From Pemberley to Manhattan [COMPLETED]

Chapter 54

Nat

"Who the shell are you and why did you kidnap us?"

The elderly man might look harmless to untrained eyes; his beard was as long and as white as his scarce hair; his blue eyes glowed; and his cheeks seemed to be eternally blushing. He looked like the Santa Claus from Coca-Cola ads, the kind we no longer saw in malls. He was surely very comfortable in his navy sweater, dark gray wool pants and casual black shoes.

I could see through his I-am-the-best-grandpa-in-the-world persona, though. He did try to soften his eyes and his expression, but I knew this was business for him, pure and simple. Otherwise, we'd be in a lovely sleigh, being pulled by red nosed reindeers. Instead, I found myself in a coffin of metal, known to some as a private jet worth a few million dollars.

I was lying down in a leather divan, right by Darcy's side. Mr. Coca-Cola's Santa was sitting in a leather club chair facing us. Everything was cream, pale yellow, or white. The oval windows were shut, but I could feel in the pit of my stomach we were flying.

My vision had been blurry when I first opened my eyes, so I had decided to wait until my mind was sharper before I dared speak. My first words to my kidnaper had been about his identification. Even though I had every reason to attack him, I had been polite. Well, almost.

"Straight to the point, Miss Estevez Brown. Your reputation precedes you, and I can see it's quite accurate", he replied with a polite smile, yet a ticking on his left eye alerted me he didn't appreciate my tone.

Sorry, Mr. I-want-to-be-Gandalf. You took me against my will, so you got Nasty Nat. "You didn't answer my question." I sure as shell wouldn't smile back to him.

♥

Bobby

"What the fu–"

"BOBBY!!!" Okay, I was definitely getting tired of women yelling at me and spurting towards me as raging bulls. I could hear in Fanny's tone of voice and see in the despair in her eyes she'd just witnessed what I had.

Nat and Fitz had been taken in a van. That time, it hadn't seemed like it was anything related to the FBI.

Shit, Mom would definitely kill Dad and me now. Whoever took them, it must have had something to do with the time traveling mess. The CIA, perhaps?

I should spend my last hours of life with Anna naked in my arms and a huge joint in my hand. Instead, what faced me right now was the psycho version of psycho Fanny. There was a lot of psycho going on, dude. Her screams were already giving me a headache.

"DID YOU SEE THAT?" Of course I did. "THEY'VE TAKEN NAT AND DARCY!" Yes, I was not blind, Fanny. "WE'VE GOTTA DO SOMETHING!" I know, I was about to go smoke some weed and have a lot of fun under the sheets with my girlfriend until you grabbed me in the middle of the street like a maniac. "ARE YOU JUST FREAKIN' GONNA STAND THERE?"

She actually shook me by the shoulders, as if my lack of reaction had triggered something even more lunatic in her, somehow. She offended me by accusing me of not caring about my sister. Well, maybe my priorities were all messed up, but I loved Nat and I was really concerned about her whereabouts.

But I also knew the only person who could help us right now was Travis and his money. So that was the guy I'd call as soon as Fanny let me go. Maybe my mom and her high profile friends too, yet I doubted Dad would have the guts to tell her what had happened again (I know I hadn't). "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

Random people on the street were now staring at us. I had to think of a way to calm Fanny down. "It's all right, Fanny. Nat will be fine."

"FINE? THEY'VE JUST TAKEN HER! SHE MUST BE SCARED TO DEATH!"

"Look, it was probably the CIA." She glanced back to where the van had once been, then back at me. She was probably thinking I was high or something. Well, not yet, Fanny. "She'll be fine. It's the second time it's happened today."

"WHAT?! SHE WAS KIDNAPPED BEFORE?"

"No need to yell, Fanny," I was exasperated. Why was she so worked up? Didn't I just explain it was cool, we got it under control? We didn't, actually, but she didn't know it. "Yeah, we were all taken earlier by the Feds. It was a mistake, and this one must be too. All I need to do is call Travis and–"

"NAT WAS TAKEN EARLIER AND NOBODY TOLD ME?"

There she went and interrupted me again. Not cool, Fanny. "Why should we tell you, Fanny? It's not like you're family or–"

She slapped me. I could feel my face stinging while she turned to leave. I felt really bad for keeping her in the dark like that, yet I knew I was also protecting Fanny by not telling her the chaos Ethan had involved the family in. "If none of you will help her, then I will!" She said, her back to me.

A few seconds afterwards, she took her phone from her purse and I heard her yelling at another poor shmuck. Well, better him than me, I guessed. How did I know she was vomiting accusations at a guy, you might ask? Well, I had no idea who he was, but she called him "Black Panther".

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