Until Valerie: Happily Ever Alpha World Read online

  Worry starts to set in as 5:30 rolls around and still no word from Rowan or Wes. Both of their phones go straight to voicemail every time I call. Most of the guys are starting to leave for the day and I don’t want to be left here by myself.

  “Hey Valerie, I can stay with you for another hour and if we don’t hear from Rowan by then, I can take you home,” Everett offers and I give him a grateful smile.

  “Thanks Everett, but I don’t have a key to Rowan’s house yet.”

  “That’s okay. We’ll just break into it. It’s his fault anyway for not giving you a key,” he shrugs nonchalantly and I can’t help but laugh at him. “I’m going to go work out and will be back shortly. Come get me if you need anything.”

  Knowing that an hour in my world is not that much time, I start cleaning up my piles of paperwork for tomorrow, but something compels me to look over the information on the fraudulent bank account again. I search the internet for Charlene Whitaker’s obituary and finally found it. The bank account was opened three weeks after her death. Did Rowan take that much time off when she died? I pull up his timesheets for the last two years. I sort the information by days off and have to do a double take when I see the dates.

  Rowan only took one week off during the time she died.

  I grab the piles of bank statements and start looking for the dates of all payouts to P2B Distributions. Excitement starts to build as I compare multiple dates to see that all of the transaction dates for the payouts were initiated on days that Rowan requested time off. He couldn’t of initiated those transactions if he wasn’t in the office, logged into his work computer. Wes told me that all licenses for their software system is only installed on two designated work computers.

  Rowan is innocent and this is the proof I need to show Wes!

  I grab my phone and start to dial Wes’ number, but the call drops as I see July trying to call me at the same time.

  “Wes just called me and they are booking Rowan on assault charges. I’m on my way to get you to take you to the station,” she says, her voice frantic with worry as I hear her slam her car door and start the engine.

  “Everett is here, he can take me. But July, Kyle did it!” I say with rapid excitement, not being able to contain the news.

  “Val, of course we know Kyle did it. Who else would’ve pressed charges against Rowan?”

  “No, Kyle stole the money and I have proof!” I grab the paperwork and look down at it one more time, making sure I’m really seeing what I’m believing. “Rowan was absent every single day that a transaction occurred. Kyle must have logged into Rowan’s account, knowing that one day we would find these transactions and request to see who initiated it.” I hear the noise of a door clicking and look up, only to gasp in horror as I watch Kyle turn the lock on the door handle.

  He leans against the door and starts to clap as he gives me a sadistic smile. “I must say, Valerie. I’m impressed with your detective work. I didn’t think you were that smart. Sure, you’re an auditor, but you could’ve sucked your bosses dick to make your way up the corporate ladder.” He pushes off the wall and makes his way toward me. “It’s a shame, really, that you’re this smart. Because now you’re collateral damage.”

  With those words I scream as loud as I can and drop my phone, freeing my hands to fight for my life.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ROWAN

  “This is fucking bullshit!” I yell out in frustration, not believing that I’m actually being booked for assault and battery against Kyle. Not only did he file charges against me last night, but he also requested a restraining order. I was naive to think that this wasn’t going to be a big deal and would be let go in a couple of hours, because now the situation has taken a very serious turn, especially once the cops heard that money laundering might be involved. I don’t have a lawyer here in Tennessee, so my attorney back home is trying to do all that he can from afar until I can get someone local.

  It’s now past six in the evening and I can’t even imagine how worried Valerie is. I pray one of the boys at the shop is with her, keeping her safe. My phone was taken away the moment they started questioning me. I know Wes was here earlier, but I haven’t seen him since. Knowing that my girl is out there without my protection and Kyle purposefully putting me here makes me anxious. I don’t trust him and having Wes and I both gone from the shop makes it very convenient for him to just show up. I don’t know what Wes has told the other guys, but due to today’s surprising circumstances, I doubt he’s had the chance to call them and tell them to take care of Valerie for me.

  “Be grateful that it’s me dealing with your ass, otherwise you would be spending the night in a concrete cell,” Cobi Mayson says, sitting next to the officer who is filling out the actual paperwork. Cobi’s cousins with July, so I’ve known him for as long as I’ve been employed by Wes. I consider Cobi a friend, so I’m beyond grateful to see that he’s trying to help out.

  “I’m grateful, man, but I’ve got to get out of here. I’m worried about my girl. Is Wes still here? Can you call him to see if he’s checked on Valerie?”

  “Wes called July to have her go get Valerie and bring her over. She should be here shortly.” I breathe out a sigh of relief hearing this. I won’t feel better until I see my Angel is okay. I wonder how long ago that call was placed because the shop is about a ten minute drive from the station. My knee starts bouncing up and down, my nervous energy needing some sort of outlet to escape.

  “Do you know how long ago he called her?” I ask Cobi, who gives me an exasperated look. “I’m sorry, Cobi, but I just have a weird feeling about all of this.”

  “Your womanly intuition kicking in?” he jokes, but I see him reaching for his cell phone and I know without a doubt he’s calling either July or Wes for me.

  “Something like that,” I mutter, hoping that someone picks up so I can get rid of this nagging feeling that something bad is happening. I usually think positive, but I can’t shake this feeling off.

  “July isn’t picking up. Let me call Wes. He should be right outside waiting for the ladies. He didn’t want them walking in here by themselves.” Cobi dials Wes’ number, who picks up on the first ring. I watch Cobi frown in concern, ask Wes if he wants back-up and then say okay before hanging up.

  “July isn’t picking up for Wes either. No one at the shop is answering, so he’s headed over there now.”

  “Call for back up, Cobi. Something’s wrong!” I demand, knowing my gut is right. If anything happens to Valerie, I personally will kill Kyle Perry myself.

  “Mayson!” An officer races in while holding a phone to his ear. “911 dispatch just called in a disturbance at the Broken Eagles Motorcycle Repair Shop. The caller patched them into a three-way call and are listening to what seems like a hostage situation. Officers are on their way, as well as an ambulance since there seems to be an injured victim.”

  “Fuck!” I yell, standing up swiftly out of my chair, causing it to fall backwards.

  “Let’s go!” Cobi grabs his keys and we’re running toward the exit.

  “Hey, stop! He’s a suspect!” the booking officer calls out after us as he tries to catch up, but fails. We run out of the building and into Cobi’s car, where he turns on his lights, tires squealing as he races out of the parking lot.

  “Get out of the way!” I yell out at the cars who aren’t moving to let us pass by. Cobi’s zig-zagging in between cars at a high speed, the engine roaring every time he accelerates faster. We make it to the police barrier that is set up a couple of blocks from the shop. I get out of the car while it’s still rolling to a stop and run to where I see Wes comforting July.

  “Where is she?” I skid to a stop in front of them, my eyes wild with need to see Valerie. “What’s going on?”

  July shifts in Wes’ arms so she can look at me. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying, her breath shaky. “I called her to tell her I was on my way to get her when she was telling me she found evidence that Kyle was the one skimming the
money from the books. Then his voice appeared and she screamed and dropped the phone. She didn’t hang up, giving me the opportunity to hear her talking to him. I called 911 via three-way and alerted them to be quiet so they could listen.” She drew a deep breath, her eyes watering up with fresh tears. “She asked where Everett was and he said he was tied up in the gym, that he hit him over the head with a weight.”

  “Everett’s strong, he’s going to be okay,” Wes reassures her in a soothing voice.

  “We don’t know that yet!” July cries, a wave of fresh new tears spilling down her face.

  “Wes, gimme your keys,” I demand, holding out my hand for them. I can’t just sit back and let the police handle this. One wrong move from them and my girl might be dead.

  “Fuck no, Rowan. I can’t do that!” Wes says as July shakes her head no.

  “Wes, we’re the only two people here who know that place inside and out. If I go through the woods and take the path to the back of our building, I can open the rear entry doorway quietly using your key and hopefully sneak up on him. All those doors are locked and he would know right away if the police were there since they would have to bang down the door.”

  “Wait, Cobi’s coming,” Wes whispers and quickly slips his keys into my pocket. We turn to give Cobi our undivided attention.

  “Dispatch can’t hear anyone talking anymore from the call, so we believe that Kyle’s moved Valerie to a different location. If I were a betting man, I would think either to the service department or the gym since that is where most of the heavy equipment is if he wanted to tie her down. I drew a map for the S.W.A.T team from memory of the shop the last time I was there, but Wes, can you quickly just look over my drawing since you know where any side and rear door entryways would be?” Wes and Cobi take off to talk with S.W.A.T, leaving July and me alone.

  “Rowan, my gun is in its case underneath my driver’s seat,” she whispers and I give her a grateful smile. She walks me over to her car and I block people’s view of her while she opens her car door, kneels down and retrieves the gun out of the case.

  “Put it in the back of my pants and make sure my shirt is covering it,” I advise to her over my shoulder. Once I feel her put it safely in my pants and cover it with my shirt, I take off for the woods. As soon as I see I’m not being followed, I pull the gun out and run toward the shop. I figure I only have a few minutes before S.W.A.T starts to move in, so I push my legs as fast as they can go. The pain burning through my lungs and legs only fuels my fire to get to my girl as quickly as I can.

  The side of the back building is in sight and as I get closer, I notice Kyle’s motorcycle is parked in the woods. The sneaky bastard probably used the same route I just did, turned off the bike a couple blocks away and walked it over so no one could hear him coming. I run straight for the bike, pull my pocket knife out and stab at each of his tires just in case he tries to get away. I quietly walk over to the building and stop to listen for any voices. When I hear nothing, I move to the side of the building and am about to run over to the main building when the back door of the shop flies open and Kyle walks out with Valerie. I quickly move behind the side wall, but not before seeing duct tape over her mouth and her hands tied behind her back. She didn’t look injured, but I only had a brief couple of seconds to get a look. I hear her heels dragging against the concrete until they come to a stop and his keys jiggling, unlocking the gym door for them. The door opens and slams with a bang.

  I silently move closer to the door, wishing that the windows of the gym were lower for me to see inside. My next move is critical as my actions will dictate whether or not Valerie gets hurt or not. I saw the gun in his hand when he was walking her over. With the current situation and how the gym is laid out, there would be no attack of surprise on my part without him knowing I was there. There are mirrors all along the walls throughout the gym. He will see me coming even if his back is to the door. If I try to sneak in, he might shoot her. If I move too slowly, he might shoot me. I’d rather him shoot me than Valerie, but I need to figure out how to bide my time until S.W.A.T gets here.

  “Kyle!” I yell outside the door, deciding that for her safety, it’s best he knows I’m here. “I’m coming in to talk. My hands are up.” I put my gun inside the back pocket of my jeans, open the door, put my hands up and slowly walk inside the gym.

  Kyle has Valerie kneeling down in front of him with a gun pointed to her head. Tears are streaming down her cheeks and she is trying to scream through the duct tape. I quickly glance to my right to see Everett is taped to the bench press chair. Blood is dripping from his head, tape over his mouth and he’s unconscious. His coloring still looks decent, indicating he’s still alive.

  “I can’t catch a fucking break when it comes to you, Rowan,” Kyle says in disgust, clearly not anticipating that he would be seeing me again. ”I’m know you’re armed. Take your weapons off you slowly and push them toward the door.” I keep one of my hands up while the other removes the gun from my back. I do as he says and slide it away from me.

  “Let her go. Your problem is with me, not her.” I try to reason with him, but know that it’s pointless. He’s sweating profusely and his pupils are dilated, making me wonder if he’s on something or if it’s just adrenaline coursing through him.

  “You know I can’t do that. She knows too much now. Ya know, I tried to see what the fuss about her is for you, but the little bitch is a decent fighter.” His words make me take a harder look at him and I notice his shirt is ripped and there’s a nasty scratch along his cheek.

  I’m going to fucking kill him!

  “Why, Kyle? Why are you doing this? What have I ever done to make you hate me so much?” I ask, hoping that if I can buy us more time, it will distract him. “I thought we were brothers?”

  “Oh please! We were never brothers! We’re not even in the same league. You are Mr. High and Mighty, with the big brother in the NHL and prestigious Boston family. Oh yeah, I know all about your family.” My eyes shoot up in surprise at his knowledge. “Everyone loves Rowan! Everyone wants to be like Rowan! All the girls want Rowan! Even my parents couldn’t stop talking about you when they met you.” He shakes his head in disgust, his words rendering me speechless. Never once did I suspect his jealousy of me.

  “That’s not true. Your family loves you, you have tons of friends and you get plenty of women.”

  “My family fucking hates my guts and won’t talk to me. They all wish I was exactly like you! I have no true friends and I’m the pity fuck when these girls can’t seem to land you. All of them use me to try to get to you. You’ve robbed me of so many opportunities. I’m tired of being second best to you.”

  “What opportunities?” I ask, trying to distract him as I take a slow step forward. If I can get close enough to him, I might be able to get him to turn the gun on me instead of Valerie. He knows he can’t overpower me in physical strength, so he would shoot me first if I decided to rush at him.

  “It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m ready to start over in a new place with my new money. You two are the only people standing in my way now. So let’s get this over with. Change of plans, Valerie Baby, you’re going to watch your beloved die first and then I’ll put you out of your misery,” he snickers as he raises his arm and points the gun at me. Valerie tries to stand up, which causes his arm to waiver, giving me the opportunity to come closer.

  “Don’t fucking move or I will shoot her brains out in front of you!” he screams and I stop in my tracks, needing him to stick to his plan of shooting me before her. Valerie’s shoulders shake with her sobs, her tears streaming black down her face from her mascara. I look at her fiercely, mentally telling her it’s going to be okay. When I look back up at him, I try not to let my eyes wander to the red dot I see pointed at his chest. There’s got to be a sniper on the main building’s roof in order for it to be coming through the window like that.

  I try to keep Kyle’s eyes on me and not go to the mirror behind me where he will see that r
ed dot, but I don’t know how much time I have left. There’s a chance that when the sniper shoots at Kyle, his reflexes might cause him to pull the trigger. Since I’ve gotten closer to him, the chances of him missing me are slim.

  “Angel, close your eyes,” I tell her, not wanting her to see what’s about to happen. My request makes her whimper as she cries harder.

  “Awe, how fucking sweet. Even up until the end you’re always thinking of her,” Kyle sneers as he squints one eye to make sure he’s focused on his target - me.

  “Close your eyes, Angel, and remember that I love you,” I softly say when she shakes her head no at me. I nod at her and she nods back, and even though her mouth is covered, I know she is telling me she loves me. I let out the breath I was holding when I finally see her close her eyes.

  I shut my eyes and start to count, because either way, someone is going to be shot.

  In three…

  Two…

  One…

  BANG!

  Epilogue

  VALERIE

  I swim to the edge of the pool and stare out at the bluest of waters I’ve ever laid eyes upon. When you look straight ahead, the water seems like it’s never ending, but when I turn my head to the left, I see the village of white washed buildings with blue roofs matching the gorgeous hues of the Aegean Sea.

  Pictures of Santorini don’t even come close to the beauty of what it is in reality.

  I’m not the same person I was one year ago. I’ve always liked myself, but now I love myself. I‘m more confident in my skin and who I’ve become. I wear my hair down more because I see the beauty in its color and texture. I wear my contacts more often so I can look people directly in the eyes when speaking to them. I’ve started wearing pastel colors because it brightens my mood. I’m more adventurous and bold, because life can be taken from you in an instant. I embrace my differences compared to my mother and sister instead of feeling like the third wheel when I’m around them. Probably the biggest change I’ve made in my life is that I’ve stopped allowing my father to make me feel inadequate just because I was born a girl.