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There was no reply, confirming his fears. She’d vanished.
He walked inside, looking around. There was no sign of a struggle. Everything looked as it had when he’d left this morning except for a scrap of paper on the counter. He picked it up and read the note written in her handwriting.
Jake, it’s over. I realized we weren’t meant to be together. It’s Grayson I love. We’re going to be married. Please don’t try to stop me.
Samantha.
He sagged in the chair in disbelief. It couldn’t be true.
Then, he noticed the smudge on the bottom of the page. He picked it up and peered at the doodle. Samantha always doodled when she was tense.
An umbrella.
Stormy weather.
Samantha was in trouble.
He sprang to his feet and ran to the door while pressing the speed dial on his cell for Samuel Logan’s office. “Sam, Ramsey here. Grayson’s snatched Samantha. Delbert probably knows where they are going. Does Grayson St. James have one of the corporate jets on standby?”
Sam confirmed.
“I’m heading for the airport now. Have some staff meet me there for backup and call the police.”
Jake shut the door behind him and reset the alarm, although it was rather pointless now that Samantha was gone. He started down the walk when he spotted one of her neighbors.
“Well, hello, Jake,” Mrs. Morley said. “Are you here to water Samantha’s plants?”
Jake slowed to glance at the friendly neighbor, who was watering the begonias in her window box. Maybe she knew something.
“Have you seen Samantha?”
“Oh, so you don’t know.” She beamed, touching her hand to her heart. “It was so romantic. I saw them less than an hour ago. She and that handsome fiancé of hers have eloped.”
His mouth went dry. “Eloped?” St. James must have used deadly force to get her to comply.
“Yes, indeed. You couldn’t have gotten a feather between them, holding each other so tight, they were.”
He frowned as the image formed in his mind. “Did Samantha have her arm around him?”
Mrs. Morley’s brow wrinkled. “No, come to think of it, she didn’t. She just stood there, kind of stiff. It was probably just wedding jitters. Funny thing, though, she warned me about rain.”
“Stormy weather.” It confirmed the doodle on her note.The panic code!
Ice flowed in his veins. Samantha was in big trouble.
Jake dashed to his car and high-tailed it toward the private airstrip Logan Industries used.
He could only pray he was in time. He had a sick feeling once Samantha became Mrs. St. James, Grayson would kill her.
Samantha slanted a curious glance at Jennifer while they waited in a control shack for the jet to get fueled. Gold hoop earrings swung in her ears as she hopped up on a table while pointing the gun in Samantha’s general direction.
What was Jennifer getting out of this? She seemed bored to tears as she stood guard over Samantha.
Jennifer noticed Samantha watching her and scowled. She waved the gun lazily in Samantha’s direction. “Don’t get any bright ideas, rich bitch.”
She froze in the folding chair she was sitting on, terrified the gun might accidentally go off. “Don’t worry. You have nothing to fear from me.”
She smirked, plopping the gun down on the table, and picked up a fingernail file. “You bet, I don’t. God, I can’t wait to blow this town. Bright lights! Casinos! Vegas is where it’s at.”
