by S. K. Lessly
I turned, folded my arms, and stared at him. I waited.
Noah didn’t take long. “Oh, all right. My apologies. Can you please have a seat and ask your questions?” The sarcasm didn’t hide the slight fear in his voice.
I didn’t move right away. I let some seconds slip by before I moved toward the table.
Davies went to pull out my chair for me, but not before placing a light hand on my arm to stop me. Our eyes met and I could read the questions he wanted to ask me. I literally crossed my fingers, hoping he wouldn’t ask me those questions racing in his mind. I was already holding on by a thin thread. I needed to keep it together. I smiled at Davies, making a point to show as much confidence as I could so that he would believe I was fine.
Davies continued to search my eyes for a long moment before he let my arm go so I could sit down.
“Damn, Davies, she’s fine. She’s tough,” Noah added as I pushed my chair up to the table.
Davies didn’t reply. However, I could feel him standing a little bit closer to me this time.
Noah considered me for a moment and then shook his head. “You know, if I would have known you possessed that much fire in you, I would’ve put in more of an effort to fuck you instead of your sisters.”
I couldn’t help the shocked look that I knew had accosted my face.
Noah sat up in his chair and leaned into the table.
“Oh, you didn’t know? Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t. I can’t remember which came on to me first. I think it was Rasheda. But that damn Latisha was a beast. Do you know she begged me to take your place? She knew exactly what it took to be with a man like me.”
“Baxter!” Davies admonished.
I put my hand up to stop him. “No, it’s okay. I want to hear this.”
Noah smiled. “Yeah, you do. So anyway. I decided to give Latisha just what she wanted. And I have to say she did measure up to everything she said she was and more. I fucked her every chance I got for months; having my way with her, doing whatever I wanted to.”
I’m such an idiot and a glutton for punishment.
Why didn’t I just leave when I had the chance? Why did I let Noah sweet talk me back into the room? Why did I stop Davies when all he wanted to do was shield me from the bitter hurt that I was feeling right now?
My entire body went numb. Despite the way that I was feeling, I found myself asking, “Did she know what you were doing to me? Did she know where I was?”
Noah intertwined his fingers together and rested them in front of him. “What do you think?”
I didn’t reply.
The smugness back, Noah leaned back in his chair and grinned at me. I knew what he was trying to accomplish and I had to say it’d worked. My heart hurt terribly. To hear that my sister knew everything that this sadistic fuck was doing to me and she did nothing to help me hurt. Then the selfish bitch tried to make me feel bad for running away and not telling anyone.
What also crossed my mind was the validity of Noah’s claims. Did he have sex with my sisters? Probably, but the rest of the stuff could’ve been him pulling my chain. Maybe he wanted to get a rise out of me or hurt me. Who knew? What I couldn’t do was think about that now. I had more pressing matters, which was the list of members of ONW bank.
One of the names on the list was my ex-boyfriend and abuser, Noah Baxter. He had roughly two hundred thousand dollars invested with this bank. The second name that had me up in arms was Emily Parsons. She was the woman who had tried to kill Josh some years back. She was also, at one point before I came along, the love of his life.
Emily had tried to kill my husband. She also had betrayed him. And according to Misty, that nearly destroyed him. It made him crazy, unstable, and deadly. He searched for Emily for months, years even, but he never found her. He was obsessed with locating her and still to this day he has Junior search the database for any hints of her whereabouts. It wasn’t something he did every day, but it was one time too many.
I had gone to Josh one day and asked if he had ever forgiven Emily for her treachery, and of course he didn’t give me anything. He shut down and changed the subject. I guessed I had my answer. Josh wasn’t over Emily’s betrayal. I wasn’t sure how I should feel about that. I didn’t talk about my ex with Josh and I hadn’t truly forgiven Noah for what he’d done to me. Still, I felt uneasy about Josh holding onto the past.
I didn’t think he would leave me for her; at least I hoped he wouldn’t. No, my concern was deeper than that. Emily lived in his darkness, if that made sense. She represented a part of him that was beyond bad. He had been driven by revenge for such a long time and that kind of drive would make a person blind to everything else around them. What lengths would he go to for the sake of revenge? God only knew. I mean, just think about what lengths he went for the sake of my safety.
And that’s why I was scared out of my mind until this morning when I heard the name Dante Perchenko better known as Cupid. His name was also on the member’s list. Now, I was beyond scared. Fear had crawled up my spine and was taking over, which brought me here. I believed that all of the members of this bank were quite familiar with each other. I noticed various transactions taken place between members from deposits into each other’s accounts and transfers to investment trades.
I had specifically seen large amounts of cash being deposited into Emily’s bank accounts as well as Perchenko by none other than Noah Baxter. Noah knew Emily. Noah also knew Cupid. And if this man was coming for my husband, then Noah had to help me. I was sure he knew where Emily and Cupid were hiding and I hoped I could get that information from him.
I felt that I was losing him. I needed to get this interview back on track. I asked, switching tactics. “How long have you known Dennis Simon?”
“Who?” he responded quickly, smiling deviously at me.
“Dennis Simon,” I repeated slowly this time.
“Never heard of him,” he replied, sucking his teeth. He crossed his arms defiantly. What he couldn’t do was hide the surprise I saw in his eyes.
I plowed on.
“No? Oh, okay… I thought his name may sound familiar to you. After all, you two had similar tastes. What about Jerry Oswiler, Carlos Diego, or Ralph Constantine?”
He continued to look bored as I mentioned a few of the other names from the list of members of ONW Bank; just what I wanted.
“Nothing? Okay what about Emily Parsons?”
That did it. I saw the recognition in his face instantly. He tried to play it off, but I saw it.
“Yeah, she’s familiar I see? In what way?”
He didn’t reply, but he definitely looked uncomfortable.
“You deposited a lot of money into her account over the years. Do you mind telling me why?” I asked.
Again, he didn’t reply.
I leaned forward and imitated his previous body posture; hands folded in front of me. “Look, your silence about what you know is only going to make things worse. I know more than what you think.”
“You don’t know shit,” he replied finally, his voice dripping with terror and fear.
I wasn’t sure if he was playing with me or they were his true feelings.
“Oh, I know plenty. I know about ONW, I know what it is, and I have an idea about what they do. I know about that hidden bank account you’ve been hiding from your family for years. I know you’ve been paying off this Emily person and a few other people.” I nodded my head. “Yup, I know you know who Emily is as well as Ralph, Jerry, and Carlos. And I definitely know you know a man by the name of Dante Perchenko. Why don’t you…”
I stopped talking after I saw the look of pure terror overcome his entire body. His face went pale or a gray clay color, and I could see his chest start to rise and fall at an alarming rate.
Noah sat up sharply. “What the hell is wrong with you? Do you have any idea who…” Noah paused. He looked quickly up at the cameras that were mounted in the top corners of the wall to my left and right. He then looked at me and shook his h
ead. “Woman, you’ve always been too smart for you damn good. Do you know that?” he asked, almost in a sad tone of voice before he looked at Davies. “You need to get her out of here and fast.”
Just when I started to open my mouth to reply all hell broke loose. First, an alarm started wailing violently throughout the building. I looked frantically up at Davies. I wasn’t sure what the alarms meant or what was happening. From Davies’ reaction, whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
I saw Davies’ hard face grow harder, as if that was possible. He set his hard eyes on me and pointed a thick forefinger in my direction.
“Stay in that seat.”
He then moved to the door, tapped the back of his ear, and brought his wrist to his mouth. “Brody, what the fuck is going on?” Davies placed his hand on the door knob and twisted. The door didn’t open. “Brody, do you copy?”
“What’s going on, Davies?” I asked as I stood.
Davies didn’t reply. He called to his wrist again. “Damn it! Somebody, answer me!”
Even though I couldn’t hear any responses from whomever Davies was calling due to the earpiece in his ear, I knew he wasn’t getting a response. It was written all over his face.
His concerned eyes met my growing frightened ones. Shit, this was bad.
I reached for my phone at the same time Noah said, “God damn it, Davies! Get her out of here now! Before it’s too late.”
Apparently, too late came early. Just before I could get out my phone to call Josh, gunfire rang in the distance and the lights went out.
I screamed and instinctively backed away from the table.
“What’s happening, Davies?” I asked him with hysterics in my voice.
“Don’t be alarmed. Everything’s going to be fine. Just stay right behind me. I got you.”
I couldn’t see anything, so how the hell did he expect me to stay behind him.
Again, that small voice started yelling at me. This time it was reminding me of how stupid I was for coming here in the first place.
I reached all around me, suddenly remembering my bearings and started to feel for a wall or the table. I heard Noah’s chains shifting in the distance, but I wasn’t concerned until I felt cold metal being wrapped around my neck.
“I’ve never seen a woman so smart be so stupid,” Noah whispered inches away from my ear. “You shouldn’t have come. But I’m glad you did. We have unfinished business, you and me. Don’t you think?” Noah kissed my ear and breathed in my hair.
Oh God!
To Be Continued…
Part III: Obsession - The Shit Storm
Coming Soon…
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