God willing, her plan would be a success, and she could return to Dalton to resume her life as though nothing had happened. To ease her guilt somewhat, Lin decided that a quick stop at the nursing home was in order. She hadn’t seen her father in a very long time. Maybe a visit would reinforce what she was about to do to Nick. If not for her father’s mean and evil ways, her life might have turned out differently. Her mother might still be alive, too. She couldn’t forget that.
Taking the I-285 exit to Northland Drive, she steered the Porsche into the right lane and made a sharp left turn to the private road leading to the Main House, the upscale facility where her father resided. Lin dreaded going in. Because her visits were so infrequent, the staff always made her feel like a lowlife, an uncaring daughter. If they only knew. At times Lin wondered if her father truly had Alzheimer’s. His ability to recall certain events seemed very selective to her.
As a child, she used to pray for his death while kneeling on those cold, hard floors. However, she’d come to think of death as the easy way out for him. She wanted him to suffer on earth as she had. As her mother had. After her mother’s death, Lin had heard talk that her father had collected a large sum of money from an insurance policy, though she’d never seen any evidence of it. Of course, she wasn’t living at home by then, either. If he had received a large amount of money, he must have hidden it well. Each year she paid an enormous fee for his care. Sometimes Lin wanted to take Sally’s advice and let him live his remaining years in squalor, but her conscience didn’t allow it. A conscience could be a terrible thing. She just might toss hers into the wind. Soon.
Lin found a parking spot close to the entrance. She wanted to get in and out as quickly and painlessly as possible, though she had her doubts that the latter would be possible.
Upon entering the reception area, one would think she had entered a grand hotel. Original artwork from Monet to Georgia O’Keeffe adorned the walls. Comfortable chairs and sofas were placed in a semicircle, facing a large window overlooking a perfectly manicured lawn and gardens.
At the reception desk, Lin pushed the CALL button as instructed. Before she could blink an eye, a woman dressed in a dove gray sweater and matching skirt appeared. Lin didn’t recognize her. Bony to the point of emaciation, thin brown hair coiled on top of her head, she couldn’t disguise her signs of hair loss.
“Yes?” the woman asked in a pleasant voice.
“I’m here to see Clarence Townsend.”
The woman nodded. “Of course. I’ll need to see your identification. I just started last week, though I’m sure I’ll remember your next visit.” She smiled.
Probably won’t be one, Lin thought. It was her hope this would be her last. She removed her driver’s license from her wallet and handed it to the woman.
“Lin Townsend. You must be Mr. Townsend’s daughter. I’ll walk you to his room.”
“Thanks.” She walked behind the woman to her father’s room, noting that it was a different one from the last time she had been there. Lin followed her down a long hallway, where the resident rooms were located.
“Here we are, room five-eighty-four,” the woman said cheerfully.
“Your father had his breakfast a while ago. I’m sure he’s ready for company. I’ll leave you to your visit.” She quietly left Lin standing at the door.
Did she knock or just walk in? Confronted with the same dilemma on each of her infrequent visits, Lin always tapped on the door before entering. Not today. She twisted the knob and shoved the door inward with such force, it slammed against the wall.
“What do you want?” her father shouted at her from his La-Z Boy. “I didn’t invite you here. Go away.”
Remaining in the doorway, Lin stared at her father. Today must be one of his good days, since he appeared to recognize her. At seventy, her father remained as heavily muscled as he was in his younger days. He wore his thick white hair slicked back from his forehead.
His ice blue eyes glared at her. He got out of his chair and came to ward her. Lin remained in the doorway.
“I asked you what you want. You deaf, girly?”
Lin wanted to slap him the way he’d slapped her so many times.
Instead, she smiled, because she knew it incensed him more than her anger ever could. He might think he could still intimidate her, but Lin knew those days were long gone. She took a step forward, coming as close to him as she could without touching him.
“My hearing is quite good, thanks. Though it’s a miracle I never had any permanent damage since you felt it your God-given duty to slap me whenever it suited you.” Lin’s pulse quickened. She’d wanted to say that to the old bastard for years. It felt really good saying it.
Her father took a wobbly step toward her, his meaty hands doubled into fists. He waved them around. “And I’ll do it again! You…you slut! Get out of here before the Lord turns you into a pillar of salt! Go now!”
Lin stood her ground. Her father was certainly his old self. For once she didn’t care who heard her, didn’t care how disrespectful she was. He didn’t deserve her respect.
Instead of turning around and leaving as she’d normally do—anything to avoid a confrontation—Lin stared at her father. Defiantly, chin up, daring him to hit her. “That’s what real men do, isn’t it? They beat their daughters because that’s what makes them strong and powerful. Oh, and godlike. How could I forget that? You know what, Dad? You make me sick!”
He stumbled, then grabbed the La-Z-Boy for support. “May you rot in hell! You are not the flesh of my flesh, girly! You come in here all high and mighty. Who do you think you are? Does ‘honor thy father’ mean anything to you?” he bellowed, sending spittle flying from his dark red lips. “Go now! Get thee behind me!” He gestured wildly, his hands flying around, as though battling a swarm of killer bees.
Remaining stock-still, Lin stared at him. “You’re really warped, you know that? I pray that you rot in hell. As a matter of fact, I know you’re going to hell.” She cast a wicked smile at him. “I’m finished with you.” Lin recalled all the beatings, the days and nights of forced prayer, the insults. Yes, she was finished. “Before I leave, I’m going to make a detour to the administration office. I’m going to do something I should have done a long, long time ago.” Lin eyed her father, searching for some small sign that he regretted what he’d done to her. She saw nothing. “You have about a year left here. If I were you, I’d start praying to that cruel God of yours, because you’re going to need someone other than me to foot the bill for this”—Lin glanced around at her father’s luxurious quarters—“swanky establishment. On that note, let me say good-bye. I wish I could say it’s been nice, but you know as well as I do that it hasn’t.”
He lurched toward her, hands tightly fisted. She stepped out of the room, refusing to acknowledge his anger. She was finished. Enough was enough. As she hurried toward the administration office, Lin smiled, thinking Sally would be very proud of her at that moment.
Three and a half hours later Lin was at a small private airport just south of Atlanta, where she boarded a private jet bound for New York. Jason had suggested traveling this way in case someone tried to track down her movements. It cost a small fortune. Lin grinned, thinking her dear friend would definitely approve of her lavish spending.
When the Gulfstream landed, Lin peered out the window and spied Jason waiting on the tarmac of the private airstrip. She grabbed her luggage from the overhead bin. When the plane came to a complete stop and the door opened, Lin practically ran down the short flight of steps.
Jason was all smiles as he greeted her. “I’m glad you took my suggestion.” He nodded toward the Gulfstream.
“I didn’t want to take any chances,” Lin said.
“Smart woman. Come on.”
Lin rolled her eyes upward. She didn’t believe him for a minute.
Once they were inside Jason’s SUV, he spoke about their upcoming plans. “We’re going to my office. I’ve got some information I’d like to sh
are with you.”
Lin was nervous about visiting the Empire State Building. She told Jason.
“No need to worry. The big man hasn’t been in his office lately.
Something is going on with him. I’m working on finding out what it is.”
“You don’t think he suspects anything, do you?” Lin asked, suddenly afraid of what she’d set out to do. Getting caught would ruin everything.
Jason shook his head, his gold hoops bouncing against his neck.
“What’s to suspect? Trust me, he hasn’t a clue. Besides, he’s too full of himself and Pemberton Transport.” Nick Pemberton was an extremely intelligent businessman who had some of the best contacts in the business. Jason knew that firsthand but didn’t want to scare Lin off. He wanted her to succeed. Someone needed to bring the bastard down a notch.
“I hope you’re right,” Lin said.
“You have to trust me.”
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.” Lin would, but she wasn’t going to elaborate. Not yet. When the time was right, she’d know. Until then, she’d keep some things under her hat.
“Good.”
After an hour of traffic, horns, and people screaming out their car windows, they arrived safely. Lin let out a relieved sigh.
Jason gave his keys to a young Spanish guy in the parking garage. “Thanks, Julio. Later.”
Lin chewed her lip, a sure sign of nerves. She remembered how she used to do it as a kid when she knew her father was going to punish her for some so-called crime against the Lord. She hadn’t resorted to such childish behavior in years.
From out of nowhere Lin had a flashback of the events leading up to the day she finally realized she was pregnant with Will.
Lin rolled over in bed. It was already eight fifteen! She never slept this late. She ducked beneath the covers, wishing she could stay in bed, where she could savor the memory of Atlanta. Since the party two months ago she hadn’t been herself, couldn’t forget the sin she’d committed, couldn’t deny how much she’d enjoyed committing it with the handsome man she’d given herself to. Her father would kill her if he found out that the week she’d spent in Atlanta under the guise of a mathematical competition was spent partying with a group of Jolene’s college friends who attended Emory University. God! Her soul would burn in the fires of hell.
She’d done nothing but sleep and wait by the phone for weeks. She’d spent endless hours remembering her weeklong affair with Nicholas. It’d been the best week of her life, or it had until recently.
But all she wanted to do was lie in bed. Her energy level was a big zero. When her father woke her each morning for breakfast, the mere thought of food gagged her. Lin knew she was wasting time—she should be studying, or at least helping her mother with the household chores—but it was all she could do to get dressed. She hadn’t even bothered washing her hair in over a week. The greasy strands lay across her cheek. It was disgusting; she was so ashamed of herself. Knowing she needed to get back on her normal routine, she forced herself to get out of bed and into the shower. Ten minutes later she felt revived. Clean hair. Shaved legs, teeth brushed and flossed. She felt human for the first time in days. She chose a pair of khaki slacks and a navy Hang Ten T-shirt. She went downstairs in search of food, thinking of Nicholas.
She vowed to herself that she was not going to pine away waiting for him to call. He’d said he would. He didn’t. Should be the end of the story, but Lin knew as well as she knew what a logarithm was that she’d fallen head over heels, knee deep, “no turning back” in love with Nicholas Pemberton. Obviously, her feelings weren’t reciprocated, or he would’ve called. It was time to get on with her life. No, she would forget that glorious week and move on. She had to because it was becoming more obvious with each passing hour that he had moved on with his.
“It’s about time you got up. Go help your mother in the kitchen,” her father said. “I was about to come and wake you.”
Lin forced herself to act as cheerful as her normal self, whatever that was. “I’m sorry. I was reading the scripture until the wee hours.”
“Oh?” Her father seemed pleased.
“Yes, I studied the book of Genesis.”
“And you found that…What? Appropriate? There are other books of the Bible I would prefer you to study. What have you been doing in that room of yours? And you’d better tell me the truth.”
She hated to lie to her father, especially when it came to religion, but he gave her no choice. “I am telling you the truth! I was reading about Sodom and Gomorrah.” In her mind she was Lot’s wife, and her father was about to cast her out into a sea of demons.
“I don’t believe a word you say! Go have your breakfast. Then help your mother clean up. When you’re finished, I want you in the front room. We’re going to study the book of Genesis today. In fact, since you enjoy reading that book so much, I’m going to have you memorize it. Now, go on. Get out of my sight!”
Evidence of her mother’s baking lingered in the kitchen. Measuring cups and mixing bowls dried in the dish drainer. Her mother never left a thing out of place. Lin was still getting used to the new Harvard gold appliances and the fact that they had a dishwasher, which her mother had yet to use. She said she was afraid the electric bill would be outrageous. She said it was wasteful to have such things.
Wasteful not to use them, Lin thought, but she wouldn’t say that to her mother.
She took a muffin from the basket warming on the stove and slathered it with butter and jelly. She poured herself a glass of orange juice. After two small bites of the muffin, she tossed it into the sink before racing to the bathroom.
Falling to her knees, she emptied what little contents were in her stomach into the toilet, retching until she finally collapsed on the tile floor, where she lay, gasping for air. She couldn’t remember being so sick. Using the wall for support, she eased herself upright. Splashing cold water on her face, she spied her reflection in the mirror. Purple moons below her eyes highlighted the unusual silver of her eyes. She looked like a cancer victim. Cupping her hands under the water, she splashed her face again, then rinsed her mouth. She used her mother’s hairbrush to smooth her hair. Using her finger, she rubbed a dab of Pepsodent across her teeth.
Barely mobile, she returned to the living room for her Bible lesson. Her father stood at his homemade pulpit. She dreaded what she had to do.
“What’s the matter with you? Have you been drinking? I heard you throwing up. Liquor is the devil’s drink, young lady! What is it going to take to teach you how to act like a God-fearing young lady?”
Lin cringed, knowing what was coming next.
“You know what it takes, don’t you, girl?”
Lin nodded.
“Answer me!” her father shouted from his pulpit.
Lin got down on her knees and began to pray. Prayed that he’d drop dead from a massive heart attack.
“I didn’t hear you!” her father shouted in his holier-than-thou voice.
“Prayer, father. It takes prayer.” Unable to control herself, Lin vomited on the floor.
“You drunkard! I’ll show you! You’ll never allow evil to pass through your lips again!”
Her father took a leather strap that he kept hidden beneath his pulpit. His weapon against the devil himself, he called it.
Lin ducked her shoulders, preparing for what was to come. The first lash stung, brought tears to her eyes; the second forced her to grit her teeth together; with the third, she almost chewed her lip off. After that, it was simply a matter of her father tiring out. Ten minutes later she woke up, lying in a puddle of urine and vomit.
“See what you’ve done!” Her father grabbed her by the hair on the back of her head and slammed her face into the putrid mess. “You will clean this up. Then I want you back on your knees! You understand, girl?”
Lin nodded. Yes, she understood. As though a bright light flashed before her, Lin knew her sickness wasn’t from drinking or the muffin she’d just consumed.
She was pregnant, destined for the fires of hell.
“Are you all right?” Jason asked.
Lin had to shake her head from side to side to rid herself of the memory. “I’m fine. Just got caught up in a memory from the past.”
Somehow Lin had merged memories of her father and Nick. Each man was treacherous in his own way. Her father was a Bible-thumping hypocrite; Nick, a destroyer of dreams. Both men deserved more than she could call down upon them. She’d just evened the score where her father was concerned. Nicholas Pemberton was next.
Jason regarded her as they made their way to the bank of elevators. “You’re sure?”
“I’m okay.” And she was. “Actually, I’m going to be just fine,” she added.
Revenge was going to be very, very sweet.
Part Two
Chapter 11
Jason Vinery’s office was completely the opposite of the man himself. Posh and sophisticated, it oozed good taste. JV Investigations took up approximately an eighth of the twenty-fifth floor of the Empire State Building. Jason’s decorator had created the illusion of a much bigger area, with lots of open spaces and mirrors, nothing cluttered. Cream-colored chairs had been arranged throughout the reception area to create a cozy, comfortable atmosphere. Lin recognized the Moorcroft vintage pottery set on a shelf behind a sleek desk. Lush green plants had been placed in corners and on table-tops. The effect was refreshing.
“You like?” Jason asked.
Smiling, Lin nodded. “It’s not what I expected.”
Jason led her to a private room at the end of the short hallway. “That’s what they all say,” he replied in a teasing tone.
Lin glanced around the room. Small, but open and airy. “I like it.” A small walnut desk faced two Queen Anne chairs, which had been placed on each side of the room’s only window. Sparse, she thought. Nothing to distract anyone from the job at hand.
Jason was full of surprises, she’d give him that.
“Have a seat.” He gestured to the chairs.
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