by Lucy Rinaldi
I gave in because Kory can be a right cunt when he doesn't get his own way. I thought I'd be done in ten minutes. I'm still here an hour later. Reading the documents I can't seem to get my head around. I've read the damn thing over and over again trying to force my brain to take in what I'm reading. It can't be.
How did the world get this small?
It cannot be a coincidence that Dani ended up with me.
But that's not what I'm bothered about right now. I'm bothered by the fact Maya lied to me. She fucking lied and destroyed me! She destroyed her own son. She took my son from me!
My son.
Dean really is my boy.
What Maya was telling me the day she shot Dani was true. She really had faked everything. All these months I've been grieving my little boy as if he'd died, and all the time he really was mine and living with someone else!
His mother is dead and he's living with a stranger. He should be home with me!
“Why didn't I fight harder to prove her wrong, Kory?” I don't look up at him when I ask him this. I can't take my eyes of the DNA results in front of me.
“Because that cunt knew what he was doing when he fucked her mind and had her change everything. Look, you don't need to worry about anything right now, we'll have everything put right soon enough, Greg. His birth certificate, everything. I'm working on it.”
“I want him home with me, Kory. He's my boy.” I lower my head and sob. How can I not? My little boy has been living with a monster for months thinking I didn't love him.
Did she really tell my boy that pig was his dad?
See, this is the part that I don't get. Maya hadn't been cheating on me throughout our marriage, Dean really is mine. But she met Joel Scott – yes, Dani's ex-husband – two years ago. He wooed her, she was smitten. He brainwashed her, she became his new Dani.
Sick, I know.
She left me for him, took my son, but it seemed Maya finally came to her senses and that's why she tried to get me to take her back. Not that I ever would, the bitch was helping that monster groom young girls! She made them trust her, then she kidnapped them so Joel could sex traffic them out of the country!
What kind of hold did he have over Maya for her to agree to something like that?
Was she so fucking starved of attention that she'd fall for his lies?
I wasn't a good husband to her. I can't have been if she'd do something like this. But did I really deserve to have my son taken from me like this?
I feel a hand on my shoulder, squeezing, showing me that he's here for me. Just like always because he's a good brother. “He'll be home with you soon, Greg.”
“How can the world be this small, Kory?” I look up at him.
He sighs and takes a seat beside me. “He didn't know Dani was here when he took Maya and Dean. He was looking for someone else, someone who betrayed him.”
“How would Maya now who he was looking for?”
“Because he was looking for Sonny, Greg.”
“What?” What the hell is he talking about?
Kory tells me about Hudson's five years away from here and how he spent time working for Joel Scott as Dani's bodyguard. Which brought around my question of, “How the hell didn't she recognize him?”
Kory tells me how she never looked Hudson in the eye when he was with her, she probably wouldn't have even recognized what color he was. Kory tells me how she didn't recognize him either, not that he recognized her. And I'm so confused by that.
So he tells me how Daxton is really Dani's brother, Kory's best friend from college, his friend I've never met. Another shock, something else she didn't tell me. Why the hell wouldn't she tell me Daxton was her brother?
Anyway, Hudson managed to get away from Joel, but Joel never lets anyone leave alive. You never know what secrets they may have gathered against you, something they could use to bring about your downfall.
Joel tracked Hudson here a while ago. Saw Maya coming out of his house one day, me following with Dean. That's when he formed his plan to get to Hudson through Maya.
He befriended her in a bar, made her feel beautiful, fucked her the same night. She kept on meeting up with him, sleeping with him. She fell for his lies left and right. But she wanted commitment, so he put his idea to her about faking the fact Dean was his. If she did that he'd marry her.
Stupid bitch actually believed him.
The plan was for Maya to come to my mother's house the day she shot Dani and kill Hudson, that's why she had a gun, that's what she was supposed to do. But she saw it as her chance to get away from Joel. If she could just get me to agree to take her back, she thought it would all be over with him.
Did she not realize that if that had happened Joel would have killed her?
Hell, he would have killed us both, and anyone else who got in his way.
Kory tells me that she'd given all this information up to the cops after her arrest. She also gave them a memory card with dates and times of Joel Scott's shipments. Lists of names of his victims dating as far back as ten years!
Ten fucking years.
Those poor girls. Their poor families. I doubt even a fraction of those girls will ever be found.
He even had lists of girls he'd killed for being “unbreakable” He killed them and thought nothing of it. He just went about finding his next victims.
When asked how Maya had obtained such evidence, she told the cops that she'd snuck into his office and downloaded it all from his laptop. She took it as insurance. She thought she could get me back, get Joel to hand over Dean, then we could leave the country. She thought she could blackmail Joel into leaving us alone.
She really was deluded.
She must have realized what she'd done, that Joel would be coming for her once the police hauled him in for questioning. He'd have someone take her out after what she'd done. I think that's why she hung herself. She wanted to die on her own terms, not by his hands or someone who works for him.
She even wrote me a letter. It's here in the file Kory gave me. I pull the letter from its envelope and read it to myself.
I'm so sorry for everything, Greg. I never meant to hurt you. By now, you'll know what I've done. Everything. And with who. I hate myself for it all, but he was stronger than I ever was. But I hope I've done enough to finally get him off the streets.
Nothing can ever make up for what I said and did to you, to the woman you obviously love more than life itself. But I want you to know that I am sorry, Greg. I want you to be happy, and if that girl makes you happy then don't ever let her go. Marry her, make babies with her, and tell her every day how much you love her.
I know I have no right to ask anything of you, but I'm going to anyway. Please, please find Dean and bring him home to you. When I told you that I'd lied about you not being his father, I meant it. He is your little boy, Greg, and he misses you so much. Bring him home and hold him close to you and be the parent to him that I never was. Give him a loving family, a father and a mother who will never put him in dangerous situations and think nothing of it until it's too late the way I did.
I won't be around much longer, so I will never be there for Dean in the future. I don't deserve to be. That little boy does not deserve to be subjected to a mother like me ever again. If you marry the girl you love, ask her to love Dean like her own. If she's half the woman I think is it will come easily to her.
Do you know how I know this?
Because she's the man I passed off as Dean's father... She's his ex-wife, Greg. She's the girl he's been looking for for years. He wants her dead for daring to leave him. I didn't know this until I heard her name and told him. I only told Joel because I was angry you were moving on. He told me who she was and I was shocked. Is the world really this small, Greg?
But I have some information for you. Information you can pass on to that girl... If what I've told the police finally gets Joel Scott put away, tell Alandra that I took care of her son. I took care of him for her. He's a good kid, a sweet little boy wh
o misses his mommy more than anything. It's his wish to be with her again. I hope that wish comes true for him.
He's with Dean, Greg. I didn't know who Alex was, I honestly didn't. Not at first. I honestly thought he was Joel's son. But one night, when I was tucking the boys into bed, little Alex told me all about his mommy and how Joel had hurt his mommy and then taken Alex away from her. When I asked Joel about this he told me just who she was and why he took him from her.
She didn't deserve it, Greg. Not at all.
That's when I knew it was time to end this. Those little boys have to be home with the people who love them I hope that my efforts were enough, and I hope beyond all hope that those little boys find their way back to you both.
I will always love him, Greg, please tell him that once in a while.
Goodbye, Greg.
That's where the letter ends, and things make a lot more sense to me now. But the fact my boy is with Dani's boy is mind-boggling. Is it a good thing? I suppose it is, it'll be easier when they come home because they already know each other. It'll be easier for them to adjust if they have each other.
Are they still together?
They can't be, Daxton found Alex, he has him somewhere safe. What about Dean?!
“What about Sonny? Is he still a target?” Whatever Sonny did for Joel, it's in the past. Callie cannot lose her husband. Not after everything she's already suffered. It would kill her. Not to mention the kids can't lose their father. No child deserves that.
“I'm afraid until we find Joel, he'll be a target. But with the information, he handed over to the police, information he took when he left Joel employment, the real reason Joel is after him, and the information Maya handed over, Joel's days are numbered. His men have turned on him, most are in lockup, already squealing like pigs, hoping to make a deal for lighter sentences. He's fucked, Greg.”
Good. I'm glad the cunts days are numbered, but he's still out there. He could still come for Dani. “But that bastard is still out there, Kory. He still has my son! What if he hurts Dean? He's got nothing else to lose! You've been sitting on this information for a damn month. How could you keep this from me? He's my boy, dammit! How the hell am I going to find him safe?”
I'm angry, dammit! Kory's known about Dean being mine all this time and he's kept it from me. Okay, I get it, Dani needed to be protected from Joel Scott, Hudson too, but shit, this is my son! Didn't I have a right to know he was mine? They could have told me before now, I could have been out there looking for my son!
“Calm the hell down and I'll tell you!” He rakes his fingers through his hair in frustration. He moves in his seat, elbow on his desk, his eyes locked on me. “Dean is...” He's cut off by the ringing of his cell.
“Leave it. Tell me what I need to know so I can bring my son home safely.”
“I can't leave it, it's Daxton.” I huff impatiently as he grabs his phone and answers the call. I could demand he leave it, but Daxton is working on fixing everything for Dani. This call could be important. “Dax, everything okay?... What are you talking about, arrested for what?... Jesus. Yeah, he's with me, we'll be there in ten.” He ends the call and looks right at me.
Something doesn't feel right.
“What's going on? Who's been arrested?”
My brother sighs. “Dani.”
“What the fuck for?”
He looks at me, and I instantly know something has gone very wrong somewhere. “Murder.”
“No.” Not possible, Dani doesn't have murder in her. She's too damn good. There's no way she'd kill anybody. Unless... “Joel?” My brother nods. “Shit!” He found her. He got past the men I had stationed around my house. Men who should have been taking care of Dani to make sure Joel Scott couldn't get anywhere near her.
I don't know what went down, but it can't have been good. I pray to God that Dani isn't hurt in any way. Whatever went down, she killed that motherfucker. She ended his life. Oh god, am I ever going to find my son now?
You can't think about that right now, Greg. You need to go to the police station and find out what the hell happened.
I know.
“We need to go to her, Kory. You need to represent her. You need to help her. Please.”
“Let's go.”
Dani
“Here, sweetheart.” The female police officer hands me a styrofoam cup filled with coffee, then she leaves the room.
I've been here for over an hour just waiting. My mind is all over the place. I didn't mean to do what I did, but I didn't see any other way to make it all stop. He was going to kill me, what was I supposed to do? Stand there and let him slit my throat?
Believe me, he would have done it. He'd come to the end of his rope and he wanted to hang me with him. Slit my throat anyway.
“Dani.” I swallow hard. Sheriff Harper just walked through the door with his Deputy, Freddy, my friend.
Both men take a seat at the table in front of me, notebooks open, pens poised. I have never been more terrified than I am right now, but I'm oddly at peace at the same time.
“I'm sorry we've kept you waiting, Danika, but there has been a lot to deal with.” The Sheriff tells me. He leans forward in his seat, arms on the table, a kind smile on his face. “How are you holding up?”
I shrug. “I don't know what I'm supposed to be thinking or feeling.”
“A natural reaction.” I wouldn't know, I've never killed anybody before. “Let's get started. The sooner we do, the sooner we'll be finished.”
I nod my head. It's not like I have much choice in the matter. I want to get this over with so I can go home and see my little boy. If I get to go home. Even if I never go home again after what I did, I'll at least know Alex will be safe, and so will Dean, safe with Greg. That's the only thing I will ask of the man I love, to take Alex and love him alongside Dean. I want Greg to be a father to Alex, to tell him every day how much his mommy loves him.
“Can you tell us what happened?”
I nod slowly and begin to tell them the story of what happened earlier today. I make sure to tell them how Joel turned up on my doorstep, how I was on my way to find Greg when the face I saw when I opened the door was my ex-husbands.
I tell them everything he said to me before I walked away from him, stupidly turning my back on him. The knife to my throat, the fear Joel put into me in that moment.
“He told me that I had to die for what I'd done.” I swallow a gulp of the now cold coffee, anything to ease this dryness in my mouth. “He was angry because he thought I'd managed to find out where he'd been keeping my son and steal him back.”
I'm finding it a little hard to breathe. I'm trying so hard to keep it together, but I killed someone today, how am I supposed to process that? I'm no coldblooded killer, I'm just a girl who's been trying to save her own life for more years than I care to count.
“I didn't mean for it to happen, Keller.” I wipe the tears from my eyes that have defied me and fallen.
“Dani,” I look up at Freddy, he smiles softly, kindly. “We know how difficult this is for you right now, and we're sorry we had to keep you waiting, but we need you to tell us in as much detail as you possibly can what happened.”
I close my eyes and breathe deeply. I have to hold it together, I cannot break right now. There will be plenty of time for that once these officers are done with me.
“The knife was digging into my throat.” I touch the long mark on my neck where the knife almost cut me. It left a red welt behind. I don't think it will scar, but it bled a little. “I hadn't planned anything, I swear, but I wasn't ready to die. I'd been married to Joel long enough to know that he had no intention of letting me live today. He wanted me dead by any means possible. He would have killed me, I have no doubt about that.”
I'm having a moment. I don't know how I'm not dead. Joel's one-second hesitation is the only reason I'm alive right now.
“I knew I had to fight back. I had to make him stop. I brought my head forward as much as I could without slitti
ng my own throat, that's how I got the marks, and then I slammed it back into his face as hard as I could. He clutched his nose, which gave me the chance to run from him. But he threw the knife in my direction. It flew by me, jamming into the wall beside my head. It missed me by mere inches.”
I take a deep breath and blow it out through my lips slowly. My head is pounding, my heart is finally slowing down, but my stomach aches something chronic. I think the shock is starting to wear off.
“I grabbed the knife as he ran towards me. He grabbed the back of my neck, and I knew that he'd slam my head against the wall if he got the chance. If he managed to get the upper hand, I wouldn't have lived very long. I don't know why, but he hesitated for a second. A second is all it took for me to twist in his arms and jam the knife into his stomach. I still had the knife in my hand when he pulled away from me. He looked down and touched his stomach. Then he looked at me with such evil in his eyes. He was laughing and telling me how he was going to kill me in the worst way, mangle my body and face so Greg would never be able to identify me, then he was going to find my son and kill him, cut him into tiny pieces and send his body parts all over the county.”
This time, I do cry. Those words he spoke about killing Alex will always haunt me. I'll never forget the evil in his voice as he spoke. There was no good inside of that man, no one little drop. He was the devil in human form.
I don't know what happened in his life to make him the way he turned out, but I do know that even God couldn't have saved his black soul.
“All I could think about was Joel walking away after he'd killed me and finding my little boy and doing those awful things to him. Because I knew he meant what he said. He would have done the worst things to my son just to make me pay for what I'd done to him. Even dead he'd make me pay. He said that I may not have been alive to witness Alex's death, but even in my own I would find no peace knowing he'd slaughtered my son.”
“You're doing great, Dani. Keep going.”
I rub my forehead to try and ease the pressure. “I'm so tired, Keller. Can we do this tomorrow?” I'm bone tired. Everything that's happened today has really taken a toll on me.
