by Nicole Fox
“With her teacher?” He wrote something down on his clipboard and paused to look up at her. “Which teacher is this?”
“Her name is Mari Snyder. She’s Opal’s third grade teacher.”
“And where are they exactly?”
“At her family’s farm house.”
“The address?”
“I can’t give you that.” She had no choice but to lie and hope it didn’t turn out badly for her. She would not give out that address to anyone. There was far too much risk in it. What if Nicholas reported back to Jeremy or somehow Jeremy got the information?
“You don’t have the address?”
“I can’t give it to you. I’m sorry. You have to understand that my ex-husband was extremely abusive. We’ve been on the run from him. I have to take extreme measures to protect Opal.”
Nicholas scribbled on his clipboard. “Can you describe this abuse?”
“For the eight years I was married to him, he hit me, yelled at me, forced me to do things I didn’t want to do.”
“Such as?”
Vanessa felt her face go hot. Through gritted teeth, she said, “Sexual things.”
“Did you witness him abusing Opal?”
“Yes.”
“In what way?”
“He hit her,” she said. “She talked back to him, and he smacked her very hard across the face. She fell from the force. She had a bruise on her shoulder and cheek.”
“Did you seek any medical attention?”
“Yes, I took her to the hospital.”
Nicholas flipped through some papers. “I have the records here. According to this, at the time, the doctor suspected you were the one to hurt her.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“Why do you think he believed that?”
“I don’t know. But I didn’t. It was Jeremy, not me. I’ve never raised a hand to her.”
Nicholas scribbled down more notes. “Were you concerned at the time that further abuse would happen?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t call Child Protective Services?”
“No, I didn’t. How could I?”
Nicholas stopped writing to look up at her. “Can you explain that please?”
“The doctor thought I had done it, and I knew Jeremy would lie. If I made the call, you might believe it was me instead of him, and take her from me.”
“So, you did nothing instead? You let the child remain in the vicinity of her father, who you feared would continue to abuse her?”
“No, I did not,” Vanessa snapped. Hot tears pricked her eyes and made her throat thick. Who was this guy to sit there and accuse her like this? “I left. I packed up our things and got out of there. Then I filed for divorce.”
“I see. You decided it would be best to kidnap her rather than go through the proper channels to keep her safe.”
“My ex-husband is very wealthy and powerful, Mr. Johnson. He has a way of convincing people to believe things that are untrue, or to lie on his behalf. I was afraid that if I went to the courts, he would get people to point the finger at me, and that I would end up losing my daughter and she’d be forced to live with an abusive father.”
“I see here that Jeremy filed for primary custody, claiming that you are unfit as a mother. You didn’t show up for the court date.”
“No, I didn’t,” she said. “Again, I was afraid that he would hurt us both, so we left. I didn’t even know about the court date.”
“You were served papers.”
“I was not. If someone signed for them, they were pretending to be me.”
“You’re accusing the police of serving the wrong person?”
“No,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I’m saying I never got them.”
“Uh huh.” Nicholas made more notes. “I will be back for another home visit.” Nicholas got to his feet. “I expect Opal will be back from her ‘vacation’ by then.” He walked to the door, paused to shut off the recorder, and nodded to Vanessa. “Thank you for your time.”
He let himself out and when the door closed behind him, Vanessa stood. She balled her fists and turned to face Hunter.
“That bastard,” she said. “When we find him, I will kill him myself. I can’t believe he did this.”
She stormed off to her room and snatched her phone from her bedside table. She brought up the number Jeremy had called her from and dialed.
“Who are you calling?” Hunter said, appearing in her doorway.
“Hi honey,” Jeremy said.
“Don’t you dare call me that, you son of a bitch. How dare you call CPS on me? You know you’ve always been the one to get violent. You’re nothing but a worthless junkie, who has to take his anger out on everyone else because he can’t handle the failure he’s become.”
Jeremy burst into laughter, and Hunter came around the bed to her.
“Oh honey,” Jeremy said. “That’s the least of what I’ll do if you don’t bring Opal back to me. And you should know that if you don’t show up for the next court date, the only excuse the judge will accept is an obituary with your name on it. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Listen to me, you asshole—”
Hunter snatched the phone from her hand and hit end.
“What are you doing!” she shouted.
“There’s no benefit in this. He might have been recording the call and will use it against you. He might have tried to get you to slip up with information in your anger. You can’t do things like this, Vanessa.”
She gritted her teeth. “I don’t care. He has to pay for this!”
“And he will.” He put his hand on her cheek. “I’ll make sure of it. But calling him and yelling at him is not making him pay. It’s only going to upset you and urge him on knowing he’s getting to you.”
“Give me my phone.”
“Not until you calm down.”
She growled and reached out to shove him. With both hands on his chest, she pushed him as hard as she could. He didn’t budge. He didn’t even have to take a step back. He simply placed his other hand over hers.
She stopped trying to push him and sat hard on the bed. “What am I going to do? Nicholas didn’t believe me, I could tell.”
“I know. It won’t matter, though. I will take Jeremy out long before he has the chance to do anything to Opal.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
“Timing.”
She blew out a hard breath and reached for the phone again. She managed to get it her hand on it and tugged, trying to pry his fingers off. “I—don’t—have—time.”
Chapter Twelve
Hunter
Hunter spoke calmly, but firmly. “Vanessa, stop. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
She didn’t give up. She dug her fingers into his, using her nails and all she had to try to get him to release her phone.
He stepped back several feet, moving out of her reach. When she jumped up to lunge at him, he caught her with his free arm and pulled her to him.
“Stop this. Calling him will only hurt you.”
“I have—to do—something.”
Her voice broke into sobs, and she went slack in his arms. Before he could get his other arm around her, she sunk to her knees on the floor and her body shook with crying.
“It’s all over,” she wailed. “He’s going to take her from me and there’s nothing I can do. He’s already found us. I didn’t manage to hide from him for more than a few months. Wherever I go, he’ll find me. He’ll kill me or hurt me, and he’ll hurt Opal.”
“It’ll be okay.” He dropped to his knees and rubbed her back, trying his best to soothe her. He wasn’t sure exactly what to do for her.
“No, it won’t. You don’t know. He has too much money. And he knows people. He’ll never let me rest. He’ll never let me go. He’ll do anything he has to, to get Opal. He’ll kill you, too, if you’re in the way. And then he’ll keep hurting her. And maybe he’ll even end up killing her. He doesn’t want
her. He just wants to hurt me and hurting her is what hurts me the worst and he knows it. He’ll use her against me.”
Hunter felt like his heart was ripping in two. On one hand, he knew he had to take this guy out and fast, but there was a way to go about it. If he rushed, he might get sloppy and someone could get hurt. His first rule in killing someone was always to take his time and think it through. It was how he’d stayed out of jail since the first time, and how he’d always done his job.
But he couldn’t stand seeing Vanessa like this, so tortured and upset. He felt the hopelessness of his childhood come back to him. All the nights he’d cried himself to sleep, wishing he could run away or that his parents would die. It was a horrible way to live.
“There’s only one thing I can do,” she said, sitting up and wiping at her red, puffy eyes.
“Stay strong and wait until we can take him out.”
“No. We have to leave. We have to run again. Hide better, make sure he doesn’t find us.”
“That’s a terrible idea,” he said. “It’ll only piss him off more, and make him come after you harder. Look at how this is affecting you. You think running again will make it better? You’ve already got CPS after you. You’re living under complete stress all the time, and it’s got to be affecting Opal. You have a job here, and she’s settled here. You have friends to help you. If you leave, you start all over and go through this all again. And you’ll be farther from me.”
That last part was maybe the worst. If she left, he’d have to go with her or he wouldn’t be able to protect her. He didn’t want to go on the run, but he couldn’t watch her walk away, either.
“So, you think I should sit here and wait for him to come kill me?” Her voice cracked in its incredulity.
“You have to take your life back. You have to stop running and face this until it’s done. It’s the only way you’ll have any peace. He wants you to run again so that CPS will flag it as unusual activity. If they’re on you, it won’t matter if Jeremy is dead. They might still come after you and take Opal. Running makes you look guilty. You’re not guilty. You’ve done nothing wrong except marry an asshole of a man. Stand for what’s right, take control back from him. That’s how you move on and heal.”
# # #
Vanessa glared at him, the anger welling in her chest with the desperation. How dare he talk to her like that.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she hissed at him.
It felt good to get mad again. Mad was better than hopeless. Mad at least made her feel like she could do something. He said nice things. Take back control, take back her life. Sounded wonderful. But staying here was no way to make that happen.
“I can do all of that if I run.”
“No, you can’t.”
“Hunter!” The anger wavered for a moment and a fresh wave of tears broke free. “I can’t!”
He stood up and grabbed her by the arms, yanking her to her feet. “Stop this right now. You can and you will. You’re not a victim, Vanessa. Stop acting like one!”
She blinked at him, the shock of his actions and words silencing her tongue. Then she yanked her arms free. “Go to hell. You’re out of your freaking mind.”
She stepped forward to get out of his reach, but he grabbed her arm again.
“Let go of me!”
He dropped his grip on her immediately. At least he knew better than put a heavy hand on her. She might be tempted to reach for her gun and shoot him herself if he was going to grab her like that and hold her.
“I know what I’m talking about,” he said. “I’ve been there. Trust me. Running only makes new problems in a new area.”
“Maybe someone like you can just stick around and force your way through hard situations. But I’m a single mother with a little girl who is counting on me. I can’t afford to sit around with a target on my head. Jeremy won’t find me and CPS won’t, either.”
“Like he didn’t find you this time.”
She glared at him and turned way. “I’ll find a better place. I’ll change our appearance more. I’ll be more careful.”
“And you weren’t careful this time? Vanessa, listen to yourself. I can protect you if you’re here. If you run and go somewhere I’ve never been, I might come with you, but I won’t know the area, I won’t have connections. I can protect you best here. And I wouldn’t mess around with those CPS dicks. They don’t take it lightly when a parent flees after being questioned. Are you trying to make yourself look guilty?”
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t need you to protect me.” This was why she’d learn how to shoot a gun and why she’d gotten some training. She didn’t want to have to depend on anyone but herself. “I don’t need anyone’s help.”
She stormed over to the closet and pushed the door open. It banged loudly. She grabbed her large suitcase from its place on the floor. She’d put it there beside her other bag—the one she’d sent along with Opal to Mari’s. This one was the one she’d use if it came to this, if it came to running again. And now it had. There was no other choice for her. She had no better way to protect Opal.
Vanessa flung the suitcase onto the bed and unzipped it, then pushed the top open. From her dresser, she started pulling out random clothing and dumping it in, barely paying attention to which things she included. When her underwear drawer was empty, she moved on to her pants drawer.
Hunter stood there, watching her for a moment with his arms crossed. Then, he stepped forward, shut the suitcase, and yanked it from the bed. Vanessa got a grip on the side handle and tugged it back, trying to free his grip on the top handle. Half the contents spilled out in her struggle, but his grip held tight.
He pulled back and tossed the suitcase across the room. She clenched her jaw and lunged to the side to grab it. Hunter stepped forward and grabbed her instead.
He picked her up with a tight wrap of his arms and took two steps toward the bed. Then he threw her down on the bed. She bounced a little, the air knocked from her lungs. She gasped hard to get her breath back.
Hunter climbed on top of her, holding her hands by her side. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Chapter Thirteen
Vanessa
“Get off me,” she said.
Fear caught in her throat and made her go still. This felt a lot like what Jeremy used to do to her. He’d tell her he wanted sex, and she’d say no. When she was feeling bold, that was. Most times, she gave in and let him do what he wanted, but sometimes, she didn’t feel like letting him. On those occasions, he would chase her down. More than once, he pushed her down, held her, and tore her clothes from her. More than once, he forced her legs apart and shoved inside her while she cried and screamed in pain. And he loved to smack her while he did it. She usually ended up bleeding from several places by the time he was done with her.
She looked at Hunter, eyes wild with panic. He saw her expression and softened his own.
“I promise I won’t hurt you. I need you to listen to me. Please.”
She said nothing but looked at him. She relaxed a tiny bit, but not fully. She couldn’t relax so long as he was holding her down.
“Are you going to listen?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Okay. Now. You absolutely cannot go on the run again. I know you think it’s the best thing. I’ve seen CPS in action, though, and you’re underestimating them. If keeping Opal with you is your main goal, you have to stay put until that’s resolved. Do you understand?”
She clenched her jaw and glared at him.
“I can protect you both if you’re here. You also have Mari’s help. If you’re here, I have people who can help me, I have places to go. I have cars and money and weapons. I don’t have any of that if we’re on the run. Do you understand?”
She again refused to answer him. She didn’t want to admit he was making sense. His arguments were starting to sink in.
“I will take care of Jeremy. Do you believe me? Do you trust me?”
She didn’t want to answer. She wanted to kick him hard in the groin and get away from him and figure this out for herself. Staying here was easy. Letting him help her was easy. Nothing in her life had been easy. If things weren’t hard, it felt like it was only a matter of time until something came crashing down.
But what if it could be easy with him? What if he was right and running made everything worse? What if he really could protect them and take care of Jeremy?