by Abby Weeks
—We heard cars around the front.
—They’ve been sent on a wild goose chase.
—Midge created a decoy?
—Her husband Frank did.
—Are you sure we can trust him? Jack said.
April thought of Frank and the kiss he’d given her before he’d left.
—We can trust him, she said.
She led them back down to the bottom of the property and they cut through the forest till they got to the back of the Kingsley lawn.
—Ok, April said when they got there. Kit Kingsley is in there with my daughters. At least as far as I know. Frank got rid of Herb and Walter and some of the security guys but I have no idea who else is in there. I presume there’ll be some sort of security with Kit.
Jack nodded. —We won’t have long before the others are back. I say we go in through the back of the house, same as we did at Midge’s. We’re armed so we can confront whoever’s in there, take the kids, and run. It’ll only take us a few minutes to get back to the truck and then we’re out of here.
—For good, April said.
—For good, Jack said.
April was about to start running for the back of the house when Jimmy grabbed her by the arm.
—Not so fast, he said. First check your gun. You might need to use it.
They each took out their handguns and checked them. Jack and Jimmy confirmed theirs were loaded and ready to go. April didn’t know what to do with hers so she just held it. She was too busy thinking about her daughters to concentrate on anything else. She was so close to them she could feel it. All she wanted was to feel her two little girls in her arms, where they belonged. She prayed nothing would go wrong inside.
If either of them got hurt, she would never be able to forgive herself. If she failed to recover them and had to leave empty handed, she would never forgive herself. If anything happened that meant she wasn’t able to raise her two children, she would never be able to forgive herself.
All she’d ever wanted was to give them the kind of love and security she had never known and now was the moment where she would find out if she would be able to do it.
X
AT THE BACK OF THE Kingsley’s house, close to the pool, was a slated cedar door. It was locked but Jimmy was able to pick it open with a small pick he carried in his wallet. It led to a dressing room and sauna.
They were on a lower level of the house and found a tiled staircase at the back of the dressing room that led up to the main floor. It looked like it was only used by staff. Jack led the way, carefully listening before opening the door at the top of the stairs. There was no one there and they proceeded into a dark room that seemed to be used solely for washing and folding laundry.
—Where do you think the kid’s are? Jack whispered to April.
She didn’t know. She’d never even been in this house before and she knew it probably had over a hundred rooms spread out over its four spacious floors.
—I don’t know, she said, helplessly.
—Ok, Jack said. We’ll clear this corridor, and then the rest of the level. Once it’s cleared we’ll go up to the next level and so on. Ok?
April and Jimmy nodded. They left the laundry room for a long corridor. It was well lit but entirely silent. They listened at each door before opening it. The rooms seemed to be all for services, there was a boiler room, a staff room, two staff offices, a storage room, a wine cellar, a workshop where antique furniture was being stripped and restored. All of them were empty.
—This isn’t the main living space, Jimmy said.
—No, April agreed.
At the end of the corridor was a steel door with a small circular window in it. Behind the door was a large kitchen, like what you’d expect at a restaurant. It was brightly lit but again seemed to be empty.
—We’ll have to go through it, Jack said. It’s the only way.
They opened the door and stood at the entrance for a few moments before Jack led the way through. The kitchen seemed to be completely empty but it was so large and there were so many areas hidden by equipment that they could easily walk into someone if they weren’t careful.
—Where is everybody? Jimmy whispered, but no one answered.
At the far end of the kitchen was a double door that swung open in both directions and led into an oak-paneled hallway that was clearly the beginning of the main living area.
—Ok, Jack said. This is it.
They went through the doors and down the hall. April looked back the way they had come and noticed a small, red light close to the ceiling above the kitchen doors. She realized it was a security camera, pointed right at them.
—Shit!
Jack and Jimmy stopped.
—What is it?
She motioned toward the security camera and the two men immediately saw what she was worried about.
—Oh, shit, Jack said.
—Maybe no one’s watching it, Jimmy said. All the guards might have gone out after that decoy.
—We better hurry, Jack said.
They moved quickly to the end of the hall they were in and into the grand hall of the house. There was a wide staircase that swept around and up to an open landing on the second floor. The hall was darker than the other parts of the house they’d been through but April could see that there was light on the second floor. She made for the stairs.
—April, Jack hissed. We have to clear this floor first.
She paused but just then she heard crying from above and continued at a run up the stairs.
—April! Jack hissed again but she ignored him.
The crying sounded like Mary and there was no way she was going to ignore it. She didn’t care about the consequences anymore. She’d been too cautious, looking out for herself and her own interests all the time and completely neglecting her children. She’d let that awful school take them from her because she’d been too cautious, because she’d been trying to play by the rules, and she was no longer willing to do it. She raced up the stairs in the direction of the crying.
Jack and Jimmy looked at each other desperately but they knew there was nothing they could do but follow her. She wouldn’t listen to them now, not when she could hear her own four-year-old daughter crying. They ran after her up the stairs.
She reached the top and swung around, looking in all directions at once. She thought the crying was coming from down another hall and ran toward the sound. She rounded a corner and saw a glow of light coming from one of the bedrooms near the end of the corridor. She heard the crying again. It seemed now that it was both Lucy and Mary who were crying.
Jack and Jimmy were a few yards behind her.
—Wait! Jack called to her but it was too late.
There was no way she would stop now. She sprinted to the end of the corridor and around to the room from which the light was coming. And there they were! Lucy and Mary were sitting on a plain bed in the austere little room, holding each other and crying softly as if they thought there was no point crying any louder because no one would come.
The next few seconds seemed to happen so slowly that April would remember them as long as she lived. Lucy and Mary looked up at her and their little eyes widened visibly. They were like deer caught in headlights, and she knew that they recognized her. Mommy, they wailed and she was running toward them before the word had even left their lips. She spread out her arms like a great eagle in flight and wrapped them both in an embrace so powerful she might even have hurt them.
They didn’t mind, though. They clung to her with equal zeal, sobbing into the soft skin of her neck and crying out her name, over and over.
She didn’t even care that they weren’t the only people in the room. She didn’t care that Kit and three armed men were standing against the wall, waiting for her with guns drawn like guards in a prison.
—Hush, my babies, hush, she said again and again while the two girls gripped onto her.
She looked around and saw that all was lost. Jack and Jimmy had thei
r guns pointed at the three guards but the guards had the upper hand. One of them had a sawed-off shotgun pointed at April and her two young daughters. There was no way anyone could argue with that.
Through her tears she saw Jack and Jimmy drop their weapons and surrender to the guards. One of the guards spoke into a radio and another arrived carrying a set of keys.
Kit’s raspy voice was so shocking to April that it hit her like a slap on the face.
—I was wondering when you would show your face, she said. I was beginning to wonder if you cared about these two girls at all.
April looked up at her and realized it had all been hopeless from the beginning. There was no way she could walk into Kit Kingsley’s house and take her children back. People like the Kingsley’s didn’t lose. That was why they were who they were. They planned for everything, they stacked the deck in their favor, and people like April never stood a chance.
—Jack, she said but there was nothing for him to say back to her.
The guards forced Jack and Jimmy away down the hall, led by the man with the keys. They were going to be locked up somewhere in the house. April wondered what might happen to them when Herb and Walter and the other men got back. She clutched as tightly as she could to the girls as Jack and Jimmy were escorted away to another room in that massive house.
—Say goodbye to your friends, Kit said, her voice sounding more evil than anything April could remember. You’re not going to be seeing them again.
—Kit, April said. They’ve got nothing to do with this.
—You should have thought about that before you dragged them into it, shouldn’t you? Kit said. Those two aren’t going to live long, and they’ll have you to blame.
April began to weep. She knew that whatever happened to Jack and Jimmy would be on her conscience for ever.
XI
APRIL’S CLUTCH ON HER CHILDREN tightened when Kit began to make her way across the room.
—It’s no use resisting, April. In a few years these girls will love me more than they ever loved you. I doubt they’ll even remember your name.
Kit had a cruel leer on her face.
—I won’t let you take them from me again, Kit. Wherever you’re taking them, I’m going too.
—Now, now, April. Don’t make a scene.
Kit motioned to one of the guards and he came over with his gun. As soon as he laid his hand on Mary’s arm April began to panic.
—No, she said. You can’t take her. Please!
Mary and Lucy were both crying and clinging to their mother. April was holding them in her arms as tightly as she could but it was all pointless. The guard had his gun out and April could see that he was pointing it not at her, but at Lucy’s beautiful blonde head.
—How could you? she said to Kit in utter disbelief as she released her grip on the children. How can you do this to another woman? It’s not right.
The two girls clung to her but she felt her muscles slacken as she gave them up. There was no way she could cling to them with a man pointing a gun at them.
—Where are you taking them? She said to Kit as the guards gathered them up and began to drag them from the room.
The girls were screaming for their mother and it made April’s heart break to listen to them.
—Don’t you worry about them, Kit said. I’m going to take good care of them. They’re barely going to remember any of this in a few years. You’ll see. They’ll be perfect children and they’ll be a credit to me and Herb.
—You can’t just steal someone else’s babies, Kit.
—Oh, April. So naive. Just watch me.
April was shaking her head. She couldn’t understand what made a woman like Kit tick. It made no sense to her at all. Why would anyone want to steal another person’s children? Why would they wish to inflict so much suffering on another human being?
—Why, Kit? she said.
There was just one other guard with them in the room now, standing by the door with his hand on the gun at his hip.
—What do you think it’s like to be me, April? Kit asked.
April didn’t care what it was like to be Kit. She just wanted a chance to live her own life peacefully, with her own children, and she wasn’t interested in getting inside this woman’s head. She shook her head but Kit continued.
—You see, April. I have everything. Don’t I? Money, power, beauty, sex. What more could someone like me possibly crave?
—I don’t know, April said.
—I want what you have, April. That’s what I want. I want to take your life away from you. I want all the things you hold dear. I want to possess you, I want to own you, I want to own your family. I want to own your very existence.
—What do you mean?
Kit let an ugly smile cross her thin lips.
—You’ll learn, she said.
The guard who had escorted Jack and Jimmy away returned. Kit nodded at him and he came over to April and took her shirt in his hands and pulled it off her. She hadn’t been wearing a bra and her breasts were exposed.
April knew what was coming. Kit meant to completely dominate her, body and soul, and she was going to start with sexual domination. She hardly cared anymore. It seemed everything she had seen and experienced in the past few weeks, ever since coming to The Oaks, had been focused entirely on possessing and dominating her. It was no longer new or shocking. It was just the way things had been, and now it seemed, it was the way things would always be.
—What have you done with my friends? she said to the guard.
Kit answered for him.
—Don’t worry about your friends, dear. If you really cared about them you would have thought of their safety before you brought them into this. This is my domain, you are my property, your life is mine, and I’m a very private person. I’m not going to allow those two to get away and tell the world they’ve seen.
—What do you mean?
—They’re going to have to disappear, child.
—Disappear?
April’s mind reeled as she struggled to comprehend the enormity of the situation. Jack and Jimmy were going to be killed. And it was because of her that it was all going to happen. Everything she’d tried had been for nothing.
The guard removed her shoes and pulled down her sweat pants. She wasn’t even wearing any underwear. She hadn’t had any back at Jack’s and she’d refused to wear the corset and garters she’d brought from the hotel. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she had showered and dressed at Jack’s apartment. It had only been that morning. For a brief time she’d felt free. She’d seen what it would be like to be another person, to live a life with a good man like Jack and not have to worry about the pressures and perversions of a life within the arrangement. She should have known it was too good to last. She should have run. But how could she when her children were here, with these people? She’d allowed her children to be taken from her once before and she was paying for it now. But at least she hadn’t abandoned them completely, she thought. She’d come back for them and they would always remember that. They would remember, wouldn’t they? Kit said they’d forget all about her but she knew people’s memories were less fickle than that. They would remember their mother and they would remember that she had come back for them, even if it had cost her everything.
She was completely naked at this point, utterly defeated. Kit had won on every front. Her friends were locked up, probably going to be shot if she could believe what Kit told her. Her children were locked away somewhere, she might not even be allowed to see them again. And Kit had her in the only position she seemed to be any good for, naked on a bed.
The guard who had taken the girls away had returned now too, leaving her alone in the room with Kit and three armed, uniformed guards. As all of her hope slipped away like an evening sun slipping beneath the horizon, she decided to surrender herself to whatever Kit had in store for her. If there was one thing she had learned it was that resistance really was futile. She had been crazy to think someone l
ike her, someone who came from nothing, who had grown up in motels and boarding houses, could stand up against someone as powerful and determined as Kit Kingsley. Why fight what you cannot defeat?
Kit was looking at her now, smiling evilly as if reading her mind. It was as if she could see April surrender before her eyes and she approved of it. What Kit wanted was to dominate, to exert her will over the will of another. She wanted to dominate the weakness that was April’s will and completely break it. That was the drug that Kit was addicted to. By now, April was letting her own thoughts and her own will dissolve, but dimly she became aware of what made Kit tick. Kit wanted to dominate her like slave owners had dominated their slaves in the past, like queens had dominated their subjects, like the powerful would ever dominate the weak.
—Get on the floor, Kit said.
Her voice was harsh and cruel.
Naked and utterly overcome by the power that she faced, April’s only option was to comply. She got off the bed and onto the floor and remained there, on her hands and knees, like a meek dog.
—Come over here and lick my hand, Kit said.
April made to get up but Kit said, —No! Crawl.
April looked at the three guards who were watching this demonstration of Kit’s power with a lustful greed. She crawled toward Kit and Kit held out her hand in front of her. When April reached it she began to lick the hand as if she really was Kit’s dog.
—That’s it, Kit said, satisfied with April’s compliance.
Kit began to move her hand toward her crotch and April didn’t have to think very hard to see where this was going. Kit was wearing a long skirt that went down to her ankles and as April continued licking the horrible woman’s tired, old hand, Kit began to hike the long skirt up to her waist, revealing a pair of cotton panties. As Kit moved her hand toward the panties, April was forced to follow until she was right up against Kit’s crotch. Kit then put her hand on the panties, so that April was licking the hand and also the dry, white cotton.
Kit then let the long skirt fall back down over April. April was now inside the skirt, and something about being under that skirt made her feel smaller and more humiliated than anything that Kit had ever done previously. She knew what Kit expected of her and she no longer had the will to resist. She began licking the soft, white flesh on the inside of Kit’s thighs before gradually moving upward toward the white panties. She licked at the edge of the panties, where the elasticated seam met Kit’s leg, pushing her tongue against the elastic and trying to get her tongue inside. She thought she would be able to move the panties aside with her tongue and get to Kit’s vagina but she wasn’t able. She didn’t think she was allowed to use her hands so she stopped trying to get inside with her tongue and began licking the front of the cotton, probing at the soft flesh beneath the thin layer of fabric. She could make out the indentation of Kit’s vaginal lips through the panty and pressed her tongue against them, trying to stimulate them through the cotton. The fabric was dry against her tongue and instead of licking it she tried to apply pressure to Kit’s pussy gently, pushing her tongue into the soft mound rather than licking up and down like she usually would.