A Torey Hope Novel Series: The Complete 4-Book Box Set

by A. D. Ellis

  “Are you ok, Mom?” Beckett’s voice held concern.

  “I’m ok, Beck, I just feel sick all of a sudden. I think we better head on home. I’m going to call Daddy and let him know we are heading home.” I fumbled with my phone, trying but failing to pull up J’s number to call him. After a fourth attempt, I get his number pulled up, but I was unable to stand. I had to sit down on the ground and lean against the tree. “Beckett, baby, stay here with me. I need to talk to Daddy. I don’t think I can walk us home right now.” All of my lunch threatened to come back up, I broke out in a cold sweat, and I knew something was terribly wrong. “Beckett, buddy, sit here with Mommy and let me lay down for a bit. I’ll call Daddy when I feel a little better. Don’t leave from here; stay right with me, ok?” I heard my words starting to slur and I was seriously starting to freak out. As my eyes struggled to stay open, fighting the spinning of my head, I saw the lady from the swings walking back toward me. Oh God, maybe she can call J for me.

  “Well, it looks like someone isn’t feeling well. That’s a shame Audrey. You almost look like you’ve been drugged. Wouldn’t that just suck? I bet you feel helpless don’t you? I bet that’s how your sister and her boyfriend felt when you drugged them. You are a sick person to do what you did to your own family. There’s no way I’d let you near my son if I had any say over it. But, since I don’t, I’m just going to use him to get what I want from that loser father of his.” My mind couldn’t process all that she was saying, it was as if a metal curtain has fallen over it and shut it down completely. The last thing I remembered was hearing the woman speaking to Beckett. “It looks like your mommy is very sick; we should go get her some help.” I tried to scream at Beck to stay with me, don’t go with her, but my brain couldn’t make the words come out of my mouth. I fought the blackness as Beck took her hand and walked away, his scared little face looking back at me as he moved farther away. And then the blackness took over.

  Cal and Duke were singing Puff the Magic Dragon as they stripped my clothes from my body. I tried to fight them, I tried to call for help, but they just sang louder. Mist filled the room, making it hard to see anything; I could only feel their hands on my body and hear their crude words. The mist clung to my skin, making me feel sticky and chilled. “Yeah, baby girl, tremble for me. You always did tremble for me. I’ll make it good like you used to like it. Lick her Duke, make her wet. Damn, Audrey, you’ve grown up into such a fine piece of ass. I always knew those tits would bring guys to their knees, but they are even better than I thought they’d be. You know you’ll always only be a piece of ass, right? Ah, look at that Duke, she’s fighting it but she can’t help but get wet like the slut she’s always been. Fuck her mouth, Duke, that’s all she’s good for. A good lay and blow job, nothing else. Suck him off, baby, and spread your legs because I’m going to fuck you good and hard like the dirty whore you really are.

  I woke up, shivering in a cold sweat and rolled to the side just in time to let the rolling contents of my stomach come violently back out. I sat up, head spinning, and tried to regain some sense of what was going on. Why was I asleep in the park? Why was I having a nightmare that I hadn’t had in years? Oh my God, our picnic, I had been here with Beckett. Oh, God, where’s Beckett? I tried to stand but the world spins and I collapse back to the ground. I need to call Jeremiah; I lost his son, how can I tell him I lost his son? With the phone to my ear, I willed the revolt in my stomach to calm and I tried to slow my ragged breathing. From a distance I heard my name being called, as if I’m in a dream world. “Audrey? Audrey!?” I looked stupidly at my phone as if the voice was coming from there, but the calling continued behind me. Within moments, Jeremiah was beside me. “Audrey, angel, what happened? Where’s Beckett?” J’s face was ashen with worry.

  I felt helpless as the tears began to fall and I told him what I could piece together from my fragmented memory. “We were having a picnic, there was a lady who didn’t do anything bad but was sort of strange. She kept telling Beck she’d take him to a toy store. Then I offered her some lemonade and she brought his cup to him. The next thing I knew she was just gone. We finished our lunch and were just talking when I started feeling sick. I tried to call you but couldn’t get your number to come up because I was so dizzy. That woman came back and said it looked like I’d been drugged like I drugged Beth and Nate. She said I was a sick person and shouldn’t be allowed near Beckett but since she didn’t have a say in that she’d use him to get what she wanted from his loser father. I tried to scream at Beck to stay with me, but she told him she would take him to get help for me. I watched him walk away with her, he was so scared J, but I could tell he was doing it to help me. Oh, God, what have I done?” My sobs were coming fast now and I was afraid I was going to hyperventilate.

  Jeremiah held me in his arms and calmed me. “Angel, that woman was Shelly. I don’t think she’s going to hurt him; she is just using him to get to me. She’s the reason I knew to come looking for you. She texted me, ‘If I were you, I’d get to the park and see what’s wrong with your wife.’ I’ve already called the police and you and I are going to go look for them as well. She’s broken the restraining order and she drugged you along with kidnapping. I will prosecute her to the full extent of the law. I called 911 on my way here; the ambulance will meet us at the front entrance. I want your blood drawn immediately so we can prove she drugged you. I’ll take you both to get checked out at the hospital when this is all over, but I need you with me and we need to find our little boy. Are you up for that?”

  Knowing that I didn’t lose Beckett calmed me but also pissed me off more than I can even explain. I’d never met the woman before today and I had already hated her. Now, after what she did to me and to Beckett and to Jeremiah, I hated her with the strength of a thousand suns. I wanted nothing more than to find her, wrap my arms around Beck, and watch her carted off to rot in jail.

  I agreed that I didn’t think she would hurt Beckett, he was just her pawn to get the money she wanted from Jeremiah, but I worried that she would get desperate if she thought she wasn’t going to get what she wanted.

  “I think she took him to the toy store. She kept talking about taking him to a toy store and buying him a toy. Beck told her, ‘My daddy says that people who buy their children anything they want aren’t doing their kid any favors and are just raising spoiled kids.’ She didn’t like that one bit.” I laughed as I thought about the schooling Beck would probably give her if he found out what she’d done and who she was.

  We stopped at the front entrance of the park and the EMT drew my blood. He checked my vitals and said I was ok; I just needed to drink a ton of water to flush the drug from my system. I felt a blanket of guilt knowing that I’m suffering in the same way as I made Nate and Beth suffer. Hello, Karma, you bitch, my name is Audrey. I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but really it’s not. Talk about yet another humbling experience.

  We met the police a block from the toy store. It was decided that Shelly might get less agitated talking to me than she would talking to Jeremiah. So, I was going in first. They had eyes on her in the store and she appeared completely unarmed. She had not harmed Beck in any way. He was scared until she pretended to call the ambulance and his dad, then he calmed down. He still wasn’t ok with being with her, he kept asking to go back to his mom, but he was taking it in stride. One of the officers watching him laughed and texted his commander that Beck had just said, “If I let you buy me a toy, will you take me back to my mom?” in a very exasperated way. Shelly seemed to be getting more and more pissed every time he referred to me as his mom; it was time for me to get in there and see if I could at least get Beck out of her vicinity. I just needed her to admit to what she did and then the police could come in.

  By this time, Beth, Nate, the Jordans, the Morgans, and my dad were all gathered in a little group nearby the police staging area. To say they were worried and scared was an understatement.

  Jeremiah took me in his arms, “Audrey, we are all right her
e, we will move if she makes one wrong move on you or Beck. I’m so sorry I brought you into this situation.” He kissed my forehead.

  “JJ, I am in this situation because we both chose this as our forever. None of this is your fault or my fault. This is all Shelly and we are going to bring her down. I swear, if she harms one hair on my little boy’s head, I will go postal on her before any officer can even reach me.” I leaned in and kissed him, hearing laughs behind me, and realized that most of the officers heard what I just said since I was wearing a wire. I drank another bottle of water and then headed into the store. I was doing this for myself, for Jeremiah, but mostly, I was doing this because of Beckett.

  Chapter 36

  Jeremiah

  He hadn’t been so gut-sick scared since Beckett was born. The two most important people in his life are away from him and he felt absolutely helpless; Beck was scared and upset, Audrey was going into a potentially hostile situation. All of this because of his piece of shit ex-wife. He was pissed at her, at himself, at his lawyer. Maybe they should have taken her threats more seriously? Maybe they should have paid her off? The restraining order didn’t keep her away. Sure, it was going to help make prosecuting her easier but it didn’t keep Beckett or Audrey safe.

  He watched from the police van. It’s just a plain white van, nothing like the secretive black van with all the intel and communications set up inside like you see in movies. Nope, just a plain white van with a fat computer geek who had all the wire feeds hooked up and running. They knew Audrey’s wire was working because all the officers had heard her threaten to go postal on Shelly; they could also hear her speaking to the greeter as she walked into the store.

  Beckett always tried to look on the bright side of things and he had taught his father to do the same over the years with all that he had been through. So, Jeremiah refused to picture this scenario playing out in any way other than a happy ending with Shelly locked up and Beck and Audrey safe in his arms. That was the only way this could turn out. He couldn’t lose either of them. He only agreed to Audrey going in because the officers inside were about 90% sure that Shelly wasn’t armed and it would possibly keep her less agitated to speak to Audrey rather than him and that could keep Beck safer.

  “MOM!” His heart clenched when he heard his son’s voice. It was game time. Grabbing the mic he spoke to Audrey. “Angel, I’m right here. I love you. Thank you for loving me and my son.”

  Her voice seemed shaky to him, but he would guess that the casual observer wouldn’t notice it. “Hey, Mr. Beckett.” He giggled and must have turned to Shelly.

  “My mom calls me Mr. Beckett. It makes me feel like an old man. She’s funny that way.” He was speaking to Audrey again now. “Mommy, I was so scared because you were so sick. But Miss Shelly told me we’d come get help. Did the doctors come to help you? Are you better now? I wanted to come back to see you but Miss Shelly said I had to wait and buy a toy. I didn’t want a toy, I just wanted you. Miss Shelly, can you let go of my hand so I can go to my mom?” Jeremiah heard the pleading in his son’s voice and his heart broke that he was in this situation.

  “Well, Beckett, I’m afraid I can’t do that because of a couple reasons. One, I need your dad to pay me some money if you want to go to ‘your mom.’” She sneered the words ‘your mom’ as if disgusted by them. He didn’t understand why she seemed jealous of Audrey being a mother to Beckett when she signed her rights away quite willingly. Maybe she’d realized just how much Beck had overcome? Maybe she saw exactly how much she gave up? Well, she had no hope of getting him back before and she sure as hell had no hope of getting him back after this.

  “The other reason I can’t let you go is because that woman isn’t really your mom. She’s done terrible things to good people. I can’t tell you all about the bad things because they are just too bad, but she’s hurt people. She’s even hurt people you love. She’s not your real mom; I’m your real mom. I carried you in my belly for almost nine months. I felt you move inside me, I went to the hospital and gave birth to you four years ago. You are my son; I’m your mom, Shelly. Haven’t your dad or your grandparents ever told you about me?” Jeremiah could tell Shelly was desperate; she needed to hear Beckett acknowledge that he had some knowledge of her, that he knew of her existence.

  He tensed and wondered how Beck was going to answer this. He heard Audrey speak softly to him. She can’t be within arm’s reach or he knew she would have grabbed him already. Everyone was holding their breath as the little boy began to speak.

  “Miss Shelly, I want to talk to you very much. But I’d feel safer talking to you if I could sit on Mom’s lap. Can we all sit down and I’ll talk to you?” His little peace maker struck again. He loved this boy more than words could ever say.

  “Fine, but if you try anything, I will grab him and run until I can’t run anymore and you’ll never find us until I’m ready for you to find us. I hope you believe me on this one. Let’s sit in the play area on the chairs.” He heard them move as chairs were pulled out. There was muffled movement against the wire and everyone guessed Audrey was hugging Beck.

  “Shelly, before Beck talks to you, I want you to know that Jeremiah is more than willing to pay you the money you want. We just want this to end peacefully with no one hurt.” Audrey’s voice was soothing and more confident now that she had Beck in her arms. Jeremiah knew she was starting the process of getting Shelly to admit to what she did.

  “Miss Shelly, my dad always told me I had a mom but that she had to leave when I was a baby. Why did you have to leave me?” Beck went straight for the kill.

  “I didn’t want to leave you Beckett. I was scared to be a mom and I knew that some of my bad choices had caused you to have a lot of problems. I felt guilty when I saw all the things wrong with you and I felt it would be easier to just leave. It didn’t mean I didn’t love you in my own way, I just couldn’t handle seeing what my selfish choices did to you.” Shelly’s voice cracked as she was speaking. He had always wondered if she had feelings in there anywhere.

  “Miss Shelly, there’s nothing ‘wrong with me,’ I have some challenges, but they are just what make me the person I am. That’s what my dad always tells me. I’m sorry you felt like you couldn’t be around me, but I never would have held your choices against you. But, you left and now Audrey is my mom. She loves me the way I am and takes care of me. You should be happy that she found my dad and me because she’s perfect for us. You can be my friend, I’d like that, but Audrey is my mom.” Beckett spoke clearly, his words in stark contrast to his four-year-old status. No one would ever believe those words were coming from a little kid, let alone a little kid who had so many struggles. Maybe those struggles had given him a special insight or maybe he was just born to be the fabulous kid that he is.

  “Well, it doesn’t matter who your mom is, all that matters is that your dad gives me the money I need and I’ll leave you all alone.” Shelly was getting agitated; Beck’s little speech had probably hit some raw nerves.

  “Like I said, Shelly, we are more than willing to give you the money. But, we want to do it legally with lawyers present to keep everyone protected. This can’t turn into a thing that happens all the time. We need to get papers written up so that it’s all done the right way.” Audrey was speaking very softly like the officers had advised her to do.

  “Why are you the one here? Where’s that scumbag ex-husband of mine?” Shelly was stalling.

  “Well, you seem really frustrated with Jeremiah and we wanted things to be as calm as they could be so I came in to talk to you. We just want to be sure this all ends with no one hurt. You’ve already hurt me and scared Beckett and we don’t want that to happen anymore.” Audrey moved into getting Shelly to talk about what she did. He kept taking short, shallow breaths; his heart was beating a thousand times a minute. All he wanted was Beck and Audrey away from Shelly. They needed Shelly to implicate herself. Beck’s account of the way things went down, along with Audrey’s story and her blood work would be g
ood, but if they could get Shelly to speak about what she did, it would be even better.

  “I didn’t do anything that you yourself haven’t done. I heard all about you around town. Yeah, the locals like to talk and they aren’t above spreading your dirty laundry. I know how you drugged your sister and her boyfriend and then screwed them over both literally and figuratively. When I heard about that, I knew I had the perfect plan to get to Beckett which would lead me right to Jeremiah.” He hated that Beckett was hearing this, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would overlook and forgive Audrey no matter what.

  “What did you use? When did you put it in the lemonade? Didn’t you worry that you could have endangered Beckett as well?” Audrey’s voice started to get louder and more emotional. He spoke softly, barely a whisper into the mic so only she could hear.

  “Calm down, Angel. Keep it nice and low-key.” He hoped that his voice was heard by only her.

  “I would never endanger my son! That crappy excuse for a husband couldn’t keep it in his pants and cheated on me and he’s endangering his son by marrying you and having you in his life. I put the pill in your cup only. That’s why I brought his cup to you; I didn’t want you two going back over to the table until it had time to dissolve. Then I watched from behind a tree until you drank your lemonade and started feeling the effects of the drug. Does it bother you to know that’s how your sister and her boyfriend felt when you drugged them? Karma’s a bitch, huh?” Shelly laughed evilly and he worried that her voice was starting to sound a little high-strung, like she was going to do something crazy. The last time he heard a voice start to sound a little out of control was when he was overseas and watched helplessly as a civilian shot his entire family, a soldier, and then took his own life. He had listened as his voice went from calm and detached to shrill and high-pitched and faster, his agitation was building and he lost control.