by M. G. Morgan
“You didn’t know him the way I did. He did protect me, despite everything I’d done he protected me.”
The room fell silent and my stomach flipped uncomfortably as my mind slowly mulled over Gertrude’s choice of words.
“How did he protect you?”
“I promised him I would never tell anyone, he made me swear…” Her voice was small and broken and I could tell from the unfocussed look in her eyes that she wasn’t seeing the room the way we were.
“Gertrude, it’s all right now, Henry would want you tell us. David is in danger, he would want us to know the truth, that’s why he left the note isn’t it?”
Her eyes darted down to the file and note she had clutched in her hands. She scanned the page and swallowed hard.
“I caused it.”
Three little words that confirmed the thoughts swirling in my head.
“Henry didn’t kill Patricia, he loved her and when I found out about her and the baby… I’d never felt so betrayed, I went into labor early with Melissa.
“She was so perfect in every way but it was too soon. I had three wonderful days with her before she drifted away in my arms…”
Gertrude’s voice was dreamy and far away but the heartache that underscored each and every word she spoke was palpable.
I knew how she felt, I’d gone through the same thing with Jenson when I’d gone into labor early. I’d been so certain I would lose him but he was a fighter, like his father and we’d gotten lucky.
“When Melissa died, I went to see Patricia, Henry had her tucked away in an apartment two cities over. And then I saw her with her daughter in her arms. A little baby girl, perfect just like Melissa but hers was still alive…”
“You killed Patricia?” Aaron asked, his voice low and cautious.
“She said Henry would leave me, that he was going to divorce me and marry her. Take you and David with him, that I was nothing but a barren husk. She was going to give him everything he’d ever wanted…”
Gertrude fell silent but I knew from the wide eyed expression she wore that she was reliving the horror of everything that had happened.
“What happened then?” I prompted softly.
“Melissa started to cry, she was hungry and Patricia didn’t know how to soothe her. She said she was such a fussy baby, always crying but she just didn’t understand her. When she saw the milk soaking through the front of my blouse she actually laughed, told me I was nothing but a disgrace.
“I just wanted to hold Melissa again, I didn’t mean to do it…”
Gertrude trailed off and the tears that started down her cheeks came hot and heavy.
“I shot her and it stopped her laughter. She was so surprised but she still tried to stop me from picking up Melissa, she kept calling her Erica so I shot her again.”
I glanced over at Aaron and the look of shock on his face mirrored the shock I felt.
I couldn’t begin to imagine how Gertrude had felt losing her child. I’d come close and it was too much but she’d been pushed over the edge with the loss of her daughter, that much was clear.
“Mother, it wasn’t Melissa, she died. You killed Patricia and took her daughter.”
“No, it was Melissa and she needed me.”
Aaron opened his mouth to speak again but I shook my head. Nearly twenty five years had passed since it had happened and Gertrude still believed that Patricia’s daughter was somehow Melissa.
Pushing her now to accept the truth would only do more harm than good and it wasn’t going to change anything.
“So how does this all tie back to a debt and David being taken?”
“Patricia was a liar, she told Henry she wasn’t seeing anyone when in fact she was married to Taylor S. Banks. Henry tried to pay him off but Taylor wasn’t interested in money and when he found out Patricia was dead…
“Oh God, Taylor has David.” Gertrude covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes widening in horror.
“Where can we find him?”
“You don’t find him, he finds you. That’s how it always was. I had hoped that when Henry died it would finish with him.”
“Well it didn’t and now he has David. What will he do to him, Gertrude, what does he want from him?” I lost the calm tone in my voice and it was a struggle to stay seated on the edge of the couch as I watched the panic and fear flow across her features.
I couldn’t imagine the pain she’d felt losing her child but she was the reason they’d taken David and if anything happened to him I knew I would never forgive her.
“I don’t know, I really don’t know.”
Chapter 6
“What do you mean leave her alone? She needs to realise what’s happening here, Aaron. You need to get your head on straight. David shouldn’t have to suffer for something your parents screwed up so many years ago!” I wanted to keep my voice level, to remain calm and collected, the way David would want me to be. The very last thing I wanted was to stand in Gertrude’s hall shouting and generally coming across as a woman unhinged.
And yet I couldn’t stop myself. The urge to shake Gertrude until she told me what I wanted to know had been overwhelming and the only thing standing between me and her was Aaron.
I knew he wanted to protect his mother but after what we’d learned, why he would want to protect her instead of demanding answers that would help David was beyond me.
“Carrie, you’ve seen her, you’ve seen the state she’s in. If we don’t tread carefully then we won’t get anything out of her at all. I want David back as much as you do but I won’t do it at the expense of destroying what little sanity my mother has left.”
His voice had an edge of finality about it. He wouldn’t let me near her, and she was the one with the answers.
“Aaron, please, I need him back. We need him back…” I pressed my hand to my stomach.
We’d decided to keep the pregnancy a secret until we knew for certain everything would be fine. David had struggled to keep it from his brother but he’d promised me he wouldn’t utter a word and I knew he’d kept his promise as soon as I saw the look of surprise light up Aaron’s face.
“Your pregnant? Does David know?”
Aaron’s question was so outlandish that I couldn’t stop a small bubble of laughter from escaping me.
“Of course he knows, I’m just over the three month mark. We were going to tell everyone together this weekend, we had it all planned…” I cut off, my joy turning to bitter ash on my tongue as tears stung the back of my eyes.
“We’re going to get him back, David, is strong…”
“I know that but even your father was afraid of this guy. They’ve had years to fester over what happened, is David strong enough to survive twenty odd years of bitter hatred?”
My words had the desired effect and I watched as Aaron’s face drained of all colour. He knew I was right and even if he was willing to take the risk on David’s life I certainly wasn’t.
I turned on my heel and headed for the door.
“What are you going to do?” Aaron called after me and I contemplated ignoring him.
“I don’t know but I’m sure as hell not going to sit around and wait for them to send David back to me in a body bag.”
My steps never faltered and I did my best to keep my expression as neutral as possible. David would have known I was lying through my teeth but if Aaron guessed the truth he didn’t try to stop me as I left through the front door.
Marcus stood next to the car, his face unreadable as he watched me approach him as quickly as my legs would allow.
“Where to?” He said, his voice low, his gaze darting over his surroundings.
Losing David had taken a toll on him just as much as it had on me. The realisation hit me like a punch to the gut.
I’d never thought of it like that before. I’d been utterly selfish, thinking only of my own loss when his kidnapping had had far reaching ripples.
It was after all Marcus’ job to protect him and David had
asked him to not do the one thing he was hired to do.
“Home, I need to check on Jenson and get some things organised.” My answer was short but Marcus nodded and hopped into the car he’d followed Aaron and I over in.
Sliding into the front seat I stared up at Gertrude’s house. David would know what to do if it was me missing. He wouldn’t be running in circles and losing ground.
He was just better at all of this.
I missed the sound of his voice, the touch of his hand.
I missed him telling me it would be fine, that it would all work out in the end.
And even if I couldn’t bring myself to believe his words it would still have been true.
“Earth to, Carrie.” Marcus said, and I snapped my head up catching the worried glance he threw in my direction.
“Sorry, I was just lost in my own thoughts.”
“I could tell. I was just asking you what you had planned once you got home.”
I shrugged and chewed my lip as I scrubbed my hands over my jeans.
“You obviously have something in mind and well I’ll be going with you anyway, so you may as well tell me…”
“I’m going back to Tamara, I have a name now but I need more and she’s the one with all the answers.”
“I thought Gertrude had the answers?” Marcus said, spinning the car wheel hard enough that I slid across the heated leather into the passenger door.
“She’s broken, I’m not going to get anything out of her…”
I cut off, it wasn’t strictly true. If Aaron hadn’t been there I might have been able to force a little more from her but he was protecting her, afraid that if we probed too much that she really would fall apart.
And how could I blame him? Despite everything he loved his mother, she was the woman who had given him life.
I knew David loved her too but his loyalty to Gertrude and her manipulative lies wasn’t as strong. As a child she’d made his life a living misery, she’d blamed him for Melissa’s death.
But her name wasn’t really Melissa, it was Erica. The more I thought about the tangled web that Henry and Gertrude had spun, the more my head started to ache.
How they could have kept something so important from their sons, was beyond me. How Gertrude could blame David for something that had nothing to do with him for all these years…
I clenched my hands into fists, anger spreading up through my gut. She’d behaved abominably towards her children and yet Aaron could still find it within himself to protect her.
I could only hope my own children would have even half the loyalty David and Aaron showed their parents.
“I’m not sure if going back to the Sovereign Club is a good idea. It didn’t exactly go to plan the last time and it’s not as though Tamara can actually be trusted.”
Marcus was right of course, Tamara couldn’t be trusted, she was the reason this Taylor S. Banks knew about the baby. But how she had the information, I hadn’t managed to wrap my head around that yet.
“What choice do I have, it’s not as though we’ve heard anything about David and he’s been gone for hours now. I can’t just leave him to their mercy.”
Marcus nodded as though he understood, it was impossible for him to understand and yet I could sense some sort of affinity in him. Something that told me he really did understand everything that was going on, that he too had suffered and known loss.
I could ask him, he’d probably just tell me to mind my own business and that would be his right but I had a feeling that he wouldn’t. I had a feeling that if I just came out and asked him that he would spill his secrets.
He spun the wheel and the car turned onto the drive leading up to the house and the moment was gone.
The car rolled to a halt in front of the house and I took a moment to swallow back the bile that threatened to claw its way up my throat. In my head I replayed the moment they’d taken David, the look on his face and the helpless horror I’d felt. I wasn’t going to feel like that again, I would get him back and I would make the ones who had done all of this pay.
Chapter 7
Standing in Jenson’s room, I stared down into his angelic face. I could already see David in him, each day that passed it was becoming more and more obvious that he was his father’s son.
“Mrs Ashcroft, phone call for you.” Marcus poked his head around the door, the phone in his hand.
He was the only one I’d allow to disturb me, as far as I was concerned no one else existed in the world.
“Who is it?” I mouthed the words at him, Jenson had just gone asleep and I didn’t want to disturb him again. He seemed to instinctively know that something was wrong and he hadn’t slept for the babysitter for more that five minutes at a time.
“Sovereign Club.” The moment Marcus said those two little words I felt the world close down around me.
I planned to go and see Tamara but it wasn’t possible that she could know that. But why else would she be contacting me?
Crossing the room I practically tore the phone from Marcus’ hand as I stepped out into the hall to join him.
“Tamara?” I said, my voice high and pitchy to my own ears.
“No, her assistant Andy. Tamara requests your presence at the Sovereign Club later today.”
“Any why would I want to meet with her?”
“She said you might feel a little angry after your last chat and as a show of good faith she has a gift for you. It should be arriving any moment. She says if you’re pleased with the gift you should be at the club for eight o’ clock.”
The line went dead before I had the chance to say anything and the mysterious nature of the phone call and this so called gift did nothing to make me feel relaxed.
“What is it?” Marcus asked, his face a mask of concern.
“Marcus! Car pulling into the drive, it looks like the one from earlier. What do you want us to do?” One of the other guards shouted up the stairs, his voice devoid of any real feeling.
But Marcus wasn’t as good as his men at hiding his emotions and I could see the fear in his eyes as soon as the guard called out to him.
“Marcus, what’s wrong, what are you expecting?”
“David was worried that if it didn’t work out with him that they would come for you. You’re the only leverage they can use against him.”
My stomach flipped, the fear I felt spreading up through my body. David’s concern was a valid one to have and I knew if it was a choice between my life or his that David would chose my life every time.
“Whatever it is, it’s from Tamara,” I said pulling Marcus’ attention back to me.
I didn’t wait for him to question it or ask me what it might be, instead I turned and ran for the stairs, my feet carrying me over the carpeting.
Tamara wanted me at the Sovereign Club later so it seemed unlikely that it would be the same men back to kidnap me as well. Yet how could she have known this was coming? How could she have arranged for them to come back.
Marcus caught up to me on the middle of the stairs, the hold he took on my arm jerking me to a complete halt.
“What the hell are you doing? If they’re back, then it’s because they’ve come for you. I’m not going to let you just run out there and hand yourself over.” His words were gritted out from between his teeth.
“They’re not here to take me, it’s a gift from Tamara.”
“Carrie, you can’t know that,” he said, the pity in his eyes bringing my anger to the surface.
“I’m Mrs Ashcroft to you and you will get your hands off me. I’m the one in charge here, not you, Marcus.” The moment the words left my mouth I regretted them. Guilt swarmed over me, swamping my thoughts, filling me with the urge to make amends.
“Marcus, I’m sorry, I…”
He shook his head, his eyes had gone hard and he released my arm as though my skin had burned him.
“No, don’t apologise. You’re right, Mrs Ashcroft, you’re the one in charge, I’m just another pair of boo
ts on the ground. A body to put between yours and whoever it is pulling into the driveway.”
I wanted to say something, anything that would ease the damage I’d caused and yet I knew without a doubt that there was nothing I could say to make it right. I’d been needlessly cruel and he had every right to be disgusted with me.
However, none of that changed the fact that whatever Tamara had planned for me as a gift had come to a halt outside the front of the house.
I carried on down the stairs, my heart hammering in my chest as I imagined all the things she could have sent to me.
Reaching the front door, I froze, my heart stalling out in my ribcage as I stared at the man climbing from the backseat of the black SUV.
David’s expression was grim, his shoulders rigid with tension as he crossed the drive towards the house.
My body reacted to him without any thought input from me. I hurtled through the door and down the steps before I could fully register I was even moving. The one and only true thought that pulsed through my head was that of him.
I had to know he was real, that this wasn’t just some sort of trick my mind was playing on me.
His eyes met mine before I crashed into him, his arms wrapping around my shoulders as he tugged me in against his body, shielding me as he walked me backwards to the house.
“Carrie, what are you doing, you can’t just…”
It was his voice, his beautiful strong voice and I didn’t even care that he was reading me the riot act under his breath as he continued to inch us closer to the house.
He was back and he was safe!
My mouth found his cutting him off mid sentence, my arms folding around his neck as I melted in against the front of his body.
His lips fell upon my own, a bruising punishing kiss, his tongue sliding against my mouth, eagerly seeking entry and I gave it to him willingly.
He fed at my mouth, his tongue plundering me as our kiss deepened. Every drop of air I had in my lungs I shared with him as we breathed each other in. It had only been a few hours but those short hours had felt more like a lifetime as I’d waited to find out his fate.
