Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Ada
I need Alberto to come back quickly.
The Met Gala is in full swing. It should be more than enough to keep me completely occupied, but I don’t see a single friendly face around me. The vast halls of the Metropolitan Museum are wonderfully decorated and filled with more art than I can properly appreciate at this moment. Being surrounded by luminaries of the fashion and art world, and celebrities everywhere, is somewhat overwhelming if I’m being perfectly honest. The air is buzzing with chatter, and I am standing in the center of it all. I know that I cut a pretty picture, because I’m forcing myself to. The fabric of my dress seems to shimmer like liquid silver under the lights. I try to move as gracefully as possible, but a persistent feeling of unease gnaws at me.
It would be easier with Alberto behind me. I don’t know why one of the event organizers needed him of all people for their little emergency, but they put him in a position that he couldn’t refuse. All he told me was that, in order for me to attend the exclusive after party arrangements, this issue needed to be handled now before everything got fully underway. All things that just go right over my head. Alberto, ever dutiful, had of course insisted on handling it personally.
Have I really become so dependent on him that I can’t be alone for a few minutes on my own? Surely I haven’t sank quite that far. Have I? Anna Wintour, who always organizes the event, always insists on a super strict no phone policy, so I can’t even check up on him or get an estimated time he’ll be back.
Breathe, Ada.
I inhale slowly through my nose, trying to keep myself as steady as possible. I try to reset and refocus. It’s just a few hours and then I can go back and hide away in my apartment as long as I want to, in order to recharge myself.
When I open my eyes, I find I’m no longer alone. The security guard from earlier is standing in front of me with a flat expression.
He’s likely not supposed to be here, but I’m kind of glad that he is.
We had a moment on the stairs and that’s not something that happens to me very often. Even less with men that are actually as damned attractive as the man in front of me is..
“Hello again,” I greet him with a smile.
When the man doesn’t return the expression, only then do I start to feel my anxiety building. Up close like this, I can see green in his eyes that I hadn’t noticed before. It’s a wonder that more eyes aren’t on us right now. He’s a tall man, dark hair cut close to his head and neatly trimmed and styled. When we were on the stairs, he didn’t have the same level of intensity in his eyes.
It’s intimidating.
“I apologize for interrupting, Miss Dominio, but there’s a situation that requires your immediate attention,” he says, his tone professional but urgent.
I have to presume that this has something to do with the issue that stopped Alberto at the door. I can’t imagine for the life of me what could have happened. I wish I had my phone to call my manager and ask her to sort all of this out for me.
“Situation?” I say with the same bright smile that I’ve been wearing all night. “What kind of situation?” I ask, my heart beating faster.
The man isn’t helping. He glances around to those around us before answering. He cups my elbow gently and starts to lead me away from the main floor that we stand on.
Clearly, whatever he’s about to say isn't something that should be overheard by others. Should I be grateful that he’s helping me avoid a scandal or should I be worried that this stranger is pulling me away from witnesses? The training that Cristiano forced into my mind since I was a child is telling me that I should never go to a different location with anybody that I don’t know. Least of all now, when it’s been awhile since Cristiano updated me on just my kidnapping insurance policy is.
When we near the edge of the throng of people, he starts to speak again. “I’m afraid it’s quite serious, Miss Dominio. But do not worry, Mr. Sampietro has asked me to come and fetch you to bring you to him. I just need you to come with me.”
That makes me feel a tiny bit better at least.
I still don’t like it, but if that is what Alberto has ordered, why wouldn’t I go. Even still, my mind can’t seem to stop racing with all of the various worst-case scenarios. The grip on my elbow is firm but not painful, and the man seems to be intently listening to something on the in-ear piece that he is likely using to communicate with the rest of the staff.
When we are out of the main room, his speed starts to increase. My heels almost catch on my dress from how quickly I have to move to keep up with him. He’s leading me toward a side exit. Was the safety of the place compromised? It’s not the first time that Alberto has had me pulled from an event, usually at Cristiano’s request.
But the minute he pulls me out into a dimly lit corridor and Alberto isn’t waiting for me all of the warning bells in my head started to warn me. A little too late.
This can’t be right. I just need to wait for Alberto. I try to pull my arm free, but the man’s grip on me tightens.
“What are you doing? Let me go.” I command.
The man turns to face me and I see the hard, predatory gleam in his eyes as he smirks at me. Fuck. What have I gotten myself into? He isn’t a security guard, this is something far more sinister a I’ve walked right into it.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Miss Dominio,” he says, his voice unyielding.
Icy cold panic surges through me as I struggle against his hold. I try to pry his fingers from my arms but I know that his punishing grip is going to leave bruises.
Before I even have a chance to scream, the man clamps a large hand over the lower half of my face and swiftly pulls me into a waiting service elevator as if I weigh nothing at all. He whips out a clearance badge and the doors close, sealing my fate.
I swear it feels like the elevator is moving more quickly than anything that I’ve been on before. Panic is making my vision blur and my heart feel like it’s hammering in my throat. I have to fight. I know what to do. I’ve trained for this, but I never thought that I would be this terrified.
My body won’t move. I feel like somebody has wrapped me in an icy cold blanket that’s threatening to suffocate me. I can barely inhale for how shallow my breaths are coming. My training with Alberto didn’t cover this.
I finally convince my mouth to open as the elevator doors ding. I summon just enough breath to scream but he clamps his hand over my mouth. Hot tears slide down my cheeks while he hauls me out of the elevator into a floor on the parking garage. It looks abandoned apart from the single black SUV with an idling engine.
I can’t let him get me in that car.
Every alarm bell starts resounding as a dry sob leaves my chest. My body crumbles. My legs wholly give out as I deadweight in his arms. His grip falters. Just for a moment. It’s the opening that I need, if only my limbs weren’t failing me. I hit the floor and attempt to crawl away from him but it’s like I’m moving in slow motion.
I’m only free for half a second before the man hauls me up again, his arm around my waist as I attempt to claw and scramble away from him. “No, please,” I pant, ashamed at how small my voice sounds. “Please don’t do this, please.”
The closer he brings me to the car, the more my strength seems to return. My legs flail, my chest heaves as tears start to flow more freely. I know that if I let him put me in that car, it’s all over for me. Alberto won’t have the time to come and find me. Nobody will be able to rescue me and then only God knows what’s going to happen to me.
The man yanks the car door open and throws me inside, seemingly effortlessly.
“Why are you doing this?!” I finally scream, my voice breaking. “Who are you?”
All my efforts and lame attempts at struggling only seem to amuse him. I’ve never felt so weak in my whole life.
“Name’s Kieran, Kieran Doyle,” he mocks me, a hint of satisfaction in his voice. “And you, Ada, are coming with me. You can stop attempting to fight, it won’t do you any good. But you can scream all you want, it’s not like anyone can hear you.”
“No! Please!” I scream anyway, hoping against hope that somebody, anybody will hear me. It won’t work, but I have to try. He pulls zip ties from his pocket, and climbs into the car with me. I claw and kick to the best of my ability but he it only seems to encourage him when I actually manage to scratch his face.
Kieran laughs at me as he slams the car door behind him.
“Let me go!” I half sob, half scream, my voice trembling with fear and anger.
Kieran grabs my face, his eyes locking onto mine and for a moment, I’m stunned into silence and submission. His thumb sweeps out over the curve of my jaw and for the span of a heartbeat, I’m struck once again by how damned handsome he is. Exactly the last thing that I need to be thinking at a time like this, but the human mind is a very strange thing.
I almost don’t hear the zip tie closing around my wrists with his other hand.
In another setting, I would admire his dexterous fingers.
“This isn’t personal, Ada. It’s just business.”
“Business?” I spit, “What kind of business involves kidnapping?!”
“The kind that requires leverage, unfortunately for you.” Kieran says with a wink as he secures my other wrist.
My mind won’t stop racing. Then it hits me, it should have been obvious from the beginning. It’s for my brother. Cristiano.
“You’re making a big mistake,” I say, trying to sound braver than I feel. I need to be braver for Cristiano. “He will never forgive you for this. He will come after you with everything he has. I swear it.”
Kieran leans in closer to me, his gaze darting to my lips for only a heartbeat.
“Oh, I’m counting on it, gorgeous.”
Before another thought can come to mind, he pulls out a cloth from his pocket. With efficiency, he presses it against the lower half of my stunned face. The sickly-sweet smell of chloroform fills my nostrils. I try to fight it, but it’s no use. Everything around me begins to turn blue, hazy, and then starts to fade away into near nothingness. My limbs grow heavy.
The last thing that I see is Kieran’s cold, determined eyes looking down on me. “Sweet dreams, gorgeous.” I can hear his laugh, now a distant sound.
I have to stay strong, somehow. I have to be strong for Cristiano, for our family.
And I’m out.