by Debbie Civil
Chapter 16
I think I drifted off again. The next thing I know, I’m not moving anymore. My eyes open and I shriek. I’m in my bedroom. No, I’m in the room where Will had locked me in with Ivy. He’s recaptured us again. The door flings open and my heart begins to bang in my chest wildly. No, this can’t be happening. No.
“Sweetheart, it’s okay. You’re home.” His voice, full of gentle love makes me stop shrieking.
“Will didn’t kidnap you?” I ask. Peter shakes his head.
“No, we’re in Gately,” he tells me.
“Oh good. You were his next target,” I warn. My boyfriend’s face fills with anger.
“How’s your head?” he asks.
“Sore,” I rasp out. Peter walks over to my bedside table and picks up a glass of water. I slowly sit up and take a sip. It’s nice, fresh, cool water. When I realize that, I drink greedily.
“Chelsea, why were you scared?” Peter asks softly.
“Will built a room that looked just like this one,” I explain.
“Peter, you’ve seen her. Now you should go home,” my father orders as he walks into the room. Fear, anger, and hostility fills my heart. He can’t take Peter. I need him. And besides, if Dad hadn’t dragged me home from the cabin, none of this would have happened.
“No, he’s staying,” I shout, my throat still sensitive. My father stares at me as if I’m nuts.
“Chelsea, remember what we talked about? It still stands.” Peter looks confused. This is childish, cruel, even underhanded, but I do it anyway.
“Peter, if you stay with me, my father will make your father lose his job, just like he did to your mother.” I think that Peter has left the building. His eyes turn from confused to outrage in a matter of seconds. He looks like he wants to pummel my father into the ground. But then Uncle Kenny comes in, nothing but caution in his eyes.
“Peter, Bob’s waiting for you,” he says.
“Peter, hang out at the cabin. The reason why Will didn’t take you is because he couldn’t find you. Hide and don’t use your cell phone. He’s tracking it,” I warn quickly. My father’s face fills with confusion.
“Chelsea, none of this makes any sense. Why did Will roundup all of your old friends?” His question is laced with suspicion, as if I had anything to do with it.
“Because, he’s in love with me. He’s rounding up anyone that either offended or dated me and…” My father gets my drift. Grandmother waltz in, her gray eyes staring at Peter.
“Come on, Peter. You need to leave.”
“If he goes, I am as well,” I threaten. I slide out of bed and Peter catches me before I can fall over. Why am I not in a hospital?
“Chelsea, get back into bed, now,” my father roars, but I don’t care anymore. This is all his fault. Everything that I went through is his fault. I stare at Grandmother and she sighs.
“Detective Green wants to talk to you,” she says.
“Why am I not in a hospital?” I ask.
“Your father insisted that we could watch over you here,” Grandmother says.
“Where’s Mom?” I ask, finally thinking that it’s odd that she isn’t here. Grandmother’s eyes flicker with emotion for a moment before she sighs.
“She’s sleeping. She had a mental break down after you left,” Dad reports.
“I was kidnapped,” I hiss. He flinches.
“How, Chelsea? How exactly did will take you from this mansion? My guess is that you snuck him in. You two had sex, he got a little attached, then, took you. Why else would a total stranger be in love with you? It doesn’t make any sense. You’re not even that pretty. I…” Dad stops himself mid-sentence, as if he’s just realized what he said. I blink, somehow in shock, that my father doesn’t think that his little girl is the most beautiful girl in the world.
“I need a doctor,” I say and dad sighs.
“Doctor Ross is here. He checked on you last night. He said that other than a mild concussion, you were fine,” Dad reports. “So get back into bed. Your mother will want to see you after she wakes up.”
“He paid someone to sabotage the elevator,” I say, feeling like everyone has to believe that I didn’t run off with will.
“What?” Grandma asks, but I keep speaking.
“He surprised me. I went into my room, planning to take a swim, and there he was. He told me that he paid someone to savage the elevator as a distraction. He covered my face with a cloth and I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in a room that looked like this one. Except, it had tons of cameras. He had cameras in the bathroom. He made Ivy give me a bath and he was watching the entire time.” Tears stream down my face. “After that, Ivy and I had breakfast with Teresa in the kitchen. He tasered Ivy. He tasered me. He tasered anyone that didn’t behave. I tried to get away twice. But it didn’t work,” Icy. “He said that I was his fianceé, and he needed to punish every one that hurt me and every man that kissed me. I…” Words can’t come out anymore. I’m racked with sobs. Peter sits on the bed and lets me sit in his lap. I cry into his shoulder and he rubs my back.
“Sweetheart, it’s okay,” he whispers in my ear. And I cry even harder because I missed Peter so much. I have no idea how I’m going to be able to be without him. He’s the very air I breathe and I need him. I’ll crumble without him.
“Peter, please, don’t go,” I cry.
“I have to. But I’ll find a way to make this right,” he whispers in my ear. “I’ll find it.”
“Peter, she will be taken care of. I’m not going to ask you again. Leave,” my father orders and panic fills my throat. We can’t be separated. I need Peter. I always will need Peter. So I come up with the best idea I can manage. “Peter, Marry me.” His reaction surprises me.
“Okay. I will marry you. When?”
“As soon as possible. Ask Carmen what to do. She’ll figure it out,” I whisper.
“What are you saying to him?” Dad asks suspicion in his tone. I don’t say another word to the evil man. I get off of his lap and give him a soft kiss on the lips. Peter stands, gives me a tender kiss on the forehead and leaves.
The next couple of days are filled with the detectives interviewing me, Mom being a tick I can’t get rid of, and family dinners. Dad doesn’t try to engage me in friendly conversation. That’s a relief. He’s the biggest tool. I have no idea how he gets off blaming the kidnapping on me. I didn’t even know Will until he decided to trespass.
On Friday, I get quite the treat! Dad doesn’t join us for “family dinner.” Instead, Mom and I have a quiet dinner. She’s been really sad over the last couple of days. But unfortunately, her chatter doesn’t slow down. Her eyes have bags under them. When I see a woman that’s clearly worried about me, it makes me feel guilty. While Will had me, I wasn’t longing to be with Mom. I was longing for Peter. And truthfully, I still am. What I can’t figure out is why my parents don’t want us together. He clearly isn’t an obsession. Mom does think that once he leaves, it will break me. But he isn’t going to leave. So why does our relationship suffer so much resistance?
“Chelsea, you’re quiet,” Mom says as we eat vegetable soup. Yuck!
“I miss Pizza,” I express bluntly. She frowns at me.
“Chelsea, this is my fault.” Her eyes are filled with pain. “If I worked harder, you and Tiller wouldn’t have eaten so poorly.”
“You did your best, Mom,” I say, not liking her attitude.
“I’m afraid that my best simply wasn’t good enough,” she sighs.
“Yes, it was. Tiller is going to graduate from Princeton this December. You’ve done really well,” I convince her. This sucks that I haven’t accomplished much. Tiller is the golden child. Mom grins.
“I know. But, Chelsea, you…” She stops herself. “You and your father aren’t getting along.”
“Dad and I have never gotten along, Mom. That’s not your fault. It’s his,” I snap. Mom shakes her head.
“Chelsea, if I had raised a more resp
ectful daughter, none of this would have happened.” Her words fill me with pain. I stand and leave the room, surprised that it doesn’t lock from the inside. Mom doesn’t even bother chasing after me.
“Chelsea?” Tia calls, as if she is unsure if it’s really me walking down the hallway in a pink sundress. I wave at her.
“Where’s Carmen?” All week, I’ve asked for her. And everyone has ignored me. Tia frowns.
“Dad and Uncle Kenny got into a fight and Grandma took Dad’s side. That means that she got kicked out,” Tia says mournfully. My gut twists and I already know the answer. But I ask, anyways.
“Danny?”
“She’s back in Connecticut. Your father thinks only family should be here,” she responds, her face screwing up into a pout.
“So no one who went to the cabin is allowed to stay here? Including Tiller?”
“Especially Tiller. After you went missing, he drove back here and got into a fist fight with your father,” Tia reports.
“Tia, are you done gossiping?” my father asks. He startles me so I spin around, and my fist flies into his chest reflexively. Dad sighs and grabs my hand.
“Sorry,” I breathe, feeling horrible. Dad doesn’t look like he believes that my apology is sincere. But I don’t care. Tiller isn’t here. My own brother can’t be here.
“I need to see Tiller,” I say, hating that Mom and Dad hadn’t told me about this.
“Chelsea, what you need is to go back to your room and have dinner with your mother. We don’t want you getting kidnapped again.” He says those words as if he really doesn’t believe them. Lucky for me, the police believe my accounts. Apparently, Will had left a cloth laced with chloroform behind. That’s one of the things that he’d used to make me fall asleep. The other was a generic sleeping pill. Apparently, Doctor Ross found traces of the pill in my blood when he ran tests.
“Why do you even care? It’s not like you care about me. If I’m kidnapped, at least I’ll be off of your hands,” I snap, hating that this man found it hard to believe that someone would be obsessed with me. Dad is agitated. He sees something that causes Tia to shriek. My father slaps me across the face. That bastard hit me. Without thinking, I lash out. But I’m lifted off the ground.
“Hey, Chelsea. Don’t,” Nathan says. I’m half surprised that he’s still here. I don’t fight him, and he puts me on the ground.
“What are you doing here?” my father roars.
“Your mother invited me,” Nathan evenly says.
“I don’t want trash in this house. I’m going to have a little talk with my mother,” he says.
“You do that,” Malcolm says, his voice calm and even. I blink and stare at Malcolm. He came out of Carmen’s room. Well, is it her room? She’s been thrown out.
“Were you invited?” my father asks doubtfully. Tia who’s stopped shrieking, thank heavens, is crying as if she’s been slapped.
“You hit her!” It’s as if Tia can’t believe what she has seen. My father rolls his eyes at her.
“Tia, go to your room. This doesn’t concern you,” he says. She balls her hand into fists.
“And if I don’t will you throw me out?” she shouts, and everyone winces. Her voice is so shrill.
“Your Grandmother has that power. But I would recommend it,” my father replies.
“Well then. I…” Tia stops speaking. She walks over to my father and slaps him so hard that the blow echoes against the walls. “I’m a mother and I would never abuse my son. You should know better, uncle,” she puffs then glares at him. He’s too open- mouthed to do anything about it. I have no idea why Tia just stuck up for me. And judging by everyone else’s looks, they don’t understand it either. Dad stares at the ground as if he has no idea how to react to this. And neither do me.
“Ian, there you are,” Grandma says as she exits the elevator. She’s wearing a pantsuit, and her gray hair pulled into a tight bun. She frowns at Nathan and then Malcolm.
“I remembered inviting you. Malcolm, what are you doing here?” she asks.
“To get Chelsea,” Nathan replies.
“For what?” Dad glares.
“For her wedding to Peter. Didn’t you here?” Nathan says in a bright tone. But his tone doesn’t fool me. He’s screwed. Grandmother does something I don’t expect her to. She smiles.
“And when is the big day Chelsea?”
“A few days from now?” I seriously don’t know the answer to this. Grandmother smirks.
“And you were going to elope?”
“It’s not like Dad is giving me any other choice,” I point out. Dad winces. It's then that Grandmother studies my face.
“What happened to your face, Chelsea?” Grandma asks, her voice fool of warning.
“Uncle Ian slapped her,” Tia snitches. My father shifts uncomfortably.
“Chelsea, I would like it if you had a real wedding,” Grandmother says.
“No. I want to marry Peter now. I never cared about having a big wedding,” I say, and it’s the truth. I never considered having a wedding because I believed that no one would marry me.
“Chelsea, why don’t you wait a few years?” Dad asks quietly.
“Because life is too short,” I tell him. “So much has happened. I can’t be without him.” Grandmother nods.
“I told you not to keep them apart, Ian. I told you that it would lead them to do what you and Kate did.” Grandma stares at her son as if he had disappointed her in some way.
“I was just trying to protect her,” Ian says, defeated.
“By slapping her?” Tia whines. Dad glares at her, but she only sniffs.
“Well, now it’s Peter’s job. Chelsea, I need to get a few things ready. But you can start planning your wedding immediately,” she says.
“Wait,” I say. Grandmother frowns.
“You want to marry the boy. Right?”
“I need you to make sure that Peter’s family won’t lose their jobs,” I say. Grandmother looks insulted.
“Why would they?”
“Because Dad called a friend, and Mrs. Philips lost her job,” I say, my eyes filling with anger. Malcolm’s expression turns dark. My grandma walks over to me and pulls me into a hug. I hug her back, not knowing what else to do. She releases me and frowns.
“I will see about undoing the damage that your father has caused. Chelsea, I promise you, everything will be fine,” she whispers, which makes me paranoid. What is this woman talking about?
“What about Eli’s wedding?” Dad protests.
“Chelsea wants something quick. Eli’s wedding has been pushed back because of the kidnapping,” Grandmother tells me. “She had no idea when you would be back.” She isn’t going to see her mother for a while. I feel bad that her parents have people to impress. Mine are as unimportant and broke as I am.
“Where is she?” I ask Grandma for the millionth time.
“At home. We wanted you to get some rest before everyone started visiting,” she says, glaring at my father. So that was also his idea. Something is off about this. But I don’t bother asking what’s going on. Peter and I are getting married. That means that we have to have a talk about a few things.
“Where’s Peter?” I ask.
“On his way over here. So is everyone else. I will make sure your father behaves,” Grandma says before looping her arm through his and taking off. As soon as they enter the elevator, I hug Tia. She stuck up for me. She squeezes back. When I release her, she sighs.
“Alec is probably hungry. Feeding time is always the messiest,” she whines. Oh, there is the cousin I know and love. Tia takes off in the elevator, and I grin at the two boys.
“This is too much drama for one day. I want pizza.” Malcolm grins.
“Well, sister, if you think that your family is dramatic, wait until you meet ours.” Nathan smacks Malcolm over the head.
“Oh please, are family isn’t that bad, Chelsea. In fact, we are normal. Except for him.” Nathan argues. I smile at them. Hon
estly, I would take weird over creepy any day. But I don’t tell the boys that. Instead, I head back to my room. Someone’s going to have to break the news to my mother.
