My Destiny

by J. L. Perry

  Once I was out of the limo, I walked over to the entrance, a guard on either side of me. I had this overwhelming urge to kick them in the shins, but I didn’t. They were just doing their job.

  When I got inside, Ellen looked around. “What’s going on, Brooke? Are you some kind of royalty that you forgot to mention?” she said with a smile. I rolled my eyes and we both laughed.

  “Oh, I have been getting threats from my ex-husband, and Logan is just overacting.”

  “Awww, that’s sweet. He is one hunk of man,” she said with a smile. “You are lucky to have someone that cares so much for you.” She was right, I guess. I was lucky to have him.

  Once I was back at home…and without incident, I might add…I went upstairs to shower and change before coming back downstairs to have some lunch. On my way to the kitchen, I tried to call Logan, but it went straight to voicemail. I’d forgotten that he was in court so I left him a message.

  “Hi, babe. It’s me. I just wanted to let you know I got home safe and sound, thanks to your team of guards.” I laughed. “It really was a bit much, don’t you think? But thank you for caring. I love you and miss you. Can’t wait to see you tonight, hot stuff.”

  I blew him a kiss into the phone before I hung up. I then put my phone in the pocket of my jeans.

  I told Jill all about the guards that Logan had hired to take me to the studio, and we both laughed. Jill said how touched she was last night when he gave me the flowers, and she could tell how in love we were.

  “You make a perfect couple,” she added. “I always worried that Logan would never settle down because, before you came along, his life consisted mainly of work. I am so glad you found each other.”

  After lunch, I played the piano for a while. I was missing my students. I had called them and explained that I would be unavailable for a few weeks, and that I was looking forward to starting my lessons again. Logan had also asked me to give up my job at the restaurant for a while because it just wasn’t safe working there while Jake was on the loose.

  About 5:00 p.m., I heard the elevator doors open so I ran over to greet Logan. I was surprised to find his uncle John standing there instead. By the look on his face, I could tell he was surprised to see me.

  “Brooke,” he said with a smile. “I wasn’t expecting to find you here.”

  “Hi, John. I had a few problems at my place so I’m staying with Logan for a few days while it’s being sorted out.” I didn’t go into details. Logan’s family wouldn’t be happy if they knew all the drama my ex-husband had been causing.

  “Oh, well, I was hoping to have a chat with Logan.”

  “Have a seat. Logan has a big court case today, but should be home soon. Would you like a drink while you wait?”

  “I’ll have a scotch, thanks,” he said nervously.

  I walked over to the bar. “How are you feeling? Logan was worried about you after we left the party.”

  “I’m fine, thank you. Brooke, can you sit down for a second? There is something I want to talk to you about.” I couldn’t imagine what, but I sat down anyway.

  “Is everything okay?” He didn’t answer, and I noticed he looked nervous. That made me worry. All of these things started going through my mind…like maybe he was sick, dying, or worse. What if he didn’t think I wasn’t good enough for Logan?

  “What is it, John?” I asked because I just wanted him to put me out of my misery.

  “Well, I had been hoping to discuss it with Logan first, but since you are here, maybe I should come clean.”

  What the fuck? Come clean about what?!

  “Please, John,” I pleaded. “If you have something to say, say it.”

  He was quiet, as he looked down into his glass of scotch. He sighed before he put his drink down on the table, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his wallet.

  “I don’t know how to say this to you, Brooke,” he said. “I want to show you something, then maybe you will understand.” Now my heart was pumping. I didn’t know what he could possibly have to show me.

  He opened his wallet and passed it to me, and my heart nearly stopped beating. There was an old, warn photo of a woman. She was about nineteen. There was no denying who she was. It was definitely my mother. I would know that face anywhere.

  “Why do you have a photo of my mother in your wallet?” My hands were shaking.

  “That’s why I dropped the beer the other day, Brooke,” he confessed. “When you turned around and I looked at you, I felt like my past was coming back to haunt me. All of my past emotions just came flooding to the surface. You look so much like her, sweetheart!”

  This cannot be happening!

  “You didn’t answer my question, John,” I snapped. “Why is there a fucking photo of my mother in your wallet?” I knew exactly what he was going to say, but I really wasn’t ready to hear it.

  “Brooke,” he said nervously, “I think I am your father!”

  I couldn’t say anything at first, but I could already feel the tears streaming down my face. This man sitting in front of me, who Logan loved and thought so highly of, was actually a monster! I threw his wallet back at him.

  “I think you should go,” I snapped.

  “Please, Brooke,” he pleaded. “Just hear me out. Letting your mother go was the biggest mistake of my life,” he said. “There isn’t a day that has gone by that I haven’t regretted what I said to your mother the last time I saw her. She was the love of my life.” His voice cracked. I could tell his was trying hard to control his emotions.

  I put my hands over my ears because I didn’t want to hear anymore. “Stop!” I screamed. “Just stop! How dare you come here and say this to me. You asked my mother to get rid of me, you arsehole.” He stood up and came towards me, and I stumbled as I quickly got up off the lounge. I didn’t want him anywhere near me.

  “Please, sweetheart,” he begged. “I am sorry! Please don’t cry. Let me explain.”

  “Don’t you fucking touch me!” I screamed. “As far as I am concerned, you are a murderer because you killed my mother! You broke her heart and left her pregnant with nowhere to go and no money. She spent the rest of her life working herself into an early grave just so we could survive while…while you lived your high and mighty life! You make me sick!” My hands were flying all over the place like a crazy person as I spoke.

  “I have carried that picture of your mother around for twenty-six years, Brooke. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought of her. I loved her. I tried to find her for years. What I did to her was wrong. The minute she walked out of my office, I knew that. I panicked when she told me she was pregnant. I didn’t know what to do.” He put his head in his hands and sobbed. I just stood there and watched him.

  “I shouldn’t have done or said those things to your mother. The next day, I went to her apartment and the university. I wanted tell her I had made a mistake, but she was already gone. Please believe me, Brooke. I searched for her for years after that day, but I couldn’t find her.”

  “Shut up!” I screamed. I couldn’t listen to this anymore. If he wasn’t going to leave, I was. I ran towards the elevator, and I could hardly make out the buttons from all the tears that were clouding my vision. As the doors closed, separating me from that monster, I slid down to the floor and sobbed.

  When I reached the lobby, I got up off the floor and ran out of the building. I didn’t know where I was going and I didn’t care. I just needed to get as far away from that man as possible.

  I must have run for a few blocks, but I wasn’t sure. My head was spinning. I didn’t even notice the van that pulled up beside me or that someone had gotten out. It wasn’t until I was grabbed from behind and a cloth was put over my mouth that I knew I was in trouble. The cloth had a strong sweet smell and as I inhaled, I felt myself losing consciousness. Then there was nothing.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Logan

  It had been such a long day, but the court case had gone really well. Right now, I was looking
forward to going home and relaxing. I was running late because we had gone back to the office for a little celebration. My clients had insisted. They were extremely happy with the outcome.

  On my way home, I decided to call Brooke to let her know I was on my way. When I got my phone out of my pocket, I noticed that my battery had gone dead and the spare was back at the penthouse.

  Shit!

  The elevator doors opened into the penthouse and I scanned the room for Brooke. I got a surprise when my Uncle John got up off the lounge. “Logan,” he said. “Thank god you’re here.”

  I dropped my briefcase on the floor because I could tell something was wrong. I rushed towards him. “What’s wrong?!” I could see he had been crying.

  “I don’t know how to tell you this, Logan,” he said. “I have screwed up. I have screwed up bad.”

  I walked over to him and gently put my hand on his shoulder. “What is it?”

  “I may as well just say it,” he said. “I am Brooke’s father.”

  What the fuck?!

  “What are you talking about? Where the fuck is Brooke?” I snapped.

  “She left!” he replied. “I came over to talk to you and found Brooke here instead, so I decided to just tell her the truth. She didn’t take it well and ran out of here crying.”

  “What?!” I screamed. “Do you know what you have fucking done?!”

  The sheer panic set in straight away, and I could feel my body was already trembling. I quickly got my phone out of my pocket to call her, then I remembered it was dead. As I ran into my office to grab my spare battery, I was already trying to take the back off my phone, but I was struggling because my fucking hands were shaking so much.

  Once I finally got the battery in, I dialled her number and it rang a few times, then connected. “Brooke, baby, where are you?” I asked in a panic.

  “I told you I would get her. How does it feel, Cavanagh, to lose the woman you love?” he said and laughed.

  I couldn’t believe this was happening, and I actually felt like I was going to pass out. “Where the fuck is she?!” I screamed into the phone.

  “She is back with me now, and you will never see her again,” he replied smugly.

  “You touch one fucking hair on her head,” I threatened, “and I will fucking kill you, do you hear me?!” I screamed.

  I heard him laugh again. “I intend to do a lot more than that to her, arsehole!” Then the line went dead.

  “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I screamed as I redialled her number. When it went straight to voicemail, I nearly lost it. My hand swept over my desk in pure frustration and everything on it went flying across the room.

  I hung up and called Mike. “He’s fucking got her!” I fumed as soon as he answered.

  “Calm down, Logan,” he said. “Tell me what’s going on?” I told him about what had happened. “Okay, sit tight. I’m on my way over.”

  Sit tight?! How the fuck could I possibly sit tight?! I ran my fingers through my hair and started to pace the room. This whole situation was making feel like I was going out of mind.

  My uncle came into the office. “Logan, what’s going on?”

  I loved this man so much but, right now, I wanted to fucking kill him. I grabbed hold of his shirt. “If he harms her in any way, I will never forgive you!” I screamed, as I started to shake him. “Do you fucking hear me?!”

  “What are you talking about? Who has her?”

  “Brooke’s ex-husband wants to kill her, and that’s why she’s staying with me. And now he fucking has her! And it’s all your fault!” I notice the colour drain out of his face so I let go of his shirt.

  “I am sorry, Logan. I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have let her leave if I knew,” he said with a sob.

  “How long ago did she leave?” I asked. When he said about an hour ago, I felt my knees buckle. I sat down at my desk, and put my head in my hands. I hated to think what he might have done to her by now and how scared she must be.

  I grabbed my gun out of my drawer and loaded it. “Stay here and wait for Mike. Call me as soon as he arrives.” There was no way I could just sit here doing nothing while that maniac had the woman I loved.

  “Where are you going?” my uncle asked.

  “I am going to fucking find her,” I snapped. His eyes widened when he noticed the gun in my hand.

  Once I made it down to the basement, I ran over to my car. When I had to wait for the automatic garage door to open, I just wanted to scream. Once it had opened enough for me to fit underneath, I sped out into the street. I had no idea where I was going, but I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing.

  Ten minutes later my phone rang. “Mike is here” my uncle said. “I will put him on.”

  “Hey, Logan. I’m downstairs going over the security footage from the building. I’ll call you once I’m done and let you know if I find anything,” he said and hung up.

  I pulled over to the side of the road because I needed to pull myself together so I could think clearly. Driving around was getting me nowhere. I tried to dial Brooke’s number again, but it went straight to voicemail. That arsehole must have turned off her phone so we couldn’t use it to track him.

  I was staring down at the screensaver of her on my phone. The photo was taken the day we had lunch in the city. She was smiling up at me, and looked breathtakingly beautiful. I ran my hand over her face. She was standing in front of the water’s edge, the Harbour Bridge behind her. Fuck, my heart was aching.

  I noticed there was a missed call from Brooke at 12:30 p.m. I dialled my voicemail. As I was listening to the message, I could feel the warm tears rolling down my face.

  “Hi, babe. It’s me. I just wanted to let you know I got home safe and sound, thanks to your team of guards.” She laughed. “It really was a bit much, don’t you think? But thank you for caring. I love you and miss you. Can’t wait to see you tonight, hot stuff.”

  Then she blew me a kiss. Fuck! There was nothing I wouldn’t do for that kiss right now. I rewound the message and listened to it again because I needed to hear her sweet voice.

  A few minutes later, Mike called me back. “Logan, the footage shows Brooke running out of the building, and a white van appears to be following her down the street. She is wearing denim jeans and a red top. I have called in a favour from one of my old detective buddies, and we are trying to get all the CCT surveillance footage in the area. The van is positioned at an angle that you can’t quite make out the licence plate. If we can get some different footage, we might have a chance.”

  “Thanks, Mike,” I said and my voice cracked. “Please hurry. We need to find her.” The thought of never seeing her again was just too much to bear. I would rather die than not have her in my life. I know that sounds drastic, but that’s how I felt. That’s how much I loved her!

  I started the car up again and made my way back into traffic. At least I had something to go on. I was now looking for a white van, and also thought about what Mike had said…she was wearing a red top. God, I loved her in red. Thinking about her made my chest hurt.

  It felt like I had been driving around forever. With each minute that passed, I could feel myself getting more and more desperate. Do you know how many white vans there are driving around in the city? Fucking hundreds!

  My phone rang about an hour later. It was Mike. “Logan, the surveillance tapes are on their way over. I need you to head back to the penthouse to help view them.” I was about fifteen minutes away so I did a U-turn and raced back.

  When I got there, I double parked my car. The doorman, Charles, told me he would keep an eye on it for me. I didn’t really give two fucks about the car at that moment, but said thanks.

  My uncle was waiting for me in the lobby when I arrived. We went into the security office downstairs. I had never been in this room before, and was surprised at the amount of equipment they had and how high-tech everything was. We went through a lot of footage, but found nothing. I was going out of my fucking mind!

  Mike pu
t in the next tape and that’s when I saw her on the monitor. She was running down the street. I could tell she was crying, and it broke my heart to see her like that. I looked over at my uncle. I was so pissed at him right now. We could see the white van following her, but we couldn’t see the licence plate.

  There was so much footage to go through, and it was taking too long. I looked down at my watch and it was just after nine. Brooke had been gone now for four fucking hours.

  We finally come across the footage we were after. We noticed the van pull up beside her, then we saw Jake get out. He looked different and a lot scruffier, but there was no denying it was him.

  I watched as he ran up behind her and put his arms around her waist. He lifted something up to her face. She went limp, then he dragged her over to the van, pulling her inside. I had to sit down because I felt like I was going to be sick. I put my head in my hands. My mind was on overdrive. I could already hear Mike on the phone, giving the police the licence plate number. I was thankful that one of us was together enough to do something.

  Brooke

  I woke up in a dark room. I had no idea where I was or how I got here. I looked around, but it was too dark and I couldn’t make out anything. When I realised that my hands were tied behind my back, I started to panic.

  I called out, “Hello? Is anybody there?”

  Suddenly, the door swung open and the light was turned on. “Well, well, well. Sleeping beauty finally awakes,” I heard someone say, and I would recognise that voice anywhere. It was Jake!

  The bright light was hurting my eyes, but I turned my head towards the door. I got a shock when I first laid eyes him. He looked different. Nothing like the handsome man I was once married to. He had lost a lot of weight, had grown a beard, and his hair was long and ratty. He looked terrible, and part of me felt bad for him.

  “Hello, Brooke,” he said with a smirk. “I told you I would get you back, didn’t I?”

  I tried to get up off the bed, but I felt groggy. “Did you drug me?”