Forever Yours

by Nikki J Summers

  “She’d put two and two together and come up with five.” Chris said cruelly. “Don’t worry she’s total oblivious that one.”

  When I walked into the office I felt incredibly humbled that all the guys had gone to so much trouble for me. There were flowers, balloons and presents, a massive buffet set up in the board room and everyone had come from their desks to wish me a goodbye and see you soon. Frank insisted on the ‘see you soon’ because he said he didn’t want to think about the possibility I might not come back.

  As I glanced around me I realised how far I had come since joining them after leaving Adam. These were good people, and I’d miss the banter and camaraderie we had shared. Oh I knew I’d never lose Chris, he was my brother from another mother, but still it felt sad to be leaving. It was the end of an era for me. Even nerdy Colin looked out of sorts standing in the corner picking over his slice of cake and keeping his head down.

  About an hour after we’d arrived our usual delivery guy walked into the office carrying the biggest bouquet of red roses. I knew who sent them, he was always so thoughtful. I took them from his arms and thanked him as he slinked back out of the office looking relieved that he’d avoided Kim’s wrath.

  When I opened the envelope my heart gave a little victory dance.

  To My Beautiful Wife (to be)

  I don’t tell you I love you out of habit or because I want you to say it back. I tell you I love you because I want to remind you that you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

  I’m thankful every day that I met you.

  You are the best part of my life.

  Forever yours

  Joe x

  How did I manage to get so lucky? Everything was pretty much perfect and I couldn’t wait to get home and wrap myself around him and show him how much I loved him and what my favourite parts of my life were, or rather my favourite parts of him.

  I spent the rest of the afternoon with a goofy smile on my face but as time wore on I started to feel tired. It didn’t take a lot these days, most evenings I was usually drooling on my pillow with Joe shaking me awake to get my attention. I think it was par for the course at this stage of the pregnancy, or so the websites told me.

  I turned to Sam and asked him if he wouldn’t mind putting the flowers, presents and other gifts into the car ready for when we left. Chris agreed to help him and the two got to work ferrying the bags and boxes up and down the lifts. I went out to the reception area to try and find Kim, and Colin followed me.

  “We’ll all really miss you Ella.” His admission took me back, I didn’t even think he’d noticed I’d gone.

  “Thanks Colin, I’ll miss you too.” I smiled kindly, he wasn’t so bad after all, a little strange but harmless.

  “Oh I forgot I still have one of your leaving presents in the back of my car, I meant to bring it up this morning but in the rain and all the rush I completely forgot. Do you mind coming down to the car park with me to get it? It’ll only take two minutes.”

  “Sure, lead the way.”

  I followed Colin down the back stairs to the car park at the rear of the building. He seemed quiet but then he was never the chattiest person.

  As we exited the building he pointed to his silver Volvo parked in the corner by the trees. I should have guessed that Colin would drive a Volvo, he was so sensible, it suited him down to the ground. He clicked the doors open and motioned towards the back door for me to open up and retrieve whatever it was he had back there. I opened the door and peered in…nothing.

  “There’s nothing here Colin, are you sure you didn’t put it in the boot?”

  I didn’t hear a reply, all I felt was a sharp sting on my neck and the world began to swirl like a kaleidoscope, sounds became distorted, my sight was fuzzy and weird. I couldn’t speak or move, all I felt was my body go limp and crash onto the leather of the back seat of Colin’s car. The last thing I saw was Colin’s face looming over me, a hideous, stomach churning grin on his face as he stroked my hair and muttered something inaudible to me. Then black ….

  Joe

  Having Ella out for the day gave me the perfect opportunity to put some of the wedding gifts I had in mind for her into action. She was so nosey I’d have never got away with keeping anything a surprise for long but I was going to use the time to get some things into order. Max was on board and would keep any paper work at his place. Sam was keeping an eye on Ella, so I was free to do my own thing.

  I wondered if she’d got the flowers I’d sent her yet. I checked my phone but no missed call and no text. It wasn’t like her not to respond straight away, she always had in the past. She was probably having too much fun or being totally monopolized by Chris to get two minutes to herself to message.

  I was in between appointments so I headed over to Max’s to pick him up. He was going to come with me for the next viewing. I wanted his input seeing as he knew Ella almost as well as I did, but not quite. I was lying back with my feet up on his coffee table playing his x box whilst he finished getting ready when my mobile rang, Ella was facetiming me.

  “Angel, you okay?”

  All I could see was her eye then the screen blurred onto what looked like a ceiling light then nothing. The sound was muffled too.

  “Ella, did you ring me by mistake? I can’t see you baby, hold the phone up properly.” She was bloody hopeless with technology that woman.

  Suddenly every nerve in my body jolted in fear as a man’s deep voice came through the phone. “Is this better Joe?”

  I froze, my mouth went dry and the sheer terror I felt in that instance was indescribable. The only word I could conjure up for my position at that very moment was helpless. Crippling, nauseatingly helpless. Max came into the room, and seeing my reaction he came behind me to see what was going on. What I saw on the screen that day would live with me until the day I died.

  38

  I started to come around slowly, I was cold and shivering uncontrollably lying in just my underwear. The smells and sounds around me were more prevalent than my sense of sight at first. I could smell damp, wet, dirt and rust circling in the air. Particles of dust invaded my nose making me want to sneeze, but I could feel something wound tightly around my face stopping me from talking or making any noise other than the pitiful whimper I was making right now. I listened intently as metal clanged against metal, fingers tapped on a keyboard and the buzzing of some type of light overhead maybe a faulty lighting tube that flicked, clicked and buzzed on and off.

  It was my sense of touch that I noticed next. I was lying down, some kind of metal restraints on my arms and legs tying me to what felt like a mattress. A dirty old mattress with a few springs sticking out and poking into my bare skin. The restraints were brutally tight and pinched my ankles and wrists making any movement painful, almost impossible. On my face I had a gag, the dusty vile material soaking up any moisture in my mouth and making my throat feel dry and scratchy. It was tied so tightly around my face that it hurt the sides of my mouth, digging into the flesh and forcing me to keep my lips slightly ajar. The fact I was only in my underwear made me feel especially vulnerable, too exposed.

  Once my sight returned I found myself wishing it hadn’t. I was able to move my head from side to side but I felt so groggy from whatever had been injected into me that it felt like a million knives were piercing my skull whenever I did, so I used my eyes to gather as much information as I could. I was lying in what looked like a disused warehouse of some kind. Old metal machines and apparatus which must have been useful in its day stood deadly still, covered in years of dirt and rust and dripping in water, rain water from a hole in the high roof where the tiles had slipped away. No one worked here, no one came here judging from the state of the place. This was a forgotten place and I would soon be a forgotten person.

  I looked to the right and saw Colin with his back to me. He was typing away on a laptop. There was another similar laptop set up at the foot of the bed and as I looked down I could see the mattress was on some
type of camping bed or cheap bed frame. Next to the laptop at the end of the bed was a metal table. What was on that table filled me with horror. Knives, scalpels, a drill, a hack saw, every tool you could think of for torturing someone was there. I wanted to throw up and whimpered through the gag, but I knew I had to keep my head clear, it wasn’t just me lying on this flea ridden mattress, I had my little miracle to think about too. I had to stay in the game and think a way out of this. I had to play smart.

  “You’re awake. Good, the fun can start.” Colin leered over me and then picked up what looked like my mobile phone. He pointed it right in my face and dialled. When I heard Joe’s voice I knew that this was the ending he had said was coming. Little did either of us realise that the ending would be quite like this…brutal.

  “Angel, you okay?” His smooth voice was like a balm to me, a reminder of how much I had to lose. How much I needed to stay focused. I tried to speak but all that came out was a muffled grumble.

  “Ella, did you ring me by mistake? I can’t see you baby, hold the phone up properly.”

  Colin lifted the phone up to the ceiling and grinned down at me like some demonic lunatic and then stood back and showed Joe where I was, tied to a dirty filthy bed in my underwear and gagged, my eyes full of fear and begging him to save me.

  “Is this better Joe?” Colin sneered at me as he spoke. I could hear Joe start to lose it at the other end, calling out ‘no, God please, no.’ Colin just laughed manically.

  “So I guess you’re wondering why I brought you here Ella. I think Joe already knows but let’s enlighten him shall we? Humour me Joe, I think Ella needs to know why she’s being sacrificed today…don’t you.” He winked at me and I wanted to kick out at him but I was incapable of moving. I struggled in my restraints all the same mumbling as I did.

  “I swear to God you’re gonna pay for this you son of a bitch.” Joe spat down the phone. “I’m going to find you and give you the slowest most painful death you deserve mother fucker.”

  “So angry Joe. Shouldn’t I be the angry one right now? I mean you’re the one in the wrong here not me. I’m the innocent party just exacting my revenge, as I believe is my right. It’s only what you deserve.” Colin was pacing up and down now, the phone facing the floor as he spoke.

  “Don’t listen to him Ella, I’m coming to get you baby, stay strong I love you.” Joe called to me.

  “Oh how sweet. What a shame you’re not always so truthful with her though. It doesn’t bode well for your upcoming nuptials does it? Not that you’ll get to that now I have her.” Colin sat on the edge of the bed a look of pure evil behind his eyes.

  “You see Joe, Ella here knows me as Colin Peterson don’t you Ella?” He looked at me like he expected me to answer, I bit down on the gag and gave him a death stare.

  “Joe knows the real me though don’t you Joe.”

  “Cole Peters” Joe said with a hint of regret.

  “If only you chatted more to Ella about her day and who she works with, you might have found me sooner, but then you always were a self-centred asshole weren’t you Joe? I was hiding in plain sight. I was sitting in the same room as Ella most days and you didn’t even know.”

  “Fuck you!” Joe shouted.

  “You’re the one doing all the fucking Joe. Let’s start from the beginning shall we? You see I never wanted you to get messed up in all this Ella. I liked you, I really liked you. I even went so far as to reinstate those websites that Joe here had buried to get you to see how fucked up he was. I had no idea you were fucked up too Ella. What kind of woman sees her man fucking hundreds of women on videos and photographs and takes him back? Ella you disappointed me! You must have very low self-esteem. Good job I’m sorting that out for you today and putting you out of your misery. It must be exhausting being that insecure on a daily basis.”

  I grunted at him in response, I was mentally gouging his eyes out with the scalpel on the table as I glared at him.

  “You know, I even gave you a second chance to get away Ella. I took the time to slip something in his drink at a bar and have my associates carry him unconscious out to my van and set him up at an apartment I’d rented and took photographs of him in a bed. It didn’t take much persuading for that Anna bitch to agree to set you up Joe. She’s a piece of work isn’t she! Imagine being so desperate to be with someone you’d fake having their baby to get them. Some people are just insane these days Ella, don’t you agree.”

  ‘Yeah and none more so than you, you crazy fucking freak’ I wanted to shout out but all that came out was more muffles.

  “But yet again you disappointed me Ella, crawling back to him on your hands and knees. You really have no shame do you. So I figured if you were so hell bent on being with him you could die for him too. I mean Joe’s like a cat he has nine lives. He survived a fire at the club, me cutting his brakes and various other games we’ve played over the years, isn’t that right Joe? I bet he never even told you I’ve been toying with him for years, did he? I’m glad I chose to bide my time though and waited until you came along Ella. I mean did you really think you of all people could settle down and get married Joe? As if I’d let that happen after everything we’ve been through. Joe you’ve always thought you were such a lucky bastard, an untouchable, haven’t you… but you Ella, I don’t think you’ll be so lucky. Not today.”

  “If you touch one hair on her head I swear to God I will kill you Peters. I’m coming for you.” Joe snapped. I hoped and prayed to God that he was.

  “Now now Joe, we haven’t even started yet. Let’s get to the story then I can tell you the really good part.” Colin looked over at me and raised my mobile again so Joe could see my face as he told his little story.

  “You see Ella Joe here, your precious Joe, was fucking my wife for years. Marie was my world but to him she was just one in a long line of conquests. Isn’t that right Joe?”

  “You’re fucked up in the head you know that. She came to me, I wasn’t interested in your wife Peters. Never was.”

  “Let’s not muddy the waters now hey, we all have our sides of the story to tell and now it’s my turn. You see Ella, Marie and I had been trying for a baby for some time but it just wasn’t happening for us. I think that’s why she turned to…him. She was lonely. I didn’t nurture our love enough, I took her for granted. That’s why I’m here now you see, to show her I love her, she deserves retribution and I’m going to get it for her.”

  “Ella doesn’t deserve this Peters. If you’re pissed with me take it out on me and let Ella go. I’ll come and meet you just name the time and place and I’m there.”

  “It’s not that simple anymore Joe, but we’ll get to the good part in a minute. Now where was I?”

  Colin was sat like he was reading a bedtime story. He was a psychopath, totally oblivious to the real world and that’s what scared me the most. I had to try and get this gag off and remind him who Ella was and why he shouldn’t hurt me. Reach out to Colin the one with some hint of human kindness and push Cole the raging psycho back inside.

  “So Marie started seeing your Joe on a regular basis. I’m sure you don’t need me to paint you a picture Ella, but it was all pretty seedy stuff. Anyway after some months of me turning a blind eye she announces she pregnant but she’s not happy about it.” He started to laugh like the mad man I knew he was.

  “She actually thought I had no idea she was cheating on me. I’m a highly trained computer hacker I had access to the CCTV in every place she visited.” He shook his head like he was marvelling at some silly misdemeanour.

  “When I told her I knew all about her seedy little affair she wanted to leave me, said she was in love with him and wanted to be with him. I asked her if the baby was mine and she swore blind it was. Now this is where it starts to get exciting. You see I thought she was lying. Why would she be having my baby but want to leave me for another man? It didn’t make sense right? Turns out it was my baby, Joe was always such a careful boy weren’t you Joe? I paid to have the foe
tus tested for paternity and I was a 99.9% match. Always careful to cover your cock and protect yourself but you didn’t care about who you were hurting did you?”

  “This is total bull shit Ella, don’t listen to him.”

  “It’s my truth Joe, and I’m here now to tell it so be a good boy and shut the fuck up… So to the good part… You see Joe didn’t do relationships back then, my Marie packed up her things and left but hours later she was back. Joe had sent her packing, told her he didn’t love her and threw her out. She was heartbroken, but I’m a lot like you Ella. I gave her a second chance and told her I’d take her back and we’d raise our baby together as a family. She couldn’t see Joe again though, over my dead body would I share my pregnant wife with another man. See where I’m going here yet?”

  “Peters you need to stop this now. Please.”

  “I found her body at 3.46am the next morning. She’d hung herself from the rafters in our loft. The loft hatch had been left open and when I climbed the stairs I saw her there swinging away. Her face had a light blue tinge to it, her lips were all swollen and her eyes bulged like something from a horror movie, it was really quite beautiful. Have you ever seen a dead body hanging Ella?” He didn’t wait for a response this time.

  “It almost doesn’t look real, your brain can play tricks on you, and convince you it’s fake… a dummy not a real person. To this day I always remind myself that wasn’t my Marie hanging from that rope. My Marie is still with me.”

  “You’re fucking insane Peters. I’m gonna destroy you.”

  “So the best part?” Colin started to chuckle. “I couldn’t have planned this any better if I’d tried.”

  He reached down to the side of the bed and pulled out a handful of plastic sticks, my plastic sticks. The ones I’d kept in my handbag that had told us we were going to have a baby. The fear that lodged itself in the pit of my stomach made my ears ring and the sweat pool beneath me on the cheap mattress.