“Trust me, Emily. Please. If a police car shows up, he’ll flee, taking Maia with him. We can’t call the police.”
“We have to, Julian. What if he hurts her? What if he touches...” She trailed off, unable to speak what I simply couldn’t let myself even consider.
“I won’t let him. Trust me.”
I called Natalie on the way back to my apartment and told her to stay where she was, inside my apartment, no matter what she saw or heard. She had no idea that our father was outside the apartment right now, and I couldn’t tell her. As soon as she knew he had Maia, she’d give herself to him, I knew she would. And I couldn’t let that happen. Emily insisted that I call Ryan and get him, and as many bodies as he could gather, to my apartment. But, I couldn’t do that either. I lived in a quiet, almost secluded street where you barely saw another soul. Every member of my security team showing up would be certain to result in the police being called, and I couldn’t risk that. For what I planned to do to my father, the fewer witnesses I had, the better.
I screeched to a stop outside my apartment, opposite a huge black truck. The windows were darkly tinted, making it impossible to see inside, but I knew it was him. All I had to do was figure out whether he was in the driver’s seat, or the passenger’s. The adrenaline that surged through me, body and mind, replaced any fear that had been there during the short drive here. My violent shaking had vanished. My arms and hands no longer trembled; they no longer felt weak and jelly-like, leaving my body able to use force again. I felt powerful,
invincible
even, and my father was going to face every ounce of that power.
“Stay here, do you understand me? Lock the doors and do not get out of this car,” I ordered to Emily before kissing her forehead. The panic in her eyes was absolutely crushing. “I won’t let him hurt her, Emily. I promise. But I mean it, you stay in this car!”
She nodded, but I wasn’t convinced. I could see it in her eyes that she didn’t mean the simple gesture. She was planning something.
“If you get out of this car, then you’re in danger, and I can’t promise what will happen then. Don’t give me two people to save, Emily. I mean it, stay here.” I let my voice harden and my tone cool, hoping to get my clear message to strike at her heart so she would do as I asked. Her eyes pooled with the tears that I was becoming far too used to seeing before I clambered from the car. I heard the click that clarified she had locked the doors, and felt my chest release momentarily.
I marched straight to the driver’s door and threw it open, grabbing the throat of the body inside without bothering to pause to see if it was in fact my father. It wasn’t, I noticed as I tossed him to floor and pressed my shoe firmly against his throat. I could hear Maia crying. It wasn’t a scared screaming, more of a soft whimpering.
“It’s okay, Maia,” I called. “We’re just playing a little game, and then I’ll take you to Mummy, okay?” She didn’t answer, but her crying stopped. As much as I didn’t want Maia to have to witness any form of violence, especially from myself, I had no choice. I had to do this. If there was any other option, I would take it. But when it came to my father, the only language he responded to was violence.
I felt the man’s hand circle around my ankle, so I pressed harder. “Don’t fucking move, or I swear to God you’ll be dead before you can even beg.” I knew all it would take was a powerful stamp of my foot now, and my father’s accomplice would be dead instantly. And I wouldn’t hesitate to do it, but first, I had to try and use him as bait. “Get out of the car, Dad, shut the door behind you,” I shouted in the direction of the car.
“We had a deal, Julian. I promised not to harm this girl if you led me to Isabella. But, if you want to play dirty, then so be it. I’d let him go if I were you.” My father stepped out from the car. I took one look at him and every bit of anger I had ever felt in the past twenty-eight years, seemed to surge through me at once. My blood pulsed and roared through my entire body and it took every ounce of concentration I had to keep my foot steady and not ram it into this man’s throat. I felt torn. I realised I couldn’t kill a man in front of Emily and Maia. I wouldn’t let them think I was a monster, and I wouldn’t let either one of them live with the image of this man’s neck snapping into two for the rest of their lives. But I had to do something.
“This isn’t his fight, Julian. Let him go and let’s sort this out ourselves, shall we?”
“You really think I trust you enough to release him? Why don’t I just kill him now,
Daddy
? Then I can enjoy doing the same to you,” I spat, carefully watching his every movement as he made his way around the car to the edge of the pavement.
“Here,” he said, holding up a long rope before throwing it in my direction. “I don’t need anyone to watch my back, son. Tie him up, then he can’t interfere.”
I was certain my father was up to something, but I did it anyway. I dragged the man to the nearest fence and tied his hands firmly behind his back before fixing them to the iron. Just as I began to straighten myself I heard Maia’s frightened scream and my heart wrenched at the sound. I span around to face the noise, and at the same time, heard Emily screaming from the other side of the road.
“Please,” she begged. “Please don’t hurt her.”
Damn it
.
“Emily! Get back in that car!” I roared.
She didn’t move, she didn’t even acknowledge my words. She simply stood there, desperately reaching her arms in Maia’s direction as she whispered “please”.
“Give her to her mother!” I shouted. “They have nothing to do with this!”
“No chance, I don’t know why I never thought of this before. I’ll ask you one more time, where is Isabella?”
He held Maia tightly against his side. She was facing away from him, her tiny legs dangling as his arm crushed around her middle. For a split second, she looked as if she was gasping for breath.
“Let her go, Dad! You’re hurting her!”
He turned in my direction, sniggering like the bastard that he was, and clutched her tiny waist even tighter. “Hurting her, you say?” he snarled. I saw the slight movement in his bicep as his arm tightened once more and Maia’s tiny mouth popped open as she gasped for a breath. That was when I lost it. No fucking way was I going to stand there and watch him harm that child. No fucking way.
I charged at him, slamming my body against his as he fell back heavily against his car. I rammed my fist into his stomach, pulling hard on his shoulder with my free hand to lower his body so Maia didn’t have far to fall when he dropped her. As soon as I saw his grip loosen, I yanked Maia from his grasp. Without a second thought, I raced across the road and practically threw Maia into Emily’s awaiting arms. “Get inside. Now!”
Emily’s expression turned from one of overwhelming gratification, to one of sheer horror in a split second. “Julian!”
She hadn’t even finished her scream before I felt something solid come down powerfully on the top of my head, knocking me to the ground.
“Get her out of here, Emily!” I managed to choke out before the next blow came, this time to my ribs. An intense throbbing attacked my head in complete contrast the piercing agony that travelled up my left side.
“Where is she, Julian?”
“Go to fucking hell.” I swiftly rolled to my front, grasping tightly both of my father’s ankles and yanking hard. He crashed down to the ground and I ignored the protesting pain in my ribs as I lunged myself on top of him. I delivered blow after harsh blow to the side of his head, aiming directly for his temple. His head bounced off the Tarmac with each hit, and it felt amazing. I had never known release like it. I felt as if I could finally release an entire life’s worth of anger on the very man that had caused it in the first place. With each punch, I felt a little bit more of it wash away from me. I looked up, just to double check that Emily had done as I had asked and gone inside, and my father’s fist was in my face before I even registered his movement. His hands grasped tightly around my throat, and I had no choice but to pull away from him as I felt my windpipe crushing painfully beneath his heavy fingers. As I dragged myself away, I planted my foot firmly in his face. Blood splattered against the road, either from his nose or his mouth, I wasn’t sure which, and his grip on my throat instantly loosened. I pulled myself to my feet, but he was right there with me. He was fast, I’d give him that. I rushed him, slamming my fist into his face, harder than I’d ever hit anybody or anything before. I put every bit of my weight behind that single punch, but he still didn’t go down, was he some sort of fucking machine? I had knocked men out cold using much less force. He stumbled back a few steps before steadying himself and hurtling towards me. He ducked lower, and for a split second, I thought he may have fell down, but then I saw the metal pole in his right hand. As he swung it towards my face, I raised my arm, taking the full brunt of its impact on my forearm. The pain soared through me, slicing its way from my skin to my bone, before travelling all the way up to my shoulder, but I gritted my teeth and forced myself to carry on. I grabbed his head, yanking it down, and shoved my knee hard into his face. He fell to the ground and I wasted no time in kicking his ribs, his back, his stomach. He caught my foot as I aimed it towards his face, and I fell heavily to the ground, cracking the back of my head, hard. I blinked my eyes open, but they instantly seemed to want to close again. The street around me was swirling in front of my eyes and I suddenly couldn’t make sense of what was happening. Everything was dulling, slowly getting darker and, for a few seconds, I had no idea what the fuck I was doing laying in the edge of the road. Another harsh blow to my stomach had me crippled in agony, still unsure of what the fuck was going on. I could vaguely hear a man’s voice, but I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, or who it was coming from. Had I died? Or was I about to die? I felt as if I was an outsider, watching on as an injured body lay writhing on the ground.
My
injured body.
“Last chance, Julian. Where is she?” I heard my father’s cold voice and instantly realised what was going on. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words would form. I couldn’t say anything. I saw him raise his arms high above his head as he towered over me, the glistening silver pole raised high in the air, ready for its attack. I watched as it came towards my face and squeezed my eyes shut as I waited for it to end me, as I knew it would. Then I heard the sound of metal clinking against the Tarmac beside my face.
“I'm here!” A female voice screeched from behind me.
Natalie? God, no!
I forced my eyes open, ignoring the agony that surged through my head. My father was no longer in my line of sight; all I could see were the murky grey clouds above me. Everything blurred as I felt my eyes roll again, but I forced them back open. I heard Natalie scream out before I heard my father’s voice. “Where the fuck is it?” he roared.
I rolled my head to the side, desperately searching for Natalie. And then I saw her. My father’s hand was around her throat as he pushed her hard against the sharp brick of my building. I could see the fear behind her eyes as she looked to me. I had to help her, I had to move. But my body just wouldn’t respond.
“Go fucking get it!” Natalie screamed as a small black object left her hand and flew through the air before landing on the pavement. What the fuck was that? What was he after? I slowly pushed myself up onto my elbows, choking back the groan that was threatening to reveal my movement. If I could just get up, if I could just make it far enough to surprise my father with this pole around his head, I was confident that I could end him. If my body would only last long enough, that was all I could ask for.
“Oh my God, Julian.” Natalie was at my side in a second. “You’ve got to get up, you need to get inside, he’s going to kill you,” she ranted, tugging at my arm to try to assist me to my feet. I clambered up, grabbing onto the bonnet of my car for support, and took a second to steady myself. A loud pulsing roared inside my head, making me sway slightly as I straightened myself. I forced my eyes to widen and took a deep breath.
“Not if I kill him first,” I said, turning just in time to see my father heading back towards Natalie and I.
“You can’t fight him like this, Julian. He’ll kill you,” Natalie pleaded as tears streamed down her cheeks. “Please, for me, get inside. Now!” She twisted to follow my gaze and her features contorted as she saw our father. “Julian, go!” she screeched. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t just leave her out here, with him. And I wouldn’t.
I threw my arm across Natalie’s chest and pushed her behind me, shielding her with my own weakened body.
“You’ve got some stamina, son. I’ll give you that,” my father sneered as he smiled a menacing smile at me. “You get that from me.” His pace didn’t alter as he got closer to the pair of us, and I knew he was ready attack again.
“As soon as I move, get back inside that building!” I said to Natalie as I watched my father’s rapid approach.
My foot shot up, landing in the middle of my father’s chest and knocking him to the ground, but before I had even managed to take more than a step towards him, he was on his feet again and lunging towards me. I used every ounce of strength I had left to hurl my body at his whilst ramming my elbow into his bloodied face. We both crashed heavily to the ground, side by side, as Natalie screamed in horror.
“Natalie, go!” I shouted, seemingly using half of my remaining energy in that simple action.
My father moved quicker than I did and he was on top of me before I could react. As his fist flew into my face, my head slammed against the Tarmac, sending crushing agony soaring through me. Then all control of my body was lost. I was an outsider again, watching this man assault me, but not being able to do anything about it. A single rain drop landed on my brow, somehow forcing my eyes to close. Then all I could see was darkness. I could feel my body jolting with each of my father’s powerful blows, but I felt no pain. I felt nothing.
A loud screeching of car tyres brought me back to reality, and I blinked my eyes open. He couldn’t escape, I couldn’t let him escape. Where was Natalie? Did he have her too? I managed to focus on the black truck, but it wasn’t moving. It was still stationary at the curb where I had last seen it. I twisted my head and my eyes flickered closed. When I opened them again – seconds later, hours later, I didn’t know - I could just about make out the blurred image of my father’s figure. He was standing in the middle of the road, just a few feet from me, shouting something. I couldn’t hear his words; it was all a muddle, too much for my throbbing brain to make sense of. The roaring of an engine grew closer, almost deafening as its noise pierced through my head. Then everything seemed to happen at once. I saw Natalie again, leaping to my side and covering my injured body with her own. Then I saw the blurred figure stumbling backwards slightly. Then I watched as the speeding car slammed straight into my father, throwing his limp body high into the air. My frown caused my pain to soar. Had I just imagined that, or had someone just ran over my father?