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“Oh…” I said, taking her in my arms, tears falling, and I didn’t want to let her go. “I was so worried about you. Are you okay?” I said, pushing her back to get a good look at her. She looked okay. Just dirty.
“I’m—I’m fine. What happened? What did they want?” she asked me.
“They just wanted money. I paid the ransom to get you back. No matter how much they would have asked for, I’d have paid it. I’m so glad you are safe.” I couldn’t control my emotions nor the tears falling from my eyes. With a smile on my face, I planted a kiss on her lips.
“Can we go home now?” she asked, looking up at me.
“Of course, but the cops will want to know what happened. They have no idea that they called me for money. I wasn’t going to get them involved, just in case. I couldn’t let anything happen to you. Not because of me. I’m so— I’m so sorry.”
I held her up as we walked back to the car. “Take us to Ella’s, please.”
When we pulled up to the house, still blocked off by yellow tape and officers outside, I said, “Ella, they are going to have so many questions for both of us. Are you ready?”
She nodded her head and stepped outside. At first, no one noticed her, but then they saw me. Detective Daniels’ eyes opened wide.
“Where did you find her?” he said, rushing over to us.
“At an abandoned cafe. We’ll have to talk,” I replied.
“Can I take a shower first?” Ella asked.
“Of course. I’ll talk to Alexander while you shower,” the detective answered.
Ella briskly walked past us and went inside. “What on earth happened?”
“Well, I got a phone call for a ransom—two million dollars. They wanted me to meet them on Rogers Avenue. So I did. Then they released Ella.”
“Two million dollars? So the motive was money. That makes sense. This had to have been someone who knew about your relationship with Ella. Who all knows about you two?”
“Only Shawn and our parents. I don’t think Ella has told anyone besides her best friend.”
I knew none of them would have the heart to do something like this. My mind kept racing back to the fundraiser, when I felt like someone was watching me. I had thought I was being paranoid.
“Daniels, we think there was someone watching us last night at the fundraiser. We never actually saw anyone, but I kept looking over my shoulder. I could feel someone staring at me.”
“I’ll check the cameras and see if we can find anything.”
Chapter Fifteen
ELLA
As the water hit my skin, the bruises left were throbbing. My head would do anything not to think back to last night.
I laid my phone down, and made my way to unlock the door for him, then went back to the bathroom. I snuggled under the covers, awaiting his arrival before I fell asleep. I heard the door open. “I’m in bed already.”
I heard footsteps coming through the house, his footsteps. If only I could have realized they weren’t Alexander’s. The light in my room was off, so it was just a black figure standing at the end of my bed.
“Come join me,” I said flirtatiously.
Only it wasn’t Alexander. Swiftly, something was put over my head. “What is going on? Alexander?”
“Shut up. Keep quiet,” a man’s voice snarled at me.
Who was this man? He tied something around my wrists so I couldn’t move them.
“Please, what do you want?” I cried.
He wasn’t going to let me go. What did he want? I didn’t have much to offer him. Pretty much nothing, actually. The man put me into a car and shut the door. I could feel the bumps of the road, a dirt one, I think. When we came to a complete stop,the man got out of the car, then grabbed me and took me inside somewhere.
