by Edward, Réna
“She’s got an attitude about her. She’s rude, disrespectful, and abusive. As her father, I can’t fight back, but if she weren’t my child…” he left the threat hanging.
My fists clench again and I start pulling away from Bella. Honestly, I want to show him what it feels like to have the crap beat out of you. I want to be the one to make him feel every last ounce of pain. Bella’s arms wrapping around my waist stops me in my tracks.
“Maybe she’s already back home,” Gary suggests.
“No,” asshat shakes his head. “She called into school saying she was taking an early vacation or something. The kicker is that my daughter never wants to leave the house. I have no doubt the little prick that a friend saw her with is the one behind this. She’s never dared leave the house before.”
Gary presses the button again for the elevator to move. “Are you staying here?”
How he is keeping his cool with this monster in the same space as him is beyond me. I can’t do it. Not when I feel her trembling and tensing behind me.
“No, I was going to go door to door to see if she’s here and take her home where she belongs.”
The venom in his voice is unmistakable. Pure evil, is the thought that comes to my mind. He’s going to get what’s coming to him. I’ll make sure of it. If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to teach this guy a lesson he should have been taught long ago.
“I can’t have you knocking door to door in my hotel. People stay here to escape, for privacy. You knocking door to door will disturb our guests. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Do not come back in here unless you are a guest paying to stay here.”
“You can’t kick me out,” he hisses.
“I can and I am. Now, you can leave quietly or I can ban you from the premises completely.”
However, to anyone else, Gary sounds professional. Nevertheless, to me, to a man that knows him, he is barely holding back his rage. If I know him at all –and I’d like to think I do- he wants to rip him to shreds like I do.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Bella’s voice is soft, but strong.
Turning around abruptly, I cup her face in my hands. “Please. Don’t say anything, baby,” I beg her.
She looks me in the eyes and my heart begins to race. She kisses me softly and whispers, “I love you.”
“What was that?” Her dad hisses.
“Please,” I plead with her. “Don’t do this.”
Bella looks up at me and I see it there in her face. She’s not going to let me stop her. My heart sinks in my chest. If she’s going to be brave and face this man then I’m going to be strong enough to let her, protecting her only when she needs me.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she hisses as she steps around me.
Her father whips around and my heart freezes in my chest. Bella stands her ground. Honestly, looking at her, she looks like she has no fear at all. A small smile spreads across his face. Well, to be truthful, I’m not sure you could call it a smile. It’s more a sneer, an unspoken threat.
“How would I have guessed you were out whoring around?”
“Funny, you seem so concerned with my virtue that you allow a pedophile to watch me.”
Taking a step toward her, Gary tenses. Bella looks at him and shakes her head. Hell, this elevator is suddenly so suffocating. As if there is no oxygen left in the air, it is like it has all been absorbed through the tension. Amazingly, Gary steps back just as the elevator dings its arrival at the lobby.
Bravely, she walks passed him and off the elevator. Staring at him, she doesn’t seem to waiver. Damn, she looks so fucking sexy right now. Shaking my head, I focus on his movements to make sure I can step in before she’s hurt.
“Well, I’ve got to support your worthless piece of shitting ass,” he sneers.
“Look, you can kiss my ass. I’m not coming back there. Burden gone. You’ll have to find another way to try and forget it what a sorry excuse of man you are.”
Wow! She’s really giving it her all. Oh shit! I’m so damn proud of her.
He takes another step towards her. “If you think for one second you can talk to me like this, you’ve got another thing coming. I don’t care if your fuck buddies are here. I’ll put you in your place right now.”
“Oh please, put me in my place,” she taunts him.
My eyes widen in horror. For the love of God, stop talking Bella! Okay, fine, I get that she wants to pull back some of her dignity and close this portion of her life. She wants closure. That’s all fine and dandy, but holy hell my heart is about to pop right out of my chest. My nerves are so crazy.
“Bitch, you know I can. I can name several occasions I have,” he practically gloats.
“Oh yeah,” she pretends to agree, but sarcasm fills her voice. “You’ve put me in my place. Which is why I’m standing here and you are frantically trying to regain this ‘control’ you supposedly have over me, right?”
Then it happens, so much faster than both Gary and I anticipate. He lunges knocking her to the floor and wraps his hands around her throat. Gary and I move two seconds to late allowing her to get hurt.
Just as we are about to grab him, she reaches up grabs hold of his hair forcing his head down to hers, head butting him with just enough force that it breaks his hold on her neck. With a gasp of breath, she brings up her knee. Mr. Harris falls over grabbing himself between the legs. Bella shoots up quickly landing three hard punches to the face.
Grabbing her around the waist – as much as I want to let her beat the shit out of this fucker – I pull her back. She fights in my arms, screaming.
“You sorry son of a bitch! You made my life miserable! I hate you! I hate you!”
Gary pulls him to his feet and pulls the zip tie cuffs from his pocket and secures him before forcing him to sit back on the ground. Moments later he spits blood out of his mouth, glaring back up at Bella.
“You’ll regret that you whore. I’ll ruin your little boyfriend and his wall here. This hotel will be shut down tomorrow. You have no idea who you’ve just messed with. You’ll be dead like your mother soon you stupid whore. Just watch.”
Just then the police arrive. Bella gives her statement without faltering. The whole time her dad keeps yelling threats at her.
“Don’t worry, Ms. Harris. You can breathe a little easier. He won’t be out for a while. I’ll push for a high bond too,” Officer Harold assures her.
Bella simply nods her head. They escort him out of the hotel Gary follows them out. Honestly, I think he did it for peace of mind that he actually made it into the car than anything else.
“Baby?”
“I need… Can we go upstairs please?” She asks quietly.
“Of course,” I say as I turn and press the button once more.
Closing my eyes for a moment, I know that she’s barely holding it together right now. The bigger problem I’m having is not holding her and telling her everything’s going to be okay. Right now, something tells me that she just may lash out if I did.
Bella
Stepping on the elevator with Ace takes a lot more effort than I thought. This is what I wanted. For the past half hour, I have been repeating this over and over in my head. Trying so hard to keep it together, when really all I want to do is collapse.
Honestly, I still can’t decide if this was an act of courage and bravery or if it was just sheer stupidity. Sure in the beginning, I felt as though I was taking control. Getting back my life so I can move forward with Ace and not have it hang over my shoulders anymore, but now… now I’m just… confused, I guess is the best way to put it.
My thoughts are everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. The cluster of emotions and thoughts are bringing on a headache unlike I’ve had in years. The thought scares me, but what scares me more is the part of me that is kind of hoping it’ll come.
Finally, the elevator arrives on our floor. Ace thankfully has been silent standing next to me the whole time. Right no
w, that’s the best. I’m so all over the place at the moment that I’m not sure any conversation at this particular moment in time would end in good results.
Wordlessly, he opens the door. Standing back, he lets me in first. Once inside and in the place I view as my happy place, I keep my back to him.
“I need a moment to myself. Please allow me that,” I say through my clenched teeth as I feel all my emotions bubbling to the surface.
“Of course, baby. I’ll be down here. Take the bedroom.”
I start to walk away. As I almost reach the steps, he speaks again. It causes me to pause in step for a moment, but for our relationship’s sake, I keep moving.
“I love you, Bella. I’m here if you need me,” his voice so softy and the worry clear in his voice.
Taking the steps two at a time, I run down the hall into the bedroom. The minute the door closes behind me I collapse to the floor and start crying. Everything hits me like angry waves to the beach during a storm. My heart is hammering as the fear and pain take over.
How did he even find me?
“Where did Daddy go?” I ask my mom walking up to her. “Doesn’t he want to play?”
Before Mommy could stop me, I call out to him. He turns around and looks at me. Running to him, I hug him. His arms wrap around me loosely.
“Where are you going? I want you to play with me,” I tell him as I look up at him.
“Well, I’m not much in the mood for playing today,” he states flatly.
“What’s wrong?”
He is looking in Mommy’s direction. A conversation I had with my Nanny comes back to me. She said that sometimes Mommies and Daddies want time together without kids, not because they don’t love their children, but so they can focus on the love that created their children to begin with. She says that if they don’t get those times it can lead to Mommies and Daddies living apart. She called it something, but I don’t remember. All I know is that I love my Mommy and Daddy and don’t want to see them move away.
“Daddy, can I have your phone peeze,” I ask as I bat my eyelashes at him.
“Why do you want it?”
Taking him by the hand, I pull him back over to where Mommy sat on the bench by the park. Asking Mommy for her phone, I have her pull up Nanny’s phone number.
“Hello,” Nanny answers after a few rings.
“Nanny! I want you to come play with me at the park and to stay at your house tonight,” I say as excitedly as I could.
“You do, do you? Well, Maddy’s girls are at her house this weekend too.”
“Oh, can I stay all weekend then?”
“Well, I suppose you can. What park are you at and I’ll come get you now?”
Handing the phone to Mommy, she starts talking to Nanny. I turn and look up at my Daddy. He’s watching Mommy. Standing up on the bench, I call his name and jump into his arms when he looks in my direction.
“You can have the weekend with Mommy. I’m going to go to Nanny’s and play with Carly and Sarah. You can have time without me in the way.”
For the first time since he got to the park, he smiles. “Thank you. You’re not too bad of a little girl, you know that?”
Jerking up, the sun is now shining directly in my eyes. That was the weekend something changed between my parents. To this day, I don’t know what it was. He’d come to the park in a bad mood. Maybe something happened and it was my fault because I left. I don’t know and I’ll never know now either.
Stepping into the bathroom, I start a bath. Once the tub is filling, I walk over to the door and lock it. Honestly, I’m not sure how long I’ve been up here. If I know Ace, he’ll be up here to check on me soon and I’m just not ready to talk just yet.
Lowering myself into the tub, I took a deep breath. Trying so hard to breathe in the steam and relax my aching muscles, I close my eyes and attempt to find my happy place again. It’s funny because here I am in my happy place with the man that makes me happier than I’ve ever been and I’m sitting alone in the bathroom soaking with relentless tears falling from my eyes.
The stubborn soul of mine will not allow him in right now. For me, I need to work through this clusterfuck of emotions I’ve got going on before I can even imagine conveying how I’m feeling to him right now. Part of me wants him in here with me, listening to me as I tell him exactly what is going on in my head.
Crying more, I want him in here. The only thing stopping me is the off chance of saying the wrong thing and it causing him to leave me. Now that is just something I can not handle and will not risk.
There’s a knock on the bathroom door. An ‘I knew it’ smirk crosses my face. He can’t help it. I’m sure he feels helpless right now, but I can’t make him help me through this. I need to do this on my own. Only when I’m able to do that will I be able to fully move forward.
“Bella? I have to go down to the hotel office. They need me for an emergency. I know you aren’t ready to talk to me yet, but if when you are, I’m not back up here. Please call me. I have my phone with me. I love you,” he says through the door.
After a few moments, I hear a soft rap on the door before soft footsteps fading out. He wasn’t pushing me. Why? But even as I ask myself this question, I know why. He’s afraid if he pushes, I’ll run. Closing my eyes, I drop under the water. Holding my breath as long as I can, I pop back out of the water gasping for air.
Wiping the excess water from my face, I climb from the bath. My movements are shaking and my head is spinning. Wrapping myself in the robe, I walk out into the room and climb onto the bed before quickly falling asleep.
Ace
Where the hell is she? Why hasn’t she leaned on me yet?
Punching my fist into the wall of the hotel office, I brace myself on the table. Gary has spent the last hour trying to calm me down. The only thing it’s done is amp up my concern for what was going on with her. Even as I knocked on the door to inform her of coming down here, she still did not talk to me.
“Why won’t she talk to me,” I growl.
Sighing, he looks at me with concern. “Ace, she will talk to you when she’s ready. Give her some time. She’s been through a lot and I’m sure today’s events brought it all back to her.”
“What if she was hurt more than we think when he got a hold of her?”
“AJ,” he sighs pinching the bridge of his nose. “You know that isn’t true. She’s working it out. I’m sure of it.”
Pacing the room, I try to reign myself in, but it wasn’t working. All I’m doing is making myself more worked up than when I came down here. My mind is playing over the worst case scenarios and some of them damn near gave me a heart attack.
“Look, let’s go back to the room. Maybe she’s ready to talk. If not then at least you’re near her and out of my hair for a moment. I’ve had about all I can take right now,” Gary tries to joke.
Sighing heavily, I look at Gary. “I’m sorry. All I want to do is help her…”
Standing up, Gary squeezes my shoulder. “I know son. You will help her, just give her time to come to you with what she needs help with. If you don’t, you could push her away.”
Nodding, we head out to the elevator.
“What if she doesn’t ever want to talk? What if she leaves,” I ask my deepest fears the minute the elevator doors close.
“She’s not going to,” Gary states adamantly. “That girl loves you as much as you love her. She just needs time. A few hours is nothing compared to the rest of your life.”
The doors open and Gary gets off first. My heart is so heavy right now that the mere effort to beat is painstakingly obvious. What Gary has been saying is true and I know that, but the protective part of me just can’t handle the thought of her handling this on her own. When I notice Gary freeze, I step out and look in the same direction.
There, sitting in front of my door, is a box. What is in that box? I wonder as I approach it with caution. What I hadn’t expected is seeing it isn’t addressed to me.
“How d
id this get up here? Nothing’s supposed to come up here. No one’s supposed to be able to get up here but you and me,” I say unable to take my eyes off the box.
“I know. I’ll look at the cameras after we look at what is inside there,” he says pointing as if I didn’t know what he’s talking about.
With caution, we open it carefully. When we finally get it all the way open, I find a portable DVD player inside. We exchange a look as Gary pulls out his phone and begins recording as I open it and hit play.
“Hello Bella,” a female voice sneers.
It’s hard to make out who it was exactly because of all the background noise. There is honking cars I think. Whatever it is, it’s very distracting. Maybe that’s their plan to keep their voice from being recognized.
“Yes, I know who you are. It didn’t take long. Anyone following you long enough can see your face.”
A lighting change allows us to get a glimpse of the person behind the camera. It’s not long enough to really nail who it is.
“We’ll have to look at that later,” I say to Gary not taking my eyes away from the screen.
“You think you’re so smart to have landed Ace Jergens, well think again. There is one thing you need to know. You’ll both be dead soon. First, we’ll make Ace watch as we torture you. Make you scream. Make you bleed. But we won’t kill you yet. No, then we’ll make you watch us do the same, but so much more to your beloved Ace. Then we’ll kill him and leave you alive for a little while knowing you were the one that caused his death.”
There’s a loud noise in the background followed by a blip in the video. The person must have paused it or something. Next thing to fill the screen is a picture of whoever this was standing at my door.
“You’re safe nowhere you stupid whore. I’ll find you and you’ll be mine.”
The video goes blank. We both continue to stare at the DVD player unable to believe what we’ve just seen. A shiver runs down my spine. Fear of losing her laces through me.