by Brooke Page
***
Tessa played with her toys, oblivious while I sat and worried on her bed. I couldn’t take the suspense anymore, telling Tessa to stay while I went to the main door. Colby demanded we stay away, but maybe I could get a sound on what was happening.
I pressed my ear to the door, and the similar three clicks from before happened, and I stepped back as Jonah was opening it.
“Colby won’t be back until later,” Jonah closed the door. “He wanted me to make sure you and Tess weren’t in earshot.”
I threw my hands in the air. “What the fuck is it he doesn’t want us to hear?”
Jonah smirked. “He’s got some torturing to do.”
I scowled. “He what?”
“You’re kite surfer is part of the job.”
My hand flew to my mouth, my knees wobbly. He had to kill Vance? “Why?” I gasped.
“Because,” Jonah barked.
I shook my head, bile beginning to rise in my throat. “Colby can’t kill anyone. That will only make things worse. Jonah, you need to stop him!”
Jonah smacked his lips. “Fuck that, you know how much money I’m making once that asshole is dead?”
I shook my head, tears springing from my eyes. “Who are you? What happened to you and Colby? Are you both that loyal to money? Who is this boss of yours?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” Jonah smirked. He was so fucking cocky, I wanted to smack him. Instead, I spun on my heel and went into Colby’s bedroom, pacing as if it would help me think faster.
I needed to save Vance. Colby wasn’t thinking clearly, his head in a fog. If I could get him out of here and away from this madness, he’d realize how outrageous killing a man is. But how could I do that? He was already working toward hurting Vance, and what was I going to do with Tessa while that happened?
Taking deep breaths, I worked to find my strengths, focus on Jonah’s weakness. What could I do to get past him? How could I get Tessa out of here? I had no idea what time it was, and for all I knew, it was near nightfall. I couldn’t have Tessa be stuck here?
Tessa. Colby wouldn’t hurt Tessa, and he wouldn’t expose her to anything harmful, either.
I’d still have to get rid of Jonah. Walking back into Colby’s bathroom, I searched the cabinet, grabbing a baggy full of pink pills. They were the same pills Colby got to help me sleep when my mother died. Ambien. Six would knock him out, and keep him down for long enough. Going into the closet Colby prepped, I grabbed a high heel, using the end to crush the pills. Once they were smashed enough, I hid them in my fist, walking back to the kitchen.
“Are you done with your tantrum?” Jonah teased.
I glared at him, finding my way into the kitchen. “I wasn’t having a tantrum.”
Jonah was sure to watch me rummage in the fridge. “What are you doing?”
“Getting a drink, if you must know,” I grumbled, screwing the top off of a beer.
“Why don’t you bring me one?” he smirked.
“What do I look like, your servant?” I glowered, secretly thankful he played into my plan. He sat back, shit-eating grin on his face, with his arms behind his head. “Come on, Lo. You weren’t this uptight before kitesurfer came into town.”
My back was to him while I popped the top of the beer and slipped the powdered substance down the neck, doing my best to swirl it so the Ambien wouldn’t settle on the bottom. I should have made a shot instead.
I brought him the beer, then went back to grab mine.
He took a swig, never taking his eyes off of me. “Come sit by me.”
“I’m good.”
He cocked his head. “Come on Lo, let’s chat. We’re friends still, aren’t we? After all, you’re not going to see anyone else on the outside besides me for a long time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you know? You’re going to die by fire in that cute little house of yours.”
I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat. Colby was going to kill Tessa and me off the same way he made himself disappear. We really were going to start over. How could we do that to Marcy and Colt? To Pete and Bonnie? That would be terrible for them. So awful that it could crush both Pete and Bonnie into an early grave. When Tessa took off, Pete nearly had a heart attack.
And Vance… what would he think? If he were alive. My heart raced. I needed to get to him. Fast.
“That’s not what we’re going to do,” I said sternly. Coming over and taking my seat next to Jonah. “I’m going to decide how I die, not you or Colby.”
Jonah wiggled his eyebrows. “I love this sassy side of you.” He licked his lips while watching me drink my beer. “You sure know how to throw back a bottle.”
“Better than you,” I teased, nodding toward his bottle.
“Please.” He scowled, tossing back his drink and swallowing down three quarters of it.
I smirked triumphantly, drinking more of my beer.
Within ten minutes, Jonah’s beer was gone and he was fast asleep on the couch, jaw opened and snoring. Searching his pockets, I found his phone, dialing Colt.
“Deputy Sheriff.”
“Colt, it’s so good to hear your voice.”
There was muffling on the other end. “Jesus, Lo. Where are you? Whose phone are you on?”
“The property where Colby and Jonah would hold their meetings. I know you’ve been here. I need you to come here. Something bad is happening. Colby is…” I stopped, realizing he’d think I was crazy. “Vance is in trouble, and I need you to get Tessa. I’m going to hide her in the woods by the driveway with the phone. You have to talk to her until you get here.”
Colt’s voice was frazzled. “Hide her? What do you mean he’s in trouble?”
“We’re in some type of underground place, where not good things are taking place,” I whispered, trying to think quickly. “I’ve got keys to get outside.”
“Look, don’t go anywhere. Stay where you are and with Tessa I’m on my way there.”
I hung up, taking a deep breath to calm myself, then went into Tessa’s room, pleased to see she was still playing with her toys. I had to keep my cool, otherwise she’d freak out and that was the last thing she needed. “Baby, I need you to put some shoes on. You’re going to go on a walk.”
Tessa cheered and ran to her closet, but came out with a frown. “Daddy said we can’t go outside.”
“Daddy won’t be mad. You’re going to meet Uncle Colt,” I smiled, hiding my fear for the unknown.
I kneeled beside her, helping her slip on the bright pink tennis shoes and tying them. She put her hands on her hips. “I need you to be brave, because Mommy can’t come with you, but I promise, I will see you tonight, okay?”
Her stubbornness faded, her lip quivering with uncertainty. She was young, but she could sense something wasn’t right. “Why can’t you come with me?”
I put on the best smile I could. “I have to talk to Daddy, and I need you to go to Uncle Colt, and only him, all right? But you need to not make a sound until I say it’s okay.”
She nodded, and I picked her up, heading for the steel door and passed a snoring Jonah. Smooshing the side of Tessa’s face to my shoulder and covering her other ear, I ran through the musty and barely lit hallway, ignoring the pounding and wails of the caged women, desperately praying Tessa wasn’t able to hear them through my hands.
One of the rooms had an ajar door, Colby’s muffled voice passing through the airway. That was where Vance must have been. I needed to hurry, because I had no idea what type of man Colby was anymore, and I feared for Vance’s life.
When I found the main door leading up the steps, I was thankful it was open. Finding the right key would have been difficult in the dark and while holding Tessa.
Zooming up the steps, I ignored the numbness that beat at my arms from carrying her. I cautiously peeked my head into the hallway at the top of the steps, listening for sounds of movement or if other people were in the cabin. Tiptoeing into t
he silence, I crept to the front door, my heart pounding with each step, finally taking a breath when the door to the outside opened with ease.
“Almost there,” I said through heavy breaths, beginning to jog a bit down the driveway, finding the biggest tree surrounded branches and broken logs. I set Tessa on her feet, taking off my zip-up hooding and wrapping it around her shoulders.
“Mommy, I’m not cold,” she whined when I flipped the hood over her head. The black fabric swallowed her, and if she curled up it would cover her whole body.
“I know, baby, but you need to keep this around you until Uncle Colt comes, okay? Promise me.”
She nodded, tears falling down her cheeks. I rubbed them away. “You’ll be fine, baby. You’re so strong, and Uncle Colt won’t be far away. I’m going to call him right now and he’s going to talk to you until he gets here, okay?”
Dialing his number again, he picked up on the first ring. “Damn it, Lo, why the hell did you hang up? I was too afraid to call you back.”
“I needed it to be quiet. Tessa’s on the side of the driveway hidden in my black sweatshirt behind a bundle of trees. I told her you’d talk to her until you got here. She’s about fifty feet from the cabin.”
“Lauren, what the hell—”
“Please, talk to Tessa. She’s scared and I told her there’s nothing to be afraid of. Here baby,” I handed her the phone and kissed her forehead. “Everything is going to be all right,” I encouraged her, then sprinted back to the cabin.
I followed awful sounds into the basement, through the musty and low lit hallway. When I heard murmuring, and shouting followed by a loud grunt, I knew I’d found the right room.
If it weren’t for Colby threatening to kill Vance, I’d go back and get Tessa, hightail it out of this basement and right to the police, but I had to save Vance.
“What do you have to say, huh?” Colby spat, followed by the sound of skin smacking skin emerged from the opening.
Stepping through the threshold, my stomach sank at the sight of Colby taking a swing at Vance.
“Colby, Stop it!” I shrieked while his hand was in midair. I sprinted between them to stop him.
Colby froze, his eyes bulging and his face red. His chest heaved, breaths releasing erratically. When I glanced back, Vance was slumped in a chair, his face bloody and swollen to the point he was hardly recognizable. Duct tape covered his mouth. A sheet-less bed was directly behind him, and the walls were painted a dark gray with mirrors at every angle; Vance’s wounded body visible in every single one of them. My stomach lurched, and a fresh set of tears plunged from my eyes.
“Go back to the safe house, Lauren,” he ordered. “You don’t need to see this.”
“Let him go, please,” I begged. “And free all of these other women you have locked in cages as if they were animals. You have me, and you have Tessa, you don’t need to hurt anyone else.”
He brought his attention back to Vance. “Yes, I do,” he growled, his voice so low and full of vengeance. Beating Vance to a pulp was personal.
“Please, You’ve hurt him enough.”
“How can you shed tears for him?!” he shouted, spit coming from his mouth and onto my face. “Why aren’t you with Tessa and Jonah?”
Needing to keep my cool, I answered wisely. “I didn’t want you to do something you’d regret.”
“Why the fuck can’t you listen?” He barked, so loudly that I cowered, stepping backward until the back of my thighs were touching Vance. This wasn’t the Colby I knew and loved; this was the man I’d feared my entire life, the abusive, low-life that my mother attracted. The men who used and abused her day in and day out.
Vance mumbled through the tape and Colby shoved me out of the way sneering. “Shut up, just shut up!” He pushed his hat down on his head, then pounded it with his fists.
My eyes were wide while I watched him, dumbfounded on where this side of Colby was coming from. “Don’t look at me like I’m some sort of monster,” he warned.
I turned to Vance, my body sagging. He was beat to shit. “How could I not? Look at what you’re doing! Let Vance go. Colby, please.”
“All right, it’s time for an intervention,” he muttered, pulling a pistol that was tucked in his jeans, aiming the barrel at Vance’s head. “I think it’s time you realize exactly who this asshole is.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lauren
“You’re being irrational,” I pleaded, desperate for him to put the gun down.
Colby stomped passed me toward Vance, ripping the tape from his mouth. “Not that I want to hear your voice, but there are a few things we need out in the open. The three of us keep running in circles, and I’m fucking sick of it.”
Vance licked his lips. “Colby, let Lauren go. You’re mad at me, not her.”
Colby narrowed his eyes, taking more steps to Vance, cocking the gun to make the shot.
“You want to talk? All right, I’ll talk,” I choked. Colby’s focus settled back on me, keeping the gun pointed at Vance. “I did spend a lot of time with Vance at The Shore. He’s what kept me from coming home for so long.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Colby bit. “You really think I didn’t realize you’d been fucked before? You knew a little too well how to ride a dick, sweetheart.”
My cheeks flushed, my eyes finding the floor. Colby came to me, grabbing a hold of my chin and forcing me to look at him. “Hey, baby, it’s all good. Yeah, I wanted to be your first and only, but I couldn’t have everything, right?” He kissed me roughly, then let go, pacing back toward Vance.
“I mean, after all, he’s the one who sent you back to me.”
Vance’s jaw clenched, his eyes narrowing. I scowled, clueless to what he was hinting at. Colby watched us, a broad smile forming on his face. “Oh, you never told her?”
“Told me what?” I asked slowly.
“I mean, why would you? I could imagine that would kill a relationship. Not that you didn’t do that already by screwing other women and making them sex slaves. ”
I winced, ignoring the images of Vance with other women from popping into my brain. “Vance, what’s he talking about?”
Vance stayed silent, his swollen eyes closing.
Colby snorted. “You’re mom overdosed because one of his father’s goons injected the right amount of Meth into her veins to kill her.”
My voice shook. “No… That can’t be true.”
“Who do you think made the call?” Colby muttered.
My chest tightened while I stared at Vance. “What’s he saying?” I stuttered. “Did you… kill my mom?”
“He wasn’t supposed to kill her,” Vance bit. “It was supposed to be enough to scare you into coming back home. I couldn’t have you near The Shore during the bust. Marcus wanted you too badly. I was protecting you.”
My jaw dropped open, then a clenched it closed. “I can’t believe you,” I said through gritted teeth. Every bone in my body trembled with anger and humiliation. “You killed my mother.”
“I’m so sorry,” he apologized, agony clear in the crack of his voice.
Colby clicked his tongue. “So beach boy isn’t all you thought he was?”
Tears leaked from my eyes, and I thought I might stop breathing. Colby reached for me, pulling me to his chest and kissing my forehead. I didn’t acknowledge him. I only hugged myself, curling into the ball I always did when I wanted to shut out all of my demons.
“Let me finish this, baby. Neither of us will have to see him again.”
I pulled away, holding my hand between us. My thoughts were a jumbled mess, but I knew one thing for certain. “No. Don’t kill him.”
Colby dropped his hand, his mouth opening in disbelief. “Unbelievable. This piece of shit sold drugs, sex, and women, cheated on you, and killed your mother, yet you still want him over me?”
“The only person I want right now is my daughter,” I choked, praying Colt had gotten to her.
“Let her go back to T
essa while you finish your beef with me,” Vance reasoned.
Colby’s fists clenched when he swung back in Vance’s direction. “You don’t get to talk! I’m sick of being in your shadow!” He stomped at Vance, grabbing his throat with one hand and punching him with the handle of the gun.
The smacking of the metal crushing into Vance’s face was excruciating. Blow after blow, blood flew from Vance’s face, covering the walls and Colby’s shirt.
“Colby, stop it! Stop blaming him! It’s not his fault,” I cried, desperate for him to leave Vance alone. “I didn’t mean to fall in love with him!”
Colby’s hand hovered above Vance’s head. I stood holding my breath, waiting to see Colby’s reaction to my confession. When his head finally turned to mine, his eyes were bloodshot with moisture threatening. His cheeks hollowed, blood streaking his face.
I racked my brain for the right words to say, but my tongue was stuck in my throat.
“You finally admit it,” Colby muttered, his voice low and menacing,
“I didn’t want to,” I admitted. “Colby I tried so hard to forget about him and only love you.”
Colby fisted his hair underneath his hat, groaning in frustration. He paced to me, pinning me against one of the mirrors. His gaze was cold, the gun in his hand resting against the glass near my ear. When I opened my mouth, I quickly closed it as Colby forcefully hit the glass, causing it to shatter around me and fall into shards on the floor.
Shaking, I kept my eyes closed, waiting for him to punch me, but only the hot, bitterness of his breath wounded me. “You’re lucky that wasn’t your fucking face,” he hissed.
My breaths were shallow, terror filling me from head to toe.
“Please, let him go, and Tessa and I will run away with you,” I begged, daring to speak. “We’ll start over, just us. Like you wanted.”
It broke me to submit my life to him. I’d finally gotten Vance back, but because I loved him, and I had to let him go. He’d move on, and my heart had been shattered once before. I could survive without him, even though I didn’t want to. Picking up the pieces might not happen this time around.