by Mia Luxe
Aftermath
Willow Harper - Saturday, November 15th
What… where am I… I blink my eyes against the bright light of the room, staring around. I’m on a small, uncomfortable bed. There’s a tube in my arm.
When I see the doctor in his white lab coat, I know I’m in the hospital.
I push myself up, and the doctor holds up his hand.
“Easy there. You’re alright.”
“Is… is…” I try to form words, my brain feeling sluggish and unresponsive.
“I’m doctor Feldman. You had quite the night. Please, try to relax. You are safe now. An OB-GYN checked you while you were asleep. Everything is going to be OK.”
I collapse back on the pillow, trying to regain my strength. The room focuses and I turn my head, wincing.
“Is Connor alright?”
The doctor nods.
“Fine. We treated his hands, but he’s a strong young man. Now, if you’re feeling up for it, you’ve got family who are eager to see you.”
I nod, and the doctor smiles kindly. He opens the door, and instantly my mom bursts in, followed by my two sisters. My father is in the background, a bandage around his head. I’ve never seen so much concern in their eyes.
“Oh my God Willow, it’s all over the news what happened, are you OK?”
My mom puts her hand gently on my arm, my sisters behind her and clamoring with questions. I give them a weak smile.
“I’m alright. Just really tired.”
My mom smiles, and the three of them pepper me with questions that I answer with few words, not giving details. My father is in the back of the room, his eyes looking more tired then ever before. After ten minutes, he walks forward.
“Can I have a word alone with you?”
I nod, and my mom and sisters reluctantly leave. The keen look in my father’s eye has dulled.
“Willow, I want you to know things are going to be different from now on.”
I sit up, using my arms to push myself up higher.
“Dad, I should apologize. I lead that horrible man right to you. Are you alright? Your poor head…”
My father leans forward, kissing me tenderly on the forehead.
“I’m fine, Willow. But it’s me who has to say sorry. I can’t believe I put you in danger, Willow. I was so eager to land a new client I brought him to my house when you were there. He fooled me. He wasn’t looking for real-estate, he was looking for you. I’m done with the backroom deals. I’m done meeting shady people with deep pockets. From now on I’m doing business honestly. I will never, ever put you at risk again Willow.”
I shake my head. “You couldn’t have known your new client was a criminal.”
He sighs. “I should have known something was up. I was meeting with two Italians, and at the last second instead of the just two Italians I knew, a new guy named Mario Ventura shows up to the meeting, and gets introduced as the big boss. I had no idea he was really Joe Maturi. I bent over backwards to try to land his business. Which included inviting for a night-cap in my own home. I will never let a stranger come near you again.”
I reach out, stroking his hand. I’ve never felt this close to my father before.
“It’s alright dad. People can change.”
He clears his throat. “And who is that… man outside? Connor?”
My cheeks go red. I brace myself for his response.
“That’s… it’s complicated. He’s my professor and…”
My dad looks straight in my eyes. “Is he a good guy?”
I nod. “He saved my life last night.”
“Then don’t say another word. Jesus, that’s two men I owe my daughters life to.”
“Two?”
He nods. “Walter. He got shot when Joe Maturi kidnapped you. Tough bastard, he’s already trying to tell the nurses he can leave the hospital. Somehow he figured out where Joe took you and called the cops. If it wasn’t for him, you might have…”
For the first time in my life, I see a tear coming to my father’s eye. He coughs and wipes his eye, turning away.
“I’m just glad he figured out where you were and sent help.”
I shiver. So that’s how help came. Walrus remembered the spot where it all went down and made a lucky guess that Joe Mature would take me there.
My father sighs deeply. “I’m just so glad you are safe Willow. I know we haven’t been close, but I couldn’t live without you.”
For the first time in years, I feel close to my father. He clears his throat. Then he reaches forward and pats me on the arm that doesn’t have a tube sticking into it. I smile weakly up at my father.
“Me too dad,” I say, and backs away, pursing his lips.
“Well, I better get going. This Connor fellow is very eager to see you. Can I let him in?”
I smile. “Please do.”
My father leaves, and then Connor walks in, his face a mask of worry and concern. He has bandages on his fingers. He stops a few feet away from me, as if there is a glass wall between us.
“Willow… I don’t think I can ever forgive myself. I almost got you killed.”
“Come here, Connor,” I say, and he comes close and hugs me so carefully, like I’m made of porcelain.
“You didn’t know, Connor. No one is to blame except for Joe Maturi.”
He breaks off the hug, and the uncertainty in his normally steady gaze breaks my heart. There’s a glass of ice water on the table next to me, and I sip from it, realizing I was parched.
“I don’t want to lose you, Willow.”
I can barely look at him, I’m so nervous. I prop myself up in bed. My strength is returning quickly.
“You won’t. You found out in the worst way possible… but I’m pregnant.”
I’m pregnant.
The two words hang in the air.
The act of saying them makes it all so much more real. His jade eyes stare and his mouth opens to speak then shuts again. I wait for him to show any emotion other than shock, preparing for anger. Disappointment. Preparing for him to tell me I’m too young to have a child.
Even though he already found out, it feels like I’m dumping the information on him all over again.
No matter what he says, I’m keeping our baby.
I can’t take it anymore. Each second feels like an hour. I have to break the silence.
“Connor, what are you thinking?”
He reaches out and touches my cheek so tenderly, like he’s scared I’m going to break. He stands over me protectively. He’s so strong, firm, and stable as he looks down at me, the feel of his touch on the skin of my cheek lingering.
“I’m thinking I’m going to be a better father than my dad was,” he says, and leans down to kiss me. Joy fills my heart. It’s like there is a golden glow pulsing through my entire being.
He holds me with a gentleness I’ve never felt before, pulling me slowly against his strong chest like he never wants to let me go. His fingers caress through my hair.
“We’ll make it all work. You can still get your degree, still have everything you want from your life. We’ll make it happen, together.”
My head is against his heart, and I feel the slow, reassuring pounding of his lifeblood.
I’m not going to have to do this alone. But is he sure of what he’s getting into?
“Aren’t you worried that… that you don’t know me very well? I trust you Connor, but it feels so sudden. Just a few weeks ago you were just my professor. And I was just your student.”
He looks down at me, a puzzling knowing in his eyes.
“Willow… The first time I laid eyes on you, color started to come back into my world. I’m living in full color again, not just shades of gray. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. I want to be with you.”
He takes a step back. My mind searches for any reason this won’t work, but my heart already decided.
“All those things you did, Connor. The people you hurt. My brain kept telling me to run,
but I know deep in my body you never did anything you didn’t have to.”
“I never thought I’d find someone like you, Willow. Someone who could know me, and still accept me.”
We both look at each other, just staring, too stunned to talk.
Finally, I break the silence.
“So… how does this work?”
His smile is warm and reassuring.
“I’ll take care of everything. Obviously I won’t be able to keep working at WCU, but I’ll provide for us. A recruiter called me from the FBI after I gave my talk. They want me as a behavioral analyst in their Portland office. It would be a slight pay cut to start, but I’ll be doing more good than as a professor. It’ll be a chance to get back to directly helping people again.”
He rattles off the plans, and my eyes widen at how quickly he plans out our future.
“So you’ll be in Portland and I’ll be…”
He looks at me like I’ve sprouted wings. “You’ll be with me of course. You can finish your year early at WCU by taking a winter semester, and transfer to the University of Portland. I’ll get a place there big enough for the three of us. I know they are really flexible - full time courses, part time courses, even online options. We’ll make this work. You’re still going to have the life you want. The career you want. You’re going to be such a good mom, Willow.”
Oh my God, I’m really going to be a mom.
I look up at him, feeling shy for the first time.
“You really think so?”
His smile is so honest and genuine that I feel my self-confidence growing.
“I know so.”
It all feels so neat and tidy. My life was completely thrown apart since the second I took the pregnancy test.
My world was unsteady. Now I’m on solid ground.
“I wasn’t expecting you to have a plan all laid out.”
“Willow, I was already thinking of taking a job somewhere else when we first hooked up. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep working at WCU if we had a future together… and I had this feeling we were going to be together. It’s all going to work out. I promise you.”
He kisses me again, and I want to cry from happiness.
I pull the blankets off of me, wanting to stand, but there is still a tube in my arm.
“What is this?”
Connor looks to the door. “Warm saline drip. You were so cold when we brought you in… watching you here, unconscious, I was so scared Willow. I’ll get the doctor. And then…”
“Then what?”
He grimaces. “The detective is going to need to take your statement. Joe Maturi is going away for the rest of his miserable life.”
Thoughts of the future with Connor flitter away as I shudder, remembering his thick, fleshy face.
“Is it truly over, Connor? Is it done?”
He nods. “It’s done. The Maturi family is finished. We’re safe now, Willow.”
I smile. “Alright. My mind is still reeling from last night. I don’t understand - how did you get a gun? Where… where did the money really end up?”
Connor shakes his head. “The detective only let me come in to see you with the promise we wouldn’t discuss last night. He needs to get your testimony uncorrupted. But… I have to tell you. And I have to apologize for Portland.”
My lips press together.
I still don’t know what happened to that fifteen million.
“I’m sorry I dumped two years of baggage on your in Portland and thought it would be alright. And… I’m sorry I lied to you. I lied about the money.”
I know my face is a dark cloud. The one thing that can pull us apart.
“Willow,” he says, his voice almost a whisper, “I took that money. I took every cent of that fifteen million. But I didn’t spend it on a nice house, or a car, or anything like that. I can’t tell you where the money went, but none of it was used on me. Please, believe me.”
“Why? Why can’t you tell me, Connor?”
He shakes his head sadly.
“Because it won’t just affect me. It’s not my secret to share. Willow, I’m not like your father. I’ve broken laws. But everything I did was for other people. Every time I bent the law… or broke it… it’s been for someone else’s benefit.”
I want to believe him more than anything.
“Every time, Connor? You never bent a single rule for your own gain? You didn’t take a cent of that fifteen million for your own gain?”
He laughs, shocking me.
“Alright. I’ll admit it. I broke the rules once for my own gain. I asked an old cop buddy to get your police records for me. Before Halloween.”
I can’t help but laugh as well. Then I bite my lip, nervous.
“Alright, that I’ll forgive. Connor, god, I want a future with you so bad. I just have to know there aren’t skeletons in your closet.”
His face goes serious. He breathes in deeply.
“Willow… I’m laid bare, there’s no more secrets, except for where the money went, and I swear to you, if I could tell you, I would. Is it enough? I’ve done terrible, terrible things, and I know I don’t deserve someone like you, but…”
I smile. Relief floods my body.
“I believe you. Now, I need to get this damn thing out of my arm!”
“I’ll get the doctor right away,” says Connor, hurrying out of the room.
The doctor pays me a visit, and I look the other way as he takes the saline drip out of my arm. He takes a look at me and declares me ready to leave the hospital at my leisure. When he exits the room I get dressed in jeans and a sweater, comfortable clothes that help me regain normalcy after the whirlwind that is now my life.
A minute later a mid-40s man, clean-shaven in a well-fitted suit enters the room. He’s heavy-set.
“Hello. I’m detective Angelo, lead on this case. We’ve got Joe Maturi in custody. I want you to tell me everything. Your testimony could help put him behind bars for the rest of his life. Are you feeling up to an interview?”
I nod vigorously.
“Good. We’ve already interviewed Connor Bold. I want you to start at the beginning. When you first saw the black Mercedes tailing you.”
This could get awkward. If I lie or omit details, Joe Maturi’s lawyer would have a field day.
I’m going to have to tell them everything, even if it gets Connor fired from his job.
Even if the world will know I slept with my professor.
I take a deep breath and recount it from the start, the words rushing out, all the secrets. How Joe kidnapped me and took me hostage. How he shot at Walrus. How he made Connor dig.
It gets fuzzy at that point.
How did Connor get a gun? Was there dirty money in that box? Will he be in trouble?
The detective sees my hesitation.
“We still don’t know where that fifteen million went. Frankly, I don’t give a damn where it is. All I care about is putting this bastard away for life. Connor tricked Joe Maturi into admitting he killed a young woman. He got it all on tape. Joe Maturi admitting to the murder of Mallory Durnwit, a Canadian woman who was kidnapped by the Maturi family.”
“But he didn’t have a wire?”
The detective smiles. “He recorded it on small recording device in a pen in his pocket. With the wind and the rain, the audio is bad. So we’re going to need you to confirm what he said. Can you remember?”
I nod. “Yeah. He said he strangled her.”
The detective nods.
“The box Connor Bold dug up wasn’t full of money. It was a fake passport, a small amount of cash, and a gun registered legally to him. A getaway kit. Suspicious, and yes, technically illegal, but we won’t be pressing charges.”
A getaway kit. Connor had a dark past, and he was worried it might come back to haunt him. The ground looked all dug up because he probably checked on it every year, making certain it was still safe.
“Now, I want to ask more about the surveillance you were under.”
“No, I’m ready to get out of here.”
I leave the room. My family tries to get me to go with them, but I cannot handle being interviewed again. I need to be alone with the one man who understands what I’ve been through.
I need to be with Connor.
We leave together, and I can see the shock in my sister’s eyes.
He’s like, ten years older than you!
I know exactly what they are thinking, and I don’t care. When I’m in the car with Connor, driving to his home and away from all the other people, I finally feel safe.
It finally feels like the future is real. When we get to his house we barely talk, showering in his massive bathroom and washing away all the memories of last night.
I barely make it to the bedroom in my thick bathrobe when he presses me gently but firmly against the wall.
When his mouth finds mine I’m overwhelmed by protective passion that I’ve never felt before.
Culmination
Connor - Saturday, November 15th
Our tongues swirl together as I press her gently against the wall, my body on overdrive. Every primal urge I had to fill her with my seed has culminated in her pregnancy, and I’m harder than I’ve ever been in my life.
She’s my forbidden fantasy, my dirty little student, 18 years old and innocent until I took her hard for the first time.
She breaks off the kiss, both of us panting.
“You don’t waste any time,” she breathes out, looking at me and I see for her who she is, the sensitive, vulnerable young women who hid behind drinking, partying, and flaunting the law.
She needs me so fucking bad, and I need her even more.
“On the bed. Now,” I growl, and she giggles and flops on the bed in her bathrobe, the front opening enough to show off the perfect slopes of her breasts. I can’t resist her. I throw aside my towel and mount her, my body covering hers. She’s so small and perfect and I wrap my arms around her as I kiss her, holding her tightly.
Protectively.
Nothing will ever take her from me.