Page 49 of A Captive Situation

I grimaced, quickly going to my texts.

There were 184 text alerts. Good gracious.

I started to call my mom, but then paused. What would I tell her? Jake’s warning went through my head. I gulped. If I ignored them and he hadn’t been lying? I couldn’t endanger their lives.

What should I do instead?

Stay here? He’d just lock me up all over again, and I shuddered. I couldn’t go through that. I hated that feeling. But what were my options?

A text from an unknown number popped up. I clicked on it, frowning.

This is Graham, your cousin. I’m not sure what to do here. A detective called me and said he was going to bring you over, but you never showed. Now our aunts are calling me. My mother gave me this number for you. Are you here in the city? I know we’ve not met, but you are family. If you’re here and in trouble, I’ll come and get you.

My heart began pounding. He was probably the closest ... Hewasfamily ...

I tried running through the scenarios. If my name was released for this contract? Someone had found us outside my cousin’s place so he probablywasbeing watched. Could I call from my phone? I didn’t know. I just didn’t know and panic was rising in me the longer I considered all my options.

Fuck! I just didn’t know what to do.

Sandra Bullock inThe Netwould use a computer. Ashley Judd inDouble Jeopardywas all about the public library. I could do that. Pack up. Head out. Find a local town and contact my cousin that way, give him directions on how to sneak out and find me. Goodness. I needed to warn him that he might be in danger. What a great cousin I was, totally involving him, putting him in danger, and then asking him to come and get me? I was insane.

I blamed Beck for everything.

If he hadn’t dumped me, I wouldn’t have come to New York. It was all his fault.

I began searching through the drawers. Maybe there was something I could use to help me get out of here.

An old grocery bag was crumpled up. I put some protein bars and a couple bottles of water inside. My purse was on the table, too, so I grabbed that and frantically continued with my search.

I went through the drawers, but there was nothing there. Dammit. I needed—my hand flipped a picture over, and I went still, looking at it. It was Jake. But, wait ... No. It wasn’t. It was too recent. I flipped it over, seeing the date. Thatwasn’tJake. I turned it back, staring at the little boy. He looked five. Dark features. Dark, almost black eyes. A rich head of hair.

Did Jake have a son? He’d never mentioned a son.

A knot formed in my throat.

Jake had a son. It had to be. He looked just like Jake. He had the same eyes. The same cheeks. There was no doubt who he came from, but he was smiling. Such warmth and happiness filled his face. Was that what Jake would’ve looked like as a child?

That knot slipped down my throat.

I tucked the photo into my pocket, not sure why but also not questioning myself. I needed to get back to my escape.

After patting down some newspaper, I hit a lump. The sound of keys had me freezing for a second before hope burst up in me. I dug through, lifting out a set of keys.

I began smiling.

Oh,hellyeah.

Chapter Seventeen

Jake

I’d secured both, tying Crispin to his chair. His feet and hands were bound. Both were gagged. Penn was left on the floor. He could roll around if he wanted, but this room only had barrels of wine in it so there was no danger that I could see. His hands and feet were also bound.

I pulled out Crispin’s phone, opening his eyelid and scanning it with his phone so I could get into it. It was after I did that when he woke up. He began shouting through his gag. His eyes were wide, angry. He was rattling around on the chair. That’s what woke Penn up, who rolled a little, moaning before he blinked enough to clear whatever fog was in his mind.

Both were shouting as loud as they could, but the sound was muffled.

I’d initially been intending on taking pictures of everything down here, then slipping upstairs and pickpocketing Crispin’s phone. He was the smarter one of the two and he would’ve had any information I needed on his phone. Their dad had put them in charge of running the club after the war with Ashton and Trace’s family. He’d left to hide in Maine, not wanting to be around in case either of the two families tried to take him out. Course, he hadn’t known then that they’d takenhis two sons and held them in a warehouse until the war was over. They let them both go, but Crispin and Penn were useless. There was no way they were actually running this club. Both lived for booze, drugs, pussy, and lifting weights.

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