“Daddy!” I shrieked.
“You fucked up, old man.”
My eyes widened as I slipped into my house shoes and raced for the front door.
“You cost us a lot,” another voice said.
“Leave him alone!” I yelped as I searched around for my car keys. “Come on, come on. Where are my fucking keys!?”
“Get him in the truck,” yet another voice said.
“No!” I cried out. “Leave him alone! He didn’t do anything wrong!”
I snatched my keys up and raced out the door with my tits flopping around in my field of vision. I yanked my house robe off the coat rack as I flew toward my car, trying my hardest not to stumble over my own two fucking feet that were clad in nothing but slippers. I wrapped it around my body and shoved my arms into the fuzzy little holes. I cursed my flimsy tank top and ragged jeans as I slammed into my hatchback, cranking the engine without a second thought. And as I tore out of the driveway, I fumbled with my phone in my hand.
Gordon. I needed to call fiancée. But, calling him meant hanging up on Dad, and I sure as fuck wasn’t doing that.
So, I sent Gordon a text.
Me: Dad’s in trouble. Get to his house. Call 9-1-1. EMERGENCY!
Dad’s voice cried out so badly that it grew hoarse. “Someone, help me! They’re taking--!”
“Dad!?” I asked as I put the phone back to my ear. “Dad, can you hear me!? Please, dear God, tell me you can hear me. Daddy? I’m coming. Just hang on, I’ve--.”
Everything fell silent. Just as quickly as I heard my father screaming, his voice completely disappeared. My gut gripped. My heart stopped in my chest. The worst of the worst dawned upon me as I thought about what I might find once I got to his house. Was he dead? Bleeding out on the floor, without anyone to help him? I checked my text messages and didn’t find shit, so I shot off yet another one to Gordon.
Me: GORDON! 9-1-1! NOW!
Then, as I put the phone back to my ear, I heard what sounded like breathing.
Heavy, weighted breathing.
“I hear you, you know,” I said as my voice grew curt.
The breathing stopped, but the silence still persisted. So, I did the only thing I knew to do.
“I don’t know what you want, but my father doesn’t have it. If it’s money you’re looking for, he doesn’t own it. If it’s expensive items you’re looking for, you’ve robbed the wrong house. And if something happens to my father? I won’t stop hunting you down until all of you are rotting away in prison for the rest of your sorry, pathetic excuse of a life.”
A chuckle emanated through the phone. A deep, reverberating, harnessed chuckle that spread goosebumps all over my body.
“Come and get it,” the deep voice taunted.
Before the call dropped and left me sitting at a stoplight, waiting for the motherfucking thing to turn green.
2
NAOMI
Come and get it.
Come and get it.
Come and get it.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
I pulled into the driveway of my father’s ranch-style home and saw the front door hanging wide open, and Gordon wasn’t anywhere in sight.
