We make plans for the day she gets out, and I promise I’ll be outside those gates, waiting to swoop her up into my arms. Then I tell her over and over how much I love her before Powell has to physically drag me from the room.
I’m whistling as I make my way out of the gates, walking in the direction of the bus stop, feeling on top of the fucking world. Nightfall is encroaching, and the darkening sky casts shadows on the sidewalk as I advance toward the bus stop with a new spring in my step.
Without warning, I’m yanked sideways into an alley and shoved hard against the wall. “Well, well, would you look who it is,” says the voice from my nightmares. He grabs me around the throat with both hands before I have any time to react.
My lungs constrict, and I’m gasping for air as his chokehold tightens. He slams my head back into the brick wall, rattling my bones. “I’ve been waiting for this day for years.” His lips are curved into a sneer, his pungent breath slapping me in the face as he opens his mouth, flashing his yellowed teeth. “I should fucking end you right now.” Hatred burns the backs of his eyes as he bores a hole in my skull.
My lungs are seizing up, and my limbs twitch as I struggle to get free. He drops me abruptly, and I slump to the ground, banging my hip off the hard stone although I barely feel it, because I’m too busy sucking air down. “Get up, asshole.” He kicks me in the gut, and when I don’t stand, he grabs hold of my shirt, yanking me up.
“Fuck you.” I push at his chest, grateful I’ve been lifting weights and have decent upper body strength. We face off, both of us glaring at one another. “What the fuck do you want, and how the fuck did you find me?”
“Payback, and that’s for me to know.”
“Payback?! Are you kidding me?” My nostrils flare up.
He slams his fist into my gut, punching me several times, winding me. “Do I look like I’m fucking around?!” he snarls. “You screwed us all over, and now it’s time to pay up.”
“Get lost, asshole. I owe you nothing,” I pant. Straightening up, I summon strength from somewhere, shoving him in the chest repeatedly, snarling in his ugly face as I push him back down the alley. “The terms of our release were conditional on staying away from one another. I can report you and have you locked up just like that.” I click my fingers in midair.
He rams his fist in my face, and blinding pain lances through my skull as I stumble back, clutching my bloody nose. “I wouldn’t go slinging threats around if I were you.” The look he pins on me is pure evil, and chills tiptoe up my spine. Extracting a cell from his back pocket, he thrusts it in my throbbing face. “Wouldn’t want your girl paying the price for your mistakes, now would we?”
My stomach flip-flops as I stare at the image of Zeta in the yard. It’s date-stamped this week. Adrenaline courses though me, fueled by anger and fear. Grabbing him into a headlock, I slam him into the wall, rage pummeling my insides. “You leave her the fuck out of this!” I shout. “If one hair on her head is harmed, I will fucking end you!!”
He jabs his elbow into my rib cage, and all the air flees my lungs. Pushing me back into the wall, he wraps his hand around my throat again. “You’re in no position to make demands.”
“What do you want?” I splutter, grabbing hold of his arms and trying to loosen his grip on me.
“Everything. I want everything. I own you,Ryder.”
“Not the girl,” I rasp, feeling the last trickle of air squeeze out of my lungs. Blood drips down my chin from my nose, creeping under the collar of my shirt. He eyeballs me with those cold, unfeeling eyes of his before letting me go. I rest against the wall, sucking greedy mouthfuls of oxygen into my lungs as I fight to keep my limbs upright. “I’ll do whatever you want, just leave her out of it. She doesn’t know anything.” My tone is resigned.
He stares at me, a muscle ticking in his jaw, as his brain goes into overdrive. “We can make a deal and leave the girl off the table. But if you mess up, if you say no to me, if you try and trap me, the girl takes a bullet.”
15
Zeta
“Good luck to you, Zeta. Good luck to you both,” Powell says as she unlocks the gates and steps aside.
On instinct, I fling my arms around her in a hug. “Thank you. For everything.”
“I’m glad it’s worked out, and I hope you’re both very happy, because you deserve every happiness. Look after my boy.”
“I will,” I promise, slinging my bag over my shoulder and waving at her. I run toward the parking lot, such is my desire to see my boyfriend, but my aunt’s smiling face is the first familiar face I see.
She pulls me into a tentative hug and promptly bursts into tears. “I’m so happy you’re free of that place,” she says, laughing a little in between her tears.
I slip out of her embrace, a little uncomfortable. While Jill has visited me every week since she returned to the US, we are still virtual strangers. It’s going to take a while for me to feel natural around her even if I’m hugely grateful to her. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
“Sweetheart.” She tenderly cups my face, dropping her hand when I shrink back a bit. Her smile falters, but she hides it fast. “We’re family. No thanks or repayment is necessary. I just want you to live your life and be happy. God knows you’ve earned it.” Her lower lip wobbles. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you growing up. I’ll never forgive myself for abandoning you.”
I wet my dry lips. “It’s okay. You didn’t know. She forced you out of our lives and ignored every attempt you made to patch things up. What happened is not on you.”
She swipes a tear away. “I know you haven’t told me the worst of it, and I can’t imagine what you lived through. I hate that I was off on the other side of the world living my life in blissful ignorance while you were being neglected and abused. I don’t know how you can bear to look at me.”
“You came through for me when I needed you. That’s all that matters,” I quietly admit.
Jill gave up a lucrative job in IT management to come back to the US. She dropped everything without a moment’s hesitation once she found out my predicament. She’s since bought a house, in Newport Beach, and secured a fancy, new position with a leading technology company.
