The phone was answered after only two rings. “Roy, you need to get over here right away.”
Chapter 24
Chase
The first day of conferences was finally over. I had been expecting it to be boring, but it had actually been pretty interesting. It actually made me feel professional and like a real grown up, not just some kid playing teacher. I had an opinion here and people respected it.
I would have much rather been home with Leah and Caleb, though. Right about now, I would be pulling into the driveway after work, most likely coming home to a nice dinner and the craziness of Caleb that I loved. Leah had really come around in the past month and we were now more of a family than we ever had been since we got married. I think the counseling sessions were really helping us out.
My phone rang as soon as I walked into my empty hotel room, which truthfully depressed the hell out of me. I couldn’t wait until I was home tomorrow night. My mood quickly changed when a picture of Leah lit up the screen.
“Hey baby, how’s it going? Missing me already of course?” I heard a loud whoosh of air come through the phone and her take a deep breath until she finally responded. Apparently, she was in a mood today. The doctor said she would still have those kind of days every once in a while.
“Chase, I need to tell you something but I don’t want you to freak out. Your hundreds of miles away and there isn’t anything you can do about it, okay?”
My heart froze when she said it. What the fuck was going on? “Leah, what in the hell is going on?”
“Chase, just calm down. Are you going to freak or not? If you are, I just won’t tell you and you’ll have to wait till you get home.”
I gripped the phone tightly in my hands and blew out a breath between my teeth. “Fine, Leah. Just get out with it.”
“Okay, well,” she dragged out, setting my nerves right on edge with what was to come next. “I was giving Caleb a bath, this was the first time I had seen him without any clothes on, he put on his own pajamas last night,” she rambled on.
I had no clue where this was going, but I wished she would just get on with it. “And this afternoon I got him in the bath and noticed the bruises all over his back, I mean they’re bad, Chase. I can actually see imprints of hands.” I sucked in a breath, immediately wanting to leave and go home, just like Leah warned me against.
But sometimes there were certain situations where family was the only thing that mattered. I held my breath, not sure if I wanted to hear anymore, but I knew I had to so I would know who to the beat the living shit out of. “So I immediately called Roy and told him to get over here.”
“Leah, why would you do that without me there? Weren’t you obviously considering him as a possibility of doing this? He could try to do something to you and I’m not there to protect you guys.”
“Well, at the time I didn’t really think about that, Chase. I just wanted to get to the bottom of it. Caleb wasn’t talking and I needed answers. So, he came over and I confronted him. He acted like he had no clue and I think I believed him.
“I mean, you know I don’t trust people very easily, but Roy is one of those people that I do trust, if I didn’t I would never let Caleb go over there without me. So when I accused Roy of doing this, he denied it. When I told him that I wouldn’t be allowing Caleb over to his place anymore until I got some answers, Caleb finally broke his silence. I mean, he hadn’t made a peep since the bath tub.” She took a deep breath and I could hear her quietly crying through the phone.
“Leah, this isn’t your fault. I know that’s what you’re doing right now. You had no idea that this would happen. Now, please tell me what Caleb said. I need to know.”
“He said it was Shelia,” she huffed, spitting her name out. I instantly cringed. I knew Caleb didn’t like his dad’s girlfriend at all and it made me wonder if this was the first time. I just figured he liked having all of his dad’s attention and that was why he disliked her so much. I had no clue why he wouldn’t have spoken up and told us what was going on.
“Apparently, Roy had to go into the office for something real quick on Sunday and Shelia agreed to watch Caleb back at his house. It sounded like she got angry at Caleb for not wanting to clean up and that’s when it happened.”
“Well, is Roy still there? What are we going to do this about? She can’t just get away with putting her hands on him like that, I don’t care how fucking mad she was about him picking up his damn toys. I’m coming home, Leah. They’ll understand it’s an emergency.” I instantly started throwing clothes into my bag and raced into the bathroom, swiping my hand across the vanity to gather everything quickly.
“Chase, there’s nothing you can do here. Just finish up tomorrow and then come home. Roy immediately called Shelia but of course, she denied it all. We both took pictures of the evidence and Roy is on his way to the police station right now to file a report. Obviously, he’s done with her. He’s going to believe Caleb over her any day.”
“Fine, Leah.” I dropped down to sit on the edge of the bed and my shoulders relaxed just a little bit. It at least sounded like Roy was handling things. “It sounds like you have everything handled pretty well then. I just can’t stand the thought of someone putting their hands on his little body like that. How is he acting?”
“He’s fine, really. After Roy came and he explained everything to us, he completely went back to normal. He’s playing with his cars right now in the living room and watching some cartoons. He misses you though, we both do.”
“I miss you guys too. I love you, tell Caleb I love him too and I’ll see you tomorrow.” I collapsed on the bed after I hung up the phone, trying to push the images out of my mind of what had happened to Caleb.
He didn’t deserve any of that, no kid did. I could tell that it would be a long time before I got any kind of sleep and I probably wouldn’t feel relaxed again until I was home and saw that Caleb was fine with my own two eyes.
Chapter 25
Leah
After having to deal with so much drama yesterday, Caleb and I deserved to have a fun day. So I called Mary and asked her if she would keep Tootsie for a little bit longer. She was shaken up as much as me by the incident that had happened.
We hit up the place where Chase had taken me on one of our first non-date as ‘just friends’. We got there as soon as the doors opened, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves and raced the go- carts around the track so much, by the time we finally got off them I could barely walk straight.
Caleb pulled me to the arcade next and we made our last stop at mini golf, doing one round. We grabbed a quick lunch when we were all finished and then headed home. I had a feeling we were both in need of a good nap and then I promised Caleb we would pick Tootsie up afterwards.
I knew something was odd as soon as I stepped up to the front porch of our house and noticed the door was slightly ajar. Now, I had always been paranoid since I was a little girl. I checked the doors almost every time I went near them to make sure they were locked growing up with my mom because of all of the riff raff she brought home. So, I knew there was no way I had left it unlocked.
I glanced over at the driveway, double- checking to make sure I had somehow not noticed Chase’s truck there, I guess he could have parked in the garage wanting to surprise us. I slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside gripping Caleb’s hand behind me tightly.
I gasped when I saw the inside of my house. I wasn’t the greatest housekeeper, so it wasn’t like my house was ever really tidy, but I definitely didn’t leave it like this.
Throw pillows were thrown all over the living room floor, along with all of the contents of the coffee table. Numerous picture frames lay cracked and broken on the floor. I stepped over glass and picked up Caleb before doing so, not wanting to risk the chance of it going through his shoes. “Mommy, what happened?”
“I don’t know, buddy,” I answered quietly. I glanced into the other rooms of the house but didn’t notice anything else out of the
ordinary until I opened Caleb’s room. It had been completely torn apart. Toys lay broken in a heaping pile. Framed pictures that I had lined up were broken and pushed face down. The sick bastard had even cut off the heads to all of his favorite stuffed animals.
I pushed Caleb back into the hallway before he could see the damage and crouched down, lightly gripping his shoulders. “Buddy, I need you to go into Mommy’s room. Lock the door behind you and then go into the bathroom and lock that door. Only open the door if you hear Mommy’s voice, okay?” He gave me a small nod and backed up to our room, I could tell he was trying to be brave for me even though his bottom lip was trembling.
I had to make sure he was safe though. Whoever had done this might still be in the house and I had a pretty good idea who it was. I made my way quickly back out to the living room to get my phone out of my purse when I heard a crunch of glass behind me.
“Caleb, I told you-” A sharp pain radiated through my head as I felt something slam into the back of it with such a force it immediately dropped me to my knees. I thought when people said that they saw stars they were just being dramatic, but now I knew exactly what they were talking about.
I shook my head slowly back and forth, trying to clear the haze, but just as that was happening, I heard another loud crack and that time it managed to turn everything black.
I woke up feeling groggy and had no clue how long I had been out. I felt like I had the worst hangover in the world and then my head had been trampled over repeatedly by a herd of elephants. Over and over again.
I moved to put a hand to my throbbing head but realized that I couldn’t move my hands. They were trapped behind my back and when I was finally able to peel my eyes open, I realized that I was tied to one of the dining room chairs. I tried moving every inch of my body to loosen the hold of the ropes that were holding me down but they didn’t give at all.
“Oh, don’t even bother, honey. Trust me when I say you won’t be going anywhere for a long, long time. You and I need to have a nice little chat. Woman to woman.” I cringed when I heard that voice. I had only met Shelia a few times, but her voice was familiar enough. And when I thought about what she had done to Caleb, it instantly made my chest burn with a red hot anger.
I slowly lifted my head to look her straight in the eyes. No one would have ever expected something like this out of the woman standing in front of me.
She was more petite in size than I was, barely taller than a twelve year old child. Her blonde hair was always in perfect order, not a strand out of place and her clothes reeked of money, the silk business suit she had on probably cost more than my whole wardrobe.
This time when I looked at her I saw all of that, but I also saw something in her narrowed eyes that I had never seen before. They looked almost animalistic, like a rabid pit-bull, out on the loose, looking for its next victim. And unfortunately, I was the one she had picked.
“I have nothing to say to you, Shelia,” I hissed. “You are a monster. Obviously, something’s wrong with you. Who abuses small, defenseless children? This is no one’s fault but your own. Roy just finally saw you for the bitch that you really are.”
Her ruby red lips curved upwards into a cruel smile. “Well, see that’s where you come in. You’re going to help me out with that little predicament. I finally found the perfect man for me and that little nuisance went and tried to destroy everything. I almost had him talked into marriage. I was this close.” She moved to crouch down in front of me, her face just inches from mine, I felt like spitting in it.
“I will never help you in whatever plan you came up with in that twisted head of yours. Roy believed Caleb and that’s not going to change.” She leaned back, lacing her hands together as if she was deep in thought. My eyes darted around the room, looking for anything that could help me out of this situation. She was clearly delusional and I had no idea what she was capable of. I had to get free in order to keep Caleb safe from this crazy woman.
“Oh, are you looking for this maybe?” She reached her small hand into her front pocket and then dangled my phone, just inches in front of my face until she let it drop onto the floor. “Oopsie,” she said in a singsong voice as it crashed to the floor and then she ground her heel against it to make sure it was completely ruined. “We wouldn’t want you getting a hold of that now would we, dear?”
“Please, just don’t hurt Caleb. He doesn’t deserve it. He’s already gone through enough pain, thanks to you. He didn’t ask for any of this, he’s just an innocent boy.” I sent a silent prayer, hoping that Caleb stayed where I had told him to go even though I knew if Shelia really wanted to get to him she would. It made me wonder why she hadn’t already tried.
“Oh, I wouldn’t think of it,” she gasped, holding a hand to her heart, like she even had one. Evil bitch. “No, no, no. Who would want to hurt that sweet boy? See, that’s where you come in. We are going to have a nice little chat with Roy in which you tearfully explain that it, was in fact you, who took out all your frustrations out on sweet Caleb.
“All of the stress over the past couple of months has finally gotten to you. The wedding, the whole paternity testing, and having Caleb’s father come back into his life unexpectedly. And of course who could forget that baby that you unfortunately lost? What a shame that was. In all reality, it was probably for the best. Did you really want another brat around to have to deal with? I think the one you have is enough, right?”
I swallowed over the lump in my throat at the picture she was trying to paint. Roy would never believe it; at least I didn’t think he would. Yes, I had been heartbroken over the loss of our baby and had fallen into a deep depression, but Roy had been very understanding. He would know that I would never lay a hand on Caleb.
“Roy wouldn’t ever believe you anyway, so why waste your breath? He knows you’re crazy and he’s not going to believe whatever little story you spout off to him. So why don’t we just make this a little bit easier and let me go. You can go, I won’t call the police and we can all try to get on with our lives.”
“Oh no, no, no sweetie,” she wagged a finger at me and turned towards the kitchen. “You aren’t talking your way out of this one. Roy thinks you’re such a perfect mother, a young woman stepping up to take on the challenge of taking care of a little boy who is really her brother.
“That whore of a mother you had should have just stayed out of Roy’s business, instead of sending that letter, which in my opinion, ruined his life. But unfortunately, he doesn’t see it that way. Your mother had to go and stir the pot even beyond the grave, so I guess I’ll just have to get used to the idea of having a stepchild around.” Her voice became louder as she rounded the corner and came back into the room, tapping her palm with the cordless phone we kept in the kitchen.
Chase insisted on having a home phone, even though it was rare nowadays with cell phones. He always wanted one in case of emergencies. This would definitely count as one and would work great if only I could get my hands free to pry it out of the bitch’s hands.
“Now, I’m going to call Roy and you’re going to admit to be the one abusing Caleb. See, you’ve been doing it for years in fact. It’s just so stressful taking care of a young boy while you have everything else on your plate. And you are going to explain it to him just like that.”
“Oh, really?” I bit out, “and why exactly would I do that?”
“Well, because if you don’t,” she responded in an icy tone it sent chills down my spine. She reached around behind her back, pulling out a gun that she must have had tucked into her pants and I instantly stiffened, “I’ll just have to use this. Don’t worry about the explanation dear, I have all of that planned out as well.” She took a step closer to me, the glint of the gun reflecting off the evil glare of her eyes that were focused intently on me.
“It will go something like this. I came over to the house, to apologize for the misunderstanding. Caleb loves spending time with me, but of course young children tend to make up stories, they enjoy li
ving in fantasies from time to time. Caleb ran towards me as soon I stepped into the house, wrapping my legs into a tight hug, cringing away from the woman that was his supposed mother.
“When he explained to me that was in fact you that had inflicted the horrible pain onto his body, I knew I had to get him out of the house. But you weren’t going to let me do that. You brought out a gun, aiming it at Caleb, telling him that he wasn’t going anywhere. He pulled on my hand, trying to escape and when I saw you reach for the trigger, I tackled you. I couldn’t let anything happen to that sweet little boy.
“We struggled over the gun, and somehow I won out, but the trigger was pulled and you, unfortunately, were at the receiving end. It will be such a tragic story. Of course, Caleb will come to live with us since that husband of yours legally has no claims to him and the rest will be history.
“I will be the perfect stepmother to Caleb, that is, unless he steps out of line again. I would assume he would learn to behave himself, but as you can see, I can be very creative and I’m sure Caleb could have some kind of ‘accident’ if necessary.”
I gasped when I heard the plans she had for Caleb. The tears were streaming down my face at the thought of this woman doing something to him. He was too young and didn’t deserve to have to deal with this crazy woman ever again. I sucked in a deep breath, looking straight into her deranged eyes. “Fine, I’ll cooperate. I’ll tell Roy it was all me as long as you leave Caleb alone.”
“Good, good dear.” She gave me an awkward pat on the head and punched in numbers on the phone. I listened to each number as she clicked away, my mind whirring with what to do. Should I play it safe and do as she said? Or should I take control of the situation and try to get myself out of it?
Limitless (Journey Series) Page 13