“Phillip Morris.”
An eerie smile crept across his face. “That’s my name. And yours is Jesse Pritchard, or no, is it Destiny? Destiny McDonald-Townsend. Congratulations, by the way … on the wedding and the …” His eyes dropped to my stomach.
My hand instantly went to my belly, protectively.
“Pregnancy.” He stepped forward.
I went to slam the door shut, knowing this was not a social call. The FBI and SEC had done their jobs and continued their investigation into Morris. I hadn’t heard anything from Paul for months until about a month earlier he called and told me that charges had been filed by both the SEC and FBI for money laundering and a number of other crimes. While the SEC’s charges would, at most, lead to Morris being publicly banned from practicing as a financial advisor again and having to make financial retribution, it was the charges by the FBI that could put him in jail for up to seven years.
The last I’d heard, Morris had done his best to prove his innocence but the truth was, he was guilty. Eventually, he’d pleaded as such and was now awaiting his sentencing trial, which was to be in a few weeks. Apparently, he was out on bail while he waited.
“See, I’d been trying to figure out over and over in my head who ratted me out. Why would the SEC randomly decide to come after me?”
“You need to get the hell off my doorstep!” I demanded while attempting to close the door in his face. I was stopped by his hand on the door. I tried to push it shut with all of my strength but I was already winded from that tiny bit of exertion.
“What’s the matter? Don’t want to hear what I have to say?” he demanded, pushing the door all of the way open one final time. He pushed it so hard, I stumbled backwards a few feet, knocking me down onto the second step of our stairway.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I watched Morris slam the door behind him and lock it. I immediately went for my phone, thinking it was in the pocket of the relaxed fit pants I wore. My heart sank when I discovered I’d left it on the couch all of the way on the other side of the room.
“Get the hell out of my house!” I demanded, trying to sound intimidating, despite the tremor in my voice.
“Why? You came to my fucking house and wrecked it all up! Things were going fine! Fine! But then you waltzed into my office pretending to be a poor, broken down widow who needed some help with her money. Then boom! My life is fucking flipped upside down.”
He moved closer, threateningly. I glanced over his shoulder and saw my phone resting on the huge couch I’d just gotten off of.
“I didn’t do shit you didn’t deserve. You stole money from people!”
“They didn’t deserve it!” he yelled loudly, face contorting into one of rage.
That was when I braced my arms on the stair behind me and kicked at his knee as hard as I could. I missed his knee but managed to land the kick to his thigh.
“Ow, bitch!” He growled loudly, crouching low.
It gave me just enough time to jump off the stair and make a dash past him toward the living room where I’d left my phone. Unfortunately, I was much slower these days, barely able to jog, let alone sprint for the phone. Morris quickly rebounded and was on my heels just as I reached my phone.
“Ow! Get the hell off of me!” I yelled and swung my arms as he grabbed me from behind by my hair and the shirt I wore.
“You ruined my life!” he snarled while wrapping his hand around my nose and mouth.
I began panicking with the loss of oxygen. At the same time the babies in my womb began moving, reminding me that I wasn’t in this fight for myself. I had to protect them. With all of the strength I could muster, I swung my right elbow back as hard as I could, making contact with the soft flesh of Phillip Morris’ abdomen.
He crumbled low, grunting in pain. His grip loosened and I gasped for much needed air. I quickly tapped the power button on my phone and glanced over my shoulder to see Morris straightening up. I turned back to my phone and slid the Emergency SOS button left to right, hoping that it did the job and automatically dialed the emergency contacts in my phone. Tyler had insisted months ago that I set it up, once he learned that I hadn’t even known about the feature.
“I’m going to kill you!” Morris taunted, lunging at me.
I yelped and just barely escaped his grasp as I turned and ran toward the staircase. Our bedroom was on the second floor and had a lock on it as well as security features. I figured if I could get there ahead of Morris, I’d be okay.
“Come here, bitch!” he growled as he chased me through the living room and up the stairs.
I began breathing intensely as a sharp pain ran down my spine, slowing my progress. At the same time, Morris was on me, once again pulling me by the hair and the T-shirt I wore. I lost my footing and my hand slipped from the wooden railing, and I crashed down against Morris’ body, causing him to tumble as well. The next thing I remember was my back slamming hard against the hardwood of the stair below me, before everything faded to black.
****
Tyler
“Where the hell is my wife?” I demanded of the nurse behind the desk.
“I-Um, who—”
