Camryn

"Is this it, momma?" Riley tugged on my hand, looking up at me as we stood In front of a glass building towering above us. If I had any doubts that this was the right place, all I had to do was look up. The name Bennett was plastered in ten-foot-high letters at the top of it.

All morning I fought back-and-forth with myself about whether I was actually going to do this, and even standing right here in front of his office, I still was. When I walked inside those doors, there would be no going back. I would leave Robby and I could only hope that would be the end. No more coverups, no more lies, no more of the abuse. I was escaping one devil and signing a deal with another.

I did a little research on Derek Bennett since our meeting, and he was no saint himself. There was nothing concrete, but there were all kinds of rumors and allegations swirling around about his ties to organized crime. Cole alluded to the fact he had the power to make things happen that most people couldn't. Was I crazy for getting involved with a guy like this? For taking my daughter to his office and trusting him with both of our lives? Robby was dangerous, but he was at least the kind of dangerous that I'd grown accustomed to. I knew what to expect from him, but Derek was a total wildcard. Which was better?

I sucked in a sharp breath. Only time would tell.

"This is it!" I put a big fake smile on so Riley wouldn't have any idea how conflicted I felt on the inside. I needed to make this easy and normal for her, so there was as little disruption to her world as possible. That wouldn't be easy, considering I was going to take her to a new town and she would hopefully never see her father again. Children were resilient, but this was asking a lot and I had to hold on to the hope it would be worth it in the end. She could handle a bit of distress now if it meant she was alive and she was safe.

"Why does your friend's work have so many windows?" She twisted her sweet face a bit, appraising the building in front of us.

I shrugged, a smile tugging on my lips. "I guess he likes the sunshine. Why don't we go inside and ask him?"

Riley nodded enthusiastically and pulled my hand, leading us inside the building. The lobby was jam-packed full of people going in one way or the other, and I was already overwhelmed. I hadn't thought to ask which floor he worked on and the text he sent me hadn't specified. There was an information desk nearby, and I made my way over to it to ask.

"Excuse me?" I smiled at the security guard. "I'm here to meet with Derek Bennett. Can you tell me which floor he is on?"

The guard arched his eyebrow, smirking at me. "Ma'am, you think I am just going to let you waltz up to Mr. Bennett without any kind of proper identification? His visitors usually come with a special badge and prearranged approval. You may think you're smart, but you're not the first pretty girl to try to sneak up to meet Mr. Bennett."

I let out a sharp laugh. "You think I would bring my daughter if I was trying to hook up with him?"

He shrugged, chuckling. "You'd be surprised by the things I have seen. Come back when you have the proper clearances if you're not here for a meal ticket."

I was a little taken aback by the way he was speaking to me.

"Actually, Hank..." A man in a crisp business suit and a sharp smile appeared at the desk next to me. "I believe the proper protocol is for you to call upstairs and check with Mr. Bennett's assistant to see if he has any visitors on the list for the day. And once you get confirmation from her that Mrs. Hastings is exactly where she is supposed to be, you offer her and her daughter a bottle of cold water or a bag of popcorn and escort them to marketing so she can get that special badge. And then you're supposed to take her upstairs personally, so she knows where to go. You remember that, don't you?"

Hank's eyes got wide. "Of course, Mr. Beck. I was just about to...."

"You were just about to shoo Mr. Bennett's guest out the door so you could finish the episode of The Office you're watching on your computer when you're supposed to be monitoring the cameras." Mr. Beck rolled his eyes, cutting Hank off. "I'll take it from here. And I'll be back to speak with you about your responsibilities later."

"Mrs. Hastings, right this way." He gave me a charming smile and led Riley and me towards the elevator.

"How did you know who I was?" I frowned in confusion, following him closely.

"I got a rather detailed description from Derek after your meeting this morning." He smirked. "Not to mention your adorable little girl was a dead giveaway. I'm Will, by the way. I'm the looks behind Derek's operation." He winked playfully.

I laughed gently, stepping onto the elevator behind him. "It's nice to meet you, Will. You can call me Camryn, and this is my daughter, Riley."

"Hi!" Riley grinned, waving her hand back and forth. I swear I had combed her hair this morning, but at this age, it was a complete rat's nest by afternoon. Will slid his badge through a slot in the elevator and we started zooming towards the sky.

"Hello!" Will grinned, bending down, so he was at eye level with her. "Its nice to meet you Riley. I have a very important question for you. Do you like ice cream?"

Riley's eyes widened, and she nodded her head wildly.

"And how about sprinkles?" Will asked.

She squealed with excitement.

"Good!" He gave her a high five. "Your mom is going to have to do a lot of boring paperwork while you're here. Just boring stuff, nothing fun at all. So if it's okay with her, you and I are going to get some ice cream with lots of sprinkles while she's busy."

Riley looked up at me expectantly. "Can I, momma?"

"We won't be leaving." Will whispered to reassure me. "The kitchen is just a few doors down from Derek's office."

"Sure you can. As long as your bring me some." I smiled, squeezing her hand.

The elevator doors opened and Will led us out. The reception area was immaculate. Large, inviting arm chairs and a wall that was entirely a waterfall. It smelled like lemon and the floors looked like they had never been walked on before. Like they were cleaned between visitors. A small blonde woman sat behind the reception desk with an ear set in.

"Bennett Financial, please hold." She spoke into it.

"Good afternoon, Tara. This is Camryn, she is going to need an all access badge. One for her and her daughter, please."

"All access?" Her eyes widened.

Will nodded. "For now, just print them up and I'll get you fingerprints and pictures to go with them later. You guys can follow me."

I held onto Riley's hand as Will led us down a long hallway lined with doors. There were people in all the offices either on the phone or tapping away on a computer. This certainly looked like a legitimate business. Maybe I had been wrong about Derek.

We made our way to another reception area, this one much more private. Will had to slide his badge to get the doors to open for us.

"Janelle, this is Camryn Hastings, the friend of Mr. Bennett's I was telling you about earlier. And this is her daughter, Riley." He introduced us to yet another assistant.

"So nice to meet you." She smiled politely. "Can I get you guys something to drink? Water? Champagne?"

"One of each." Will answered for me. "You can bring it to Mr. Bennett's office when you're done. Thank you."

He nodded towards us and led us down another long hallway. This place was never ending. If something went wrong, the chances I'd find my way out of here were slim to none.

"Derek has been expecting you. There are a few details you'll go over together and Riley can be in the Early Childhood Center while you're doing that."

"You have a center for kids here?" This was like its own little world up here.

"Derek likes to give his employees a reliable place for their children to be during the day." Will smiled. "She'll be perfectly safe there while we talk, and then you can get her for the passport pictures before you guys leave."

I nodded.

"Alright, squirt." He bent down. "I'm going to go with your mommy for a few minutes and you get to play in here with some other kids. How does that sound?"

"Okay!" She smiled excitedly.

"But don't think I forgot about our ice cream." He winked.

She grinned back, already enthralled with Will. He led us inside and introduced me to the teacher so I would feel better about leaving her. It looked like Riley was going to have a great time, and she was already playing in the house area with one of the little girls. I waved at her, but she hardly noticed as Will and I left the room.

"Everything here is highly confidential. Anyone who can access this point in the building has been thoroughly vetted and background checked and has the highest of security clearances. You'll both be safe here."

"Thank you." I smiled. "I just don't leave her every often."

"It's no problem at all. I know how hard it can be to trust other people with your children."

"Do you have any?"

Will broke out in a huge grin. "Just recently. My son is four months old."

"Congratulations." I smiled warmly. "I miss when she was that size and all she wanted to do was cuddle. Now she hardly stops moving long enough for me to give her a quick hug."

"She seems like an incredible little girl. I wouldn't be too worried about all of this. You're making the right decision."

Will knew about my situation. I wondered if he did or not, and now I knew. It wasn't like I didn't want him to. I just felt so ashamed about it. So embarrassed about how I let it get so far that I had to seek out these strangers for help.

Will led me down to the end of the hallway, where two double doors were. He knocked on the door, and I heard Derek's voice on the other side. "Come in."

Derek was sitting with his back to floor to ceiling windows behind a gigantic mahogany desk. There were two leather armchairs in front of it and the wall the doors were on was filled with bookshelves. I recognized some titles on them, but most of them were books I had never heard of. The office itself was as big as a spacious apartment in New York City.

"Camryn." He smiled, looking up from the paperwork on his desk. "Nice to see you again."

"You too." A blush filled my cheeks as he gestured for me to sit down.

"Riley is in the childcare center so you can go over the logistic with Camryn in private." Will said. "I'll be ready for you guys down the hall when you're ready."

Derek nodded. "Thanks Will."

We weren't even alone long enough to speak before Janelle came bustling in with a tray of drinks. "Here you are Mrs. Hastings." She smiled, handing me a glass of champagne. The last thing I wanted to do was have a drink right now, but maybe it might help take the edge off. I was a ball of nerves, but unfortunately, champagne wasn't quite strong enough to mask that.

I took it from her gingerly. "Thank you."

"Janelle, can you hold my calls for the rest of the afternoon? Camryn and I will be busy and are not to be disturbed. If there is an emergency, find Will and he will relay it to me." Derek said, leaving it up to her imagination what exactly he was referring to.

"Of course." She said, glancing between the two of us as if trying to determine what our relationship was. She disappeared out the doors quickly and the thud it made as it closed made me jump.

"Relax." A smile crept across Derek's lips. "You're safe here. No one is ever going to hurt you or your daughter again. I'm going to make sure of it."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, hoping he was right.

"Not a champagne person?" He asked, nodding to the glass I had pushed to the side.

"I am, I just... it doesn't seem appropriate for today. I'm not exactly celebrating."

Derek grinned and stood up. He walked over to a cabinet and pulled a bottle of whiskey out of it and two glasses. "I completely agree. Whiskey, however, is always appropriate."

"Thank you." I took it from him and pressed the glass to my lips.

"There are a few things I want to discuss with you about how we're going to do this." Derek draped his suit jacket over the back of his chair and rolled his sleeves up, displaying the colorful artwork on each of his forearms. "Its incredibly important that we're as discreet as possible with all of this because of your family's position of power. There can't be any screw-ups, which means I need your full cooperation. There may be things I ask you to do that you don't understand, but I need you to trust me. Do you think you can do that?"

"I'll do my best." I chewed on the inside of my cheek. Trust wasn't exactly my forte, but I didn't have much of a choice.

"Okay." He reached into the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a key fob. "First and foremost, this is for you. There is an apartment one floor above us. If at any reason as we're preparing for this, you don't feel safe or something happens with Robby, I want you to come here. Your badge will get you to this floor, but you'll need this to get into the apartment. Only three of these exist. I have one, Will has one, and now you have one. So no one can get to you there."

"I... I don't know what to say." I bit my lip. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. We still have a lot of work to do." He gave me a sympathetic smile. "Realistically, I think we're looking at three days. Will that be okay?"

"Three days?" My eyes widened in shock. "Like three days from now? You want me to leave my husband?"

"Quite frankly, Camryn, I want you to leave your husband tonight. Knowing the things he's put you through, I don't want you or your daughter around him for another second. But I have to be logical about this. It's going to take my team a few days to make sure our ducks are in the row and we can pull this off safely and effectively. So will that work for you?"

"Yes, of course." I blushed. "I'm sorry. I'm still just trying to wrap my mind around the fact that this is happening."

"It's okay. I know it's a lot to take in. So why don't we go through exactly how this is going to happen so there won't be anymore surprises?" Derek said, leaning back in his chair.

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***If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence of any kind, please reach out to someone in your community. In the US, that number is 1-800-799-7233**