Rock Hard

Matt. Thank god, I thought, picking it up.

“Did you find her?” I answered.

“No, boss, but it looks like she left with someone. The video shows her going into the dressing room and someone followed her in and then a few minutes later, they left together.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Well, boss, I’m not sure, but I came in to look at the video myself, and I could swear it’s that guy that runs your charity. The nerdy, skinny guy?”

“Callum?” I asked.

“Yeah, that guy,” he said.

“Why would she go anywhere with Callum?” I wondered out loud. “Where did they go? Does the video show that?”

“Looks like she got in his car with him and they drove away. Headed South away from the venue. That’s all we’ve got.”

“Thanks,” I replied, hanging up the phone.

“What?” Ian asked.

“She left with Callum. Why the bloody hell would she go anywhere with him?”

“That’s fuckin’ odd,” Ian replied.

“Yeah, it is,” I replied. “Hey, did Catherine say anything to you about the charity?”

“No, why?”

“There was a message on her phone from her agent. Something about the donation numbers from our charity not matching. I don’t know, it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Let’s call Callum,” Ian said, pulling out his phone, just as mine rang in my hand. I looked down at the display.

“Wait!” I said, putting a hand on Ian’s arm. “Callum’s calling me now.”

“Callum?” I answered.

“Hello, Liam,” Callum said.

“Callum, have you seen Catherine?” I asked.

“Yes, she’s with me.”

“Why? Where are you?”

“We’re at your house. Waiting for you.”

“What the fuck? Why are you at my house?” His voice sounded robotic, far away, and it made me nervous.

“I’ll tell you when you get here,” he said, and then the line went dead.

My blood ran cold.

“Something’s wrong. Something’s terribly wrong,” I said, racing away as fast as I could.

“Liam wait!” Ian called from behind. “Goddammit, Liam!”

Chapter 39

CATHERINE

I fought against my restraints as I listened to Callum talk to Liam on the phone. Of all the shit I hadn’t expected to happen this week, this topped the list. I held out hope that Liam would be able to talk some sense into Callum when he got here, because there was no escaping these binds.

Callum paced around like a nervous rabbit, biting his nails, his eyes darting around the room as he muttered to himself. Yeah, I thought, as soon as Liam gets here, this will be all over. Liam might have been lanky, but he was tall and strong.

The only problem was that gun in Callum’s hand. And the insanity that was obviously wrestling around inside his head. A crazy with a gun could do a lot of harm, to anyone. Strength didn’t matter.

What mattered was luck.

And with any luck, we’d get out of this bullshit with nobody getting hurt. Callum seemed to have another idea, I thought, as I watched him begin to pull out all the knives from the kitchen drawers and lay them out on the counter. Then, with horror, I watched him put not just the gun he was holding, but pull out two more handguns from inside his jacket, and lay them next to the knives.

He looked over at me watching him, and he shook his head.

“You can’t understand. You think I’m a monster, but it’s not me. It’s him. He’s the monster,” he said, his voice rising. “Ally suffered. Night after night, crying herself to sleep. I tried to comfort. I tried to give her the love he’d deprived her of. She was never the same. He ruined her.”

He picked up one of the biggest knives and walked over to me. My eyes widened in fear as he brought the tip of the knife up to my chin, trailing it slowly up my cheek, stopping right under my eye. Slowly, he twisted it, poking into my flesh. I whimpered, pulling away before he could break the skin, as he laughed.

“I’ve been waiting for this day for years,” he said, spinning away from me.

“At first, I thought I’d only be able to take his money,” he said, “but then you came along!” He turned back to me, sliding the blade of the knife between his fingers, his eyes wild and frantic. “It’s so much better this way! He can always make more money. But after this, he’ll never fall in love again.”

My stomach sank with the realization that this was all my fault. If I wasn’t here, if I hadn’t slept with Liam, gotten close to him, none of this would be happening. If I hadn’t poked around trying to find something good to include in the story, none of this would be happening. If I hadn’t opened my mouth and told Callum what I’d discovered, then I wouldn’t be here tied up in this chair waiting for the man that I loved to come and save me.

Loved.

I loved Liam. There was no denying it.

If we got out of here alive, I intended to tell him just that. He’d made something come alive in me that hadn’t been there before. He made me feel alive just being in his presence.

It was magical.

And I’d gone and fucked it all up.

I looked at the door and then looked at Callum, pacing across the kitchen floor like a fighter waiting for the bell to ring, his weapons laid out at his fingertips, a hatred that had been brewing in him for years on the verge of exploding, and I couldn’t help but wonder.

After the lightening strike, what would be left?

Chapter 40

LIAM

The Jag couldn’t move fast enough. I sped through traffic, weaving around every car in my path, ran red lights and blew through stop signs, my head spinning.

I still couldn’t figure it out, I had no idea what could be happening, but something deep in the pit of my stomach told me it wasn’t good. Fear gripped me in a way I hadn’t felt since Lennon was in his last days.

I hoped like hell it was something simple, a misunderstanding, miscommunication, something like that. But there was something about the tone in Callum’s voice, his ominous words, the way he hung up on me, that told me it wasn’t just a simple misunderstanding.

With all my erratic dr

iving, it still took me almost half an hour to get through traffic and arrive at my house. My heart raced as I climbed up the winding driveway. I grabbed my phone and continued to ignore Ian’s calls. It was still ringing - it was the third time he’d called. I hadn’t answered while I was driving but I didn’t take the time to answer now either.

The front door was wide open, and I walked in slowly.

“Catherine?” I called. The living room was empty. I walked down the hallway toward the kitchen, and just before I rounded the corner, Callum appeared in front of me.

“Hey, mate, what’s going on?” I asked, peering into his eyes. Something was definitely off about him. There was a darkness in his eyes, and as he ran his hand through his hair, I saw his trembling fingers. “Are you okay, Callum?”

He narrowed his eyes, and I looked down at his other hand just as he pressed the gun into my stomach.

“Callum, what the fuck?” I froze.

“Put your fucking hands up, Liam!” I raised my hands over my head.

“Callum, where’s Catherine? What the bloody hell are you doing?”

First, I was shocked, but that quickly turned to being pissed. I looked over his shoulder, but she wasn’t in sight.

“Catherine!” I called out, and Callum dug the gun in deeper. I looked down at his little weasly face and knew it was going to feel amazing to slam my fist into it. As soon as I made sure Catherine was safe, I was going to do just that. Seriously, who did this wanker think he was? “Catherine!” I yelled again.

“Where is she?” I asked him again.

“That’s all you care about, Liam? Don’t you want to know why I’m so upset?”

“Listen here, you little worm! Tell me where she is right now!”

“You don’t care about anyone but yourself, Liam.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Callum. I care about lots of people, I just don’t care about you, you fuckin’ twat! Now where’s Catherine?” I pushed past him, taking a chance that he wouldn’t shoot. I was right.