I sat down on a couch away from them and just stared. What was even happening right now? Was I in the twilight zone?
“Well, this is a different energy than this morning. Please, do fill me in.” I crossed my legs and pursed my lips as I looked at all three of them. They were practically canoodling!
“Okay, well I’ll start. I kept thinking about what you said about my father torturing him, not just physically but about his father’s death. I couldn’t stop myself. I wanted to talk to you but knew you needed to be left alone, so I came downstairs and apologized to Mac.” Christopher gestured to Mac’s bed.
“I got to say, Alice, if I hadn’t been laid up, it would have gone much differently. But I was in so much pain that when I tried to get up, it was impossible.” Mac seemed a little more relaxed and his eyes were dilated. Oh, it made much more sense now. Nurse Nancy had kept up with his pain medication.
“Ah, I see you got your pain medication, brother. Is that what we owe this little bromance?” I looked at both of them with uncertainty.
“Not really, I was overdue for my pain medication at that time…again.” Mac looked over at the nurse with a grim expression. She ignored him and worked on her laptop. “Anyway, my head was pretty clear except for the pain and anger.”
“He fell out of bed and I helped him back up. He was a lot like you at first. Tried to slap my hand away. Didn’t want to accept my help. You two are both stubborn and determined as they come.” Christopher laughed. “I tried to let him know that I was on his side.”
“There were some heated words exchanged and that’s when I came in.” Gloria chimed in and looked at me with a slightly less blank expression than her usual mug. Was there a little warmth there? Maybe I was still half asleep.
“Yeah, I have to tell you that I wasn’t happy to have her in here, either.” Mac laughed and then groaned as the laugh made his ribs hurt.
“I don’t blame you.” I gave her a smile and looked back at Mac.
“Anyway, so Gloria got between us and had me sit…well, where you’re sitting now. At a distance and yes I did note that. She figured out what was happening and got the source that we sent to meet him on the phone.”
They continued the story like that one of them talking and the other chiming in. It was like they were old buddies talking about a fishing trip or the time they saw the president. It was nauseating to me. Really nauseating.
Mac talked to the source and it was revealed that the guy was in his hacker circle. They had only ever talked on the computer, so voices were rarely ever heard. He was hired by Gloria to watch Mac and make sure nothing happened to him or that he didn’t do anything risky. Having gotten close to Mac and helping him with his revenge plan is what gave him the good intel on how to get Mac interested in meeting. He knew what information Mac really wanted and needed.
At first, Mac was upset because it obviously felt like a huge betrayal but then the guy explained everything and confirmed that it was all on the up and up and only to help Mac, not hurt him. They had no idea that Matthew had found a way to spy on them.
Mac and the source, who was known as Phantom X in his hacker circle, talked further and discovered that it must have been a destructive anarchy loving hacker who often gave them problems. Christopher brought mac a private computer and they both did their hacking thing, looking for the weakness in their circle and got the rest of the hackers on board, letting them know there had been an infiltration.
“So, in the end, the hackers united and all is well now?” I asked completely nonplussed.
“Well, yeah.” Christopher answered confused as to why I wasn’t turning around with them.
“Mac, did you tell Christopher everything?”
“Don’t worry, he knows everything. Look, I admit it, his father got to me. That was his whole goal. I’ve heard Christopher’s side of the story and I’m pretty sure that he let me live so that I could come back and screw with your head the way he screwed with mine.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Was it really that easy? This wasn’t the Mac I knew. Something seemed off.
“Christopher, Gloria could you please give me a minute with my brother?”
They both gave each other a look and got up. As Christopher walked past me, he tried to make eye contact but I refused to look at him. I heard him sigh as they both left the room.
Walking over to the bed, I very lightly but with enough pressure pushed Mac in the ribs to cause him a little bit of pain. He screamed and looked at me like he wanted to punch me.
“What the hell did you do that for?”
“What gives, Mac? You are more stubborn than I am. What the hell, how on earth did you turn around that quickly? I don’t trust it. And I don’t believe you. I think you have something up your sleeve.”
“Alice…”
“No, don’t interrupt me. I am going to get this out and you’re going to listen. You made me your revenge robot for over a decade. Your hatred for the Ward family fueled my hatred and you helped me design my whole life to be the bait and the undercover agent. Nothing I ever told you about Christopher would make you see it any other way. I followed your lead this whole time. And all it takes for you to see things differently is to talk to a hacker on the phone? Mac, that makes no sense, no sense at all. You taught me to be hyper observant and all my alarm bells are going off right now.”
Mac looked at me and smiled. He then looked around and leaned forward with a pain filled grimace and lowered his voice.
“I taught you well, Alice. Let’s just say I am working on my back up plan. I also taught you about appeasement to throw the scent off your trail. Just relax, Sis. I know what I’m doing.” He laid back down and closed his eyes.
“I want to trust you, Mac. But I’m looking at you with broken and bruised ribs, barely able to move right now.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve got a plan. That’s all you need to know. Now let me get some rest and try to escape this pain a little bit.”
“Mac, no. Tell me what you’re planning. What are you doing, Mac?”
He didn’t answer me. He seemed to finally succumb to all the medication, exhaustion from his injuries and the constant pain he was in. I sat there and watched him sleep. I didn’t know which way was up at the moment.
“You should probably go, Miss Bishop. Your brother needs sleep.” I was brought out of my reverie by the nurse and nodded as I got up to leave.
As I was shutting the door behind me, I heard voices and the only two people in there were the nurse and Mac. So, he was pretending to be asleep? I had the urge to go back in and call them out but I just didn’t have the energy. I needed coffee more than anything, so I just rolled my eyes and continued on my way.
I made my way to the kitchen. I needed coffee and something to eat. Mulling over what had happened over the last 48 hours and how much everything had changed so quickly, I just wanted to bury my head in the sand and pretend I was just a girl, working at Smith & Ward, dating its CEO and that’s all there was to it. I had a taste of the idea of a somewhat normal life and I liked it.
It didn’t last very long, though. I wanted to scream. I had finally felt the freedom of the revenge shackles. A freedom I didn’t even know I wanted and now everything was worse than ever. I took out some coconut butter and spread it on a spelt flour scone. I then chopped up some bananas and strawberries with some almond yogurt.
I thought about him for a second. Who was I kidding? I was always thinking about him. If I went with my gut, he was the only one who didn’t make me feel uneasy at the moment when I talked to him about things. He was always even and fair and responded to every allegation. He didn’t gloss over things and didn’t make me think that there was something going on in the background.
And most of all, the thing I kept coming back to was that he always made sense. Matthew didn’t make a lot of sense when he tried to sway me. Mac was being very cryptic and even though he had a confidence to him, I still felt unsure. I never really felt that with Christopher. I’m sure there were things he wasn’t telling me but I was pretty sure that everything else was the truth.
I was trying to decide whether or not I should say anything to him when I felt movement behind me. I spun around and saw Gloria standing there.
“Oh, hi.” I was a little startled and started to relax a bit when I saw it was her.
“Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t sneak up on anybody with what is going on right now.” She walked further into the kitchen and opened the fridge, grabbing the almond milk.
“No, it’s okay. I’m just making myself a snack. Do you want any?” I thought I would give her another try. Might as well, everything else wasn’t making sense.
“I’m okay, thank you for the offer.” She put the tea kettle on and grabbed the earl gray tea out of a coffee station that had been set up.
Shrugging my shoulders, I decided to ignore her and just go about my snack. I was grinding some fresh ground pepper on my plate when she all of a sudden spun around and leaned towards me from the opposite side of the island.
“Is your brother okay?” She asked gently and politely as if she was concerned about him but I got her subtext. She was asking if he was trustworthy.
“I mean, he’s in a lot of pain but otherwise going to pull through just fine thank goodness.” I cocked my head and smiled at her. “Thank you for asking, Gloria.” I made sure to play up the humor in my voice and eyes because we both knew what she was really asking.
“Right. Yes, of course. I know he’s going to live but is he okay…in the head? I know the doctor said there was no permanent damage but you’re the one who knows him. What’s your take?”
“My take is that anybody who suffered injuries like that and a concussion of any magnitude is going to be a little off for at least a few days. So, yeah, he’s a little off right now and I think he has a pretty good excuse for it.” I wasn’t going to play into her hands and give her anything so easily. I, too, was pretty loyal, especially to my brother.
Gloria looked at me and smiled. I wasn’t taken aback by the smile at all. It had an edge to it and was very much lacking any kind of warmth. The kettle whistled and she poured the hot water over her tea bag. She looked up at me as she stirred in some almond milk.
“I just hope you remember our talk yesterday morning. If you and your brother are planning something, I will find out. If I find out and you don’t tell us, you can forget about Christopher being so forgiving.” She dipped her tea bag in her water a few times before throwing it away. She looked at me stoically as she took a drink.
“My god was that only yesterday?” I picked up my plate, silverware and a cup of coffee I poured for myself to take into the dining room, so I could sit in peace. That’s all I wanted, some peace and quiet right now.
I stopped to say a few parting words to Christopher’s faithful assistant. “Gloria, I’ve had a lot to process the last few days. The only person who I consider family was in harm’s way last night and he’s going to be okay. He’s in a lot of pain and he’s convalescing, but I’m not going to lose the only family I have really ever had since my mother died. That’s all I freaking care about right now.” I gave her a look to let her know that she wasn’t going to intimidate me and I walked out into the dining room.
I sat there and ate my meal in peace, luxuriating in the coffee. I wanted to down a whole carafe of it. I wanted to mainline it. I just wanted to pretend that I was in a normal life and not this nightmare.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
“Are you able to talk right now?” Christopher came into my room where I was sat at the desk answering emails, getting my head in the game for work the next day.
“Sure, why not.” I looked back and saw him standing in the doorway of my room. I hadn’t really seen him most of the day and I was struck again by just how hot he was. I tried to downplay it both externally and internally but all I wanted to do was throw off my clothes and let him take me.
“Listen, I realize you might be upset that I went down and talked to Mac while he is still so freshly injured. I just…I needed to clear my name, Alison. I can’t have you thinking of me as you do the rest of my family. I don’t care what Mac thinks but I want you to know who I really am. I thought I had gotten there with you.” He unconsciously put his left hand behind his neck with his elbow sticking up in the air. It was such a sexy man thing to do. And he did look sexy.
“You really should care what Mac thinks.” I surprised myself by blurting that out. Oh boy, I was really going to go there, wasn’t I? I just couldn’t shake that Christopher and I had come to a good place and that he could have had us both in jail by now. I had to be up front with him.
“What do you mean?” He furrowed his brow and walked in the room to sit on the bed.
“I mean that I’m not sure what’s going on with Mac but he’s planning something. I’m only telling you because I don’t know what it is and I don’t want him to get in trouble..” There it was.
“I see. And he didn’t tell you what he was planning?”
“No, but he definitely came around to you very quickly, for one! That’s not him. You mentioned how we are both stubborn and determined. You have no idea how far he takes that! I have never seen him do as quick a turnaround as he did with you.”
“But Alison, you didn’t see the blow up beforehand. You didn’t’ see how hard it was for us to convince him. Also, he still doesn’t know that I know. Hell, it took the hacker from his circle a good hour to get through to him. You are in a skeptical frame of mind and I don’t blame you. Don’t you think you should give this all a chance?”
I chuckled a little bit and shook my head, sadly.
“As much as I want to, Christopher, it would take much longer than an hour for even me to convince him of something. Trust me. He made it feel like a challenge so that it wouldn’t be completely obvious but he had other plans and I’m not sure what it is but I know that he definitely doesn’t trust you and your father messed him up pretty bad. I’m not sure telling him everything was a good idea.”
“How do you know that?” Christopher looked at me in a somewhat patronizing way. Oh, how that annoyed me.
“Because he told me, Christopher. He won’t tell me what the plans are just that there are plans and that he wanted to make you and Gloria think he was all in with you.” I looked down, sadly and with exhaustion.
“Oh. I see.” Christopher’s shoulders dropped. “Well, I’ll say this much, he’s good. He had me and Gloria both fooled and that’s not an easy thing to do.”
“I don’t know how fooled Gloria was. She was fishing for information about him earlier. She seemed to think there was something off there, too.”
“Is that so? Did she say anything else?” Christopher looked a little concerned. That was not a good sign.
“I would put money on the fact that she didn’t want to say anything until she had all the facts because of the nature of our relationship.” Was I sticking up for Gloria? That just came out of nowhere. But I realized that it was true and I meant it. Christopher looked relieved and I made a mental note of that.
“So, Alison. Maybe you should trust that things are going to work out? Maybe you should just trust for once in your life?”
“I have work to do Christopher. I need to keep making money for your company, remember?” I turned my chair back around to face my laptop. “I appreciate everything you’re doing but I need to put my focus on something else right now.”
“That’s fair enough, Miss Bishop. That’s fair enough. Have a good night.”
“Thank you, Mr. Ward.” I started to put my headphones in to work on some reports while Bjork did her Icelandic thing in my ears.
I could feel that Christopher had left. Everything in me wanted to go after him and tell him to take me and make love to me. To push me on the bed and have his way. To cuddle me after and put his arms around me. That’s all I really wanted. Unfortunately, too many things were contradictory in my head and I couldn’t let myself go there. I sighed and got back to work.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Work was uneventful that day. I got through it without anybody knowing just how weird my weekend was. Never bring your personal life to work. Unless you’re dating the CEO. And speaking of, he happened to show up in my cubicle just as I was thinking about him.
“Good afternoon, Miss Ward.” He strolled in and sat down in a corner chair.
“Mr. Ward.” I nodded at him and turned my chair to face him.
“I just wanted to check in with you, see how you’re doing. I wanted to see if you’re okay mentally, emotionally. I also wanted to know if I could schedule some time with you tonight.”
“I’m okay, work is taking my mind off things. I have to admit that I do feel a bit better being on some sort of schedule. I don’t know if I have ever been okay mentally or emotionally. And tonight? Yes, you can buy me dinner. You’ve made me really appreciate how well you know food and I want to continue to experience that.” I flashed him a big smile and let a little warmth through to let him know that I wasn’t going to be an ice cube forever.
Things might be pretty rocky with such an uncertain situation but he was also the man who could have put me and my brother in prison but didn’t. He actually took the time to understand where we were coming from. I thought about it and realized I should try to do the same for him.
“That works, Miss Bishop. I’ll pick you up at your place around 7:45.”
“Make sure you leave early; you’ll want to avoid traffic.” I winked at him and he smiled at my joke. It was quite convenient being in his guest suite.
Work was otherwise uneventful that day. I got through it and kept everybody happy, which I considered a mildly successful day. I preferred the days where I impressed people and had higher ups coming to my cubicle to congratulate me. But at least the day went smoothly.
On my way home, I stopped at a flower shop to get a flower arrangement to put in Mac’s makeshift hospital room. I got cheerful and bright ones. I was sure he would hate them but I liked them and his room needed cheering up.
I planned on spending an hour or so talking to Mac to see if I could get any more information out of him. I was going over questions in my mind as I walked down the street when all of a sudden I felt somebody grab me and pull me into an alley between buildings.
I gasped and tried to hold onto something. I was pushed against the grimy wall and as I got my bearings, I realized I was being manhandled by one Mr. Matthew Ward.
“What the hell? Mr. Ward? What are you doing?” I was trying to make sense of it as he put one forearm against my chest and top of my arms, pinning me against the dirty wall and the other forearm was very lightly pushed against my neck. It was almost not even touching it but there was a threat of so much more. My purse started falling down my arm and he used the arm against my shoulder to help it complete its fall before securing my shoulders and arms again.
“Hello, Alison.” His breath was hot and I could feel it against my cheek as he brought his head down right in front of mine.
“Mr. Ward, what are you doing? Let me go.” My voice was a bit raspy as his arm slowly started to push against my neck. I thought about screaming but then had images of him crushing my windpipe. He would do it, too. I knew he would. I tried to figure out the best way to handle this as pure terror raced through my body.
“Alison, Alison, Alison. Tsk tsk. What are you doing walking without any kind of security? Haven’t you been warned against me?” He smiled, a creepy smile and I closed my eyes in disgust. What would normally be a handsome older man, was a pure creep who made me want to crawl out of my skin. His arm pushed slighter harder against my neck.
“I don’t know what you mean. Please, let me go and we won’t ever discuss this again. It will be like it never happened.”
“Oh, but it is happening, Alison Bishop. It is 100% happening and there is nothing you can do about it. My idiot son let you walk around completely unattended. That’s on him. He should have known that being in public in the broad daylight is not enough to deter me.”
Tears started forming in my eyes. I couldn’t stop them. I felt so trapped and scared for my dignity and my life. He had tried to rape my mother and that’s what started the whole downfall. She would have sex with him because she was married to his best friend and he wouldn’t let it go. It finally culminated with him sending my stepfather away for business and finding his way into our home and into my mother’s bedroom.
Mac and I were both at friends’ houses that night and I have often wondered, a million times, if I hadn’t spent the night with a friend, would none of this have ever happened? Would I have a normal life? What would I have ended up doing with my life? But then again, as sick as Matthew was, he might have tried to include me somehow.
“I watch you sleep, you know.” His face was close enough to kiss me and I felt like Sigourney Weaver when the Alien had her against the wall and studied her. It was like we were replicating that scene. “You look just like your mother. How is your mother doing, anyway?”
I saw red. My terror turned to anger. I started to struggle against his arms and stopped when I felt how strong and steel-like they were. Struggling was only making things worse for myself. I looked at him with pure hate in my eyes.
“You know very well how well she’s doing, you sociopath.” I wanted to spit in his face but I had no idea if he would have been able to control his anger. My neck was too vulnerable in his clutches.
“Do you miss her? Do you want to go see her?” he looked up at my forehead and then right into my eyes. His eyes were empty shells. He had such an air of evil to him. I wondered if he had ever loved anything in his life. Then I realized he did love something; causing people pain.
A tear finally escaped my eyes and rolled down my cheek, then it was followed by another one and pretty soon the floodgates opened. He laughed at the effect he was having on me and leaned down to lick the tears off my right cheek. I groaned in disgust and tried to move my head but he just pushed his arm harder against my windpipe.
“Oh, the things I am going to do to you. Did your mommy ever tell you about our night together? It was beautiful. I’m going to recreate that with you.”
“Night together? You mean when you tried to rape her and she escaped? Yeah, I know all about it but she didn’t tell me. I found out after you killed her, you bastard.” I could still feel his saliva on my face and the tears kept flowing, hot against my cheeks.
“Tried? Escaped?” He tilted his head back and let out a loud laugh. “Who told you that? Oh, but you not knowing; that makes it more delicious. That makes the night even better because it will be such a surprise.” He leaned down to my left ear and whispered. “I’m going to make you do very bad things, Alison.”
I closed my eyes and tried to will myself away from here. I cried harder and hoped that somehow, someway, somebody would come into the alley and save me.
“How are you planning on doing this, Matthew? I don’t see a car parked anywhere. I’m not going to walk with you willingly. What do you think you’re going to be able to do? You’re not a god, you know, contrary to what you might think.” I let out a raspy moan in pain as his arm pushed even further against my neck. I made a few choking sounds as I tried to swallow and I looked at him deploringly.
“That’s the face I like, a face in pain and ready to beg, ready to do anything. And you will, you know. You will do anything.” He leered at me some more and then put his forehead against mine. I moaned in protest. Our eyes were so close that I couldn’t keep his in focus. “I am a god, Alison and you will soon find that out. I plan on taking you when I please, where I please. It doesn’t matter who’s around. And yes, you will walk down the street with me.”
I laughed a raspy laugh that I could barely get through with the arm against my neck.
“How the hell do you think you’re going to do that?”
“Ah, I’m glad you asked Alison Bishop. I’m glad you asked.” He brought up a bottle of water or some type of liquid and showed it to me with the arm he had against my chest. “See this bottle of water? I’m going to make you drink this and the drug inside will make you pliable enough that it will look like a man helping a poor drunk woman into his car to make sure she gets home safely. You know I know how to make myself look sincere. People will think I’m a hero.” He smiled at me and I wanted to puke.
“That is not going to happen. You might as well kill me now because I refuse to drink that. Push in my windpipe. Just do it, get it over with.” I meant it too. When I really thought about it, what would the world be losing? A woman who was consumed with getting revenge for her mother’s death? That’s all I had turned into. I was a shell.
“Oh no, I definitely won’t be doing that. I don’t want to miss out on all the fun. Don’t worry, it won’t take much of this to have an effect. I’ll get enough in you, even if it splashes all over you. That’s okay, I like my women to be wet.” He laughed as he opened the cap on the bottle with his teeth. “Your mother was very beautiful, you know, inside and out. I enjoyed torturing and staining that beauty. I enjoyed tarnishing the purity she innately had in her.” He laughed as he spit out the cap to the bottle.
“Go to hell. You didn’t tarnish her purity or her beauty. You ruined her life but she was still her. She was still the amazing, kind and gentle person she had always been. She still had a strength in her spirit. After you ruined their reputation, she still stood tall. You didn’t ruin her at all. You are nothing compared to her.”
I wanted to spit in his face but my neck was so trapped that I couldn’t move my head enough to get a good aim. I would have in a second. This man was gruesome and deserved nothing but scorn.
“Oh, that pedestal you have her on. Your mother was a whore, just like you, just like Christopher’s mom, just like all women. And she proved that the night we spent together. I made her feel pleasure that she didn’t want that night, Alison. Multiple times. I knew how to get it out of her and it made things so much worse for her mentally. That’s what I love. I’ll do the same with you, whether you like it or not.” He laughed as he brought the bottle up to my face.
“No!” My voice was hoarse now and I tried to turn my head. His arm was so tight against my neck now, I thought I might actually be choked to death right there. He got the bottle right next to my lips when I realized I had an opening to kick him. The way he was standing gave me a perfect target for my knee. I had to act quickly.
Because he was holding the water and didn’t have his arm against my shoulder anymore, I could raise my arms enough to get a hold of him quickly to steady myself as I quickly raised my knee. I saw his face recognize what was happening about a second too late as my knee made contact with perfect aim.
He yelled in pain, his arm immediately let go of my neck as he crouched into himself and the water bottle dropped next to us, bouncing against the pavement, water splashing everywhere. I felt the freedom of his grasp and instantly pushed myself away and ran out of the alley. I grabbed my neck to sooth it as I coughed while running down the street.
I had to get out of there quickly and my purse was a casualty. I had no phone and no card to get into Christopher’s building. I didn’t even have change for a pay phone if I could even find one. No way to use the subway. I had to walk the rest of the way and I was very careful to be as far to the edge of the sidewalk as possible. I would probably never walk close to the buildings ever again.
Hot tears were still streaming down my face and I could feel where Matthew licked me. I used the sleeve of my blouse to wipe my face but I couldn’t get the feeling of his tongue off of me. I wanted to scrub my cheek with bleach.
I couldn’t believe that he had left himself so open. Like most people, his ego was his downfall. That’s when mistakes are made. When you think you’re a god, you don’t notice things like leaving your groin open for your victim’s knee. He thought he was going to get that drugged water into me quickly and the rest would be easy.
I shuddered at the idea that he was very close to succeeding. I had no idea what he planned for me and I’m so glad I didn’t know. I didn’t want to know exactly what I just escaped and I didn’t want to know the details of what my mom went through with him.
My neck was in pain and I was quite sure that it was bruised. The looks I was getting from people made me realized how I must have looked. I had no idea if the back of my clothes had dirt on them from the walls but it felt like it. Every part of my body, every cell felt dirty.
The tears were still coming and it felt like an eternity that I had been walking. I was thinking of taking a cab and then having Christopher pay when I heard somebody call my name. I looked over and saw Christopher’s limo with his head popping out. I was so relieved. I ran over and new tears, tears of relief came streaming down my face.
I got inside the limo and collapsed into the nearest seat to the door. I saw the shocked faces as I immediately put my head in my hands. I was shaking and I finally felt safe enough to just let go and let everything out. My shoulders started to shake with my sobs and I heard horrible howling sounds that sounded like they were coming from somewhere else but I knew it was me.
Christopher and Gloria looked at each other worriedly, both still disturbed by what they saw. Christopher moved over to sit next to me and started rubbing my back as I crouched over in emotional pain, letting my grief and my fear out. They let me cry for a little bit before Christopher finally spoke.
“My god, Alison. What happened?”
I couldn’t answer right away. My shoulders still shook with my sobs and hearing Christopher’s voice ask what happened made me feel even more upset and traumatized. The feeling was overwhelming. The rubbing on my back continued and he didn’t follow up his question right away, realizing that I needed to let this out. He opened his phone and called the driver, Anton.
“Anton, take us home. Get there as soon as you can.” He listened for a second to Anton’s response before answering. “No, we aren’t going there anymore. We need to get home right now.”
Hearing Christopher give the order to go home comforted me and my sobs started to die down a little bit. I stayed hunched over with my head in my hands as I felt more comfortable that way for now. Being huddled over like that made me feel like I was protected and safe. Christopher’s touch was starting to help with that too.
“Let us know when you’re ready to talk, Alison. We need to know what happened.” Christopher’s voice was soothing and compassionate. I felt like I was exactly where I needed to be. I felt safe. Without my head racing with a million different thoughts, I was able to let my instinct take over and I knew nothing bad would happen to me here.
I nodded my head in my hands and started trying to pull myself together. Things were starting to become a bit more logical now and my head wasn’t just one big ball of emotion and fear. My sobs died down completely and I sat up, not looking at either of them but at least I didn’t feel the need to have my face covered anymore.
I looked over at Gloria and saw her eyes go wide.
“Oh my god!” She had panic in her voice and she looked at Christopher. I looked over at him too and saw the same thing in his eyes.
“Alison, what happened? Tell me right now! Who did this to you?”
My hands went to my neck and I felt sick. I knew it hurt and I was expecting it to be bruised but their reactions went beyond just a little discoloration on the neck.
“Is it bruised that badly?” My voice was raspy and barely there. I gently felt around the areas that were painful and tender.
“Don’t touch it. I’m calling the doctor.” Gloria put her hand out stopping me from touching it as she got her phone out and called the doctor who had been dealing with Mac.
Christopher moved into me and leaned down to get a closer look at my neck.
“Tell me who did this.” He was angry and I could hear in his voice that he suspected Matthew but he wanted me to confirm it.
I looked down, ashamed at the fact that I had been such an easy target but I had to tell them.
“It was Matthew. He pulled me into an alley from the sidewalk. It completely blindsided me.” I could feel the tears well up again and the sobs started to build back up.
Christopher and Gloria gave each other another look. Christopher put his arms around me.
“Oh my god. I am so sorry Alison. The security guard that normally monitors you has a lot of explaining to do.”
“The security guard that normally monitors me? You have a security guard following me? For how long? Why didn’t you tell me?” My raspy voice was still strong enough to show how annoyed I was.
“It’s been a while, Alison. Don’t’ forget, I have known how dangerous he is for most of my life. It would have been difficult to tell you about the security detail before everything came out on both sides. And after that, I just didn’t want you being stubborn and trying to lose him. You did that once. I don’t think you knew you were being watched. I think it was after you knew Matthew was in town, so you were probably paranoid about him but you went all over the city and my security guy eventually lost you. I didn’t want a repeat of that, this time with you knowing you were being followed.”
I nodded. That made sense. I probably would have tried to lose him. I felt so self-assured and cocky before this happened. Now, I felt like a fool.
“Listen, you’re going to have some PTSD to deal with after this and it’s going to hit you pretty hard with everything else going on. I want you to see my therapist. His specialty is PTSD. Not right away but starting sometime next week. For now, you need some Xanax and to get some rest.”
“I don’t know if I can, Christopher. I see his face every time I close my eyes.” Tears streamed down my face again. My voice was choked up on top of it being raspy. “And the things he said to me. I can’t get them out of my head.” I put my head in my hands again and Christopher pulled me into him, guiding my head to his shoulder. I grabbed his arm and buried my head in the arm of his – most likely $5000 – suit, letting the tears flow out freely. My eyes were like a faucet and I’m pretty sure some of those were tears of grief mixed in with the tears fear, shame and frustration that came with just happened. My poor mother. She must have gone through hell with him, more than I ever thought or could imagine.
We got to Christopher’s building and the limo driver parked in the underground parking garage so that we wouldn’t have to go outside. I had my head buried in Christopher’s arm the whole way. Nobody talked the rest of the way there. I wasn’t sure if it was out of respect for what happened to me or if they were just thinking about what to do next.
We were all in the elevator, staring into space when I thought of what Mac’s reaction would be to this and how he had so much healing left to do himself. Plus there was the fact that he was being very strange, I didn’t know if telling him right away was the right thing or not. I thought it might be best to at least wait a day.
“I don’t want to tell Mac yet. Can one of you please tell him that I have the flu or something and I’ll be down to see him tomorrow?”
“Of course. I’ll do that, Christopher, you stay with her until our conference call.” Gloria gave me a sympathetic look and typed something into her phone.
She called him Christopher, not Mr. Ward and she was sympathetic towards me. I was astounded. Finally, sympathy from Gloria! All it took was an attempted kidnapping and rape by Matthew Ward. So now I knew her secret. I chuckled to myself and then felt bad. How could I have a sense of humor at a time like this? I chalked it up to being delirious. Exhaustion was definitely settling in.
“Thank you, Gloria.” I looked at her with pure appreciation. Times like this is when people’s true colors came out and it was nice to see her human side.
“I’m taking you to the penthouse. I would feel much better with you there. Don’t worry, you can stay in the guest bedroom. I’ll have one of the housekeepers go get your stuff. I would just feel much better having you near me. It will be way more difficult to get to you that way.”
I nodded my head. It made sense and I was too tired to put up any argument. That Xanax he mentioned earlier was sounding better and better the closer we got to a bed and the more I wanted to sleep.
I don’t remember walking upstairs but I somehow found myself crawling into a bed. I didn’t even know where we were. I had a vague sense that it was Christopher’s penthouse but everything was just too much and I wanted to escape reality. Unfortunately, as soon as I laid down and closed my eyes, I saw Matthew’s evil face and heard his words. I pictured the anguished look my mother constantly had on her face towards the end and I pieced them together.
I opened my eyes and sat up. This was not going to work. I didn’t realize that Christopher was sitting in a chair in the corner and when I saw the shadow, I jumped.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you were here. I was out of it for a few minutes there. What time is it?”
“It’s 7:30. The doctor is on his way. Can’t sleep?” He sat up in the chair and put his elbows on his knees with his hands hanging in between. He really looked sexy and I wished that we had been able to have the night we planned instead of all of this.
“No, I keep seeing his face when I close my eyes. And my mother’s. He did things to her, Christopher. Things I didn’t know about. It went so much further than anybody ever told me. And the worst part is that I believe him. I really don’t think he’s making this one up. I remember her face at the end. I know their reputations were ruined and they were financially ruined but I always thought something more must have happened. Now I know.” The tears started again and my voice was so raspy and shaky.
Christopher got up and sat on the bed next to me in a flash. Before I knew it, I was in his arms and he was stroking my back.
“I’m so sorry, Alison. I am so very sorry. I know how you feel in a lot of ways.” He pulled back to look at my face. “Maybe you shouldn’t talk anymore until the doctor sees you. Your neck looks horrible and we don’t know what kind of damage has been done.” He dried my tears with the silk, plaid handkerchief from his suit pocket. There was something so tender about it that made me want to tell him I loved him. I didn’t dare but I felt it so strongly. I had to be careful not to bond with him over trauma. That never turned out well.
I looked up at him and nodded my head. Just then there was a knock at the door. Gloria poked her head in.
“The doctor is here, is it okay to come in?”
“Yes please do.” Christopher stood up and went to greet the doctor as he came in with his bag of equipment.
“You’re having quite a run on patients these days, Mr. Ward.” The doctor said dryly as he went over to set up next to me. “Hello again, Miss Bishop.” He put his hand up as I started to return his greeting. “No, don’t speak, let me take a look at that neck.”
The doctor took out a little flashlight and looked around my neck injuries. His face didn’t betray his thoughts about the injury one way or the other. He probably had lots of practice hiding his reactions…kind of like me.
He very gently pushed on my neck and asked where it hurt the most and where it was most tender. He felt around to make sure there wasn’t any internal neck damage. It was painful but not too bad, he knew exactly where to touch.
Next, he looked down my throat, which was very painful trying to keep my mouth open for him to see inside. He then checked my ears and my eyes. Feeling around my sinuses and other parts of my face, he asked if any of it was tender. It wasn’t and I hoped that was a good sign.
He ended the examination with a mental acuity test.
“How many fingers?”
“3”
“Who was our first president?”
“George Washington”
“What is your full name?”
“Alison Sophia Bishop.”
“Are you able to sleep, Miss Bishop?”
I shook my head and looked down. I didn’t know if I would ever get that face out of my head.
“Okay, thank you. Very good. Your injuries are alarming but it looks like no lasting damages came of it. I want you to avoid talking until the neck has healed a bit more. I mean that. It’s important not to talk. Have a bunch of paper around you at all times. I’ll be back in a couple of days to check your progress. I don’t see any problems with a full recovery but we need to keep an eye on it.” He stood up and put everything away, just before he went to walk away he snapped his fingers. “Oh, I forgot to give you these.” He handed me a bottle of pills. “These will help you sleep until you can get some help with the PTSD imagery.”
I started to thank him but he put his hand up to stop me talking. I stopped and nodded my head. He knew what I was going to say so I just laid back into my pillow. I still couldn’t believe everything that was happening.
“Thank you, Doctor. I really appreciate it. Gloria will settle with you before you leave.”
“Very good, Mr. Ward. I am assuming her injuries are from the same person who attacked her brother?”
Christopher nodded solemnly as he looked over at me.
“Well, I hope you do something about it. This looks like it’s turning into an epidemic. Hope to only see you when I come in to do checkups on these two.” He nodded at Christopher and then left. I saw Gloria standing there waiting for him as the door closed behind them.
Christopher went back to sitting next to me on the bed. He had his phone and was sending a text to somebody.
“Don’t talk. I’m going to get a bunch of paper and pens brought up. You are going to listen to the doctor and I will make sure of it if it kills me.”
I nodded and closed my mouth as I had opened it to start talking, already forgetting the doctor’s orders.
“Alison, I want you to know. The motivation I had to bring down my father has just been doubled. He’s not going to get away with this and he will never lay his hand on you again. I promise you this and you will learn that I always keep my promises.”