Sweet and Spicy [COMPLETED]

The Bait

Tobin, to his credit, kept Kaya updated at least once a day about how things were progressing. Kaya would appreciate it more if things actually progressed. 

As it turned out, rich people had a knack for fabricating evidence that took a long time to unravel. Though no one could undoubtedly prove that Ransom had done anything illegal (after all, he hadn't), the evidence stood firm enough to keep him locked up. 

By day five, Kaya began to worry. Day six? She fought the negative thoughts every waking minute. 

That's probably why, on day seven, Kaya made a decision she wouldn't have made otherwise. 

The phone call came in the evening. After Tobin had finished his routine check-in. Kaya, never one to answer unknown numbers, let the first attempt to reach her go straight to voicemail. 

She never expected them to actually leave a message. 

That should have been her first clue. Unknown numbers had never brought anything except bad luck. Kaya shouldn't have listened to the message alone. But she did. 

"He's willing to make the charges go away," a masculine voice enticed. "Someone will come to pick you up in an hour." 

Under normal circumstances, Kaya would know better than to go along with the plan. She would either ignore it or take it up with someone stronger. This time, Kaya chose to take a different path. 

She had never done anything to help Ransom, not even once. If she could be of help this one time, she would do it. Deep down, she knew it wouldn't end well. She didn't expect a happy ending. Kaya wanted only to end the nightmare.

Exactly fifty-nine minutes later, Kaya stepped into the apartment lobby with nothing more than her phone, held in one hand. 

A hefty, bodyguard-type man stepped out of the driver's side door and leveled his gaze at Kaya. 

She had never been strong before, but this time was different. This time, Kaya knew what it would take to survive. She couldn't sit in the corner again. She had to fight. 

Kaya tapped a thumb against her phone screen and let her arm hang by her side, screen hidden against her leg. Then she marched on. 

The man waited until Kaya stopped in front of him to speak. "Ms. Parker?" 

"You know who I am," Kaya retorted. 

"Get in the car." The man stepped aside to motion Kaya to precede him. 

Kaya took her time, slowly rounding the front of the vehicle, buying as much control as she could. 

The man stopped her at the passenger side door. He held out a hand. "Your phone." 

"Is my personal property." 

"You won't need it where we're going. He was very specific. No electronic devices. Nothing that can be tracked." 

In all honesty, Kaya hadn't thought she would manage to keep her phone. Hopefully she wouldn't need to. 

"I don't trust him enough to do that." Kaya turned away from the car. "I'm not going if it's like this." 

The man, in one swift motion, grabbed Kaya's wrist, tore the phone from her fingers, and sent it flying into a potted plant. "I wasn't given the option to let you go. Get in the car." 

Kaya fought him, but she knew he would win one way or another. The fight bought time, that's all. If she had learned one thing over the past few months, Kaya had learned that there were people she could trust. They wouldn't fail her now.

Don't fail me, Kaya silently begged as the man locked her into the car.