by Izzy Sweet
“Fine! You win! We can meet!” I cry, and fight back the urge to bang my head against the wall. “But you have to come to me. And you can’t tell anyone where I am. I don’t want my father to find me.”
“I can do that. I won’t tell a soul,” she agrees, sounding calmer and more relieved.
I rattle off Johnathan’s address, the address I noted yesterday when he took me to meet with his boss.
“I’m not far. See you in twenty.”
“See you,” I say, and hang up the phone feeling like I just made an epic mistake.
“Beth!” Sophia cries out when I open the front door, and flings herself into my arms.
We squeeze each other hard. God, I missed her, and it feels so good to see her. Now that I know she’s safe with my own eyes, I’ll be able to rest easier.
“I was so freaking worried about you,” she frowns as she pulls away.
“Ditto,” I say, and all I can do is make more apologies. “I’m sorry. Things have been rather crazy for me…”
“Is this Johnathan’s house?” she asks as she walks in. Her eyes go wide as she takes everything in. All the new furniture. “I really didn’t peg him for the boring, suburban type.”
Her eyes finally land on Charlie, and she gives me a ‘what the hell’ look before offering him a smile. “Hi there.”
“Hi,” Charlie says shyly and sinks back into his chair.
“Charlie, this is my best friend Sophia,” I explain. “You can trust her. She’s practically my sister.”
Sophia nods her head up and down and her smile widens. “Hi Charlie, it’s nice to meet you. And you can totally trust me.”
“Okay…” Charlie says, and I can tell even with our reassurance he still seems uneasy. After all the poor guy has been through, it’s probably going to take him a bit to warm up to her, but I’m hoping one day he feels just as safe with her as he does with me.
“Are you thirsty?” I ask Sophia and look pointedly towards the kitchen.
She gets the hint and nods. “Yeah, I could use a drink.”
She continues to look around curiously. I try to see everything through her eyes, and can only imagine what she’s thinking.
As soon as we step into the kitchen, Sophia grabs me by the arm and whisper hisses, “Oh my god, you have to tell me everything. Is Charlie Johnathan’s kid?”
“Not exactly…” I whisper back. “He is and he isn’t. Johnathan kind of… bought him when he bought me.”
“What?!” she gasps.
“It’s not like that,” I immediately say in Johnathan’s defense so she doesn’t get the wrong idea.
She shakes her head in disbelief and asks, “What is it like then?”
In a rush, I quickly explain everything that went down that night Johnathan bought us and finish with, “He couldn’t just leave him there with those monsters. I thought the worst at first too, but he’s serious about taking care of Charlie and protecting him.”
Sophia rocks back on her heels and gives a soft, surprised, “Wow.”
I nod my head and smile at her. “So, like I said, things have been kind of crazy for me…”
“Yeah, no shit,” she agrees and grins. “So, you and Johnathan are kind of like a thing now, yeah?”
My cheeks warm and I can’t stop my own grin when I say, “Something like that.”
“Okay.” Her eyes sparkle with amusement. I know she just loves to watch me squirm. “Now you really gotta spill it. What’s going on with you and him?”
I shake my head slowly, and honest to god, “I don’t even know how to explain it.”
Not backing down, she leans close and says eagerly, “You can start after he bought you. Why didn’t he take you home? Did you ask to stay with him?”
Shit. I’m afraid if I tell her exactly what went down, she might hate Johnathan. And I really don’t want her to hate him, it’s important to me that she likes him.
He’s quickly becoming one of the, if not the most, important person in my life. I don’t know what I’ll do if the two of them hate each other.
“Not exactly…” I say tentatively and bite my lip.
“You really got to stop saying that,” she says with a huff. “Come on, you can tell me, Beth. I’m your best friend!”
And that’s exactly why I can’t tell her. If I tell her that Johnathan has kept me here against my will, she’ll flip her shit. And then I’ll have to explain how I want to stay with him now while trying not to sound like an idiot.
“We’re still figuring it—” I start to say, but then I’m cut off by a very sharp, “Elizabeth!”
What the fuck? Did I really just hear that?
I look towards the living room, and then I look back to Sophia.
All the color has drained from her face and I know she heard it too.
“Beth!” Charlie calls out in distress, and I don’t even think about it, I just book it.
I run for the living room and then come to a screeching halt when I see my father, of all people, standing in the middle of it.
“Oh my god, Beth. I swear I didn’t tell him anything,” Sophia rushes out behind me as my heart races a mile a minute and my brain tries to figure out how the hell this happened. “He must have tapped my phone, or had someone following me.”
Fuck. I totally believe her. She’d never rat me out, and having someone tail her sounds just like my father.
“Elizabeth,” my father repeats coldly as his gaze falls on me.
He’s dressed in his usual ready-for-live-TV way. Dark suit, polished black shoes, hair brushed to the back in an artful wave that he has done by his own personal stylist.
He looks so out of place here in Johnathan’s living room, yet I can’t help but think if we were back at that office he’d fit right in.
“Father,” I say cautiously, steeling my features. “What are you doing here?”
“Beth!” Charlie calls out and runs up to me. He grabs me by the waist and hides behind me, clearly terrified.
I can’t understand his fear at first, and then I notice movement at the open front door. Dammit all. My father brought his personal security, aka hired goons, with him. Three huge guys nearly popping out of their suits smirk as they stand ready to carry out my father’s bidding.
My father’s lips curl with a look of disgust as he takes another look around the room. When his gaze finally comes back to me, his eyes are blazing. “You’ve had your fun, Elizabeth. It’s time you came home.”
Now would be the perfect time for Johnathan to come storming in, I think, as I assess the situation.
I’m not sure how I’m going to get out of this without divine intervention.
My father is a man who never accepts the word ‘no’, especially when it comes from my lips, but I say it anyway. “No.”
My father’s face darkens and he takes a step towards me. “Playtime is over, Elizabeth. I’ve been more than patient. It’s time for you to return home to your obligations.” He hisses the last word and I wince.
My obligations being that I’m to sit around in my room like some object that’s being stored until it’s useful to him.
I shake my head, and before I can speak again, Sophia speaks up for me, “She doesn’t have to go anywhere with you. She’s a grown damn woman and she can make her own decisions!”
God, I love her, but I really wish she didn’t just do that. Any hope that I had of temporarily placating him has now gone down the drain.
My father’s face starts to turn an angry shade of tomato red.
“Father…” I say softly, pleadingly.
I know I shouldn’t have to plead for my freedom, and it makes me sick to my stomach, but what other choice do I have? I can’t take on him and all his goons, and I sure as hell don’t want anybody to get hurt for trying.
If I can reason with him, maybe I can still defuse this and come to an understanding. “I can’t leave. So much has happened, and if you would just give me a minute, I can explain it all.”
> “Do explain,” he says, his face somehow turning even redder. “Explain how you lied to your guard and left the house so you could go whoring at some dive bar in the shittiest part of town.”
His words are like a slap to the face. I can’t even count how many times in my life he’s called me a whore, but each time hurts just like the first.
He takes an ominous step towards me, and Charlie’s grip on me tightens. “Explain how you were rescued from your predicament, a predicament you deserve for your whoring ways, and instead of returning to me immediately, you decided to remain here and continue to play the whore.”
“You’re a bastard!” Sophia screeches behind me. She starts to take a step forward, but I throw my hand out to stop her.
My father turns his attention to Sophia and again his lips curl back with disgust. “And you’re the little blonde slut who’s corrupted my daughter.”
Sophia sucks in a sharp breath.
This is getting out of hand fast and it needs to stop. Neither of us deserve this, and I don’t want Charlie to have to listen to it.
“Stop, please,” I plead and clutch Charlie close to me. “You’ve said enough.”
My father’s attention turns back to me. “No, I haven’t said nearly enough, but we’ll finish this conversation at home.”
I shake my head. “I’m not going home. I have obligations and responsibilities here.”
His face tightens, and he’s so red now I’m afraid his head might burst. “Your obligations are to your family. To me.”
I don’t know why he thinks I owe him everything just because I exist, but he does. He thinks because he’s my father, something I didn’t get a choice in, that I’m to bend and bow to his every whim. He honestly believes I should be grateful for being his daughter. Grateful that he’s fed me and housed me, and forever in his debt.
Lifting my chin in defiance, I muscle up every ounce of courage I have, and look him hard in the eye. In the past, my defiance has always been met with painful words or violence, and I’ve been conditioned to expect it and avoid it all costs.
But in the past, it was only me who suffered for my actions, for my cowardice.
I can’t let him hurt Charlie. I can’t. Just the thought of my father doing to him what he’s done to me fills me with so much anger I start to see red.
“I have a new family now. A family of my choosing. And I will not abandon my child,” I say, and squeeze Charlie a little harder as I say it. I feel the truth in the words with every fiber of my being. Charlie is mine, he’s mine.
And so is Johnathan.
I’m owning them right now. From this point on, they’re my family, the family I got to pick for myself.
My father’s eyes finally drop to Charlie and fill with so much loathing and disgust my hands itch to wrap around his neck. I never thought I was capable of violence. After all I’ve endured, how could I possibly inflict pain on another person? But the way my father is looking at Charlie makes me feel murderous.
If I had that gun Johnathan said is under the bed, I’d be extremely tempted to use it.
“I can see you are going to refuse to be reasonable,” he says through clenched teeth as his eyes lift. He jerks his head towards his goons. “Escort my daughter to the car.”
“No!” I cry out, but it doesn’t stop the goons as they come for me, their tree trunks for legs easily eating up the distance.
“Beth,” Charlie starts crying in earnest, and my heart breaks as I feel his tears soaking my shirt.
I can’t protect him and I can’t fucking stop this. Just one-on-one with one of these guys would be nearly impossible.
Taking three of them on is beyond futile.
At the last moment, I push Charlie towards Sophia. I don’t know what else to do.
“Please take care of him,” I beg.
Do what I can’t.
Sophia meets my eyes and her face is flushed with anger on my behalf. “I won’t let him get away with this,” she promises as she hugs Charlie to her chest.
But even though her father is the Chief of Police, I know there’s nothing she or her father can do to stop this.
My father is, and has always been, higher up the food chain. His connections reach all the way to the Oval Office.
The three goons reach me, and two of them grab me by each arm and start dragging me back.
I want to cry out, to tell Charlie I’m sorry, so sorry, but I’m afraid of further traumatizing him.
I’m the worst fucking protector ever.
As I’m dragged past my father, he grins a very self-satisfied smile. I honestly can’t comprehend how he can be so smug over this shit. He couldn’t even take me on by himself, he had to bring in three goons to do his dirty work for him.
And that’s when it hits me. My father is a coward and has always been. He refuses to fight fair because he knows if he does he can’t possibly win.
The smug smile dies on his lips as he takes in my angry, non-terrified glare.
For once in my life, I’m honestly not afraid of him. He can drag me away against my will and lock me back in my room, but I’ll stop at nothing now to escape him.
The two goons drag me out the door and down the driveway to an awaiting black limousine. The back door is opened and then I’m shoved inside. The door slams shut and I immediately check the handle.
It’s locked from the outside.
A moment later, the other door opens and my father slides in. I scoot into my corner and stare out my window, unable to bring myself to look at him.
The front doors open and slam shut, then the car starts moving.
“Elizabeth,” my father says, and I stupidly glance over at him.
He backhands me across the face, and it happens so fast, so suddenly, I never saw it coming.
I reel back as pain explodes across my right cheek, and then he backhands me just as quickly across the other cheek.
“That’s just a taste of what’s to come for all the trouble you’ve caused me, you little ungrateful bitch,” he hisses.
I stare at him in shock at first. I mean I knew what was coming, but usually he waits until we’re in the house before he dishes out the violence.
Reaching up, I tentatively touch my cheeks, then my bottom lip. Yeah, he busted it open.
My father reaches down and yanks on the bottom of his suit jacket before leaning back. His eyes meet mine and he grins as tears fill them.
But the joke’s on him.
I turn away from him and stare out the window again, unable to stop the tears pouring down my cheeks.
But I’m not crying because my father just bitch-slapped me.
No, I’m crying because at this moment I absolutely hate myself.
I couldn’t protect Charlie.
And I just broke my promise to Johnathan.
20
Johnathan
The broken-down girl in my living room sure as fuck isn’t who I thought would be here when I got the fuck home.
Charlie is nowhere to be seen, and the seething rage that fills my veins is about to explode.
My Beth is missing.
The front fucking door is wide open, and I think this girl’s name is Sophia.
“Where’s my wife and son?” I ask gruffly as she stares up at me in shock.
My phone begins to vibrate and chirp in my pocket, but I ignore it as I move closer to her.
“Where are they?” I shout as I grab her by the shoulders.
She’s not answering me, only a small blubber comes out of her mouth.
“Johnny?!?” Charlie shouts as he comes racing down the stairs. His little shoulders are heaving as he slams into me.
“They took Beth!” Charlie wails as he wraps his arms around my waist.
Pulling him up into my arms, I growl.
“It was her father,” Sophia finally manages to say to me. “Her father and his goons somehow followed me here.”
“What do you mean followed you here?” I turn to stare at h
er.
My rage must show through my eyes because she takes a step back away from me. “How the fuck did you end up here in the first place?”
“Beth… She called me and I came to see her…”
“Beth wasn’t supposed to be calling anyone. This was the only safe place she could be!”
Fuck!
My phone begins to vibrate and chirp again. Pulling it from my pocket, I really don’t feel like fucking around with anything Simon has to say. Fucking, hell.
Sliding the phone on, I say into it, “Beth’s father took her.”
“And now another damn complication I have to attend to. Can’t you keep your damn woman under control?” Simon sneers into the phone.
“Simon, why the fuck are you calling me right now?”
“Sasha is on the move. We have a team set for grabbing him. We need you to be there…”
“Not happening. I need to get Beth back from her father…”
“Your love life is not my fucking concern.”
“No, but it’s Lucifer’s… If we don’t have her, we don’t have the Senator.”
“Damn you,” he mutters quietly, and I can just see the machinations turning over in his mind. “You won’t be able to get her. They have security…”
Glaring at Sophia, I pull Charlie with me as I move into the kitchen, away from the damn ears of some stupid girl. “I need James. We’ll go in tonight to get her.”
“We need James as a backspot with his rifle.”
“Not as much as I need him for his cat burglar skills.”
“I swear you Neanderthals need to keep your dicks in your pants.”
“Let Lucifer know the score; I’ll get James ready to go.”
“You’ll get no backup. If you fuck this up, your ass is out to hang, not ours. We’ll probably keep James, but you? No.”
“Nice to know you care so much, Simon.” I disconnect the call and head out to the living room.
“You put Beth in mortal danger…” I say as I lift Charlie in my arms.
“I swear, I didn’t know… How… How could I?”
She’s getting up from the chair she’s been sitting in, and with one fucking look she sits right back down. “Don’t fucking move.”