Perfectly Seduced

by Lacey Silks

  “Maybe you can, but not until I’m done and I know your mom is safe, all right? I’ll come get you when it’s all over, okay?”

  He nodded.

  “Good. Do you have Uncle Dave on speed dial?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ten minutes. I’ll see you soon, buddy.”

  Parker threw his arms around my neck and squeezed until I couldn’t breathe. I gently stroked his back in reassurance, silently wishing someone could do the same for me.

  Wimp!

  I needed to get a grip on all these new feelings coursing through me. But it was difficult when the people you loved were in danger and their lives were in your hands.

  “Everything will be fine, Parker. I promise.”

  He didn’t say anything. I locked the car door and headed for the private forensics center where April worked. As expected, the front door was open. Once I reached the third floor, I could hear the low conversation between her and Simon.

  “Please, you need to let me go.”

  Her voice was slurred as if she were drunk, and I suspected he had given her a sedative.

  “Not until I have the money.”

  “It’s not here.”

  “I fucking know it’s not here. If your boyfriend wants you in one piece, though, he’ll bring it all. One more minute, sweetheart.”

  Was that why April didn’t like me calling her sweets and sweetheart? I promised myself I’d never tease her again.

  I peeked around the corner. Behind a glass wall I saw April tied down to what looked like a metal table, prepped like a corpse to be examined. Except corpses didn’t have ropes around their wrists and ankles. The scene made me want to puke. I quickly scanned her body. She had a cut just above the brow, and the thought of this fucker hitting her made me want to use one of the apparatuses on the wall, specifically the saw, and cut him into pieces. Was there a human-sized grinder I could use? Because pulverizing him sounded like a much better idea. But Simon was holding a gun in his right hand.

  Fuck!

  Given I was unarmed, I might as well have gone in. There was no point in waiting.

  “April?” I called out. “I’m here.”

  When my gaze met Simon’s, I could have strangled him with my eyes. He lifted his gun and pointed it right at me, and I checked my pouring hatred.

  “No, don’t!” April yelled.

  “Spread your legs and put your hands up,” he ordered. Simon’s beard was overgrown, and the dirt that had collected on his clothes, hands, and around his neck was visible from the ten feet that separated us.

  I took three more steps before complying. Anything to get closer to her.

  “I’m not armed,” I said.

  “Where’s the money?” He shook his hand at me. Something clattered in the over-the-shoulder bag he was carrying, and I saw April’s eyes go wide at the sound. She knew its contents, and she wasn’t too happy about it.

  What the hell was he planning to do with those saws?

  “Downstairs.”

  “Why the fuck is it downstairs?” he asked.

  “Because bringing ten heavy duffle bags up here didn’t make much sense. You’d have to carry them back down.”

  The look of confusion slowly faded from his face. For someone who’d worked in finance and had tried to pull a death scam, Simon was really stupid.

  “Let’s go, then.” He left April right where she was.

  “Untie her first,” I stalled.

  “You can come back to get her once I have the money.”

  That would mean I would have to leave Parker in close proximity to this asshole, and I wasn’t about to take that chance. I needed both April and her son as close to me as possible. It was the only way to make sure they were safe. Besides, who knew what would happen once we got downstairs and Simon found out the money wasn’t there? He could easily kill me, go back to finish off April, and Parker would be all on his own.

  No fucking way!

  It was a good thing that I’d parked the car down the street, somewhat out of immediate view.

  “Untie her, or you don’t get the money,” I urged, hoping to pull off this empty threat out of my ass when we went to the empty parking lot.

  “I don’t think you’re in a position to make demands.”

  “Consider it a request. Untie her, and fifty million is yours.”

  My voice was persuasive. The sound of the fifty million made Simon weak, like waving a sausage in front of a dog’s nose to taunt him. He held my gaze for what felt like forever, studying my face as if looking for an emotion that would betray me. I held my jaw as tight as I had before. I couldn’t fail April and Parker. Not now; not ever.

  Simon reached for a switchblade in his pocket and with a few pulls through the rope, cut it off April’s wrists and feet. As soon as she was freed, I ran over and took her into my arms. I held her by her shoulders quickly, scanning her body.

  “Are you okay?”

  She nodded.

  “Downstairs. Now!” Simon ordered, pushing me on my back, right against my ribs.

  “Get your fucking hands off me!” I warned.

  Instead he jutted the barrel of the gun down by my kidneys. “Move your fucking feet.”

  I was that close to losing my cool. Hell, I was pretty sure I’d lost it already, and the only people keeping me from jumping at Simon’s throat were April and Parker. I wouldn’t make the same mistake I’d made with Charlie. I had to be cautious. But it didn’t escape me that when I somewhat diverted Simon’s attention, April removed a metal object from a side table and stuffed it into her pants.

  We walked down the stairs and into the empty parking lot. It didn’t take long for Simon to realize that his car was the only one there. Whatever madness was inside him, we were about to see its wrath.

  “Where’s the fucking money?”

  “Look, it takes time to transfer that much cash overseas. The transfer won’t be complete until the afternoon.”

  I looked at my watch. It was already half past two. I then shook my head at April, who I saw reaching for her waist and down her pants, giving her the don’t-do-it look. It was too dangerous. You couldn’t attack a man with a gun, especially a madman like Simon.

  “You’re trying to take me for a fucking fool!”

  “You didn’t give me much choice when you kidnapped April.”

  “You better make a call to whomever you need to get that money.”

  “Simon, please,” April pleaded.

  “Shut up.”

  “Was it always about the money for you? What about Parker?”

  “Are you kidding me? You know we weren’t meant to be. It was supposed to be a one-night stand, and ended up being a stupid mistake.”

  “I’m not a mistake!”

  The scream not only surprised me but also April and Simon. Parker was standing on the sidewalk about twenty feet away from us, the streetlight illuminating him from above.

  “Parker, son. Come here, honey. I think your friend Sean needs to be persuaded to make a phone call,” Simon said.

  “Stay there, Parker,” April told him.

  He stopped on the third step. From the corner of my eye I saw Simon shift, point his gun at me, and shoot. It almost appeared to be in a slow motion. The bullet hit my right thigh, forcing me to the ground.

  As the gunshot echoed, I heard April’s scream. I was down on one knee with my left hand braced against the asphalt.

  “Come here, Parker.” He pointed the gun at his son. And that’s when everything just turned from bad to worse.

  “You son of a bitch. Leave him alone.”

  April reached for the weapon she had stashed in her pants, drew it out, and jumped at Simon’s arm — the one holding the gun. She kept on stabbing him over and over again, any place she could, holding on to him with determination.

  No matter how hard he swung at her, she remained attached like a determined octopus strangling its prey. Her legs were around his waist, one hand holding onto his hair, pul
ling it backward, while the other one kept jutting into his flesh. The weapon looked like an ice pick.

  “You bitch! Get off! Get off.”

  I struggled to stand up, and once I did, I limped toward them. He swore again and fired a stray shot. It hit the streetlight above, darkening the parking lot.

  As his body shifted, I stilled. I was too far away from Parker to move him to safety, and the way they were struggling, I was afraid he’d get hurt. I pulled my bleeding leg along the parking lot, trying to get to Simon and Parker. When his arm pointed to his son, though, I couldn’t bear it, and I jumped right between them.

  I don’t remember hearing the shot, only felt the warm blood spilling from my gut. I pressed my hand to it, watching everything else happen in slow motion.

  April screamed.

  Simon swore some more before examining the deep wounds in his arm and shoulder. Then another shot was fired. But Simon’s arm was at his side; the shot hadn’t come from his gun. He stood there for a moment and then his gaze lowered. His free hand drew up to his heart where a red stain appeared and then moved to his son.

  From underneath the shadow cast by another lamp nearby, Parker stood with his hand stretched out, with my gun gripped in his hand more prominent than his body in the faint light.

  Simon looked at his bloodied hand, then at his son, and fell to his knees before collapsing to the ground.

  “Parker!” April screamed and ran to her son. She took him in her arms and led him to me.

  “Do you have your phone?”

  He nodded.

  “Dial 911.”

  As he dialed, April knelt at my side. She took her t-shirt off and pressed it to the wound in my stomach.

  “You’re going to be okay,” she kept repeating.

  “Parker, you should put the gun down.” My words were slurred, and my vision began fading.

  In her state of shock, April probably hadn’t even noticed that he was still holding it in his hand. He set it on the ground, saying, “I heard a gun go off, and I thought you were in trouble. I put it behind my pants, like you do. I wanted to give it to you, but there was no time. I’m sorry.”

  His gaze shifted to his father’s lifeless body.

  “You did good. You did really, really good.”

  I’d lost too much blood too quickly. Shit! This didn’t look too good. It felt like all my strength was draining through my abdomen.

  “No, I’m sorry that I didn’t come sooner.”

  “Parker, that’s…”

  “He’s not my father.” Parker shook his head. “I want Sean to be my father.”

  His words made me want to live all over again; but unfortunately that decision was no longer up to me.

  Tears streaked down April’s cheeks. She kept her hands on my stomach. The pressure hurt, and I started feeling lightheaded. In the distance, the night carried the sound of sirens. I closed my eyes.

  “Is Sean gonna die, Mom?”

  “No, sweetie. I won’t let that happen.”

  The last light faded from my eyes.

  “Don’t you dare leave me, Sean. Do you hear me?” she cried. “You can’t leave us. I love you, Sean. Parker loves you. Open your goddamn eyes! Please!”

  I heard her words, but I couldn’t say anything. I tried. I tried really fucking hard to tell her how much I loved her and Parker, but I couldn’t.

  The sound of sirens in the distance blended with April’s cries of I love you.

  It had to be the ambulance. Maybe even the police. Just like in fucking movies, they came after the action. Unlike in those movies, though, they came too late; and all the sounds and light faded.

  Chapter 26

  April

  Two hours after we arrived at the hospital, I was sitting in the corner of the waiting room with Parker sleeping in my lap. Millie was on my other side, her head resting against my shoulder. She’d brought me a fresh t-shirt to change into, since my old one was stained with blood. Sean’s blood, Simon’s, and mine. I had cuts on my hands from the pick I’d used to stab Simon. I didn’t want to kill him – I wasn’t a murderer – just to hurt him enough so that he’d leave us alone.

  And now he was dead. At least that’s what I suspected, because no one said anything, and the shot that Parker fired hit him in the top left of his chest, right over his heart. It couldn’t have missed, could it? Was it bad that I actually wanted him dead?

  I hadn’t seen Sean since he was taken away in the ambulance either, all bloodied and unconscious. He still had a pulse when they arrived, but I was afraid he’d lost too much blood. I couldn’t lose him. Not now. As he lay in that parking lot I realized how much I loved him. I was sure I had for a long time, but was afraid of what that meant.

  Dave sat down across from me and handed me a cup of coffee. Thanks to him, I wouldn’t have to be questioned by the police until the morning.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “As good as can be. It all seems like one big nightmare.”

  “You should have told me about Simon.”

  “I didn’t know he was alive. I had no idea,” I mumbled.

  “I mean about the money problems. When he was still alive. I knew there had to be a reason why I hated the guy.”

  “She doesn’t need this right now, Dave.” Millie scowled at him.

  “I could have helped,” he answered.

  “Well, there’s no point in crying over spilled milk, is there? And you only would have butted in like you always do.”

  “Guys, not now.”

  I didn’t want them fighting right now. All I wanted to know was that Sean was all right.

  The door to the waiting room swung open. When I saw the doctor coming toward us with a somber face, I knew he didn’t have good news.

  Millie gently took Parker off my lap and sat in my spot as I stood up and stumbled toward the doctor.

  “Is he all right?”

  “I’m sorry. We did everything we could, Mrs. Davis.”

  No! I felt like my soul had been ripped out of my body.

  “He lost too much blood. The damage was inoperable. A counselor will be here momentarily.”

  This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t lose him.

  My knees gave out under me, but Dave caught me before I hit the floor. He took me in his arms, sat me in a chair beside him, and held me as I cried.

  “I’m so sorry, April.”

  The door swung open as two more familiar faces entered, and the silver-haired woman and girl whom I loved as if she were my own came inside.

  Oh, my God! Charlie and Lily.

  I stood up. I hadn’t even thought to call them. I didn’t want to give them the bad news. I’d wanted to wait until Sean was out of surgery so I could give them somewhat good news.

  Had Dave called them? And how could I tell them that Sean was gone?

  “April? What’s going on?” Lily asked. “What happened?”

  “Where’s Dad?” Charlie held onto her grandmother’s hand.

  Parker lifted his head and went to Charlie’s side. They hugged and both looked at me with their beautiful eyes. My throat closed up. How do I say this? Where is that doctor? Let him tell them. I’ll accept all responsibility. It’s my fault I dragged Sean into this. I should have listened to him and stayed at his house.

  “April? Are you okay?” Lily prompted.

  “He’s… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”

  Lily remained calm and sat on the closest chair, pulling Charlie on her lap. “What do you mean? They told me he was out of surgery.”

  “He didn’t make it. He lost too much blood.”

  Lily shook her head, and her eyes slowly begun to glisten. Charlie’s head was already in the nook of her grandmother’s shoulder and Parker was gently stroking her back.

  “A shot was fired. Sean jumped in front of Parker and saved his life. It’s all my fault.”

  “This is not your fault,” Dave whispered.

  Another doctor entered the waiting
room. “Mrs. Marks?” he asked.

  Lily’s gaze flew in his direction. “Yes?”

  “I’m Doctor Lyons. You can see your son now.”

  Were they going to take her to the morgue? Now?

  “He should be waking up soon. It would be good for him to have family at his side when he does.”

  What?

  “Wait... I was just told Sean died?”

  “Sean Marks?” the doctor asked.

  “Yes, Sean Marks!” Lily and I both said at the same time.

  Was it possible they’d made a mistake? I didn’t want to hope. Not yet.

  “I can assure you that Mr. Marks is alive and doing well, because I’m the one who operated on him.” Doctor Lyons paused for a moment. “Unless something’s happened in the last ten minutes. Please, wait here.”

  No, no, no! Nothing’s happened in the last ten minutes. It had to be a mistake.

  Doctor Lyons left. Why would they tell me he didn’t make it five minutes ago, and then tell Lily that he was recovering? We all stood there in silence, staring at the door, waiting for it to open again. I felt two little hands in my own, one on each side, and I squeezed them both tightly, giving them the kind of reassurance I wished I had. This time, both doctors returned, the one who had told us that Sean died and the one who’d told us that he was in recovery.

  “I’m sorry for the confusion,” the first doctor said. “Mr. Davis is the one who passed. Please accept my apologies. Sean Marks is doing well. Doctor Lyons has just checked on him. Simon Davis passed. We tried everything we could. We’re sorry for your loss, Mrs. Davis.”

  Sean was alive? And Simon was dead?

  I let out a nervous laugh mixed with tears and chokes. I wanted Simon dead. In fact, I never wanted to see his face again.

  “Are you sure Simon’s dead?” I asked, my mouth curving up. That must have looked wrong, but at that moment I didn’t really care.