I looked and found a note written in a handwriting I knew all too well. Telling me that I was just making it worse for myself by not letting him have me. And calling me by that godawful pet name I hated so much. “Doll.”
“Oh, my God,” I whimpered. “Hugh. It’s Hugh.”
Ezra took the phone out of my hands, but they remained there, suspended in mid-air. I tried to make them move, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t move a muscle, and I couldn’t make my brain come up with any more words.
So many things started slotting into place.
Every time I’d ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend or been photographed with anyone in a remotely intimate setting, he’d yelled at me about it, like I was supposed to check myself into a nunnery or something.
When the picture of Samantha and I kissing had been leaked, he’d called me almost immediately screaming at me, and she’d been jumped that same night. Because I’d told him who I was with.
Not a lot of people knew how important playing piano was to me. Sure, people knew I could play, but not a lot of people knew that I wrote most of my songs at my piano, or that I had that mixing board keyboard on my bus. The exact same one he’d put in that bedroom.
“How…how am I supposed to keep myself safe when the person who’s trying to kidnap me knows almost everything about me?” I sniffled. “He knows how I take my coffee. He knows how much playing piano means to me. He knows everyone on my crew, and he could pay any one of them off to hurt me backstage. And he knows everywhere I’d go. I can’t go home. I can’t go to any of my friends’ houses. And if I disappear, all he has to do is call the police and say he’s my manager and I’ve gone missing. They’ll do everything they can to find me, because I’m a celebrity. There’s nowhere I can go where he won’t find me, Ezra.”
“Deep breaths, angel,” Ezra murmured, pulling me back into his arms. “He’s not going to touch you. Not as long as I’m still breathing. I won’t let him. And I called Jack, our contact at the FBI, on the way back here. Left a message on his cell. Two home invasions and a note should be enough to get him on board. And I still have every shred of evidence we’ve collected against Hugh. We’ll get him. I promise you.”
I nodded robotically, but the agonizing truth still remained. Hugh would find me. It was just a matter of time. Eventually, he’d catch up to me. He’d take me, and I’d end up chained up in that bedroom for the rest of my life.
I knew him well enough to know that he’d stop at nothing to make his sick fantasy a reality. When he wanted something, he didn’t stop until he got it, and he didn’t care who he had to take out in the process. And, in this case, that meant that he’d kill anyone who got in his way.
More tears fell as I realized what I had to do: I had to get as far away from Ezra and Arielle as I could. I had to give up the man I loved and the little girl I’d started to think of as my own daughter. I had to let them go to keep them safe.
The clock on the cable box read one-forty-seven in the morning and Ezra’s quiet snoring echoed in the bedroom as I got dressed in the baggiest clothes I owned and donned a hoodie and baseball cap, making sure my huge sunglasses were in my purse for when it was light outside. I choked down round after round of bile and tears streamed down my face as I hastily threw everything I’d brought with me back into my duffel bag.
I hated leaving like this, slinking away like a thief in the night, but I knew Ezra would never let me go if I told him about my plan. And if he thought I’d left him and Arielle without a word, he wouldn’t try to find me. I knew Ezra cared about me, and his poor sweet little girl loved me so much. I knew it would break their hearts to wake up and find me gone. But if I broke their hearts, at least they’d still be alive. I had to hurt them if I was going to save them from being caught in the crossfires of the insanity I was in the middle of.
I started to walk out of the bedroom and head out to where the cab I’d called was going to be pulling up at any minute, but I stopped and turned around. This was probably going to be the last time I saw them. And if this was it, there was something I had to tell both of them. I walked back to the bed and pressed a kiss to Ezra’s temple.
“I love you, Ezra,” I whispered, sniffling quietly. “So much. I’m sorry. But I’m doing this for you.”
His snores didn’t falter once, telling me he was still dead to the world.
I quietly slipped out of the master bedroom and choked down a sob as I tiptoed to the guest room, where his beautiful little girl was sleeping, clutching the stuffed Sven the reindeer that I’d bought for her just a few days ago while we were in the city. With more tears streaming down my face, I bent down and kissed her hair.
“I love you so much, sweet girl,” I whispered, choking back a sob. “I’m so sorry I have to leave you like this, but it’s the only way I can keep you safe.”
Arielle stirred quietly, and for a horrifying second, I thought she was going to wake up. But she just rolled over, eyes still closed, and stayed asleep. I pulled her blanket up around her shoulders, kissed her head one more time, and walked out of the room.
Just as I was closing the bedroom door behind me, my phone buzzed, telling me that my cab was here. I hurried to the front door, slipped out, and slid into the backseat.
“How’re you doing tonight, ma’am?” the woman in the driver’s seat asked.
“Can we start with a less complicated question?” I sniffled as I disabled the GPS on my phone and put it on airplane mode so the signal couldn’t be tracked.
“Okay. Where to?”
“The Greyhound bus station.”
I paid cash for a one-way ticket to Providence, which was in the complete opposite direction of where I was really headed: Foxburg, Pennsylvania. My hometown. The one place Hugh wouldn’t think to look for me, because he thought I’d cut off all ties with my family. But I hadn’t. There was one family member I still talked to: my cousin, Jillian. And she’d always told me that if I ever needed to get away, I was welcome in her house.
I picked up a map and headed straight for the ladies’ room, locking myself in a stall and sitting on the toilet tank so my feet were hidden. And, safely away from prying eyes, I worked out a route I could take, once I’d laid my false trail. I didn’t know if Hugh had a tail on me, so I knew I couldn’t just go directly to Foxburg. I needed to zig and zag a little and try to lose myself in the crowds of multiple bus stations before slipping into a cab at the bus station in Pittsburgh.
Looking at the schedule, if I got the bus from Providence to Newark, then the bus from Newark to Allentown, and finally, the bus from Allentown to Pittsburgh, I’d end up at Jillian’s house at around one. She worked from home, so she’d be there no matter when I arrived.
“Bus to Providence leaving in ten minutes!” came the disembodied voice over the intercom system.
A sob tore from my throat as I exited the bathroom stall, stopping to wash my hands and my face. There was no turning back now. I was leaving the man I loved and, more than likely, spending the rest of my life on the run from a deranged psycho.
“You look really familiar,” a guy in his mid-twenties said as he slid into the seat next to me on the bus in Allentown. “Do I know you from somewhere?”
“No, I don’t think so,” I said in my best imitation of Samantha’s Boston accent. “Must just have one of those faces, I guess.”
“Oh, my God! I know what it is! Anyone ever tell you that you look exactly like that singer, Daphne DeVille?” he chortled.
Honestly, I was surprised he recognized me that easily. I wasn’t wearing any makeup, all of my hair—with the pink highlights that were a dead giveaway—was covered by my hoodie and baseball cap, and half of my face was covered by my sunglasses.
“Yeah, I get that all the time,” I said, still keeping up the fake accent.
“I’m Ezra. What’s your name?”
I couldn’t help it. Just hearing that name brought tears to my eyes and I choked down a sob. I missed Ezra and Arielle so much. It felt like
I’d ripped my heart out of my chest and left it in that beach house with them. And the thought that I’d never see them again was like a white-hot knife being plunged right into my gut.
“Sam,” I sniffled. “My name’s Sam.”
“Thanks so much. Have a great day,” I said to the cab driver as I got out of the car and hoisted my duffel bag over my shoulder.
“You too, hon,” he said.
I shut the door and took a deep breath as I turned around and walked toward the house I hadn’t visited in almost three years. I hoped to God that Jillian’s open invitation still stood, because I hadn’t called to let her know I was coming. I hadn’t wanted the call to be able to be traced, and I hadn’t wanted to risk anyone hearing me and knowing where I was going.
I guessed I’d find out soon enough, though. I took another breath and took my sunglasses off, then knocked on the door. In less than a minute, the door opened and I was staring into my cousin’s wide eyes.
“Daph,” she gasped. “Oh, my God.”
“Jill,” I sobbed, falling into her open arms. “I need help.”
I woke to an empty bed, but unlike when this had happened before, I didn’t hear any noise. Usually, I’d hear if Daphne was already awake and in the kitchen or the bathroom. But today, it was dead quiet.
I looked in the direction of the en suite bathroom, and the door was open and the light was off.
I got up and went to the kitchen, hoping that I’d find her there, but in my gut, I knew I wouldn’t. She wouldn’t let me make love to her last night, and when she kissed me goodnight…I couldn’t explain it, but it felt like goodbye.
“Daph?” I called futilely.
Rushing back to the bedroom, I looked in her dresser drawer to find every last thing she’d brought with her gone. Her phone wasn’t on her nightstand and her charging cord wasn’t plugged in anymore.
My stomach dropped to the floor. She was gone, with no protection, while her deranged psycho manager was out there looking for her so he could kidnap her and keep her in a fucking dungeon he’d made for her.
“God damn it, Daph,” I choked out, sinking down to the bed.
Tears started to fall as I tried to figure out why she would have left like this, without even a goodbye. Just like Katelynn did.
Now she was gone, and what was left? The pieces of my broken heart, and the pieces of Arielle’s broken heart when she realized the closest thing she’d ever had to a mother was gone. Daphne had left us, just like Katelynn did. And, once again, I had no idea why.
I didn’t know how long I’d been sitting there when I felt little arms wrap around my neck. I choked back a fresh round of tears as I pulled my daughter onto my lap and held her tight.
“Daphne left,” she sniffled. “In the middle of the night.”
“Yeah. She did,” I agreed.
“She said she loved me. And she said she was sorry.”
“What?” I asked, pulling back to look at her.
“She came into my room last night. She was crying, and she kissed my head and whispered that she loved me and she was sorry she had to leave me, but it was the only way she could keep me safe. She thought I was asleep, but I wasn’t,” she explained. “Why would she just leave like that, Daddy? If she loves us, why would she leave us?”
My eyes stung again. Of course that was why she’d left. She’d been frozen in terror last night, convinced that Hugh would find her, no matter where she went. So she’d left because she was scared of him hurting us when he found her.
What the fuck had she been thinking? I choked down the bile that rose in my throat as I thought of Daphne alone, holed up God knew where, afraid for her life.
Damn it. I had to find her. And I had to make sure that when I did, she wouldn’t leave again. I needed to make her understand that we were in this together, no matter what happened. I had to make sure she knew that I would die before I let him touch her.
I pondered for a second how to explain all of this to an eight-year-old girl. I didn’t want to scare her, but at the same time, I wanted her to understand why Daphne had left her, and why I was about to take her back to her grandparents’ house so I could leave too. And I decided that she deserved a simple version of the truth.
“Do you remember what I said when I told you that Daphne was coming back home with me?” I asked. “And why I told you it was so important that no one knew she was coming here?”
“You said she was in trouble and needed to go somewhere safe,” Arielle said.
“That’s right. Someone’s been trying to hurt her, and I’ve been helping keep her safe. The reason we came here to the beach was because someone broke into Daphne’s house and damaged a bunch of her stuff and she was scared of them finding out where our house was. And then when I had to go back home last night, I found out that person broke into our house too. Daphne left because she was scared they were going to find her here, and she was scared that they’d try to hurt us too,” I told her. “She left because she loves us. Because she was trying to keep us from getting hurt.”
“But if she’s gone, who’s keeping her from getting hurt?” she sniffled.
“No one. And that’s why I’m going to take you back to Grandma and Grandpa’s. So I can try to find her.”
When I knocked on the door, my mom answered wearing a look that told me she was expecting this.
“Mom, I need to leave Ari with you for a little bit,” I told her, then bent down and hugged Arielle. “I love you, munchkin. Be good for Grandma and Grandpa.”
“I will,” she sniffled. “Love you too.”
“Ari, sweetheart, can you let your dad and I talk for a minute?” my mom asked.
“Okay,” Arielle said, running off in the direction of her bedroom.
I sighed and looked back at my mom. “Look, I need to get going. I don’t have time to waste.”
“On what? A tramp who’s been cheating on her fiancé by playing happy family with you and your daughter?” she scoffed.
“Excuse me?”
“Her manager called me, worried sick. He said they’re getting married and she just disappeared without a trace. Asked if she was here,” she said. “Daphne’s been having an affair with you behind her manager’s—no, her fiancé’s—back.”
Realization dawned, and I felt like punching something.
“Mom, what did you do?” I said slowly, praying that I was wrong. Praying that my mom hadn’t actually taken the word of someone she’d never laid eyes on over the word of her own son.
“You weren’t going to see it any other way. Just like in high school when that girl used you and left you saddled with a baby to take care of while she ran off into the night and pawned the ring you bought for her,” she insisted. “I told you Daphne was hiding something, Ezra! But you were too blinded by lust to see it!”
“Mom, I’m going to ask you this one more time, and so help me God, if I think you’re lying to me, I will make sure you never lay eyes on your granddaughter again. What the fuck did you do?” I growled.
“I told her fiancé the truth when he called me asking if she was here. That’s all,” she insisted.
My eyes stung, and I had to blink back tears. The woman I loved had been chased out of my life because my own mother had led the man who was trying to kidnap her right to my doorstep.
I turned around and walked to my car, popping the trunk and grabbing the evidence box that I kept everything from her stalker—who we now knew was Hugh—in. Then I walked back into my parents’ house without a word, shutting the door behind me and heading to the kitchen table. I heard her following me, but I didn’t turn around to look at her until I’d pulled every last bit of evidence out of the box and laid it out on the table for her.
“Didn’t you ever wonder why I told you it was so important that no one knew where Daphne was?” I choked out. “Didn’t you find it odd that I asked you if she could keep her damn tour bus parked on this property instead of garaged where she normally kept it? Someone’s bee
n anonymously terrorizing her since before I even joined the tour. The whole reason she fired half of her crew, and the whole reason my team was brought on in the middle of her tour, was because things started happening that she couldn’t stop, and no one would admit to knowing anything.”
I pulled out the picture of that godforsaken room and shoved it in my mom’s face.
“This is the person you talked to, Mom. Someone who wants to chain her up like a slave and do God knows what else to her. You robbed me of the first real relationship I’ve had since Katelynn, and you robbed Arielle of the closest thing she’s ever had to a mother. All because you took the word of someone you’ve never even laid eyes on over the word of your own son.”
“Some mother. The girl’s in her twenties, Ezra. And she’s traveling all around the world living some pipe dream. She’s not a suitable mother for Arielle.”
“Are you actually defending what you did, Mom?!” I exclaimed quietly, trying to make sure Arielle didn’t hear. “Do you know the last thing Daphne did before she ran away, terrified for her life? She walked into Ari’s bedroom, kissed her head, and whispered that she loved her and she was sorry she had to leave. She thought Ari was asleep, but she wasn’t, and she heard every word. Daphne loves my daughter so much that she snuck away in the middle of the night because she was trying to protect her from a dangerous man that you led right to our doorstep.”
“Mom?” came Rachel’s voice.
I turned to look at my sister, who was standing in the kitchen entryway with wide eyes.
“Tell me he’s wrong, Mom. Tell me you didn’t actually tell Daphne’s stalker where she was,” Rachel said.
“He told me they were engaged and she ran away!” my mom insisted.
“Didn’t you listen to a fucking word Ezra said when he brought Daphne here? Didn’t you hear him telling you that someone was trying to hurt her and he brought her here for her protection? Or were you so focused on finding any possible reason why you couldn’t trust her that you completely ignored him? I’ve never seen Ezra so happy, Mom. And I’ve never seen Ari so happy. How could you destroy that? And how could you not use your brain for two seconds when someone you’ve never spoken to in your life called you asking where Daphne was?”
Falling Angel Page 26