Chapter 14
“Are you sure you got the right address?” Nell asked from the backseat. “This Lotus place might not be open yet, but it looks fancy. Way too fancy to be hiring random people.”
Harper flicked on the high beams. They had just left the boundaries of St. Louis, and now she was staring down miles of dark winter roads.
“It isn’t random. Apparently, we come highly recommended.”
“And who is doing the recommending?” Patricia mumbled.
She’d barely spoken since they left the apartment. She’d had questions, as had Nell, but since Harper didn’t have any answers, they ended quickly.
Going by how Patricia was staring out of the window, brows knitted and fingers tapping against her thigh, she regretted getting in the car at all.
She looked Harper’s way. “You really believe Maya on this?”
Harper didn’t know what to believe. This job offer was obviously too good to be true, and if anyone other than Maya had made it, she would have seen it as bait of some kind.
Maybe it was still that. But bait for what? And why most of all? If Maya was trying to lure them into a trap, there were dozens of simpler, more efficient ways to accomplish it. If Maya had bad intentions, she could have followed through on them without this ruse.
And the fear in her eyes hadn’t been acted.
“I do believe her. But if I’m wrong, we’ll leave. If this Lotus place feels sketchy, we can just drive away.”
Patricia nodded, more in acknowledgement than agreement. She looked back out at the road, fingers strumming against her thigh again.
Harper couldn’t exactly blame her for being wary.
Patricia had been screwed over more than all of them combined, even though it was easy to forget.
Caring about Patricia was second nature, but caring for her was a different matter.
Only one person had been allowed to do so, and he died over a year ago.
“Oh my God. Look.” Nell leaned between the front seats, holding up her phone. Harper gave it a quick glance. And then had to repeat it when her jaw dropped.
A picture of a woman lit up the screen. Slender and elegant, with features as sharp as they were flawless.
Her dark hair was thick and curly, and her skin was such a rich shade of golden-brown that it appeared radiant.
She was dressed in a formfitting black gown and stylish sunglasses, giving a soft smile to the person behind the camera.
She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful being Harper had ever seen.
“Who the hell is that?” Harper said, forcing her attention back on the road.
“That Natalya woman you mentioned. From what I can find online, she’s been involved with the Chains place for years.”
Nell stiffened. She lowered the phone as she leaned back in her seat.
“Her last name is Atkins.”
Harper swallowed, keeping her eyes locked on the road. In her periphery, Patricia took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.
It wasn’t like Atkins was an uncommon name. The influx of memories that accompanied its mention had no business being there, especially not when Harper’s focus should be elsewhere.
Something was wrong. She could feel it in her gut, and she’d learned to trust that over the years.
It had steered her away from bad situations before, including ‘well-meaning’ strangers trying to get a strung out eighteen-year-old into their car by promising food, money, or whatever else they thought would be tempting.
The only reason she’d believed it when Patricia offered something similar was because that feeling wasn’t there.
But it wasn’t directed at Maya. Though she’d clearly been hiding something, she seemed even more frustrated about that than Harper.
Whatever was wrong here might have Maya at the heart of it, but she wasn’t the source. Instead, it was tied to some intangible other hiding just out of sight.
Headlights appeared in the rearview mirror. By their rapid approach, the driver was in a hurry, and Harper eased towards the bank to allow for easier overtaking.
But instead of driving past, the car fell in behind them. Then the darkness gave way to the flashing glow of red and blue lights.
Nell looked over her shoulder. “Where did they come from? And why? You weren’t even speeding.”
She started fiddling with her seatbelt. Harper almost reacted the same way. Almost pressed down on the accelerator, as though her beat-up sedan could ever outrun a police car.
There was probably a justified reason for them being pulled over. Broken taillight, or an oil leak, or something else innocuous. But despite that, a knot still formed in her stomach.
“It might just be a routine stop.” Patricia put her hand on Nell’s knee. “We didn’t do anything wrong. We’ll be off in no time.”
They’d all had run-ins with cops, rarely to their benefit, but Nell had the most experience.
Back in Shreveport, it had taken months to get a restraining order on that dickhead ex of hers, with her being berated basically every time she went to the station.
The second they heard what she did for a living, most of the officers stopped taking her seriously.
More evidence of Harper being unable to make good decisions. Kieran being a cop should have been red flag number one.
The police siren let off a single hoot. Nell flinched, and Patricia looked over at Harper, brows furrowing.
Taking a deep breath, Harper pulled over. The cop car followed, stopping a few feet away from her back bumper, and a uniformed man and woman stepped out. They eyed the trees along the roadside, with the woman muttering into her radio, while the man approached Harper’s car.
“Morning, ladies,” he said once the window had rolled down. “Quite the hour to be out for a drive.”
Harper narrowed her eyes. She’d never known a cop to make small talk for benevolent reasons.
The guy also seemed familiar, but the darkness and still-flashing police lights made it difficult to make out his features.
“We’re going on a day trip,” Harper said. “It’s a long drive, so we wanted to get an early start.”
“Day trip, huh?” The cop grinned, his teeth reflecting the red and blue lights behind him. “Where to? Must be somewhere exciting for you to be up this early.”
“I prefer not to say.”
“Do you, now?” The man took a sharp breath through his nose, as though sniffing the air. He made a gesture at the door. “Turn off the car and step outside, please.”
Nell reached for Patricia’s hand. Harper didn’t take her eyes off the cop.
“And why do I need to do that?”
“You were swerving. Driving under the influence is a crime, if you weren’t aware. I need to make sure you’re not a danger to other motorists.”
“I’m not drunk. And I wasn’t swerving either.” Harper’s tone turned biting. “We didn’t do anything wrong, and we’re needed elsewhere. Unless you want to charge me with something, I’d like to get going.”
Another set of headlights appeared behind them. Seconds later, a police cruiser rolled past, parking right in front of her car.
“You’re not being accused of anything, Ms. Montgomery.” The man didn’t even glance at the two other cops who’d gotten out of the newly arrived vehicle. “I just need to make sure that everyone’s staying safe. So please. Step out of the car.”
The new officers joined their colleague, eyeing the tree line and resting their hands on their gun holsters.
They were tense. Nervous, even. And as worrying as that was in isolation, the short distance between the front of her sedan and the police cruiser resulted in another, far more insidious realization.
They were boxed in.
“How do you know my name?” Harper said, voice hesitant. “I didn’t give you my license.”
The man’s lip twitched, making his toothy smile look like a snarl. Then he raised his hand and made a circling motion with his finger.
Nell gasped, and Patricia’s hand closed around Harper’s wrist. Frowning, she looked to the side, and then her stomach plummeted into the car seat.
The female cop was standing by the passenger-side window, gun pointed right at them.
For a moment, the only noise was the puttering of the car engine. Everyone had frozen, with Patricia leaning to the side, covering Nell and Harper as best she could, as they all stared at the raised firearm.
“This doesn’t have to get ugly.” The man reached in through the window and turned the ignition, killing the engine. “If you just do what you’re told and get out of the car, everything will be fine. No one needs to get hurt.”
Patricia gripped her wrist tighter. “Harper, don’t move.”
She had zero intention of doing so. What she wanted was to turn the car back on and drive off, but the proximity to the police cars meant any getaway wouldn’t be quick. At least not quick enough to outrun gunfire.
The cop let out a low groan. “He did mention you’d be a fucking problem.”
The man opened the car door and, using an almost practiced movement, he grabbed Harper by the hair and undid her seatbelt.
“Let go of me!” She kicked at his legs, but the hits didn’t even make him stop grinning.
“Kieran wasn’t lying,” he said, yanking her outside. “You are feisty.”
Realization stunned her for a moment. She had seen this guy before, though his face had been obscured by either distance or blood.
He had a habit of leering, and the first time Harper met him, Kieran had broken his nose after he’d been looking at Harper a few seconds longer than he found acceptable.
Booker. Whether that was his first or last name didn’t matter. She wasn’t planning on calling him that.
“Let go, you piece of shit!” She kicked at his legs again. He just laughed.
“Kitten’s got claws. How cute.” He dragged her towards the police car. Behind her, Patricia yelled her name.
A cowardly part of her wished Patricia would come to her rescue. But that desire was immediately drowned out by a far greater hope that she and Nell would at least be left alone. If they just didn’t struggle, they might be allowed to leave.
Booker’s eerie smile made that hope hard to cling to.