Amber's Advocate

Chapter Eighteen

Safe

     Amber did not feel safe. 

    Safe was a word she didn't use lightly, she felt safe when she was in London.  (Even though London was as unfamiliar to her as the British sense of humour).   She felt safe when she was behind Fort-Knox; the town house she shared with Millie and Liam.   She was safe when she was with Cade, he had somehow implemented himself into her life without her even realising.  She did not feel safe- not right now.  She should have stayed at the hotel, why didn't she? It had been a stupid argument, pointless.  Her anxiety and nerves had been riding on her, hence her snapping at him.  He was only trying to help her cope... she knew now, she had to have a little bit of faith.   Now she was roaming around the block of a concrete jungle she used to know,  her feet having taken her away from 'safe'...

Stupid feet.  

      What the hell was wrong with her?  She made the decision to head back, it was dark and it was late and she was tired.  She could feel the jet lag creeping up on her.  She had been walking for an hour, an hour of feeling destitute... even though that hour had felt like the longest hour of her life.   She hailed a yellow taxi and got in.  Sinking back into the leather, she closed her eyes and exhaled.  When she opened her eyes to look outside, she noticed The Waldorf blur passed and immediately she felt the unease... where the hell were they going?

     "You just passed the hotel... excuse me?" Amber said, leaning forward, her arm resting on the driver's seat, "Did you hear me? Hello?"

     She tapped him on the shoulder but he didn't even acknowledge her.  She looked at the profile of the man sitting in the driver's seat, he was bald, had a pasty complexion and looked like he'd had scoffed too many burgers and fries that no matter how much exercise he did, it wouldn't be shift the extra tyres he was carrying  He also didn't look like the ID displayed on the dashboard.  Shit! Amber reached for the door to open it but they were locked, she tried the window but the glass wouldn't go down.  She yelled and screamed, she might as well not have a voice.  He ignored her. 

     Amber felt a pin prick in her arm and she looked down to see she'd been stabbed with something- her vision became cloudy immediately, "Wh...wha...what di...did... y..y...you give me?" She slumped forward, hitting her head on the seat in front of her.  She heard the sound of laughing as she blacked out.

***

    Amber screamed awake, hoping to God that she wasn't living and breathing through what she considered to be one of the worst nightmares ever.  She'd been stabbed repeatedly and whenever she came back to life, the faceless attacker would continue to hack at her before she died.  Amber closed her eyes, forcing at will the bile rising in her throat, back down. She felt disorientated, dizzy and hungover.  Her mind was scattered like jigsaw puzzles, she was trying to piece things together. She tried to move, but she found out all too soon that she couldn't.  And that was when a light switched on- flooding the space she was in with light.  She blinked, adjusting her sight to the overpowering brightness.  Her feet were braced together with cable ties, as were her arms to the arm rests of her chair, she couldn't move, even if she tried... God, she was scared... she wasn't prepared for this... but she wasn't prepared for that voice either...

    "Amber... Amber... Amber... "

    "R... Ri...Rick," she stammered, "Is that you?"

    He came towards her from out of the darkness and planted a kiss square on her lips.   She tried to squirm, tried to move her face away from his.   He was having none of it, his dry callused fingers dug into her face and yanked it towards him.  He pried her lips open with his tongue- but she bit into his.  He yelled, letting go of her as he tasted his blood in his mouth and the throbbing pain with it.  He back handed her and her face flipped to the side like a switch.

    "You deserved that, you fucking cunt!" she said through clenched teeth, her face unmoved.  

    "Still got your bite, I see," Rick spat the blood, "Watch your mouth."

     "You lost all power over me a long time ago... so piss off!" Amber shouted.

     "Don't test me..." Rick began.

     "Or what? You'll slap me, kick me, punch me... go on then... take your best shot, you pathetic little man!" Amber laughed sarcastically.

    Rick didn't notice the change in Amber until she used her mouth... there was so much venom and hate in her tone, it was almost as if witnessing her for the second time, the first time being when he first met her in the bar and she was a feisty little thing.  She was even feistier now.  When they'd started going out, she'd become less feisty and more subdued, more soft and she'd somehow changed. 

    "This is how it is, right Rick?  You love exercising your power over women... you enjoy being the bigger person, the one that rules the roost... you like speaking with your fists rather then your mouth and you like leaving carnage in your wake... I should know." 

    "Shut you're fucking hole!" Rick yelled.

    "Can't take the truth can you... hurts doesn't it? Your father was just the same..."

    Rick lashed out, punching her in her gut,  "You don't know anything about my father!" Rick shouted.

   "You're right, I know nothing about him... but I knew he hit you... and you passed that onto your unborn child... I lost my child because you killed it... you're a murderer... a killer!" Amber spat.

   Rick was about to throw another punch but he stopped midway, "What?!"

  Amber broke down in hysterical sobs, she had never told him he could have been a father... nor that she was pregnant... but she had lost her unborn child to his savage intent.  The tears wouldn't stop pouring down her face.  He yanked her face towards his and the look in his eyes weren't savage, violence or anything, they were blank.

   "What did you just say?" his voice was quiet, she had barely heard him.

   "I was pregnant with your kid but you killed it... and I wished you had killed me too..." Amber said, the bile rising in her throat.

    Rick staggered back, as if she had landed a punch to his gut, "You're making that shit up?"

   "I wish I was... I wish I was," Amber said, her head hanging down. 

    A door opened somewhere and foot steps echoed, "What the fuck did you do? I thought we'd agreed you wouldn't touch her! Fuck!"

   There was no reply. 

    "Rick, what the fuck is wrong with you?! Have you even called her boyfriend yet? Rick, what the fuck?!" The man became impatient, "Do I have to do everything myself?"

**

   "I don't believe in coincidences," the New York police detective said to Cade, "I wondered why it never appeared on our radar that he'd been discharged from prison... usually we're the first to know these things... especially as this story was strewn across the media like it was gossip.  Our officers are looking into that."

    "I want to know..." Cade didn't get to finish his sentence as his mobile rang, "It's Amber's phone," he said to the detective. 

    "Let's put a tracer on it," the detective whispered.

    "Amber baby, is that you?"

    "Bring me two million in paper in two large sacks, the destination will be sent by text.  Don't involve the police and you'll get your darling girl back," the voice was a demand.

    "How do I know this isn't some kind of joke?" Cade said. 

    There was a long pause and then Amber came on the phone, "Cade... Cade... don't give Stan the money, don't give him..." And then he heard her scream and a crash and the phone went dead.

    "If they fucking hurt her, I'm going to kill them!"

    His phone beeped and he looked at the text message, "Where the hell are The Docks?"

   The detective was already throwing commands at his team and there was a sudden urgency and buzz in the room, "Let's go... Cade you'll have to stay here."

   "Hell no, I'm not staying here... I'm coming with you,"  Cade responded.

    "It's advisable you stay here for your safety," the detective said.

    "If it was your woman?" Cade responded.

    "Let's get you a bullet proof vest," the detective said and ushered them all out of the room.