Page 7

James put on his hazard lights and slowed the car down.

I had to admire the biker’s skill, as they all slowed down in unison, never once breaking their formation, and never once putting themselves – or us, I begrudgingly had to admit – in any danger.

James swung the car to the left and sharply pulled up at the side of the dirt road.

“Now, everyone, listen up,” he said, his voice low as his head dipped to his chest as he fought to contain his anger.

His fingers gripped the steering wheel, turning his knuckles white before he raised his head to look back and forth between me and his wife.

“Let me do the talking here, okay? Whatever they want, they can deal with me. Man to man. Elizabeth, you’re to come with me. ”

Ahh. Yes. Man to man-with-the-wife. Intimidating.

“Rachel, you stay in the car with Joseph. Do not get out. Are you listening?” I nodded my head, but there was no fight in me whatsoever.

You don’t need to tell me twice, pal.

James “The Man” took a deep breath and opened his door just as all the bikers pulled to a stop. Some came off their bikes, but others stayed on theirs, only turning their engines off.

The guy who had been knocking at my window kicked his stand into place and came towards the car.

I was even more reassured by the fact that all the bikers kept a fairly respectable distance between us, and none of them came immediately charging over. The man was taking a leisurely stroll over, as though we had all the time in the world.

“What can I do for you, fellas?” James asked, and I got a sick kick out of hearing the wobble in his voice.

Man to man, my arse! I’m more of a man than he is.

“Do you think Dad’s gonna fight?” Joseph whispered, not sounding the least bit nervous about his dad taking on a bunch of bikers. If anything, he sounded excited.

“Let’s just listen,” I whispered back, my breath catching in my throat as the man removed his helmet and my suspicions were confirmed.

It was him.

You’re not returning to America. You’re not going home.

The trees mocked me louder than ever.

I almost choked on the breath I had been holding, and my heart started pounding in my ears.

I vaguely heard Joseph say something along the lines of, “that’s you!

” in shock and awe, but I didn’t pay much attention to it.

It didn’t register. Nothing was registering, other than the deafening roar of my blood pounding through my body.

Immediately my mind went back to the diner, trying to replay the image of him, trying to place if I knew him and where I knew him from.

I couldn’t for the life of me ever recall seeing him – and I’m pretty fucking certain I’d have remembered.

Which means he either knew me, or he knew what I had done.

“What girl?” James demanded.

“Is this really the way we’re going to do things?” The biker laughed. He didn’t give James the chance to respond. I heard the crack as his fist connected with James’ jaw, knocking him clean to the ground.

Elizabeth’s ridiculous shrieks pierced my ears as she demanded her husband get up.

“That’s for clicking your fingers at me like I’m a fucking dog.

I’m not here to play games, so we’ll try this one more time.

We’ve come for the girl. The sooner you hand her over, the sooner you can be on your way.

” He raised his voice slightly, and I knew, I just knew, he was doing it to make sure I could hear him.

“She’s not going anywhere,” James mumbled as he pushed himself into a sitting position. “She belongs to us. She works for us. She’s staying with us.”

Fair play. I didn’t think you had it in you. Amazing what a bit of unfulfilled sexual desire can do for a man.

The biker sighed again. “If you make me hit you again, it won’t be for clicking your fingers at me.

It will be for the way you ate her up with your eyes.

The way you stared at her when you thought no one else was looking.

For the way you dared to lust over what belongs to me.

For the way you just tried to declare what is mine as your own.

What do you think a punch like that will feel like?

Because make no mistake about it, she belongs to me, and I’m taking her with me. With or without your blessing.”

“James?” Mrs Geller barked. “What is he talking about?” Her voice was almost hysterical. James gritted his jaw and threw daggers at the man.

“I’ve no time for dramatics. Your husband wants to fuck the nanny.

Now, last try, and I mean it.” He addressed his next words to Mrs Geller.

“I mean no harm to you or your family, lady. But rest assured, if she isn’t out of the car in the next ten seconds, I won’t hesitate to set the entire thing alight with her and your son in it. So what’s it to be?”

I didn’t wait for an answer. Joseph’s murmur of terror was enough to have me unclipping my seat belt and climbing out of the car before anyone could say any more.

I leaned over to give him a kiss on the head before I opened the door and whispered against his hair to be a good boy, and that I’d see him again soon.

He let out a small, pitiful “Rachel” as I pulled away, but I ignored him. There was no doubt in my mind that this man would do exactly as he said. I grabbed my purse, giving it a squeeze to make sure I had my supplies in there, and once satisfied, I pushed open the door and stepped out.

“Ahh, there she is,” he grinned as he saw me emerge from the car.

“Here I am. The loser of the world’s shittiest game of hide and seek.” I responded dryly. “How can I help?”

“Jump on,” he said, heading to his bike.

“I’ll do nothing of the sort,” I replied, staying exactly where I was. The only movement I made was to allow the car door to shut behind me, keeping Joseph safe from his view.

“I already told you, she works for us, and she’ll be staying with us,” James said triumphantly, getting back to his feet now that he knew I had a clear view of him. “It’s where she wants to be.”

How heroic of you. I saw you on your ass after one punch. Even I’ve taken harder punches than that.

“Employments are terminated every day. She’s coming with me. That’s the end of it. You’re welcome to come with her if you can’t stand a day not being able to look at her – but I can’t promise your stay will be as pleasant as hers.”

“James,” Elizabeth whispered. “Just leave it. Come on. We’re going home.”

“Thanks for that,” I muttered sarcastically, ignoring the ridiculous small pang of hurt. “What’s three years of living together, anyway?”

“Ahh, she doesn’t want you near her husband now the truth is out, lass!” One of the bikers shouted over.

“Rachel, please,” Mrs Geller said, looking at me as though I was a moron. It pissed me off that she used my name. I had been planning on giving these reprobates a fake one.

Stupid bitch.

“We can’t get caught up in this… whatever this is,” she waved her hands towards the bikers, and pulled back with a grimace as though she was going to catch something.

She almost threw up on the spot when the biker with the huge beard blew her a kiss.

“You know James can’t afford to mess up this promotion.

We can get another au pair, but he can’t get another job. ”

“Well, that’s a fine way to treat somebody.”

“Lovely employee you’ve got there, lass.”

“Eat the rich!”

The bikers began to yell, each laughing and slapping each other. The man looked at me, but I kept my face blank.

“They’re right, you know. Did you say you had worked with them for three years? And they’re casting you off like this?” He looked at me for confirmation, but I still didn’t respond.

This man was not getting the satisfaction of getting a response from me.

I’d live in stubborn silence before I let him get his kicks out of toying with me.

“You don’t even know what I’m planning. I could have a murder scene set up back home, with Rachel here in the starring role.

” Nice. Letting me know, he heard Mrs Geller give my name.

Nice one.

“If you wanted her dead, you could have run us off the road and have done with it,” James said with a scoff, his bravado coming in the form of my earlier words.

“Tell yourself what you want, mate. So long as you keep your job, and the rich get richer, fuck what poor little peasant bitch must die, right?”

I knew what he was doing. He wanted me uneasy and nervous. It wasn’t going to happen.

“I’m not planning on murdering you, by the way,” he grinned down at me, as though he was doing me a favour offering me reassurance. I deepened my scowl and turned my head away with a sigh, showing him I was bored with the conversation.

“Right, I’m beginning to get impatient now.”

My little act of defiance must have pissed him off, because before any of us could register what was happening, he grabbed hold of James in one swift movement and pulled a knife from the back of his jeans.

“Are you coming with us willingly, or after we’ve killed your little loyal family here?

And the boy you so carefully tried to hide from me is included in that threat, Rachel. It makes no difference to me.”

“If you don’t care about our jobs, then think of Joseph for fuck’s sake, Rachel!” Elizabeth wailed as James struggled to get free. The man didn’t move a muscle, keeping James held as easily as he would a puppy.

“I was already out of the fucking car!” I hissed at Mrs Geller, making her head jerk back in shock as I swore at her for the very first time.

“It was your idiot husband trying to play the hero that got him in this mess. I was ready to leave. Let him go,” I said, raising my voice to the man. “I’ll come with you.”

“Was that so hard?” He dropped James like a sack of potatoes and came towards me, grabbing hold of my arm with far more force than was necessary. He pulled me with him, taking long, quick strides towards his bike.

“Where should we send her things?” James asked as Elizabeth climbed back in the car to calm down a hysterical Joseph.

Poor kid.

His life was about to get a whole lot worse.

I couldn’t help but let out a scoff as James quickly adapted to the situation. So much for “she’s not going anywhere.”

“Macbeth,” the man barked. “Give them the details. We’re out of here.” He threw me onto his bike. Not that he needed to have bothered. I’d have climbed on, regardless.

I realise others in my situation might have attempted to put up a fight, but I wasn’t fucking stupid. Twenty-plus angry bikers verse me. It was a death sentence to even try. Escape would have to come later.

“Here.” He thrust a helmet at me before he rammed it over my head, taking time to make sure it was safely secured in place.

I looked down at my arm, noticing that it was red with his fingerprints. “Safety first, eh?” I muttered sarcastically, but he just hit the helmet, knocking my head against the inside.

He took time to make sure I was on the bike properly before he climbed on in front of me and twisted the key. Just as I thought we were about to head off, he paused, looking back at me.

“Hey, Rachel? I’m Dante. Welcome to the rest of your life.”

“Can’t wait,” I muttered, and then vowed to myself that those would be some of the last words I ever uttered to Dante.

Fuck him and his games. He’ll soon grow bored with a mute.

I didn’t bother looking at the Gellers as we passed them. The roar of Dante’s engine drowned out anything they were saying, anyway.

Instead, I silently wished them away to hell and paid attention to my surroundings.

The trees swayed in the breeze, waving their goodbyes. But I’d see them again. I wasn’t done with them just yet, and I had more twists up my sleeve.

But for now, I knew I was beat. It is what it is, and if I had any hope of getting out of this fucked up situation, I first had to know exactly where I was, and where the fuck he was taking me.