Chapter Twenty-three
A chill ran down Jen’s spine as she watched Charles stand from the couch.
“I’m glad to find you alone this evening,” he said smoothly.
Jen shook as Charles moved toward her and wondered if she ran out the front door just how far she’d be able to make it. Charles wasn’t nearly as strong as Eric, but then, she wasn’t nearly as strong as either one of them.
The thought of how helpless she’d felt the night he came over just kept playing in her mind.
“What are you doing here?” Jen asked, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice.
Charles moved closer to her, his eyes slightly wild. For the first time, she noticed how disheveled he actually looked.
He laughed manically, and Jen took a step back from him. Something was just not right with him.
“Apparently we’re a family company,” Charles said.
Jen frowned. She wasn’t really certain what he was talking about. Normally he was so calm and collected, even when being a major ass. Right now, he was anything but that and wasn’t making sense at all.
“That’s great,” she said, trying to find anything that might calm him down.
His face contorted in rage as he stormed over to where she stood. “No, Jennifer, that is not great. The company passed on my promotion because you were too busy being a selfish whore with your hooligan thug.”
Jen frowned. Name calling was more than a little outside of the norm for Charles. She hadn’t even been certain words like whore were even in his vocabulary.
“I…” She fumbled to find something to say that wouldn’t anger him. “I’m sorry.”
A smug look of satisfaction slid across his face, and Jen wanted nothing more than to slap it off.
“There are two options before you now, Jennifer. We forget all this business and go back to exactly how we were. I’m sure your parents will be thrilled. I’ll even toss in a wedding ring to sweeten the deal.”
Her stomach rolled. Being married to a person like Charles would be a living hell. She’d just stepped out of the bubble. The last thing she wanted to do was to step back in.
“And what’s the other option?” Jen said.
Charles stepped even closer until the back of her legs bumped against the heavy dining table behind her.
“I don’t think you’ll like the other option. Take the opportunity I’m offering you, Jennifer. Think of the sort of life you’d be just tossing away.”
Jen swallowed hard. She didn’t have to think about it. She knew exactly what she was walking away from.
“I think I’ll take the other option,” she said quietly.
Once again, the man’s face contorted in rage as he reached out and grabbed her arm violently. She’d never seen that sort of hatred before in her life.
A scream ripped from her throat but was cut short when Charles lifted his hand high above her head. She could just barely make out the glint of the crystal glass before it came crashing down against her skull.
She saw stars for a moment and slumped forward. Charles’s sick twisted face was the last thing she saw as she slipped into darkness.
* * *
Eric sped through town on his bike. At each stop sign, he dialed Jen’s number to no avail.
Maybe she was angry at the way he’d left and didn’t want to answer. Maybe she was still with her parents hitting the town. Although unlikely, it was what he hoped.
A growing knot of worry had formed in his stomach along with increasingly elaborate excuses in his mind as to why she wasn’t answering.
Eric pulled up behind a long line of cars. Downtown traffic had always been a bitch, but for the first time, it actually bothered him.
He glanced down the small alleyway next to him and then again at the long line of cars.
What was the benefit of a bike if he didn’t use it to his advantage from time to time?
He sped through the dark alley and just hoped he was actually shaving time off his drive.
* * *
Jen felt like she was going to vomit when she awoke. Nothing was really making all that much sense. All she really knew was that she felt like shit all the way from her head to her toes.
Someone was talking nearby. She had to focus hard to even hear what was being said.
“It worked out well for Frank,” someone said near her.
Jen frowned as she tried to focus on the blurred shape that moved back and forth in front of her. For some reason, her eyes didn’t want to focus. She closed them as her stomach heaved. It was better to keep them closed than get sick everywhere.
“What worked for Frank?” she managed to get out.
Her words were far more slurred than she expected. Had she been drinking? Maybe that was why her head hurt and her stomach was sick.
“Keep up with the conversation, Jennifer.”
Something about the way it was said made her feel cold all over, and once again, she opened her eyes to try and focus on who was talking.
“Frank was this close to being fired,” the man said. “Then his wife got cancer and suddenly, Frank was up for promotion. Everything was going well for Frank.”
Charles. All the memories from before came flooding in suddenly. He was the reason her head hurt. He had hit her.
Jen struggled to stand but found her body unable to do much.
“Then when Frank’s wife died, they moved him into an office with a view. Sure, he’ll never make partner, but it was a pretty good deal in the end.”
Her stomach lurched as she opened her eyes and stared in the direction of the blur. “Maybe not so much for Frank’s wife.”
Based on the loud huff that followed, Jen guessed Charles didn’t really want to talk about that part of the story.
“I’m not your wife, Charles,” she said, hoping that if she could just keep him talking long enough, someone, anyone, might come along and find them.
“No,” he said, crouching in front of her face so she could see him. “I already offered that, and you refused. You ungrateful whore.”
Jen wished her body worked so she could do something. Claw his eyes out. Bite him. Anything but sit there like a lump on a log.
Charles stood and backed up away from her. “Your parents love me,” he said. “To them, I’ll be just like a grieving widower.”
Jen heard, rather than saw the sound of the match. The thick smell cut through the gas that hung in the air. Her stomach lurched as she realized how he planned to use her to advance his career.
“Charles, don’t,” she said softly. “We can work this out.”
She felt the spit land on her face. “I already tried to work this out, and you wouldn’t have it,” he said bitterly, his voice getting farther and farther away. “You did this, Jennifer. This is all your fault.”
The match hit the floor, and flames leapt around the room. The acrid smell of smoke choked the air.
Jen looked up to the ceiling, certain the sprinklers would kick on any second.
Nothing.
Alarms blared in the hall, and she could see red flashing lights as Charles stood just inside the door.
“I’ve taken care of the sprinklers in here,” he said. “But don’t worry, the rest of the building will be fine.”
Jen opened her mouth to scream, but only a small sound came out. She choked on smoke filling the room.
“Goodbye, Jennifer,” Charles said. He closed the door to her apartment.