by Nicole Fox
She narrowed her eyes. “Recently? So you have been arrested? Have you been in jail?”
He clenched his jaw and nodded.
“When? For how long?”
The last thing he wanted to do was sit there and describe his horrible decade and what led to it. He tried to give her enough info to satisfy her interest without going too much into it.
“A while ago, for about ten years,” he said. A year maybe wasn’t quite “a while ago,” but it would do for now.
She shook her head. “There’s no way I could handle watching you sit in jail for ten years. And who knows. It might be more. What if they put you away for life and it was my fault? I couldn’t live with that.”
She really cared more about his freedom than being rid of her ex? Well, her plan backfired. Knowing that just made him want to do it that much more. She had such a good heart, even for this man who had done nothing but treat her and her daughter badly. It was almost crazy that she didn’t want him dead. But the fact that she’d rather send him to jail to spare Hunter gave his heart a little spark like he’d never felt before.
Usually people wanted him to do their dirty work and didn’t much care what happened to him. They were paying for a service, and if he failed to keep himself out of trouble, it was on him. When he’d gotten caught killing his high school girlfriend’s father, he’d been so in love and so angered that she’d faced the same thing he had, that nothing would have stopped him from going through with it. Except maybe the truth of knowing her father hadn’t really done the things she claimed.
He looked over at Vanessa, at the determined look in her eyes. Then he decided to lie. At least for now. “Okay. Then let’s figure out how to get evidence against him.”
“Really?”
“It’ll take a lot. And we’ll keep killing him as a backup plan.”
As far as she was concerned. It was his main plan. But she didn’t need to know that. She could try to find evidence, and when it didn’t work, he’d come in and save the day. She wouldn’t even have to know until it was done. He could stage the photos while she was sleeping. Not that he even needed to go that far. He could go right now and sneak up on the bastard and take him out. Just like any other hit.
“I like it better as a backup. I don’t want you to get in trouble, but even if I knew you wouldn’t, I don’t want to know that you took another life because of me. That has to affect your soul. And I don’t want to be responsible for a dark place in any part of you.”
He took her hand and kissed it as he drove off. “You’re the brightest thing in my life.”
# # #
“Turn here,” Vanessa said, a plan suddenly coming into her mind.
“Why?”
“I have an idea. We might not know how to get evidence, but I know someone who will.”
She gave him directions to Mari’s family’s farm house. The closer they got, the more the excitement and anxiety built in her. She was about to see Opal—she hoped. There was still the chance something had gone wrong. When they pulled up and saw Mari’s car, there was some relief. When she knocked on the door and heard small feet running, her worry vanished, and she held only joy in her heart.
Opal tore the door open and grinned up at her. “Mommy! We’ve been having so much fun!”
Vanessa wrapped her arms tight around her little girl. Mari had kept her hidden and safe. Just as she promised.
“Heya,” Mari said, coming around the corner. “How’s everything?” She gave Vanessa a meaningful look.
“Things are… okay.” Vanessa pressed her lips together and glanced over at Hunter.
Mari’s eyes ran over him, then back to Vanessa. A hint of a smile played at her lips. “Opal, do you want to go watch the movie we started watching earlier? I have to catch Mommy up on some things.”
“Okay.” Opal hopped off into the living room.
Mari led Vanessa and Hunter into the kitchen. “Can I get you anything?”
“Water would be great,” Vanessa said.
Mari filled a glass and set it in front of her at the table, then slid into a seat. “So?”
“We need your help,” Vanessa said. “Well, more than you’ve already given us.”
“Of course,” Mari said, leaning closer.
“Child Protective Services showed up at my house this morning. On a report of child abuse.”
Mari sucked in a breath. “What happened?”
“Well, Opal wasn’t there, so not much. He’s going to come back. That’s not the main thing we need help with, though.” She glanced over at Hunter again, knowing this had to work if she was going to save him from committing murder on her behalf. “We need to build a case against Jeremy, so we can have him locked up. Otherwise, he’ll have me killed. He’s already tried.”
Mari’s face grew sad and worried. “So, the men who are after you—”
“Aren’t just after me to get Opal. Jeremy hired Hunter to kill me. Luckily, Hunter has a conscience and decided not to go through with it.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she worried that she might have done something wrong. Sure, Mari was on their side, trying to help save them, but Hunter probably didn’t want a bunch of people knowing the truth. Maybe he would be really pissed about this. She didn’t look at him.
Mari gave Hunter another look, longer this time. She held her hand where Hunter couldn’t see it and gave Vanessa a thumbs up. Despite what he was capable of, Mari approved. It almost made Vanessa laugh. She’d gone from being married to a wife beater to sleeping with a hit man. She sure knew how to pick them.
“The problem is,” Vanessa continued, “I don’t know how we can get evidence to have Jeremy arrested. Right now, there’s more evidence pointing to me than to him.”
“You said CPS came and will come again,” Mari said. “So use that to your advantage.”
“How can I? Jeremy already accused me of hurting Opal.”
“Exactly. So turn it around. Tell the truth. Tell them what he did to you and Opal and what he’s doing now. They have to listen and do a full investigation. Use emails, text messages, phone messages, photos, whatever you have that will show how Jeremy hurt you and paint a picture of what he’s really like.”
“You think that will work? They’re not going to think I’m making it all up?”
“Vanessa. They won’t find any proof at all of you mistreating Opal. And when they talk to her—”
“Whoa. Talk to her? I’m not letting her go off with some CPS guy and let him scare her. What if she misunderstands or says something wrong?”
Mari put her hand over Vanessa’s. “Trust her. She’ll tell the truth. And you’ll instruct her to tell the whole truth. It might seem scary, but having her talk to the CPS guy will help. He can see what Opal is like and how happy she is, and when she tells him the truth, he’ll understand.”
Vanessa sucked in a long breath and looked to Hunter. “Do you agree?”
“I think Nicholas will know Opal isn’t lying. They’re trained to look for that sort of thing. To see if a parent has coached a kid in a certain way.”
“And you think having the CPS guy—Nicholas—on our side will help in a case against Jeremy? Won’t it look bad that Jeremy called him, and I didn’t if I was the one being hurt?”
“Not when you outline the whole picture,” Mari said. “You’ll show how scared you were, and how Jeremy manipulated the doctors before, and tell them you were afraid he’d do it again. You’ll show them text messages and other ways he tormented you for the years of your marriage, so that they see why you were afraid to go to the authorities. When they understand what he did to you and see the influence he has where he is because of his money and connections, they’ll get it.”
Vanessa chewed her lip. “What are the chances this could go horribly wrong and Jeremy will somehow have all these people in his pocket and end up turning this around on me?”
Mari looked away and exchanged glances with Hunter.
“Don’t worry abo
ut that,” Hunter said. “First of all, you have us as witnesses, too. And besides that, if he somehow pulls that off, then I’ll take care of it.”
Right. The backup plan she never intended to put into use. The one she’d told him she was fine with in case things went wrong, but that she was so not fine with. Though, if Jeremy did manage to take Opal, maybe she would change her mind. Could she eventually get rid of the guilt if it meant keeping Opal safe and with her?
Chapter Seventeen
Vanessa
With Opal home, Vanessa tried to maintain their normal schedule, but it was difficult. For one thing, Hunter was staying with them for added security. That alone put her on edge, because she was in the constant struggle of knowing they could never work, but still wanting him and needing him. Every night she found herself longing for him.
There was also the constant waiting. Every time she heard any sort of bang, she thought it was someone knocking on the door. It could be CPS, back to talk to Opal, or it could be Jeremy or one of his goons, coming to kill her or take Opal, or both. She slept little, though having Hunter in her bed helped.
Going to work and school was just as bad. Maybe worse. She couldn’t have an eye on Opal the whole day, but she felt confident in Mari and knew she’d keep her safe. But the class wasn’t with their teacher every second of the day. Hunter was nearby and watched the school. Even with all of that, Vanessa had to walk by Opal’s classroom many times a day to be comforted that she was still there and safe.
What was perhaps the most disturbing thing of all was the silence from every direction. The black van hadn’t returned, nor was there any other vehicle watching or following them. There had been no contact from Jeremy. CPS had not returned. The quiet, this sense of false peace made her uneasy. She waited for something to happen, and the more time that passed without incident, the more uneasy she became.
On the evening of the fourth day of silence, Vanessa stood in the kitchen, drying dishes and cleaning up after dinner. In the next room, she could hear Opal and Hunter.
“You cheated last time we played Candy Land!” Opal protested.
Hunter laughed. “I did not! The card said to take the shortcut.”
Opal harrumphed. “How come I never got the shortcut?”
“I don’t know. Maybe this time you will.”
“Okay. But I want to be the blue piece.”
“That’s fine,” Hunter said. “I’ll even let you go first.”
“Really?”
Vanessa could hear the excitement in Opal’s voice. She’d been having fun with him. She seemed to like him being there. It was moments like this that made her wonder. Having him there for the last four days, where his guns were mostly put away, where he sat and had dinner with them and played with Opal, it all seemed very cozy. He didn’t feel like a killer. He felt like he belonged there with them.
Why was it that the man she had feelings for, the one who made her feel so safe, who seemed to get along great with Opal, and who Opal liked back, the man who was ready to kill for her—and wasn’t just saying that—the man who had already protected her and taken care of her. This was the one man who seemed to have it all. Except he also had a dirty past and his present and future weren’t too clean, either. He was off limits. There was no way around it. She could enjoy him now, but their time would end, and she would have to say goodbye.
# # #
Hunter moved his game piece along the board. He never thought he’d actually enjoy playing a game like Candy Land. Not in a million years. He’d never planned to have kids of his own. But somehow, Opal made it fun. She put so much energy and excitement into each move, growing overjoyed when she got ahead, and sticking out her lower lip in a pout when she was behind. He almost threw the game just to see her grin, but it was just as much as fun to challenge her to a rematch if she lost.
He tried to talk to her, but she was harder to crack when it came to family life.
“So, what’s your daddy like?” he asked.
Opal shrugged. “I don’t see him anymore. Oh look, I got doubles!” She happily moved her game piece along the board.
“Did he ever hurt you?” Hunter could see Vanessa in the kitchen, cleaning up. They’d talked about this, though, and they needed to see what sort of things Opal would say so they could be prepared when Nicholas came back.
“Umm, I don’t know.” Opal’s face fell and she looked intently at her game piece. “I think it’s your turn.”
Every time he tried to get her to talk, she brought the subject back to the game. He decided to try a different method. Maybe if she felt more comfortable with him in general, she’d talk more.
“What’s your teacher like?” he asked.
A big grin stretched across her face. “Miss Snyder is the best. She’s so nice and fun, and always helps me understand math when it’s not making sense.”
“It never makes sense to me,” he confessed. “Too many numbers moving all around.”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “I like reading better.”
“I always liked science. And gym class. Do you like gym?”
“Sometimes. Games are fun, but the boys can be mean.”
“Really?” He pretended to look surprised. This was the perfect in, though. This is what he’d been hoping for. “That’s not good. How are they mean?”
“They throw the ball too hard.”
“Did they ever hurt you?”
“Sometimes. I don’t like playing dodge ball with them. They’re not supposed to aim for the head, but they always do, and then when the gym teacher yells at them, they just say, ‘Oh, it was an accident, I didn’t throw it right.’ But they’re lying.”
“Lying isn’t good. Had anyone else ever hurt you?”
She shrugged again. “I guess.”
“Like your mommy or daddy?”
“Not really. I don’t know.”
“Not really?” He didn’t want to press her too hard, but he needed to know she would be able to talk to the CPS guy and tell him the truth. “It’s okay to tell the truth. No one here is going to hurt you.”
“I know that.”
“But did your daddy ever hurt you?”
She was quiet for a long time, then said, “Hey, when did you get the gumdrop card? I don’t remember that. Are you cheating?”
“Me? No way! I would never do that.” He flipped his cards over to show her the one with the little gumdrop. Maybe she would eventually see that she could trust him. But would she trust this Nicholas guy when he came back?
Later that night, he lay in bed beside Vanessa, talking about it. “I’m just worried she’ll do the same thing with Nicholas and not talk.”
“Hopefully when he comes back, and we’ll be there, we can help her tell the truth. If I’m saying it’s okay, that might make a difference. She doesn’t know you, so you saying it’s okay to tell the truth isn’t going to be as meaningful.”
“Right. I hope that’s all it takes.” He reached over to pull her close and kiss her.
On Saturday morning, after they’d finished breakfast, there was a knock at the door. Vanessa looked to Hunter with wide, terrified eyes. He waited for her to put the plan into place. Get Opal out of the room so he could answer the door, just in case it was Jeremy or someone coming to take her.
Vanessa took her into the bedroom and Hunter pulled out his gun, then loaded a bullet in the chamber. He stood facing the door and shouted, “Who is it?”
“Nicholas Johnson, from Child Protective Services.”
Hunter reset the gun and put it back in his pocket, then unlocked the door. He stuck out his hand to shake Nicholas’s. “Hiya,” he said. “Let me get Vanessa and Opal.”
Hunter closed the door behind Nicholas and called out for Vanessa as he went to the bedroom. “He’s here,” he said to her when he entered the room.
“Okay.” Vanessa blew out a breath. “Opal, a man is here to talk to you, okay?”
Opal looked confused, but Vanessa took her hand and led
her out to the living room.
“You must be Opal,” Nicholas said, crouching down.
She nodded and put her hands behind her back.
“My name is Nicholas. Is it okay if we sit down and talk for a few minutes?”
Opal looked to Vanessa. “Go ahead, honey. You can sit down, and Mr. Johnson will just talk to you for a few minutes.”
Nicholas smiled at Vanessa. “Thanks.” He sat beside the Opal on the sofa.
“Make sure you tell Mr. Johnson the truth, okay?” Vanessa said. “It’s okay to tell him everything.”