “Pamela, I love your
mother. I never meant to put you or her in harm’s way. Please forgive me. Tell
her I love her, and I’m sorry.”

Pamela looked skyward and closed her
eyes. Could this mess get worse? She straightened. “Tell her yourself,
Nicholas.”

He had vanished.

Not wasting time, she scurried to the
screened-in porch and inside the house. She punched in the security code and
started for the stairs. A red light glowed from the bedroom Jake claimed.
Advancing to the room, she spotted a small black box with a flashing red light
sitting on the nightstand.

A small button on the side turned it off.
The sliding door stood open. Closing the door, she quickly locked it, and
pulled the blinds shut. Odd, when she set the alarm, it should have sounded to
let her know a door remained open.

Jake’s gun sat on the opposite
nightstand. “Oh, no.” Her hand flew to her mouth. Jake didn’t have a gun. Whose
gun had fired? Had he been shot? The image of Jake in the sand popped into her
mind. It’d be her fault. Why had she behaved irrationally?

A noise sounded in the kitchen, and she
snatched a shirt and a pair of elastic waistband shorts from a chair. Taking
his gun, she slid into the closet and stared at the cold, hard object. Not sure
how to use it, she figured, she could at least use it as a deterrent.

Another sound came from the direction of
the kitchen. It had to be Jake, had to be. Feeling queasy, she clutched the gun
tightly with both hands as she squeezed her eyes shut and waited.

Chapter
Fourteen

Be patient
.
Who was he trying to kid? Jake was about to self-destruct, and watching Pamela
sashay away from him made it worse. Once they were settled back in the house,
alarms set, he would apologize for his stupid comment. With any luck, she’d
forgive him, and they’d wake up together in the morning.