by K. A. Hunter
We’ll never make that mistake again.
I peeked down the street, looking for the taxi then glanced at my phone to make sure I hadn’t gotten a text. The silence was uncomfortable, but I wasn’t about to step outside one of our most important rules. This girl couldn’t think I was her hero. From the get go, she needed professional counseling to help her through this, not to fixate on some guy stepping in to her rescue.
Separating himself from anyone in need was nearly impossible for my brother to do, so Dad insisted that Holden didn’t need to know nor be involved with the rescue part of our foundation. He was only aware of the fact that we took in these women and the occasional young man when they sought our help.
Although Holden always had good intentions, Dad knew that he would want to jump in and try to save their day, so he was assigned two roles. The first was to structure the self-defense lessons, direct the instructors on how to best meet the girls’ needs and keep track of their progress. The second was to scout out new locations for us to establish facilities near our gyms since that was a key part of their rehabilitation.
They learned how to defend themselves and become confident that they were physically fit enough to protect themselves once they moved out and started their lives.
Everyone else at the gym assumed I was sleeping with most of the women I gave free monthly passes to because I set it up to appear that way. I owned the fucking company. Why the hell not use it to disguise what was really going on? And yeah, I did give women I slept with passes, too. It helped make things look legit.
A few minutes went by until the taxi pulled up, and the driver rolled down her window, speaking her code, “Twenty-three, forty-eight.”
“Nineteen, forty-three,” I answered back with a smile. We knew each other, intimately, but kept up our professional protocol at times like these.
The young girl turned and gave me a quick hug before stepping into the cab and closing the door. Her sad eyes had changed a bit. I recognized that look since I’d seen it so many times over the years. It was a look of uncertainty mixed with hope. Part of it bothered me because she really didn’t know if I was on the up and up, yet she willingly took my offer. Her naivety and desperation were what had gotten her in trouble in the first place.
I shook my head and took a deep breath. Just another day, right?
As the taxi pulled away, I headed back to my car, wishing I had extra time. More than anything, I’d love to go pummel that dickless piece of shit that was so willing to take advantage of a distraught little girl.
But I had more pressing matters right now. Jules was out there somewhere, unprotected because of me. I was in charge of her safety, and if anything happened to her, it was on me.
Pushing my guilt aside, I got into my car and sped away like a bat out of hell to go look for her.
Scrunched into a ball, I tried to relax on the dusty loveseat in the employee break room. Even though I was covered head to toe, I didn’t want to think about what may have happened on this piece of shit furniture when Sam and Trudy had been alone in here. As an extra precaution, I protected the side of my face by using the thin blanket I’d bought earlier as a makeshift pillow.
I probably wouldn’t be getting any sleep since guilt was eating me alive. After hanging out with April and eating the food she had paid for, I deceived her into thinking I’d left out the back door. I’d been so desperate to stay inside, I ducked then hid in the back room until she locked up for the night. It wasn’t ideal, but it was a hell of a lot safer than being outside in the cold.
My head was still reeling over the news in the paper. It didn’t make sense, and even the reporter mentioned that Travis wasn’t eligible for parole. According to the district attorney’s quote, she was asking victims to contact her office for impact statements or to testify at the hearing. But there was no way in hell I could do that.
Suddenly, a noise startled me, causing my senses to be on full alert. The alarm chimed for a second as the backdoor opened, followed by several beeps like the security code was being punched into the keypad.
A male voice I’d heard before, but couldn’t quite place, spoke first. “I swear I didn’t see her take off. I tracked her all day until she came in but never saw her leave.”
Holy shit, they’re talking about me.
Was that why I’d been feeling watched all this time? And who the fuck was it?
I jumped over the arm of the sofa, out of sight, and pulled the hood off my head so I could hear a little better. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I pressed my back against the wall.
“Well, we better fucking find her tonight, or this isn’t going to go off as planned.” That voice I knew—it was Sam. It sounded like he was in the kitchen, but what was he doing here, and how did he know the new password?
“What’s the rush all of a sudden?” The other guy said, sounding closer.
My heart pounded so hard in my ears, it was difficult to hear.
Sam stood just outside the doorway to the employee lounge. “I told you. We need to do this before my fat ass wife files for divorce. Her uncle won’t want to fuck with the insurance bullshit. He’ll hand everything over to her. Once the money’s in her account, half of it’s mine. Otherwise, I don’t get squat out of this shithole.”
Oh my God, what’s he planning?
“Are you sure it’s gonna work?”
“Leave that to me. I just need you to find that bitch, so we have someone to blame, in case it doesn’t look like an accident. Nobody has to know I didn’t fire her ass last night after she tried to short the bar. Disgruntled employees are the best scapegoats.”
Oh, fuck! Sam’s trying to pin something on me?
My instincts said to get the hell out right away, but I needed to make sure they didn’t see me first. From what I could tell, they were still on the other side of the wall, blocking the back door.
The other guy’s voice seemed to soften a bit and was a complete contrast to Sam’s sharp tone. “What do you have against her anyway? I’ve been watching her for like six months now, and she doesn’t do anything to anyone. It’s actually kind of sad the way she lives.”
My head pounded as panic overtook me. I was right. Someone had been watching me. But I didn’t have time to process that thought as I heard what sounded like a body slamming against the other side of the wall.
Sam’s voice thundered down the hallway. “There’s nothing for you to fucking get! I have my reasons, and that’s all you need to know. You get paid to watch her, not form a damn opinion.”
The other voice sounded strained, like his throat was being constricted. “Okay, okay. Sorry, I asked.” The wall vibrated when he hit the floor. He grunted a few times before I heard footsteps.
Blood swirled around in my head, making me feel dizzy.
Think. Think. What do I do!
Without any warning, a sound filled the quiet, making my breathing pause as the little room suddenly filled with bright light. Fear stricken, I held my legs tighter as my hands began to shake, the way they used to when I was shackled in that fucking shower so many years ago.
From where I hid between the sofa and the corner, I felt someone enter the room. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as each step came closer toward me. I was staring at the tip of his tennis shoes before I had the nerve to look up.
“Well, what do you fucking know? You were right, Jaxon. She didn’t leave after all.”
“Don’t tell her my name!”
I peered past Sam, into the eyes of the guy that had handed me the newspaper earlier.
Anger boiled in my blood, pushing my fear aside. That motherfucker had been watching me—for months!—and I never saw him until today. That’s why his voice sounded familiar.
Something in me snapped as I slid up the wall, steadying myself with an indignant courage. “What do you want from me, asshole?”
“Oh, and she thinks she can mouth off to me now, huh?” Sam smirked, looking from me to who I now knew was Ja
xon. “Well, seeing as you fucked up my life, I’m about to fuck up yours.” There was something in his ominous stare that was sickeningly reminiscent.
Throwing my shoulders back against the wall, I attempted to look stronger than I actually felt. “What the hell did I do to you?”
He let out a menacing chuckle and narrowed his beady green eyes. “I can’t believe you don’t know who I am because I sure as hell know who you are.”
My eyes grew wide, but I wasn’t going to give anything away. Did he really know who I was? Jaxon seemed curious about his answer as well.
No. Let him do the talking.
Sam stood with his legs spread apart while he poked his teeth with a wooden toothpick and glanced down at the newspaper on top of my bag. “I know I look more like my mother, but I can’t believe you never saw the resemblance.” Clenching the pick between his teeth, he reached down and snatched up the paper then threw it at me. “Because of you, my father is stuck in prison and my mother is dead.” He shook his head, emotionless.
Acid rose up, burning my esophagus. “Travis Malcolm is your dad?” I whispered shakily. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening.
“Wait. What the fuck, Sam? You only said she set someone up, and we were to make things right. Travis Malcolm is a sick fuck who should stay exactly where he is.” Jaxon appeared to be aggravated by the turn of events.
Yeah, because there’s nothing else wrong with this fucked up situation. If I weren’t terrified and sick to my stomach, I would’ve rolled my eyes.
Sam shoved a finger at Jaxon. “Watch your fucking mouth. He was set up. My mother killed herself because of this bitch. My life was completely fucked afterward. I even had to change my last name so the damn media would leave my ass alone.”
Sam was a total asshole, and I didn’t feel sorry for him one bit, but this was further proof of the catastrophe left behind because of Travis. How many lives had he shattered?
Lifting his hands in the air, Jaxon began to back out of the room. “I’m out, Sam. This isn’t what I signed up for.”
“The fuck you are.” Sam pulled a gun out of his jacket and pointed it at Jaxon.
A fucking gun?
This had to be a nightmare. But why the hell wasn’t I waking up?
Out of nowhere, an idiotic idea came to me. If I could just get Jaxon to look at me, maybe we could still get out of this thing alive. How ironic that the first time I was willing to team up with someone and fight back, it had to be the person who’d been stalking me for months. But if it was my only way out, I’d take it.
I tried to get his attention by clearing my throat, but Jaxon’s eyes never left the barrel until he jetted out of the room and headed toward the rear exit.
I stood frozen in my spot as Sam grunted and sped off after him. I was so in shock, I had to blink a few times to remember where I was and what had just happened. There was no way for a human brain to be able to absorb all this madness and make sense of the chaos in a few split seconds. Slowly, I began to form a plan when I heard a loud crash, then the sound of a few gunshots woke my ass up quick enough.
Deciding I wasn’t going to wait around to see what happened next, I made a break for the front entrance. Just like in those damn movies, I tripped over my bag when I took off running. Scrambling to my feet, I raced out of the room toward the main bar floor, shaking the locked front door.
Son of a bitch, it doesn’t have a turn lock. I need a key.
Thinking quickly, I darted to one of the bar stools resting on top of a table. It took everything I had to pick it up and throw it at one of the windows. The fucking thing bounced off, leaving what looked like shattered glass behind. Running up to the window, I pounded on it with my fist, screaming for help, but it was the middle of the night, and the sidewalk was empty.
Someone had to have heard those gunshots, though. Why wasn’t anyone coming?
Adrenaline coursed through my body as I picked up the stool by its legs once more and swung it like a bat at the window on the other side of the door. I swear the glass just stretched like I was hitting a large rubber band.
This has got to be a nightmare.
Vicious laughter came from the cutout in the wall that led to the kitchen. “Are you done yet? We had those windows replaced with unbreakable glass last year. You aren’t getting out that way, Juliana.” Sam was doing something in the kitchen, but I could only see him from the shoulders up.
Down the hall, I saw Jaxon’s body blocking the other exit. If I could just jump over him, I still had a chance. With my sights set on the back door, I took off, only to be stopped by Sam’s large body.
As soon as we collided, he let out a loud groan before I fell backward. Just as my ass hit the concrete, I felt something being poured over my head, dripping into my eyes and mouth. The oily substance smelled and tasted like old chicken and fries.
“April did say she wanted to get rid of this fryer grease. What better way than to have it burn her precious bar down with you and your lover in it. Too bad you shot him first.”
The heavy metal gun landed on my lap, but I shook my legs, backing up until it hit the floor. There was no way I was touching that thing and leaving my fingerprints on it.
His tone was laced with sarcasm. “You should thank me for leaving you in here. I don't think the cops would think too kindly of you after you killed one of their own over there.” He jerked his head toward Jaxon’s lifeless body.
“Jaxon’s a cop?” I blinked a million times, hoping to clear the grease from my eyes.
An evil laugh bellowed through the room. “Yeah, dumbass. How do you think he kept an eye on you undetected? He owns a security business, too. Well, owned, that is. That’s why April trusted him to change the codes.”
“You really are a manipulative fucker, just like your father.” I was trying to wipe the oil from my eyes when I felt the blow. Shocked as pain radiated throughout my face, I looked up, blinking hard, just before Sam’s fist came at me again.
“I’ve wanted to punch your fucking face since I first laid eyes on you. Now I can’t wait to hear your screams as you burn. I don’t know what you did to piss off the big man, but damn am I glad he finally gave the order to get rid of you. I was tired of babysitting you. It’s time to get my justice.”
Thoughts were spinning in my head, and I couldn’t grasp what he was talking about. “What big man? Your dad?”
He barked a deep throaty laugh before pinning me with a stare. “You really are clueless. I told him there was no way you’d be stupid enough to answer the help wanted ad I’d pinned to your door, and yet you did. If I didn’t hate you so much, I’d almost feel sorry for you. Oh well, time to get this shit over with.”
Oh no. I had no intention of going down without a fight. I didn’t care that I was in excruciating pain and unable to see well. When I sensed him coming at me again, I ducked out of the way. Grabbing onto his arm, I felt a thin rubber glove covering his hand. He must’ve put them on when he was in the kitchen.
I was all slippery and had to struggle to hold on, but I managed to pull the glove down enough to scratch the top of his hand and bite him. If my body was going to be found in here, his fucking DNA was going to be under my nails, and my teeth marks would be on his skin.
He yanked his arm away, then backhanded my cheek hard, sending me flying to the floor. A searing pain exploded in my head when it bounced off the concrete, and I cried out.
“You fucking bitch,” he snarled at me. “See, I knew you didn’t just sit back and take what you claimed Dad did to you. I knew you set him up. Now you’re going to die, whore.”
I yelped when I heard him squirt what I assumed was more oil all around me as I laid on my side, struggling to see him.
“Burn in hell, Juliana,” were his last words before he threw something in the kitchen, stepped over Jaxon, and headed out the back door. The sound of the heavy lock latching was the final step, sealing my fate.
My head was throbbing, and I felt woo
zy as I watched flames erupt in the kitchen. No. It can’t happen like this. I didn’t fucking survive all those times with his piece-of-shit father just to go down like this!
I felt a fresh fight rising in me as I tried to grasp the nearest piece of furniture, but I slipped in the oil. Again and again I tried, grasping, crawling, reaching out desperately only to fail and go mere inches forward. Smoke was beginning to reach me, and I started to gasp from the fumes. My brain was battling between surrender, my will to live, and the fact that Sam had done this. He’d actually done this. He was going to burn me alive after he’d murdered a cop. Travis’s son, of all people, would be the one to claim final victory over me. That’s fucking irony for you.
I watched as the fire stretched toward Jaxon’s lifeless body. From my vantage point, I could see a large area between us where the floor was clear of oil, buying me a little more time. But then, as I lay there, I smelled it—the body, and I nearly puked.
Just like his father, Sam enjoyed torturing his prey. It didn’t matter that Jaxon was dead. Sam wanted me to see and smell his body as it burned. He wanted me to know I was next. And I wished I could say I still had fight left in me, but I didn’t.
They say your life flashes in front of you right before your death. I didn’t need to wait for death to knock on my door for that to happen. My tormented memories played out in my mind every fucking day. I had no peace in my past and no hope for my future. It was time for me to accept what was to come.
I was almost jealous of the fire’s life, its vigor. It torched whatever was in its path with a confidence I’d never had. Yet, if I didn’t turn away, Jaxon’s body engulfed in flames was going to be the last horrid thing I’d ever witness before my own impending death.
Fuck no!
I was not about to let the sight of fire consuming another person be the last image I ever saw.