Love Never Goes Out of Style/CH 24
Matt was in the car on the way to the cabin and smiled, looking down at Betty, who had fallen asleep. So, he nudged her head gently into his lap. He brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and took a deep breath. He knew things were far from ideal, but he still felt like he could convince her how wrong she had been to just dismiss their relationship and that the reason he had left for Africa had been to try and please her in the first place.
The driver told him, "We're coming up to the bridge right now, Mr. Hartley. We should be there in less than fifteen minutes."
"Good. After we get settled, you can go, Martin."
"But, sir. You don't need security?"
Matt pointed at the mountains all around. "Where's she going to go? And how would someone get up here to us? You've got chains and I've got the security cameras in the cabin, so if someone did try to come up here, I could tell they were on their way. This is the only road in. Thanks, but we'll be fine. All we need is a little time to ourselves and she'll forget all about what's-his-name."
"Daniel. And I'm not about to forget his name." Betty said, sitting up suddenly, as she woke, and realized her head was in Matt's lap. She made a face, but then bit her lip and corrected herself. "We're not quite to that point, yet, Matt. I think you're right, though. You and I do need time alone for a while." She stretched, "I'm so tired. That flight seemed really long."
Matt shrugged, "It wasn't long at all, really. Less than two hours. It just seemed like it because you fell asleep so you're disoriented, that's all, sweetie."
"Right. Whoa! Look at all the mountains! Is this the Alps? Are we in Switzerland? What part? This is so pretty!"
Matt narrowed his eyes, and gave the driver a look to make sure he didn't give away any information. "These are part of the Alps, yes, Miss. They are quite lovely, aren't they?"
Betty just looked around, as if she was merely appreciating the scenery. She saw there was a set of spare keys in the console in between the two seats. She smiled at Matt and slowly ran her hand up his leg.
He raised his eyebrows, "What's all this? The mountain air makes you horny or something?"
"Matt! Don't be so disgusting. I don't know, I was just thinking…it might be sort of fun to see what we've been missing all this time. It has been a long time."
"Well, for me, maybe. Obviously not for you. What the hell, Betty? Am I supposed to believe you slept with Daniel this morning and you're going to sleep with me tonight? Since when did you turn into such a slutty girl? Is that what Daniel has done to you?"
Inside, Betty was getting extremely angry now and she wanted nothing more than to slap Matt (or better yet to knock him over the head, and hopefully knock some sense into that thick skull of his), but she pretended not to let his comments bother her, while she palmed the key and quickly slipped it into her pocket. Then before he noticed what she was doing, she grabbed Matt's face with both her hands and kissed him passionately. At first he went along with it, but eventually, he pushed her away, and held her at arm's length.
"What are you up to? I know you. You aren't this hot and cold, Betty. First, you were ready to scratch my eyes out. You kicked me and punched me at the hotel and slapped me when I tried to kiss you earlier on the plane. Now, all of a sudden you're into me?
Not that I don't encourage this kind of behavior, and I might be way more turned on than you right now, but I'm still not quite that stupid, honey. What are you trying to pull here? Get me to let my guard down then kick me in the balls again or something? Is that what you had in mind?"
She leaned back against the seat of the car, as they pulled up in front of the cabin. It was stone and wood with a chimney that was going and looked quite lovely in the snow-covered clearing, practically on top of a mountain pass.
She looked around, "This is just like the cabin I told you about in my dreams. It's beautiful, Matt. Really. That was very sweet of you to remember."
He relaxed for a moment and smiled, "Yeah, of course I remembered! I knew you'd love it when I saw the listing, so I got it for you. Come on in, I'll show you around. It's small and cozy."
She nodded and smiled at the driver as he held open the door for them. "Thank you. Are you staying, too?"
The driver shook his head, "No, Miss. I'll be taking my leave directly. It was lovely to have met you, however. I hope you enjoy your stay here. It is quite breathtaking in the morning."
She couldn't resist venting a bit of sarcasm, "Enjoy my stay? Yes, I'm sure I'm going to love being kidnapped here. Great views! Too bad you can never leave. Do they call this Hotel California?"
The man smiled in spite of himself. He couldn't help liking this spitfire. He felt sorry for her and wasn't quite sure about Matt Hartley's mental state at this point. But a paycheck was a paycheck and he had frankly done much more questionable things over the years working for all the Hartley's. He kissed Betty's hand, "Good evening, Miss Suarez."
"Goodbye, Martin. Be careful driving back down the mountain. When are you coming back?"
He shrugged, "That depends on Mr. Hartley. Will that be all, sir?"
Matt nodded, and grabbed his bag out of the trunk from Martin, "Sure. For now. I'll call you sometime later in the week to have you bring us some supplies. Thanks. See you later."
"Very good, sir." The man hesitated looking at Betty's sad countenance as he got back in the car, and took off down the treacherous road down the mountain.
Matt swept his arm in front of Betty, "After you, my dear. Welcome to Casa…Matt and Betty."
She didn't comment, but walked in ahead of Matt, taking everything in as much as she could, trying to think ahead. She obviously would have to wait until Martin came back with the car. And at least she had a spare key now, so perhaps she could find a way to distract both Martin and Matt at the same time long enough for her to steal the car. It wouldn't be easy driving fast down the mountainous road, however. In the meantime, she would have to start gaining Matt's trust somehow. Then she would wait for her chance to somehow distract him (or possibly hit him with something and knock him out. It couldn't be that hard, she thought, if Daniel was able to knock him down!)
Victoria Hartley rolled her eyes as a tall American and a shorter, Scottish man walked purposefully to her and cornered her on either side as she was leaving the spa. "What's this about? Who are you two now? What do you want? Let me guess, More thugs associated with that horrid little Betty Suarez?"
Christina and Amanda walked up to her. Amanda seemed a bit more intimidated by Victoria, but Christina narrowed her eyes, and pointed her finger directly In the older woman's face, "You had better tell us where your loony son has taken Betty right now, or we'll be reporting her kidnappin to the authorities immediately and I don't think you want the scandal against your good name, messin up yer social standin, do you, Mrs. Hartley?"
"Oh, good Lord, I should have known you were all in that horrid Betty's gang of ruffians. I have no idea where my son is. And I certainly don't keep tabs on Betty Suarez."
"I suggest you think about that really hard. We got a flight plan for somewhere in Switzerland. Does that ring any bells? Do you have some little family hideaway there?"
"No. We don't have any property in Switzerland, other than bank accounts. I promise you. Look, I went over all this with her mobster sister and brother-in-law earlier when they tried to intimidate me. Don't you think if I knew where my son was I'd tell you? I was trying to prevent this from happening in the first place! I don't want your precious little Betty anywhere near my son!"
"Well, if you're thinking he's too good for her, think again, lady! Matt belongs in jail! What he's doing is illegal and he's gone off the deep end! He has hired guards with guns who attacked Daniel and Bobby and their pilot already and he's got Betty against her will!"
Victoria stepped in front of Amanda, causing her to back up, and almost bump into a plant. "I do think my son is far too good for Betty Suarez, and believe me, I have no idea why he is so besotted with her. But I'll tell you what, just to prove to you that I want nothing but her safe return, I'll let you have access to some of my resources.
I honestly don't know where in Switzerland he would have taken her, but as soon as you find out, let me know and I'll be happy to take my helicopter to get her away from him, as long as you agree not to file any formal complaints or alert any media or authorities. Is that fair?"
Christina and the others all nodded, "Agreed. Do you have any ideas of how we can find out where he might have taken her?"
"I can possibly give you our family real estate lawyer. He may have worked with Matt on buying property in Switzerland recently that I'm unaware of. That's the best I can do."
Victoria looked at the group. Tyler began softly,"If we promise not to report Matt…"
Victoria looked the young man up and down, "Do I know you? You look familiar."
Tyler gave her a slight smirk, and extended his hand to her, "I'm Tyler. I believe you used to be married to my biological father, Cal Hartley?"
Her eyes widened, and she drew back in shock, "I see. You're Cal and Claire Meade's b…"
"Don't say it. If you do, I swear, I'll deck you myself, lady." Amanda stood toe-to-toe with Victoria now, with her hands on her hips.
Tyler smiled at Amanda, and put his hand on her shoulders, and leaned down to whisper, "Thanks, sweetie."
Daniel paced back and forth as Alejandro told them, "I suggest you all buckle up. We're going to be going through some turbulence in a moment. We've got a lot of mountains to go through for the next twenty minutes or more before we land where I believe he went down.
We'll need to get a car lined up after that. But we're going to have to hope your friends find out where they went from the airport quickly, the minute we land."
Daniel nodded, and ran his hands through his hair. Hilda and Bobby motioned for him to sit down. "Man, you're going to wear a hole in the bottom of the plane if you don't stop pacing, Daniel."
Daniel sighed, and sat across from them "I can't help it. I'm so nervous about this. God knows where he took her when he landed. We need to find out where his damn cabin is! I really hope they can get some kind of information out of Victoria as soon as we land so we're not just sitting at the airport…not knowing where to go."
He put his head down in his hands and broke down. Hilda patted his back, "Daniel, we'll find out where he took her. We have to. We will."
Thirty minutes later, as the plane had landed and was taxiing towards the hangar, Hilda's phone went off, "Hello?"
"Yes, this is Victoria Hartley. Is this Hilda Suarez?"
"Yes, Mrs. Hartley. It's me."
"I have a proposition for you. The rest of your little gang just accosted me and I reached an agreement with them. If you can assure me that my son's name is kept out of the media and I am allowed to seek appropriate help for him, with no legal entanglements…I may have a solution for you to find your sister.
There is a helicopter pilot there at the Geneva airport who has the coordinates of a property our solicitor just told me Matt purchased two weeks ago. He has instructions to meet you all there and fly you in. So, do we have a deal?"