Taken Read online

  “We land in ten minutes, make sure you both are strapped in.” the pilot shouts back to us. I stretch and rub my eyes so I’m fully awake. Then I look over at Damien who is looking at me with a worried look on his face.

  “Are you sure you want to do this? Last chance to back out.” when we had talked about doing this, he had suggested that only he flee the country and I go home to my parents, that he would find a way to come back somehow so he could catch a glimpse of his child. I couldn’t agree to that though, what kind of life would that be, for him and our child. I don’t want to have to explain to my daughter why her father isn’t around. I don’t want her to hate him.

  “I’m sure.” I tell him and I see him sigh in relief, “Let’s do this.”

  “You won’t regret it. I promise.” he says and kisses the top of my head.

  A few minutes later and we brace for landing. We have landed close to the ferry terminals in Havana. Damien assures me that we have permission to land and that he has friends in high places here. That calms my nerves a little, I was worried that we would land and immediately get arrested by the local police for entering a country illegally and then being found out to be fugitives.

  Damien talks to the pilot for a minute and then the small plane takes off again and we are left alone. “What now?” I ask, looking around the harbour.

  “Now, we find our home.” Damien tells me, again he grabs my hand and starts to pull me through the small crowd of people and into our new lives.

  EPILOGUE

  “Mummy?” Five-year-old Maria Martinez yells as she skips over to me from across the lawn and jumps into my lap.

  “Yes, sweetheart?” I smile, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and peering at her beautiful face.

  “When is Daddy coming home?” she asks resting her head on my shoulder and looking up at me with her big, green eyes.

  “Soon, baby.” I kiss the top of her head. A couple of minutes later and she’s asleep. I stand up from the chair I’m sitting in and take her inside the house.

  As I walk slowly through the hallway and up the stairs, I glance at the photos that hang on the walls. There’s a photo of me holding a baby Maria in my arms just minutes after she was born. There’s one of Damien asleep in the rocking chair that sits in the corner of the room when it was a nursery, holding a sleeping Maria in his arms. There are many photos that range the years from ages one to five, from visits to the beach, birthday parties, Halloween costumes, Christmas and more.

  One photo that shows Maria dressed as an angel and Damien dressed as Santa takes me back to the first Christmas Damien and I spent together.

  It was five months after we came to Cuba and we had just settled into the house after we had finished buying all of the furniture. We hadn’t even realised it was Christmas until some younger children had knocked on the door and started singing carols. When we were alone once more, we had agreed that even though we still had a few months to go, this Christmas would be all about buying things for the baby. Later I discover that he had already planned a special evening for the two of us.

  That was the night he proposed.

  It was also the night we made love for the first time.

  I reach the top of the stairs, turn right and open the first door I come to. Inside, the walls are a pale pink, the carpet is white and toys are scattered all over the floor.

  I tiptoe over the landmine of squeaky animals and talking dolls and finally reach the small bed that sticks out from the wall. I pull back the covers and carefully lay Maria down, then I take off her shoes and pull the covers back over her sleeping form. She turns into a comfortable position and nestles into the pillow.

  I smile as I watch her for a few minutes. I think back to the day she was born; Damien and I were just getting into bed one night when my water broke. I was completely calm while Damien was in full panic mode. He had spent the past few months reading book after book on how to properly care for a new born as well as delivering a baby. I laugh quietly to myself as I remember the look on his face when he had watched the videos of women giving birth. When Maria was born eight hours later at 7 am, the earth had stood still. She was perfect, an angel sent down from the heavens. She got her dark hair from Damien and her big, green eyes from me.

  Movement behind me brings my attention back to the present. I turn slightly and see Damien standing in the doorway. After almost six years together, he still takes my breath away when I see him. The years have been good to him. His hair is back to his original dark brown, he has slight stubble on his chin and he has gotten a slight tan, hours spent working out has defined his muscles.

  He steps inside the room and quietly makes his way over to the bed. He kisses his sleeping daughter before grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the room, closing the door behind us. “Hey, beautiful.” he says quietly and kisses me.

  “Hey, handsome.” I smile at him as we make our way back downstairs. “How was your day?” I ask as we cuddle up on the sofa.

  My eyes are drawn to the large portrait photo that hangs on the wall above the fireplace. It is mine and Damien’s wedding portrait. We had gotten married shortly after Maria was born, in a small church in the city centre. It was the second best day of my life. In the photo I am wearing a simple, halter neck gown and Damien wears a black tux with a red bowtie and matching pocket square.

  We still use our aliases, I took Damien’s fake last name when we got married. I am now Aleyna Martinez. It’s also the name we gave to Maria. Together we are the Martinez family.

  “It was alright.” he says. He doesn’t go on anymore, he knows that I don’t want to know the details of his job.

  Damien works for Carlos, the head of the local mob and an old friend of his. He does all kinds of jobs, from being a runner, which means delivering the goods and collecting payment, to being the hitman, which means he takes out anyone who doesn’t pay.

  “How was your day?” he asks, resting his head on top of mine.

  “It was great.” I tell him, “Maria and her friends went to the club.” Club De Ninos is a large building in the middle of town just for kids. It’s the place where parents drop their children off to have a day to themselves. “And I went shopping with the girls.” Tatiana, Lisandra, Gabriela and Adriana have been like sisters to me ever since we came to Cuba. Their husbands also work for Carlos so we stick together, sometimes it can be hard having a husband who works for someone so dangerous. They helped me settle into the neighbourhood, helped me with all aspects of my pregnancy and showed me the best places to go shopping, eating and dancing. We hang out together almost every day and have a girl’s night every Friday. They all have children of their own and they are all friends with Maria.

  They all know our secret of course, that we fled the UK after Damien had kidnapped me and I had learnt I was pregnant. A few of the girls we know are in similar situations.

  Nobody judges you here and that is why I love it here so much.

  My eyes catch the envelope that sits on the table. I had opened it earlier and read its contents, I give it to Damien so he can look at it too. It is a report from one of Damien’s friends back in England. It’s a report on my parents. After we arrived in Cuba, I learnt that my parents had received my letter and were distraught. They continued their search for me for another three years before giving up because they had no leads. The report tells me how they are, health-wise and what they’ve been doing with their life. I miss them a lot and wish I could talk to them, to tell them I’m happy. I especially wish I could tell them about Maria, but then I'm reminded that our family would be split up if anyone knew.

  We soon make our way up to bed after talking about our life in Cuba. I have an amazing husband and a beautiful little girl, who has the life I dreamed for her. I have friends who are there when I need them. I can honestly say that I don’t regret making the choice to come here.

  The End

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  Also by Sarah Jayne Harry

  Immortal Billionaire

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Sarah Jayne Harry is an Indie Author who lives in Portsmouth, in the UK. She writes romance novels and some suspense novels too.

  From a young age, Sarah has had a strong passion for reading and spent most of her time, after school and during weekends, hidden away at the library. Growing up, her love for books only got stronger as she entered numerous reading challenges with her local library.

  It was only during her college years, where she had to write a number of poems for class, that Sarah’s passion for reading began to lead to an interest in writing. Over the years, she wrote a small collection of poems, then, at the age of 24, she decided to go big and wrote her first novel, Immortal Billionaire, which was published in December 2018.

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