by Jo Chambliss
“How about this? We’ll go with you tomorrow, but Ari and I will go get into trouble somewhere while you’re visiting your dad.”
She pushes up on her toes and gives me a kiss. “That sounds perfect. Thank you.”
We leave for Richmond around ten the next morning. After having an early lunch, I drop Willa off at the nursing home. Before pulling away from the portico, I make sure Willa is inside the building and then give Ari the chance to be the entertainment coordinator for the day. “So, Ari, what kind of trouble are we going to get into?”
“Ice cream!”
“We have two hours to fill. How about the zoo and ice cream?”
“Yea!”
Her high-pitched squeal has me plugging my ears and laughing as I remove my gun and place it in the lockbox beneath my seat. “Zoo, it is.”
Chapter 19
Willa
As I walk in the door to the nursing home, I’m smiling to myself. It’s just a little thing, but Chris wouldn’t leave until I closed the door behind me. I sign in at the cheerful receptionist’s desk and walk to my father’s room.
When I’m standing at his bedside, I put on a bright smile and speak to him. “Hi, dad.”
He opens his eyes but only stares back blankly, without a clue about who I am.
I missed it. He had two good days, and I didn’t get to experience any of it. Hoping I don’t scare him, I give his hand a squeeze. “I love you. Bye, daddy.”
I’m devastated as I turn from the room. Maybe if I had known sooner, I could have gotten here in time to speak to him while he was lucid.
As I’m walking out the door, I decide that since I’m here, I may as well check in with the nurse.
At the nurse’s desk, I ask about his changing condition and for the staff to relay some of the things he talked about over the last two days.
“When Tabitha called me yesterday, she was excited about him having a good spell and that he had requested to see me. It appears that I missed my window, though.”
The charge nurse looks at me with concern. “Ms. Castle, I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. Your father’s not had any change in activity in months. Not only that, we don’t have anyone working here named Tabitha. Are you sure that’s what she said her name was?”
Absently, I tell her that I’m sure and offer her my thanks as I walk away.
Walking sadly back to the main entrance, I think through the possible scenarios of the false information. All I come up with is that some lowlife saw my face on the news and thought this would be a good prank. Well, I hope you overdose on your pimple cream, asshole.
Pulling out my phone, I call Chris.
“Willa, everything all right?”
“Yes and no. Dad wasn’t lucid. It must have just been a prank from someone that saw me on TV.”
“I’m sorry. Ari and I are turning around right now and are on our way back. Just do me a favor and don’t come outside until you see me pull up.”
“I won’t.”
I sit down in the lobby and stare at the floor. I don’t know what’s worse, knowing he’ll never be able to talk to me again, or having my hope built up only to be disappointed like this.
Before too long, Chris’s big, black truck appears under the portico. Pulling myself out of my stupor, I walk to the front and reach for the door just as it opens. “Oh, I’m sorry,” the woman says as she holds the door open for me.
Still looking at the ground, I step through the opening and reply, “Thank you,” before continuing toward the truck. I’ve just opened the door and lifted my foot to climb in when someone calls my name. I look in the direction of the voice and suck in a breath. The woman at the door is someone I know, and she’s standing there pointing a gun at me.
Chris instantly reacts to the fear on my face and throws open his door. “Hold on! You step one foot out of that truck; I’ll blow a hole through this back door.” She knows that Ari is back there.
Chris slams the door back with a look on his face that says he would slit her throat if given half a chance.
The woman now steps forward and opens the back door to sit down beside Ari. “Get in, Willa,” she orders coldly.
With a deep, shuddering breath, I do what she says. “Now, hand over your phones.”
“Hey, you’re the lady that was at my daddy’s house.”
My head spins around to look at her. Oh my god. That’s Jonathan’s assistant. What was her name?… Rachel something! She holds out her hand and demands again, “PHONES!”
I give her mine, but Chris keeps his hands on the wheel. “Hey, tough guy, you either hand it over or start planning this brat’s funeral.”
As much as I trust in him, I can’t keep the panic out of my eyes when I look his way. His lips thin in anger, but he leans forward and pulls his phone from his pocket. After he passes it to her, he brings his hand up to caress my cheek.
Rachel’s voice takes on an angry bite when she gives Chris her next instructions. “Now, drive. Take the 95 headed north.”
Chris shifts the truck into drive and places his hands back on the wheel. By now, Ari realizes something is wrong and has started to cry. I want to comfort her, but the words get caught in my throat.
In a quiet, yet commanding voice, Chris says, “Settle down, Tadpole. You’re going to be all right.”
“All of you, shut up.” The woman hisses.
A few miles away from the nursing home, Rachel opens the back window and tosses our phones into the South Anna River.
She doesn’t speak again unless it’s to give driving directions. By that time, two hours later, I’m pretty sure I know where we’re going.
The security guard manning the gate to the exclusive community recognizes my face and allows us entry to Jonathan’s neighborhood.
When we pull up at the back of the large house, Rachel makes Chris and I get out and open the garage using a five-digit code.
From beside me, Chris whispers, “Breathe, Willa. No matter what happens, you watch me. If I say for you to do something, you do it immediately, no questions and no hesitation. I’m going to get you both out of this.”
I’m so scared of that bitch in the truck with my daughter that I can’t even respond. “Willa, I promise, whatever I have to do, you and Ari will make it out of this.”
The stark reality of his words is too much. He’s saying that he’ll sacrifice himself to save us, but I can’t face the possibility of losing him. I need Ari to be safe. As her only family, I need to survive as well. Just as much, I need Chris to be in my life.
Unable to cope with all the possible outcomes, the best I can do is offer him a shaky nod.
Rachel lets us know that she’s becoming impatient, and I reach for the electronic panel. I try and fail to punch in the numbers because my hands are shaking too bad. Chris grabs my hand and places it against his chest and enters the code himself.
Only when the door is fully open does Rachel climb out of the truck, dragging Ari with her. With the gun pointed at my daughter’s head, she orders us inside. “Willa, you go in first. I’ll tell you this one time, I only need you. If any of you piss me off, I’ll shoot the kid. Piss me off again, I shoot your man, understand? Now, go to the master bedroom.”
“I… I don’t know where that is.”
“Oh, that’s right. That would be because I’m the one Jonathan’s been fucking for the last three years.”
She starts me in the direction of Jonathan’s room and continues berating me as we move. “He always complained to me about you being such a frigid bitch. All the time, I had to listen to him going on about how you wouldn’t dress up for him or let him fuck you the way he wanted to.”
The woman chuckles. “I’ll bet you never even wondered why he stopped sleeping with you altogether. During one long afternoon, I became tired of his complaining about your inability to take it roughly. Taking a chance that I could give him what he craved, I slapped him and told him to shut up. Then, I ripped my shirt op
en, shoved him onto the sofa in his office, and blew him. He apparently liked it as we screwed like rabbits any time we were alone after that. Because he had me in his bed, he didn’t need you anymore.
“I thought for sure that he’d toss you aside and bring me in to replace you. Too bad for me, I learned that he had no intention of leaving you. He wanted to keep you around just for appearances.”
Her information wasn’t completely accurate. Up until I moved out, Jonathan never stopped taking me to his bed, trying to coax me into allowing him his kink. During the last six months of us living together, I hated for him to touch me at all.
It wasn’t because I lacked in imagination or was repulsed by him and his desires; it was because he never once considered my desires or needs. Like everything else in our life together, sex was to be performed according to his script until he was satisfied.
None of it matters now, and I wouldn’t be helping my situation if I pointed any of this out to Rachel. Considering her earlier warning, the last thing I want to do is provoke her.
We arrive at Jonathan’s room before she can say any other horrible things in front of Ari. Reluctantly, I open the door, and we all trudge inside.
Chris
The longer this has gone on, the harder it has become for Willa to remain calm. She was marginally ok during the long drive, but as soon as the truck stopped and the status quo changed, her visible signs of stress have increased.
I can only hope my whispered words of encouragement got through to her. I meant it when I said I was getting them out of here. My girls will live to see another day if I have to give myself up to guarantee it.
With me walking between Willa and the bitch orchestrating this shit, I would have already taken her down except that she has her gun to Ari’s head. You’ll get your opportunity, Fish. Just be patient and keep your girls calm.
That job gets a lot harder when the crazy bitch starts in on her fucked up relationship with Westbrook. Her words piss me off, but more than that, I’m horrified that little Ari is hearing them.
When we reach the bedroom, I’m still no closer to figuring out what her end game is. It has to be either revenge or greed. Revenge against Willa doesn’t fit since she’s the one that left, giving Rachel easier access to Westbrook for the last two years. Greed is a reliable motive, but since the divorce was two years ago, I don’t know what the woman hopes to gain here.
We all move inside Westbrook’s room and are directed to stand in front of the massive bed. Willa starts to speak, but I want this woman’s attention on me as much as possible. I interrupt her, “What are we doing here, Rachel?”
“We’re here because that bitch fucked me over.”
“What did I do to you?”
Rachel’s laugh is humorless. “You don’t even know… Even after everything was finalized, your ex-husband never told anyone about the divorce. For two years, he was fucking me and carrying on as if the two of you were still married.”
“Why, Rachel? If he treated you as badly as he did me, why did you stick around?”
“Look around you… I was sure that if I sucked him off enough times, that he would forget about you, and this would be mine. But no, as long as everyone asked about you and bought the sob story about you being away taking care of your father, he could play on people’s sympathies. To put it another way, he could have his cake and eat it too.”
Rachel is becoming agitated again, so I call her attention to me once more. “What do you hope to gain now? Everything here belongs to Ari. Or more accurately, everything here will be sold and put into trust for Ari.”
“Not everything. Willa, go into the closet and bring back several neckties.” She points the gun in my direction to ensure Willa’s obedience.
Upon Willa’s return, she orders her to first tie up Ari, and then me. Ari is tied up on the bed while I’m forced to sit on the floor where my arms secured to the bedpost. “If they’re not tight, I’ll shoot him in the knee,” Rachel threatens.
As Willa tightens the knots, I glare at the woman holding us here. Willa finishes securing me to the post and sits back on her knees. In a voice full of sorrow, she whispers, “I’m s…sorry, Chris.”
Losing patience, Rachel grabs Willa’s hair and yanks her back. She tests my binds herself, and then stands back up.
Gesturing to Willa with the gun, she points to an adjoining room. “You, into the sitting room.”
As soon as they move out of sight, I open the blade in my watch buckle and start cutting through my binds. As I’m working through the fabric, I can hear the conversation going on in the other room. “Recognize this?”
“No, should I?”
“Jonathan said this was the safe that was in the bedroom you shared. He brought it when he moved and had it installed in here. He kept T-bills in here. Five million dollars’ worth. You’re going to get them for me.”
“You really think that my print profile is still in the system?”
I can hear in her voice that Willa is emboldened now that Ari and I aren’t facing down the barrel of Rachel’s gun. Her voice is downright venomous.
Sounding just as menacing, Rachel responds, “I hope, for your sake, that they are. If not, you will no longer be of any use to me. None of you will.”
As I’m listening, I’m cutting through the fabric as fast as I can. I nick myself a couple of times but am finally able to get loose. Without a whisper of sound, I rise from the floor, signaling for Ari to be quiet. I rush to her, lifting her off the bed.
In her ear, I whisper, “Don’t move or make a sound until I get you out.”
She nods, and I kiss her forehead. The trust I see in her eyes as I stuff her under the bed nearly brings me to my knees.
I brush away her tears and then cross over to a spot just outside the sitting room door. From here, the voices inside are louder. I hear the sound of a lock disengaging and a metal door swinging open.
“There it is. Load everything into this bag.”
Given the direction of their voices, the women are around a corner to the right with no clear line of sight to the door. This gives me the opportunity to peer around the doorframe to study the layout of the room.
Beyond the opening, there is a three-foot-long entry hall that is aligned with the left side of the small, rectangular sitting room. The entire length of the room extends to the right, around the corner of the entry hallway.
Willa and Rachel are at the safe, which must be at the far end of the rectangle.
Ok, time to plan. I figure I’ve got seconds before this comes to an end one way or another. Once Rachel has what she wants from the safe, she could shoot Willa and rush out of the room to kill Ari and me. I don’t give that idea much credence, given that the shots would be heard by neighbors.
It’s more plausible that she’ll force Willa out with the intention of either securing her with us or taking her as a hostage. In any case, I’m convinced that Willa will be the first to walk through that door. When she does, I have to quickly remove her as a target and disarm Rachel. This would be so much fucking easier if I had my Sig.
Forcing myself to lock away my fear of losing Willa, I remind myself of something. You don’t need a gun. You’re just as dangerous without one. That refocuses me, and I slow my breathing, relax my muscles, and wait for my moment to end the threat to my family with extreme prejudice.
I don’t have to wait long. From inside the room, Rachel gives away her plan. “All right, now you can join the other two while I take a little trip.”
“Are you going to kill us?”
“Not directly. There’s always a chance that someone will come by and find you before you die of thirst. Whether that happens or not, it doesn’t matter. I’ll be out of the country by then.”
By the volume of their voices, I’ve been able to gauge their position. Willa is definitely in the front, which determines my strategy. As soon as she comes into view, I grab her left arm, slinging her to the floor behind me. I wince as I do, knowing
it’s the arm that had been injured, but I don’t have a choice.
“WHA!?” Willa shrieks.
As fast as I was able to get Willa out of the way, it wasn’t fast enough to turn back around and grab Rachel’s gun arm. She aims the pistol at Willa, who’s now on the floor gripping her injured shoulder.
Ok, time for Plan B. At least now, I can move between Willa and the gun this time.
Rachel’s eyes are equally full of anger and fear at losing control of the situation. “Where’s the kid?” she demands.
It crosses my mind that I should encourage this woman to just leave with her spoils, but deep down, I know I won’t. She’s made me angry. She hurt my family. Besides, I don’t think she wants to risk us identifying her to the police.
No, my only shot here is to separate the lock from the key. I promised that I would do whatever it took to see that Willa and Ari survived the day, and that’s just what I plan to do.
“I’ll ask you one more time, where’s the kid?!”
“I sent her out to call 911, so if you want to get out of here by means other than in handcuffs, you should haul ass. I’d hand you my keys and tell you good luck, but I don’t think you’ve ever driven a massive four-wheel-drive vehicle with a manual transmission such as mine. You’ll have to take me with you.”
“We all go!”
“Sure. If you want to take the time to find Ari in this huge-ass house, be my guest, but I don’t think you have that kind of time. And I won’t leave if they go with us. You’d just have to shoot us all, but then you’d be in the same shape you’re in right now.”
“Ok, dumbass, move!”
“Chris, NO!” Willa lunges forward to stop me from giving myself up.
“WILLA, DON’T MOVE!” I yell at her. She recoils at the harsh tone of my voice, but I need to get this psycho bitch away from them before I make my move.
