In the past four weeks, Kimberly Blake had known someone was following her. She could sense it so clearly, that prickly sensation down the center of her spine, hair standing up at the back of her neck, goose bumps marching an eager path down her arms. Someone was there. When she went shopping for groceries, when she got the mail, when she dressed for bed at night. Someone was watching.
She hadn't communicated her fears to anyone, because she feared they wouldn't believe her and think that she was crazy. Hell, she was actually beginning to think that she was a little bit crazy. Because no matter how weird she felt, she never saw anything to prove that she was being followed.
But she felt it. She just knew. Somehow she did.
Who would want to harm her? She often wondered. Fine, maybe she got into a little quarrel and disagreements with people... Everyone did. She was sure it wasn't enough for someone to want to hurt her....Or was it? People could do really weird things sometimes. For really little things.
Though you couldn't be too sure. Her family was wealthy and they had a lot of family friends. Her father and his friend Christopher Keane sometimes held parties at the house. Parties Kimberly usually found boring. She knew most of people who attended just came to show off their designer clothes and brag about their latest achievements. The women regarded food as an enemy and the men were so damn arrogant for her liking... People who thought they could get anything they wanted because they had wealth. Sometimes she couldn't understand why her father hung out with such people.
She was an only child. Her mother, Clara Blake, had died when she was still a baby. So she had no memories of her. But she had seen pictures of her and most times she wondered what it would have been like growing up with her mother. It wasn't so easy when she was a teenager and wanted to talk about things she didn't feel like talking about with her father. Things she felt her mother would have understood better. And most times she envied her friends when she saw them with their moms.
Her father, Hillary Blake had loved his wife so much and he had been so broken when she died. He never remarried. So he raised Kimberly as a single father. He was filthy rich. He owned his own company. And so Kimberly never lacked anything... At least, not any material item.
Hillary loved his only daughter and only child so dearly. He would do anything for her and everyone who knew them knew that. Kimberly was the apple of her father's eyes and he would do anything to protect her.
Kimberly knew this too. She was Twenty five years old and she headed one of her father's branches. She would soon inherit her father's company and she knew Hillary would do anything to protect his lovely daughter and heir to his fortune. Which was why she didn't tell him about her recent suspicions about being followed.
She knew that if she did, he would immediately order her to do something crazy like move back into his mansion. And that was the last thing Kimberly wanted.
Kimberly loved being independent. She loved having control over her life and she hated being told what to do more than anything. That was another reason why she hadn't told her father how she had been feeling lately. She wanted her freedom and she knew she wouldn't have that if she continued to live in her father's big house. She also preferred being known as her own person. Not daughter of billionaire, Hillary Blake.
She didn't want people waking on egg shells around her and so she hardly told people who she was... Though some people did. Mostly those at work.
Kimberly loved simple things... And beautiful things too. She had an apartment not too far away from her office and not too far away from her dad too. She didn't want to be too far away from him. He was all she had and vice versa. And besides, he wouldn't even let her go too far away from him even if she wanted to. Good thing she didn't.
She loved her father dearly. Which was another reason why she didn't tell him about her worries was because she didn't want to bother him. She hated to see him worry. And she wasn't going to bother him about something she wasn't entirely sure about. She she kept it to herself.
The only person she told about it was her best friend, Phoebe Martin. Phoebe and Kimberly were childhood friends, and they had a very strong bond. They thought of themselves as sisters and told each other everything. They had sworn from childhood to protect and respect each others' confidences.
Kimberly needed one person in her life to whom she could say anything. Phoebe was that person. And Kimberly told her everything. And so Phoebe knew about the weird feelings Kimberly had been having lately.
But even if Phoebe had tried her best to convince Kimberly that she was just being paranoid, her reaction at first was to laugh long and hard. Which was another reason why Kimberly wasn't sure telling her dad was such a good idea.
"You know when I tell you stuff like this, I expect you to be a good friend and try to make me feel better" Kimberly had said to Phoebe. "I don't expect you to laugh. Quit being an asshole".
But Phoebe had laughed some more before she said. "Ohhh... Maybe it's a vampire. Stalking you... Who knows maybe you are his 'mate' and he's you know.... Protecting and watching over you." She said, placing emphasis on the word "Mate".
"You know what? I'm done with you. You are an idiot. Just forget it" Kimberly had said, smiling.
"Relax, Kim" Phoebe said, finally getting serious. "I'm sure it's nothing, and you are just stressed. You said it yourself that nothing has been out of the ordinary. It's just a feeling. I'm sure it will pass. Besides you have me. I will watch over you"
Kimberly smiled. Maybe Phoebe was right and she was worried for nothing. If someone wanted to hurt her. The person would have done it by now. Why lurk around in the shadows? She was imagining things. This was one of the effects of watching too many horror movies.
She wanted to believe Phoebe. But the weird feeling stayed with her. And no matter how much she tried not to think about it. She did, because she couldn't help it.
Kimberly looked at her wrist watch and sighed.Okay, maybe deciding to finish work before going to her father's house was a bad idea. It was her father's birthday and he had invited a few friends to a party at his house.The last thing she had wanted to do was miss her father's birthday. But it from the look of things, she was going to be late. But at least she had bought a gift.She groaned as her phone rang. She checked the caller ID. It was her father. He was obviously calling to know where the hell she was. She pick the call and held the phone to her ear using her shoulder."Hi dad" she said, trying to sound cheerful as she tried to concentrate on the file in front of her and listen to her father at the same time."Where are you, pumpkin?" her father sounded unhappy and Kimberly groaned again. She hated when he sounded like that."You are not really going
Hillary Blake looked at his phone again and checked the time. The more he looked at the phone, the more worried he got. Where was Kimberly? He asked himself over and over again. Had she changed her mind about coming home?If she had, she could have just called him and told him and told him that she couldn't make it. There was no need to ignore his calls.He tried calling her again, but this time the phone was switched off. Hillary Blake began to panic. Christopher Keane, his long time friend stared at him and moved closer."Is everything okay, Hillary?" Christopher asked. "You looked worried""I have been trying, but I still can't reach Kim" Hillary replied. Looking even more worried than ever."Damn it" Christopher said. "I guess she must be really busy. Remember she said she was at work. I'm sure she is just busy with something. And whatever it is, it must be very important. Ju
When Hillary Blake's phone rang again, he could barely hear it. His thoughts were on Kimberly. He wasn't a religious man, but he prayed Kimberly was fine. That they wouldn't hurt her. Kimberly was all he had."Your phone is ringing, Hillary" Christopher said. He looked worried too. "We can't start panicking now. You have to pull yourself together so we can figure out how to help Kim. Before they hurt or God forbid, even do something worse."Hillary nodded in agreement and checked the caller ID. It was Phoebe. He held the phone to his ear with shaky hands."Mr Blake, I can't reach her" Phoebe said. She sounded so distressed and obviously she had been crying. "I went to apartment. It was open. Someone messed with the lock. The living room was scattered. Like there was some kind of fight in it. I think something really bad has happened to Kim... And no one knows where she is"."I know" Hillary said, almost surprised he
Given the choice, Asher Adams preferred darkness to light, and tonight was no exception. It had taken him Fourty eight hours to find the lady and her kiddnapers, but he had waited another Fourty Eight before going to rescue her—just so he could learn about their schedule and then go in the night.He liked shadows, the silence, the fact that most people were asleep. Even those awake were on the low end of their energy cycle —although not his men. He made sure of that.Asher checked the time, then glanced back at the two story house. After nearly two weeks of watching over the woman, the guards had grown sloppy and complacent. They patrolled the estate on a schedule now, instead of at random intervals. After so many days of quiet, they no longer expected trouble. All the better for him. He thought.He reached for his night vision binoculars and trained them on the second story bedroom windows. The third one from the left had drapes open, which allowed him a view of the darkened room. A w
"Man on the stairs, Asher. Watch your back"Asher swore under his breath. There was an extra man on duty tonight. Wasn't that always the way?He left the door, pivoted and pressed his body into the shadows. Someone walked into view, his gun drawn."Hey, Mildred, are you alright? There's been some trouble. Chase is missing""What?"When things went to hell, they did so at light speed. Kimberly's female guard aka Mildred, stumbled from her seat. Asher heard the sound just as he zapped the guard. Unfortunately she tried the door and found it unlocked. There was the sound of a pistol being cocked.Asher dropped the guard onto the landing and waited for Mildred to come out, hoping she was just stupid enough not to follow orders. That rather than staying with her prisoner, she would venture onto the landing.Sure enough, the door cracked open. He got her in the arm before
As they rose high in the sky, he checked his man. One gunshot in the leg. Damn it all to hell. He thought grimly and glared at the young lady huddled in the far seat. There were things worth getting shot for, but saving someone like her wasn't one of them.The other team members had already started emergency first aid. Asher moved back to give them room. He picked up a headset and motioned for Kimberly to do the same."I need to get my man to a doctor" he told her, speaking into the attached microphone.Her gaze moved from him to Paul then back to him. "Of course" she said. "I can stay with you at the hospital"There was no point telling her that they weren't going to a hospital. Public health facilities required too much paper work, and the staff would have too many questions. Asher had his own state of the art medical center with trained specialists —all former students military doctors &mdas
Kimberly stared at him and bit her lower lip. Wondering what she had done to make the man dislike her so much. It wasn't her fault she got kidnapped and she didn't force him to come rescue her. She was sorry about his friend if that was what he was so mad about... And she was grateful for their helpBut that wasn't her fault either.She breathed deeply."Mr Adams" she said. "I'm assuming my father hired you to find me? You didn't answer me before and I just wanted to be sure"He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes, your father came to me a week ago. He didn't want to contact the police because he didn't want to spook the kidnappers. He hired another company to locate you after the kidnapping, but they didn't have much luck." He raised one shoulder and let it fall. "I'm better""How is he?.. My father" she asked.He shrugged. "Really worried, obviously. His dau
He watched her take a step back and smiled inwardly. For some reason he just felt like they were in some kind of fight. Like she was taking something from him. Something he knew he shouldn't let go of, and he just had to fight to hold on to it."Or would you prefer to get kidnapped again?" he continued. "If you do, that's your problem, not mine. But I'm getting my money from your dad first. Then if you wish to get kidnapped again, suit yourself. So that means that for now, you are stuck with me. And if this place isn't good enough for you.... Well, you are just going to have to suck it up"For once she didn't reply. He was a bit surprised, she seemed to have a reply to almost everything. But she just stared at me him. Her beautiful eyes shone. She didn't move away from him anymore and he was standing right in front of her. He leaned towards her. She didn't flinch. He had to acknowledge that she had some backbone. And she wasn't a screamer. T