“I love you all,” she shouts, her voice thick with tears before the door is slammed shut.
Mason races for the door but it’s locked from the outside. The screeching of metal indicates the fridge is now back in place and hiding us away completely.
“You prick!” Noah shouts from behind me, making me swing round to face him. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you now”
“Because I just saved your fucking life and Eden’s.”
“Bullshit. We are going to rot down here and the first chance he gets he is going to kill her.”
“I’m with Noah on this one, Eli,” Mason says, coming to stand next to Noah with his arms folded over his chest. “You just gave her away. What the fuck?” He looks at me in disgust.
I look at them both and realise if anyone is going to get the shit kicked out of them it will be these two dickheads in front of me.
“You think I would do that? Just give away my girl to save myself? Fuck you both. If she had stayed, we all would have died. This buys us time.”
“Time? What are you talking about…” he drifts off when he hears sirens.
I pull my phone from my back pocket and wave it at them.
“I texted Malcolm and he called the police. Caleb and Ryan have eyes on Eden and—” my phone beeps. I look down and read the message from Caleb. “Karl is on his way back, he must have heard the sirens. Get ready.”
Next thing you know, I find myself in the middle of the most awkward hug imaginable. I snort out loud making them laugh.
“I get it, you’re sorry but get the fuck off me.”
We each take a step back from each other as a car pulls into the driveway.
“As much as I want to be on the steps to make a grab for Eden, if I startle Karl, he could kill her. We’re going to have to stay down here where we look less threatening.”
Noah and I turn to look at Mason who rolls his eyes. Yeah, there is no way a six-foot-four, 250-pound man covered in tattoos can look anything other than threatening. The door to the basement opens and a dazed Eden is pushed inside as the door is quickly pulled closed again. Eden tumbles down the stairs as we race to get to her, but she lands on the ground on her right wrist, resulting in an audible snap. I reach her before the big bastards beside me and gently manoeuvre her into my lap, careful not to touch her arm. Noah and Mason crouch down next to me and stroke her hair and face and anywhere they can get to.
“I’m sorry, so, so, sorry. Please don’t hate me. I love you. Please don’t hate me,” she babbles into my shoulder as she shakes. I toss the phone to Noah.
“She’s in shock. Make sure there’s an ambulance on its way and let them know we have Eden down here with us again.”
“Shush, pretty girl,” Mason croons into her hair. “We could never hate you. I’m an asshole, I didn’t mean what I said before. It’s me who should be saying sorry. I was just so terrified of losing you. You are my family Eden.” He looks at me as we both comfort our girl. “You all are.”
There is a commotion upstairs, but I can’t make out what’s going on. When the door slams open, Noah and Mason block us from view for a second before moving to reveal Ryan and Caleb.
“Hey, ambulance is on its way. Police are just pulling up,” Caleb tells us.
Ryan bends down to look at Eden’s arm. “Hey, beautiful, how you doing?”
Eden looks up at me, her focus clearer than before, much to my relief. “Did he just quote Joey from Friends to me?”
I laugh along with the rest of the guys, grateful for Ryan’s ability to bring a little lightness to the room.
I go with “Ryan is… odd.”
“An asshole.” Noah has to go one better.
“Guess he knows you pretty well, Ry.” Caleb laughs and greets the two paramedics as they come down the stairs. Two police officers stand at the top watching us.
“Fuck you all.” He turns to Mason who has yet to say anything.
Mason just shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t care who the fuck you are. You made my girl smile, so you’re all right by me.”
“Aw, he loves me, he really loves me.”
Noah yanks him away before Mason can change his mind and punch him.
“Anyone got eyes on Karl?” I ask the room at large.
“No, we lost him in the scramble to get to Eden, sorry guys,” Ryan answers but he made the right call. Eden’s safety should always come first.
“Fuck,” Noah shouts.
I feel the same anger he does, knowing that this isn’t over. We are never going to find this guy now.
“What the hell is going on here?” a voice shouts from above us, making Eden whimper and bury herself deeper within my arms.
Chapter Twenty-One
EDEN
That voice. It makes me want to rip my own ears off just so I never have to hear it again.
“Sir, you can’t come in here,” I hear a police officer say.
“This is my goddamn house,” he yells before I hear thundering footsteps and there he is again at the top of the stairs surrounded by police officers.
I can’t keep doing this. I’m so sick of playing the role of the victim. I’m done.
“Actually, it’s my house.” The room quiets as I speak, every eye turning my way.
“Eden? Is that you? Oh my god, what happened to you? What are you even doing here?” So that’s the way he wants to play it, huh?
“You brought me here Karl.” I spit his name out in disgust.
He cocks his head and adopts a confused expression, but I see the gleam in his eye. He’s enjoying this. He wants to beat me, show me just how smart he is.
“Eden, I haven’t spoken to you in years, sweetheart. Tell the police officers what really happened. They can protect you.”
The police at his side puff up their chests in response, already swaying to his side with his words.
“Sir, can you tell us your whereabouts for the last few hours?” one of the older officers asks.
“I was with my girlfriend at our apartment.”
“I’m sorry, I thought you said this was your place?” the officer questions, waiting for his response.
“Sorry, officer. Force of habit, I guess. I lived here with Eden and her mother. Eden’s mother passed away and Eden turned to drugs to deal with her grief. She ran away and became a stripper to fund it. I stayed here, hoping one day she would return, but living here just made me miss her and her mother more so I finally felt like it was time for my girlfriend and me to get our own place. I came by earlier today to collect the last of my things. That’s the first time I had been here for months. When the police stormed the building earlier, I had no idea what was going on.”
“And this room?” The officer indicates the sex dungeon around us.
“My girlfriend and I have a very healthy sexual appetite. Last time I checked, that wasn’t a crime.”
“Well, explain why you didn’t mention this room earlier then, asshole, during the search.” Noah seethes.
“I didn’t think about it. It hasn’t been used in so long that it slipped my mind.”
“I think you need to come down to the station with us and answer some more questions,” the older officer tells him, putting his notebook back in his pocket as all but one of his colleagues files back out into the kitchen.
“Of course officer,” he says, looking directly into my eyes. The warning is clear. He’ll be back for me.
“I’ll have the answers for everything. We can get this all sorted out in a jiffy.”
He’s right. I know he is. Even the things that look incriminating can be explained away. Everything is just circumstantial, which is exactly how he planned it.
“Can I suggest, though, officers, that you remove Eden from the care of these three guys. I have reason to believe they are dangerous and are responsible for Eden’s injuries. They have been stalking me and one of them has even been in prison for murder.”
All focus on the guys around me, eyeing them
with suspicion.
No. No more. He won’t win this time.
“That’s enough,” Caleb barks, angry on the guys’ behalf, but I’ve got this.
I stand up awkwardly, leaning on Mason for support.
“I won’t let you do this to them,” I tell Karl softly, but I know he heard me. Everyone looks to me now. Covered in blood and cradling my arm, wearing nothing more than an oversized black T-shirt, I set myself free with the only weapon I have left. Knowledge.
“You always liked to hurt me, to watch me bleed as I begged for you to stop. Nothing has changed. You tried to kill me by running me off the road. Then you focused all your energies on scaring me, leaving me no choice but to cocoon myself away, afraid of what was lurking in the shadows. Then you took me from the men I love so you could use my body and discard it like yesterday’s newspaper.”
“Utter nonsense. I have never laid a hand on you. What you are suggesting is preposterous and disgusting. I’ll sue you for slander.”
“Ma’am, you need to go to the hospital and get that arm checked out,” the paramedic says from beside me but he doesn’t believe my story. I can tell by the way he’s eyeing Mason. I hoped I never had to play my trump card but if any of us want a chance at a happy tomorrow now is the time to show my hand.
“I ran away from home on the night of my fifteenth birthday after Karl decided that my role had changed and I was no longer his daughter, I was to be a substitute for my dead mother.”
“Jesus, Eden, stop with the lying,” Karl implores, thinking he’s safe and protected with his god complex.
“He raped me that night on my pink flower bedspread surrounded by my teddies that watched on in horror, helpless to stop it. You killed the little girl in me that was a dreamer that night. But a warrior arose in her place. I waited for you to fall asleep and I dragged my bruised and aching body out the bedroom window and never looked back.”
“Another claim you can’t prove. A little convenient don’t you think? After all, why wouldn’t you have reported it before?”
“Nobody wants to accept that some cops are dirty and you had too many friends on the force that had your back.” I see the police beside him shuffle around so they can face him now, their suspicions finally finding their way to the right person.
“I gave birth to a baby boy eight months later in a dirty rest stop toilet at the side of a road. I hadn’t even known I was pregnant.” I say the words carefully, softly. The words that haunt my soul.
“There were complications and I hemorrhaged and as a result, I can’t have any more children.”
I look up and see Eli has tears streaming down his face, Noah’s head is bent in sadness and Mason’s face is etched in anguish.
“He was so tiny and I loved him right from the start but I knew.” I take a deep breath as my own tears start to drip down my face.
“I knew he would be in danger if he stayed with me so I put him up for adoption.”
I look at the police officer nearest to me. “I have the DNA samples that will prove Karl is the father and the year my little boy was born will prove I was only fifteen when he was conceived. I believe that’s statutory rape, officer.”
He nods in shock before turning to the cop standing closest to Karl. “Arrest him.”
Karl starts shouting and struggling against the officer, finally losing his cool.
“You fucking whore. You kept my son from me. I will kill you for this.”
I collapse against Eli who wraps his arms around me, carefully avoiding my arm and offering me his support.
“Get him out of here,” Noah barks at the officers as Karl continues to struggle.
I jump when Karl manages to break free, throwing himself down the steps toward me but if he thought he was going to make it past Mason he has another think coming. He shoves against him but Mase is an immovable wall hell-bent on protecting the woman he loves. Karl doesn’t stand a chance. They both freeze for a second before Karl throws his head back and laughs maniacally, sending shivers down my spine.
“You forgot I always have a backup plan, always,” he screams at me, spit flying from his mouth. Taking advantage of his distraction, the officers finally manage to subdue him enough to cuff him and drag him back up the stairs and out into the kitchen.
“Eden?” Mason calls to me, his voice strained as he stays facing the door as the last of the officers leave.
“I’m right here, Mason,” I reassure him.
“I love you. Remember that, okay? You are the best thing that ever happened to me.” His voice breaks at the end with emotion.
I look up at Eli and see a frown marring his face. “Mase, you okay mate?”
Mason turns slowly to face us. My eyes connect with his and don’t leave as he tells me a thousand things without speaking a word.
“Fuck. Get over here, now.”
I look to Noah, wondering who the hell he is talking to like that when I see the paramedics rush over.
I turn back to Mason, hoping he can clear up my confusion when my eyes catch on the red stain on his white T-shirt. It takes three more seconds for my eyes to focus on the black handle protruding from his stomach and a second more for my brain to put those images together and process them.
He smiles at me sadly before his huge frame crumples to the ground with a sickening thud.
“No, no!” I pull and twist trying to break free from Eli’s hold but his arms won’t budge.
The two paramedics surround Mason, assisted by that Ryan guy. I hear screaming and turn to look at Noah for help. He wraps his arms around me too, cocooning me between himself and Eli. It isn’t until a sob breaks free from my chest, making my breathing falter for a second, that I realise the screaming is coming from me.
“Don’t you leave me, Mason. Where you go, I go. You promised. You fucking promised!” I scream in anguish as one of the paramedics shocks his heart and I watch on helplessly as his body convulses on the floor.
A commotion at the door reveals Caleb and another paramedic carrying a gurney down the steps.
“Get her out of here, guys. We’ll meet you at the hospital,” Ryan shouts over to my men.
“No, I’m not leaving without him,” I argue. He would never leave without me, I’m not leaving without him.
“Come on, I’ll drive you,” Caleb calls over, ignoring me completely.
“No! I’m not leaving. Get the hell away from me.” I start fighting against Eli and Noah again, trying to get to Mason. I need him to know I’m here, that I didn’t leave him.
“Eden, stop. You’re going to hurt yourself even more.” I vaguely hear Eli implore from beside me but I don’t listen.
I can’t feel my arm anymore anyway. What does it even matter? I would cut my arm off if it would keep Mason with me.
“Let me go! Please, please, Eli, he needs me,” I beg, looking up at Eli’s face. I still when I see his own tears. “He promised, Eli.”
“I know, Eden, and I swear to you that man will fight with everything he has to keep it, but you have got to let them work on him okay?”
I nod. They strap Mason onto the gurney before Ryan walks towards me. He ignores the others and cups my face with both of his hands.
“We have to get him to the hospital now, Eden. Let Caleb drive you all there. I’ll stay with Mason.”
I start to protest, wanting to ride along with Mason, but Ryan cuts me off.
“You need to get your arm checked out. Mason will be furious when he wakes up if you haven’t had it taken care of.”
I nod my head robotically, knowing he’s right.
“Good girl. I swear to you right now, I won’t leave his side until you get there.”
I nod again because forming words is too difficult right now.
Noah sweeps me up in his arms where I bury my head against his shoulder and finally let go. The tears threaten to drown Noah and me both but I don’t stop until there is nothing left to purge and my body is spent. I don’t remember the drive to the
hospital. I don’t even remember getting in and out of the car but as the last sob leaves my body, I look up just in time to see us pass through the hospital entrance.
I’m quickly ushered into a room where I’m poked, prodded and examined. When the nurse asks Noah and Eli to step outside, I freak out and try to leave too. In the end, she agrees to let them stay. I’m not trying to be difficult but I need to be able to see them. I need to be able to hold them, smell them, feel them. I need to know they are alive. Caleb has been running backward and forward between us and Mason, feeding us dribs and drabs of the limited knowledge he could gain. Mason is in surgery right now and will be for a few hours more, which is the only reason I’ve agreed to let them see me.
I look up when Noah opens the door to Caleb again who this time is carrying a bag. He walks over to me and places the bag on the bed beside me before ruffling my hair in a way I would imagine a big brother would do.
“Frankie brought you some clothes. Nothing fancy, just some comfy sweats and stuff. She’s out in the waiting room with everyone else when you’re finished up in here.”
I take the bag, touched by the kind gesture. “Thank you, Caleb.” My voice is hoarse from the screaming and crying.
“Anytime, Eden.” He turns and talks quietly to the guys for a moment. “They found Raymond Fellows bound and gagged in the boot of his own car. He’s talking with the police now,” he tells them quietly before leaving.
The nurse came about ten minutes before Caleb’s arrival and told us I was free to go so the sooner I can get dressed the sooner I can leave.
“Can you guys help me?” I whisper softly.
They are by my side in seconds, gently removing Eli’s T-shirt, careful not to bump the purple cast my wrist is now sporting. They help me dress in the track pants and camisole with a built-in bra shelf, which I’m so grateful for because there is no way I could wear a bra right now. Noah helps me maneuver my arm through the sleeve of a baggy hoodie as Eli slips a pair of flip flops on my feet. It seems like an odd thing to wear with sweats, but I realise it’s because Frankie didn’t know my shoe size so erred on the side of caution.
The Promise of Tomorrow: An Inheritance Novel Page 20