“I can’t do this. I can’t do this to them,” he yells.
He leaves the house, getting into his car. He drives to an old trailer house and gets out. Stiles comes out of the shabby trailer.
“Why did you come here? You must want her dead,” Stiles yells at him.
“I don’t have any of the information you want,” Brady lies. “I’m buzzed in at the gate and I stay in the kitchen. I can’t help you. So just let me take Karen.”
Stiles gets a smile on his round, red face. “I guess you better go find that stuff out, then, because I’m keeping her until you do. As a matter of fact, you have until nine tonight to get me that information, or you can look for her on the street,” Stiles informs him.
Brady shoves Stiles to the ground and runs into the house, calling out Karen’s name. Suddenly, Stiles is behind him. His demeanor is unbelievably calm for someone who just got shoved to the ground. He’s still smiling.
He sneers at Brady. “You must think I’m an idiot. She isn’t here. Now go get what I want.”
Brady goes back to his car and drives away. I can actually feel the pain in his chest. Random thoughts are running through his mind. He’s torn between his allegiance to us and his love for her.
The scene changes again. It’s dark. A light goes off as his cell phone buzzes on the table beside his bed. “Hello?” he says.
“This is Doctor Jones at the Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital in New Orleans. I’m looking for Brady Mathews,” a voice tells him over the phone.
“That’s me.”
“A Karen Stiles has asked me to call you. She was raped and beaten, then left for dead in an alley in town. She said she needs to talk to you,” the doctor tells him.
“Okay, can you put her on the phone?”
“Brady?” Karen says weakly.
“Karen, oh my God! What did he do to you?”
“Brady, it was bad. I don’t know what he asked you to do, but can you please do it? He told me to tell you that if you don’t get it done, he’ll come to the hospital and kill me.”
“Okay, Karen, I will. Get better, you hear me? I love you. I’ll come see you soon.”
“I love you too, Brady. Please just do what he asks.”
He turns the light on, writing the code to the gate and drawing a map of the house, putting an x on our rooms and on the balcony doors. Then he walks outside, placing it in his mailbox.
I pull my hand away from his head. Slowly, I go to my knees in front of him. I take his chin in my hand, bringing his face up to look at me. His eyes are void of any expression. It’s as if a major piece of his soul is gone.
“Brady, I forgive you. I won’t let them do anything to you. Now, please talk to us, so we can stop this man,” I tell him.
As I stand up, he keeps his eyes on mine. “You forgive me?” he asks hoarsely. “Why would you ever do that?”
“You would’ve never done this on your own. He made you do it. You felt you had no other choice. You couldn’t see him kill Karen. I wish you would’ve come to us in the beginning, as we could’ve helped you and her before this happened. Now please tell us how he came to know what Eden and I are?”
“I didn’t know he knew that. That’s terrible. He must’ve overheard us talking in the kitchen when he snuck into the mansion that morning. My only contact with him after I left the note was yesterday when he called me. I guess he follows me, because he called my cell phone right after I got here yesterday. He told me I had to get him in here or he would kill Karen. I’m so sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am. I have to be punished for what I’ve done. Don’t drop the charges. I must pay for my crimes against you,” he begs me.
I hold my hand out to Eden, sharing with him what I saw in Brady’s mind. “There will be no charges, Brady. My wife and I forgive you. You’ve already suffered, as I feel your heart is heavy for what’s happened to Karen. I want you to move forward with your life with her. We’re going to make sure she gets better. The two of you should live a happy life from here on out. Once she’s had counseling, if you so wish it, she can join our organization,” Eden tells him.
My father opens the door. “You can take the cuffs off of him now, officer. There’ll be no charges pressed on him,” he tells them.
They look surprised, but do as my father has told them to. They look at Eden and me, I guess to be sure this is something we really want. I nod my head yes at them. They turn and leave as Lyle walks them out.
Brady rubs his wrists. “I can’t thank you enough, Mr. and Mrs. Fontaine. What can I do to help you catch him? I’ll do anything.”
“You need to let him know you can deliver my wife to him,” Eden states, shocking us all.
“Have you thought this through, Eden?” my father asks, with concern.
“Not entirely, sir, no,” he answers truthfully. “I just know we have to take control of this situation. He wants Alyssa, so we need to use that information to catch him. Brady can trick him into thinking Alyssa is going somewhere by herself, or going to be here by herself. Stiles will try to get to her if he thinks that. Only she won’t really be alone. With your help, and everyone else’s, sir, we can figure this all out.”
Dad claps Eden on the shoulder. “Then I guess it’s time for us to brainstorm,” Dad tells us as he motions for us to follow him.
As we walk into the living room I see Kyle and Laura sitting side-by-side on the sofa. Our mothers sit across from them on the other sofa. Kyle stands up when we enter the room. He’s looking at Brady, then he looks at my father.
“What’s he doing out of cuffs and still here?” Kyle demands to know.
Eden looks at me. “Alyssa, maybe it would be best if you take Kyle and Laura upstairs while we work this out.”
Kyle sends me, ‘Let him know I’ll not be shut out of this, Ally. You take Laura up and I’ll stay down here. I have to be in on this. Your safety is my number one priority.’
I look up at Eden and say, “Let Kyle help out, babe. I’ll take Laura up. Come on, Laura, let’s go upstairs.”
As we reach the top of the stairs, Laura pulls me to my room, shutting the door behind us. “Ally, why do you think you can trust that guy? I mean he gave the freak all the information he needed to get to you.”
“This is hard to explain,” I tell her. “I can tell he was forced to give Stiles the information. Brady is Karen Stiles’ boyfriend. Darren Stiles told him he had to get him into our house or he would kill her. Apparently, he told Brady to give him the information by a certain time. When Brady didn’t get him the information by his timetable, Stiles raped and beat his daughter almost to the point of death. He actually meant to leave her alive, just barely, so he still had something to hold over Brady’s head. That’s what he’s been doing and he’ll keep doing that until he finally gets me.”
Laura throws her arms up in the air as she paces around my bedroom. “How in the hell can you be so gullible? You can’t believe a word the guy says. Of course he’s going to say he was blackmailed. It’s like, step one when you get caught—blame someone else.”
Crap, this is so much harder to get her to believe. I wish I could just tell her I have this gift, but I can’t.
I sit on my bed and look out the window. “I see where you’re coming from, Laura. I really do, but these people are a lot savvier about the ways of the world than we are. I have complete faith in them and my husband, so I’m ready to do whatever it is they come up with. I trust them that much.”
Laura sits next to me, sliding her arm around my shoulders. “I’m not positive these people have your best interest in mind. I’ve thought some brainwashing might be going on. I’ve done a lot of research on this Phoenix Foundation they’re so big in and that you and Eden are going to a part of. Ally. A couple committed suicide or something like that about the same time as you got married. Apparently they were long-standing members of the Phoenix Foundation. Their obituary said the husband died, followed minutes later by his wife. Al, that crap doesn’t happen.”
Man, this is getting harder and harder not to tell her. I can’t though.
“I heard about that too,” I say as I take her hand in mine. “It turns out they were old—like really old—and just it was a weird fluke that they died like that. I haven’t been brainwashed in any way.”
“This foundation is more like a religious cult in my eyes, Al,” Laura throws at me. “Have they made you attend any meetings or anything at all?”
“No, I haven’t been made to attend any meetings,” I say with a slight laugh. “This is a great organization. These people help so many hungry children, even building schools in third world countries.”
Laura rolls her eyes. “I’m aware of all the good they do. Are you aware the members of this foundation never leave it? Once they join, they never leave, not any of them, Ally. That’s not normal.”
Wow, this just keeps getting harder. What can you not find on the internet?
“Well, who would want to quit an organization that does so much good?” I ask.
Laura squeezes my hand and looks straight into my eyes. “Al, you have a quick answer for everything I tell you. That’s kinda crazy, because it’s exactly what people in cults do.”
Boy, she’s making this so ridiculously hard.
I give her a wide smile. “Okay, how about this? You’re here to see everything that happens. I’m asking you to stay awhile and see what goes on. Then you can decide if I’m in danger or not.”
“That’s exactly why I accepted your invitation, Ally. I’m not going to stand by while something crazy or terrible happens to you. I love you.”
Her words bring tears to my eyes.
How can I leave her in the dark like this? The freaking rituals—I can’t put her through that. It’s bad enough that Kyle had to go through them. I can’t let Laura go through anything near what we did.
“I love you very much. You will probably never know how much,” I say as I hug her tightly to me. “You’ll be here with me. If you see anything which seems cultish, then point it out to me. Now, I’m going to need you to help me take care of this situation, but only if you want to.”
“Hell, yeah, I’m going to help you take care of this situation, Ally,” Laura says as we release one another. “Once Kyle told me someone was stalking you, there was no holding me back. I won’t let anyone hurt you. Not anything that’s happened between us will stop me from caring about you.”
In an instant, all I can think about is asking her to join our organization. If she could just know about us things would be so much better.
“Laura, perhaps you and Kyle could join The Phoenix Foundation. Better to be on the inside when checking into something, don’t you think?” I ask.
Her eyes narrow. “I’d have to discuss it with Kyle. I’m not sure it would be the right thing to do at this point.”
Okay, she’s clearly not ready.
Eden walks in. “Okay, you both should come downstairs now. We’ve come up with something which involves you,” he tells us.
We follow him down the stairs and see Scotty has even been brought into it, something I’m not happy with. I don’t want anything to happen to him. I don’t want anything to happen to anybody.
Eden leads us to sit directly across from our fathers and Kyle. I hold Eden’s hand tightly, as I find I am getting pretty nervous. Then I notice Brady isn’t here and so does Laura.
“Where’s that guy?” Laura asks Eden.
“He’s been taken home, so he can start to contact Stiles,” Eden says as he motions for us to sit. “We’re hoping Stiles will see he’s been released and try to contact him again. Once he’s made contact with him, he’s going to let us know, and then our part of the plan will begin.”
Lyle takes our attention as he adds, “We’ve decided it’s improbable that we can get Stiles to come here again. We need to do this out in the open. The three of you will take a trip into town to go to the New Orleans zoo.”
Dad continues where Lyle left off. “We all feel he’s much more likely to think he can get to you in a place like that. Although the three of you will arrive together, the rest of us will arrive there a bit later, so he’ll not see us all together and get suspicious. We’ll flank you on each side, so you’re never alone, but at times you will appear to be.”
Lyle takes our attention again as he says, “Once he’s taken the bait—that’s you, Alyssa—then we will all come in on him at once. Our security team will be there as well to make sure he doesn’t get away.”
My father adds. “He will not be taken to the police station, as we feel he might get out, and we can’t have that. Instead, our security team will take him to a mental institution in Alaska, where he’ll never be released.”
Laura looks at Kyle across the room and asks, “Who are the three they’re talking about, Kyle?”
“Me, Ally, and Eden,” he answers.
She looks at me. “Ally, I want to come too. I didn’t come all this way to not help you.”
I look at Eden and send, ‘Is that going to work, if she doesn’t come? I don’t want anyone in danger that isn’t essential for this plan to work out.’
Eden’s hands go running through his hair as flashes of his dream flow through his mind and out to mine. Her role seems to have been played out already. She was supposed to be with me at the swimming pool and she was.
He has to come up with something to tell Laura, though, so he says, “Kyle feels strongly about you staying here, Laura. He doesn’t want you in any danger.”
Laura looks at Kyle. “I feel like I should go, though.”
Kyle rises and comes to her, taking her by the hand. He lifts her up and puts his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. “Laura, please just do what I ask. I can’t see both of you in danger. My mind will stay more focused if I don’t have to worry about you too. I love you, you know,” he tells her.
Eden takes my hand and gives it a squeeze as a sharp pain stabs at my heart with his confession of love for another.
A slight blush covers her cheeks. “Well, when you put it that way. I would feel terrible if something happened to you because you got distracted because of me,” she concedes.
“So that’s settled,” my father says. “Laura, you can help Scotty here, then. He’ll be tracking us all and keeping us updated about where everyone’s at. We gave Brady a tracking device that we hope he can put on Stiles somehow, if he’s able to actually see him. The chances of that are slim, though, so we’ll tap into the surveillance cameras at the zoo as well. It may take both of you to keep track of everyone, plus keep us informed.”
Laura nods her head. “That’s good. At least I can be of some use.”
Kyle kisses her on top of the head. “You’re always useful, baby,” he tells her, making her smile.
Will I ever get used to seeing them together like this?
Eden’s warm breath fills my ear. “It’ll get easier.”
Why am I so jealous?
Dad stands up. “You kids get your bathing suits on and go for a swim. Have some fun for goodness sakes. I’m going to teach Lyle here how to barbecue this evening. I know how much Kyle and Laura love my barbecue ribs.”
“Yes,” Kyle hisses as he hugs Laura tighter. “I missed those the most.”
I give him a dirty look. “Thanks a lot, Kyle,” I find myself saying, before I can stop the words from flowing out of my mouth. “Now I know the real reason you came all this way and it wasn’t for me.”
Kyle laughs at me. “The truth is out, Ally. It was never you I was after. It was your dad’s barbecue,” he teases me.
“Stop it Kyle. We don’t want to burst her bubble with the fact that we only came here to get to eat her Daddy’s barbecue and her Mom’s apple pie,” Laura adds as she gives me a wink.
“You guys are awful,” I say with a laugh as we go up the stairs to change into our bathing suits.
Eden and I stop at our door as Laura and Kyle walk down the hall to theirs. I notice Kyle’s hea
d bend down. It looks like he’s whispering something to her. I try to tune into his thoughts, but he’s blank to me. I find myself feeling a bit prickly inside.
Then Laura calls back to us. “You guys go on down when you get ready. It’s going to take me a little longer to get ready. I have to shave my legs. We’ll meet you down there in a little while,” she says, then I notice Kyle patting her on the rear end as he follows her into her room.
“What do you know about that?” Eden comments as he opens our bedroom door. “I guess he helps her shave her legs.”
I look at Eden as I frown. “Stop it, Eden,” I tell him as I walk into the room. “I don’t want to think about that.”
Eden pops me on the bottom lightly. “There goes that jealous streak again, Mrs. Fontaine,” he says with a grin as he closes the door behind him.
“It’s not jealousy, it’s just … it’s just … hell, I don’t know what it is,” I whine.
Suddenly Eden has my back up against the wall, pulling at my hair as he brings his lips down on mine. He thrusts his tongue through my lips. My heart races at his unexpected eruption of passion. Just as suddenly as he pounced on me, he lets me go and walks away from me.
“Oh, no you don’t, Mr. Fontaine. You get back here and finish what you started,” I say, and then I pounce on him.
Heat fills me in an instant as I wrap my legs around him and kiss him like I missed him. He lays me down and tugs my clothes off. I close my eyes and all of a sudden I see Kyle looking down at me, pulling my clothes away from my body.
I open my eyes again and see a frown covering Eden’s gorgeous face.
“Alyssa? What the hell?”
He turns away from me and I sit up. Only my bra and panties are left on me. “Eden, stop!”
He turns back to look at me. “You want him.”
I shake my head. “Don’t say that, Eden! It’s something I can’t help. Come back here. I have to learn how to control that. It’s just that I can tune into him since he’s so damn close. I think I just saw what he was doing to Laura down the hallway. I swear.”
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