CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
TONY
There was a white Tahoe parked out front when I pulled up.
She still wasn’t outta my fuckin’ house.
I parked, got out, but stopped short when I saw a man who looked very similar to Adam kneeling in my doorway.
“What the fuck are you doin’?” I called out, but didn’t even make it to the first step before Adam barreled down them. He grabbed me by the shirt and shouted in my face, “Where the fuck is she?”
I shoved him off.
I froze. I already knew.
“Who?” I whispered.
“Trish. Where the fuck is she? I’ve been here thirty fuckin’ minutes, your door was wide open when I got here and she’s not in the house.”
No…
Bile rose from my gut to my throat, but I tamped it down and ran up the steps into the house.
“Trish!” I shouted over and over as I searched every room. Her bags were packed and sat in the front room. Everything of hers must have been inside them because there was no sign of her left in my house.
I pulled out my phone to call Shane.
“What?” he barked because he already knew it was me and didn’t like that I was calling. I wanted to murder him, but that wasn’t my concern right now.
“Where’s Trish?” I yelled through the phone.
“You’re asking me this because…?”
“She’s gone, but her bags are still here. She’s not with you?”
Silence just before, “Fuck! I knew I shouldn’t have left her, but she begged me to leave! She said someone was coming for her…” his voice trailed off. “She was broken,” he whispered before his voice filled with determination. “I’m on my way.” He hung up on me.
“Well?” Adam asked and I ignored him to think fast.
Starla.
I ran past Adam to the stable, I searched every stall, but Trish wasn’t there. I caught one of the boys, but he said he hadn’t seen her.
“Fuck!” I shouted in agony.
I ran back to the house, grabbed my keys and shouted for Adam to drive one side of the property while I took the other.
I got out my phone and called Sheriff Thompson.
“Trish is missing! Start calling whoever you gotta call and find her! Then get your ass to my house!” I’d known the sheriff since I was a kid and he knew the deal with Zacharias. He didn’t hesitate.
I didn’t find Trish anywhere, no sign of her. I called every person I knew in town and told them to keep an eye out for her. I hauled ass back to the house and found Adam, Shane, Larry and two officers from the Sheriff’s department there.
“How could you let this happen?” Adam shouted as he charged for me. I didn’t even protect myself when his fist connected with my face. Shane jumped in between just as I prepared myself for another hit. I deserved it.
“I saw Bobbie Jo here!” I heard someone shout from behind me and I turned. One of my workers ran up, shouting, “I saw her truck! I didn’t think anything of it, but Trish left with her.”
TRISH
The minute this bitch drops her gun I’m going to fucking kill her!
From the moment I opened Tony’s front door, she’d pointed the damn thing at me and hadn’t taken it off me since. It started out at pointed at my head, but now, it was shoved in my back.
“Move!” she ordered me to, as I walked through the poorly lit warehouse. It was empty as far as I could tell and the smell was horrendous; like mold.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked softly because I didn’t want to provoke her into shooting my ass. She shoved the gun deeper into my back.
“Because I saw you. I saw the way he touched you. You took something that I want and I’m about to get it back.”
“What--” I started to ask, but was interrupted by a masculine voice with a heavy Spanish accent.
“Took you long enough.” I froze. I heard Zacharias’s voice and I turned. He looked extremely irritated as he walked towards us. On instinct, I moved away from him, but he paid me not attention. I twisted my neck and watched him rip the gun from BJ’s hands. He hit her over the head with it.
“No!” I screamed when she fell to the floor. I turned to run, but I didn’t make it far. His fingers tangled in my hair when he caught me and he hauled me back. I twisted my body and fought back with everything I had.
He can kill me, but I’m going down without a fight.
I clawed at his face, his eyes, but when the barrel of the gun touched my temple that was all it took to make me to stop.
He grabbed a handful of my hair and wrenched my head back. I hissed in pain. I was shoved forward and directed to small room at the back. Suddenly, my arms were lifted, I tried to yank them away, but he was too strong. I heard the sound of handcuffs clicking and then one wrist was enclosed tightly; painfully. He twisted my other arm in the opposite direction, my body jerked and then the cuff was enclosed around both wrists. Only my toes and the balls of my feet touched the ground.
“I was going to make this quick, but I don’t like you,” Zacharias hissed in my ear. “So, I’m going to play with you,” he finished.
I lifted my head and said, “Fuck you,” as I put all my weight on my wrists and kick him in the balls. I felt the cold metal dig into my skin, but I pushed the pain out of my mind.
He cursed, grabbed himself and spoke in tongues… or Spanish, I couldn’t tell because I didn’t know what he was saying. I wanted him to kill me. I didn’t know what he meant by “play with you” but I’d die before I let him touch me.
He stood, reared back and punched me in the stomach with every bit of strength he had before grating, “Wouldn’t want to mess up this pretty face. I have plans for this mouth.” He lifted my head; touched my lips with his thumb and left as I wheezed.
TONY
I was sick. The vomit rose from my gut to my throat. It wouldn’t be long before it came up completely.
It’d been over four hours since anyone last saw Trish. Over seven hours since I last saw her… those big brown eyes… her fuckin’ smile.
Seven… fuckin’… hours...
I ran to the side of the house, fell to my knees and threw up until I dry heaved. I was fuckin’ sick. The pain was agonizing. I could do nothing.
The things I said to her… the things I never said... all the times she whispered, “I love you,” and I never owned up like a fuckin’ man and said it back.
I couldn’t hold back my tears; my silent sobs.
We’d searched this town upside down and found no sign of her or Bobbie Jo… who I was going to slaughter.
I’d still be searching for Trish had Sheriff Johnson not called for a regroup, and I had to admit, I needed it. I couldn’t think straight, I couldn’t concentrate. I heard when vehicles pulled up left and right and just as I lifted to walk back around the side of the house, Lex’s red truck came to a stop in front it.
I wiped the evidence of my meltdown from my face as I walked to stand in front of the porch steps and waited. Lex bawled as she jumped down. Her face was beat red. The sounds of her sobs were stabs to my gut. When she saw me, she ran straight for me and I braced. She managed to slap me twice before Landyn caught her around the waist to pull her back.
He should’ve left her to kill me. I deserved it.
“If they touch her, I’ll kill you,” she cried, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Adam headed our way. “You just couldn’t stop hurting her could you… for something she didn’t even do!” she shouted and I closed my eyes and took it, begged or it.
“Trish was a virgin,” she said softly. My eyes flew open. “She’d never been touched that way until you touched her,” she hissed. I shook my head; not in disbelief, but because I believed every fuckin’ word she said and I wanted them all outta my head. Her words ripped me apart and I couldn’t take anymore.
“She was almost raped when she was a little girl… only nine years old. Her mother hated her and left her in the care of a rapist! She still has nightmares!” she choked out through a sob. I shook my head again. I had to clear it. I was desperate for her to stop.
“I think you should be the one to call her father and tell him that his only daughter is missing. Tell him that the daughter he watched suffer at the hands of a mother who abused her is gone! Her father fought for her. No judge would take Trish away from her mother because she was a good actress. Not until she left Trish in the hands of a rapist did they give Mr. Kincaid custody.”
“Stop,” I whispered as I fisted the necklace I’d ripped from mi reina’s neck in my pocket.
“Adam told me what you said to her… during your fight… that you wished her dead! Call her father and tell him that! Tell him you’re a piece of shit coward! Tell him what you did to her!”
“Baby.” I heard Landyn say in pained voice, but she wasn’t having any of him either.
“Let go of me,” she demanded and pushed out of Landyn’s hold to storm away.
TRISH
I can’t feel my hand.
My wrists felt raw and when I looked up, they were bleeding. My arms were numb, every muscle in my legs throbbed and the arches of my feet cramped because I’ve had to alternate my weight between my feet and wrists.
And every time I heard one of Bobbie Jo’s screams, I’d struggle against the cuffs, which made the pain worse.
“Ah, you’re awake,” Zacharias chirped when he walked through the door. He dragged a naked, unresponsive Bobbie Jo behind him. She’d clearly been beaten more… and god only knew what else.
“What did you do to her?” I whispered. He laughed as he passed me, and I couldn’t see him anymore, but I heard him drop Bobbie Jo’s body.
Then, he was in front of me.
He pulled out a knife and cut up the middle of my shirt, but I fought and kicked and screamed.
“Just kill me!” I shouted, but I stopped fighting the second he pressed the knife against my throat hard enough to break the skin. I closed my eyes through the burning sensation and he pressed harder, slowly dragging the knife toward the center of my throat.
Just when I thought he’d finish the job, I heard someone shout in Spanish from outside the room. Zacharias backed away with fear in his eyes, dropped the knife and ran out of the room. I cried, my body quaked and I felt blood trickle down the side of neck.
The shouting grew louder… louder and then gun shots rang out. I jerked.
Then silence.
I didn’t move a muscle until I saw movement at the door. A man, a new man, someone I didn’t recognize, walked through the door.
“Please don’t hurt me,” I begged softly through my tears. He started mumbling in Spanish, his movements anxious as he headed straight for me.
“No!” I cried and tried to kick out, but I was too weak. “Please don’t hurt me,” I begged again, just as he made it to me.
“I’m getting you out of here,” he said in a heavy accent. He lifted his arms, unlocked the cuffs on my wrists and caught me before I fell to the ground. He picked me up and cradled me to his chest.
“Keep your eyes closed until we’re outside,” he ordered.
I did what he said.
I didn’t open them until he sat me on the ground and I felt what I thought was grass beneath my back. I must have been inside longer than I thought because it was dark now, but the moon was so bright, I could see perfectly.
I looked at the man that still hovered over me and he cursed violently when his eyes set on my neck. He ripped off a piece of my already torn shirt, held it to the cut, grabbed my hand, placed it over his as he slid his out. I never took my eyes off his face.
His bright hazel eyes hit mine. There was no mistaking their color against his dark olive skin. “You never saw me. This,” he held up a cell phone, “is your friend’s from inside. Call for help, but do not go back inside, do you understand?” I swallowed deeply and nodded, but winced at the pain. Hazel eyes let out a string of Spanish words and they all sounded bad.
“You tell them Old River Warehouse. They’ll know where you are.”
“Okay,” I whispered, as I stared at him. He grabbed my unoccupied hand and placed the phone inside. He stood, looked down at me and said, “Zacharias is dead inside. Remember, you never saw me.”
He disappeared.
I looked at BJ’s phone, fought to keep my hand steady enough to find the number in her contact list and hit send.
TONY
“Where the fuck is she?” I barked into the phone when I saw Bobbie Jo’s name flash across the screen. Fifteen fuckin’ hours worried about Trish was making me lose my mind. Every muscle in my body strained and I only wished Bobbie Jo were in front of me so I could strangle her.
“Tony,” I heard whispered.
I froze.
“Mi reina, are you all right? Where are you?” I asked frantically as I took off in a sprint to my truck.
“Old River Warehouse. Please send somebody,” she whispered and I twisted my neck and shouted her location to every person standing in the vicinity. I jumped in my truck, started it and sped toward my fuckin’ heart. She was forty-five minutes away, but I’d get to her in twenty.
“Preciosa, are you okay?” I asked. When I didn’t get an immediate response I bellowed, “Trish!”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can barely hold the phone. I can barely feel my hands and my neck is bleeding. Please send someone for me.”
“I’m on my way. Just stay on the phone. Are you alone?”
“I think so.”
“Is Bobbie Jo with you?”
Silence for a beat and then, “She’s still inside.”
“And you’re outside?”
“Yes… I hear sirens,” she whispered.
“That’s because Sheriff Johnson, Lex, Landyn, Adam and half the town of Centerville are following me. I’m sure one of them put in a call.”
Silence.
“Trish,” I said to make sure she was still there.
“Sorry. The sirens are getting closer. I won’t keep you on the phone,” she whispered.
“Trish, don’t hang up on me,” I ordered, but she did.
“Fuck,” I roared. I tried calling Bobbie Jo’s number back twenty times, but Trish wouldn’t answer. She had no reason to answer. I not only destroyed her, but could have gotten her killed. I didn’t even know if she was hurt.
I had now right to see her, but there was no fuckin’ way I’d stay away.