by Rye Hart
“You’re welcome, Mr. Park. We look forward to working with you.”
The guards came in and escorted me down the hallway as the agent left in the opposite direction.
The guards hauled me off into a room before my things were slung at my feet. I was ordered to change into my clothes and leave everything in the cell behind me. My belongings were given back to me and I walked out of the jailhouse, back onto the streets of the city I’d tried to rob. The wind was whipping through my hair and the sun caused my eyes to squint. I stuffed my wallet in my back pocket and walked toward the road, trying to find my way back into town.
Then a car pulled up beside me and rolled down the window.
“Get in.”
I looked over and saw Agent Knox sitting there in a sleek, blacked-out vehicle.
“What?” I asked.
“Get in. I’ll give you a ride home.”
The car ride was silent as the agent wound through the streets. He seemed to know a lot about me and that made me very nervous. He pulled into my driveway and dropped me off at my house, then handed me a packet of information to take inside to read.
“Everything to answer your questions is in there. I’ve been authorized to give you this.”
He handed me a cell phone as I gave him a quizzical look.
“Wasn’t sure how quickly they’d spit you back out onto the street, so I came prepared,” the agent said.
“Obviously.”
“That’s your work phone. It’s got my number as well as the number of the front desk to the FBI office in D.C.”
“D.C.?” I asked.
“Where did you think you’d be working?” he asked. “This phone is constantly monitored, so use it wisely. Your start date as well as an outline of your salary and benefits is all enclosed. What’s expected of you, the outline of how your first week will go, and a schedule of all the training you need to attend is in here.”
“Yeah. Got it.”
“There’s also a list of neighborhoods and apartment complexes in there that give government workers a good rate. They’re in decent places and good school systems, since Jason will still be in high school.”
“Honestly? The kid’s smart. When I tell him we’re moving again and he’ll probably place out of the rest of his classes so he doesn’t have to fool with it any longer.”
“Then it’s a good thing I put the number of a testing facility in D.C. in there as well.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Like I said. I’ve been tracking you for a long time. It’s my job to know everything about you.”
I shook the man’s hand and I got out of the car and watched him back away. I went over to the potted plant on the porch and fished my car and house keys out of it. Set there for Plan B in case shit went wrong.
Fuck. Shit went so fucking wrong.
I pushed my way into the house and tossed the packet onto the couch. I’d read through that later. All I wanted to do was strip down, take a long ass shower, and see if I could get in touch with Grace. I locked the door behind me and dragged my ass to the bathroom, leaving a trail of clothes in my wake.
Jason came barreling at me from the kitchen and I wrapped him in a bear hug. “Hey man,” I said.
He hugged me back even harder and his shoulders shook as he cried in my arms.
“Hey, shhhh. Shhh, it’s going to be ok. I’m so sorry Jason. I’m so sorry this all happened, but I promise you, everything is going to be ok now.”
My brother and I hugged for a long while, and when he finally settled down, we let one another go. I left him to go grab that shower before I tried to call Grace.
I had no idea if she would ever talk to me again.
But I had to try.
CHAPTER 28
GRACE
“No! Please! Don’t!”
I tried to get up from the chair as the man named Jesse loomed over Ryan’s body.
“He doesn’t have to die!”
I watched the guy whip his face over to mine as our eyes connected.
“I swear to you on my life that I won’t tell the police anything. I swear. I’ll leave town, I’ll run and never come back. Pleas just leave Ryan alone.”
“It’s gonna be ok baby,” Ryan said.
“Fuck, this is bullshit. Come on, Jesse. Kill them both,” Kenneth said.
But I could see Jesse beginning to panic.
“Jesse, look at me.”
The man’s eyes settled back onto mine and I tried to put on my best poker face.
“I’m not pregnant,” I said.
“What are you talking about?” Ryan asked.
“I lied. I’m not pregnant,” I said.
“What?” Ryan asked.
I watched Jesse’s gun slowly fall from Ryan’s temple.
“I lied to Ryan because I thought he would leave me. I left him the first time, to go off to college, and I thought he was trying to get back at me by making me fall in love with him again so he could hurt me like I hurt him,” I said. “I trapped him.”
“You’re not pregnant?” Ryan asked.
“No,” I said, as I looked at Jesse.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up the lie if I looked over at Ryan.
“You’re a lying bitch,” Jesse said, as he held the gun to my head.
“Jesse, stop it. Kenneth told you to kill me. Are you going to go against the orders of your boss?” Ryan asked.
“I am a lying bitch. A disgusting, filthy, lying bitch who manipulates men to do what I want before sucking them dry and leaving them to burn,” I said.
“Grace, stop it” Ryan said.
“Jesse? What the fuck are you doing?” Kenneth asked.
“I don’t know what I’m doing!” Jesse said. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on! This wasn’t part of the plan. None of it was part of the plan!”
The door to my side burst open and police filled the room. Shots were popped off and I started screaming, trying to drown out everything that was going on. I screwed my eyes shut as hands started manipulating the ropes around my wrist. I heard people falling to the floor as the pain in my head escalated to an all-time high.
“Ma’am, can you hear me? I need a medic here. Ma’am?”
I opened my eyes as my vision shook with the pounding in my head.
“I need a medic!” someone exclaimed.
My eyes searched for Ryan, but I couldn't find him. It wasn’t until I was loaded onto a gurney and rolled out of the house that I saw him. His hands were cuffed behind his back and his eyes were trained on me, watching as they loaded me into the back of an ambulance.
“Ryan?”
“I love you, Grace. Can you hear me? I love you!”
“Ryan?” I asked breathlessly.
“I love you. And Harper. And that baby. I love you, Grace.”
“Ryan!”
My head began to swim and nausea crept up my throat. Adrenaline was pumping through my viens as a furious rate, making me feel like I couldn’t catch my breath. I reached out my hand, wanting to feel Ryan’s strength, but the hand that gripped mine in return wasn’t his.
It was some stranger, telling me it was going to be okay.
Everything was a blur. Monitors were beeping and lights were flashing in front of my eyes. I felt the gurney I was on being jostled and picked up, then I came to in a room filled with the smell of disinfectant. My ribs were wrapped in something and my head was wrapped in something else. I was cold and hot at the same time and it hurt to open my eyes.
There were tubes and monitors everywhere, and so much beeping it made me sick.
Sick enough to turn over and throw up.
“You’re okay. I’ve got you. I’m right here, baby.”
Mom.
My mom was there.
“Mom?” I asked.
“Oh baby. It’s all right. I’m here with you. You’re in a hospital and everything’s going to be fine.”
“Mom. I have to talk to the police. I h
ave to tell them what Ryan—”
Another wave of nausea hit me in a flash and my mother continued to rub my back.
“They know, sweetheart. You were apparently yelling it at them back at that disgusting house,” my mother said.
“What?” I asked.
“You were yelling that you loved Ryan and that he saved your life,” my mother said.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“I don’t know, sweetheart. I don’t know where he is.”
I felt my heart go numb, like it had stopped beating, even though I could still feel it. My mother helped me to lean back onto the hospital bed as a doctor moved around to my side. He was flashing a light in my eyes and repositioning the bandages on my head.
“Where’s Harper?” I asked.
“She’s with Amy for the night. I told her we could call her whenever you woke up,” my mother said.
“Grace, I’m Dr. Renaldi. Do you know where you are?” she asked.
“The hospital,” I said.
“Do you remember what happened?” she asked.
“I do,” I said.
“The police will want to take your statement if you’re up for it,” she said.
“Send them in,” I said.
I gave the police my statement, with a special emphasis on Ryan’s part in saving my life. How he came to find me and how he stalled them until the cops came. How he was dead set on giving his life if it saved mine and how all of that needed to be taken into account. I was honest about our relationship and told them he was the father of my child, and that it was important that he had the best representation so he could have a fair shot.
The police left and the doctor came back to my side. My emotions were everywhere and my feelings were torn. Yes, Ryan had saved my life, but it was his actions that had put me in peril in the first place. He had lied to me from the beginning, and soon, a sickening thought crept into my head. Had he simply used me to get into the bank?
No, no I couldn’t let myself think that way. Ryan loved me. He loved me and he loved my daughter, and he loved the child we had created together. I closed my eyes and cried. My head was spinning and my body was tired. All I wanted to do was sleep and wake up to find that this had been just a nightmare.
“You’ve suffered a concussion,” the doctor said.
“Huh?” I asked.
“Your injuries. You’ve suffered a concussion that caused me to have to put a small port at the base of your skull. It’s why your head is wrapped, to keep that port in place. It’s slowly draining the excess fluid off your brain so you don’t have pressure building up and causing damage.”
“Okay,” I said mindlessly.
“You’ve got three fractured ribs, and those will simply heal with time. One of your wrists was dislocated from the rope being tied so tightly, but we were able to reset it and restore blood flow. Your hand will be okay with time.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“There’s a man calling the hospital for you. A Lionel? Says he’s your friend and that he’s concerned for your safety. He wants to come visit.”
“He’s my boss who’s constantly hitting on me at work. Tell him to fuck off,” I said.
I heard my mother gasp as the doctor widened her eyes.
“Is this something else I should be telling the police?” the doctor asked.
“I don’t care who you tell. I just want to be left alone.”
I was in shock. Numb to my core. And I didn’t care what happened to anyone else. My mother put Harper on speakerphone and I talked to her, but even talking to my own daughter didn’t ease the ache in my heart. I reassured her that Mommy was fine and even told her that Mr. Ryan had come to my rescue. She cheered him on and my mother shot me a look, but I shot her one right back.
And for once, she backed down from the fight.
I laid there and stared at the ceiling as my mind came to a complete halt. For once in my entire pathetic existence, I wasn’t thinking about anything. Not about the life decisions that brought me to that point or about how Ryan was doing. I wasn’t thinking about our last time together or running around with Harper in the backyard. I wasn’t thinking about my job or how I would continue working at that bank after everything that had transpired.
I felt tears leaking down my face as a tissue graced my skin.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” my mother said.
“That’s what Ryan said.”
“Well, then maybe he was right about something.”
“Look at that. My mother finally taking his side,” I said.
“Knock-knock.”
“Come in, doctor,” my mother said.
“I’ve got some really good news,” the doctor said. “Your baby is just fine.”
That statement caused me to feel something.
Hope.
I felt hope blooming in my gut.
“Your hCG levels are spectacular and your child’s heartbeat is very strong.”
I began to cry. “We’re switching out your I.V. bag to give you one with some vitamins to keep that little one strong and growing. I want to do a pelvic exam to make sure everything looks good, but only when you’re ready.”
“You can do whatever, whenever,” I said.
They poked around as they needed to while I laid there on the bed. Hearing that my child was okay was both wonderful and terrible news. Wonderful because the idea of becoming a mother again was a blessing. Something I never thought I would experience again and loved.
And terrible because I would have yet another child that would grow up without their father.
“Mom?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“How am I going to do this again?” I asked her.
She sighed and brought my hand to her lips for a soft kiss. “You’ll figure it out, because that’s what a good mother does. And you, Grace, are a good mother. And you won’t be alone.”
I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat. No, I wouldn’t be alone. I just wouldn’t have the man I loved.
CHAPTER 30
GRACE
I was heartbroken. It had been a week since the robbery and I was already back at work. I needed something to distract myself from everything. From the physical pain I still felt, the betrayal that still made me angry, and the emptiness at not having Ryan around. I knew he was a criminal, but I also knew he was capable of so much more. He proved that to me when he came running after me to save my life. He proved that to me when he told me to be strong and to help raise our child and help with Jason. He trusted me, and I had trusted him.
It wasn’t as easy to let go of as I thought it would be.
But I was failing to hold myself together. I cried myself to sleep every night and woke up with nightmares clouding my vision. I couldn’t suck down coffee to wake myself up and seeing Harper’s smiling face every morning wasn’t the usual pick-me-up it used to be. Whenever I looked at her I saw the memories of Ryan playing with her. I saw the dollhouse and the slide in the park and the swinging on the swing set.
Everywhere I looked, I saw him.
“Knock-knock.”
Lionel’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“You know you don’t have to be back at work today if you’re not up to it,” he said.
“I need the distraction,” I said.
“Well I can’t have you distracted at your distraction.”
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again,” I said.
Instead of leaving, Lionel cocked his hip onto the edge of my desk. Great. What the hell did this man want? I looked up into his eyes and found concern written all over his features, and it settled a part of my soul.
Until he leaned in and tried to kiss me.
Before I could catch my actions, I cracked my hand across his cheek. The sound was so loud that people from the lobby whipped their heads around to see what was going on. I stood from my chair and gathered my things, trembling from the adrenaline of what I’d just done.
> “I don’t know what it’s going to take for you to understand that I am not, and never will be, interested in you. You have used your position to flirt with me, to antagonize me, and now to try and kiss me. Lionel, you’re a pig and I’m reporting you to Human Resources.”
I marched out of my office as the entire bank stood there in shock. I felt emotion filling my aching rib cage as I whipped around on my heels. I couldn't take this job any longer. I didn't know what I was going to do for money and I didn't know who was going to hire me after slapping my boss, but I would figure it out. I always found a way to figure things out, and I had to trust myself.
If nothing else, I had to trust myself.
Lionel was rubbing his cheek as fire filled his eyes. He stormed out of my office and walked right up to me. He put his finger in my face with everyone looking at us, and I waited to see what he would do.
“What? Are you going to tell me my ‘pretty little face’ needs to be put in its place?”
His nostrils were flaring as I stood my ground.
“I quit,” I said.
I heard gasps and murmurs as I pushed out of the bank. I knew I was still emotional from everything that had happened, but I couldn't work there another second. It wasn’t safe. My boss wasn’t safe, my office wasn’t safe, and that lobby wasn’t safe. And I knew I had Ryan to partially blame for that.
I was shaking as I walked toward my car, and terrified of the future. Ryan was going to jail and I would be raising not two, but three children on my own. I had no job. I had no job prospects. I would be lucky if I could find a waitressing job that would work with my schedule. There was a chance I could find a job at the grocery store my mother worked at. But that meant literally being her subordinate.
Tears were threatening to spill over as I tossed my purse onto the passenger seat.
I fell into my car and put my face in my hands. What was I going to do? How was I going to get through all of this? I couldn't expect my mother to take on my financial burdens. I couldn't expect Amy to step up and help me out of something like this. And the one man I thought I was going to be able to rely on was no behind bars for fuck even knew how many years!
Lifting my tear-stained face, I stared across the road.