Broken Cheaters (11 page)

I waited until Brad had left before I tiptoed inside. Scar lifted his head, and I placed my fingers to my lips before he spoke, pointing to the surveillance camera overhead. Staying out of view, I scooped up some mud and wrote on the tiled wall, “Don’t move.”

Looking around, I noticed the wires were also linked to another trigger. I wasn’t sure how much time I had before this place blew up, but I was sure that Brad had a remote detonator. At least that’s what I surmised from the set up and the controls on the wooden box to the right.

Okay, Trish. You can do this.

I found a piece of glass, crouched down by the contraption, and started working on the wires. There were ten easy ones, all connected to the gasoline tanks, which wouldn’t trigger on their own. As soon as those were done, I had to disassemble the primary connection. The crude device must have been made ahead of time, and there didn’t seem to be any safety measures. But there was nothing difficult about the design – no trip wires and no backup plan. I carefully released the wire, rolled it up, and moved it five rooms down the hall. Scar kept watching me as I moved around, his eyes wide, until Brad’s voice sounded. A television clicked on. I saw Julia on the other side and assumed that she was seeing Scar, tied up.

As Brad began taunting Scar about raping Julia and letting him see it, I worked harder and faster, carrying four of the containers that were out of the view down the hall, away from Scar, far enough so that when they did explode, the blast wouldn’t hurt us.

Once everything was set up I wrote, “Play his game and get off” on the wall and gave Scar a thumbs up. After a long scream of “No!”, Scar jumped off the chair and I pulled on the wire, setting off the explosion in the other part of the building while ripping the camera off the wall.

I could hear Julia’s wail flow through the whole building. Her scream tore the air apart, down to its tiniest particles.

Scar looked at me, somewhat surprised and relieved that he was still alive. His hands searched over his body, confirming that he was in one piece. His nose was mangled, almost smashed in, and blood covered most of his face. His leg was so busted, I was surprised that he’d managed to get off that chair.

“We gotta help her.”

“Scar, listen to me. You can’t move. You’re hurt. Let me do it.”

“No, I—”

“—Scar, if you want her alive, you’ll have to trust me. Do you have a phone?”

“No, it must have fallen out of my pocket when he whacked me.”

“Is Ace’s number there?”

“Yes.”

“Please, stay here. I’ll get help. We’ll get Julia out of this alive and lock that bastard up for good.”

Judging from the condition he was in, I doubted he could walk more than a few feet. Blood trickled down his chin and shirt. His eyes kept on rolling back in his head as I helped him to sit on the ground against a wall. All his energy must have been drained when he jumped off that platform.

Scar could barely keep his body upright. Before I left he grasped my wrist saying, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Moments later I was on my hands and knees, trying to find his phone in the darkness. When I did, I dialed Ace’s number.

“Yo, bother! What’s up?”

“Ace, it’s Trish. I don’t know how much time we have, but Brad has Julia and Scar trapped at the Huntington clinic. I freed Scar. He’s in bad shape and can’t walk. I’m not sure how I can get to Julia and I really need your help because Axel is in Europe and Brad says he’ll kill her if I call the cops, and I… I didn’t know who else to call.”

“Trish, everything’s going to be okay. Everything will be all right. I can get people in there in five minutes.”

I looked at my watch and listened to his instruction of what to do next before walking through the hallway back toward the asshole whom I’d used to destroy my life.

I
dialed
Brad’s number from Scar’s phone, praying that he didn’t have caller ID. I knocked on the door, silently hoping that I wasn’t too late. He finally picked up the phone.

“Brad, honey, open the door please.”

I knocked gently. And heard the phone disconnect and go silent.

“I’m busy now. What do you want?” he shouted through the door. “Go back to your boyfriend.”

“I just want to talk. You know, I remember you mentioning a threesome fantasy. Wouldn’t that be nice, Brad? The three of us together.”

I had to buy enough time for Julia. If I timed it right, help would be here in four minutes.

“You said I was obsessed. I’m not,” he shouted.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what I was saying. I was misinformed. I don’t like seeing you upset, Brad. I want to make you happy. I love you, and I want us back to where we were. I need you, Brad. I’ll do whatever you want.”

There was a long pause, and I hoped that my bait was enough.

“Anything?” he asked.

“Of course. Open the door, Brad. I’m here for you… and for us.”

A minute later, he opened the door. He grabbed me by my neck and shoved me against the wall. Julia was tied to an old hospital bed. Her wrists were bound so tightly that I could see rope burns when she moved. Her legs were spread apart, each ankle tied to the side of the bed. I could only hope that I wasn’t too late and that Brad hadn’t already hurt her. From the look of things, he was about to.

“You watch her, and I’ll grab a few props. Do not fucking move!”

I stood frozen in the same spot, as if submitting to him, until he left the room. He locked the door behind him, and I ran up to Julia and removed the cloth from her mouth.

“It’s a trick, Trish. He killed Scar. He wants...”

“Shh, I know. Don’t worry. Just play along. I’ll flip this bed down when it’s time.” I paused for a moment. “It will probably hurt, but help is on the way.”

I heard Brad fiddle with the lock and covered Julia’s mouth again, pleading with my eyes for her to remain quiet before moving back against the wall, pretending to tremble in the same spot where he’d left me. On the inside, I pushed fear away and let the adrenaline pumping through my veins guide me.

Brad opened the door. He was holding another chair and a black bag.

“Sit,” he ordered.

“Brad, wouldn’t you want to find a more comfortable spot?”

Fearing his look, my knees bent on their own, and I sat in the chair he was pointing to. Little did he know it was all pretend for me. Nothing would stop me from completing the task Ace had asked me to. When he turned away, setting down his black bag, I mouthed “One minute” to Julia, and she nodded in understanding.

Brad removed his shirt and pants. He paced to the black bag naked and removed a pair of handcuffs. The scene was almost unreal. He looked like he was lost in some kind of a trance. “Put your hands behind your back,” he said to me.

“Is that necessary?” I asked. I couldn’t let him cuff me. If he did, then I couldn’t keep Julia safe and close to the ground the way Ace had instructed. I kept counting down the last minute in my head. Ten…

His steps toward me were vicious, and I was afraid that he’d kill me with that look. Fortunately his time was up.

“Now!” I screamed.

The room went dark. I lunged toward where I knew Julia’s bed was and with all my might lifted it up, forcing it to tilt and fall on its side. I lowered myself to her side as tear gas filled the room. We both began choking. Gunshots echoed, and it sounded like a thousand bombs went off at the same time. A constant ringing filled my ears as someone’s strong arms grasped me before helping me walk outside.

“Julia!” I screamed.

“We got her,” a man said to me.

Daylight blinded me and I could barely believe that it was already morning. He set me down before going back inside the burning building. Smoke drifted in slow motion, and dust swirled like a lazy tornado in the distance. Ace stood beside Julia, holding his arm around her. She was trembling, dirt smudged all over her body. She kept asking about Scar, and just as they turned back toward the smoking building, he walked out of the cloud, a man in black combat attire supporting his weight.

Ace came to my side, “If it weren’t for you, he’d be dead.”

I wanted to cry but held it all in.

“I’m just happy I could help. I just wish Brad were never in my life.”

Don’t lose it, Trish.

“This isn’t your fault, Trish.”

I nodded. I was afraid it would take a lot more to convince me of that.

Julia joined us, took my hand, and squeezed it. “Thank you. If it weren’t for you...”

“I owed you. You were the first friend I had in a long time. You were the one who saved me from a doomed relationship. God knows what would have happened if I’d stayed with him. If you knew half the things he made me do…” I paused. “I’m just glad it’s over. Thank you for believing in me and being a friend when no one else would.”

“I only did what anyone would have,” she said.

“That’s not true. You did much more than that.” I hugged her once again. This had to be a big turning point for her and Scar. If they couldn’t make it work together with Brad out of the way, I wasn’t sure who could.

I accepted their offer to go to the hospital and get checked out. Just before Ace turned the ignition, led by the team of men, Brad stepped out of the building, cuffed and pretty beat up with something tied around his hips to cover him.

I couldn’t wait to get home — to Axel’s home – and got out of the hospital as soon as the doctors cleared me. Ace called a cab for me. I could still feel Brad’s slap on my face as I stared out the window, but no one could wipe my smile away. The happiness was mixed with tears, happy and sad ones, because for the first time since I’d left home, I felt like I’d done something that mattered. When I walked through the door and was met by Beth, though, I crumbled. The need to pretend vanished. I didn’t have to be strong any longer; I had someone to lean on. I could barely hold my body upright as I fell into her and grasped the shirt at her back with my fists. She held me tightly in her arms, the way my mother would have. “Oh, Beth. I… I almost lost you all,” I cried onto her shoulder. The tears were so overwhelming I could barely get enough air in my lungs.

“You didn’t; it’s all right.” She stroked my back, up and down, gently warming me with her love, tightening her hold around me as if wanting to take all my pain away. Trevor was the next one to slam into me, and I bent down to his height, hugging him tightly.

“Twish, did a dinosaur attack you?” He touched my bruised face.

“No, not a dinosaur. A bad man. But the police have him now.”

“If you want I can sleep with you, so you don’t have nightmawes.”

“I would love that, sweetheart.”

He tucked his little head into the nook of my neck, and I couldn’t stop crying. If I’d lost Trevor and Axel, I’d go down that same rabbit hole I had five years ago, and I was afraid I would never find my way back out. Then I remembered that I hadn’t taken the camouflage blanket out of my apartment after all.

“Are you not going to daycare today?”

“No. Gwamma said that we should stay with you and give you lots of hugs and kisses and tickles.”

I laughed, my eyes finding Beth’s. “Thank you. You have all my favorite activities covered.”

“I have to clean up the dinosaurs before we do.” He ran off toward the kitchen.

I turned back to Beth, and when I looked at her, she reminded me of my mother so much. I missed her and felt an urgent need to call her and just hold her. “I’m so tired, but I’m so happy to be here.”

“Me too. I’ve been worried sick since the moment Ace called and told me what happened.”

I shook my head, realizing just how intimate my dance with death had become. It was time to put my past behind me.

“I… I have to tell Axel something. He won’t like it.”

“Oh, baby, that man has the purest of hearts of all my sons. As the eldest, he always took the more caring and mature role of them all. And he’s very smitten with you.”

“He is?”

“Head over heels. He hasn’t allowed any woman near Trevor since the accident.”

“What accident?”

“Trevor’s mom died in a car crash.”

“That’s awful.”

“She was lovely, and you remind me so much of her. I think Axel sees her in you as well. Not that he doesn’t see
you
. It’s just that you were both so innocent, full of love, and” – she tucked a stray lock of my hair behind my ear – “and your past misguided you, forced you to take a wrong turn, until you met Axel.”

That sounded about right.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

I’d been pretending to be someone else for long enough. I wanted to be me again. The black hair and glasses might have been gone; my Botox injections would take some time to fade; but on the inside, I no longer wanted to pretend that I was someone else. It was time to fix the past and pave the way for a possible future.

I nodded.

“Come, I’ll make some tea.”

As we sat down, I rounded my hands around the warm mug. Beth brought out a plate of croissants and muffins and another with fruit and fresh cookies, as if she knew that I was starving.

“Eat. You need some energy to keep you up. Then you’ll sleep for as long as you want.”

Sleep. I could have fallen asleep standing up. Fortunately, Ace had called Olivier from the hospital and explained everything, and Olivier had told me to take as much time as I needed to recuperate. My body felt so bruised, I was afraid I’d need more than one day to get fixed.

“Has Axel called?” I asked.

“No. I left him a message, though. He was in a meeting.”

I then remembered that my phone had been left at my apartment when Brad kidnapped me. Now that he was behind bars, things had changed. I had the kind of clarity that I hadn’t had in a long time. Life once again made sense.

“Talk to me, Trish,” Beth urged.

I took in a deep breath and began telling her how I’d betrayed my sister and how she ran away from home because of me. Beth listened, her eyes widening with every word I spoke. The further I got into the story, the more convinced I became that she’d hate me as much as I hated myself.

“Oh, honey. What happened to Chloe is not your fault.”

“She wanted to go home. If I hadn’t dragged her down to that basement, she would have been fine. She would have never run away. I wouldn’t have lost her. She ran away from home because of what happened that night. She was embarrassed and scared, and it was all my fault. I betrayed her because I was jealous, and I pushed her away. I was young and stupid. No, I’m sorry, there’s no excuse for what I did.”

“Trish, you cannot blame yourself for other people’s choices. You need to put it behind you. Call your sister. Talk to her.”

“But that’s the whole problem. I can’t. She’s gone. It’s too late.” I lowered my head to the counter, thinking about the past, about all the mistakes I’d made, and how I’d been trying to pay for my sins by punishing myself to be with people like Brad – by avoiding my family, leaving them behind so that no more trouble would follow. The guilt never eased. Nothing I’d done would make up for the lost time. And Jack had never paid for his sins, either. He was probably living the lavish life he was used to and had completely forgotten how he’d ruined our family.

Beth waited patiently until I continued.

“Two years after she ran away, I got a phone call. She wanted to make amends. She wanted to be back with her family, and said she was coming back home with big news. She sounded deliriously happy.” I remembered her joy when we spoke on the phone. “I picked her up at the train station. She couldn’t wipe the smile off her face when she saw me. She hugged me so tightly, for a moment I thought she’d come to say goodbye. Maybe somewhere deep inside, she knew it would be our last embrace. I was the one driving us home. She talked about her new life in New York. How she’d met a wonderful man and had a huge surprise for me—for the entire family, in fact. It was early December, and the weather had turned for the worse. We were driving up the mountains. I lost control on the icy road and swerved on instinct. The car spun, and we rolled down a hill into a river.”

I looked up at Beth. Her eyes glistened over and tears spilled when she blinked.

“I… I saw her side of the car submerge under water before I lost consciousness,” I choked. “She died in the hospital. There was too much trauma to her body and her brain. My heart was failing me as well. I had a myocardial infarction from the accident; an artery was blocked, and there wasn’t enough blood supply. The heart muscle was dying. I don’t remember any of this, but I was lucky enough to get a donor.”

Beth clasped her hand over her mouth, and she kept shaking her head. The story was emotional, but I hadn’t expected her to be affected this much.

“At the hospital, they wouldn’t let me see Chloe. They kept me sedated for almost a month so that I could heal. They didn’t tell me that she’d died until the doctor cleared me. I never even got a chance to say goodbye because they didn’t even have an official funeral for her. I mean, who doesn’t do a funeral? How could they? And that’s when I realized that they blamed me for her death. It was all my fault. I was behind the wheel and swerved, and…”

Beth got up and off her chair and took me into her arms. “It wasn’t your fault. You got a second chance, Trish.”

“But, my sister…”

“Your sister was a wonderful person who didn’t get a chance to grow up to be as strong of a woman as you are. You’re getting the chance she didn’t. You’re getting the life that she didn’t. Don’t overthink it. Don’t ruin it. Cherish it, and make her proud. She’s looking out for you from the heavens, I’m certain of that. She led you to us, and now I’m more certain than ever that you were meant to be part of our family.”

“You’re so sure.”

“It comes with age, darling. One day you’ll learn that everything happens for a reason. You’re here because of Chloe.”

Beth lowered her hand to my chest, where the scar was, and with her eyes closed, held it there as the beating of my heart pulsed through her hand. She then took me by my shoulders, steadied me, and looked into my eyes.