"Did you find her yet?"
"We've got her in our sights, just waiting for the right time to move."
"I want both her legs and wrists broken then throw her on the sidewalk outside Sanders' house."
“Breathing?”
“For now yes, I want her to suffer and I want her to know why she’s suffering.
"Do we leave a note?"
"No, he'll get the message."
I hung up the phone without an ounce of remorse. The only thing left was Sanders and Starks. I had to get them in a way that wouldn't come back on my wife. I didn't want her name in anyway associated with this, of course there was bound to be hoopla following the whole Lynn thing. She’s from a well-to-do family, to be found on the streets bloody and broken wouldn't go unnoticed unless the cop was clever enough to hide her before anyone saw her lying in front of his house.
I wanted to expose her for the monster she was but there was no way to do that without getting Blossom's name involved and that I wouldn't do so I have to find another way. I’m going to totally destroy her before I finish her off. She’d almost killed my wife and my fucking kid I want to look her in the eye while I choke the fucking life out of her.
There were voices outside before the door was gently opened and mom and dad came in. I’d forgotten to call them after asking dad for the information earlier but I should’ve known they’d show. I figure Ashley could use a mother's touch poor baby so it was good they were here.
"Hi son how is she?" Mom whispered from the door her eyes glued to her new daughter in law.
“Come in mom, dad, thanks for coming...this is my Blossom.”
Mom and dad stood next to her bed gazing down at her.
"Oh Gideon, she's beautiful." Mom brushed Blossom's hair gently with her fingers as dad and I looked on.
"Thank you." I smiled my first smile since I’d kissed her goodbye this morning.
"Your sister will be here tomorrow."
"She doesn't have to do that mom."
"Of course she does, we're family that's what family does in times like these."
"Okay mom, thanks." I walked around the bed so I could kiss her in gratitude.
"Mom, dad, there is something you should know...Blossom's pregnant."
"Oh dear, is the baby okay isn't it too soon to tell, or did you...?"
"No mom the doctor says she's just a few days. I thought it was too soon to tell too but he assures me that she is. He says the baby's okay so far but they'll keep monitoring just to be on the safe side."
"Are we happy about the news son?" Dad clapped his hand on my shoulder?
"Yes dad, very happy. I haven't told Blossom yet though. I'm waiting until we're out of the woods then I'll tell her."
“Then congratulations what did the doctors say about her injuries?” Dad went into doctor mode and ended up hunting down her doctor for answers since I was of no help there. I couldn’t remember half of what the man had said other than that she was going to be okay.
We spent the next hour and a half hashing out the best course of action when she was released.
Dad wanted to know why she'd been airlifted in the first place if all she had were a few broken bones and I explained that they'd thought her head injury was more severe from the on scene examination. It didn't matter to me, as long as she was getting the best care that's all I really cared about.
"I think Ashley should come stay with us for a couple of weeks, we'll get her a nurse to help out but you have to work and I'm home all day anyway..."
"Thanks mom but no, she's my wife I'll be the one to take care of her, the nurse sounds like a good idea though."
"Whatever works for you son, we're going to go check into the hotel now, we'll be back later, do you need anything?"
"No mom thanks and thanks again for coming."
I watched them leave and checked my watch. I was surprised that I hadn't heard back from my guys as yet. Just as I had the thought my phone vibrated in my pocket.
"Thorpe."
"It's done."
I hung up without saying another word.
And so it begins, there was no going back now. I've started a war with Clifton Sanders. I've taken the fight right to his door, literally.
The next move was his but I had eyes on him, his every move was being documented and his house was still wiretapped.
There was still one more thing I needed to do though. I wanted to make sure all the players pay.
When Blossom finally woke up again she was hungry. That was supposedly a good sign but they kept her on light foods like broth and juice. I wanted to run out and get her the damn burger that she’d never got the chance to have.
She fussed a lot because of the discomfort in her arm and leg, she couldn't move around at her usual speed and she kept banging her arm and her leg into the rail.
"Baby let me do it okay."
I took the spoon from her and fed her her soup.
She wanted to know when we could go home, the doctor had said two days and I wasn't willing to move her before then.
She made such a face when I told her she had to stay that I was tempted to beg the doctor to let her leave. Then she almost had a coronary when I was leaving to go get him.
"Ashley what's wrong?"
"Don't leave me please." She pulled on my shirt, her eyes wide with fright.
" Baby what's going on in that head of yours of course I’m not gonna leave you come ‘ere."
I climbed back onto the bed and drew her onto my lap. She curled into me like a baby and my arms drew tighter around her. I could feel the runaway beat of her heart. My baby was scared.
" I don't want them to get me."
"Who baby?" Please God no, don't let her know. I'd always believed that she had no idea what her sick fuck of a father was up to. She hadn't been told about the accident so what was her fear?
"Who Blossom?"
"The monster, he'll get me if you're not here." I was becoming afraid, had she had some kind of psychotic break or something? I tried to play over every conversation we’d ever had to see if there was any clue to what she spoke of. She’d never once let on that she knew her father had anything planned for her so what…?
"Baby what monster? What are you talking about?"
"I can't tell you." She rocked back and forth in my arms as her hold on my shirt tightened.
What the fuck is going on here? She sounded scared out of her mind, now I’m really becoming afraid that the blow to her head had damaged her somehow.
"Tell me Blossom, there's nothing you can't tell me, ever."
"You'll hate me, you'll think I'm dirty." She started crying so hard she almost choked on her tears.
I racked my brain trying to figure out what the hell she could possibly be talking about.
"Baby, I promise I will never think such a thing, ever. You're my baby aren't you? How could I ever think that about my Blossom? I love you more than anything else in this world nothing could ever stop me from loving you, nothing. Now tell me."
I rubbed her back until she calmed somewhat, then through hiccoughing starts and stops she told me a story that made my blood run even colder.
I listened as she told me about the man that had started visiting after she'd had her first period at the age of twelve. I listened to the horror of her being subjected to vaginal inspections by the man and someone she called the doctor. I listened as she spoke of her father standing by while strangers violated her. It was a wonder she had escaped with her virginity or her fucking sanity intact. Heaven only knows why the sick bastard hadn't let them take her back then.
I cried in my soul as she cried herself sick in my arms. Apparently the trauma of the accident had brought back her own personal terror to the forefront.
"Why didn't you tell me this before baby?" I brushed her hair lovingly, holding her hand. Doing anything I could to let her know I was there for her and with her.
"I thought you wouldn't want me if you knew...if you knew that I was
bad." Her voice was barely above a whisper, so forlorn, so broken.
"Oh no baby no, you mustn't think like that. You did nothing wrong, it was your father and those men that were bad. Do you know why they were doing that to you?" I held my breath as I awaited her answer, hoping that she was innocent of this at least, that she had no idea. I already had a pretty good idea where this was going and whatever I thought I’d felt before was nothing compared to the black rage that consumed me now.
"The monster was supposed to own me."
Fuck me, no.
Chapter 16
We spent two days in that hospital room together, two days in which I only left her side to take a shower in her private bath. I'd put everything on hold to take care of her, even giving her her sponge baths because I couldn’t stand for anyone else to touch her. Always at the back of my mind was the conversation we’d started that night but I was afraid to bring it back up just yet. She was still so fucking fragile. So instead we spent the time talking and kissing, lots of kissing because as Blossom had put it, she needed the practice. It seems as if she’d gone away in her head, not a mental break like I’d believed at first. More like her way of coping with the trauma was to push it aside and not talk about it. I was prepared for the fallout though. I knew it was only a matter of time before it all caught up with her ad when it did. I’ll be there to pick up the pieces.
For now we whispered to each other all day, made plans to do the things she liked, places she wanted to see. I had rearranged my whole life in these last two days. My business will have to take a backseat for the foreseeable future because she was now at the top of the list. Until she was one hundred percent better I wasn’t about to leave her side and I didn’t want anyone else taking care of her either, not even mom unless I was in a bind. I’ll see to all her needs myself. How hard can it be? I had no idea.
It started with her baths; they were a trial because it was hard to look at her without touching her. She was banged up and in pain without the meds and I still wanted her. She caught on quick to what was going on whenever I washed her body. I guess the fact I spent five minutes washing her pussy was a dead giveaway. She’s such a little tease too and so very responsive to my touch that she’d cum on the washcloth while I held it against her heat. I threatened to stop and let the nurses take over but she pouted and gave me the sulky bottom lip, which I couldn’t resist sucking into my mouth. Besides it’s the only time she seems relatively happy and like her old self so of course I wouldn’t stop.
Bedtime was another trial for me. I'd tease her with my fingers softly and gently until she came keeping her pinned so as not to hurt her poor head. Then I’d slide down between her thighs and eat her to climax again.
After that it seems she would always go off to sleep. That's when I did most of my thinking and planning.
My family had returned home after the first day. I might need them more in the days to come than here in the hospital, so it was decided that they'd go home since I had no intention of leaving her side.
I knew that Lynn was in traction in the hospital. I learned that her attack was being investigated as a mugging, so now the whole city was in an uproar because one of their elite had been supposedly accosted and discarded in such a manner. The only thing missing from the story is that she'd been left outside the Sanders’ house. I guess he’d pulled some strings there.
I tried to keep Ashley's whereabouts a secret, but they've gotten out somehow. Probably some over enthusiastic worker who thought they were being helpful. It didn't matter though because she had round-the-clock security even with me being here.
No one was allowed inside her room except the doctors who were known by her security detail.
Today is her last day in here, she'd received the go ahead and her local doctor back home, which she didn't have one, would take over her care. That was first on my list of things to do.
Thinking of that reminded me of the conversation we'd had about her visitors. After she'd dropped her little bombshell she'd gone into hysterics and I'd been forced to cut the conversation short. But that in no way meant we were through, not by a long shot. I wanted to know everything there was to know about these two men shed’ spoken of the sooner the better. The monster she’d mentioned was the missing piece to the puzzle. I’d already uncovered the fact that her father had planned to sell her I just never knew who or where.
Today was also the day I'd chosen to tell her about the child she's carrying. I'm not quite sure why I'd chosen to do it here, but somehow I thought it was best to do it while she was still surrounded by doctors.
We were dressed and ready to go. She'd been given her walking papers and the car was waiting to take us to the airfield, now was as good a time as any. I had her sit on my lap while I tried to get my thoughts together. I don’t know why it was so hard to get the words out. Will she be happy? Pissed, what? I don’t think she realized that what we were doing could lead to this. Her innocence was astounding.
"Blossom, baby there's something I have to tell you." I felt her body tense up under my hand.
"No no baby, it's something good, at least I hope it is?” For fuck sake Gideon just say it. “You're pregnant." I held my breath and waited. She just looked at me as if I'd spoken a foreign language, then she collapsed against me as if all the air had been knocked out of her body.
She started to tremble and shake and scared the fuck outta me. "What's up baby? What's going on? Talk to me." She clutched the lapels of my jacket in fear.
"I'm going to die Gideon, please don't let me die."
My heart clenched in torment, the anguish in her voice…fuck.
"Baby...no you're not, why would you think such a thing?"
"Children kill their mothers."
Fuck you Cliff Sanders, you just earned yourself another moment of torture before I put a bullet through your black fucking heart. There was no doubt in my mind that he was behind this new terror. What the fuck did you do to her you fuck? I calmed my racing heart by taking deep breaths and held her closer because she’d started to shake uncontrollably. The murderous rage will have to wait, revenge will have to wait she needed me now and I hope like fuck I knew how to do this.
"Blossom, baby that's just not true, look at me, you didn't kill your mother."
"I was too happy, you made me happy now I have to die, he was right."
"No baby he wasn't, he lied to you your whole life. Look at me...Ashley look at me." She turned almost dead eyes my way and tore the heart from my chest.
Keep it in check Thorpe, don't lose it now, later yes, but right now she needs you to be rational.
"You did not kill your mother, children do not kill their mothers, if that were true my mother would be dead and so would all the mothers of your classmates. I kept my voice even and light even though it was killing me to just sit there and not run and find his ass and end him for this. Even this he’d stolen from her the fuck.
"But…it's true, it has to be. He said if I was ever happy I would die. I've never been happy before and now I am for the first time and I'm going to die."
Her body was a block of ice but I refused to let her go into shock, which seemed to be where she was headed. How much more could she take? What other bullshit was she carrying around in her head that he’d put there over the years? I’d been so cocky thinking that I could undo the damage he’d done. I had no idea of the true extent of this man’s evil. Death was too good for him I needed him to suffer. Death is final, he’s not getting off that easy this motherfucker is gonna bleed.
"Baby please I'm begging you, please listen to me. I know you had nothing to do with your mom dying but the proof is at home."
She looked at me disbelievingly. I took a deep breath, what I was about to say was all kinds of fucked up but I had to shake her the fuck out of this fugue she'd gone into. That bastard had done a real good job of convincing her of this bullshit. I’m going to take great pleasure in fucking his shit up.
Any qualms I might've had were
vanquished completely by this. He was no longer human to me, not that he'd been much of one to begin with, but this, this was beyond fucked up.
To convince your only child, a young beautiful girl, that if she found happiness in life she would perish that. Just…fuck.
So now I'm left with the unenviable task of trying to shock her out of this way of thinking. I was so not looking forward to this shit but she needed a wakeup call and she needed it quick.
"Do you want to have an abortion?" I wanted to burn off my tongue as soon as the words left my mouth.
She jerked as if I'd punched her.
"What, no, what...Gideon...how could you?" She tried to get off my lap but I held her tight.
"Blossom be calm, I don't want you to have one either but if you believe our child will kill you then there's no way I'm going to let that happen."
"But it's just an innocent baby."
"Not if it's going to kill you." Please let this shit work; please don’t let her start thinking of me as the fucking monster.
"But..." She covered herself protectively as tears flowed down her cheeks.
"I don't know what to do, what should I do?" And that's when I knew why I'd chosen to tell her here, why I didn't wait until we were at home.
"Come with me."
I settled her in the electronic chair I'd gotten her to get around in. There was no point in her hobbling around on crutches all the time, this way she could use the chair when she grew tired. I didn't want her over tiring herself anymore than she had to.
We headed to the fifth floor, the nursery and exactly what I expected to happen did. At least I hadn’t been wrong in this. I knew her, knew my baby’s soft sweet heart he hadn’t been able to blacken that. Her whole face lit up when she saw the babies. I knew it would, how could it not? With that heart there was no way she could destroy our child.
All that was left to do was rebuild her from the ground up. The damage was worse than I'd ever imagined but it could be fixed I'd see to it. I leaned over and kissed the top of her head and she got as close to the glass as she could staring from one tiny bundle to the next with a look of wonder on her face. That’s my girl.
The Billionaire Page 10