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“Have you heard from Belle?” Stephen asks, and the other boys look at me. Shaking my head, I need to keep reminding myself that she is safe. That she has protection with her, and that everything will be all right. But as the plane hits some unexpected turbulence, I know things are not going to be all right. Today, nothing has gone to plan, and I just hope that something does for us soon.
36
Isabelle
It is 10pm, and all the formalities of the event are over. Speeches were amazing, the auction amassed a large sum of money, the most ever raised at a fundraising event in D.C., and the food has all been served to a large hum of appreciation.
Now, all five hundred guests are sipping champagne and dancing the night away to the live band that is currently front and center on the stage, and although we still have lots of work to do, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the hardest part is over.
Half of my team are busy sorting out the auction items and collecting the payments, while the other half are getting ready for bump-out, which will commence in about 2 hours, once we shuffle all the guests out to their waiting cars.
As the guests move around the room and bodies dance, the temperature spikes, and the need for some cool air overtakes me. I take off my head set and put it down at the AV desk along with my clipboard, then tell Beth and Kelly that I am taking a ten-minute break.
Kelly is relaxing with the audio guys, quietly giggling at the various dance moves that are on display on the dance floor. I notice mom and Brian out there too, and I watch them for a moment and smile. I am glad they found each other.
I slip past Jake’s men, and walk toward the kitchen. I know they should be following me, but I just need ten minutes to destress by myself and then I will be back. As I make my dash, I notice Beth is trying to help mop up a tray of drinks that spilled when she turned too quickly and ran into the waiter. That girl is totally accident prone. I smile to myself, thinking of her and Kelly and what an amazing job we all did tonight.
Rolling my neck to get rid of the tension, I walk through the kitchen and make my way out the back of the hotel. It is where the staff come to take a breather, but due to all the cleaning that is required at the moment, the kitchen is running a million miles a minute and there are no other staff out here.
Stepping around the back further so I am out of the way, I stand and am surprised at how cold and windy it is. Having been inside all day, I hadn’t even looked at the weather, but I can see now that a big storm has in fact started swirling. The winds are strong, and I feel the rain begin to come down.
Even though I am slightly undercover, standing out in a storm isn’t the relaxing environment that I needed, so I turn to walk back inside. As I do, I run into a kitchen hand and stumble backwards.
“I’m so sorry…” I start to say, before the man grabs my arm. At first, I think it is to steady me, but when I look up, I know that I am in trouble.
“Why hello, Issy,” the man says with a slimy grin taking place on his face.
I try to pull my arm back, because although I wasn’t introduced to him, I know that this is the man that was with Richard and his friend, John, outside my office last night. I didn’t like the look of him then, and I certainly don’t like the look of him now. My eyes wander over him quickly, and I notice that he is in a waiter's uniform. Although I don’t know all the people on staff here, the wait staff have been in the room all night, and I am certain I would have recognized him had he been there.
I shiver slightly, my heart is racing, and I really want to get away from him. I try to yank my arm out of his grip because it is tight to the point of pain, but he isn’t letting go.
“Let me go!” I demand and go to push him, just like I did to Richard earlier tonight, but he doesn’t budge. He is also a good foot taller than me and quite broad, his body clearly dominating mine.
“It took me too long to find you, I am not going to let you go now. Good thing that Richard managed to sweet talk your mother into giving him your address in Hancock, because I found no address for you at your office when I broke in.”
I pause as I take in this information. It is true that dad’s cabin location was not something he wanted publicized. Only my mom, dad, and I knew the address. But from what this man just said, Richard has been trying to locate me, and obviously they are the ones who broke into my office—all to try and find out where I was.
I begin to try and pull away from him again, and as I struggle to get out of his hard grip, Richard comes up and stands beside the man, with an angry smirk on his face.
“Looks like the bitch is about to get what’s coming for her,” he states, and I notice the angry throbbing vein in his neck and know that he is really, really enraged. I stand in total disbelief. Richard looks so far removed from the nice guy I thought he was, now standing firm next to his friend. I am not entirely sure what is going on, but neither of them look like they just want to chat.
The weather has picked up even more now, and the wind is whipping around me. My dress swirling at my ankles, my hair blowing around my face.
I decide that I have had enough of these two bullies, so I pull my arm back again, and when that doesn’t work, I try and stomp on their feet, but they are too quick. Two against one was always going to be a challenge, but I had to try.
“No point struggling, Issy, we are not letting you go. In fact, tonight you will be making me a lot of money. At least I get something out of you.” Richard is standing tall, like he is king holding court in his kingdom, and for the first time I wonder if he is actually mentally unstable.
My fear is rising, the wind is ripping through the trees above me, and the other man still hasn’t let go of my arm. Purple bruises are likely to start popping up any minute, given how painful his grip is at the moment.
“Let me go!” I yell, trying to get away from them and get the attention of someone nearby, but the wind is too noisy, there is not a chance of anyone hearing my screams.
Car lights flash around the corner of the building, and a spark of hope fills my chest. I am about to yell and try to get away again, but the car pulls up right in front of us. It is dark, but Richard walks around to open the trunk, and the interior light comes on. I notice his other friend John is in the driver's seat.
Fear overtakes my body, and I start to shake, but I don’t have time to dwell on it because while Richard keeps the trunk open, the other guy grabs both my arms and lifts me off the pavement, my legs dangling down, my dress blowing randomly in the wind.
I struggle against him, knowing that I have to put up a fight, because I do not want to go into that trunk. I scream, thrash my head around, kick my legs, and generally act like a crazy person, which does nothing more than piss them off.
Richard walks up to me and slaps me hard across the face. It stings, but it isn’t the pain that I am feeling but the shock. He was my boyfriend, he literally asked for my hand in marriage, and now he is deliberately trying to hurt me. In a state of shock, confusion, and pain, I stop moving, which they take advantage of as they throw me in the trunk and slam it shut.
