Taken With Trouble (CAUGHT IN CHAOS #2)

18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Liam

The sun is fading as we head toward town. Cruz has been exceptionally silent. She’s like a petulant child, arms crossed and pouting.

“Come on, I said I was sorry,” I say, playing with the radio dial. It’s not working. Another thing that’s off today and adding to my level of unease. It hasn’t gotten better since touring the Moore Estate. Only worse.

Serena turns her angry eyes on me. “You dropped me headfirst on the gravel.”

“Technically, I dropped us both. You’re heavier than you look.” She punches me, and I let her get away with it since I deserve it. It was terribly inconvenient and embarrassing to drop a woman like that.

“My back spasmed.”

“Your back spasmed?” She looks at me dubiously. “How old are you, grandpa?”

“You tell me. You’re the one with the dossier in your back pocket.”

“It’s a hit list.” She beams, turning so I get a good look at her face for the first time. There are tiny pieces of gravel embedded in her eyebrow, and now I feel worse.

“I’m sorry. I’ll help you get cleaned up when we get back.”

“I don’t need your help. ”

“Yet you always require it.”

She returns to her pouting child pose and stays like that. As the minutes crawl on, my chest continues to get heavier… and the car smaller. Along with a foreboding I cannot shake, there’s a heightened level of tension in this car that is surely only felt by me. I want to take Serena’s hand off her lap and press a kiss on the inside of her wrist. I want to hear her whisper my name as she begs me to kiss her. This woman is temptation embodied, but she wants nothing to do with me.

I sigh, dragging a hand through my hair, glancing over at her. But her face is a study in apathy. Only the meticulous way she strokes her gold badge hints at anything amiss.

“Wait, where are we? This isn’t the way we should be going,” Serena says as I turn down a dark alley.

“I have to do something.”

“This is the same restaurant. What are you doing? Feeding me to the wolves again?” Her grip on the door tightens.

“If I fed you to wolves, I fear you’d turn around and lead the pack.” I try for a lightness, but there’s still something nagging at me, and the words come out through gritted teeth. “Relax. I’m just here to pick up my mail.”

“Your mail?”

“Stay right here. I’ll be back.” I park the car then hop out, locking her inside. She tries to open the door and yells when it refuses to budge. I look at her through the window, holding my hand to my ear, mouthing ‘sorry, I can’t hear you.’

She slices a finger over her throat.

Got that message loud and clear. I respond by blowing her a kiss.

I push the lock button on the key fob one more time for good measure. Even if she crawls into the driver’s seat, it won’t work. Perks of having a very expensive car.

I turn, heading for the back door to the building. The man we left here last night is gone, thank goodness. Someone must have taken care of him.

I pass the bathroom, walking straight to the kitchen .

“Red order for Tim Diamond,” I call through the serving window.

Only one person in the kitchen responds. The young man ducks into a door that serves as the mailroom for the rich and shady of the U.K. If someone wants to get a message to someone quickly and without being detected, this restaurant is a great way to do it. Until they get caught and shut down of course. But their clientele is good at keeping the problems at bay. The only rule is the letter can’t be from a real person. Hence the fake name.

This is the only way I’ve been able to contact my grandfather for the last four years, which is why I left a letter last night while we were here. Whether or not Cruz believes it, our visit was not just an attempted kidnapping and my grand plan to save her. That had simply been a happy accident from which I emerged victorious.

The young man emerges with a letter and hands it to me wordlessly.

I return to the car. Serena is no longer screaming, but she is still staring daggers into my soul.

I unlock the car and hop in. My butt squishes into the seat but… it’s a little too squishy. I grimace but don’t move. “What was that?”

Serena smiles coyly and holds up a little jar. “It said it makes things look better. I figured we’d need the whole thing.”

“Do not tell me you just put a whole jar of wax on my car seat.”

“Okay, I won’t.”

I close my eyes. It doesn’t matter. It can be fixed. My suit can be… thrown out.

“I didn’t try to kill you,” she says innocently.

“Maybe you should. It would be less expensive.”

And then something happens. Something I’ve yet to witness.

Serena laughs. A real, deep, true laugh.

It’s a sound I didn’t know I longed to hear, but hearing it seems to awaken a piece of my forsaken heart.

I keep my eyes out the window, not wanting her to stop. But eventually, it fades into little giggles. And it’s torture. Because it’s so blasted adorable.

When she’s silent again, it’s like the air has been permanently changed around us. No longer are we only enemies. Maybe, just maybe, we are destined for more.

After I park in the storage unit, I remember the letter. I flick on the light, not caring if Serena sees. Which is bad, right? I shouldn’t keep showing her things, showing her me, but something inside me yearns to share my life with her—yearns to not be alone.

But she’s not looking as I rip the seal.

The blood turns to ice in my veins. This is my grandfather’s stationery, but not his handwriting.

Liam,

If you want to see your precious grandfather again, you and the girl will bring Scarlett Winthrop’s box to me at the Lang Gala this Wednesday. Leave it beneath the spiral staircase at exactly 9:30, and then your grandfather will be returned to you.

Work fast. The old man’s not looking so good.

My heart seems to be both beating out of control and not beating at all. My grandfather has been taken—the one person in this world I truly consider family. The man who kept me safe every summer from my father’s ire, and his right hook that broke my jaw and three of my ribs.

“Are you okay?” Serena asks.

I crumple the paper, shoving it into my pocket. I don’t respond as I hop out of the car and lock up the storage unit, my mind running a million miles an hour. The faster I walk, the faster my thoughts come, but still, I try to outpace them.

I’m so stupid. I came into the country and ruined his security. He doesn’t deserve to pay for my actions.

Who took him?

The letter wasn’t signed. Surely it can’t be the Winthrops; they would never do something this rash. Besides, they barely knew about the box. It’s the ring they want. Who else would know or care about Scarlett’s possessions ?

Someone close to them? Or someone close enough to Scarlett to know I have it?

Could it be Vincent Sawyer? Did he get out? That’s not possible. I would have been informed by one of the many alerts on my system regarding him.

It must be someone working for the Winthrops. Someone who knows the box is connected to a treasure and wants to have it for themselves. I need to get to the Winthrops, convince them to call off the bounty, and figure out who is behind this. And when I find them…

I kick a rock out of my way, cursing as I do so.

But what if it’s not someone connected to the Winthrops? It could be someone I’ve wronged. Someone trying to get back at me.

That particular list of candidates is a bit staggering.

I practically run the three blocks back to the apartment, but Cruz keeps pace.

Once we are safely inside, I go straight to my computer.

“Liam,” Cruz says.

I ignore her. This was all a fun little game, but now that game is over. She can leave; she can call the authorities. I won’t hold her here against her will. She deserves better, just like my grandfather. Why must everyone around me pay for my actions?

“ Liam ,” she says louder this time, and I look up. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

Her brows furrow, but instead of the fury I’m used to seeing in her eyes, there’s something akin to pity. It’s much worse. “I can tell it’s not nothing. There’s something in that note. Tell me; I can help.”

I scoff. “You help me? That’s hilarious.”

“I can be helpful.” She stomps over. “Give me the note.”

“No.” I turn to the computer.

“I’ll take it from you.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

She gives absolutely no indication before she tips my head back and presses her lips to mine. My whole body goes numb. Her lips are on mine. I can’t breathe. Can’t function. I need her kiss like I need the blood in my veins. More. All the worries fade to black. I’m floating free. Finally.

And then she pulls away. Note in her hands.

I blink. “You just used me.”

“Annoying, isn’t it?” She smirks over the paper at me.

“Hardly.” She can use me whenever. Use me again. Now please, so I don’t have to think of all the ways I’ve failed.

“Your grandfather?” Serena squeaks. The note slips from her fingers as horror fills her eyes.

“It appears so.” I scrub a hand over my face. I turn to my computer and search the security feeds I made him get years ago. For a man who taught me how to hack and code, I didn’t think I’d have to fight him on safety. But the feeds died last night and haven’t been back on. Why didn’t I check them sooner? I replay the video from the moments before the cameras went out over and over again, but there’s nothing except my innocent grandfather reading a book in his study. Why didn’t the system notify me when it went off? Now it’s too late.

Serena presses a hand to her stomach and paces back and forth in front of my computers. “They called me out in the note. I have to help you.”

I freeze. I forgot that part. Why was she addressed in the note? Do they know who she is? They must want to hold her as a ransom to the bureau.

“No.” This is my mess. I don’t want to drag another person into it.

She stops pacing. “What do you mean no ? This whole time you’ve been begging for my help and now when I offer, you refuse ? I don’t understand.”

“I’m a complicated person,” I say, leaning back in my seat. How did they know I was planning on attending the gala? They must have recognized one of my aliases on the guest list. It’s getting hard to remember who knows which one.

I shake my head. I have no choice. All that matters is getting my grandfather back. For that, I’ll walk right into a trap.

“Liam, you don’t understand. I have to help you find him.”

I raise a brow, waiting for more. “Why is that? ”

“I—” She presses her palm to her forehead, her fingers shaking. “I just do, okay?”

I stand, marching around the computers and stop right in front of her. “Tell me why, Serena.”

She chews on her bottom lip; she’s so close to finally opening up to me. But she’s still hiding.

I reach for her hand, squeezing softly. “Tell me.”

Her eyes go wide, and she jumps out of my reach. “Because I’m a federal agent. I help people, Liam. It’s my job.”

I cross my arms. I want her to admit she wants to help me because she cares for me. I scrunch my nose. “Sorry, not good enough.”

“Fine. I won’t help. Have fun getting caught.” Cruz stomps away.

I’m afraid that’s exactly what’s going to happen.