Page 70 of Degrees of Acceptance
“No problem, I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I say before disconnecting.
Chase and I are eating lunch in the kitchen when the phone rings. “It’s your mom’s phone,” he says answering it. “Chase here,” he says. “I am going to need confirmation that Karissa is still alive and unharmed. No, I want to talk to her. I am putting the lives of my men and my reputation on the line for a woman I barely know. You tell the prince that I want confirmation she is alive and unharmed, or the deal is off. Otherwise, I’ll let her daughter know that I did everything I could, but it just wasn’t enough,” he says. He disconnects and captures my eyes with his. “Baby, I am so sorry you had to hear that, but I need them to think that I don’t care about her. It’s the only way to keep her safe. They need these loads to get through customs, or the prince himself will be sought after by the men that have already received payment for this merchandise and can’t deliver. His shipments have kept getting cut off, and he doesn’t know how. Alfrieta needs an alternative way to get the product into the country which is why they are working with me. He’s also got to be worried about the mafia, namely your family, coming after him when they learn he is trying to take over their market. He is unaware your father and family already know about him.”
I have lost my appetite, and instead of eating, sip on the lemon water in front of me. The minutes on the clock seem to pass by like hours. The beep on Chase’s phone finally alerts us to the incoming call. He signals to Jay that it’s her number and answers the call.
“Hello, Karissa this is Chase. We only have a few moments. Are you being fed and do you have enough water? Have any of these men assaulted you in any way?” he asks.
He probes her with a few more questions and then is silent. “I see, I will tell your daughter that you are fine. Can you put them back on the phone, please?” he asks, squeezing his eyes shut, resting his forehead on his hand.
“This is Chase. Your team seems to have kept their hands to themselves, and she is unharmed. Make sure she continues to get three meals a day, plenty of water and keep your hands off her. I want a scheduled call tomorrow. If it stays that way, I will make sure your product reaches its intended recipients. If instead, you fuck up my pussy supply by hurting her mom, I will let the mob know you are trying to take them out of the picture.” He disconnects and I can’t listen to anymore. I just need to move. I head to our bedroom and change into running gear. As I come down the stairs, he’s walking up the stairs and captures my eyes with his.
“Don’t Chase. I know you didn’t mean it, but I just need to get the hell out of here for a while. Jay can follow me or not, but I need to go for a run,” I say, passing him on the stairs and heading for the patio that will lead me to the path by the lake. I put in my earbuds and hit shuffle, allowing the music to eventually calm my nerves. My half-way song comes on, and I am not near ready to turn back. I continue along the lake path enthralled by the apple orchard that I haven’t seen before and then a two story cabin comes into view. It’s all knotty pine looking with a green roof, and there are about ten canoes and paddle boats on racks by the lake. This must be the boys and girls cabin that Gaby and Chase were talking about. I turn back and see Sheldon in the bushes ahead of me. I smile to myself. Security trying to stay clear of my line of site is funny.
I head into the house and am taken aback by the barrage of guests that have arrived. Don, Chase’s dad, is sitting in the chair across from my father and members of the family I just met last night are seated in the living room. Our security team is in the room, minus the ones that were apparently traipsing after me. I feel fortunate I put on a t-shirt over my sports bra before I left. Chase stands when I walk into the room, and every man in attendance does likewise. I recognize some of them as my uncles and cousins, but many do not look familiar.What the fuck…
“Katarina, you met the men working on intel this morning. They have set up in one of the back offices and will be keeping tabs on cell phone activity, ship radio communications and land to air communications. The team you see before you will be working on the plan to extract your mom once we locate her through that intel,” he says by way of introduction.
Three servers are walking around the room with trays of bars and flavored regular and decaffeinated coffees. Gaby is doing whatever she can to make the guests and the situation less stressful for all involved. That puts me into gear. I quickly run upstairs to shower, get redressed and head into the kitchen to find Gaby. These people are in our home to save my mom and here I am, moping around, feeling sorry for myself instead of contributing to helping the people who are trying to bring her home. Gaby is pulling a pan
of bars out of the oven.
“Gaby, how can I help?” I ask.
“Kate, really you don’t have to help. We have enough staff to manage,” she says.
“Gaby, these people are all here to help Chase and my father get my mom back. I need to do something to contribute. What can I do?”
“Well, I can use an extra pair of hands,” she says kindly. “Can you slice onions, peppers, and mushrooms? We’re baking pizzas, lots of pizzas for this evening, and I could really use the help.”
The afternoon flies by. Gaby has made dough, from scratch, and we spend the early evening topping and baking the fresh pizzas for the crews. Gaby and I are slicing the last of the pies when Chase walks in. I feel his eyes on me and turn around.
“Gaby, excuse us,” he says before capturing my lips with his own.
“Baby, we’ve had the first good news today. We have eyes on all of the prince’s homes and businesses and are tracking anyone that contacts him. He’s been in constant communication with a phone on the Gulf. We’re getting close to finding her, Baby,” he says, pushing the hair from my face. He looks tired, and I pull him close hugging him.
Carlos peeks his head into the kitchen. “Chase they’ve got verbal confirmation of her location,” he says. Chase guides me into the living room and tells Carlos he needs to talk to the guys about getting a visual confirmation, leaving us alone for a short while. My dad looks as though sleep has eluded him for days. I sit on the couch, and he takes a seat next to me. “I wish to hell we would have had Chase’s technology the first time she disappeared,” he says to me.
Chase comes back into the room and announces that the men have solid verbal confirmation on her location. “She’s being held in a home in Miami. They have an address and are in the process of getting eyes on the exact location to get visual confirmation. It won’t be long, now. Carlos, we’re going to need to discuss a few details about the extraction.
I realize whatever they are going to talk about is nothing that he wants me to hear and head upstairs. I try to read, but am unable to focus. Finally giving up and putting the novel aside, I succumb to exhaustion.
I wake to Chase rubbing my shoulders and kissing my hair. The length of his body feels comforting next to mine.
“Baby, wake up,” he says.
“I must have fallen asleep. What time is it?” I ask.
“It’s late… just after two a.m. We’ve got your mom, Baby. She’s on her way home,” he says. I turn towards him and realize he’s still fully dressed and probably has not been to sleep, yet.
“Oh, my God, Chase. Thank you,” I say unable to stop the flood of tears from falling down my face.
“Baby, it’s okay. She’s fine. Our teams took her to the airport, and she should be landing in about an hour,” Chase says.
“Is my dad still here?” I ask.
“He shakes his head. No, he’s been up all night helping with the ops in Florida, but he wanted to be at the airport when she lands, so I sent him and Jay’s team by helicopter to bring her back,” he says.
“Do you want to get some sleep? I ask, realizing how tired he looks.
