Stripping Callum (Last Hangman MC Book 6)

by Muriel Garcia

  “I’m working on it.”

  “Good.” He claps my shoulder, and we get up.

  Walking back to the compound and feeling the pain in my jaw, I realize how stupid it was of me to actually think that Bella was a gold digger. I disgust myself sometimes.

  Annabella

  Elijah is having his afternoon snack while watching cartoons on TV as I’m getting dinner ready. Today was a good day. Josie made a peach cobbler donut. Let me tell you, that shit is fucking amazing! That has to be the best donut I’ve ever tasted to date, besides the red velvet. Nothing will beat that. Elijah got student of the week, and we finally finished getting all our preparation lists for the Christmas party. I’m excited to have a massive party with all of them. They even sent an invitation to Gail and her family.

  Nothing can kill my buzz.

  As I put the pasta bake in the oven, someone rings the doorbell. I make sure it’s set to the right temperature and I go to open the door.

  “Can I help you?” I ask the man standing there. I’ve never seen him so I have no idea of who he is or what he wants.

  “You’re Annabella, right?” he asks.

  “Yes, you are?”

  “Someone who wants to tell you the truth about Callum Richardson,” he says, smirking.

  “I know all I need to know about him.” I go to close the door, but he pushes it back open. He stays in the doorway and pulls out a small recorder from his pocket.

  “Just listen to this. I won’t bother you any further. I just need you to hear the truth,” he says and presses the play button.

  ‘What Shane told me about Alina has made me think that she was looking for a sugar daddy, someone to provide her with money and whatever she needed for protection against her past. And I’ve been thinking that maybe Bella was the same with the lack of concern she has about my nightmares.’ Callum’s voice resonates through my heart. My heart breaks. How could he think that? Surely that’s just a setup. The quality isn’t the best, but it’s Callum’s voice.

  “Where did you get that recording?” I ask getting annoyed.

  “Just know that I’m only doing what’s best for you. Callum isn’t a good man, and you deserve better,” the man says looking saddened by what he just played to me.

  “You are his father,” I say through gritted teeth.

  “I am. I had to warn you about him.”

  “No, you just wanted to fuck things up even more for the both of us! I know what you and Shane did.”

  “We didn’t do anything. Alina did it all. We just set it all up.” He shrugs.

  “If you as much as come into our lives again or try to hurt any of us, I swear to God I’ll kill you myself. I do not care about what happened between you and Callum in the past. It has nothing to do with me. You’ve got your revenge on ruining his life for many years. Leave him and us alone. I mean it.”

  “You won’t hear from me again. I just wanted to show you what he really thought of you. Have a good night.” He smiles at me and leaves.

  What in the actual fuck?

  I can’t believe the nerve of this man, nor the fact that Callum spoke those words about me. Does he really feel that way about me? Does he really think I just want someone with money and who can offer protection? I’ve never given him any inkling that I was looking for that. Hell, I’ve been earning my own money for years and making it through moving from state to state on my own and making it out alive.

  What worries me the most in all of this is that his father has a recording of him saying that. How did he get it? Surely Callum couldn’t have said those words to him so who was he talking to? How did his father get that close to him without Callum noticing him? Is his past coming back to haunt us once again?

  Just when I thought we were past all the drama, it comes right back to bite you in the ass and it just won’t let go. It’s like a scab you keep picking at. It keeps going deeper and deeper. This is exactly what’s happening.

  Realistically, I could overlook it and confront Callum about it. That’d be the sensible thing to do, but I don’t have any proof that he actually said it besides the recording his father made me listen to so I can’t just go up to him and tell him about it. It would fuck him right off or worse, he’d come clean about it and it would crush me. Instead of waiting for him to come home, I do the last thing I thought I’d ever do. I go upstairs and pack mine and Elijah’s belongings. I can’t possibly pack everything quickly, so I take as much as I can. I can’t face Callum right now, and I know he’s going to come back home soon.

  Taking a minute to write a note for Callum, I gather my thoughts as to what to say to Elijah. It’s going to crush him to leave Callum, but I don’t have any other choice.

  “Baby?” I kneel next to him after putting our bags in the car.

  “Yes, Mommy?” He looks at me smiling.

  “We’re going on a little trip.” I smile to him.

  “Is Daddy coming with us?” he says excitedly at the prospect of going on a trip with Callum and me.

  “He’ll join us soon.” I hate lying to him, but I have to do this, or so I keep telling myself.

  “Okay,” he says, sounding sad that he’s not coming on the trip with us straight away.

  I hate myself.

  I hate the fact that I put a frown on my son’s face.

  I hate the fact that I’m too much of a coward to face Callum and tell him what happened.

  In my head, I’m telling myself I’m doing this to protect us so that his father can’t threaten or hurt us anymore.

  In my head, I’m doing the right thing when I’m doing the worst thing I could ever do. I’ll forever regret this decision.

  Callum

  Walking through the door, I immediately know something isn’t right. The alarm isn’t engaged. Smoke is coming from the kitchen, and the entire house is in darkness. I turn on the light and rush to the kitchen. I turn off the oven and take out what was supposed to be a pasta bake. It’s burnt to a crisp.

  Where are Elijah and Bella?

  It’s not like her to let food burn or the oven on unattended.

  “Bella?” I call out, but there’s no answer. She’s not here and neither is Elijah.

  Going through every room in the house, I quickly notice that her clothes are gone and so are Elijah’s. Where the fuck are they? My heart shatters all over again. I feel numb. I knew allowing myself to get too close to them would end up breaking my heart. I had no idea how badly it would be.

  Rushing downstairs, I notice a slip of paper on the kitchen counter. I dread opening it. Either someone has them or she left. There are only two possibilities. I don’t know which one I’d rather see.

  Callum,

  I’m sorry you think I’m just after a sugar daddy.

  I’m not.

  I’ve been taking care of myself and Elijah for years without your help, and I’ll keep doing so.

  I wanted everything with you.

  I wanted us to be happy and have a family together and maybe more kids.

  You’ve ruined it all.

  You won’t hear from me again.

  AB.

  She left me.

  She’s gone.

  She took Elijah away from me.

  She wanted it all with me.

  I’m going to fucking kill Bennett. He’s the only one who knew about the sugar daddy stuff. I lock the house and get back on my bike. Rage and heartache consume me as I’m speeding to Bennett and Nancy’s house. He promised he’d never tell her. That my words were safe with him, but he backstabbed me a few hours after saying it.

  Parking in his driveway, I get off my bike and pound on his front door. Nancy opens, looking shocked to see me in such a state.

  “What’s going on?” she asks in her soft voice.

  “Where’s the fucker?” I below.

  “Who?”

  “Bennett, who do you think?” I yell at her.

  “Calm the fuck down, don’t talk about my man that way. What the fuck has he
done?”

  “What’s with the yelling?” Bennett comes toward us, and I lose it. I punch him square in the jaw, making him fall backward.

  “Callum!” Nancy yells at me and pushes me backward.

  “This has nothing to do with you, Nance. Don’t get in the middle of this.” I glare at her.

  “You shut your mouth! This has everything to do with me. What the hell happened?” She glares right back at me.

  “Don’t you dare yell at her.” Bennett gets up rubbing his jaw and stands in front of Nancy.

  “You promised you wouldn’t tell her!” I yell at him, ready to fight, but I don’t want to hurt Nancy in the process.

  “What are you going on about?” he asks sounding confused.

  “Bella, you promised you wouldn’t tell her about what we talked about earlier.”

  “I didn’t,” he says, sounding genuine.

  “How did she hear about it then?”

  “Did you ask her whatever it is that you’re talking about?” Nancy asks, sounding annoyed.

  “No, I didn’t see her, she left me this.” I hand the note to Bennett. He reads it then passes it to Nancy. She reads only the first line before her tiny fist connects with my jaw.

  “You motherfucker. How dare you think that of her?” she yells at me.

  “I had a stupid moment. I regret it, there’s no going back. You’re the only one who knew, Bennett.”

  “I promise you, it wasn’t me. I wouldn’t tell anyone about it. I made you a promise.” He holds his hands up.

  “Who did then?” I rub my face feeling defeated.

  “Your father,” Nancy says.

  “What?”

  “You said he was working with Shane. He’s the only one who is out to ruin your relationship and life that way.” She shrugs.

  “She has a point,” Bennett says.

  “I’m always right.” She smirks.

  “Not the time, gorgeous.” I sigh.

  “Where are you going to find him? Maybe he has her?” Bennett questions, making me worry that he could have her, but if he did, I doubt he’d have been thoughtful enough to take their clothes with him.

  “I know where to find him and her too,” I say through gritted teeth.

  “I’ll come with you.” Bennett gets his jacket.

  “You stay with Nancy, she needs you.”

  “I’m not a fragile little flower. I can take care of myself for a few hours.” She glares at me.

  “Yes, you’re all fragile flowers.” I smile at her, and she slaps my arm.

  “Go get her. I’ll get Ryan to come lady sit me if that’ll make you feel any better.” She gets her phone out ready to text him.

  “Yeah, do that. I’ll be back as soon as I can. If Ryan can’t be around you sho—” she cuts Bennett off.

  “Go stay with Line and Aleck. I know the drill.” She chuckles and kisses Bennett. I walk out, giving them some privacy, and get on my bike.

  If I remember well, there’s one place where my father could be that’s close enough to here so that he doesn’t have to drive back and forth all the time. When I was younger, he was very much into hunting and had a cabin in the woods. I say cabin but it looked more like a shed.

  It’s not in the same location as I have mine, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew where mine is. After all, he and Shane have been following Bella and me for months.

  “Where to, brother?” Bennett asks me as he gets on his bike.

  “The woods,” I say through gritted teeth and drive off waving at Nancy.

  The drive takes us about twenty minutes. I don’t care about him hearing us arrive. I know the woods like the back of my hand. Even if he tries to run away, I’ll be able to catch up to him and finish what I wasn’t strong enough to do twenty-five years ago.

  We park by the shed. The light is off, but there’s a fire burning in the distance. A silhouette is sitting by it, sipping a bottle of whiskey I’d guess. It’s always been his alcohol of choice.

  We get off our bikes and Bennett lets me go on my own. I need to do this alone, but at least I know he’s there in case things go south.

  Walking the short distance between us, my heart pounds harder the closer I get to him.

  “Callum,” he says in his rough voice.

  “How?”

  “It’s crazy the things you can do with a phone.” He chuckles and keeps his back to me.

  “What the hell are you going on about?”

  “When Shane got you, he put a microphone into your phone and an app that would control it, giving us the ability to record your conversation. It’s proven to be very useful. The recording was cracking a bit, but we, and by ‘we’ I mean Annabella and me, could hear you loud and clear. She was pissed to say the least,” he scoffs.

  “Why?”

  “You ruined my life when you were born and your mother left me. Watching you grow up was a daily reminder of what I lost. You have her eyes. The worst is that you’re not even my son. She was a bit of a slut back then and fucked another guy while we were together, and he got her pregnant.”

  “Why would you raise me instead of giving me up for adoption?”

  “She blamed me for getting her pregnant. You ruined my life so I wanted to ruin yours. Payback is a bitch, isn’t it?”

  “How did you figure out I wasn’t yours?”

  “Because I can’t have children. I never wanted them so I got a vasectomy early on. The real kicker was when you left me for dead in the house and left, I woke up in the hospital and swore I’d find you and ruin your life. I could have just killed you, but where would the fun have been in that?” He chuckles darkly.

  “You’re fucked up.”

  “You and me both. The fun part was to fuck Alina when you were fucking her. Shane is the one who got her pregnant by the way. Billy wasn’t yours.” He knows what to say to cut me deep. I know I shouldn’t care, but I’m so far gone that it is affecting me.

  “I figured as much.”

  “You don’t seem to care?” He turns to me sounding disappointed.

  “Bella left, you won, again,” I snarl at him.

  “Good, she deserves better than you. You never deserved a good life. You’ll know what misery feels like.” He smirks.

  “I grew up in misery with you. The beating, the yelling, the abuse. It shaped me into the man that I am today. It’s your fault. Everything is your fault. I should have killed you that day. I would have been better off. Or better, you should have killed me when I was young or given me for adoption.”

  “Too easy. You were too much of a coward to kill me back then. I’m sure you’re still too much of one now to finish the job.” He stands up and faces me.

  “You wanna bet?” I smirk and my fist connects with his jaw the minutes he is standing in front of me. “I’m done letting you fuck with my life and ruin it. You’ve done enough hurting to last me a lifetime. I’m finally getting back on my feet, and you ruin it again by sending Bella away. You’re not getting away from here alive.” I hit him again, and he falls backward. His nose is bloodied, his lip is busted open, yet he smiles at me.

  It appears that he made peace with himself and has accepted that his life is now over. That his purpose was to ruin me, and he’s succeeded. It kills me to know that I’m giving him exactly what he wants, but I can’t stop punching him.

  I don’t know how many times I’ve hit him, but his face has turned to mush. I only stop because Bennett’s hand on my shoulder startles me.

  “He’s dead,” he says softly.

  “I know.” I sigh and take one good look at him.

  “Let’s go get your woman. She needs you.” He pats my shoulder, and I nod. I grab my knife from my belt and slit his throat for good measure.

  Wiping the blade against his jacket, I get up and make my way toward my bike with Bennett.

  “You good?” he asks.

  “I will be when Bella and Elijah are back in my life again.”

  “Good answer. Where to?”<
br />
  “Denver.”

  “Why there?”

  “It’s the last place she was at before coming here. She liked it there, so I figured she’d go back to somewhere familiar. I hope so anyway.” I sigh and put my helmet on.

  “After you,” he says putting his on, and we drive into the night.

  I hope I’m right and she’s there. I need to see her and make her understand that I didn’t mean any of it. I love her and need her in my life again. Her and Elijah. My little buddy, my son.

  Annabella

  It’s been two days since I got back to Denver, and Elijah and I both hate it because it’s not home. We’re staying in a small hotel until I can find a place for us to live. The city is beautiful, but this isn’t where we’re supposed to be. We’re supposed to be in New Orleans with our friends and family, but what happened with Callum’s father has me questioning everything that’s happened between us.

  Thinking about it, I should have confronted him and not pack up and leave, but it’s too late now. I could go back to him and explain, but he hasn’t been in touch these past couple of days. Maybe that’s what he wanted, to find a way to get rid of me. Or maybe something happened to him? Fuck, I didn’t think about that until now, and I really hope that nothing happened to him because of me.

  We came to Denver because this is where I spent the most time while I was on my way to New Orleans a few years ago. This is where I felt the most at home in the past, but it’s so different now. I found my home and my future in New Orleans, and I left it.

  At least, the good people who owned the diner I worked at when I was here last are still here and they offered me my spot back. Funnily enough, I’m also staying in the same hotel I was staying at back then.

  I’ve had to put Elijah in a daycare center until I can get him in a new school. He hates it! I hate leaving him there, but I have to work for us to be able to survive. I can’t even bring myself to say live here. We’ve been here for two days, and we’re miserable. I can’t see us making it past a week. I can’t bring myself to do that to Elijah. I want nothing more than to go back to New Orleans, but I would hate to feel like I’m backing down from what I believe in. The lack of communication from Callum is messing with my head.