by Julia Goda
“Baby, baby, baby,” I heard someone say close to me and I froze. I knew that voice. It had haunted my dreams for years. Slowly and hesitantly, I lifted my head.
Terror.
Absolute terror filled me at who I saw standing not two feet away sneering down at me.
Kyle.
I scrambled to my feet and tried to make my way back out the door, but was stopped when two strong arms wrapped around my middle. I could smell his breath when Kyle pressed me against the door with is body as his lips came to my ear.
“Ran away. Thought you could hide from me. There is nowhere for you to hide, baby, no place I can’t find you. I’ve played it smart. Did my time. Been straight since I got out. But I never forgot, baby. I never forgot who put me in that hellhole. Never forgot that you betrayed me. Now you’re gonna pay. You are at my mercy, baby. I have told you before. You have nowhere to go. You. Are. Mine.”
It was all coming back to me.
Everything.
The terror.
The pain.
The loss.
I was drowning in it. I couldn’t breathe.
Still, I fought him. But it became clear pretty quickly that I didn’t have a chance in hell at getting away. His hold on me was tight. My arms were trapped against my body. Useless. So I bucked and heaved and kicked and screamed. We crashed into the small table in the foyer, tipping it over, making everything on it scatter across the floor. He let me go but whirled me around and backhanded me across the face with such force that I fell to my knees.
It stung.
I could taste blood on my lips.
Another blow.
This time a kick to my ribs.
I howled in pain and wrapped my arms around me.
A hand in my hair, twisting, then pulling my head back sharply and viciously, arching my neck.
His face in mine filled with hatred.
Then another blow.
A fist to my temple.
Then nothing.
Nothing but blackness.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Terror
Ivey
I thought I had known what true panic felt like. Thought I had known what it felt like to be consumed by it, to feel like you knew, you just knew, eventually you would drown in it, would stop fighting and hand yourself over to the darkest of dark pits that would swallow you like a black hole.
I had no idea.
I had no idea that the panic I had experienced in my life was nothing. Nothing compared to what this felt like.
This sheer terror I was experiencing now was to the panic I knew, what a hiccup was like to being strangled, to feeling the noose close around your neck, knowing your lungs were going to explode with the effort of trying to suck in air.
It was like feeling the heat when you get too close to the campfire to being burned alive, feeling your skin being torched, hearing it crackling, feeling the excruciating pain of it parting from your flesh and disintegrating and turning to dust before your eyes.
This terror felt exactly like that.
Like I was being strangled, like I was being burned alive.
And I knew.
I knew if I gave into that terror, I would lose everything.
Everything I had worked so hard for to get.
All the little somethings that meant everything to me.
And being part of a something that meant everything, I knew that Cal would lose everything, too.
And so would Tommy.
And there was no way I was gonna let that happen.
No way that I would let someone take my happiness away from me, from Cal, from Tommy.
No fucking way.
So I fought it.
I fought the terror that was threatening to overwhelm me, was threatening to cut off my air, threatening to singe my skin.
And when I won that fight, I took on the devil.
The devil, who I vowed to myself I would send back to the darkest and hottest depths of hell.
Or I would die trying.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Whatever It Took
Cal
Her truck was parked in front of her house. Good. That meant his instincts had been right and she had gone home.
His relief at knowing Ivey would be close enough to touch in just a few seconds turned into a feeling of foreboding when he saw that her front door was wide open.
No, no, no, no, no!
Cal hit the brakes, jumped out of his truck and ran to the door.
His gut twisted and tensed at the sight that met him upon entering the foyer.
A table turned over and on its side on the floor.
The bowl that usually held her keys broken and pieces scattered all over.
Her purse in the middle of the hall, its contents everywhere.
Something that looked like blood splatters covering the hardwood.
No!
He called her name, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer.
No! Goddamn it! No!
In a nano second, he had his phone to his ear. As he waited for an answer, he started searching the house, knowing in his gut that his search would come up empty.
“Cal, I’m half an hour out,” Bane answered on the other end of the line.
“He’s got her. That fucking asshole has got her!” Cal roared into the phone.
“Fuck! Talk to me.”
“I’m in her house. Her car in the driveway. Front door wide open. Hallway a mess, furniture turned over, broken bowl, pieces everywhere. Blood on the floor.” Cal gave it straight to Bane, his voice a growl, his gut tight.
“Call the CCPD, report it in. I’m on my way. I’ll tell my guy to intensify the hack. We’ll find her, Cal.”
“We better find her, Bane. This cannot happen to her again. He has taken enough. She has endured enough. We need to find her before he takes something I cannot fix.” Fear, no, sheer terror for his woman cursed through him.
“I’ll be there in fifteen.” Then he hung up.
Cal did the same, then called the CCPD to report Ivey’s kidnapping.
Ten minutes later, two squad cars filled Ivey’s driveway and cops were going over the scene.
Ivey
I came to in a room that was not my foyer. It wasn’t any room in my house. It looked like an old cabin. One room. A table over by the window, two chairs around it. A small kitchenette. A two-seater sofa. And a bed I was lying on.
I jerked up into a sitting position.
I was alone.
And I wasn’t bound.
I took a few seconds to inventory my body, checking to see if all my limbs were intact, taking a deep breath to see if any ribs were broken.
My head hurt like hell, but nothing I couldn’t deal with. I’ve had worse. Way worse.
I started to slowly get up from the bed when I heard voices and froze solid. There were two male voices.
One voice was Kyle’s.
The other one sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
I didn’t have enough time to remember where I knew that voice from.
The door opened and Kyle walked in.
And behind him… my father.
Oh God! Oh no! Oh God!
This wasn’t happening! No!
“Hey there, sweetheart. Long time no see,” my father sing sang in a taunting voice.
My breath stopped coming, my heart stopped beating.
Everything stopped.
Fourteen years.
It had been fourteen years since I’d heard that voice.
And it still filled me with terror.
Both men stopped in the middle of the room and looked at me.
I stared back at them, too afraid to move, too afraid to do anything.
“Happy family reunion, baby. Don’t you wanna say hi to your daddy?” Kyle asked casually.
I said nothing. Just kept staring. The terror was building inside me, was threatening to drown me.
Because I knew.
I knew I would
not survive this again.
I knew that this time, I would not just be broken.
I would be destroyed.
Completely and utterly destroyed.
“I see that my daughter still hasn’t learned her manners,” my father sneered.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get to that soon, Harvey.”
I closed my eyes.
I knew what that meant. God, I knew what that meant.
“How? Why?” My voice was trembling so bad it was unrecognizable. Too scared to keep my eyes closed, I opened them to make sure where in the room my tormentors were. They hadn’t moved and were still standing in the middle of the room with anger and violence in their eyes.
“How? You mean how did I find you? That was almost too easy, baby. You own a business. That’s an easy enough trail to follow. Moving half-way across the country is not obstacle enough. Should have changed your name if you didn’t want me to find you. Or did you mean how come daddy joined us? Well, baby, your daddy isn’t too happy with you either. Looks like his only daughter abandoned him, took the money that he had a right to by spending two decades with your weak bitch of a mother and disappeared. He was only too glad I happened to knock on his door. He is very eager to teach you a lesson or two.” He moved a few steps towards me. I tensed. “And why? Do you really not know? Are you that stupid?” His voice was low and hateful as he continued. “You had me sent to prison. I rotted in that place for eight years because of you. For eight years I had to watch my back, pay off lowlifes to keep my head above water. Eight years of my life gone. Eight fucking years. And for what? For showing my cheating bitch of a girlfriend who was boss and killing her bastard spawn. I should have killed you. Every night, lying in bed in that stinking place, I regretted not having killed you with my bare hands. Now I’ve got a chance to rectify my mistake.” His eyes were full of hatred. And all that hatred was directed at me.
He was going to kill me with his bare hands. I was going to die today. I could see my death in his eyes. My heart sped up in panic and I started shaking my head in denial.
No! No! No! This couldn’t be happening!
“Stop yapping and get to it,” my father growled.
“Not yet. First I need to teach your daughter a different lesson. See, Harvey, she doesn't seem to understand that she is mine. I own her. I own everything about her. She’s been shagging it up with some single dad asshole from town. Has given him that sweet pussy of hers that belongs to me. Though, from the looks and sounds of it, that pussy is not just sweet, but wild. Been looking forward to reclaiming what’s mine and finding out just how wild that pussy is. One last time before I choke the life out of her.”
That terror I told you about? That terror that drowns out everything else? That feels like you’re being burnt alive? Strangled?
That terror was now consuming me, taking up every inch, every pore of my body.
I wouldn’t just be destroyed.
I would be dead.
Even if they left my body alive, I would be dead.
I started shaking uncontrollably.
My father snickered. “She’s all yours. Let me know when you’re done so I can get my turn.” Then he turned and left the cabin, closing the door behind him.
“Now, baby. I hope you’re not gonna make this easy. I’ve waited too long for this to be easy. Let me enjoy it, draw it out,” he said as he advanced on me. I was standing in front of the bed, but started moving around it when he advanced on me. My back to the wall, my front facing him, we circled each other.
I couldn’t let him touch me.
I had to fight him.
Fight for my life.
Fight him with everything I had and get out of here.
I couldn’t let him touch me.
I had to do whatever it took to keep his hands off of me.
But I had no idea how.
He was coming closer now, close enough to touch me.
But he didn’t touch me. He leered at me, running his eyes over every inch of my body.
I shivered in disgust.
Kyle noticed and chuckled.
I shivered again.
He inched closer. Then closer still. Until our bodies were less than an inch apart.
One of his hands lifted to touch my hair, but I snapped my head back before it made contact.
Kyle chuckled again.
Then he pounced and the fight for my life began.
Cal
Cal was pacing outside Ivey’s house.
His hands were in his hair, tucking, twisting in frustration.
The cops were inside, hunting for clues, coming up empty.
Bane was with him, asking him questions, probing, telling him to think. His deep hack into Parker had returned nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Parker had played it smart, had kept his head down, his nose clean.
They had nothing to go on.
“Think, Cal. Anything. Anything that seemed suspicious, off. There’s gotta be something.”
Think! Goddamn it! Think!
He stopped.
It could be nothing. It could be everything.
Gina. That fucking bitch had threatened Ivey that day at the bank. Since then, she’d been watching her a few times, giving her nasty looks, talking trash about her in town, going so far as to spend hours in her bookstore, making Ivey feel uncomfortable.
“Gina,” Cal ground out.
“Gina?” Bane asked disbelievingly. “Skanky Gina, who’s hung up on you?”
“Yeah. She’s been watching Ivey, talking trash, being her bitchy self, threatening her. Fuck! You think she’s got something to do with this?”
“Let’s find out,” Bane said before he shouted, “Rick!”
Then they both headed towards Detective Rick Summers, who was standing across the driveway, talking to the Sergeant. Cal and Bane knew Rick. They had all been friends in high school. After attending the police academy and being stationed in Denver for a while he had come back to Cedar Creek a few years ago. He was a great guy. Good cop. He was also Gina’s brother.
Rick turned his head to look at Bane and Cal as they jogged towards him. He was on alert now.
“You think of something?” He asked as they got close.
“Where is your sister?” Cal asked through clenched teeth. Rick’s eyebrows went up in question.
“My sister? What does she have to do with this?” Cal leaned into Rick’s space, his control hanging on by a threat. They didn’t have time for fucking chitchat. Bane’s hand on his arm told him to cool it.
“Cal told me she’s threatened Ivey, giving her nasty looks, running her mouth, accosting her in the bookstore since she’s known they were together. You hear anything?”
Rick ran his hands through his hair, seemingly frustrated.
“Shit! Yeah, heard her talk trash about Ivey, but I shut that shit down. Told her she needed to fucking get over it. She lost it, got bitchy as usual when things don’t go her way. But haven’t heard anything since. She hasn’t been around much. Got a new boyfriend. That’s why I thought she had let it go.”
Bane looked at Cal. “When was this? You met the boyfriend?” He asked.
“Laid her out back in September when Cal and Ivey started dating. She started seeing the boyfriend a couple of weeks after that. Haven’t met him, yet. Though she’s talked about him some.”
“You know his name?” Cal ground out.
“Kyle something. Don’t know his last—” Rick’s his eyes went wide with understanding and dread. “Shit! Fuck! Shit!”
“Where is she, Rick?” Cal clenched his fists as raw anger cursed through him to the point that a red haze covered his eyes. That fucking bitch!
“Shit! I don’t know man. But I’ll find her,” he said as he opened his phone and punched in the numbers angrily.
*****
Five minutes later Bane and Cal were following two squad cars that held one uniform and one detective each as well as the lieutenant to Gina’s ho
use.
“That fucking bitch! I swear to God if she helped that motherfucker hurt Ivey—,”
“You gotta keep it together, man. Losing your shit is not gonna help Ivey. She’ll need you once we find her.” Bane told Cal.
“You think I don’t fucking know that? All I can do to not go completely off the rails is to not let my mind go where it wants to go. He can’t hurt her, Bane. Not again. If he touches her again—,” Cal couldn’t let himself finish that thought. He locked his jaw and took a deep breath.
“We’ll find her, Cal.”
“I know we will. I just hope it won’t be too late.”
“You and me both, brother. You and me both.”
They stopped on the street in front of Gina’s house and followed the officers to the front door. The door opened and there she was in all her skanky glory, wearing a skimpy nighty and too much make-up, which made her look like the hooker she was. Cal snorted in disgust.
“What can I help you with, boys?” Gina asked in her sexed-up voice that was anything but sexy, as she ran her eyes up and down the officers’ bodies. Stupid bitch.
“Cut the crap, Gina. We don’t have time for your shit. Ivey’s been kidnapped,” Rick growled at his sister.
“Rick, I agreed to let you come with us only because you promised not to interfere and keep your mouth shut. If you can’t do that I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to wait at the station,” lieutenant Bill Stevens hissed at Rick. Rick shut up but continued to glare at his sister. “Now, Miss Summers, we have to ask you a few question and you’d be advised to answer them truthfully and quickly, since time is of the essence.”
“You have a warrant?” Gina asked smugly, but stupidly.
“No, Miss Summers, we don’t. We don’t need one since we’re not going to search your house. Yet. Now, you can answer our questions here or we can cuff you and take you to the station.”
“You arresting me?”
“That depends on your answers. What I’m saying is if you refuse to answer our questions right here right now I have cause to believe you’re a suspect in the kidnapping of Ivey Jones, which means I will put you in cuffs and arrest you.”