by Stefani, Z.
“Not seeing you would be bad luck.” He walked over to stand before her.
“We have to go; the wedding is going to start,” she warned him, seeing the wolfish look in his eyes.
“They can’t start the wedding without us,” he said as he pulled her to him. “You are the most beautiful bride I have ever seen. I’m a very lucky man.” He lightly kissed her red lips.
“I’m lucky too.”
“I can’t wait to get you alone.” He kissed the side of her neck before whispering in her ear. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my days with you.”
“I love you so much,” Heaven said as a brilliant smile spread across her face.
“I love you too.” He kissed the side of her cheek, “I’d better get down there.”
“I’ll be down in a minute.” She continued to smile as she watched him leave the room. Things were turning out perfectly. Just the thought of being Julian’s wife filled her with a warmth that she couldn’t shake.
***
Heaven took one last look at herself before she headed out of the room. The whole house was empty now; everyone was seated in the backyard waiting for the wedding to begin. She had no more than reached the bottom steps when she heard the familiar voice.
“Ms. Deville?”
Heaven turned around to see Lila standing before her.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was wondering if we could talk for a moment,” she asked.
“What do you want?”
“I’d like to talk to you for a minute; I need to get this off my chest. Please, I feel terribly guilty.”
“I’m getting married.”
“Please, I’m begging you. Just one minute.”
“All right, you have five minutes.”
“I saw a coat room on my way in,” Lila said as she took Heaven’s hand and led her back towards the coat room.
Lila walked into the room first and quickly turned to face Heaven. Her aim was to keep Heaven’s back to the partially-opened closet.
“Now you have four minutes.” Heaven crossed her arms over her chest.
“First, I just wanted to say that your gown is amazing and congratulations. Second, I would like to apologize to you for trying to sabotage your relationship.” She spoke loudly so Heaven wouldn’t hear Gavin creeping out of the closet. Even though he was wearing a serviceman’s outfit, it was best if Heaven didn’t see him.
“Why the sudden change?” Heaven asked. Lila was careful not to divert her eyes towards Gavin as he silently snuck closer to Heaven.
“I didn’t know that what you and Julian had was real. I thought you were just another one of his fuck buddies. Now I know that he is in love with you. He’s never been in love or really loved anyone, so it was hard to accept. He really loves you, and I know there is no way that I can be with him as long as you’re around.”
“That sounds more like a threat than an apology.”
“Take it any way you want,” Lila hissed as her expression changed.
“Excuse me?” Heaven asked in shock, seeing the sneaky smile on Lila’s face. It was at that very moment Heaven knew something was going on. Unfortunately, it was too late for her to do anything about it.
Heaven turned around to look directly at Gavin’s face. She turned to run, but he grabbed her before she could take a step. She tried to scream, but he covered her mouth with a thick, chloroform-soaked rag. The familiar smell shot up Heaven’s nostrils and headed straight for her brain. She tried to stay still; she knew that fighting would only make it work faster. She tried to reach into her tiny, white, bridal purse and grab her gun, but Lila snatched it off her shoulder.
Lila grinned. “I don’t think so.”
“Miss me, sweetheart?” Heaven heard Gavin’s voice in her ear, and despite her reasonable intentions, she began to fight. She elbowed him in the gut with all of her strength as she felt the chloroform take effect. “Relax; you’ll have all the time in the world to fight me. This time, you will never get loose.”
Gavin carried Heaven back to the large closet and the cart he had hidden. He handed Lila the maid’s outfit, wig and hat. She quickly dressed as Gavin put Heaven in the cart and piled the sheets on top of her.
“Now just head out the service exit, the car is right outside the door,” he instructed Lila.
“All right,” Lila replied as she pushed the cart towards the door.
She was nervous, but she refused to back down now. Even if the plan fell through, Lila would plead her innocence. She would claim that Gavin had threatened to kill her and her husband. Her husband’s death would back her story up. She had faith in her skills of persuasion, and she was certain she wouldn’t get into any trouble.
***
“Heaven!” Julian yelled at the top of his lungs.
“Heaven?” Sybille cried as she ran behind him.
“Did you find her?” Julian barked as soon as he saw the officer.
“There was no sign of her,” the officer said.
“Where the fuck is she?” Julian roared in anguish.
His mind was going a million miles an hour. His brain was plagued with the memory of Gavin Grant and what he’d done to her.
Gavin’s in prison, he reminded himself.
“Julian, we need to talk,” Ayden said. He was standing next to the lead detective.
Julian felt a sharp pain in the pit of his stomach. His father looked as if he were ready to explode. That was never good. Julian followed them into the office.
“Gavin Grant has escaped from prison,” the detective said in a solemn tone.
“What?” Julian lost his composure.
“Why were we not informed?” Ayden barked with fury.
“What?” Sybille kicked the door open, “You let Gavin Grant escape and didn’t notify me immediately?!” Sybille screeched. The sweet, overly dramatic mother was gone; in its place was a raging demon.
“Henry, I will have your fucking badge by morning,” Coco threatened as she stood beside her sister.
“I’m so sorry; we had no idea. We just found out an hour ago. I know the man in charge; I’ll give you his name and badge number,” the detective was obviously nervous.
“How did this happen?” Julian was seething with anger.
“There was a massive fire at the prison. There were three bodies that were burned beyond recognition. One of the bodies fit Grant’s stats. The body was found in the medical ward; everyone was accounted for except for Gavin and two of the nurses. They assumed it was him until they discovered there was a doctor missing. The doctor wasn’t supposed to be at work that day; he was scheduled for vacation. Unfortunately, he came in to help out,” the detective explained.
“I can’t fucking believe this!” Julian growled like a beast.
Everything he had fought so hard to prevent was now happening. His biggest fear was unraveling before his eyes, and there was nothing he could do. He had no idea where she was. He felt himself begin to fall apart, but he knew he had to stay strong. He had to be stronger than he’d ever been in his life.
He had to find Heaven, and he had to find her now.
***
“Welcome back, beautiful,’’ Gavin spoke to Heaven.
Heaven opened her eyes to see Gavin inches from her face. She tried to jump up, but she quickly realized she was chained down.
She was groggy, and she had a splitting headache. She was having trouble focusing on Gavin, and realized that she was drugged.
“This is a dream,” she shook her head.
“No, this is reality; this is your life from here on. Welcome to hell, Princess.” Gavin chuckled, using Julian’s term of endearment.
“No,” she shook her head, trying to remember what had happened. She looked down at her gown and whimpered.
“I decided to leave you in your wedding gown. I almost felt a bit bad since I know you’ll never wear that gown. You’ll never marry Julian King.”
“I will wear this gown, and I will m
arry Julian,” Heaven vowed before her eyes closed; the medication was too hard to fight.
***
Half of the precinct was at Julian’s house. There were detectives going through the last room she had been seen in. They were also trying to retrace her steps. The head officer had found a maid who saw Heaven walk into the coat room. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see if Heaven were alone.
The detectives asked a million questions, although they already knew what was going on. They had been there the first time Gavin had taken Heaven. They were searching the place for clues while focusing on all entrances and exits.
Julian searched every nook and cranny of the house. He searched every car and every bit of the yard. He paced back and forth, ready to jump in his car and actively search for her.
Julian felt the dread wash over him. How did he let it happen again? He was so careful; he thought that he had made sure that everything around her was safe and secure. As hard as he tried, he’d made a huge mistake. He was so busy watching Heaven—that he’d forgotten to watch Gavin.
***
Gavin smiled as he sat down in front of Heaven. “I have some very good news, my sweetness. At last, Julian King is finally dead.”
“Bullshit.” Heaven shook her head.
“A little cyanide in his steak and eggs did the trick. His corpse is rotting in a basement as we speak.” He smiled with glee.
“Julian is too smart; he would never let you get that close to him.”
“You’re right; he wouldn’t. However, he is a highly-sexed beast, and he would definitely let Lila get close to him. Especially if she’s in a skimpy negligee.”
“Liar!” Heaven hissed, her amber eyes sparking with the fires of hell.
“Don’t be upset, sweetie, you know how Julian is. He only thinks with his dick, and I used that to my advantage.”
“He’s not dead,” she shook her head, refusing to listen.
“But I assure you that he is. Would you like proof? I could have Lila bring me his hand or something.”
Heaven’s inner rage forced her body to shake and pump up her adrenaline. Tears fell from her eyes at the thought of Julian’s death. She wanted to fight; she wanted to scream, but most of all she wanted to tear Gavin apart with her bare hands. She stared at him, her dark eyes now void of emotion despite the tears running from them. Her top lip twitched, and she felt a grumble begin deep in her chest.
“Don’t cry; you still have me, Princess.” He slid his hand down her cheek.
Julian called her that, and she would not allow Gavin to taint it. It was all Heaven could take. She used the only weapon she had available to hurt him; she turned her head and sank her teeth deeply into Gavin’s arm.
“You fucking bitch!”
“Don’t you ever call me that again!” she roared, jumping forward to grab him, mindless to the thick metal cuff choking her.
“You will learn to respect me!” he yelled and then swung his arm, his open hand connecting with her cheek, and making a sickening thud.
She slumped over with the force of the blow, but she refused to take her eyes off him.
“You can hit me as many times as you want, but I will never respect you. Never!” she refused to back down.
“No? My mother taught me all about submission. I know exactly how many beatings it takes to break a man. I don’t think it will take anywhere near that long for you. I don’t think you could even last as long as I did.”
“You’ll beat me to death before I ever submit to you,” she said in a calm tone, spitting blood from her mouth. She still refused to take her eyes off him.
“Well, I wouldn’t want that,” Gavin said as he let her go. “I don’t want to kill you, but you’re such a bitch, I might lose my temper and do just that. I think it’s best if I leave you to your pain—for now.” He stood up and walked towards the stairs. “I’ll let you stew on the news of your dead boyfriend; see you soon.”
Heaven held her composure until she heard the door shut, and then she dropped to the cold concrete; overcome with emotion. She curled into a ball, holding her knees to her chest as she cried.
“He’s not dead, he’s not dead,” she whispered, over and over, shaking her head. Her tears formed a tiny puddle below her. “He can’t be dead. It’s a lie. He’s not dead. Please don’t let him be dead. Please, please don’t let him be dead!” she quietly sobbed, trying to catch her breath.
***
Julian sat in his living room with his father and Sybille. He had not slept or eaten, and they were worried about him.
“You’ll be no use to her if you’re dead, Julian. You need to eat something and get some rest,” his father warned him.
“I’ll rest when I find her.”
“Heaven would want you to eat and rest. She wouldn’t want anything to happen to you while she was gone,” Sybille reminded him.
“No, Heaven wants me to find her, and I’m going to,” he informed them.
Sybille felt relief for a split second. If anyone could save Heaven, it would be Julian. At this point, his body was functioning on his drive, and his need to find Heaven. His rage fueled him, and his fear kept him going.
“I have to find her,” Julian said.
“I believe that you will…I have faith in you,” Sybille cried as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
Suspicious staff
Adele could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. Lila had been acting very strange for the past few days. She was receiving odd phone calls and forbidding Adele, her only secretary, from entering her office. Something wasn’t right, and Adele wanted to find out what it was.
It had all started the day of Julian King’s wedding. She had assumed Lila was upset because the man she was in love with was marrying her nemesis. But, it quickly became obvious that it was much more than that. On the day of the wedding, Lila had left work early and hadn’t returned until the next day.
Since then, she had been acting so abnormally that Adele knew that she must be up to something. She just didn’t know what. If Lila were trying to hide something, then she had failed miserably. If anything, she was making it more obvious.
“Lila is getting under my skin. She keeps sending me out on stupid errands, for nothing. She sent me for coffee three times today,” Adele complained.
“Maybe she needs the caffeine,” Gloria said.
Adele frowned. “She brought a cup with her that was still full when she sent me to the cafe for coffee the first time. There are still four, full cups of cold coffee sitting on her table; she didn’t even take a sip. She’s acting weird.”
“She is weird,” Reese added.
“No, weirder than usual. This is the same woman who brags about her super-expensive cell phones. Seriously, since I started working for her, it’s been one crystal-encrusted, high-tech, piece-of-overpriced-shit phone after another.”
“So?” Reese shrugged her shoulders as she applied another layer of lip gloss.
Adele raised her brows as she asked dramatically. “So why does she have a plastic, five-dollar, piece-of-shit phone now?”
Reese shook her head. “I think you’re reading too much into it. You’re naturally suspicious; you always have been.”
“There is too much for it all to be coincidence.”
“Maybe she’s having an affair and uses an untraceable, cheap phone so that her husband doesn’t find out what a slut she really is,” Gloria suggested the alternative.
“No, she’s up to something; I can feel it.”
“Let me guess, you have ESP now?” Gloria asked, and Reese snickered.
“I don’t need ESP to see how sneaky she’s being,” Adele retorted.
“But you’re talking about Lila Strain; she is the definition of sneaky,” Gloria reminded her.
“This is extreme even for her. She locks her office, even if she’s only gone for a second. She refuses to let me in her office under any circumstances. Not to mention all the secret phone calls that she’s taking.
Every time she enters or exits her office, she looks around her. It’s not normal.”
“Secret phone calls?” Gloria raised her brows.
“On her cheap phone. They must be pretty important because she sends me on stupid errands every time she gets one.”
“That is weird,” Gloria said; her interest piqued.
“Glad we’re finally on the same page.”
“She must be having another affair.”
