by L. D. Davis
“Oh my god,” she said, staring at me, her eyes wide.
“That’s not even the half of it,” I said sourly as I went too fast down the city streets.
“He helped her get a part time job at another bar even after she started working at Sterling. She was still unreceptive to him, though. He got impatient and decided to try something else.”
“What?” Emmy breathed.
“He attacked her one night on the street. I knew he was up to something, but I wasn’t sure what until it was happening. He went at her with a knife, robbed her of a bag he knew had some sentimental value to her and even stabbed her hand. Even though he had on a hoodie and was partially concealing his face, I knew it was him. I had watched him long enough to know how he moves, how he walks, and how he runs. I think he was going to run around the corner and come back as Vic the super hero that happened to catch the bad guy and rescue her, but Vic wasn’t counting on me being there.”
“That bastard is the one that stabbed her?” Em yelled. “He could have killed her! What the fuck is wrong with him?”
“A lot, apparently,” I said. “I found out that he has some deep psychological issues, going as far back as eleven years old. The records are sealed, but I was able to find bits and pieces of information about a violent childhood, and now he’s on steroids and that’s fucking with his mind, too.”
“What else have you found?”
“In his house, in one room in the basement, there were a plethora of pictures of Lily. In some of them, she was undressed or in the state of undressing. There were even pictures of her sleeping,” I ground out, knowing that he had to be up close to her while she was unconscious. “There were chains cemented into the wall, meant to cuff and restrain someone. Handcuffs, rope, duct tape, pepper spray, a taser, knives, chloroform, Rohypnol and detailed notes about Lily’s schedule.”
“He was going to kidnap her?” Emmy asked with her voice high and disbelieving.
“I don’t have any other explanation for it all,” I said through a clenched jaw.
Just thinking about his hands on her and the shit that he was capable of had my hands gripping the steering wheel in a death grip.
We were silent for the rest of the trip to the bar. I parked next to the Cadillac and jumped out of the car. Emmy got out, too and met me at the front of the car.
“You should wait in the car,” I told her.
“No, I’m not waiting in the car,” she said firmly and followed me to the door. I didn’t have time to argue.
I used my key to unlock the door. We quietly entered and I stopped to listen for a moment and heard nothing. I moved on towards the office, expecting to find her there, but it was empty. When I came back out, I noticed Lily’s keys and purse sitting on the bar. A deep foreboding came over me. Barely able to breathe, I walked into the kitchen. Everything looked normal until I got closer to the back door. There were a few items on the floor and the door was wide open.
“Lily!” I yelled as I darted for the door. I ran outside and found nothing and no one.
I dropped to my knees. I couldn’t breathe. That fucker had taken her and the last words we exchanged were unkind and unloving and I hadn’t even had the chance to talk to her about the ultra sound she had the week before, because I was being such an asshole. I didn’t realize I was crying until I felt Emmy’s arms around me and her hand on my head as I leaned on her.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “It’s okay.”
A car screeched to a halt behind us and heavy footsteps raced over to us.
“She’s not here,” Emmy said to someone. “He must have taken her.”
“Fuck,” I heard Harry mutter. I heard his phone dialing as he walked away. “Chuck, have you been by Ricker’s place? We think he has Lily. Take someone with you, go over there and check it out and get back to me.”
I released Emmy and got to my feet.
“Sorry,” I apologized to her in a weak voice. “I’m being a pussy.”
“You’re not being a pussy,” she admonished and then rubbed my back.
“Chuck and a few others are going over to his house,” Harry said. “Corsey is stopping to check out a few other areas, but Rickers knows we would look there.” He paused before he continued and shook his head. “I don’t think we are going to find him in any of the places we expect.”
“Where the hell has he been these past few months?” I yelled at no one in particular.
“Did you check his aunt’s house in the Poconos?” Emmy asked.
Harry and I both stared at her.
“What aunt?” I demanded.
“She’s not really his aunt – she used to date his uncle when Vic was a kid. He kept in touch with her…I was kind of under the impression that they were…you know…fuck buddies or something. Anyway, she has a house in the Poconos that they used to meet at on occasion. He told me all about it one day, trying to lure me up there.” She shuddered. “He gave me the address and everything.”
“That must have been a long time ago,” Harry frowned. “You couldn’t possibly remember that address now.”
“How do you know how long ago it’s been?” she frowned up at him and before I could say anything it dawned at her. She looked at me disapprovingly. “Stalking your exes is not cool,” she muttered. “But for the record, I don’t remember the address, you are right, Harry. However, I remember the aunt’s name. Maybe you can use your stalking expertise to look her up.”
Emmy gave Harry the name and he immediately got on the phone as he walked towards his truck. Emmy and I went back inside to lock up, and she grabbed Lily’s purse and keys before we left.
“Now, I insist you stay behind this time,” I told her. “Use the Cadillac.”
“No fucking way,” she growled and then opened the passenger’s door and got inside.
I sighed heavily and got in behind the wheel.
“When this is all over, Kyle, when you have your happy ending, I’m going to rip you a new one for stalking me.”
I didn’t doubt that she would, but I was having serious doubts about my happy ending.
*~Emmy~*
Kyle drove with one hand, while the other hand alternated between an open hand and a tight fist on the console between us. He was quiet, focused not on the road ahead, but the woman he loved more than anything at the end of the road. That was once me. I would be lying if I said that it made me a little sad to know that was gone, for both of us. Lily was the center of his universe now, and Luke and the kids were mine.
I put my hand over his, hoping to alleviate even a fraction of the fear he was feeling. He froze for a moment and then relaxed under me. I turned his hand so that it was palm up and gave him mine to hold. As if our hands had a memory of their own, our fingers laced together without any fumbling around. His thumb dragged across my skin with familiarity. I stared at our interwoven hands with a tight chest.
I felt as if I were holding a part of myself that was left behind with Kyle, forever his willing captive. There was a piece of me within his hands that I will never regain. My life with Luke and our children was everything to me. I would never trade it for anything in the world, but Kyle will always have this small part of me and I will never try to reclaim it. It was his to have forever, just as I was well aware that I had a piece of him with me forever, too. I would never let it go. It was just as much a part of me as my skin, my blood, and my flesh and bones.
*~Lily~*
I fully expected Vic to violate me in the worse ways, but other than trying to kiss me, he didn’t try to touch me intimately. He had me tied to a bed, giving me enough rope to move around and get comfortable, like that was possible.
“All I’ve ever wanted was to take care of you, Lily,” he said as he slowly paced the room. “I wanted you to appreciate me and to care for me like I care for you.”
“I’ll never care about you,” I whispered, flinching at another contraction.
“You will,” he said, stopping in front of me. “I’m
going to take care of you and that baby, even though it’s not mine. It might take some time, but in time you will appreciate everything I will do for you. You will care about me, and you will love me as I love you. I only have to make you recognize feelings for me you already have deep inside of you.”
I looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Vic, I need a doctor. I will appreciate you if you get me to the hospital and save my baby.”
“I think I can deliver your baby here, Lily,” he said and touched my face, repulsing me.
“It’s too soon for her to be born,” I sobbed. “I need medicine to keep her inside of me until she has a better chance. Vic, please,” I cried.
“If she comes now and she doesn’t survive, we can try again later,” he said calmly.
I turned my face into the pillow under me and sobbed harder than I could recall sobbing in my life. My baby was going to be born, under his ‘care’ and there was nothing I could do about it. She would be born and die without a fighting chance. Even though Vic was the asshole that kidnapped me, I blamed only myself for not being more vigilant and for not listening to Kyle and Corsey. They repeatedly told me that Vic was a dangerous person and I repeatedly scoffed at them, even after he had hurt me. Now I was stuck here without anyone knowing where I was or how to find me, and I was going to lose another baby.
Vic touched my hair as I cried. I looked up at him and screamed “Get the fuck away from me!”
His eyes grew dark. “Don’t talk to me like that,” he said carefully. “I am trying to fucking take care of you.”
I screamed as he grabbed a handful of my hair and brought my face up to his. “Show some fucking appreciation!”
He shoved me back down and stormed out of the room.
My cries echoed off of the walls of the bedroom. I found myself calling for Kyle, even though I knew he couldn’t hear me. Next to the imminent loss of our baby girl, I was devastated knowing I may never see him again. I had not even told him that he was fathering a girl. I was so angry with him and so hurt; I wanted to withhold that key information from him. I didn’t think he had a right to know, but as I lay tied up in Vic’s mystery house, I cried for many reasons, but also because I didn’t know if Kyle would ever know about his daughter.
Another contraction squeezed me and my panic continued.
*~~~*
I had fallen asleep at some point. I woke up after every contraction, but instantly fell back to sleep, crying even as I slept. I started waking up sooner and realized my contractions were getting closer together. I just lay there, awake now, and resigned to the fact that there was nothing I could do about it. Not a damn thing.
I also realized the only way I was going to get out of there, if I didn’t die giving birth, was if I gave Vic what he wanted. He wasn’t a complete idiot, however. He wouldn’t believe or trust me at first, but after some time, he would, and then maybe he’d give me enough trust so that I could stab him in the back and run away.
I was contemplating this when I heard the doorbell ring, followed by banging on the door. My instincts told me to scream, and so I did. I screamed for help, louder than I ever thought I could scream in my life. As loud as I was screaming, I was worried that I would still be unheard, or worse yet that whoever was at the door was an accomplice of Vic’s, but I screamed anyway.
I felt like I had been screaming for hours, when in reality it was only moments before more than one person burst into the room. I couldn’t stop screaming even after I saw their black uniforms and badges pinned to their shirts. I couldn’t stop screaming even after they cut me out of the ropes, freeing my hands.
“Ma’am, it’s okay,” the officer said, sweeping me into his arms. “Are the paramedics here?” he managed to ask the other officer over my screams.
“On the way,” he said, looking at me with pity.
My screams died down to loud sobbing as he carried me down the stairs. We walked through a living room where Vic was on the floor, cuffed and fighting and swearing. Several officers were holding him down. When he saw me being carried away from him, he screamed my name like a mad man. I covered my ears even as the officer carried me outside.
“Lily!” I heard someone screaming my name again, but I didn’t want to hear Vic screaming my name. I closed my eyes against the bright late afternoon sun and tried squeeze away the pain and fear I felt.
The officer handed me to someone else.
“Lily,” he said, and I slowly opened my eyes. I was in Kyle’s arms and even through my tears I could see that he was crying.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. I wanted to tell him how sorry I was. I wanted him to give me another chance to make it right, but another contraction hit me right then and I cried out.
“I’m in labor,” I cried, staring up at Kyle with fear. “She’s going to die.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
*~Kyle~*
“How did you find me?” Lily asked me, hours after an officer carried her out of the Poconos house Vic had hidden her in.
She was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV and a machine to monitor the baby’s heartbeats and movements. The doctors had stopped her preterm labor, but warned that Lily needed to be on complete bed rest until the end of her pregnancy, and chances are she may need the drugs again.
The waiting room was full of people: my mother, Emmy, Mayson, Corsey, and Harry. Lily’s mom was on her way and Lydia and the kids were to meet us in Philadelphia in a couple of days.
I sat in a chair pulled up to the side of her bed, holding her hand in mine. I could have lost her and our baby girl and there aren’t enough words to explain how that felt.
“Emmy,” I said simply. “If she had not come to the east coast to kick my ass, I may have never known. She remembered Vic telling her about that place. We were leaving the parking lot to drive up here, but Marco called me. He told me that even though the security system wasn’t in place yet, the cameras were fully operational. I had one of Corsey’s guys take the tape to my contact on the force. It took some time and strings being pulled but the police up here finally agreed to at least go check out the situation.”
I sighed heavily at the memory of that period of time. It was the longest wait of my life as two officers walked up to the door while another four wandered around the perimeter of the house. As soon as they rang the bell and banged on the door, things got crazy. Very faintly I could hear Lily screaming, but the officers close to the house also heard her. They forced their way in as they called for more backup. I tried to run in after them, but Harry and Emmy restrained me until a few minutes later one of the officers carried Lily out.
“Lily, I’m so sorry,” I whispered to her. “If I would have been home with you from the beginning, none of this would have happened.”
“You should have been home with me,” she agreed weakly and then squeezed my hand. “But it’s not your fault that Vic is psychotic.”
“I should have told you everything so that you could protect yourself.”
“I would have lived my life in fear,” she said. “You did the right thing. I should have listened to you and Corsey, but I was being so pig headed. I’m sorry I put you through this.”
I stood up and kissed her head. “Don’t apologize to me. This isn’t your fault.”
“Kiss me,” she whispered her hands in my hair.
I obliged and pressed my mouth against hers. I moaned lightly when my tongue tasted her mouth. I wanted to climb into bed with her and kiss her for a very long time, but the hospital staff probably wouldn’t have liked that very much.
“Ahem,” a familiar voice said.
Reluctantly, I stopped kissing Lily and we both looked up to see Emmy standing there, smiling at us.
“Sorry to interrupt this love fest,” she said, stepping further into the room. “But I must anyway. Kaitlyn is running out of milk apparently. The cow must go home.” She sighed.
Lily stretched out her arms. I stepped out of the way so t
hat she and Emmy could embrace.
“Thank you so much for saving me,” Lily said to Emmy.
“Thank you so much for saving Kyle,” Emmy said just above a whisper.
“Apologize to Luke for me, will you?” Lily said when Emmy pulled away. “He didn’t like me showing up and getting you involved in my issues. He’s really going to hate what you’ve been through.”
“He’s just glad that you’re okay and that I’m coming home,” she said. “I’m glad I was here to help.”
“I’ll walk you out,” I said. I kissed Lily quickly on the lips. “I’ll be right back.”
“Take your time,” she said softly.
“Corsey is going to drive me to the airport if you don’t mind,” Emmy said as stepped into the hallway. “I was going to ask Mayson but she’s in the waiting room forming some kind of really weird bond with your mom.”
“That is weird,” I agreed as we passed by the waiting room where my mother and Mayson were involved in what looked like a very serious conversation.
“Your mom was really teary when she got here.”
I rubbed the back of my head. “I’m still trying to get used to this new ‘caring mom’ thing. I always knew she cared deep down, but Lily lit a fire under her ass I guess.”
“Well, maybe this will be it. Maybe this time the meds will work and she can find some happiness and peace.”
“I hope so,” I said with a nod.
Emmy punched the button for the elevator. “You don’t have to walk me all the way down. I think I can find the front entrance by myself.”
“I want to walk you down,” I said, looking into her eyes.
“Okay then,” she smiled and then stepped onto the elevator.
“I’ll never be able to fully thank you for all that you’ve done today,” I said to her.
“Just take care of Lily and the baby and stay on track,” she said softly, touching my cheek. “That’s the best way to thank me.”
I took her hand off of my cheek and left a lingering kiss on it. Her eyes glazed over for a moment before I simply held her hand in mine and lead her off of the elevator. We walked outside in silence. Corsey was already waiting at the curb.
