Page 60 of Crush

“Partying and stuff?”

“No, the opposite. She became a recluse at first. Hardly left the house,” he paused for a moment and then his next words floored me, “And then she was taken from me before I could support her as a father should.”

My mouth dropped open in confusion. What the actual fuck?

“What do you mean?Taken? As in she became more distant, emotionally,” I questioned, still shocked by the amount of empathy I felt at that point.

“No. She was taken, stolen away in the night.”

And the seriousness of the situation shot up into the next gear. My tongue felt like lead in my mouth.

“Kidnapped. Amber was involved in some bad business. It was all my fault. She was only fifteen. My partner at the time was stealing from me. He had gambling debts and owed money to some nasty people. I was named as his scapegoat and it took me time to raise the money and so they took Amber.”

An intense feeling bit into me, a stab of fury pushing into my chest. “kidnapped?”

Jonny swallowed and then nodded. “Yes. She was kidnapped. The crime family involved hired a contractor to do their dirty work. He took her from the stables one evening. I had never felt so helpless. We were told not to call the police, or they would hurt her. Hurt my baby girl.”

“Fuck. I’m so sorry, Jon. I had no idea.”

“Of course, you didn’t. No one talks about it, which is probably not a good thing. It’s like it’s a dirty secret that has been left to fester.”

“So, you got her back safe though. She’s here. They didn’t hurt her?” I was so desperate for him to agree with me, that I was babbling.

“Yes. In a fashion. I paid the debt, but it took time to gather the cash. By then, the man who took her had become obsessed with her. When I paid the money, he didn’t give her back.”

“You’re fucking kidding me. So, he kept her hostage?” My language would have seemed disrespectful under normal circumstances but it felt like I was losing the plot.

“That’s the thing. No not really. She went with him willingly.”

“Willingly? Why?”

I shoved to my feet and started to pace, suddenly feeling like a caged animal. What the actual hell? A fifteen-year-old child?

“Yes. She turned sixteen during her captivity but she was still a child. They became involved with each other, and she was infatuated, even though he was a criminal and what he was doing was highly illegal. Her being a minor at the time. There was also a ten-year age gap.”

“So, they had aphysicalarrangement? And did he—” I stopped myself. Why the hell wasthatany of my business but I couldn’t help it, Ineededto know. Had Amber been the victim of rape? Wasthatthe reason she was so defensive and behaved the way she did around men? That jaded vibe. I thought about what Mia had said. She must have known and so that’s what she was talking about. I felt sick.

“Was Amber raped?”

Jonny swallowed, a flash of pain darting across his face, “No. I don’t believe so. I think the relationship was consensual. But she was a child. She didn’t know any better. He manipulated her. Used her.”

Running my hands across my face, I glanced towards the closed doors, wondering if Amber was still asleep. This new information had me reeling and I wanted to go to her. My protective instinct kicked in again and I needed to drag her into my arms and tell her she was OK.

“So, what happened?” I asked, lowering myself back into my chair. The lines on Jonny’s face were pulled tight as he gazed across at me.

“They ran away together. I engaged the police and paid to keep it out of the media. The crime family involved washed their hands of the situation as Harker, the contractor who took her, acted out that part on his own. They didnothingto help, just threatened that if their name was mentioned in the press, that I would pay the price.”

“So, what happened then, how did they find her?”

“The private investigators I hired eventually tracked them down to a house just outside of London. They then sent the police in.”

“They got the guy I take it?” I asked hopefully.

“Yes,” Jonny said weakly.

I then asked the obvious. “What was his name?”

“Alexander Harker.”

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