Powerful Read online

  Powerful

  Lauren Cooper

  Powerful © 2018 by Lauren Cooper All Rights Reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Cover Photo Canva

  Cover Model Benjamin Cooper

  Cover designed by Lauren Cooper & Phoebe Davies

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Lauren Cooper

  Visit my website at authorlaurencooper.wordpress.com

  Printed in the United Kingdom

  First Printing: 2018

  Published by Lauren Cooper

  For my squishy.

  Spencer, I hope you never read my books.

  You inspired me to chase my dreams while encouraging you with yours.

  I love you to the moon and back.

  With special thanks to my sister.

  Tink thank you for all your help with the cover.

  Love you millions.

  I told her I was lost in this world and she smiled because she was too. We were all lost somehow but we didn’t care. We had in each other’s chaos found each other.

  Atticus

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter One

  Liam

  T

  wenty-Four Hours. One Thousand and Forty-Four minutes. Eighty-Six Thousand Four Hundred Seconds. Amelia is still missing, and I have no way of finding out where the hell she is. Raking my hands through my hair, I curse inwardly almost biting my own tongue off through anger alone. Why the fuck didn’t I run after her? Fucking Cassidy. Why the fuck did she have to turn up? Amelia’s words are on repeat around my fucking skull. Did Amelia honestly think that I had asked Cassidy to come over? Once the lift doors had caged Amelia safely away from me I’d turned my attention to the blonde witch.

  “Booked?” I seethed, my eyes boring down into her false lashed rimmed ones.

  “I was just joking around, I know you really want to see me Liam” she pouts. Her too big lips painted with a cracking red lipstick. Anger bubbles in my stomach as I grab her bony wrist between my fingers, tugging her arm a little too hard as I drag her towards the stairwell. What did I ever see in her?

  “Get the fuck out and don’t ever come back” I spit, my nose mere inches away from hers.

  “Liam…”

  “Fuck off” I swing the service stairway open and fling her inside, slamming and locking the door behind her. I could give a fuck what she has to say. The one person I want to talk to isn’t here. Why, Why the fuck do I always end up with the psycho ones? I hear the clicking of Cassidy’s heels on the other side of the door, relief washing over me like a tidal wave that she’s finally fucking leaving! It’s been a matter of minutes I’m sure, but it feels like hours. I have no idea what the hell I seen in her all those years ago, she was just another warm body to get my dick wet. Call me an asshole, I know, I probably was one. But, Jesus can’t a man have a few one-night stands and not have the followers afterwards? My head starts to thump, and I make my way to the kitchen, grabbing the bottle of whiskey, my phone and dialing Amelia.

  “Liam” Jessica’s voice cuts through my thoughts as she burns a trail across my polished wood floor.

  “Stop doing that” I admonish as I lean further back into my office chair.

  “What?” she snaps, crossing her arms across her chest and coming to a stop in front of me.

  “Pacing. sit still” I tilt my chin towards one of the chairs parked opposite my desk and run my pointer finger across my lip.

  “I can’t sit still Liam” she hisses through clenched teeth as I flick my eyes towards hers. I don’t know why I called Jess, I have no idea how the fuck she’s supposed to help me, but she has to. In some, sick, twisted way I thought that because she went missing, she would have all the answers I needed.

  “You need to call the police”

  “No”

  “Why the hell not?” her baby blue eyes, the same as mine, burn holes in my head as I stand and stalk to the window. The sun is setting on another day and I’m still no closer to finding Amelia. I didn’t sleep all night, I couldn’t stay in my flat because it smelt like her, and everywhere I turned all I could see was us together and so I’d called Becca to meet me at the office where she tried over and over to get the tracker on Amelia’s phone to work. I’d sent her home early this morning when her attempts proved hopeless and called Jess.

  “Amelia doesn’t want the police involved in this”

  “Liam, I don’t think she has much choice at this point” she comes to stand beside me, her hand resting gently on my shoulder. I grit my teeth, hating with every ounce of my being the truth behind her words, but the logical part of me is telling me that Amelia is fine. It’s possible she just needed the space after seeing Cassidy. Hell, I’d be pissed if one of her exes had shown up like that. Deep down I know that isn’t the case. Amelia wouldn’t ignore Becca’s calls if she was only pissed at me. After a few seconds of watching the sun disappear on the horizon, the bright oranges and yellows dampened by the ever-grey sky of London, Jess inhales deeply before speaking.

  “What can I do?” her whisper fills the space around us, only serving to remind me of how alone I actually am. Clenching my fists at my sides, I inhale deeply, calming myself and willing the sensible words to form on my tongue. I’ll be fucked if I don’t find her and something has happened. I’d never live with the guilt.

  “How did you get out?” I ask before turning my face towards hers.

  “I didn’t, they let me go” her voice doesn’t waver, and I realize for the first time in a long while, Jess doesn’t sound nervous talking about it. As happy as that makes me, the chances of Amelia being kidnapped and then let go are pretty fucking slim. I know the stats. After Jess, I scoured every file I could get my hands on. I learnt the many ways of kidnapping and how majority of victims don’t make it out alive. The only way I could ever stop it from happening again was to literally lock her in a cage. Obviously, I couldn’t do that then, but now? Hell, I’m locking all of them up.

  “I can’t remember how to do this, I don’t know what to
do” my own voice cracks and I have to roll my lips together to stop any more stupid emotion pouring out of me.

  Turning, I head towards my desk, the papers scattered across it resemble the same muddled mess in my skull. The bottle I’d downed last night wasn’t helping. I hadn’t given myself the luxury of sleeping off the hangover. Instead I’d forced myself to work on getting Amelia back.

  How can one woman cause me so much angst? I’ll be popping ant-acids by the bottle and washing them down with whiskey if she doesn’t come back to me soon. The same day that her smart mouth had answered me back, the way her body language changed as she sought the strength to stand up to me, was the same day I realized that she would be my biggest challenge. One I wouldn’t be afraid to try and conquer. And now as fate would have it, I can’t fucking find her. I don’t have the resources to try and find out where she is, and damn if that doesn’t annoy me. Of all the things I advanced myself in after my sister was brought back to me, actually finding a missing person wasn’t one of them. I knew how to protect someone near to me with the use of my fists and sharp mind, how to delve into people’s lives with background checks, but finding someone who isn’t supposed to be found? Next to impossible. What am I supposed to do? Aside from the cage idea? Installing a microchip in everyone close to me would have seen me sent to a mental hospital.

  “Have you checked her bank records?” Jessica’s quiet voice is barley loud enough to snap me back to reality.

  I place my hands on my hips, gluing them there to stop my fidgeting fingers.

  “What?” I snap my head back to Jess as she nears the desk.

  “Her bank records? Are you even sure she’s gone to Wales?” she shrugs her slim shoulders.

  Annoyance floods my veins far too quickly for my liking. What does my sister think I am? A CIA agent?

  Give me a break.

  Squeezing my eyes shut all I can see is Amelia’s chocolate brown orbs as they shone with tears and her beautiful features looked pained. I hadn’t run straight for her because I didn’t know if she wanted me to. I mean, she had asked me to leave before, so I thought she wanted space. Not this much fucking space but I thought…. I don’t know what I was thinking. Anger that I hadn’t run after her and wrapped her firmly in my embrace races through me like a bubbling volcano threatening to erupt, and I’m totally helpless to fucking find her! Lashing out, my arm strikes against the papers on my desk, my elbow connecting with the computer monitor on top, sending it all crashing to the floor. I’m not angry, I’m livid. Who the hell do these people think they are? Paper swarms around us, no doubt Claire will rip me a new one for messing up the case files she spent hours working on. Raking my hands through my hair I glance at Jess who hasn’t even so much as flinched at my movements and then at the quiet intruder stood in the doorway.

  “I might have something” Becca’s voice sounds hoarse from little or no sleep, the black bags under her eyes show she’s struggling with this just as much as I am. I called Amelia a thousand times, left a hundred messages and sent a handful of texts all the while storming around the flat and when she didn’t reply to any of them I called her best friend. Becca insisted that she was definitely going to Wales, having heard the announcements at Paddington on the other end of the phone, but she didn’t know if she’d actually made it there. After trying to get hold of her herself, and trying the tracker app on Amelia’s phone, she called me back. Panicking.

  “What?” I snap.

  “Liam” Jessica hisses at me before turning her attention to Becca.

  “She never checked into the hotel” Becca’s bottom lip quivers, as another gash opens across my chest. I have no idea how Amelia has forced herself into my life like this. But she didn’t force me, did she? I forced her. I chased her, I made her like me even when she clearly didn’t want to. Do I regret it? No. Do I hate her for leaving like this? Abso-fucking-lutley.

  “Are you absolutely certain?” I ask, my hands going to my hips again. I step over the mess on my floor towards her. Forest green eyes cast down, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized was trapped in my throat.

  “Okay” I say quietly, unable to reassure her when I feel as if I’m on the cliff edge about to fall into the biggest black hole life could have thrown at me.

  If she didn’t check into the hotel, she could literally be anywhere. For all I know, she could still be in London.

  “She’s never done this before?” I turn back towards my desk, gathering up the piles of paper as I do.

  “No. Never, and her phone is off.” Becca wrings her hands in front of her.

  “It was nearly dead when she left yesterday” I offer, wanting to reassure her even slightly. I can’t deal with two emotional women, especially when neither of them is the one I’m desperately craving.

  Amelia was never meant to be anything more than just a quick fuck. I didn’t want to take the business away from her, but I was prepared to woo her into accepting that Bellucci would never be in the company name. I’d always wanted Hadleigh to be associated with me and only me. That was until I met her. One kiss was never enough. It would never be enough. I’ve never been addicted to anything until she came along, and it’s been a mere few weeks.

  “I’ve called a few nursing homes in Wales to see if I can find the one where Grace is at, but I’ve come up with nothing. How can I not know where she is? I never thought to even ask” Becca whimpers slumping herself down into the chair opposite me. Jess busies herself replacing my monitor on the corner of my desk.

  “Have you been to her place?” I glance up to Becca who shakes her head slowly from side to side.

  “I’ll go” I say on a breath as I shove my chair back with such force it bounces against the wall behind me. I don’t give a fuck if it’s freshly painted.

  I see Jess moving to follow me from the corner of my eye before I shrug my arms into my coat and turn to face her.

  “Don’t. I’ll meet you back here”

  “Liam…” she starts but I’m already out the door.

  London is too bright and chirpy in comparison to my dark mood. I hate it and everyone in it. I decide to walk the short distance to Amelia’s flat in an attempt to clear my head. I don’t want to turn up smelling like I spent the night at a distillery if she is there. Part of me wants to break out running, what if something has happened to her and I’m taking too long to get to her? My sensible side, or what little I have left of it, tells me she’s fine, that things like this don’t happen to people like me. Except that they do. They have.

  Subconsciously I must have feared enough for Amelia that my feet began to move faster all on their own. By the time I reached her building I was light headed and out of breath. I hadn’t been fitting in as many training sessions since Amelia became my cardio. As soon as this shit is done James will have to whip my ass back into shape.

  I nod at Rick, the security guy for the building and he smiles knowingly. Grateful that he doesn’t stop to chit chat I breeze past to the lift and punch the button for Amelia’s floor.

  I have no idea how I’m going to get into Amelia’s flat if she isn’t here. Or if she is and doesn’t want to speak to me. Surely, if that where the case she would have called Becca to tell her she was okay and just wanted space? That’s what girls do anyway right? Tell their friends bloody everything.

  The lead in my stomach grows heavier as the lift pings open onto her floor. I’m so high on adrenaline right now I’ll kick her damned door down if she doesn’t open up.

  The hallway is eerily quiet. So quiet that my shoes echo off the carpeted floor. Tilting my chin up I inhale deeply because I know I need to prepare for this. I need to do whatever it takes to save the woman I love.

  My vision clouds over and my heart beat drums in my ears as I near her door. The new lock I had fitted dangles by a screw and any hold I thought I had on reality snaps. The last piece of string holding me together unravels as I push the door open.

  Everything is as we left it two days ago. A fucking mes
s. The cleaning crew isn’t supposed to be here until Monday. A light from the kitchen flickers in its broken socket, highlighting the paint strewn across her walls in a neon hue. I inch my way around her space, looking for any sign of her being here, but I already knew she wasn’t. I just refused to believe it. Inching my way down her hallway, the same one where I pinned her gorgeous ass to the wall I make it to her bedroom. The bed where I first showed her just how much I liked her. Hell Loved her. I fucking loved her from the second her sassy ass met mine at the office. The sheets are all crumpled and not in the way we left them.

  Everything is the way we left it. Except the fresh piece of paper that’s been placed neatly on the bed.

  Cassidy is ours. If you don’t pay, they both die.

  My nostrils flare and I almost crack a tooth as anger pools around my body. So that’s why she suddenly turned up?

  I want to scream that they can kill her all they like, just give me my Mia.

  I had no control over any of this and I was about to blow a few hundred blood vessels if I didn’t get a hang on things. I search for a bag at the bottom of Amelia’s wardrobe before rummaging in her drawers for clothes for her. Like fuck is she ever coming back here.

  I don’t know what I threw in there all together, but I grabbed anything that looked important. I managed to rip her small safe from the wardrobe and shoved that into the bag. Seriously I’d be having words with her once she was home for her shit security systems.

  I did a once over and decided that she could replace anything else she would need or want. I walked out of that flat and back to the office with the biggest grin on my face. They could threaten me all they wanted, they wouldn’t get very fucking far.

  I’m coming baby.

  “Go and have a look in her office, see if you can find something” I demand, dropping the duffle bag next to the door as I walk back into the office.