“You’re absolutely no fun today.”
Julian smiled as he looked up from a review of his notes from the meeting with Cresley.He’d make a call to Marlon when he got back to the office to get the ball rolling toward making him go away.“It’s been a day and a half, and it’s not over yet.”
“Heard about Stacey the smokeshow storming the office.”
“Yeah, that was fun.”
“I assume that didn’t do much to advance her cause.”
“Nothing at all.I believe she’s now clear on where we stand, which is over and done with.”
“You need to find yourself a nice girl to settle down with.Have a couple of kids and a white picket fence.A dog would be good, too.”
“Sometimes I feel like you don’t know me at all, Ernie.”
The older man’s guffaw made Julian smile.The time in the car with Ernie was always a highlight of days that were often full of lowlights.
ChapterFour
Isla Santana wasn’t sure when exactly she’d decided that she needed a backup plan, but now that her husband, Gabriel, had returned after being gone for weeks and was in one of his rages, she was glad she’d prepared for this moment.She ushered her children, one-year-old Mila and three-year-old Theo, ahead of her into the crawl space and then replaced the panel she’d cut months ago in the wall inside the main bedroom closet, while praying the seams wouldn’t show from the outside.
She’d checked to make sure the light didn’t shine through in a dark room to give away their hiding place.It didn’t, so she turned on her phone’s flashlight so the kids wouldn’t add being afraid of the dark to the list of traumas they’d take away from the many other incidents that preceded this one.
Isla found the battery-powered light she’d stashed there months ago, hoping she’d never need that or the days’ worth of provisions, diapers, wipes, toys and games she’d carted into the space while the kids were next door with their devoted neighbor and friend, Mrs.Ventura.On the way into the crawl space, she’d also grabbed her laptop and chargers for the computer and phone, which she plugged into the power strip attached to an extension cord that she’d pushed through a hole in the wall months ago and then patched with spackle.
Isla had tried to think of everything they might need for a day or two, if necessary.She couldn’t think beyond having prepared for a couple of days.What would happen after that…
The sound of screaming, glass shattering and thumps could be heard through the wall, each one causing her—and the children—to startle in response.
She thought about calling 911 but was too afraid the call might be overheard through the thin wall, so she was counting on Mrs.V or one of their other neighbors to make the call.
As she held the kids close to her, she whispered to them how important it was to be as quiet as possible.They’d had “quiet contests” night after night, until it had become a game they enjoyed, while she hoped they’d never need the skill.
Now that the incident she’d prayed would never come to pass was upon them, the kids clung to her, scared speechless by their father’s rage and aware, even at their young ages, that if he found them, it wouldn’t be good.
Tears slid down her cheeks, wetting the soft, downy hair of her babies as they burrowed into her, their anchor in the storm.
Gabriel…HerGabriel… Her sweet, adorable, loving, sexy husband had left her a little at a time over the ten years they’d been together, an excruciating undoing that’d intensified the day he’d gone missing for six hours while she was pregnant with Theo.He’d returned a totally different person.
She still didn’t know where he’d been or what’d happened, but the spiral since then had been profound and terrifying.Despite pleas from her and other people who cared about him, he’d refused to seek medical care for an issue that was obvious to everyone but him.He’d said he was fine and that they should all mind their own business and had been especially vicious toward Isla when she’d begged him to tell her what was wrong so they could try to fix it.
She would’ve left him a long time ago if she’d had the resources.
He’d eventually lost the job he’d loved at a design firm, but even that hadn’t gotten his attention.Mrs.V had urged her to leave.If only it were that simple…
Isla hadn’t worked since Theo was born and couldn’t support herself and two young kids on her own.They’d been living on a wish and a prayer for a while, but since Gabe lost his job, things had been tighter than ever, especially since it’d taken a couple of months for unemployment benefits to kick in.Thank God his company laid him off rather than firing him, or they would’ve been completely screwed.
Glass smashed close to where she and the kids trembled in fear.Isla liked to think he wouldn’t harm them, but she wasn’t sure of that anymore.She no longer knew the man she’d once loved with all her heart.She didn’t love him anymore and hadn’t for quite some time.How could she love a man who wouldn’t do whatever it took to care for himself and his family?
No, the love was long gone, despite a brief moment of reconciliation two years ago that’d led to Mila.The respite hadn’t lasted for even a week, and when she’d discovered she was pregnant, she’d experienced total despair, wondering how she’d ever care fortwokids in this hellacious situation.But the minute the nurse laid Mila in her arms, she’d understood the meaning of things happening for a reason.
She hated that her babies knew the terror of being hunted by the man who should’ve been their protector, that they understood at such young ages how vitally important it was for them to stay quiet.
More smashing as he screamed for Isla.It went on long enough that the kids eventually fell asleep, while she remained on full alert.
She was delirious from the energy it took to stay in such a heightened state of awareness while he continued to scream and yell and smash things that used to mean so much to her.Now all she cared about was getting herself and her children out of this nightmare alive.After this incident, there were no choices left.They had to leave, even if it was with only the clothes on their backs.
She had to get her children away from him and never look back.
