The Madame (The Chloe Chronicals)

by Eden Rose

  With the words that are coming out of his mouth, I punch him before he can finish them. I have no want or need to hear what he has to say and I don’t want to. I don’t want to hear how he sold out his sister to save Emily.

  Barry bends in half and grabs his face.

  Kayla- Now

  I probably have gotten about three hours of sleep since Grant left me a few days ago. He hasn’t been answering his phone and I’m nervous as hell about what he’s doing and if he’s safe. I really hope he is safe.

  I roll over and lay on his side with my head tucked into his pillow. His pillow smells so good. I love it.

  Begrudgingly, I grab my phone off of my pillow and pull up his contact information. Once it’s up, I hit text messaging and text him.

  Me: please call me

  What if he’s dead? What if he got into a car accident? Oh fucking hell.

  Thoughts of seeing him in the morgue flood my head and I almost miss the sound of the door being knocked on. I roll off the bed and pull down my shirt that is riding up on my bump.

  Yeah, I’m full term and it can be at any moment that my water breaks and I can’t get Grant on the phone. Of course he runs to help Chloe but doesn’t stay here with me. This is not good. This is not good at all.

  “Who is it?” I call as I waddle towards the door and see blue through the peephole. “Oh god. Oh god! No!” I yell as I throw open the door and see someone that I didn’t think I would have ever seen. “What the hell are you doing here?” I ask Christine.

  I feel like a whale and looking at her skinny self is pissing me off. Of course she comes over here looking beautiful in skinny jeans and a tight tee. I fucking hate her.

  “What were you yelling about?” She asks me and looks at my swollen stomach.

  I shrug off her question and then look out the door before shutting it. “I thought you were the police. You had me worried. What are you doing here?”

  Christine walks past me looking like a supermodel and sits on my couch with a happy smile. “When are you going to realize that just because you are engaged and pregnant with his kid that you are not going to replace Chloe? Nothing you say or do is going to replace the love that he has for that woman.”

  A flash of anger and hurt came flooding over me and I waddle over to her and sit next to her. “Get out of my house.”

  With Grant not answering his phone and this woman in here, I’m not going to deal with it. I don’t think I’m able to be sane enough to talk to her.

  The Cheshire smile on her face is making me feel stabby. “Oh, but, sweetie. This isn’t your house. The quicker you realize that Grant won’t love you like he loves Chloe, the better you will be.”

  “Get out of my house!” I yell and then grab my stomach as a contraction hits. “Get out now!” I bend at the waist and hold onto my stomach as it tightens and then loosens.

  “What the hell is that?” She asks and then points down to the water that has begun to make a puddle on the floor. “Holy shit! Your water broke. It’s time to get you to the hospital.”

  I shake my head like a bobble head and then fall to the floor as all of the blood rushes to the bottom half of my body. “Oh no! I can’t be going into labor.”

  She rushes over to me and then leans down to hold onto my shoulder. “Where is your phone? We need to call Grant.”

  “Why are you helping me?” I ask stagnantly.

  “Because we are two girls that have been hurt by Grant and the Chloe triangle. You need help. Let’s get going.”

  Howard- Now

  Every minute that has passed since Grant went through those doors have killed me. Because every minute that he’s in there is another minute that I don’t have Chloe in my arms and I don’t know what is happening. I’m freaking the fuck out that I don’t know how she’s doing.

  God damn it.

  I see Dom strolling past the entrance and I don’t even think about it as I punch him in the face. “She’s the mother of my children. You fucking asshole. Let me in there or I will kill you.”

  The spawn of the Devil laughs at me and then punches me in the shoulder. “That’s a good one. I’m pretty sure that the prick in there also said the same thing. Does she have a magic vagina or something?”

  My fists plows him in the face over and over again until I hear a snap in my hand and a tear in it. Shit. I broke my hand. I don’t stop what I’m doing until I feel hands on my shoulders as someone pulls me off of Dom. His brown haired head is rolled to the side and he looks unrecognizable as he tries to breathe through his nose.

  My hand flies out to whoever is behind me and when it hits air, I turn and look at Barry. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask and slide off of Dom. I shake my hand off and try to gain feeling back in it as I do so.

  Wait, when the hell did I end up straddling Dom as he laid on the floor? What the fuck.

  “Look, you need to get in there. I did something really bad. I’m so sorry. Howard, I’m so sorry for everything that I did but I need to leave. Good luck. Please tell Chloe that I’m so sorry and that I love her.”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask and unflex my hand that is bleeding from the cuts of impact from hitting Dom.

  He shakes me off and grabs a hand out from the shadows and runs away. “What the fuck is going on?” I yell after them.

  Barry doesn’t stop and the girl that he’s dragging out of the warehouse/ building turns to look at me. “Thank you for all that you have done for me. I’m so sorry things had to turn out this way.”

  “Emily?” I yell and try to run after them but I stop when the door opens and Grant appears.

  He’s carrying Chloe but she doesn’t look like the same woman. She looks haggard and beat up badly. “Holy shit. What happened?” I ask and brush my busted hand on top of Chloe’s brown haired head. “Shit, baby. Are you okay?”

  I push the hair out of her face and see her lip is busted and her eyes are swollen shut. “Oh my god. Please, baby. Don’t…” My fingers push against her throat to make sure she is still breathing and when I feel the pulse, tears rush out of my eyes. “Thank you. Oh my fucking god. Thank you.” I cry out.

  Grant must see the anguish in my eyes because he thrusts his hip out for me and I look at him questioningly. “Grab my phone and call for an ambulance. You didn’t see it in there but we need to get her out of here.”

  “What happened to-”

  He cut me off by thrusting his hip out again and I reach into his pocket to get it. My hand screams in pain but I still demand my fingers to pull the phone out. Once I have it, I call the police. “This is Federal Agent Howard McKinstry. I need an ambulance sent to the address that you have pulled up on the GPS ASAP.”

  The woman who answered the call asks me the same questions. “Is someone hurt? Are you being threatened? Can you get some place safe?”

  I cut off the questions and then say: “My wife is pregnant and she’s badly beat up. I need someone here right away. She’s very beat up and I’m scared.”

  “Agent McKinstry, I need you to take a deep breath and tell me what is going on.”

  “You need to call Captain James Buchanan in Denver, Colorado. He’s in the FBI. He will fill you in on everything that is happening and what is going on.”

  I can hear the clicking of the keyboard keys as she writes what I’m saying. “Okay, Agent. We have first responders on their way at this moment. They should be there as soon as they can. Stay on the line with me to make sure that they find you.”

  Grant is cradling Chloe tightly to his chest when his phone begins to beep and chime in my ear. “Is your battery going to die?” I ask him as I pull the phone away from my ear. I look down and see it flashing letting me know that there was missed calls and text messages that haven’t been read.

  “No. I probably have a bunch of calls.”

  I point towards the wall and gesture for him to walk over there. “Go ahead and sit down with her. I don’t want her waking up and freaking out that you a
re holding her.”

  “Agent McKinstry!”

  The voice on the phone snaps me back to my phone call and I put it to my ear. “Yes?”

  “What is your wife’s name? Is she also an FBI agent as well?”

  “Her name is Chloe Delacruz and I’m here with Agent Grant Brandon as well. We are in the back of the building. Are the police on their way? I’m not sure if everything is secure.”

  Grant nods his head and tilts it to the side. “Everything is taken care of in there. There is nothing to worry about. We won’t get any surprises.”

  Dom grunts and then falls back onto the floor. I walk over to him and kick him in the gut causing him to grunt even louder. “Stay down!” I hiss away from the mouthpiece of the phone.

  “Agent McKinstry. The officers and the ambulance are outside right now. They will be there in a moment. Is there anything that will cause danger for them?”

  I scan the room and then shake my head. It was then that I remembered that she wouldn’t be able to see me shake my head as an answer. “No. There isn’t.”

  “First responders!”

  CHloe- Now

  Claire and I are dancing in a circle listening to the music of our laughter and everything is perfect. There is not one thing that I would change as we dance in imperfect harmony.

  “Mommy, why is Daddy crying?” She asks me with a small pout on her face.

  I stop our dancing and reach down to pick her up. She’s light as a feather and her dress is brushing against my arms as I hold her tightly. “Baby, why do you think Daddy is crying?” I ask her in a baby voice.

  She puts her finger to my lips and goes “Shush” with her own. I do as she asks and listen out. I can hear someone yelling and crying in the background but I can’t seem to bust out of this dream.

  Nor do I think I want to.

  In this dream, I’m holding my daughter and we are safe. The one question that I have is where is my other baby? “Where’s your….?” I feel like a piece of shit that I don’t even know if I have another daughter or son.

  “He’s sleeping. We have to be quiet or he’s going to wake up. Be quiet, Mommy. We need to make sure Daddy is okay.”

  I nod and then listen closer to the words that are coming from a mouth far away from us. “Where is your Daddy?” I ask her and brush her blonde curls out of her face. Once she’s got a clear face, I notice that she has Grant’s dark eyes but my light features. She looks beautiful. Absolutely angelic.

  “Daddy is out there,” she points her finger out through the haze and I follow where she’s pointing.

  Grant- Now

  The ride to the hospital takes forever and it kills me that Howard is the one that got to ride with Chloe. However, I can see why. He told them that she’s his wife and now they are looking at me as if I’m a useless asshole. Little do they realize, that she’s pregnant with my babies. Not his.

  The police are following the ambulance since there are two agents in there and we had killed two king pins for the sex trade. I wasn’t even apart of this undercover operation, but I still helped.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket and it jars my memory that I needed to call Kayla and let her know that everyone is all right. Once I have it fished out, I slide over the connect button and hear yelling in the background.

  “Hello?” I demand and am instantly on high alert. The cop that is driving me to the hospital sparks up and looks back at me. I wave him off and wait to see what all of the yelling is about.

  “Grant, it’s-”

  “Christine! What the fuck are you doing with my fiance? Can’t you stay away from me? Jesus!”

  “Are you finished? I came here to apologize to Kayla and now she’s in labor. Are you coming back?”

  I yell out frustrated and grip my hair in my hands. God damn it. I know I need to be with Kayla but I’m so worried about Chloe and about our babies. The worst part is… I know that she would rather have Howard here than me.

  I roll my neck and then take my index and thumb finger to rub the bridge on my nose. “I will try to be there as soon as I can.”

  She let’s out a chuckle and then says drolly: “You are never going to give her up, are you? She’s always going to be the woman that you compare everyone to and it’s not fair. You fucked up with her but you have your fiance here and she needs you. Step away from Chloe and come handle your bride to be!”

  Before I can interject, she hangs up on me and I am stuck staring at my phone dumbfounded.

  Quickly, I snap out of it and pull up Howard’s phone number. “Right now is not the time I want to talk,” he says as he answers.

  “I need to go back to Denver. Kayla is having the baby and I need to be there.”

  “Are you going to let go of Chloe and let me be with her?”

  I roll my eyes and then I feel my chest tighten. “It’s really hard. Take care of her and I want to be there for my babies. You got me?”

  “Yeah, man. Good luck with everything.”

  We hung up and I convinced the officers to turn around and take me back to the airport. The whole way there, all I kept thinking about was how everything is about to change. Kayla is having our baby girl right now and I can’t wait to hold her.

  But I couldn’t stop the niggling feeling of what is actually happening. Chloe is being rushed to the hospital and there is no telling what’s going to happen to her. I hope she and the babies are going to be okay. I couldn’t-

  No! Stop!

  Chloe- Now

  Claire wiggles out of my arms and I let her down so she can run to the edge of the foggy area. It’s so foggy that I can’t see anything but the fog. “Baby, come back,” I call after her and try to get my feet to move.

  Why aren’t my feet able to move? I begin to panic and I can feel my cheeks burning due to the frustration. No! This is not good. “Claire, come back!” I yell and am able to move my feet a fraction of an inch before I begin to sink.

  “Shush, Mommy, it’s okay!” Claire sings as she dances along the edges of my vision. “You need to go back.”

  “Back? Where?” What is she talking about? No, I don’t want to leave her. I want to stay here where it’s peaceful and I get to be with my daughter. She’s so beautiful and perfect. Her eyes are so dark and it’s a beautiful contrast between that and her light features. “Silly Mommy, you need to go back because Daddy is crying. He misses you.”

  My legs fall into the abyss of the fog and I try to move in vain. When I can’t, I scream out loud and attempt to cover up my swearing. No! I want to be with my baby. I don’t want to leave Claire. The fog is getting thicker as it takes me under into the abyss.

  It’s thick and the air smells strong and totally different from what I experienced with Claire. “Claire! Claire- I’m- damn it! I’m scared! Don’t leave me!”

  The thick air swallows me whole and I feel the whoosh of falling from a high cliff. I attempt to scream when I hit a hard surface and it doesn’t come out as a scream.

  Howard- Now

  I watch in horror as they wheel her out of the ambulance and into the emergency entrance of the hospital. The driver is asking me a bunch of questions but I can’t even focus on the words that he is saying right now. Can’t they see that I’m only interested in seeing how Chloe is? I could care less about the questions that they are asking me.

  So in the minutes that are passing me by as they wheel her through the doors, I do the one thing that I haven’t done in a long time. I actually sit in a corner and bow my head to pray. I pray for Chloe’s life and the life of our babies. I pray for the ability to be accepting if something does happen to her. I pray for the strength to be there for Chloe when she tells me what happened to her.

  And most of all, I pray for her to stay here with me.

  It’s selfish, I know, but I don’t want her to leave me at all. I need her to stay with me so badly I could honestly fucking taste it.

  “Officer McKinstry?” A meek voice asks from the corner of the room. I look up an
d see a woman who is very short but holding a clipboard. She seems as if she’s in charge of something so I nod my head without correcting her of my title. “Ms. Delacruz came through surgery beautifully, but the next few hours are crucial.”

  “Surgery?” How long was I praying for? Jesus. I can’t believe she was in surgery and I was spending my time praying. Fuck. I’m going to hell now because I wasn’t even there when she got out of surgery.