“I’ve been having contractions for about a half hour,” she said. “That’s not urine. My water just broke. I’m going to have this baby right here, right now.”
He shook his head as he backed away. “This is a trick.”
She tried not to sob out of terror as she shook her own head. “Donny, it’s Donny right?” His face twitched and she pressed on. “I know you. I know why you’re so angry. I understand what you must be feeling…”
He backhanded her again, which sent more pain down around her womb. “You don’t understand anything, you pig! But you will,” he promised. “You all will!”
He went back over to the window and she bit her lip so she wouldn’t cry out as another contraction hit. Things were happening much quicker than she expected. She could even feel her daughter drop down toward her pelvis, which immediately made her want to push to relieve the pressure. “Donny, please,” she croaked. “This is not a trick. I’m going to have this baby. Please, I’ll do anything as long as you let her live. I’ll give up my life. You can blow me to hell and back again. But please,” she sobbed. “Please let my daughter live.”
He laughed as he glanced back at her from his perch at the window. “Why should I do that?” he asked. “No one let my sister live.”
Her eyes widened. She didn’t know that Baylee had died. It all made sense now. “When?” she asked.
“Last night,” he answered flatly. “Someone pulled her life support. She had gotten too inconvenient.”
“It wasn’t us, I swear it,” she responded.
“I took care of the pigs who did it,” he told her. “Maybe you’ll meet up with ol’ Leo and Julian and Holly in hell. I’m sure you’ll have a lot to talk about.”
Her heart sank. He killed Holly? That meant he wouldn’t think twice about letting her die in childbirth right in that chair.
Vanni would lose both his children. It seemed to be what Donny wanted most.
She wept softly. When the next contraction came she couldn’t help but cry out.
Donny stood up and walked over to her, reattaching her gag to her face.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Redondo Beach, California
June 17, 2010
Police had lined the street out front and the beach out back by the time Graham, Vanni and Maggie reached the house. They were trying to locate Raelynn Wilke to see if she could defuse the situation, but hospital staff where Baylee had died told them she had fallen completely apart at the news. Hotel staff had reported that the room where Donny had been staying was trashed in the middle of the night, and no one had been able to locate him.
According to the security feed at the house, he had arrived at Vanni’s sometime around 3:00 a.m., but it had no aroused suspicion due to the late hours Vanni usually kept. He was likely waiting for Vanni to show up just hours after Baylee had died in her hospital bed. Recent reports showed that he had recently purchased quite a few firearms, none of which were present at the hotel room. The authorities believed he had brought those weapons to Vanni’s house to exact his revenge on the one he thought responsible for his sister’s death.
Worse, the computer he left behind showed clues that he had purchased items to use as explosives, and they were extremely concerned with his history that he was going to blow up that house and half of Redondo Beach along with it.
When the police got to Redondo Beach, it had turned into a standoff. They evacuated the neighbors as they tried to communicate with Donny, but he hadn’t responded. Snipers had been put into position, and they could clearly see that Andy was tied to a chair and a crossbow was trained on her should anyone try to get in to rescue her. She was clearly in distress, which made the situation more dangerous.
Vanni paced like a racehorse stuck in the starting gate. “We have to do something!” he told them. Donny was a true psychopath who no longer seemed to care about getting away with anything. He was leaving a path of destruction all over L.A. to exact his revenge for his sister’s death.
And now Andy and their baby were in his clutches. He couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.
Graham tried to calm him down. “You’re not going to help her by storming into the house like some barbarian,” he told him. “The police fear he’s rigged the entire place. You could end up killing her.”
Vanni spun away, more frustrated than ever. He couldn’t just stand there. He’d already been in this position before, when he lunged away from a bullet that was meant for her. Now he had put her in harm’s way again.
He’d rather die himself than have anything happen to her or their child.
But the police were unsure how to handle Donny Wilke. He had a criminal record that suggested mental illness and psychosis. He was the fuse to his own bomb, and they didn’t want to do anything to inadvertently light it, especially with a pregnant woman in peril.
Worse, it wasn’t just any woman. It was the fiancé of a celebrity, so the media was out in full force covering the story. They wouldn’t just have a family to answer to if they made the wrong move – they’d have to answer to an entire city.
When Vanni’s phone rang, everyone held their breath.
It was Andy’s number, but a man was on the other end. It was Donny.
“Your pig fiancé is in labor,” he told him.
“Oh God,” he breathed. “Please,” Vanni continued. “Let her go free. Take me instead. I’ll do whatever you want as long as you let her go.”
“You’ll do whatever I want anyway,” Donny informed him.
“Haven’t enough innocent people died?” Vanni implored.
Maggie motioned for the phone, which Vanni reluctantly handed over. “Donny, my name is Maggie. I’m a nurse. What’s going on?” She paused, listening intently. Finally she nodded and handed the phone back to Vanni, but Donny had already disconnected.
“He’s going to let me go into the house,” she said as she turned toward the ambulance to retrieve medical supplies.
“What?” Graham exclaimed. “Maggie, no!”
She touched his hand. “Andy needs me. She’s in labor. Her water already broke and her contractions are only minutes apart. I’m the only chance that baby has at survival. You forget. I was a nurse in the army. I have training in high stress situations. Maybe I can defuse it.”
He held onto her arms. “Mags…” he trailed off. “I can’t lose you. I love you,” he finally admitted, wondering when the hell it happened and why the hell he’d wasted so much time figuring it out.
She smiled as she reached up to kiss him softly. “I love you, too.” She’d waited a long time to hear it, but they couldn’t savor the moment. Andy and her baby needed her. She turned to Vanni. “I’ll get them both out.”
Graham tried to hold onto her but she slipped out of his grasp as she headed for the house, leaving both Vanni and Graham to wait helplessly behind.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Redondo Beach, California
June 17, 2011
Donny watched the redheaded nurse approach the house. He plucked the arrow out of the crossbow, which discharged loudly when Maggie opened the door. Andy was delirious with pain and terror by the time she saw Maggie enter the house like an angel. Donny shut the door behind her and reconfigured his trap while Maggie rushed to where Andy sat tied to a chair.
Her gaze swept over the house, assessing all the visible data in a second. Maggie turned back to Donny. “Please let me untie her and move her to the sofa,” she said. “So I can examine her,” she added when she saw that Andy’s comfort did not concern Donny.
He paused briefly, and then gave her an imperceptible nod. He didn’t lift a finger to help Maggie undo the restraints. She tore the gag from her mouth after she freed her hands. “What’s going on?” she asked Andy.
“A few minutes apart, I don’t know, I can’t time them.”
“Intense?”
Andy nodded. “Getting worse with each one. My water broke.”
“How far along are you?�
�
“Thirty-six weeks,” she said.
Maggie nodded. “Let’s get you to the couch.”
She lifted the other woman underneath her arms to guide her down into the sunken living room. Just as they stepped down another contraction hit, which brought Andy to her knees, nearly taking Maggie with her. Maggie encouraged her to breathe through it as she timed the duration with her watch.
Donny stood and started to pace again as they struggled to get Andy to the couch.
Lying down hurt worse than sitting up and Andy was crying from the pain. Maggie crooned to her and told her to concentrate on her breathing as she propped her up on the pillows from the sofa. She reached under her nightgown to remove her underwear, which made it sink into Andy just how real this situation was.
“Please get him to let me go,” she whispered desperately.
Deftly Maggie checked her cervix. It was too late for any of that. “Shh, Andy, listen to me. You’re going to have to stay calm, okay?” She rose to face Donny. “She’s going to have the baby within a few minutes.”
He glanced down into the living room where Andy lay panting on the couch. “This is another trick,” he said as he glared at Maggie suspiciously. “How am I supposed to know you’re telling the truth?”
“You could look for yourself,” Maggie bluffed, but Andy looked even more terrified at the prospect.
“A few minutes, huh?” he asked again. He went over to one of timers on his explosives and set it for five minutes. “Get cracking, otherwise you’ll blow to hell, too.”
Andy started to scream but Maggie dropped down beside her and put her finger over her mouth. “Don’t scream. I need you to push.”
Andy nodded as she spread her legs wider. “Bear down,” Maggie instructed.
Andy grunted as she did as Maggie told her to do. She could feel her skin burn from the tear as her baby crowned. Andy screamed again from the pain and tried to push even harder.
“Hold on,” Maggie said. “The baby’s umbilical cord is around her neck. Hold on, Andy.”
Andy nearly choked on her tears as she felt Maggie tug and pull between her legs. She glanced up at the timer, which Donny would turn off and set again over and over to further torment his captives. Only a few minutes remained.
With sweet release Andy felt the baby slip from her body. She was barely conscious as she pleaded with Maggie, “Please get her out of her. Do whatever it takes. Save her.”
Maggie nodded as she cleaned out the baby’s mouth. Andy heard her daughter’s robust cry fill the room before she fainted dead away from the trauma and the effort.
Maggie tore the blanket from the couch, rolling Andy off into the floor in the process with a thud. It was best that way, she thought to herself as she swaddled the baby and glanced back at the timer where only precious seconds remained.
Outside Vanni and Graham waited impatiently behind the police cruiser. They held onto each other for strength, especially once the first explosion rocked the house and sent a huge plume of black smoke up against the crystal blue sky.
Epilogue
Redondo Beach, California
June 17, 2011
I watched the first explosion light up the southern California skyline in disbelief. This couldn’t be happening again. A year to the date of the last disaster, it was all happening again. It was as if there could be no other conclusion; as if fate always had another idea. After all these years, after all our struggles, I guess I should have known there could be no happily ever after. We had always been star-crossed lovers, doomed to die out just like a candle that had reached the end of its wick. My soul eked from my pores as I watched fire consume the place where we had lived, the home where we had loved – the life that we had made. Smoke rose from the sparkling, crackling embers of my broken dreams. Everything around me was in ruins, and I knew once again it was my fault. I learned a long time ago that love did not come without a cost. Everyone I had ever counted on had left – one way or another. I tried to keep everyone at arm’s length, sure if I never made any promises I could never truly let anyone down any more than they could let me down. I didn’t care who I hurt as long as I got my way – which was all the benefits of love without any accountability.
It was all supposed to be uncomplicated…so simple. But if I had learned anything over the past four years it was that love was never simple.
The only thing I could count on was being alone. And the bitch of it was I knew I deserved it. This was my penance for being selfish, entitled. Indulged.
Scared…
Graham followed Vanni as he raced toward the burning building. Both men struggled past the police and headed for the smoking wreckage of what used to be Vanni’s home. Another explosion knocked Graham from the porch, sending him flying back onto the small yard out front. Boards and glass scattered around him as he tried his best to rise to his feet.
That was when he saw her.
Her dirty red hair framed her face like a halo and he cried out in joy as he ran to her. “Mags,” he said as he reached for her, but she held a precious bundle in her hands. They looked down at the baby she had snatched practically from the womb before she sailed over the railing and onto the beach below just before the first explosion hit.
Vanni and Andy’s daughter wailed loudly her discontent about coming into the world in such dramatic circumstances, and Graham couldn’t help but sob in relief that she, at least, was safe. He glanced up to Maggie. “Andy?” he asked.
She gestured toward the house. They watched it burn in horror, knowing this little baby’s father had also disappeared within its dangerous depths in a vain attempt to rescue the woman he loved.
But as scared as I had always been, nothing matched the terror watching that house explode knowing the person who had trusted me most, even when she never had any reason to, was inside. Even as I raced toward the burning building, I knew that my heroics were futile. The bomb had obliterated the house in an instant, taking with it everything I had ever treasured. I saw it with my eyes, why didn’t I believe it in my heart? Why couldn’t I let go?
Why had I never been able to let go?
I had been so selfish.
And now the woman I loved more than anyone before her had paid the ultimate price, simply because I hadn’t loved her more than I loved myself.
But if it was the last thing I would ever do, I’d risk it all to save her. I’d finally give her the love she never should have been denied.
When the burning beams tumbled around me as I ran deeper into the smoking inferno of my home, I honestly didn’t care if they consumed me.
If we couldn’t live together, we’d die together.
Vanni dodged each burning ember as he maneuvered what remained of his home. He found the smoking body of Donny Wilke slumped over his homemade bomb. He had died the instant it detonated. Vanni covered his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt as he scanned the darkened living room, where the loft from above caved in on the furniture below. Another blast knocked him further into the room, down into the sunken living room, amidst the fire and debris. His sleeve had caught fire and he desperately rolled to put it out.
That was when he saw the light glint off a two-carat pink diamond engagement ring. “Andy!” he cried as he crawled toward the female hand visible underneath a big flank of wood. With strength he didn’t even know he had, Vanni flung away the lumber which had enclosed the sunken living room like a cave from the first blast. Andy lay unconscious under the overturned sofa.
“Oh my God,” he breathed as he jumped down to grab her up into his arms. “Andy. Andy!”
She moaned slightly and he sobbed in relief as he clutched her to his chest. “I’m here, babe,” he promised. “I’ve got you.”
I would never let go.
Andy… I’ll never let go…
A week later, Vanni stood in the cheerful, pink nursery of his Palos Verdes home. He wore elegant black in honor of this significant day. Gone was the wild rocker boy. He was a man now,
one who had been to hell and back. He wore his unruly curls tied away from his face, and looked somber as he stared down into the round, cherry wood crib where his daughter slept soundly. She had been through a lot in the last seven days, but he knew she had her mother’s strength. That would carry her through all of her life’s challenges.
Most of all, she could be strong knowing he would never leave her. He was done running away from responsibility and commitment. The minute Maggie had put Renata into his arms for the first time, he knew that she was worth every promise he would ever make to her; he’d give his very last breath to make sure he’d never let her down.
He had watched in wonder as she had developed in the short period of time since her dramatic birth. At first, he swore she looked just like Andy. But there were times when she’d take his breath away as a mirror into himself. She was inquisitive and even-tempered like her mother, but she responded to music like he did. She’d turn her head towards him when he sang to her, as he cradled her close in his protective arms. She’d watch his mouth as he formed each word, and tears would form in his eyes as she tried to mimic him almost from birth.
He loved her more than he thought it was possible to love anyone. She was the best of what he and Andy had always meant to each other. She deserved nothing but the best in return. She had taught him there is nothing more important than honor, which was what this day would mean most.
Maggie knocked on the door softly before she entered. She looked lovely in her basic black dress, and she had a warm smile for the devoted father who towered over his daughter’s crib like the protective bear she knew now he would be. She placed her hand on his shoulder. “It’s time,” she said.
He nodded as he scooped his baby girl up into his arms. Tears hovered in his eyes as she gave him a big yawn and stretched in the perfect pink dress that Vanni had insisted that she wear. He handed Renata to Maggie and they left the nursery to head to the gathering in the back yard.
The Complete Groupie Trilogy Page 80