38 - Dean
“Why are you keeping me here? Let me go!” I yell out through the shitty motel’s old door. I hear Ronnie and the other man shuffle outside but the door doesn’t open. For the thousandth time, my eyes swing around the room. There’s no windows or doors except the front door and front window, and the two men are guarding it day and night.
I sigh, sitting back down on the bed. I haven’t slept at all. They took my wallet, keys, phone, everything I had on me. I check the time and my heart squeezes. I wonder where Sam is. I wonder if she’s safe. He must have been waiting outside her house, or maybe he was following me?
“You’ll be arrested!” I call out again. “I’ll get a restraining order! Stay away from Sam!” I yell. One of the men bangs on the door and I quiet down. I remember the way the barrel of his gun dug into my side when he pushed me in the door and I groan, letting my head drop into my hands.
I never thought I’d say this, but I actually would prefer to be with my mother and father right now than here in this motel. I glance at the clock and groan. I’m late for my meeting with my father, which means they’ll be going after Sam. I get up and press my forehead to the door.
“I need my phone! Please! Just one phone call!”
“Shut the fuck up!” comes the response through the door. I sigh and turn around. I grab the pillows off the bed and throw them on the ground, yelling and stomping on them as I try to release some of the pressure that’s building inside me.
I hear a noise at the door and I spin around, expecting to see Ronnie’s lumbering body in the doorway. Instead, I frown as a different figure appears.
“Mom?!”
“Dean,” she says. “May I come in?”
“Are you behind this?? Is this you?? What the fuck is going on!” My jaw drops as my eyes flick between her and Ronnie.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she answers, stepping through the doorway. Her nose scrunches ever so slightly as her eyes swing around the room. I'm guessing she's never been anywhere like this in her life. The carpet has a big brown stain on it, the old brown floral wallpaper is peeling off the walls and the ceiling is covered in water stains. She stands inside and pulls the door closed.
“Now,” she says. “Are you ready to come back to the family?”
“Hold the fuck up,” I say, turning towards me. “Are you telling me that you fire me, you cut me off, you threaten me, threaten my girlfriend, and then you have me followed, you kidnap me, and you expect me to roll over and agree to marry someone who betrayed me? You expect me to ever speak to you again? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
My mother sighs and shakes her head. “You always were a high spirited child, Dean. Your father didn’t want to take these measures but I knew it would be the only way go get you to agree to our terms.”
She drops an envelope on the bed beside me and nods to it. I pick it up slowly and pull out a stack of pictures. It’s me and Victoria, sharing a coffee at one of the cafes near my apartment. I flick through the photos to see the two of us kissing and laughing.
“What the fuck is this?” I ask.
“Those are some pictures we had on file.”
“On file?! You were having me followed?! These must be a year old or more, when that bitch and I were still together. You had someone take pictures of us?? What the actual fuck?!”
My mother waves a hand to dismiss my protests. “We only wanted to make sure you were protected. There were some threats to the family at the time and I didn’t want you to worry.”
My head is spinning. I try to make sense of what my mother is saying but none of it makes any sense. I take a deep breath and take a step towards her.
“You want me to believe that you had someone follow me and take photos of me for my own protection? What ‘threats against the family’?” The anger inside me is reaching a peak as my mother sighs. She takes a step forward and puts a perfectly manicured hand on my forearm. When she looks into my eyes, I see nothing but harness in her eyes.
“Those pictures are on their way to Samantha. Victoria will hand-deliver them. I wanted to make sure you’d break up with her yesterday, but Ronnie here tells me you did just the opposite. It’s over between the two of you.”
My jaw drops. “You’re going to lie to her and make her believe I’m cheating on her?! That will destroy her. Mom! Stop. Call her!”
“No.”
My mother squares her shoulders and looks up at me. Her lips curl into almost a snarl and she shakes her head. “It’s over. You’re marrying Victoria and you’re working for your father.”
Panic starts to rise inside me like a volcano. I glance around the room, through the window at the two men and back at the pictures in my hands. I shake my head.
“No,” I whisper. “No, I can’t.”
“You have no choice. If you so much as go anywhere near Sam, we’ll have to get rid of her.”
“Get rid..? Mom, who are you? Who the fuck are you?”
“Grow up, Dean. You don’t get rich being nice.” She knocks on the door and it swings open. Ronnie’s face appears and I growl at him.
“How the fuck did you get involved. What does she have over you? Ronnie, you don’t need to do this!” My mother waves her hand and the two men approach me, guns pointing directly at my stomach. I throw my hands up and feel my bottom lip start to tremble. I hate how scared I am.
“Stop, please,” I say. They grab me roughly on either side and drag me to a waiting car. I see my mother drive off ahead of us before I’m thrown in the back seat and driven away from that godforsaken motel.
My heart feels like it’s been shattered. Sam will never speak to me again, and if I try to tell her the truth they’ll kill her. I have to do what my mother wants. I have to marry Victoria. My chest tightens at the thought until it feels like I’m being squeezed to death. I watch the cars and buildings rush by out the window as we drive towards my father's office. Tears prickle my eyelids. .
The only way to keep Sam safe is to break her heart, and to break my own at the same time.