Secrets

by Terry Towers

  My hands trembled as I accepted the weapon.

  “Say it!”

  “I shot Alexander.”

  “Good. You only had one shot and you took it.”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Turn the safety off and shoot the bullet into that wooded area over there.”

  I frowned. “Why?”

  “So when they check there will be residue on your hands, idiot. I don’t have time for this shit. Get this done so I can get the fuck out of here before the cops come.”

  Nodding, I aimed for the wooded area, aiming high well over the treeline and pulled the trigger. The gunshot rang out.

  “Good. Have a good life, Anastasia.” Without another word he walked to the other side of the car, got in, started it up and then sped off. It wasn’t until the car was out of my line of vision that I was jolted from the shock I was experiencing. This was like some surreal nightmare.

  But it’s over now, I told myself. Over.

  Jaxson

  I had just gotten Ura into my apartment, shielding him as best as I could from the horror show that was lying on Anastasia’s living room floor when the gunshot rang out from the front of the building. My heart stopped. I swear to god it stopped for a minute and my world ended. The picture of Anastasia lying on the concrete in a pool of blood, a bullet to the head was almost too much for me to stomach.

  I never told her I loved her. I’d been a coward and now I may never have a chance, the thought flashed into my mind. Fucking coward.

  Hearing the gunshot, Ura’s tears flowed faster and harder than ever. “Mamo,” he screamed out and attempted to get past me and to the apartment door.

  “No Ura. No!” I held the child tight. I needed to go to the parking lot, to see for myself what had happened. But I couldn’t leave Ura alone, especially with the bodies of those men across the hall. I sure as hell couldn’t bring him downstairs to potentially see his dead or dying mother. But she could still be alive. I needed to go down there, whether Ura was with me or not.

  “Ura, you have to listen closely to me, okay?”

  “Mamo!” he screamed out, pushing me with every ounce of strength he had. The sudden outburst took me by surprise and he managed to wiggle past me. “Mamo!” he screamed again.

  I spun around to see Anastasia standing in the doorway of the apartment, a brown envelope in one hand, a gun in the other.

  “Anna.” A relief so intense that tears sprang to my eyes rushed through me. “Thank God.”

  “We’re free. It’s over,” she said before fainting.

  Epilogue

  Anastasia – 1 month after Alexander’s death.

  “Come on, just tell me where we’re going. You know I hate surprises,” I whined. Jaxson had me blindfolded and in the passenger seat of the car headed somewhere…

  “You’ll like this one, I promise.”

  The police had shown up shortly after I fainted. I had come to, to an officer sitting across from me waiting. There proceeded to be hours of interrogation, first at the apartment and then later at the station. It wasn’t until Jaxson’s friend Vince showed up with several other agents that Jaxson, Ura and I were finally allowed to go home. Although home wasn’t where we went, instead we went to a motel, which is where we were still residing; the thought of taking Ura anywhere near the apartment after everything that had transpired wasn’t an option in my mind. If I thought Ura and I in one motel room was tight, three of us were extremely tight. But Jaxson refused to leave us at night, and I was grateful. But the bottom line was we were alive and together and free. That’s all I cared about.

  Vince wrapped the case up into a nice little bow. Alexander came for me and my son. There was a shootout. I killed Alexander and Jaxson killed the other two – all in self-defence. Boris wasn’t even mentioned by me or Jaxson. I hadn’t asked him not to say anything, but somehow he’d figured it out along the way and kept his mouth shut. The story seemed to please Vince and the other agents and we were released.

  I’d attempted to bring up the issue of me being a prostitute while in Ukraine. I needed him to understand why I’d done it, why that was the only option I’d felt was open to me, and why Alexander’s offer to take me from it all had been so appealing. But Jaxson had refused the talk, simply stating the past was the past and the woman I was in the present was all that mattered to him. It was a relief and I appreciated it. The last thing I’d wanted to do was dredge up the past, but I would have, for him.

  “How about a hint. Just a little one.”

  “Not even a little one.”

  I groaned loudly, which was replied to with him laughing.

  The car slowed and turned off onto what seemed to be a gravel road. After a minute we stopped completely. I desperately wanted to remove the blindfold, but refrained, not wanting to spoil the fun he was no doubt having at my expense.

  He opened his door, got out and slammed it shut. A moment later mine opened and with a hand at my elbow, Jax assisted me out of the car. Nudging me out of the way, he closed the car door. Slipping an arm around my waist he led about twenty steps and then we stopped.

  “Ready?”

  “I’ve been ready, crazy guy!”

  “All right.” He pulled the blindfold off. I blinked several times, allowing my eyes to adjust to going from darkness to the blaring bright sunlight. Once I adjusted, what stood before me was a two-story, Victorian-style home. It was beautiful. I didn’t even have to look inside to know it was perfect.

  Jaxson wrapped his arms around my neck from behind and kissed my temple. “I know it’s nothing near as fancy as you had in Miami…”

  I turned in his arms to face him, my brow creasing. I wasn’t going to assume a thing. This was too much like the fairy tale I’d been longing for all my life. “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s for us. I love you, Anna.” He gave me a sheepish grin. “I know I should have said that a long while ago, it was killing me not to, but I wanted this to be right.”

  I turned back to look at the house. “For us. So you mean me, you and Ura? Us.”

  He laughed. “I was thinking me and you, but if you’re really attached to the kid, I suppose he can move in too.”

  Laughing I turned back to him, punching his shoulder. “Ass.”

  “Sometimes, I can be.” He stopped laughing, but a wide grin remained on his lips.

  We stood staring at each other. I had so many emotions and thoughts racing through my head I was rendered speechless. He hadn’t even said I love you until that very moment, although we both felt it and we each knew without saying the words what the other truly felt. I just assumed that after what he’d been through with his ex-wife that he was shy on actually saying the words and leaving himself vulnerable, and the truth was, I was fine accepting that.

  It was Jaxson who broke the silence. “I’m starting to get insecure here. Are you still digesting it all or formulating a nice way to say no?”

  The dam of emotions within me broke as I threw myself into his arms with so much force that we fell back against the hood of the car. “Yesyesyes!” I began kissing him. Cheek, lips, chin, back to his lips and then pulled back again. “I’m just overwhelmed. You hadn’t even said –”

  “I wanted to surprise you with the whole package,” he cut in. “There’ve been so many times over this past month that I’ve been wanting to tell you everything. The house, how much I love you. Everything. But I wanted this surprise for you.” He shrugged. “Too much.”

  I shook my head so quickly that my hair whipped into my face. “It’s perfect. It’s my fairy tale. You have no idea how happy I am right now.” I doubted I’d ever be able to come up with the words to describe the joy flowing through me.

  “And…”

  A smile so wide my face ached spread across my lips. “And I love you too. And I couldn’t have dreamed for something better than this. Thank you.”

  He laughed again. Grabbing my hand he began leading me toward the front porch. “Don’t thank me too
much quite yet, you haven’t seen the inside. It’s a bit of a fixer-upper.”

  My life quickly flashed through my mind. While people may have thought by looking at me that my life was perfect, if they had looked deeper they would have seen used and broken I’d been until I met Jaxson. The house – in a way – symbolized who I was up until this point. “Aren’t we all.”

  The End

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  Excerpt from

  Trust

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  Terry Towers

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  Prologue

  Gwen

  When I close my eyes and am able to block out the horrors going on around me and ignore the aches in virtually every inch of my abused body, I can still hear the cheers of the audience as I’m lifted into the air by the other cheerleaders. The cheers feel so good to imagine that a smile briefly spreads across my chapped and cut lips.

  The Fort Louis Cheer Squad is one of the top cheer squads in New England; we were going to take the national championship. I knew it in all my heart, maybe they still will, but I suspect it will be without me. I spend more time than maybe I should wondering who will take my place as captain of the squad; Becky Peters, I bet. She’s petite, popular, everyone loves Becky. Yeah, she would be taking my spot.

  When I really concentrate I can remember the feelings of freedom as I let myself go and fall from the top of the pyramid, into the waiting arms of my teammates. I trust my teammates will catch me and they always do. For those few brief moments as I topple I feel like I’m flying, I’m free and nothing can hurt me.

  But I was wrong...

  How long would it take before they stopped missing me; stopped looking; before I was forgotten about completely? A month? Six months? A year?

  Until now, I lived a life of privilege. I was popular, cute, was the girlfriend of the captain of the lacrosse team and had a family who loved me dearly. But that’s gone now and I’ve been thrown into a living hell. I was optimistic when I was first taken that I’d somehow be free again, someone would save me, but now I’m starting to think differently.

  I’m no longer a person. I’m a commodity. Gwen Anderson is dead and slave number 342 has taken her place.

  Lance

  People’s ignorance of the evils that surround them each day amuses me; even people you feel you can and should trust can have a darkness lurking inside, waiting for the moment to bloom into the monster they were born to be. At the grocery store, teaching at the local schools, taking positions in the government (although I doubt anyone would argue with me on that one) and even the people who swore to protect you – law enforcement. They all have a price and with that price can be manipulated into doing anything we need.

  I have a plan, years in the making. It’s perfect – foolproof. All I need is to keep myself focused on the big picture – my ultimate goal. I swore that I wouldn’t get emotionally involved with the slaves. The slaves were at the compound because they were special and unique and unfortunate enough to get noticed – not my concern or my problem. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, it’s the way of life. They’re nothing more than collateral damage.

  Things were all falling into place.

  But then she arrived…

  She tests my patience and my will. She angers and frustrates me, making the darkness within scream to be released. I want to ignore her, but I can’t. I need to let her go, but can’t seem to allow her to be sent away.

  Damn her, she’s going to ruin everything…

  Chapter 1

  Gwen

  “Oh come on Gwen, don’t be like that.” My boyfriend, Brandon Phillips, gave me a hurt look, his hazel eyes pleading with me to reconsider. His pants were undone and his shaft was exposed and rubbing against my inner thigh, as he waited for my approval to take things further and give him the one thing he’d been wanting from me for over a year.

  It hurt me to upset him; his expression tore at my heart and nearly swayed me. But my conviction held strong. “We agreed to wait until graduation, so it can be special, Brandon.” Pushing at his chest I struggled to sit up, pulling my sports bra in our school colours – blue and white – and cheerleader sweater down over my exposed chest.

  Truth was, I wasn’t quite sure Brandon was the one I wanted to give my virginity to. I loved him, but I was starting to think I wasn’t in love with him anymore, if I ever was to begin with. He was a good guy from a good upper-class family and my parents loved him. And we fit together perfectly, our high school’s power couple – the envy of all our peers.

  It should have been perfect, but, it wasn’t… for me anyhow. A voice in the back of my head told me he wasn’t the one and I was having a hard time ignoring it. Most of my friends had had sex and told me to stop being such a prude and give it to him already; they said sex is incredible. I didn’t doubt that, I was sure it was – with the right person. I was no stranger to orgasms, masturbating more times than I could count, but never to the image of Brandon and I thought that was a sign. Correction, I knew that was a sign.

  “Besides,” I said as I pulled down my plaid skirt and attempted to keep my eyes from his bobbing member as he sat up and tucked himself away, “I’m on my period.”

  I wasn’t. My period was my standby excuse for not wanting to “do it,” and it tended to be effective. Just not this time.

  “You were on your period two weeks ago Gwen,” he snapped and I saw anger flash in his eyes. He rarely got angry with me, but it had been becoming less rare lately.

  “And. Your point.” I matched his anger and squirmed away from him and off of his bed. “You calling me a liar? Want to check and find out for sure?” I was bluffing and prayed he didn’t call me on it otherwise I’d be busted.

  His face blanched and he shook his head, getting off of the bed to stand before me, his 6’1 frame towering a foot above mine. “Forget it. You might as well go home, it’s getting late.”

  “I can give you a hand job,” I purred, reaching for the front of his pants. It was the best I could offer. I’d sucked him off lots of times, but he’d pissed me off and I had no interest in doing that for him tonight. I didn’t appreciate the look he’d given me or the tone his voice had taken. He was lucky I was offering a handy at this point.

  “No, forget it. I’m losing wood anyhow.” He walked past me and motioned for me to follow. “Come on, I’ll drive you home.”

  I should have been upset, I was being dismissed, but I wasn’t. I was relieved.

  “No. I wanna walk home.” I followed him into the foyer and slipped on my white canvas running shoes.

  “It’s almost midnight Gwen, you shouldn’t be walking alone this time of night.”

  I snorted at him, grabbed my backpack from the floor and flung it over my shoulder. “Oh please, Brandon. I live twenty minutes away and nothing bad happens in our neighbourhood.”

  “Gwen.” He gave me a no-nonsense stare, but stopped putting on his second sneaker. “I think I should take you home.”

  “I’m fine. Jesus, stop sounding like my parents. I’m eighteen for God’s sakes.” I pushed past him and grabbed the door handle. Turning back to him I gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Text me later, ’kay? Love you.”

  Liar, my conscience screamed at me.

  “Love you too,” he grumbled, giving in and kicking his sneaker back off. “Don’t forget to text when you get home so I don’t worry.”

  Opening the front door, I was greeted by a gush of cool spring night air. Closing my eyes I inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled. It felt good, freedom. Turning back I shot him the brightest smile I could muster and nodded. “Sure will. Night.”

  Not waiting for a reply, I closed the door behind me. He’d be pissed and pout for a day or two, but then he’d remember graduation was only two months away and get over it. It felt like we’d been thro
ugh this exact scenario a million times already.

  Dismissing the thoughts of Brandon and the pressure to have sex from my mind I leisurely made my way down the street toward my house. It was such a beautiful night, the stars appeared to shine extra bright as if in competition with the full moon ahead of me. The streets were deserted and it was so quiet I could hear crickets chirping on the lawns of the houses I walked past. I loved the soft chirps of crickets; there was nothing more relaxing than sitting out on the back patio at night, reclining back in a chair with a novel – normally a crime story of some sort – and having the crickets chirping in the background.

  I smiled as I continued my walk. I had a good life. A very good one. I wasn’t one of those teenagers who would bitch and whine about petty things. I appreciated everything my parents did for me. I had everything that mattered, most importantly loving parents who pressured me – some might say maybe a little too much – to overachieve, but that got me an acceptance to Stanford for the fall semester so I was thankful to them. So far in my eighteen years, I had no regrets and only anticipation for what the future held for me.

  A third of the way home, my tranquil state gave way to one of alarm. An uneasy feeling came over me and I increased the pace of my steps. Looking around me nothing appeared out of the ordinary; there were no cars following behind me and no lone strangers walking ahead or behind me. But I just couldn’t shake the feeling.

  Continuing to quicken my pace as the feeling of foreboding increased, by the time I hit the halfway mark to home I was jogging. I was about to dismiss the feeling in my gut when a vehicle came up behind me at a speed too fast for this neighbourhood, although I didn’t think it mattered too much to the driver. Speeding would be the least of the crimes for the passengers of this vehicle tonight.