Daughter Dearest

by Nikki Bopp

  Calling the director of Eva’s daycare, I'm in tears when she finally answers, “Yeah, hi, this is Evangeline’s mom. I was just seeing if she got picked up already?”

  “Oh yeah! So good to hear from you. It looks like her father already picked her up for the day. Such a nice man.” The confirmation makes me want to rage and scream at her, but there's nothing I can do.

  “Thank you, have a nice day.”

  “You as well.” Hanging up the phone, I lean against the wall of the elevator wishing more than anything that daycares somehow didn't accept birth certificates or whatever it was that he brought to get her out. It's not their fault, it's not her fault.

  As soon as the doors open to the garage, I launch into the dark area, clicking the unlock button on the key fob. A beep and flash of light guide me to Patrick’s car. The second it purrs to life, my phone lights up on the seat beside me, Daniel’s face displayed on the screen. Swiping the reject button, I put the car in reverse and back out of the spot as carefully as possible. I may have stolen the car, but I certainly don't want to damage it. Pat worked his ass off to get this car, and I don't want to do anything to it. When the phone lights up again, this time with an unknown number, I fumble to answer it in time.

  “Hello? Hello!”

  “Did you get the car?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Good girl,” Jonathan coos, making my skin crawl. He always used to call me a good girl, and it creeped me the hell out. It made me think he was some sort of pervert. “Now I'm going to give you an address. You're going to come alone, or else Eva…,” Jonathan trails off, leaving my imagination to run wild.

  “No, please. Don't hurt her. I'll come alone. I'll do whatever you want. Just please don't hurt her.”

  “I'll see you soon, Jennifer.”

  Chapter 23

  Love is a battlefield

  This can't be right, I think to myself as I pull to a stop in front of Daniel’s building, but when the GPS pings with my arrival, there's no doubt that I’m at the right place. Is it merely a coincidence, or does he know that Dan lives here? Turning off the ignition, I slide out of the car with a sense of dread. I know that the moment I enter the building, there's a very real chance I might not leave it a free woman. Hell, I might not leave it at all, but if that means that Eva is safe, then I'm okay with that. I don't need to see the text from Jonathan to know which floor to go to.

  Swallowing through my panic, I enter the building, wishing more than anything that I was here to see Daniel and not my crazy ex-husband.

  All too soon, I'm standing in front of Daniel’s door, my hand raised to knock and wishing more than anything that I could just walk away and never come back. Leave and not miss a single person in this world that I've come to know and love, but that's the weakness in me talking. I'm not weak anymore. I've survived Jonathan once, I've escaped him once, and we’ve survived without him before, and we can do it again. I just need to get us out of here without anything happening. I have to do this for Eva.

  For Evangeline.

  Her name echoes through my head, giving me the courage to knock on the door. Heartbeats pass without any sound or movement, and then the door is yanked open, so forcefully, I let out a little shriek of surprise at the suddenness of it.

  Jonathan lets out a cackle of surprise from inside, the sound sending a shiver of fear up my spine. When he doesn't appear in the doorway, I take a step back, unsure of what exactly is going on.

  “Come on, girl, I don't have all day. Get in here,” Jonathan demands in a tone I'm all too familiar with. My body responds immediately. Shoulders hunching forward to protect sensitive flesh, I enter the apartment and close the door behind me with the faintest click of the handle, worried that even that will annoy him. The drapes are pulled across the glass windows, causing the entire apartment to be cast into complete darkness, causing the situation to be even more sinister than it needs to be where Jonathan is concerned. Moving into the living area, I bump into one of the side tables, which sends a lamp tumbling to the floor with a crash of glass. The sound makes me wince, but Jonathan only laughs.

  “Better be careful where you're going, Jennifer.”

  “Where's Eva?”

  “She's safe.”

  “That's not what I asked Jonathan! Answer me.”

  My demand is met with a growl and an explosion of pain on my cheek when Jonathan backhands me. I only know because the signet ring he wears on his right hand always leaves an imprint, and it hurts like a bitch. Cradling my cheek in my hand, I can't help the tears from falling. I force my cries from spilling from my lips, knowing that the sick fuck gets off on hearing the painful wails.

  “You're not the one to be making demands,” grabbing a handful of my hair, Jonathan jerks my head back, so I'm forced to look up at his beet-red face. With his oily brown hair and overly long sideburns, he looks like an outcast of some eighteen hundred film. The perfectly white but crooked teeth are bared in a cruel smile that haunts my dreams and makes me wish for some sort of demonic dentistry relief. “You're here because I have Eva, and you don't want me to hurt her, so maybe you should keep your fucking mouth shut.”

  “I understand,” I murmur, afraid to move lest he take it as anything more than an agreement. “I'll do whatever you want. Please, don't hurt her.”

  “Good, now what I want you to do is take these and tie your hands.” Jonathan tosses a bundle of rope at my feet. When I reach forward to grab the length, he reaches behind him and pulls a black pistol from the back of his pants. The sight is enough to send my heart rate skyrocketing until I feel like I might just have a heart attack right then and there, young age and health be damned.

  “W-What's that, Jonathan?” I ask, my voice quivering with fear. My fingers tighten on the twine in my hands, working the filaments in a way I sort of wished was his neck right now.

  “Don't you worry about what this is,” he gestures to the rope with the gun, my heart jumping at the sight of him waving it about so carelessly. “Come on, do as I said. Tie your hands.”

  “I don't...I don't know how to tie my own hands…,” I stutter feeling like I'm honestly about to pee my own pants and feeling no shame about it. If anyone can look down the barrel of a gun and not be scared, kudos to them, but I just kind of wanna throw up. “Please, where's Eva?” My question is punctuated with more tears as my worries begin to increase. She could be anywhere, she could be scared and alone. I need to find her.

  “Ugh,” Jonathan sighs, scratching his head. “We’re back on this again? She’s in the other room, asleep. She’s fine.”

  “Please just take me to her, I just want to make sure she's alright.”

  “Alright, I'm done with this shit,” Jonathan mutters, his heavy footsteps approaching. Through my tears, the last thing I'm able to make out is Jonathan’s arm pulled back, and the gun aimed directly for my head and then nothing.

  Patrick

  Driving through Seattle traffic is normally a breeze in my car, but in Dan’s Audi, it's not so easy. Probably because I'm not used to driving something with so much speed and agility. As soon as Dan and Ed came back into the office and mentioned Jenny leaving the office crying, I knew something was up. The good thing is, the new cellphone that we gave her is tracked in every way possible. First, I pulled up the phone call from her ex-husband and then the following text message, which, weirdly enough, had Dan’s address. What I certainly didn't expect when getting down to the garage was to find my Honda gone, but it doesn't surprise me since Jenny is a smart girl, after all.

  I'm only thirty minutes behind Jenny, but who knows what that sick fuck could have done to her in that time. Dan and Ed are only a couple minutes behind me, they had to get rid of the IRS, thanks to Nicholas, but I couldn't stand to wait around a single second longer. I don't know what I'm going to find when I get there, but I know that whatever it is, I will be there for her and Eva the entire time.

  When my phone rings, echoing through the car Bluetooth, I hit
the answer button and snap out a curt, “Hello.”

  “Where are you?” Daniel demands, his voice filled with so much fury it's a wonder the car doesn't burst into flames.

  “I'm pulling up to your apartment now.”

  “Wait for us.”

  “Fuck you. That's our girl up there,” I tell him as I roll to a stop behind my own Honda. Slamming the car in park, I sprint from the car, uncaring that I left the forty thousand dollar car running with no one in it. Foregoing the elevator, I sprint up the stairs, taking them two at a time. This is probably the one, and only time my commitment to the gym has been a good thing, and I'm glad about it. The door to Daniel’s floor squeaks terribly, but I finally make it to the door without being detected, or at least I hope so.

  The door handle twists easily in my grip, opening into the dark apartment. There's no sound and no movement. The entire area is still as death, and as much as I wish I could turn on a light, that's the worst idea ever. Slipping through the doorway, I close the door behind me. It's only when I take a step forward do I hear the gun cock, the cool kiss of steel against my temple.

  “Freeze.”

  Jenny

  “Come on, good girl. Wake up,” Jonathan coos in a voice that makes my skin crawl. When his hands start to push the hair back from my face, I try to shake my head to get rid of them only to discover that’s a terrible idea. A burst of pain, like a sledgehammer to my skull explodes behind my eye like the worst migraine I've ever experienced in my life. A cry of pain falls from my lips, tears staining them, but when I reach up to cradle my head, I can't. My hands are held immobile. Rope, If I'd hazard a guess by the roughness. Twisting my wrists as subtly as possible, I find that the right one is slightly looser.

  “Oh, I'm sorry you can't see, can you?” Jonathan asks in a sugary-sweet tone. I can hear his footsteps recede just before a wave of light washes over the room, effectively blinding me and sending another wave of agony through my head. Closing my eyes tightly against the light, I count my breaths in and out, trying for a semblance of calm in the throbbing pain and panic beating through my body. It's quite the duo. The time also allows me to work on the rope on my arm that continues to loosen. As much as I want to say it out loud, Jonathan is an idiot to think he's infallible.

  “Jenny,” another voice murmurs, this one familiar. My eyes pop open automatically, searching for Pat in the bright apartment with happiness and dread. I don't have to look far because he’s seated just in front of me, his arms tied behind him but otherwise untouched.

  “Pat, are you okay?”

  “I'm fine, but what'd he do to you?”

  “Why would you assume I'd do anything to my lovely wife?” Jonathan interjects from his position near the windows, his lip curled in a sardonic grin.

  “Because I know all about you. I know how you beat your wife and then pay the doctor to get rid of the notes. I know how you buy your way through life, and yet you can't even win the love of a family. You're a pathetic human being. Jennifer and Eva deserve better than you,” Patrick punctuates his words by spitting in Jonathan’s direction. While I'm flattered by his words, I can see the anger flare to life in Jonathan’s eyes.

  “What do you know of love? You're just some reject, with daddy issues. You've spent every dime paying off your parent’s debts, and for what? Some twisted form of appreciation and love?”

  “Jonathan,” I hiss, wishing he would close his goddamn mouth. I can see the arrows of pain hit home as the pain flickers to life in Pat’s eyes. “Please, stop.”

  “Stop? Why would I stop?” Charging forward, he grabs me by the jaw, his fingers clenching around my jaw so hard I can feel the bones grind together. “Did you stop when you took my daughter? Moved across the country?”

  “I don't love you,” I whisper, my voice tiny in the shadow of his anger. I've been confronted with it more times than I can count, and having Pat see this isn't at the top of my list, but there's not much I can do about it.

  “And you love him?” Jonathan asks, venom dripping from his words. “You love them?”

  “How do you…?” I've been so focused on Jonathan, that I haven't asked the most simple questions.

  “How do I know about your boyfriends?” Jonathan finishes for me with a harsh laugh as he moves over to the glass wall overlooking the Seattle skyline. “How fucking slow can you be?”

  “He’s been here the whole time,” Pat guesses, his eyes widening with realization.

  “Bingo!” Jonathan crows, spinning on his heels, waving the gun around. “I certainly wasn't going to let my wife run away to a different state and not keep an eye on her. I kept my distance, of course, let you think that you got away, gave you that sense of freedom you so craved.”

  Moving closer, Jonathan stops directly in front of me, “What I certainly didn’t expect was for you to run into the arms of the first man that you came across like a fucking whore!” Quicker than I’ve ever seen the man move, his hand snaps out, connecting with the side of my cheek in a backhand so hard I feel like my eyeball might just explode from the impact. A cry is ripped from my lips, my neck snapping to the side involuntarily.

  “Hey!” Pat yells, struggling against his bindings. “Leave her alone, you sick fuck!”

  “I'm okay,” I assure him, lifting my head to meet Jonathan’s gleeful stare. If there’s one thing I know about the man is just how much he gets off on seeing me in pain. I won’t give him the satisfaction. “I'm fine.”

  “That’s right,” Jonathan smirks back at me, already knowing the game I’m playing. “She’s fine. Plus, we’re still waiting for the rest of your little harem to show up.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Daniel Price and Edward Maccini, of course. We have to wait for them before we can leave.”

  “Leave? Leave where Jonathan?”

  “Home,” he replies simply, as though my moving to Washington was a vacation.

  “This is my home now, this is our home now.”

  “No, no,” Jonathan replies, moving towards Patrick. “It’s because of him and his friends. This isn’t your home, it’s with me. But I’m going to take care of it, I’m going to take care of them.” Waving the gun around, he smiles widely, “I'm going to bring you home where you belong, and we won’t ever be apart again.”

  My eyes widen at his words, realizing just how far he’s truly gone off the deep end.

  “Jon,” I start my words slowly and cautiously. “Please, there’s no need to hurt anyone. I'll do whatever you want.”

  “That’s right, good girl,” Jonathan coos adoringly. Lifting the gun, he points the muzzle at Patrick’s head and pulls back the hammer with a decisive click. My arms stretch against my bindings, the skin raw from the rough material.

  “No! Please!” I scream, clenching my eyes shut and praying to anyone listening for salvation.

  “Ugh, What?” Jonathan asks, his voice ripe with annoyance. He releases the hammer and drops the gun back to his side.

  “Please don't hurt him. I love him. I love all of them.” Meeting his eyes, I let him see the truth in my own. “I don't love you, I never have, and I never will.”

  For a moment, Jonathan doesn't move, his entire being focused on me. It’s not until his arm lifts, the gun lifting with it, the muzzle once again pointed towards Patrick’s head.

  A scream of terror is ripped from my throat, my body launching forward as I reach for the gun. Thankfully at that moment, my right wrist snaps free from the rope and smacks into his hand. The gun falls to the ground, both of us in a pile on top of it. Jonathan reaches for the pistol, his eyes wild with so much anger and hatred that he doesn't even flinch when it goes off with a bang. His body goes limp against mine, blood splattering against the glass windows.

  “Jenny? Jenny!” Patrick screams, struggling to escape the ropes wrapped around his arms.

  “I'm okay,” I assure him as I try to awkwardly get up with the chair still tied to my other arm. I would have thought when we
fell to the ground that the other arm would have come loose or broken, but it held tight, so I guess Jonathan did one thing right. “Hang on,” I grunt, trying to work the knot loose.

  “Oh, thank heaven, you're okay,” he lets out a sigh of relief, hanging his head.

  Finally, getting my other arm free, I crawl towards him, relieved to be away from Jonathan. “I'm so sorry. I caused this. All of this. He wouldn't have come here if it wasn't for me. You wouldn't have been put in danger; Eva wouldn't have been.”

  “Did you mean it?” Patrick asks, cutting me off, his voice quiet and insecure.

  “Yes,” I answer immediately, already knowing what he's asking. Meeting his eyes, I let all the emotions I've been holding back, all the words I've wanted to say shine through. “I meant it. I love you. I love all three of you, as crazy as that may be.”

  “I love you too, Jennifer.” My eyes begin to tear up, and I want nothing more in this moment than to throw myself in his arms and kiss him until there's nothing and no one else but us. Thankfully at that moment, the door to the apartment slams open, Daniel and Edward rushing in with Wyatt and Ben in tow, both of them carrying guns in hand. All four of them stop in their tracks at the scene before them.

  “We’re all good now,” Patrick tosses over his shoulder with a chuckle. “But if you could untie me, that would be great.”

  After helping Patrick from his restraints and calling the police about Jonathan, I finally get the chance to check on Eva, who it turns out was asleep. Jonathan had given her some sleeping pills. I had EMTs look her over, but they said she would be perfectly fine, so I decided just to let her sleep it off in dreamland.

  “How’s she doing?” Ed asks the moment I enter the kitchen, his face full of concern, which just makes my heart so full of joy for the men I have fallen in love with. I'm not sure if it's logical to love someone that you've only known for a month, but I'm not going to question it. They’re by far the most amazing men I've ever met.