Coveted (Completed) - Chapter 18: Chapter 18

I watch as My Emily gets to work, so glad that we found her and pulled her out of the hell hole she was working in before. Now she was flourishing, her health had improved and her confidence grown within the small team I allowed to work with her and with me.
As she worked I thought back to the first time I saw her, she has been locked in a computer lab, she had been pale, scared and had jumped at every sound for the first few weeks afterwards.
We had been taking over Per's family business and her parents had had a secret lab hidden in the bowels of the building, only they had triggered a lockdown and had shut her inside. Three days she had been trapped down there, only a few snacks to eat and water to drink, before we had realised there was level to the building shut off from us and had forced access and found her.
"When are you going to claim her?" Angus asked quietly so only I could hear.
"I'm too old for her" I shook my head, she was half my age and she deserved better but hell if i didn't want to lock her away with me so she never found it.
"Rubbish, she watches you as much as you watch her, you should give her a chance" he said before turning to talk to Bishop.
I knew he was right, I had seen the looks but was it just because I saved her and had looked after her since, could she really be interested...
"All done, this will record both audio and visual, the visual isn't great but it will be clear enough to identify people and the audio will be excellent" Emily tells us with a grin on her face.
"Good" Bishop states focusing on Ms Strait "Are you sure you can do this?" he checks and she nods.
"I can"
"Okay, lets message him back and say you are on your way and will see him in a couple of hours, that gives us time to get in place and ready, I've updated Lachlan and he is on his way here..."
"I'm here" his voice comes from the doorway and I watch his gaze scan the room, narrowing on Bishop before he shakes his head.
"I'll fill you in on the way" Bishop tells him before he turns to the twins "You two stay here"
I grin to myself and count down, five, four, three...
They both explode at once, their arguments falling on deaf ears. "You need to stay here, Mary needs looking after and who better than Maisie's potential life partners to do it. I promise we will keep you up to date, but its too much for all of us to go" Bishop explains and I smile at they way he is manipulating them to do what he wants.
"We have your full support?" Hector growls at him and Bishop laughs.
"You do... as long as its what she wants"
"Done" Angus replies for them.
"Emily, Jamison, Lachlan, Ms Strait and I should be a small enough group to remain un-noticed if he's on the look out, we will catch him" he promises.
Leaving the boys with Mary who is more than happy to tell them about Maisie we head to Edinburgh, Bishop driving, with Lachlan in the front, Strait in the back with Emily and myself. My body pressed shoulder to knee against Emily's in the back seat making the two hour journey both a delight and a torture.
We watch from a distance as Strait moves towards the address, her head down and coat held tightly around her, Emily having opened up her laptop we could hear Strait's heavy breathing as she rushed towards the address.
"Are you..."
"Yes I am recording everything" she answers with a smile before I even tell her what I want.
With Emily watching the video feed, We all listen in as she pushes through the door and climbs the stairs, finally knocking...
She knocks again louder and finally we hear him... "Caro, come in, god I am so glad to see you" we hear rustling.
"He's helping her off with her coat and hugging her" Emily tells us as the sound is garbled.
"Were you followed?" we hear him ask.
"No, but I keep feeling as if someone is watching me, there was a man asking about me on the island, the receptionist let me know, he also had your name, so I came back, fugured it was safer here" she tells him.
"And my money?" he asks.
"Its safe" she starts before gasping "Ouch Stewart that's hurts, let go" she cries.
"He has grabbed her arm" Emily tells us.
"Don't even think of trying to cross me" he threatens and we hear her assure him she won't.
"Do you have anything to drink" she asks croakily "Who flat is this anyway, its lovely"
"Who knows maybe its mine" he laughs darkly and we hear a crack in the car as Bishop's fists clench.
"Why are you hiding out here anyway, I thought you would be closer to home, Did something happen, I heard the Breitmeyers were about, did they say anything, what about your cousin, does she know?"
Duncan laughs again, the bitterness seeping through his voice "It doesn't matter, before they find the silly bitch we will be long gone, and if they are too late finding her, then that's a bonus too, with the cold and the blood loss, she's just a inheritance waiting to come my way"
"Blood, what blood, Stewart what have you done" we can hear the fake panic in Straits voice, she knows what he did and is doing what we asked of her, drawing him out.
"I created a diversion, I went to the house to talk to her but things changed and a saw a different path, with her out of the way, a lot of my troubles will disappear"
"You killed her?" Strait shrieks and he quickly hushes her.
"She was alive when I left her, a little bloody from where I hit her and chained up so she can't escape" he chuckles again "And that old cow Mary got it too"
"That's it we've got him" Bishop says, opening the door, "You two with me, Emily locks the doors behind us, call the police if anything goes wrong" he instructs and as I open the door to follow him, I stop and lean back, lifting her face to mine I claim her lips.
"Stay safe love" I tell me before leaving her staring after me with a amazed look on her face.