He undoes his seatbelt and pushes the door ajar. I undo my seatbelt and throw my door open wide and sprint as fast as I can in the opposite direction of the plane.
I don't have a plan. I move as quickly as my body will run, away from Matteo. I will hopefully find someone who can help me. A police officer, someone in the military, or any person with a car who will stop and drive me far, far away from here.
I sense him behind me. I'm a runner and in shape. I’m fast; he's faster. I hoped catching him off guard for a second would allow me enough of a head start to escape. But I was wrong.
His arms wrap around my body as he tackles me to the rough tarmac below. My face hits the ground with a thud and scrapes harshly across the tarmac while the rest of my body is stricken with the force of his body.
"You don't know when to give up, do you? You’re mine. I'm kidnapping you, and there's nothing you can do to deter me. Fighting won’t help, it will only earn you more punishment later."
I struggle against his arms, trying frantically to smash free, but his arms tighten more around my arms, making it impossible for me to make any of the moves I learned in self-defense classes over the years. I can't physically break free, but I can convince him of all the reasons he shouldn’t do this.
"You can't take me. I never take a vacation or miss a day of work. Tomorrow morning when I don't show up for work, my boss will call and try to find me. My friend, Jules, will call the police when she can’t reach me. I already called Heath and told him you are here and to contact the police if anything happened to me. You won't be able to get away with it. People will start searching for me; the police will become involved, maybe even the FBI. They will hunt you down and put you in prison for the rest of your life."
He laughs as he stands up, pulling me to my feet and twisting my arm behind my back. I try to move, but I can’t wiggle free without snapping my arm in two. Maybe the pain of breaking my arm would be worth it to be free.
"I'm not too worried about the police or FBI. They can't touch me. And we all know how well Heath was able to save Nina. You do have a point though; I don't want people searching for you until I'm ready for them to find out you're missing."
His eyes rake over my body. "Where is your phone?"
"In my purse, back in Saul’s car."
His hands travel over my body. Into the pockets of my pants as he searches for a phone that doesn’t exist. Then his eyes burn into my chest.
“No,” I say.
His hand reaches down the top of my shirt and over my breast, softly grazing my nipple as he forages for my phone. I squirm beneath his fingers, partially because I want his hand to stop invading my personal space and partly because I want to know how it would feel for him to touch me for real.
“I guess you weren’t lying.” He removes his hands from my shirt, reaches into his back pocket, and pulls out his phone, handing it to me.
“Call work and tell them you're taking an extended leave of absence. That you found out your mother has cancer and you will be taking care of her. And you won't be back anytime soon."
I smirk. "No."
He reaches into the back of his pants and aims the gun at my head. "Leave the message, or I'll kill you."
I stare at the gun. I should be terrified, but I'm not. "You won't shoot me. You hardly shot Saul, and you had no use for him. Me, you have use for. You won't kill me, or even harm me."
He glares at me as his nostrils flare and his face turns red with rage. He places the gun back into the back of his pants. "Do it, and I won't look for Nina for one week. She gets seven more days of safety."
Damn it. How was Matteo able to figure out my weakness so quickly? One week is a long time. In a week, I could find a way to escape. In a week, I could find a way to warn Nina and make sure she stays safe forever. In one week, I could kill Matteo.
"How do I know that you'll keep your word?"
"Because I'm an honorable person. I keep my promises."
He holds out the phone. I take it, not needing to consider his offer any further. I dial the number for my work. I realize as soon as it goes to voicemail I could change course. I could tell them Matteo took me and to look for me in Italy. I could save myself. But Matteo would still take me, and Nina would still be at risk.
“Hi, this is Eden. I'm calling to let you know I will be taking an extended leave of absence. I was in a car accident tonight. I'm fine, but it shook me up a little bit, and it made me realize I'm not living my life. I need a vacation. I’ve been working too hard for too long and not enjoying life. I don't know how long my absence will be, but I'll contact you when I'm ready to return. In the meantime, I'll be using all my vacation days I saved over the years. Jules can inform you of anything you need on my past clients. The other prosecutors should be able to handle new cases, since I closed all my current cases.” I press end.
He holds out his hand, and I toss the phone back.
"You didn't do what I said."
"My mom died years ago; your plan wouldn’t have worked.”
He twists my arm again and walks me toward the plane, then up the stairs onto the lavish private jet. I've never been on a plane this nice before. There are leather chairs and couches everywhere. A small kitchen and bar area toward the back and doors I assume lead to bathrooms or possibly even bedrooms all the way in the rear.
I don't understand why it takes me this long for it to hit me again that I'm being stolen and I have to do everything I can to fight back. I turn, planning on elbowing Matteo in the nose as sharply as I can with my elbow, but he blocks me and grabs my other arm.