Leah remained silent, locking her eyes shut.
“Don’t bother,” he said. “I knew the last dose of anesthetic wouldn’t last long. You can drop the act. I won’t hurt you.”
Leah kept still for another moment, until Rob began sobbing. He sniffed and whined.
“I’m so stupid.” He stomped his feet repeatedly. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”
Eventually, Leah cracked open one eye. “Um…you okay?” she asked. How ironic. She was tied up by her wrists and ankles, drugged, and held hostage. Yet she was asking her captor if he was alright.
Rob sat in a crouched position, leaning against the wall and hugging his knees. “I didn’t ask for this life.”
Leah cleared her throat and managed to sit up a little, despite the wires that restricted her movements. “We don’t ask for the lives we’re given,” she replied.
Rob looked at her with blue eyes that were glistening with tears. “You don’t get it,” he snapped.
“Pardon me for asking. What don’t I get?” Afraid she might anger him, Leah spoke in a cautious and tentative manner.
“The only reason Rosie asked me to help her is because she knows that my dad is involved in a cartel. She took advantage of me because she knows I have connections to dangerous people.”
Leah remembered the masked face of the older man who had been injecting her with an anaesthetic. The man must have been a member of Rob’s father’s cartel. “Oh,” she said.
“I’m not the bad guy everyone thinks I am,” Rob said with a sniffle. “The police have already been interrogating me, and the entire Rowan student body has been spreading stories about me. They all think I’m a sex predator. I like women, okay? I’m only human. If a girl approaches me, asking for attention, I’ll give it to her.”
“By attention, you mean assault?” Leah asked.
Rob glared at her. “Fuck you. You don’t even know me.”
Leah shifted her weight awkwardly on the floor. “You’re right, Rob. I don’t know you.” She shook her head, and dizziness swirled across her vision. She blinked a few times, bringing the sharpness and clarity back. She had to stay focused. “It must be hard being in your shoes,” she went on. “I’m sure if any of those women got to know you, they’d understand why you get…” Her jaw clenched as she forced out words she didn’t mean. “…forceful.” She watched Rob with a careful eye, hoping that he’d soften his demeanor. She wanted him to let his guard down.
“I bet they wouldn’t,” Rob said. “Damn it. What am I supposed to do now? Even if the police don’t come, and me and Rosie somehow get away with this, the assault allegations won’t stop. I’m gonna end up in jail no matter what.” He wiped his tears with his sleeve. “Maybe that’s what I deserve.” His eyes wandered along the ceiling, and Leah assumed that he was hardly aware of her presence. He wanted to hear himself talk, and since Leah was a prisoner, she had no choice but to listen. She might be dead within the next twenty minutes, so he was free to vent his feelings to her. She felt like a priest listening to a sinner confess.
“I’m terribly confused,” she said. She was sitting up now, with her hands tied together and her back straight. She fought against drowsiness with all the brain power she could muster. The effects of the anesthetic hadn’t worn off yet. “Since I’ll either be dead soon or unable to remember any of this, it shouldn’t matter if you tell me what happened on the night of the party.” Leah softened her gaze. “I think deep down, you know it’s the right thing to do, Rob. Will you tell me what happened?”
Rob’s cigarette was almost burned to the end. He held out the smoking butt for Leah, offering her the final drag.
Leah forced an innocent smile and held up her constricted hands. “Do you mind?”
Rob blew out a flustered sigh. Smoke gusted out of his mouth. “Fuck. What’s it matter?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver box cutter. He leaned toward Leah and cut the wire that held her wrists together. Tremendous relief washed over her when her hands finally separated. Rob did the same thing to her ankles. When the wires broke, Leah’s muscles breathed a massive sigh of gratitude. She inhaled, flexed, and stretched. Her joints cracked as she did so. Relief spread from her wrists and spread all the way up both arms.
After a moment of silent relish, she accepted Rob’s offer of a cigarette drag.
“I’m not sure if you’re aware of how much money Dani’s parents have,” Rob said. “Their networth just peaked at ten billion last year. Just put that into perspective. Four years ago, they had offered to help Rosie pay her tuition if she could break you and Dani up. It sounds ridiculous, but a couple grand is nothing to them. Rosie apparently tried everything to break the two of you up. She tried distracting Dani from you, stirring up arguments, and she even tried to seduce Dani.”
A deep pang of anger rippled through Leah. She better not have touched Dani, not even with the tip of her finger.
“I don’t think she was very successful,” Rob went on. “She was close, but no matter how hard she tried, Dani never wanted to leave you. About a week before the party at Dani’s beach house, Rosie reached out to me and asked for help. She wanted me to hire some of my dad’s guys to have you killed. I told her I wouldn’t do it.” He focused his gaze on Leah. “I’m telling you, I’m not a murderer.”
“I know,” Leah cut in. “You said that already.”
“I hadn’t decided if I wanted to help Rosie yet. I bounced ideas back and forth in my head, but when you approached me at the party, it was too easy. You asked me for a ride. When I asked where to, you said you needed a ride to an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere. It was impulsive, but Rosie had offered me half of the reward money if I helped her. So I took you for a walk on the beach, then called my friend Jordan to pick you up. He reached across the console and injected you with anesthetic the second you buckled into the passenger seat. Then, he brought you here. Everything went smoothly afterward. At least I thought it had, but then Dani started pinning the blame on me, saying that she saw the two of us leave the party together. I didn’t think she’d see us. Rosie had slipped a dose of Valium into her drink. We thought that would be enough to knock her out. Rosie even carried her into the backyard the following morning to confuse Dani. She figured that it was best to keep her as confused and disoriented as possible. It would lead to self doubt and would distract her from figuring out what happened on her own.”
Leah’s eyes went moist. “This was all just to break us up?”
“Dani’s parents didn’t specify that they wanted you killed. They just told Rosie to break the two of you up, no matter what it takes.”
The two of them sat in silence for a moment. Leah’s thoughts raced as she tried to process this new information. On the floor below, she heard a dull thump. Leah’s senses were on high alert. She had to think fast.
She glanced at Rob. He was wearing all black: a thin hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. Dangling from the belt loop of his jeans was a silver pistol. Leah diverted her eyes from the weapon immediately, making sure that Rob didn’t notice she had seen it.
With her pulse racing frantically, Leah cleared her throat. “Can I have another puff of a cigarette?” she asked in a cool, placid voice. She hoped she sounded neutral, despite the violent trembling of her body.
“Fine,” Rob said. He stood up, pulled a menthol cigarette out of the box, and lit it. When he held it out to Leah, he scooted toward her until he was just inches away. Leah watched him with a cautious eye. Her ears rung and her heart felt like it would explode, hot and fiery as a volcano.
“…Thank you,” she said slowly, keeping her eyes locked on his. Although her muscles were weak and fatigued, a sudden spark of strength erupted inside her. With a tight fist, she punched him in the bulge between his legs, hard.
He whimpered and immediately collapsed to the floor. While he was vulnerable, Leah struck him again. She was still wearing the same leather boots she had on at the party two weeks ago. She jabbed the front of her boot i
nto his nose, hitting him once, twice, and a third time. His head whipped back. Blood spilled out of his mouth. He covered his face with his hands, and Leah quickly snatched the gun from his belt loop.
She gripped the gun handle and pointed the barrel at his head. “No one will lay a finger on Dani tonight.”
Rob ducked his head and cowered below her. “I’m sorry! Please…don’t.”
Leah squeezed the gun handle with sweaty heads. “You want me to feel sorry for you? If you want to be seen as a good guy, then be a good guy.”
“Don’t shoot me!” Rob cried.
Leah placed a finger on the trigger, and with shaking hands, she pressed down. Rob suddenly grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her down. She fell to the floor. In an instant, Rob was on top of her, pinning her down. He wrestled her for possession of the gun.
Then, there came a deafening gunshot. The bullet fired, blasting through the smoking barrel.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The ceiling rattled, causing clouds of dust to fall onto the cement floor of the cellar. The sound of a bullet zipped through the walls, resounding from one of the upper levels of the motel. The gunshot was piercing. I covered my ears.
When silence returned, I shifted my attention toward the staircase. Up above, I had just heard the light click of a gun trigger. I shined my flashlight up the stairs, and then jumped. Rosie was standing at the top, pointing her gun toward me.
“Drop the knife,” Rosie said.
Slowly, I obeyed, keeping my eyes locked on hers. The knife clattered onto the cement floor in front of me. “Why are you doing this?” I asked. “What do you want from me?”
“I don’t think you want to know the answer to that,” Rosie replied. “It would break your heart, really.”
“Is it because you’re jealous of Leah? Did you take her away from me because you wanted to replace her?”
Rosie laughed sardonically. “Leah?! You think I want to be her?”
I thought of the way Rosie had kissed me earlier. The kiss was desperate and deliberate, as if it was her final attempt to gain whatever she wanted from me. “Where is she?” I screeched, my teeth gritting with anger. “Is she upstairs?”
“Leah isn’t good for you,” Rosie said. “I’m sorry I’ve led you to believe that I’m interested in you. The flirtation was an act, but I only did it to help you. Don’t you understand? Your life would’ve been better if you would have just listened to me. I was willing to hand you a successful career, popularity, and wealth. But you spent your entire college experience being distracted by someone who did nothing but bring you down.”
Panic and despair came crashing over me. I placed both hands on my elbows and bent over, sobbing until my tears dripped onto the concrete. “Please, Rosie. I don’t know what I ever did to make you do this to me. I was your friend.”
“It was nothing you did,” Rosie said. “Like I said, you will be better off not knowing the reason for this mess. You have a good heart, and I wouldn’t want to see it break.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I screamed. Tears came flowing down my nose. “Please, Rosie. I’m begging you. Tell me what happened to Leah!”
With a cold and careless shrug, Rosie said, “You heard the gunshot a minute ago. Rob took care of it. Leah is gone. I’m sorry, Dani. But I can’t let the two of you live.” She tightened her grip on the gun, shut one eye, and took aim at my head.
I squinted and held my breath, preparing for the blow. Scenes from my entire life replayed in front of my closed eyelids on a loop. I thought of the tears I had shed during fights with my parents, the way I punched a hole in my bedroom wall when I felt like a failure. Feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, and discouragement crashed over me like I was drowning. The only pleasant memories that played in my mind were from when I was a child. Before my sister had died, my mother’s eyes sparkled with life and brightness. When I had made a homerun on the softball field, she pulled me into a hug and lifted me onto her shoulders. A tear dripped over my bottom eyelid as I recalled the feeling of resting on my mom’s shoulders. Then, memories of Leah flooded through my consciousness, pulling me away from old memories and guiding me toward recent ones. I remembered her eyes looking deeply into my own, her lips on mine, and the way she laughed with her arm hanging out the window of her pick-up truck. I also remembered the way my friends in high school rejected me for having dated a woman, and I never stuck up for myself.
Full of regret, I came to realize that I never got what I wanted out of life. I didn’t love deeply enough. I didn’t fight for what I knew was right. I had surrendered myself to the voices around me, and I was too distracted to focus on what really mattered. My life was coming to an end, and I felt profoundly dissatisfied with the lack of impact I had left on the world.
I waited for the bullet from Rosie’s gun to zip through me. I cracked an eye open, waiting. Then, there came heavy footsteps from the floor above. Rosie took her attention away from me briefly.
“Rob!” she called over her shoulder. “Get over here. We don’t have much time left. We—”
Rosie’s voice was abruptly silenced. Her eyes widened. Since she was standing in front of a narrow doorway at the top of the cellar stairs, my view from below was limited. Rosie’s gaze followed the moving figure of someone who was steadily approaching her. She appeared stunned.
“…Leah?” Rosie asked, her face drained of color. She swiveled her gun away from me and pointed it in the direction of the approaching footsteps.
I recognized Leah’s voice immediately, and I nearly dropped to my knees.
“Put the gun down, Rosie,” said Leah’s voice.
My heart skipped a beat in my chest. The gunshot I’d heard a minute ago hadn’t pierced through Leah. I assumed it was Rob who had been shot.
When Leah emerged into view, standing right in front of Rosie at the top of the stairs, I felt as if I was hallucinating. Leah looked like she had lost at least fifteen pounds. Purple bags sunk under her eyes, her hair was so greasy that it appeared soaking wet, her clothing was tarnished, and her lips were cracked. She and Rosie stood facing one another, guns ready.
Leah’s voice was charged with deep-rooted anger. “If you take one step toward my girlfriend, I will end this now.”
For the first time since I’d met Rosie, fear laced her voice. “What did you do to Rob? Is he okay?”
“Drop your gun,” Leah commanded.
“No,” Rosie said weakly.
As I kept close watch of the two of them, I glanced behind me for a second. There was a large bookshelf covered in dusty knick knacks. I scanned my eyes across it. I found a small glass flower vase on the middle shelf. It was small enough to hold in my palm. I closed my fingers around it and held it tightly. I turned my gaze back to Rosie and Leah.
“I have let you try to steal Dani away from me for too long,” Leah spat. “Why are you so obsessed with her, anyway? Are you in love with her?”
“I’m straight,” Rosie responded.
“What is it, then? Are you scared of being unloved? Does Dani’s fixation with you stroke your ego? Are you afraid of no one paying attention to you?”
“Shut up,” Rosie murmured. She adjusted her aim on Leah’s face, one eye closed and the other focused.
“This isn’t just about money, Rosie. This goes deeper. I know it does. There’s a hole inside you, and I’m sorry that you haven’t found anything meaningful to fill it with. But this fixation on Dani has to stop. You don’t need to stoop to this level. Will you put the gun down? Please?”
I watched the two of them like a predator prepared to pounce when the moment called for it. I bent down in an athlete position and waited, gripping the vase in my hand.
“I won’t!” Rosie shouted. She closed her fingers on the trigger of her gun. A piercing blare ripped through the room, rattling my ear drums. I stumbled backward, disoriented. When I looked up again, I watched Leah fall to the ground. She clutched an oozing, bleeding forearm. She threw her
head back in agony, screaming, and my vision went red.
Breathing heavily, I charged toward Rosie. The rage that had ignited inside me was like a catapult let loose. I tightened my grip on the vase, flicked my wrist, and sent it launching like a missile toward Rosie’s head. It slapped onto her skull with a hard pop. For a brief, bewildering moment, Rosie’s startled eyes met mine. Then, the harsh collision rendered her eyes blank and unfocused.
She fainted and flopped onto the floor. Her gun clattered on the floorboards beside her, along with the vase that shattered into broken shards.
I sprinted up the stairs, my thighs burning in protest.
When I reached the top, I dropped to my knees beside Leah. Her face was tight and twisted with anguish. I glanced at her bleeding forearm, then looked into her eyes for the first time since she had disappeared. I reached down and cupped her face with my hands, tears gushing down my face.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” I cried. “Leah, oh God. I’m so sorry. Please, please forgive me. It’s my fault that this happened.”
Leah held my hand tightly, looked at my face and said, “I’m okay, Dani.” She glanced at her injured arm. “It’s a skin wound.”
I fixed my eyes on the bullet wound. Red, bloody flesh opened up to reveal a shallow gash. Rosie’s bullet had zipped across Leah’s skin and caused a thin slice, but it hadn’t pierced deep enough to rupture her bones.
I threw myself into Leah’s arms and held her as if I could compensate all the time that we had lost together. I squeezed her, breathed her in, and cried into her shoulder. She held me back.
“It’s alright,” she told me soothingly. “This isn’t your fault. We’re okay now.”
“Why did this happen?” I sobbed. “Why did Rosie do this?”
Leah paused and gave me a fearful look. “Dani…” She caressed my cheeks gently with her good hand. “Listen to me. I have to tell you something. I’m sorry that I have to tell you this, and I’m not sure if you’re ready to know. Why don’t we take a few moments to calm down?”
“No!” I blared. “Tell me now.”
Shelter in the Dark Page 17