Chapter Five
Janea
I didn’t even know why I told him the truth. Maybe it was a moment of weakness, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now. It was too late to take it back.
As I sat twisting my hands in my lap in disbelief, tear after tear dropped from my eyes. He just gazed at me with confusion. Knowing my name meant he also knew my father, and he was wondering why the Lt. Governor of California would want his daughter dead.
But I wasn’t confused. It was the only thing that made any sense to me.
He realized probably with some persuasion from Shannon that I heard his plan.
I didn’t want to believe it, but the only person who would want me dead other than the man standing in front of me was the one who raised me as his daughter since I was two years old.
This can’t be real. He treated me like his own, now he’s treating me like I’m no one.
I wiped tears from my cheeks. My heart hammered against my ribs, each beat pounding harder and faster as my fear increased.
Drenched in sweat, my breaths became more labored as the walls surrounding me started closing in.
Panic seized my body, the queasy feeling in my stomach intensified, and the sour taste of vomit filled my mouth.
I leaned forward, gasping for air I couldn’t reach.
My head swam, and my chest burned as I put my head between my knees.
“Breathe.”
His deep, raspy voice wrapped around me like a warm embrace, its gentle cadence breaking through some of the fog as I struggled to get my breathing under control.
“I… can’t…” I said, struggling to get the words out of my mouth. “I…”
“Janea, look at me.”
Even though it sounded more like a command, his words carried a subtle melody that stripped away some of the fog of panic suffocating me. It had been a very long time since I had a panic attack, and the only person who could talk me through them was the person who caused it.
His warm palm landed on my back and heat raced through my entire body. I gazed into soft, kind eyes. The way he looked at me now was totally different from what I faced with him earlier.
“You need to breathe, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart.
Each breath felt like it took massive effort. My lungs burned like a thousand needles puncturing the soft tender flesh, but I nodded while I struggled to pull air in.
“That’s it,” he said, rubbing my back in soothing circles. “Breathe in and out.”
His gentle words were such a contradiction because how could the man who was obviously doing something in the park he shouldn’t have been doing and kidnapped me, be so comforting to me.
After a few more moments of breathing in and out, and the gentle touch of my captor, the tightness in my chest loosened enough to where I wasn’t gasping for air and where my lungs didn’t burn. When I could breathe, he stepped away from me. I shouldn’t have been grateful for his help, but I was.
“Thank you.”
“You get panic attacks often?” he asked when he leaned against the table, folded his arms over his chest, and crossed his legs at the ankles like he didn’t have a care in the world.
Even though he was breathtakingly handsome, the sickening reality was that he was an asshole and was holding me against my will.
It didn’t matter that his dark brown hair, cut low on the sides, and long at the top, looked so silky to the touch and I wanted to run my fingers through it to prove it.
Or that his full beard of the same color added to his dangerous aura and made him even more attractive to me than he should be.
Despite the red flags waving all around me, a strange attraction pulled my gaze toward him that had my mind conjuring up all kinds of nasty things.
That’s a problem.
“What’s your name?” He just looked at me with a smirk but didn’t answer. “It’s not fair that you know my name, and I don’t know yours.”
He chuckled. “Life ain’t fair, sweetheart.”
Every time he called me sweetheart something fluttered inside my stomach, and I absolutely detested it. I should feel nothing other than pure hate for this man. He kidnapped me and wouldn’t let me go.
“Could you stop calling me, sweetheart?” I looked at him with disgust I didn’t even feel toward him. “I don’t know you, and you don’t know me.”
A devastating smile crossed his face like he wasn’t buying the reaction I tried to sell him.
He wasn’t handsome in the conventional way, but he was gorgeous.
He had a full beard, filled out his white t-shirt, and blue jeans to perfection.
He wasn’t a man who spent his time in a suit sitting inside a corporate office.
He wasn’t anywhere close to the men I’d been attracted to, but I found him extremely good looking.
Heat crawled up my neck. The way he looked at me as we stared at one another had my heart racing when I should curse his ass out for keeping me here.
“Well, if you’re not going to tell me your name, can you at least tell me when you’re going to let me go?” I asked when he didn’t answer my question. “I have no idea what you were doing out there, and as you already saw I didn’t take any damn pictures of you.”
He shrugged and then pulled a pack of cigarettes from inside of his leather vest. While he lit it, I focused on the vest. He wasn’t wearing it earlier.
But now that he had it on, I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing for me.
Even though he hadn’t told me his name, he wasn’t hiding who he was from me.
This leather vest was very detailed, and the police could identify who he was by it.
A patch sat over his heart which read president and under it was a black diamond outlined in white, with a white number one with the percent sign and the letters e and r.
“I haven’t decided yet.” He took a long drag from the cigarette, then blew out the smoke. “I want to know why you believe the Lt. Governor would want you dead?” he asked. “You’re his daughter.”
The question sent another pang to my heart. I can’t even believe someone was even asking me that question.
“I have no idea,” I said, although my voice cracked with the emotion I tried to suppress.
Until Shannon came into the picture, everyone considered me a daddy’s girl.
How could that have changed so quickly? It wasn’t like I didn’t see changes in him, and I didn’t think I could even blame that change on Shannon.
But even though our relationship wasn’t the same as it was when my mother was alive, I would have never believed he would have gone this far even if I had overheard what he planned.
The man just stared at me for a moment before putting his cigarette out on the table.
He then tossed the butt on the dirty, cracked tiled floor.
Slowly, he rose off the table then stalked toward me.
I did everything I could to keep from showing him that he scared the shit out of me.
Fear wouldn’t save me. He seemed like the type of person who preyed on the weak.
And no matter how frightened I might have been, I wasn’t weak.
When he stood in front of me, he grasped my chin, his touch surprisingly gentle despite the strength in his grip. The rough texture of his calloused fingers sent an amazing shiver down my spine as they grazed my skin.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“I don’t like liars.”
I swallowed my nerves or whatever the hell he caused to stir inside me then jerked my face away from his touch. Too many of the wrong feelings churned inside me.
“Who says, I’m lying?” I scowled at him. “You don’t know shit about me.”
He licked his lips, and I followed the motion. He tilted his head and arched his brow before that devastating smile crossed his face again like he knew what he was doing to me.
“Let me tell you what I know, Janea. Pretty name by way. What I know is that your parents loved you very much. But something changed after your mother died.”
I shook my head even though he was telling the truth. My mother was the glue that held our family together. Her death took a toll on all of us, but I wasn’t going talk to him about my family issues. Fuck him.
“Yeah, Janea. Something changed, even though you don’t want to admit it to me.” He rubbed his beard like he was deep in thought. “I saw some of your family photos. Nice family, or I should say it used to be.”
“Now that you know who I am, what are you going to do?” I asked. “You can’t hurt me. That’ll cause you a shit ton of problems.”
It was stupid to challenge him, but I didn’t think he’d go along with whatever he had planned for me now. How could he get away with hurting the daughter of a high-powered politician without bringing heat down on himself?
It’s not possible. Or at least I hope it’s not.
Before he answered my question, his arm snapped around my waist, pulling me down to the ground.
My body collided against the hard floor, with him landing on top of me.
The crack of gunfire silenced our conversation as a bullet ripped through the grimy, partially broken warehouse window, spraying shards of glass across the concrete floor.
A second shot pierced through the air, hitting the chair I’d just been sitting in moments ago.
Shock raced through my entire system. My heart pounded against my ribs, and the deafening hammering of my pulse filled my ears. If he hadn’t pulled me to the ground, I’d be dead.
His body shielded mine, pressing us against the dirty tiled floor of the old office.
“We’re gonna have to move, sweetheart,” he murmured, his voice edged with anger. “I need for you to stay low.”
He slid off me but slightly shielded my body.
“Move!” I screamed. “Are you crazy!”
He must’ve lost his damned mind if he thought we could make it out of here if we moved.
He didn’t respond, but another shot rang out, ricocheting off the rusted metal desk again. He reached behind his waist, pulling out a gun from his waistband. He pressed his hand against my back as we continued to duck, trying to make ourselves small as possible.
“On my mark, we move,” he whispered again. “Fast and low, Janea. Don’t stop until I tell you to, okay?”
Fuck! We’re really doing this.
“Okay.”
We slowly rose off the floor and ducked down behind the desk.
I didn’t question why he was trying to get me out of here. He could let whoever this was just kill me. However, all I knew was that I wanted to make it out of this alive. And if it meant following the man who kidnapped me, that was what I needed to do.
Suddenly, just as quickly as the bullets started flying, they stopped. It was so silent our labored breaths were all we could hear.
“Now!” he shouted. I took off running, and I didn’t stop. I had no idea where to go, but I kept running as gunshots rang out around us again.
“Get down to the warehouse!” he shouted into his phone after a few moments. “There’s a sniper. Bring no more than six of you. It won’t be long before the cops show up. Fuck, I don’t know, Knox! Just get here. Let someone know a woman will be heading that way. She’s under my protection.”
He ended the phone call, then pushed his phone into the back pocket of his blue jeans.
I followed him until we reached some old machinery and crouched down behind it.
Bullets pinged off the metal, the sharp sounds echoing through the abandoned building.
Each shot sent a jolt through me, and my head snapped down out of reflex, the sound echoing loudly in my ears.
I didn’t know if the bullets were anywhere near me, but I couldn’t help but move each time they dinged off the metal machinery around us.
I wanted to scream, but that wouldn’t do any good. Someone was trying to kill us.
“See the door?” he asked, pointing over his shoulder to the small door only a few feet away from us.
“Yeah.”
He grabbed my shoulders and looked me in my eyes. The intensity and determination in them made believe that he wouldn’t let me die.
“You’re gonna make a run for it, and I’ll cover you. No matter what happens, do not stop running until you get to the SUV. I want you to go to 1123 Golden Gate Way. Tell them Prez sent you. Do you understand?”
“I’m not leaving you here!” I shouted. “Are you crazy! They’ll kill you!”
He smirked. “Are you worried about me, sweetheart?”
I rolled my eyes, though a nervous flutter in my stomach betrayed my nonchalant expression. “Of course not. I wouldn’t want anyone to die, including you.”
“I’m not going to die, Janea. I promise. Just do what I say, and we’ll both make it out of this.”
I frantically nodded my head. “Please tell me your name?”
He was risking his life to save mine. I at least needed to put a name to the face.
He brushed his fingertips against my cheek. “Nikolaus but most people call me Eros.”
“After the Greek God of Love and Desire?” I asked in disbelief.
He chuckled. “Yes, but now’s not the time, sweetheart. On my count, run and don’t look back. No matter what happens. You got it?”
“Yeah, I got it. Be careful, Eros.”
He winked. “One, two, run!”
Without hesitating, I raced toward the door as a barrage of bullets sounded behind me. Bullets whizzed by me as I ran as fast and hard as I could. I heard Eros curse behind me, but I didn’t look back just like he told me. No matter what I heard, no matter what happened, just keep running.
I ran until I reached the outside, the gravel crunched under my feet. I didn’t have a chance to take a breath because I had to get to the SUV. With my feet sliding on the loose gravel, I managed to reach his SUV. I jumped inside and slammed the door. Thank God, the keys were in the ignition.
When I tried to start it the first time, it just sputtered. “Come on!” I shouted as I tried again. “Come on!”
When it fired up, I couldn’t help but scream in excitement before speeding away.