Angie

I heard the man’s conversation. Chris had it put on speakerphone. His point had been so that I could say something to let Marcus know that they had me. I was going to refuse, not wanting to be used as a piece in their chess match. What I didn’t expect was how Marcus reacted. To hear him talk, he was in love with me for years, but now he wouldn’t claim that there was anything in between us. A part of me died when I heard what he said and the other part got mad.

“Well I see that maybe you don’t mean as much to him as I would have liked. I guess you don’t have any value here.”

I heard the words that Marcus said and they had crushed me. Everything he had said about caring for me was a lie. It had all been proven to be false and there was nothing else that I could do but try to reason with the man in front of me.

“If I am of no value, then let me go. I don’t know you and I still don’t know what all of this is about.”

He shook his head and told me that he couldn’t. “I can’t just let you go.”

“Why not?”

Chris shook his head again. “You just don’t understand. If I let you go, I will look weak. I can’t have people thinking that I let a woman get the better of me.”

It was all about pride with men and I had to wonder sometimes how they got through their day. It seemed to be a bit more than I had to handle. Why couldn’t he see that I was nothing to Marcus and nothing to him? No one had to know.

“I will leave then and no one will ever see me again. I just moved here and I can be gone in an hour. If I am not here, then people will assume that you took care of me. Everyone wins.”

“What if you do go to the police?”

“Then I know you will find me. You found me once before, so I know that you will do it again. I just want to forget about everything and move on.”

His eyes softened and I could see the hard man wasn’t as hard as he tried to be. He could have hurt me, tied me up, but the boss was a man of reason and I was still hoping that it would extend to other things. If I could just convince him to let me leave, there would be nothing to keep me here in New Orleans. After what I heard Marcus say, I knew that I was right to leave before. The only regret I had now was the time that we had talked and the hope that had foolishly bubbled up inside of me.

“I just can’t do that Angie.”

“So you are going to kill me?”

My throat constricted with the words, even though I was doing my best to be brave. I didn’t feel brave, not at all. I felt like I was going to be sick if I was honest with myself. There was something in me that figured it I was going to go out in such a way, the least I could do was leave with the same pride these men were trying to use me for a pawn for.

He couldn’t even really look at me and I figured that it wouldn’t be him that did it. The cronies that he had sent to come and get me seemed far more likely to do something like that. They were the ones that would have no problem disposing of me. They had already mentioned it and I was sure then that I wouldn’t get out of here alive. It was funny what came to mind when a person thought it was going to be the end.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Just eat your dinner and give me some time to think.”

I wasn’t hungry and I pushed the plate away. “If you are just going to shoot me or whatever it is you plan to do, I don’t want to eat. Just get it over with.”

What was I saying? It was like I wasn’t even the one saying such silly things. I wanted to live, as long as possible and I wasn’t sure what goading the man was going to do. He was not going to help me and even though he had been nice to me while I was here, I had to remember what kind of men they were. Chris was like Marcus and now I got it. He had always been dangerous, but now that we were older, the danger was even more real than before.

Chris told me that I was being difficult. “What do you expect? The man that I have loved all these years doesn’t care and you are about to off me. What do you expect me to do? It doesn’t seem like there is really a reason to fight it. I guess this is just how it is supposed to be.” Couldn’t he see that the call from earlier had me dying inside? It wasn’t something that I could hide and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. What was the point?

“Look, I am sorry about all of this. I really am. You seem like a nice girl and I wish you hadn’t gotten wrapped up into all of this. I didn’t get into this business to hurt women or anything like that. It is just how it has to be.”

I didn’t want to hear any more excuses that ended with me dead. That was how everything seemed to be working out and I was torn between just accepting it or the denial that a man like Chris wouldn’t do such a thing. I had to hold on to a small amount of hope, but then at the same time the way that Marcus had described me, it hurt to even think about what happened after this.

“I get it. Just get it over with or let me go. Please.”

I was pushing too much. I knew that the best bet was to just sit there at the table and shut my mouth. It could be worse, it could always be worse and I don’t know why I was pushing him so much. The only thing I could think was that maybe I wanted what he threatened. Maybe this was the way it was supposed to be.

“I need time to think Angie. Stay here and don’t do anything that you will regret.”

“I regret ever coming back to this hell of a city. That is the only thing that I regret.”

He smirked and I could tell that he liked my spunk. It was what he had called it before when I told him what he could do with himself. He found it amusing and at the time the bravado was just to mask the fear that I was sure he would sense like a dog.

“Regrets always come in pairs Angie. I will be back.”

Chris walked out of the room with the meaty-hand guy that had dragged me into his car in the alley. I was sure that they were deciding where to dump my body or something like that. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good.

The windows were covered and I looked at them to see if I could get an idea of where I was. As much as I talked smack to the guy about not caring, I did. I really did. I didn’t want to be killed over a man that didn’t give a damn. My life had to have more meaning then this and I felt like if I somehow did get out of all of this, I was going to have to make it worth it.

I got up from the chair and the wooden legs scraped against the floor. I stopped, sure that they could hear the sound. It sounded so loud in my head I couldn’t see how they didn’t hear it. But they didn’t apparently because as I stood there frozen, I waited for some indication that they were coming back in. The door didn’t burst open like I knew it would and after a few moments I went to the window and gently pulled back the curtain.

It was dark outside. I had no sense of time and I didn’t know if it was almost morning or just the middle of the night. Next my eyes took in the surroundings and I hated to see how far away I was. I didn’t see any other lights, just blackness and the reflection of the moon on the bayou. We had driven for a time and now I see why. He had taken me to the southern part of the state, outside of the city. It was the type of place where no one was seen again if someone had the mind to get rid of them. I don’t know why I was suddenly panicked with the idea of never being found again. I had been okay with dying, settled on the idea in a way, but the fact that no one would ever know what happened to me, bothered me.

“I have to get out of here.”

I didn’t know how, but my mind was making plans as I heard someone on the other side of the door. They were coming in and I didn’t have much time. The man from before was going to come in and finish the job that Chris was sure he had to do. It didn’t seem to matter what happened to me, it was all about his image. If I got free then he would have to let me go, instead of sending people after me. It would be to save face. All I had to do was figure out a way to get free.

I checked the window and though I had known for certain that it would be locked and I would be out of time, it wasn’t. I heard the sound of the seal of the window opening and then smelled the swamp around me.

There was another sound on the other side of the closed front door. I moved to open it further, no longer caring how loud it was. I had to get out of there before they were done deciding my fate. I was going to have to figure it out myself.

So I threw my leg over the ledge and leaned down to slide underneath it. I was half-in and half out now, with several feet down to jump. It was the first floor, but the window was quite high, higher when I was looking down ready to jump. I had to, but I was slightly afraid of heights. It didn’t matter though because as soon as I heard the door start to open, the fear of what was behind me was worse.

I slid my other leg out the window and dangled them for a moment before I pushed off the ledge and headed towards the ground. The impact on my ankles and knees hurt a little and I heard a shout behind me, but none of that matter. All that mattered was getting out of here. That was the only thing I could think about, the only thing that drove me was a need to get back to the life that I was given. Never would I complain again when the reality was without everything I still wanted to keep going.

I heard my name being shouted behind me and I recognized the voice as Chris. Maybe he had come to his senses and was going to let me go. Now that wasn’t an option and if I had had a better idea of him actually saving me, I wouldn’t be running into dark swamp that was filled with all kinds of things that went bump in the night. It wasn’t the kind of place people wanted to be at alone, in the middle of the night.

The shouting behind me got further away and it didn’t seem like they were chasing me. I didn’t look back. I just moved forward as quickly as I could and hoped that I was going in the right direction. It didn’t matter. As long as I got away from Chris and all of the crap that Marcus had gotten me into. It started to make sense why he was shot. If he was hanging around guys like that, there really was no guess needed as to why he had found himself in such a position. How had I been so wrong about him all of this time?