Chapter 12
Rylie tried calling Jayson again while standing in line to board her flight. He had just called her while she was in the bar at the Ritz Hotel waiting on Mr. Caldwell to show up for their meeting. He wanted to know if the file he asked her to get was safe, she told him Chace put it away in a safe location.
Rylie asked him if he found Monique, he told her he was close and knew why she was hiding but couldn't say over the phone. Rylie wanted to know where he was but was only able to hear him say he was at his loft before the phone line was cut short because a drunken Mr. Caldwell knocked it out of her hand as he walked up behind her and tried to grope her. She kneed him and he let her go. She grabbed her phone from the floor but the call was disconnected.
She tried frantically to call Jayson back but there was no answer. She dealt with Mr. Caldwell by informing him that she would not have any more contact with him she was recommending Braxton Holdings discontinue doing business with him they should do a takeover of his troubled technology company. He started threatening her she refused to listen to his drunken rant leaving him at the bar.
Rylie didn't want to return to work on Friday afternoon to what she thought would by then be general knowledge of her altercation with Ivana Kessler. She wasn't ready to face Chace although Beth called her to tell her about their lunch-time conversation, Rylie told Beth she wasn't coming back for the rest of the day. She shocked herself in the way she responded to Ivana's taunting behavior. She and Chace are adults free to be with whomever they choose but it was unsettling for her to find out from Ivana that she is his girlfriend.
Her interactions with Chace are always so loaded with provocative innuendo, they feed off of being contrary to one another. What happened between them Friday was destined to happen his interviewing her only added fuel to an already stoked fire that ignited on his office sofa. It also burned out as far as she is concerned after her encounter with Ivana, she won't allow herself to be mesmerized by his enigmatic stare and warrior god body but how does she get around the fact that he challenges her to be better and have more confidence in herself. She wants to further her career but not this way.
Jayson is also supportive of her when it comes to her career. Their relationship has journeyed into a brother sister type of union. He's hurting because of something Monique has gotten him involved in and he's trying to protect her. Rylie doesn't want him to suffer he has also been there for her whenever she needs him. She knows the only loft he owns is in New York, he's let her stay there several times on business and shopping trips she has her own key to the place.
After her meeting with Mr. Caldwell she went home and started reading through some of the information Monique left on her dresser. She learned that the adoption agency owner resides in New York and it's also their headquarters. There is an address of a private clinic her sister circled on a brochure. Rylie opened it up finding attached to it an unsigned contract offer.
The contract confirms to Rylie her sister is pregnant. What she is about to do regarding her pregnancy Rylie finds disturbing. She doesn't want Monique to do something she will later regret and is also illegal. She has never seen a contract like this not that she knows for sure what they are supposed to look like.
The contract has an offer to Monique of three hundred thousand for a baby conceived with Jayson Braxton. Rylie remembers Monique is in debt to her boss at the mansion. It crosses her mind that part of Monique's decision to do this is so that she can pay him off. There is something about the wording of the contract and how it seems to reflect that she will only get the money if the DNA test confirm that the baby is Jayson's. There's an appointment section for a DNA test on this coming Monday.
Rylie has to find out for herself what her sister is involved in. Without really thinking through what she's going to do when she gets there, Rylie books an immediate flight to New York and reserves a hotel.
Chace waited at Rylie's door until her nosy neighbor came out again to walk his dog. He wanted to see Rylie before he left in the morning to go to New York. Unable to physically see her today he's starting to feel like his day can't end unless he does see her. Jayson let it slip in their conversation together that he was at his loft. The tracking information Chace received confirmed it. However, the tracking information on Rylie's sister showed her to be at an adoption center when she last contacted Rylie and that address was also in Manhattan. During another call from Monique to Rylie it showed a different type of center with facilities also in New York and Virginia.
Jayson told Chace he suspected Monique was pregnant with his child and about to give it up for adoption he wants to keep the baby. He believes Margo found out about his affair and the baby he thinks she threatened Monique and Monique is trying to handle this on her own.
Chace doesn't appreciate that Jayson just abandoned his job to handle his personal situation he didn't bother to tell him or his father what was going on. Chace is frustrated with his younger brother, he and Monique have created an air of mystery around this situation.
Chace arrives in his private plane well after midnight. He's happy to be back to what he considers his home but he's tired his driver takes him to his penthouse apartment he still maintains.
Saturday morning Rylie is up early, she goes by Jayson's loft letting herself in. He's not there but she can see that someone slept in his bed. She decides since he isn't answering her calls she will return later. She takes a cab to the clinic address on the brochure first before going to the adoption agency. It's a brisk New York morning having rained the night before. She's dressed warmly wearing a blue peacoat over her sweater with her jeggings tucked into her long boots. The address she has for the adoption agency is actually not far from the clinic, she's sure they are co-related to one another she can walk there after she leaves the clinic.
The clinic is open she walks in to check the place out talking to the receptionist to learn that they offer all types of services to pregnant women regardless of your decision. The receptionist tells Rylie she can schedule her an appointment to speak with someone, Rylie refuses her offer telling her she was referred by a friend and she wants to think about it on her own for a while.
The receptionist looks her over carefully then ask her if the father of the child knows she's pregnant. Rylie tells her he doesn't know she's struggling with telling him, he's married. The lie captures the receptionist full attention, she hands Rylie a card with a name and number on it telling her to give it a call before she tells the father.
Rylie is about to leave stopping by a bulletin board to look at some of the information posted there when she spots a body and face she recognizes. It's the guard from the mansion in Virginia she called a tree. He's standing in front of an examination door. A woman comes out, it's one of the women that was also at the mansion Rylie remembers being in the women's bathroom with her at the same time.
She works for the same guy that Kayla and Monique work for. Rylie doesn't find it an odd coincidence that she would be here until another woman Rylie also seen at the escort mansion comes out of a different room. An older woman Rylie doesn't recognize comes out after the younger upset woman. She grabs her roughly by the arm shoving her toward the wall. Pointing her finger in her face she's saying something to the younger woman who looks resistant, she's holding her hand over her stomach and crying. The other young woman with them ignores what's going on she goes to the receptionist desk and starts to chat with her.
The older woman forces the upset younger woman to walk toward the exit until they get near the restrooms it appears the younger woman is telling the older one she has to go. The older woman nods her head, the restroom is only three feet away from where Rylie is standing.
The guard and the older woman aren't paying attention they are talking to each other. The young upset woman rushes into the restroom Rylie follows her.
Once inside Rylie starts looking under the stalls finding the woman's feet in one of them. Rylie waits until she hears the toilet flush then she hurriedly starts to wash her own hands as the woman is coming out of the stall.
They end up at the sinks side by side. Rylie smiles at the woman but the woman is sniffling, her hands grip the faucet knobs on the sink as she cries.
"Excuse me....are you alright?" Rylie says to her hoping she's in the mood to talk.
"Yeah....I'm fine, sorry. I guess I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Maybe if I had woke up on the right side a few months ago I wouldn't be in this predicament." The woman looks heartbroken about her situation.
Rylie doesn't know what she means but considering where they are she decides she's already told one lie she might as well keep it going to find out what she can. "Yeah, I know what you mean, it's a tough decision to make my friend told me about this place it's my first visit."
"Really....have you decided to sell your baby. I don't want to do it for such a small amount." The woman says and Rylie is taken aback by her statement.
"Sell my bab....no....no I just found out I'm ah....pregnant I don't know what I'm going to do yet. I just started getting information about my choices." I haven't been told much of anything yet, how much will you get if you do it." Rylie ask her trying to keep a lid on her spinning out of control thoughts about what her sister could possibly have involved herself in this time.
"It's not much, they made the offer to me just now. My baby's daddy isn't as rich as they first thought he was. He's a young millionaire but it's his wife that's loaded. She comes from a prominent family that has political connections, one of her brother's is a senator. Anyway, they thought when they extorted him they would get a huge payout but it backfired." The girl explains while primping in the mirror fixing her makeup.
Rylie's knees buckle her hands grip the edge of the sink to keep her from falling. "Are they blackmailing him to keep his wife from finding out or is there a conduct clause in his marriage agreement?" Rylie asks her.
"Oh yeah— he stands to lose a lot because of the conduct clause in his marriage agreement, I thought you knew how this stuff works. I had plans for that money. Most of the other girls get between two and three hundred thousand depending on their guy's bank accounts. I'll be lucky if I get a hundred thousand by the time this deal's over. I'll have less than that after I pay off my debt at the mansion."
Rylie's ears perk up hearing the mention of the mansion again. "Why can't you get at least three hundred thousand out of this. I heard that's what some of the girls get." Rylie answers.
"Yeah....some of them do, but it's rare. The guy has to be a billionaire for you to get that kind of money. They milk these men so hard only a billionaire isn't going to care about a million bucks in extortion payouts to keep his wife from getting a lot more than that if they end up in divorce court. Just my luck it turns out my guy's wife is unable to have children they have been trying for two years. It put a strain on their marriage and he found me at the mansion. After I got pregnant and they told him, he told his wife. She wants the baby she's going to tell everyone after the baby is born that they used a surrogate, she's willing to pay them to help her set it up. It's all a lie but typical of how we girls get cut out of the deal. Since there's no ongoing blackmail involved, I get next to nothing. It's a onetime payout." She explains to Rylie.
"They do this to a lot of the girls when they end up making deals with these couples, it's so unfair."
Rylie can't believe what she is hearing, the woman is about her age and obviously in this for the money. She is so callous about the whole situation treating it like a business deal, the baby is just the goods she has to offer. She feels like she doesn't know Monique at all how can she be involved in what is looking more and more like a blackmail and extortion ring. How could she do something like this to Jayson and how did he get caught up in it.
She's not sure who the "They" she is talking about is but there's definitely a connection back to the mansion in Virginia. She thought the place was just an underground escort service but she didn't want to admit that much to herself because her sister was a part of it.
This girl seems so young and impressionable she reminds her of Monique. They think they know what they are doing then it all goes wrong and they find themselves in the situation to deep to pull out of it alone.
"You're lucky." Rylie hears the woman mumble while putting on lipstick. "I wish I could make my own decision. I don't want to give my baby up but the father of it would never leave the life he has to be with someone like me you know? He won't even speak to me now, he knows I set him up. I knew it's what I was supposed to do but then I started too really like him you know? What about you're guy, is he really loaded, if he's a billionaire you could be looking at a huge payout for your baby?"
Rylie responds like a zombie to her. "Yeah, my friend told me that, I didn't believe her. I still don't' know if I want to do this."
The restroom door is swung open the older woman sticks her head in and Rylie immediately steps away from the mirror keeping her back to the woman not wanting her to see her face. "Rachel—hurry up, you've been in here long enough we have to go." The woman says backing out of the restroom.
"Hey—gotta go, the dragon lady says so. Good luck to you. Oh, what's your name?" The younger woman ask Rylie. Rylie isn't thinking straight and her real first name slips out of her mouth.
High tailing it out of the clinic after she is sure that the older woman, the guard and the two young women are gone. She makes her way onto the street to walk down to the adoption agency to see what she can find out.
Chace also got up this morning and after having some breakfast in his penthouse apartment he went to his brother's loft. He finds that the bed was slept in indicating that his brother or someone is staying there. He looks closely around the place finding a brochure of the adoption agency and one for the clinic on a table. The name Quinton with eleven o'clock is written on the adoption agency brochure. It's ten-twenty. Stuffing the brochures in his jacket pocket he races from his brother's loft to his car to try to make it over to the adoption agency by eleven.
Rylie is about a block and a half from the adoption agency when she feels like someone is watching her. There are people scattered around her up and down the sidewalk, she's walking in front of a cafe deciding to duck inside to gather her nerves. Maybe she's just paranoid, she buys herself a drink then sits at a table facing the doorway waiting to see who comes through it. She checks her phone finding she has a text from Chace. He says he stopped by to see her Friday but had to leave town for a few days. He ends it by saying he better not return to work to find out she was late on Monday.
Rylie smiles to herself reading the message only Chace would chose this way of telling her she's not fired over what happened. She knows they have to talk about it. She had a hard time sleeping last night because she couldn't stop thinking about being with him in his office. The few people that enter the café seem to be going on about their business she finishes her drink then leaves walking down the street.
The building is an old high-rise, she enters taking the elevator to the floor listed on the brochure. As she is walking down the empty hallway she notices there's a stale smell in the hallway, the carpet is old and stained. The walls are faded and need painting. This doesn't seem like a place that people with money would come to for business. She passes an office suite door that's partially opened. Two men are inside, they look like football linebackers. They appear to be guarding another partially opened door. She can see two men talking but can't make out what they look like they are too far away. She's trying to see into the room without the big burly men seeing her. One of the men in the inner office strikes the other man across the face knocking him to the floor he starts kicking him.
It so shocks Rylie that she makes a sound drawing the two men guarding the door's attention toward where she is at the office entrance. Rylie doesn't want them to see her face or know that she just seen what happened inside the other office. She runs down the hallway tripping on the worn and tattered carpet falling. She crawls on her knees to an emergency exit door standing up she pushes on it making sure it closes without clicking then runs up the steps instead of down it thinking if they are looking for her they will go down the steps.
Sure enough they do come out looking for her. She hears the exit door opening, their foot-steps are going down. She looks over the railing to see them. Not sure what she just saw she knows she has to get out of here.
Chace cautiously enters the building, it looks deserted and run down compared to the buildings on each side of it. Something tells him he shouldn't go any further but what if his brother is somewhere in this place. The bottom floor doesn't give any indication that there are businesses operating in it, the foyer seems clinical, it only has a table with some fake flowers next to an elevator. He gets on it taking it up to the floor written in ink for the appointment. It happens to be two floors above the floor Rylie is on.
Chace hasn't seen anybody in the building, the smell is starting to overwhelm him, he can tell that the place was recently deserted none of the left behind furniture has dust on it and the place isn't torn up yet by people off the street. He's beginning to believe it's a front for an illegal adoption agency. He text's Jayson telling him where he is at hoping he contacts him. Walking around the place Chace hears some voices he ducks inside one of the empty offices. He's not sure who is in the building he can hear whispered voices he sticks his head out seeing three men talking.
One of the men has blood on his hands, he's pointing at the chest of one of the other bigger burly men Chace recognizes from the escort mansion in Virginia. He doesn't know what's going on, he's concerned about whose blood is on the man's hand but he also doesn't want to take the chance of them finding him here. He goes through a connecting office door making his way around a corridor he ends up at the end of the hallway at the emergency exit door.
Going out it, he goes down the stairs ending up on a floor that doesn't look inhabitable. It's been stripped of its plastered walls, there's only the concrete façade he realizes this is maybe where the molding smell seems to be coming from. The voices he heard earlier are getting closer he runs toward a door seeing that it's cracked open going out it and up some stairs he is on the roof. Once on it he looks around for a way to get down encase the men come up to it. He finds another exit door with stairs he starts taking them going down when he hears someone on them.
He tries to look over the railing but doesn't see anyone. He keeps going down finding a door that's not locked he goes inside it. A man is getting up off the floor. Bloodied and beaten Chace can see by the cut of his suit, his rolex watch and his expensive shoes that he is a man of means he looks familiar. Chace hurries over to the man to help him up the man darts away from him in fear yelling. "I won't tell anyone about it." He says trying to get away from Chace.
"Hold it—I'm not trying to hurt you." Chace holds his hands up as the two men eye each other realizing they do know each other. The man starts backing up, he is afraid of Chace.
"You don't have to send them in here to hurt me anymore I said I wouldn't tell anybody about the mansion and I won't. Please, I didn't know what I was doing that night I was drunk. I won't ever go there again." He says with fear in his eyes.
"Listen man it's alright. I'm not here to hurt you I'm looking for someone else. This is the address I was given." Chace tells him.
"Are they looking for you because of that night? I swear I can't tell you anything. I don't know who the woman was they kept asking me about her, she never told me her name." The man answers.
"What are you talking about....that night? Are you talking about the night you got into it with the woman on the stairs?" Chace ask him.
"Yeah...yeah. Those men that were here they want to know who she was they said she wasn't one of their girls. I told them she had on a bracelet so she had to be. I said she didn't choose me, she left with someone else I couldn't remember who but it was you, you're the guy she left with it's all so hazy that night. I was drunk, I didn't remember much. They tried to beat it out of me they left me here after I couldn't tell them what they wanted to know.
"Look...I don't think it's safe for either one of us to be here did you tell them my name?" Chace ask the man.
"No....I couldn't. I couldn't remember it was you until just now that I'm seeing your face. They don't care about you, they want the girl. I overheard them talking, they said she took something of theirs they want to get it back. Hey, I'm sorry they might come after you to get to her. I don't know what it is they want. I have to get out of here." The man pulls out his pocket square from his jacket to wipe the blood off of his lip.
"I won't speak of this again. I don't want them to come after me. I'm going through a divorce I can't afford for my wife to find out about this. These people have connections I advise you to stay away from them and keep your mouth shut. The racket these guys are running has a lot of heavy hitters involved in it. It's not just about money, it about control." He tells Chace then staggers to the door and out it.
Chace walks out the door behind him more confused than when he came into the building. He doesn't know where Jayson is, he doesn't know if he's caught up in any of this or if Rylie's sister is responsible for his connections to it. Either way, he understands know why Jayson told him to watch out for Rylie. He must know they are looking for Monique. What could she possibly have that they want?
He's making his way down the floors by the stairs, he doesn't want to take the elevator thinking he could run into the three men and end up with the same fate as the man he just left although he feels he can take them down one at a time if he had to.
Someone is on the stairs again, he enters an emergency exit door ending up in a hallway. He's walking down it when he hears a noise coming from one of the rooms. There's nowhere for him to go or hide if the person jumps out at him. He enters the room to see who it is. Maybe the guy is hiding from them in there.
Rylie tripped and fell coming down one of the halls, she hurt her leg again, she needs to stop and rest from climbing those stairs. She hears the door open to the room she's hiding in. Looking around her there's no way out behind her, she has to go forward.
Looking for something she can use as a weapon, she can only find a metal three-hole puncher sitting on an empty desk. She picks it up thinking she can at least throw it to give her a running start. She stands behind a pillar gripping the hole puncher in her hand. It's heavy, maybe she can swing it at the person and knock them out she's starting to think.
As Chace gets closer to where she is hiding, he can hear the clicking of her pressing her nervous hand on the handle the hole-puncher is old and squeaking. Rylie waits until the person's back is in front of her she closes her eyes then swings her arm holding the hole-puncher at him.
Chace turns around in time to jump out of the way, the hole-puncher goes flying out of her hand hitting the wall just missing his head making a hole in the wall.
He tackles her rushing her against another wall his hand is around her throat squeezing it. Rylie's scream catches in her throat turning to a gurgle when it comes out. Recognizing who he's holding he immediately lets her go.
"Rylie? His voice is filled with an anguished guttural cry. She leaps into his arms shaking and choking him. He holds onto her backing her up against the wall they break apart to look at each other.
"I'm so sorry, I thought....I thought....Chace." She wraps her arms around him again. He rubs the small of her back. "I'm sorry, I thought I hurt you." He says pressing his lips to her temple. Rylie's rush of adrenaline is calming down now being taken over by a rush of something else.
They break apart but he doesn't completely let her go he's still holding her hand. "What the hell did you throw at me?" He says looking at the wall.
"I'm sorry, it was a three hole-puncher, one of those old metal kinds. It would have really done some damage making you unpopular with the ladies." Rylie remembers she is still mad at him.
"What are you talking about?" He has a scowl on his face when he turns back around to face her.
"Nothing....what are you doing here?" she ask him.
"I could same the same for you. You know how dangerous this is?" He cups her elbow.
"Chace...I was on the phone with Jayson yesterday when we got cut off. I tried calling him, texting. I'm tired of not knowing what's going on. Neither he nor Monique are letting me know much. I had to find out for myself. I knew I had some time available to me, so I'm taking it....if I'm not fired that is?"
He stares at her drinking her in. He's just happy to see her but he doesn't say it. "What if you are fired, are you going to go home where it's safe." He wants to know.
Rylie rolls her eyes at him. Of course not, if I'm fired I'll have plenty of time to look for Jayson and my sister since I won't have a job to go back to." She mouths off.
Chace slides his arm around her waist. They start making their way to the door she takes a few steps then stops to look up at him. "You can't tell me what to do Chace I'm going to find out what's going on."
"I haven't said you shouldn't Rylie you just can't be running around New York looking into this by yourself. There are things you don't know come on let's get out of here."
"Chace...I've already learned a lot coming here I just need to find them." She is being stubborn.
"Rylie..." He says sternly swinging her around to face him. She looks up at him with wide eyed defiance. He cups her face with his hands holding her in place. She grabs onto the edges of his coat to steady herself. He's looking down at her with a mix of admonishment and longing. He can almost see his reflection in her liquid brown eyes. His longing turns to desire, lowering his head he taste her lips on his it's not enough, increasing the pressure on her lips he slips his tongue against her mouth she opens for him leaning in to him she accepts the deepened kiss feeling warm and wanted in his engulfed arms.
After the kiss ends he keeps his hands cupping her face. "I want you to listen to me because I'm only going to say this once. It's not safe for you to be running around checking into this stuff by yourself. We are going to go back to my house and figure this thing our siblings are involved in out together. Do you understand me?"
Rylie lets out a heavy sigh then bites her bottom lip.
"Don't do that, why do you do that?" He says with frustration his gaze is on her lips.
"Do what....I'm contemplating." She answers.
"Fine." He lets her face go taking her by the hand he walks her to the door. "Contemplate all you want when we get out of here, just don't bite your lower lip, that's for me to do." He's facing her and caressing her cheek.
This man is too much Rylie isn't sure much talking will get done if she returns with him to his home.
"Chace I think if we are going to talk about this we should go to my hotel to discuss it." She offers.
"We'll go to your hotel Rylie but only to pick up your things. You're staying with me while we're here. I'm not letting you out of my sight. He tells her and she feels that she has no choice but he's not going to make love to her again at least that's what she's telling herself now.
**Thanks for Reading.
Can they work together without their own issues with each other getting in the way. The chemistry between them is too strong not to be around each other. Hopefully they can find Monique before she does something that will cause one of them harm.
Video Song: Light Up Tonight by Alex Boyd....love the song
Other Stories: Destiny Is Served & Tiptoe Kisses