Chapter 9
Pipe had no idea what had gone down in the kitchen while he’d been bringing his friends up to speed, therefore he couldn’t decide if it was good or bad.
He hadn’t liked how emotional Cora looked, especially when she’d spoken with Robert, but the other women looked fairly relaxed.
Seemed as if they were glad to have met Cora.
He could’ve told her that would happen. Had told her, in fact.
But with her history, he wasn’t surprised she needed to see for herself that the other women wouldn’t turn their backs on a stranger.
Admittedly, he’d been a little worried at first, because Alaska had spoken to Cora, then seemed to leave her standing in the middle of the room alone while she went and sat with Henley and Reese, but after Ryan brought Cora into the kitchen, they’d followed soon after.
He’d wanted to go check on her, to make sure all was well, but he’d needed to convince his friends to help.
They’d gone into the conference room, and it hadn’t taken Pipe long to realize Cora needed to share the details herself.
His friends would be able to hear and see her concern for Lara.
He hadn’t been able to deny Cora his assistance, and Pipe knew without a doubt that the others wouldn’t be able to either, once they heard her side of the story.
Pipe and his friends weren’t mercenaries.
They hadn’t started The Refuge as a cover for continuing to do what they’d done while in the military.
But it couldn’t be denied they had certain skills.
They’d used them when they were searching for Jasna, and when they’d raced after Reese.
Hell, Owl and Stone had climbed into a helicopter—something they hadn’t done in years—to prevent Reese from being taken across the border.
And to be honest, using his skills to rescue an innocent woman from an abusive situation was something he found he was itching to do.
It had an appeal he hadn’t expected. If he could use what he’d learned from years of hunting down and killing bad guys, to help a civilian, it made what he’d done in the service feel… more worth it.
Pipe followed Cora into the conference room and gestured to a chair. She sat, and Pipe took the seat next to her.
Brick cleared his throat. “It’s good to meet you, Cora, although I wish it wasn’t under these circumstances.”
She nodded. “Same. Before we start, can I just say that I’m very impressed by what you’ve all done here.
The world needs more places like The Refuge.
Places where people can go and not worry that they’ll be looked down on if they have flashbacks.
Where they can be around others who can relate to what they’ve gone through. ”
“Thanks. And I agree. So…you think your friend Lara is being held against her will?” Brick asked, not beating around the bush.
Pipe mentally winced. The way his friend had phrased his question made it clear that Cora had an uphill battle to get the others to believe her.
Instead of intimidating her, though, Brick’s question seemed to make her even more determined to convince them. She sat up straighter and once again her shoulders tensed.
“I don’t think. I know she is,” Cora said. “Look, I get it. Lara’s an adult. She’s allowed to move across the country with whoever she wants. And if I truly believed she was safe and happy, I wouldn’t say a word. But she’s not. I know that without a doubt.”
“How?” Tiny asked.
To Pipe’s surprise, instead of directly answering the question, Cora began to tell a story.
“When I was seventeen, I was kicked out of yet another foster home. It wasn’t because of anything I did.
There was a twenty-eight-year-old son who needed to move back home because he was fired from his job and wanted his old room back.
The couple who fostered me didn’t think twice.
One day I was there, and the next I was back at social services with my stuff in a tattered old suitcase.
I was embarrassed and frustrated. I didn’t tell anyone at school about my situation, but Lara could tell something was wrong.
“She eventually got me to admit that once again, I didn’t have a place to live.
And since I was about to age out of the system, the situation was even worse.
It wasn’t as if anyone was lining up to take me in for five months.
I was ready to quit school. I’d lost all respect for adults in general.
I wasn’t a very happy person, held a lot of resentment and bitterness inside.
But Lara talked to her parents, and they agreed to let me stay at their house until I graduated from high school.
“She saved my life. I’m fully convinced of that. And it wasn’t the last time either. Every time I’ve been down on my luck, needed a place to stay, needed a friend, she was there without hesitation.”
“She sounds like a great friend…but that’s not what we’re questioning here,” Spike said gently.
Cora took a deep breath. “Sorry, I know. I’m just trying to illustrate how close we are.
Lara and I share everything. Everything.
I know when she’s sad, when she’s happy, when she’s pissed off—which isn’t often.
I know what that woman has for dinner every night.
She’s also unbelievably dependable and conscientious.
There is zero possibility that she decided to move to Arizona without notifying her job weeks in advance, and without talking to me about it first. She would’ve made a list of the pros and cons, given at least a month’s notice at her job, and she probably would have asked me to move with her.
Because that’s the kind of person she is. That’s how close we are.
“We talked on the phone every day. She called me on her way to work, and then we’d text throughout the day, and usually talk when we got home in the evenings too.
We haven’t gone a day without talking practically since we’ve met.
And now it’s been weeks, and I’ve gotten just a few texts and one video chat that was basically moderated by her boyfriend.
“I woke up one day and she was just gone. Yes, we had a fight before she left, but Lara doesn’t hold grudges.
I fully expected to have a text from her when I woke up the next morning, apologizing.
She left without one word to me. Without a word to anyone.
Some people have said it’s possible she fell head over heels in love and decided on the spur of the moment to move across the country without a word to even her parents, but those people don’t know Lara like I do.
Something is terribly wrong. And every day that goes by, and I don’t talk to her, I’m more sure of it. ”
Pipe wanted to comfort Cora, but he was afraid she’d break down if he touched her. She was breathing fast and glaring at his friends so ferociously at this point, it was somewhat alarming.
No one said a word, the only sound in the room was Cora’s harsh breathing. Then she took a deep breath and cleared the emotion from her voice.
“Before she disappeared, we’d had a few conversations about Ridge.
I told her about some of my concerns. He didn’t want to meet any of her friends, didn’t seem interested in her job.
He was also possessive, and not in a good way.
She wasn’t happy with me, and said I was just jealous and bitter.
Then she disappeared. He took her away from DC, away from her friends, her family.
That’s what abusers do, right? They take away a person’s support system. Isolate them.”
“We had a friend who’s very good with computers look into Ridge Michaels,” Stone told her.
Cora nodded. “I hope he was able to find more than I did.”
“Ridge is actually his middle name, he uses it casually, for social media and apparently for his personal life. For professional purposes, he goes by his first name…Peter. He’s the CEO of a bitcoin company.
He has a sister who lives in France, who’s a successful model, and his parents are well respected in California.
He’s thirty years old, never been married, no children.
His company gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities every year, and he’s a regular attendee at political gatherings at the White House.
Well…his father donates money, and as a result, Michaels gets invited to the political shindigs. ”
Cora stared at Stone, then sat back in her chair with a disbelieving huff of breath. “How the hell did I not find that out when I did my research?” she asked under her breath.
“Apparently he keeps his professional life very separate from his personal one,” Brick told her.
“From what we were able to find, there’s nothing that says this guy is an undercover kidnapper.
He’s seemingly an upstanding businessman who’s apparently invested in starting a life with your friend.
The Michaels family has a large estate in the Phoenix area, and they employ a dozen or so people who work in the house every day.
It’s highly unlikely all those people—maids, cooks, landscapers, drivers, and bodyguards—are all in on some nefarious plan to keep Lara hostage. ”
“There’s also no reason why he would do something like that,” Tonka added. “He’s had several girlfriends over the years, and none have claimed he’s been abusive or done anything to harm them.”
Pipe kept his attention on Cora. Her bottom lip trembled for a moment, before she shook her head slowly. “I don’t believe it,” she whispered.
“Maybe Lara has found her prince charming,” Owl suggested gently. “You said yourself that she was a romantic.”
Cora let out a little growl as she stood so fast, the chair she was sitting in flew backward and hit the floor with a loud crack. “No!” she exclaimed, her hands in fists by her sides.
Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, struggling to regain her composure.