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Mila

“Can you find me a couple of handsome guys to sweep me off my feet and help me start my own business?” Vivi asked the next day while they were all having lunch at the Hotel del Coronado.

Barb and James had grudgingly agreed to join them but were surprisingly silent.

Mila thought it had something to do with Carter whispering something to them, but she didn’t ask.

Sometimes you just had to enjoy the moment and not ask questions.

“I thought you liked where you were at?” Mila asked.

Vivi shrugged. “Eh, it’s okay. But things are changing, and I’m not feeling it anymore. I think it’s time for something different.”

“I think the bank is looking for a loan officer,” Anthony said. “What about that?”

Vivi looked interested. “Maybe. It’d be fun to do something in finance after spending years getting my degree.”

The way everyone chatted felt like old times, but better. With her siblings so firmly on her side, and her parents being quiet, this could’ve been a big family brunch back home.

Carter was sitting next to her and Gio was back home, making arrangements for everyone to do some sightseeing and then fly home.

“Are you coming with us on the historical walking tour?” Anthony asked Barb and James.

The two exchanged a look, then Barb spoke. “No, we’ve rented a car. We’re going to visit the Scripps Institute.”

“That shouldn't take long,” Vivi said. “After the walking tour, we could meet in Old Town.”

Now that both parents weren’t being forceful with Em or Mila, the siblings kept trying to involve them in their plans.

“Maybe,” Barb said. “We might make plans with James’s old friend from school. He works at Scripps, and we haven’t seen him in years.”

“Well, you have the itinerary Gio put together,” Carter said. “You can always join us at any step along the way.”

Mila could hear the underlying words—as long as Barb and James remained civil, they were welcome to join.

“You know what, I’ve decided. I’m going to move out here,” Bec declared, making all conversation stop.

Anthony was the first to talk. “Right now, or later?”

Bec blinked, as if only now realizing she’d spoken out loud. “Oh, um, now I think. There’s something about this place, I can’t leave. Henry’s been wanting to retire, and I can’t handle the business by myself, so maybe it’s time to shut down Simon & Associates and open up out here.”

“Don’t you have to pass a state bar exam?” Mila asked.

Bec nodded. “Sure, but I’ve already passed the state bars for South Dakota, Minnesota, and Ohio. I’m sure I’ll do fine after I study.”

“What about Daniel?” Mila asked.

Bec shook her head. “We broke up a few weeks ago.”

“Oh no, why didn’t you tell me?” Mila asked, feeling like a horrible friend. They talked at least once a week, and Bec hadn’t said anything.

“It’s not like we were deeply in love or anything,” Bec said. “Looking back, I can see that we were together because it was convenient. Then he met Tori, and we were over. I was more annoyed than hurt. Now I feel like I need a fresh start.”

“You could move to LA with me,” Em suggested.

“Or we could both stay down here, close to Mila,” Bec suggested. Mila was thankful for the suggestion. LA was only a few hours’ drive away, but it was still far enough for Mila to worry. She wanted Em to follow her dream, but she also wanted her sister to be safe.

Em didn’t object right away, giving Mila hope. Could she really stay in San Diego with Carter and Gio and have both Em and Bec living locally?

This felt like everything was falling into place!

“Absolutely not!” Mila said with a laugh. “You guys can stand at the cliff's edge, I’m staying right here.”

“Still afraid of heights?” Em teased. They were at the Sunset Cliffs National Park. The itinerary was to watch the sunset here and then meet Gio for dinner. So far, the entire day had been wonderful and entertaining, just like the day before.

Mila would never be able to thank Gio enough for making her family's trip to “save” her one of the best vacations they’d ever had!

Tomorrow, everyone but Em and Bec would get on planes and fly back to South Dakota.

Gio was already looking into a two-bedroom condo for Em and Bec to share while they figured out their new lives.

The only upsetting thing was that Barb and James refused to join them for anything. They were still checked into the hotel, but weren’t answering any calls or responding to texts. Mila would hate it if they went home without getting to talk to them, but that was better than another fight.

“Are you sure you don’t want to see?” Bec asked, heading to the edge of the cliff with everyone else.

Mila hung back with a shake of her head. She’d always struggled with heights and being near something that could crumble away like a cliff didn’t interest her at all.

Carter hung back with her, but she gave him a little push. “Could you make sure Em doesn’t get too close?” she asked.

He frowned and didn’t move. “What?”

Mila nodded her head at her youngest sibling. “She doesn’t like heights either, but she is always doing stuff to prove to herself that she doesn’t have any weaknesses. I could see her putting her toes at the edge and maybe losing her balance.”

Carter looked torn. “But then I’ll miss watching the sunset with you.”

He was such a romantic. Both her men were. “We can watch every sunset after this one.”

“Promise?” Carter asked.

“Absolutely,” she assured him.

With a nod he followed everyone out of the parking lot and down the path to the cliff. A panel van entered the parking lot, but she ignored it. Lots of people were coming and going, it was a popular place for locals and tourists alike.

“Hey, do we have any snacks left?” Bec asked, coming back up the path. “I’m not going to make it down there and back without a little food.”

Mila nodded. Bec’s hangry episodes were notorious, and Mila had adopted the habit of keeping a snack for her by the time they got to middle school.

Leaning against the car, Mila dug through her purse. “You’ve got a choice of oatmeal cookies or—”

Her words were cut off when something was pulled over her head, cutting off her vision. Her hands were roughly pulled behind her and secured with zip ties. By the time she got over the shock of what was happening and started struggling, she was shoved down onto the hard floor of a vehicle.

The van! She was being kidnapped and shoved into a van just like the movies!

“Mila!” Bec screamed. “Let her go! No! Damn it, I said let her go you fuckers!”

She heard fighting and the sound of someone howling in pain.

“She kicked Tim in the balls!” someone shouted. “Fuck, she’s drawing a crowd. Grab her, we’ll take her too.”

“We don’t need her, just the fat one,” the one holding her yelled. She tried to fight, but he was kneeling on her back, making it hard to breathe.

“Then we dump her body later,” the other guy said. She heard Bec cursing and the sounds of struggling. The van rocked and doors slammed violently closed.

“Go!” the guy on her yelled. “Go go go! The fucking wolf will catch us if he sees us.”

They knew what Carter was? Who were these men? What was going on?

“Bec?” Mila screamed, hoping she would get an answer.

“Mila!” Bec yelled back. “Get your hands off me, asshole!”

Mila heard a man scream in pain. After that there was a loud thud, and Bec cried out.

“Shut up, both of you!” one of the men said. “One more sound, and I’ll start breaking fingers!”

Feeling helpless, Mila fought back tears. Crying wasn’t going to do her any good. She listened to the conversation going on around her, but all they said was almost nothing. The drive could've been an hour or only five minutes. Fear made it impossible for her to keep track of time.

The van bumped over something, jarring her badly. The zip ties were digging into her skin and now she could feel a trickle of blood. Both hands were starting to go numb, but she was afraid to move and anger the kidnapper.

They came to an abrupt stop, making her topple sideways and into someone.

“Get off me!” one of the men said as hands shoved at her.

With her hands tied, it was hard to sit up, and she ended up rolling over instead.

The van doors opened again, and many rough hands pulled her out.

She couldn’t figure out where she should be moving because all they were saying was to get out.

Moving blindly, she ended up falling out of the van. She hit the hard ground on her knees and cried out in pain. She heard a gasp and knew something similar had happened to Bec.

“Get up, bitch!” one of the men said. She tried to keep her balance despite the hood over her head when she heard a familiar voice.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing to my daughter?”

What was her dad doing here? Had he seen her and Bec get grabbed and decide to follow? Relief made her feel dizzy.

“Shut up, old man,” the guy said. “Brad, what are they doing here?”

“I didn’t think you’d be bringing her back here,” Brad said.

This kept getting stranger. Why was her ex here?

“Let go of her!” James shouted, but his demand ended with a coughing fit that made the other men laugh.

“Sorry, Mark,” Brad said. “James and Barb followed me here. I guess they were impatient to see Mila.”

The harsh hold on her arm that was keeping her steady was suddenly gone. She wavered on her feet until a gentle set of hands steadied her.

“I’m sorry, Mila,” James said. “We didn’t know they were going to be so rough!"

The bag over her head was removed, and she could see her dad. He was as pale as when he showed up to the house two days ago, but added to that were dark bags under his eyes and an unkempt appearance.

Her mom was on her other side, looking upset but determined.

“What’s going on?” Mila whispered.

“We’re staging an intervention,” Barb explained. “It’s obvious you’re suffering from some kind of mental breakdown. Your behavior is completely out of the ordinary, and you’re unable to make reasonable decisions. We got in contact with Brad, and he agreed to help.”

“Help?” Mila said, feeling hysterical. “Help what? Kidnap me?”

“It’s not a real kidnapping,” James said. “We’re working on paperwork that will have you declared incompetent and put us as your legal guardians. That way, you can come home with us, and everything can go back to normal.”

“This is not normal!” Bec shouted from behind her. James and Barb looked over at her, both of them obviously shocked.

“What is Bec doing here?” Barb asked, looking at Brad.

While her parents had been talking to her, one of the guys was busying dragging Bec away. They were in a large space with racks of tools on one side. Judging by the parts hanging off a wall, this was some kind of hangar or repair bay for planes.

Mila saw the intent in the guy's eyes. He was going to do something bad to Bec! She ran at him, desperate to help her friend.

“Mila!” Barb shouted.

Mila ignored her mother. She put a shoulder down and plowed into the guy dragging Bec.

Bec had been resisting, but she was tiny compared to almost everyone.

Mila was a big girl who’d spent a good amount of time helping younger brothers practice their football skills.

She knew how to use her bulk effectively.

When the guy she hit went down, she made sure to land on him with a knee aimed for his belly.

She hit his balls instead, even better!

With her hands still secured behind her back, she couldn’t do much after they both went down except roll off him. Bec was still standing, and she hurried over to give the guy a solid kick to the head. He went from screaming in pain to silent and still.

Unfortunately, he was still breathing, but at least he wouldn’t be raping anyone today!

Two seconds after Bec’s kick ended the fight, the hangar erupted into pandemonium. One of the men rushed up and punched Bec. She managed to move mostly out of the way, but his fist still caught the side of her head and sent her tumbling to the floor.

James tried to challenge the guy and got punched in the face, landing on his ass next to Bec with blood pouring from his nose.

Barb started screeching at Brad to make these men go away. Brad casually shoved her back, making her stumble over James. When she fell, she almost landed on Mila who’d finally managed to sit up.

Everyone was yelling and talking at once until a gun went off. Mila instinctively ducked her head down at the sound and everyone went silent.

The man holding a pistol strode up and pointed it at each of their faces. “One more word, and I start shooting.”

Barb opened her mouth, but he swung the gun around to her, and she closed her lips tight.

“Good,” the gunman said. “You’re all going to stay right there on the floor.

If you behave, you might make it out of this alive.

Annoy me, and I’ll make it so you can never annoy anyone ever again.

Don’t think about being cute and asking for a bathroom.

You can piss your pants for all I care. This was supposed to be an easy grab, but you all insisted on fucking it up. ”

The man turned to face Brad. “We have to finish setting up the traps, make sure I don’t have to come back over here.”

With that, the man walked away, and all the men followed except for the one Bec knocked out.

The moment the other kidnappers were busy doing other things, Brad walked to Mila and crouched down. His smile was mocking.

“You should’ve returned my text,” he said. “All I needed was a little money. That’s all. If you’d given me that, none of this would’ve been necessary."

“What is all this?” Mila asked, ignoring the money comment. It was clear that Brad was nothing but a hobosexual, attracted to anyone who could keep him in the lifestyle he wanted.

“After I ran into you and the freak, I realized there was another angle I could play,” he said, sounding proud of himself.

“I made a few calls. Your siblings thought they were warning me off by giving me information on Carter and Gio. When I had names and your address, it wasn't hard to figure out what Gio was. You know, there’s big money in harvesting his kind.”

Mila looked at the men moving around the hangar, all of them wearing paramilitary outfits. Suddenly she understood.

“Tooth-pullers,” she whispered, horrified.

“That’s right,” Brad smirked. “We’re going to rip your vampire apart and sell him piece by piece, and I get a cut. The other freak, Carter, will have to die. It’s too bad he’s not worth anything.”

“Vampires? Tooth-pullers? What are you talking about?” Barb asked. “This was supposed to be an intervention to bring Mila home. What’s going on, Brad? Why do all these men have guns?”

Brad gave Barb an evil grin. “I’m about to open your eyes! I hope you get to live long enough to thank me.”