by Melissa Shaw
Emily scuffled to her feet, pulling herself up by the table beside the door. How? How could she find out where he’d taken them? What would she do if she was Brian Ross?
Emily wracked her brain, but nothing presented itself.
“Come on,” she whispered, then lifted her phone to stare at the screen, willing herself into a stroke of genius.
It came like a lightning strike instead.
She’d given Jared the phone in case they needed her. Emily dialed the number and pressed the phone to her ear.
It rang five times, then there was a click and a scratching noise.
“Hey there, bitch,” Brian sang into the phone. The reception was bad, and the hum of the engine in the background told her what she needed to know.
“Where the fuck are you?”
“Now, is that anyway to greet your long lost husband?”
“Have I called the past? You’re my ex-husband. Where are they, Brian?”
“They’re where they should be, with me.” The soft whimper of tears in the background swelled to a crescendo and Brian pulled the phone away for a second. “Shut the fuck up, Rebecca. Shut up.”
“Don’t talk to them like that.” Emily spoke up, but kept her tone even. She wouldn’t let the panic or rage back in. It had gained her nothing but confusion and landed her in this position in the first place.
“They’re mine, I’ll talk to them however I want.”
“Let me speak to them.”
“You don’t need to speak to them, they don’t need you.”
“Mommy!” Jared screamed, and Emily’s pulse raced. Her mind was clear, but the fear had set in again, taking hold as surely as a virus. She ousted it and took slow breaths in and out.
“You’d better shut up or I’ll make you, boy,” Brian said.
“You harm a hair on their heads and I will equalize you, Ross. Do you understand me?” Emily delivered it with crisp precision, and her ex-husband, the fucking psychopath, chuckled at her in return.
“You don’t have the balls, McDonald. You don’t have the guts to come out and do what needs to be done. The kids are mine, they’ll be mine for eternity.”
That didn’t sound good.
“Eternity?”
“There’s nothing more final than death.”
Becci screamed in terror and Jared joined her. “Help us, mommy, help us, please.”
“Listen to me, you bastard, you let those kids go right now.”
“Or what?” Brian replied, laughing again, then pausing to yell at the children in the back. There was a crackle of bad reception and Emily’s heart stood still. She couldn’t afford to lose this line now.
Brian had gone mad. All that narcissism had spilled over into insanity. He wanted to harm her babies. Fuck that.
“Or I’ll track you down and make you let them go.”
“You think I’m scared of you, little girl? Ha! Ha! HA!” He shouted the mirth at her, and the children pleaded for her again.
“I think you should be, dipshit, ‘cos once I find you, I’ll make you regret ever meeting me.”
“Oh really? That fits my plans just fine. Let’s have us a little family reunion, my darling.”
The collapse of public opinion had changed him. He’d lost everything and now he wanted to destroy her too.
“Where are you?” Emily gripped her car keys, and placed one hand on the door handle. She needed a clue, a hint, an address, anything. “Where are you going?”
“To where it began.”
The line went dead.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
This was it. The place where it began.
The exact spot where Chase’s parents had died on the freeway. There were two small white crosses in the grass alongside the road, with fresh wreaths strung around them.
Brian’s Audi was parked ahead, and the two figures in the back bobbed up and down, shifting from one side of the car to the other.
The man himself stood beside the silver coffin, smoking a cigar. He grinned at her, eyes wide as they could go, and she parked her car behind his and gripped the wheel.
Her lawyer had brought her year after she’d posted bail, to see if she could remember anything about the crash. The most they’d gotten out of the experience was the vague remembrance of metal crunching on metal.
Emily got out of her car and slammed the door behind her, but didn’t walk towards her ex-husband.
“I’m glad you came, girly.” Brian tapped the ash of his cigar onto the top of the Audi.
“Give me my children,” she answered, shaking in the brisk evening air. The sun was a sliver on the horizon, they were moments from the purple haze of twilight.
“Emily, Emily, Emily, don’t you know the magic word?”
“Please,” she replied, because she didn’t have time for ego with Jared and Becci at stake. She’d do anything to get them back safely. “Let them out of the car and you can go free. No one will find out about you taking them. You can drive and disappear and be free for the rest of your life.”
She’d do that much for them. She’d forgo her revenge and gratification, so they could live; that was how it was meant to be.
“It’s interesting you say that,” said Brian, scratching his stubbly chin, “because I will never be free again. You destroyed that when you went to authorities and told them about my deal with Chase.” He puffed on the horrid brown Cuban again. “I have to admit, I was impressed by that in spite of my anger. Quite a cunning move from you, bitch.”
Telling him she hadn’t done it was pointless.
“Brian, give me the kids, this has gone on long enough. They’re absolutely terrified.”
Becci pressed her nose up against the glass of the back window, crying hard. “Mommy!”
“Shut the fuck up,” Brian snapped and smashed the front window with his fist. Blood dripped from his knuckles, and the screams inside the car redoubled.
“Calm down, Brian, don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
“Of course not,” he said, laughing so hard his body shook. “I’d never do anything I’d regret.” He reached through the space where the window had been and brought a canister, then unscrewed it and tossed its contents onto the bonnet of the car.
Petrol fumes met her nose.
“No,” she whispered. “No, you’re not going to do this. Step away from the car, right now.” Emily kept her tone as calm as she could manage, but he didn’t take heed. A low panic had built to a scream in her mind.
He wanted to kill them. He wanted to burn them alive.
“Mommy, please help us.”
“Open the back door, get out,” she yelled back at Jared.
“Child lock’s on.” Brian observed with a grin. “I covered my bases on this one. I should’ve done the same on the night I killed those two old fogies in their car. Dumb fucks never saw me coming.”
“Let the children go and I won’t tell anyone about that.”
“What does it matter, Emily? Everyone already knows about the debt, my public profile has been thrown into disarray. You’ve destroyed me already and that’s fine, because now I’m going to destroy you.” He brought out a lighter and tossed his cigar butt aside. It landed on the grass nearby, smoking.
The sun fell past the edge of the world, that last shimmer of orange light disappearing. Reality was colored purple.
“Don’t do it, please,” she said, stepping forward, kicking off her heels so she could run at him when the time was right.
“You wanted this all along.” He moved the lighter through the air, burning a trail with flame which would remain in her memory for eternity.
He bent sideways and lit the petrol. Flames swept up the front of the car, and the kids shrieked and battered the doors and windows.
Emily sprinted towards Brian.
He drew a gun from the back of his pants and pointed it at her. “Stop right there.”
But she couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t let him destroy her children. It was over
.
Emily charged forward and a guttural roar erupted from her lips, travelling from the depths of her soul, a summary of the pain he’d inflicted on her life.
She was moments from reaching him. She streaked past the back window of the car, the heat from the flames was unbearable.
Bang!
Agony sprouted in her left shoulder and she dropped to the ground, clutching at it. “Fuck,” she whispered, and tried rolling away, but it was fruitless.
The pain was too much and she groaned.
“Stupid woman. You’ve never thought more than two steps ahead.” Brian’s shoes appeared in her gaze.
The children’s screams intensified, and the sharp scent of burning petrol clogged the air. She coughed feebly and struggled against the injury to regain control of her senses.
He stood above her, and she raised her head to glare up at him. Brian pointed the gun at the center of her forehead and she ducked down. The kids. If they saw him shoot her in the head, there’d be brain splatter.
She didn’t want them to witness that.
“Let them go,” she grunted, “you’ve got me, you’ve got what you wanted from the start. Just please, let them go, Brian. Have a heart.”
But he didn’t move towards the car door to the let them out.
“I’m going to kill you now.”
“Not if I can help it.” Chase Newman’s voice broke through the terror.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Brian asked, but he didn’t drop the gun. Emily glared up at him, then glanced sideways at Chase.
That car would blow soon, there wasn’t time for talk. She needed a moment, an out, to get her kids to safety. The car was close enough, all she had to do was open the back door and let them out.
Those fumes were high, and the paint on the bonnet popped and cracked. Too close now.
“Drop the gun.” Chase stepped forward.
Emily glared at the pair of them, waiting for her moment. Her brain was foggy, spinning from the blood loss, but the agony had dulled slightly.
She was numb from pain? That had to be it.
Brian trembled, his cheeks flushed, but Chase was steady as a rock. He met the other man’s gaze and didn’t release it for a second, not even to check on Emily. That suited her fine.
He was the distraction.
“No, I don’ think I will,” Brian replied, shifting the weapon slightly. There! Emily shuffled sideways quickly and her ex-husband started. He swung the gun at her.
Chase dashed forward and shoved him back, then gripped his wrist.
Bang!
Another shot, and Emily ducked but didn’t stop moving.
“Let go, you bastard,” Brian shrieked, and Chase grunted.
Bang!
She flinched again and grasped the door handle, then pulled at it. It didn’t open. He’d locked from the outside too. “Shit,” she groaned, and crawled the few feet to the front.
She glanced right. The men were in a primordial struggle, as old as the ages. Chase wrested the gun from Brian and threw it into the grass, but her ex-husband followed with a punch to the jaw.
Chase staggered back a pace. “You’ll pay for that.”
“Be quiet while I kill you.” Brian dashed at the other man and hit him in the mid-riff. He tackled him to the ground and climbed on top of him, then pulled his fist back.
Emily turned away and struggled to her feet. No gun to stop her now. She reached through the broken window.
“Mommy,” Jared wheezed through the smoke. Becci lay on the back seat, unconscious, and her son was too weak to move properly. “Help, mom, please.”
“I’m here, baby,” she grunted. She pulled at the door handle from the inside and the central locking clicked. She had it now.
Emily shifted to the back door and opened it quickly. She reached in and pulled Jared out by the arm, he collapsed onto the road beside the car, coughing. “Move,” she croaked, “run for the forest. I’ve got your sister. Go before the car blows.”
She didn’t watch him follow the instructions.
Growls and shouts met her ears from the fierce fight continuing behind her.
“Becci,” she murmured, then crawled onto the back seat and gathered her daughter into her arms. She shuffled out backwards, wincing at the renewed pain in her shoulder with each movement.
Her baby, her little girl, was a dead weight in her arms and panic rose in her chest.
“Hang on, Becci, mommy’s here.”
She tugged her out of the car and lifted her in her arms, then limped to the grass beside the road, away from the burning vehicle. At least they were out. At least they were safe.
Jared peered out from behind a tree and she held up a hand. He stayed put. Emily laid her daughter on the grass and felt for a pulse at her neck. There was nothing.
Terror worse than she’d experienced in her life, even when she was sure she’d about to be shot in the head, overcame her.
“No, Becci, no. Wake up for mommy, I won’t let you go. I won’t let you do this.”
“You’re going to fucking die,” Brian screamed, and there was another crack. He was still on top of Chase pounding at him. The two men were equally matched in size.
Emily dropped Becci’s chin and her mouth flopped open.
She placed her hands over her daughter’s heart and pumped a few times, then breathed through her mouth, filling her lungs with air. “Don’t you dare leave, Becci, you’re too young. You’ve got too much ahead of you.”
She repeated the motion.
“You can come stay with mommy now. We’ll be together. You, me and Jared in mommy’s house.”
She did it again, but Becci didn’t wake up.
Panic crept into Emily’s voice. She couldn’t lose her baby, she wouldn’t allow this to happen. “I love you, Becci, please wake up. Wake up for mommy. We’ll go on long trips together as a family, you’ll still go to your favorite school. You’ll be safe. I’ll keep you and Jared safe. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.”
Still nothing, and Jared crept closer, sobbing hard. “Mom? Is she okay?”
“Please, don’t leave us, Becci. This is my fault, I should have moved quicker, come for you sooner. I promise I’ll never let you down again.” She pounded hard, then lowered her mouth to her daughter’s. “Breathe!”
Jared’s sobs reached a higher pitch.
“Breathe!” She tried again.
Chase tossed Brian to the side and rose in her peripherals.
“Breathe!” She screamed.
Becci coughed and her eyelids fluttered open. “Mommy?”
“Oh my god,” Emily sighed, and swept the girl of her soul – her little soul mate – into her arms. She held her tight, her own heart beating hard enough for the both of them. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
“I won’t.”
There was a terrific crash and they glanced back at the car. Chase had tackled Brian onto the bonnet. Ross was on fire.
Chase stared at him for a long moment, bleeding from a gash above his eyebrow. His left eye was blue. Brian screamed and grabbed at his back, the flames crept up into his hair.
“Not like this,” Emily whispered.
Chase didn’t hear her, but he leapt forward, grabbed Brian and threw him to the ground. He rolled him and the flames died.
Chase patted Brian down, then spun him onto his front and sat down on his smoldering shoulders.
“Call the cops.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“She’s going to be fine, Ms. McDonald.” The paramedic gave her a warm smile while he bandaged her shoulder. “They’re taking both the kids to the hospital for observation, just to make sure they’re okay.”
“Thank you,” she replied, and glanced over at Chase. He stood beside a police cruiser, holding an ice pack to one eye and talking animatedly to an officer.
Brian Ross was cuffed and sat in the back of a van nearby, staring dead ahead.
&nb
sp; “So, how’s it looking?” She asked of her shoulder, and the young paramedic chuckled and finished up.
“You’ll live.”
“Thank God for that,” she said, with no small measure of sarcasm. Chase turned from the officer and walked up to her. The paramedic took that as his cue to disappear into his truck, and Emily sighed.
So much had happened, but she was still nervous at the sight of Chase Newman walking towards her.
He stopped and folded his arms, muscles rippling beneath his ripped cotton business shirt.
“Thank you,” she said, immediately.
“You don’t have to thank me for anything, Emily.” He didn’t smile, but he kept his voice low and soft, like a warm summer’s breeze. The red and blue lights flashed around them, reflecting on the trees, illuminating them for seconds at a time.
“Where are the kids?”
“They’ve gone to the hospital for observation. Becci is worse off than Jared, but it looks like they’ll be okay.”
There was an elephant between them, but he didn’t address it yet. Actually, there was an entire family of elephants. Maybe there was too much to address and that was why he hadn’t done it yet.
“That’s good news. I saw what you did back there, Emily. You saved Becci’s life. You didn’t give up on her, even though the odds were bad.”
“She’s my child. Besides, you never give up on the people you love.”
Chase gazed at her and she blinked a few times. He could take that sentiment anyway he liked.
“Why didn’t you tell me what Brian was really like? You saw that he was my business partner.” There wasn’t an accusation in his tone, but guilt sprang up in the back of her mind, regardless.
“I didn’t want to interfere. You made it clear that it wasn’t my business.”
“My entire life was your business at the time.”
“At the time,” she repeated, then sighed and studied the trees, the stars in the night sky. “What’s going to happen to you after the tax issues and white collar crime?”
Chase’s jaw clenched and relaxed. “I’ve got enough to get by and enough to reinvest. Go clean, you know. Trouble is, I don’t think I can do it on my own.”
