by Zoey Parker
Margot sighed. “You really want to hear the end?”
I nodded.
“Well, Mommy started dating someone who she actually liked this time. They started spending all this time together—he even slept over at our house a few nights a week. Mommy would skip work and go to the beach with him and she said he made her laugh. His name was Matthias.”
My blood ran cold. “What?”
Margot smiled at me. “And we’re almost the same age, aren’t we?” She cocked her head to the side. “Don’t you think that’s funny, that your father would have stepped out like that?”
I couldn’t reply. I only swallowed instead. My heart was pounding fast and I was suddenly all too aware of the bomb in the room that Margot had mentioned. How much time had gone by? She was such a drawn-out storyteller that I didn’t even know how much time I had left.
Margot laughed. “You’re thinking about the bomb, aren’t you?”
My face blushed beet red. My hands were completely numb and I could tell they were swollen to an incredible size. My feet were aching and tingling and I could see that they were swelling, too.
The man, Benji, glanced at me. “Margot, she’s losing feeling in her hands,” he said gruffly. “Don’t you think we should cut her loose?”
Margot raised her hand and slapped me so hard I couldn’t breathe. I was gasping and choking for air when I heard the sound of her high, cold laughter. “I don’t give a shit if this cunt is suffering,” she said in a placid tone. “In fact, that makes it all the better.” She reached a hand down and stroked it roughly through my hair, making me cry out as she tugged at my scalp. “I want you to suffer,” she said, looking deeply into my eyes. “Don’t you know that? Don’t you know I want you dead, little girl?”
I blinked back tears and prayed hard for Jace to come.
“Anyway,” Margot said, shifting on the bed and rearranging her long legs. “I wasn’t finished yet.” She flashed me a grin. “Mommy fell deeply in love with Matthias. And Matthias fell deeply in love with Mommy. The three of us were like a little perfect family. He used to take us on weekend trips and he absolutely spoiled me. He brought me candy and toys and he brought Mommy flowers and jewelry all the time.” Margot’s idyllic smile turned cruel. “That’s when the problems began. Mommy kept saying she thought she was losing money; she’d pull out cash and it would disappear somewhere. She didn’t know what was going on. Matthias was worried, too. But after a few weeks of that, Matthias confessed to Mommy that he was in bad financial shape, that he needed a lot of help. By this time, Mommy was so deeply in love with him that she gave him everything he asked for, and more. She bought him a car,” Margot said with a smirk. “A red Corvette. You remember that, Katharina?”
Chills ran down my spine. I did remember that car. My father had loved it—he’d driven it everywhere and treated it like a prized possession. One of my earlier memories was sitting behind the wheel, on his lap, while he steered my hands around the wheel. “I remember,” I said softly.
Margot smiled. “Good,” she said indulgently. “It’s nice to know I’m not crazy. Mommy did everything for her new boyfriend. He promised he would marry her, that he wanted to be a family with her and me forever. He promised her he loved her, that he’d move the earth for her.” Margot licked her lips and smiled. “Matthias made Mommy the sweetest promises of love that I could imagine, the nicest, kindest things in the world.” Margot’s face changed, became stormier and troubled. “And then he disappeared,” Margot said flatly. “Mommy looked everywhere for Matthias. She hired a private investigator to find him. She was worried he had died, but the reality was, in fact, much worse.”
“What happened?” I didn’t want to know, but I was eager for Margot to hurry up with her grisly tale. If there was a chance I could bribe her with money, offer to send money to her mother…
“I think you know what happened, Katharina,” Margot said sweetly. “Matthias took Mommy for every penny that she had. We were poor again, destitute. All of the money that Mommy’s other boyfriends had given us, all of the money for our future, that was gone.”
I let out a shaky sigh. “What happened to your mother?” My arms started to go numb and I started rolling around on the bed, trying to massage them with the weight of my body.
Margot watched me struggle with an odd look on her face. Her smiles had disappeared and now she looked stormy, like she was about to unleash a massive amount of rage. “Mommy killed herself,” Margot said simply. A tear ran down her cheek and she didn’t wipe it away. “Mommy killed herself because of your father. And now, I’m going to kill you.”
Chapter 26
Jace
I walked into the lobby of the Hotel Azure and dropped the duffel bag on the floor with a loud bang. It was a swanky hotel—lots of marble and dark wood everywhere—and no one noticed as Troy and I made our way through the lobby.
“What room?” I barked at Troy under my breath.
“What?” He turned to me with a confused look on his pale, sweaty face. “What are you talking about?”
I grabbed his throat and slammed him against a wall. “The room that we need to get into, dipshit,” I hissed. “Tell me, you asshole! You better not have dragged me out all the way here for nothing!”
Troy stammered and flushed. “Um, room 1082,” he said under his breath. “This hotel has shorter ceilings than the Center Park.”
“Thanks for that little lesson,” I growled, dropping him to the ground. “You better keep your fucking mouth shut now, you hear?”
Troy shivered and groaned. He rolled his eyes and started off in the direction of the elevator banks. Somehow, we managed to pass by the front desk unseen. I’d always had a gift for blending in, but this was the ultimate need for stealth. There was no way I was letting this asshole ruin my chances of catching Margot and finding Katie safe and sound. No fucking way.
“Do you have the key?”
“What?” Troy looked at me with a dopey expression. “What key?”
I could have fucking killed him right then and there. “The key to the room, moron,” I hissed. “Room 1082.”
Troy shook his head. “I thought you would pay for it,” he said, laughing nervously and twitching to one side. He looked like an evil version of a chicken hopping around on one leg, and I shook my head in disgust.
“You’re fucking useless,” I snarled. “Do you know that?”
Troy glanced down at the floor. “That’s what people tell me,” he replied.
I sighed. “We’re not getting anywhere by doing this,” I said. “Come on.”
Troy followed me into the elevator as I dropped the bag on the floor and punched the button labeled 10. As the elevator jerked and ground to a start, I felt my heartbeat start to flutter in my chest. I was so close Margot, but it didn’t feel like I thought it would. Instead of being excited, I was actually dreading the moment I laid eyes on her. I couldn’t believe it; I thought after years of being parted with the only woman I’d ever loved, I’d be more ecstatic than this. But right now Margot was filing me with thoughts of dread. I couldn’t even get excited about what it would feel like to fuck her again—my mind was too clouded with what was going on.
Floor ten was almost empty. Some of the rooms were open and Hispanic maids were bustling around in crisp, starched uniforms looking both overworked and underpaid. I tried to stop one of them but she made a little ‘psst’ sound with her teeth and scooted around me like I’d merely been in her way the whole time.
“Maybe one of them can give us the key?” Troy whispered as he sidled up beside me. “I’m sure they have access to all of the rooms.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I snapped. “They’re not going to give us shit. I bet they don’t even speak English.”
Troy sniffed, like I’d offended him by turning him down. Now that he didn’t have anything more useful to offer me, I couldn’t wait until it was time for him to go. I could barely stand next to him without wanting to rip him limb from l
imb and get revenge for all of the horrible, hateful things he’d done to Katie.
Maybe that was why I was having such a hard time relaxing, maybe that was why I couldn’t get excited about seeing Margot again. I’d pined over her for so long, I’d spent most of my twenties crying over her. And now that she was so close, I couldn’t feel anything but dread.
Maybe you love Katie, a voice inside my head said. I shook my head furiously. There was no way I loved Katie, no way I loved someone who disrespected me and the help I’d offered her so blatantly.
But if I didn’t love Katie, then I didn’t know where my ambivalence was coming from.
Troy and I milled around in the hallway, watching as the maids bustled back and forth. One of them was pulling a huge cart, loaded with clean towels, linens, and amenities for the bathroom. I saw a giant ring of keys looped on one end and mentally cheered. Bingo!
I jabbed Troy in the gut and pointed towards the cart. “We need to get those keys,” I hissed. “Distract the maid.”
“What?” Troy looked at me, clueless as ever.
I kicked him hard in the shin. “Distract the fucking maids,” I hissed under my breath. “Now! Do it, you cunt!”
Troy coughed and fell on his side, gasping like a dying man. He moaned and howled, clutching his stomach and moaning loudly. One of the maids poked her head out of the room. I watched carefully, hidden behind a large potted plant in the corner.
“Dios mio!” the maid exclaimed. She leapt into the hallway with surprising speed for her short, squat frame. As she ran over to Troy’s prone figure, I slowly inched my way out from behind the plant and moved towards the cart. The keys were bolted down but I saw they were labeled.
“Shit!” I cursed under my breath. They were labeled, all right, but the labels were in Spanish. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my knife, aware that time was slipping through my fingers with every passing second. Troy was still rolling around on the floor like an idiot but the maid seemed intent and focused. She kept putting her hand on his forehead and then on his stomach. Troy would groan loudly, then whimper at her touch. I rolled my eyes. As much of a bad guy as he was, he wasn’t a half bad actor.
With my knife, I pried the ring off the loop. There were too many keys for me to fit it in my pocket so I stuffed it under my shirt and clutched my gut like I was having a stomach ache. Finally, I sprinted down the hallway, past Troy and the maid. Troy jumped up to his feet and followed me. We rounded a corner and I skidded to a stop in front of room 1082.
“Try the keys, try the keys,” Troy said frantically. I shushed him with a single look as I fumbled with the giant cold ring. My fingers felt like overstuffed sausages and I felt myself shaking with nervousness as I fumbled for the right one. The first key didn’t even fit in the lock, the second wouldn’t turn, but the third made the room door burst open. Troy and I had just managed to bolt inside before the squat maid turned the corner of the hallway.
“Thank god,” I said, breathing hard and leaning flat against the door. I latched it with the bolt and then walked over to the window. Sure enough, I had a clear view right of The Center Park Hotel.
“Damn,” Troy said. He looked down at the ground. “I didn’t think we’d be up so high.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled the duffle bag towards me, setting up the sniper rifle and opening the window of the room. When I zoomed in, I could see into the room on the seventh floor. I spotted a flash of red—Katie!—and my heart leapt and fluttered in my chest. She was lying down on her back and her ankles were cinched tight. My lungs swelled and for a moment, I wanted nothing more than to stroke her red hair. “Katie’s there,” I said quietly, not taking my eyes away from the sniper sight. “You were right. You didn’t lie.”
“Nope,” Troy said. He sat down on one of the bed with his hands in his lap, looking useless. “What’s going on over there?”
I struggled to see. There was a giant, hulking man who was walking around the room; he looked out of place indoors, like he’d be more at home in the circus. I wondered where Margot had found them.
Then, suddenly, I saw her. Margot. Margot George, my long lost love. She stepped right into my range and I saw everything: her long dark hair, her exquisite body, her perfect face with the coal-black eyes.
Something inside of me snapped. I almost squeezed the trigger. Margot darted off to the side. I watched as she sat down next to Katie on the bed, laughing about something. Katie’s face was red and streaked with tears and I watched as Margot slapped her hard, three times in a row.
Rage and anger built up inside my belly. This was it, this was the moment I’d been waiting for. This was what my whole life had come to. Suddenly, I knew there was no way I could be with Margot again. There was no way I could ever trust her, not after what she’d done. Not after she’d lied about Matthias and her own death and everything. I started to wonder if Margot had ever told me the truth about anything. Had she ever really loved me? What was the whole point?
My hands were shaking; I took them off the gun and put them safely in my lap. Margot. Her name kept flashing in my mind. For years, I’d thought she would come back miraculously, and we’d be just as in love and happy as ever. But now everything was starting to make sense, everything was starting to fall into place.
“Margot never loved me,” I said aloud. “She was using me to get close to Matthias.”
Troy nodded. “That’s what I told you back at the clubhouse,” he said solemnly. For a moment he looked completely serious and respectable. “She never loved you,” he said and then he snorted. Anger bubbled up within me like a fountain. Troy sneered. “She never loved you, and you probably disgusted her. She only used you,” he added.
I reached into the waistband of my jeans and pulled out a handgun. Cocking it and pointing it at Troy’s forehead, I stared deeply into his eyes. “You need to apologize,” I said slowly.
Troy stammered and shook. He lost whatever measure of composure that he’d just had and he began to look like a wreck once again. “I’m sorry,” Troy sputtered. “I’m sorry I said that about Margot, I really am.”
I shook my head. “I don’t care about Margot,” I said truthfully. Hearing the words leave my mouth was a little surreal, but in that moment I knew it was the truth. “I care about Katie,” I said. “And you hurt her. I want you to apologize.”
A look of panic and horror came over Troy’s face. “I’m sorry,” he said slowly. “I’m sorry I hurt Katharina. I won’t ever do it again; I know better now.”
I fired the gun before he had a chance to say anything else. It went off with a loud bang and I felt my hand sting with the shock of the recoil. Troy’s mouth gaped and his eyes were still open. Blood was trickling down his face from a small wound on his forehead.
I felt both disgusted and satisfied. Killing him hadn’t felt as good as I wanted it to—it almost felt like I’d done a civic duty rather than defending my wife’s honor. But, now, he was dead and I had bigger fish to fry.
Shoving his body out of the way, I hunkered down in front of the sniper shot and took aim. Margot kept moving in and out of focus and I felt the sweat beading hot on my forehead as I tried to keep her in my line of sight. But she was too crafty—it was almost as if she knew she was being watched.
“Come on, come on,” I muttered under my breath. “Come on, Margot.”
But she didn’t stay put for long. The giant man kept walking around the room and finally, he moved in front of my line of sight. Bingo, again.
I pulled the trigger and shot. The sniper rifle sounded much louder than my handgun had when I’d shot Troy, and I watched as the glass shattered in the room across the way. I could hear screams—they sounded oddly distant, as if they were coming up from under water—and I saw the man had dropped dead. Instantly, I got to my feet and bolted out of the room. I knew I only had a limited amount of time before I could get to Margot and Katie, and I’d have to rush as quickly as I could.
Chapter 27
Kat
harina
There was a sound that sounded like a loud pop! and I glanced up to see the glass window of the room shatter. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion—Benji collapsed to the ground and blood trickled out of his forehead.
Margot screamed and reached into her handbag, pulling out a gun. She glared at me. “You cunt,” she spat. “What the fuck did you do? What did you do?” When she was angry, she didn’t look beautiful. Instead, she looked intimidating, scary, the kind of person I’d run away from in a dark alley. Margot’s black eyes were blazing fire and I could tell she was really worked up. Her pretty face seemed drained of blood and her hair was frizzing wildly around her head, making her look like some kind of sexy demon.
Suddenly, Jace was in the room. I blinked, almost unable to believe it was actually him. “Oh my god,” I mumbled. “Jace!”