Faithless (18 page)

"London, when are you going to tell her? She
needs to know. If you won't tell her, then I will."

"Nancy, you can't. As much as I tried not to,
I have feelings for her."

"She'll never know the real you, London. She
could never understand."

"I'll make her understand."

"Will you make Tristan understand too? Because
from where I'm seated, it looks to me like she would rather be with him."

London grabbed Nancy's arm and I heard her squeal
in pain. "Don't try to be smarter than me Nancy. You tried it once and I'm
pretty sure you still remember how that ended. Now be a good little girl and
get back to her house and find whatever you can about my father."

"Why would she have any information about him?
I've looked through that house a million times, London. There's nothing
there."

"There has to be. Now get out of my fucking
face before I do something I may or may not later regret." He let go of
her wrist and even in the darkness of the room, I could see the red marks start
to show.

I turned, pretending to have a conversation with
the man next to me, as Nancy went storming past me. I quickly scanned the room
for Tristan and his mother. I needed to get back to the house so Nancy didn't
go riffling through my house while I wasn't there. I was still confused as to
who London's father was, and how I would even know him, but that would have to
wait a minute. Nancy went flying through the exit doors and I ran frantically
towards Tristan.

"I need you to follow her."

"Who? Slow down, Riley."

"I need you to go follow Nancy. I just
overheard a conversation between her and London and he started to get physical
just as he told her to go find anything I had on his dad at my house. I don't
even know what he was talking about. I don't even know who his dad is. Tristan,
please you have to go now."

"Okay, okay, I'm going. Promise me you'll stay
here until I get back."

"I promise. Just go." I pushed him
towards the exit doors just as London was approaching. I turned just in time to
catch London before he walked right past me.

"I've been looking everywhere for you. Where
have you been?"

"I've been at the table the entire time. You
knew that. So, how'd your conversation with Tristan go?" He kept looking
over my shoulder at the exit doors.

"It went pretty good. We talked a little bit
about how he's been acting and he's agreed to back off."

London finally looked down at me when I said that.
"Really? I find that hard to believe."

"No, he really did. He said he would stay out
of the way."

"Well good. It's about damn time he realized
where your heart lies."

Well, not with you. That's for damn sure.
"Yeah, I guess so." I took London's hand in mine and started leading
him back towards the dance floor. "Dance with me?"

"Of course I will."

We danced up until it was time for all of the
speakers to give their speeches. I wasn't comfortable dancing with him any
longer, so I was extremely grateful for the interruption. We went back to our
table and I reached for my glass of champagne that I had left unattended since
earlier. I needed a little bit of liquid courage before I could get up in front
of all these people and spill my guts. As I reached for my glass, the thought
of how long it had been sitting in front of London and Nancy made me second
guess drinking it, so I pushed it to the center of the table.

"Do you need a new glass?"

"Yes, please."

London waved over one of the waiters and he
appeared seconds later, fresh champagne in hand. "Here you go,
beautiful."

I cringed a little at the terms of endearment he
was using recently, but played it off. "Thanks, hun."

I took a long gulp and placed the glass back down
as close to me as I could get it. My hands were beginning to tremble a bit, and
London noticed almost immediately. His warm hand encapsulated mine and my nerves
eased up just a bit.

"You nervous?"

"Yeah, extremely."

"You're going to do great, Riley. Just be
yourself up there. People are going to think what you are doing is very brave.
Who knows, you may even help someone."

"That's the goal. It's just, I don't open up
to many people, and now I'm opening up to an entire room full of strangers. Its
just nerve racking, ya know?"

"I do. You'll be great. Just remember, I'm
here." He kissed the back of my hand and instead of setting my mind at
ease, my mind was now running a million different scenarios through it, all
including bad things that could happen with London around.

"Next we would like to bring someone very
special up on stage. This young woman is brave enough to share her heart-breaking
story, and I want you all to give her a warm hand as she comes up on stage.
Please welcome Ms. Riley Turner to the stage."

My heart leapt into my throat as I stood to make my
way up to the stage.
Just don't trip.
Just don't trip,
was all I could keep saying to myself. I felt London give
my hand a squeeze as I left the table. The walk up to the front of the stage
where the steps sat felt as though it was a mile long. I glanced around at all
of the welcoming faces, sympathy and sadness written all over each and every
one of their faces. I never wanted people to pity me, and I didn't want it to
start now. When I got to the microphone, Tristan's mother gave me a kiss on my
cheek and then disappeared off of the stage.

I stood in front of the podium for a few seconds
before I began my speech that I had rehearsed over and over again.

"First of all, thank you so much to Mrs. Hayes
for having me at this amazing event. I feel so blessed to be able to be here
and share my story with all of you. I've never been a brave person, but I
suppose it does take some type of bravery to get up in front of a bunch of
strangers and tell them about one of the lowest points in my life. I didn't
grow up like most children. At a very young age, I was stripped away from both
of my parents and immediately put into the foster care system. I wish I could
say that I was adopted by an amazing and loving family, but I wouldn't be here
today in front of all of you, if that were the case. When I was ten I was
placed in a very nice home. The parents were lovely and even their own children
were very accepting, at first. Eventually their fifteen-year-old son started to
abuse me, physically and emotionally. I was told to keep my mouth shut or I
would be forced to leave their house. I know it sounds ridiculous now, but then,
I honestly feared having to start over with a new family, so I dealt with the
abuse. Night after night, this young man terrorized me. He made me do things
that most ten-year-old kids didn't even know existed. I'll spare you all the details;
I think you get the gist of it. Eventually I built up enough courage to tell
his mother, but it didn't matter. What that young boy had told me would happen,
was exactly what did happen. She didn't believe me and wouldn't even take me to
a doctor so I could prove it to her. She just kicked me out. So I went back
into the system. After that things started to look up, but I still had kids at
school that teased me mercifully and picked on me. Some of them knew about what
had happened at my last home, some didn't, but it didn't make a difference to
them. I was the new girl with a seeded past, and that's all they needed as ammo
to attack me on a daily basis. Abuse in any form is
not
okay. I like to think I'm stronger today and have learned a lot
from what I have been through, but you never really know until god decides to
test you. I was tested not too long ago. I ran into the boy who used to hurt
me. He is married now and has two little girls of his own, and I couldn't help
but wonder if he was doing the same awful things to them. My guilt overcame me
and pushed me to do something that I never would have imagined doing. I
survived though. I'm now told that I am a survivor and that I should be proud
of that. I am to an extent, but honestly I just wish children never had to feel
pain like I felt. So thank you for coming out tonight and donating to an
amazing charity. Just know that if I had been given the opportunity that this
money is presenting for these young kids, maybe I would've never tried to take
my own life. What you all are doing is great, and well appreciated by many,
including myself. Thank you."

I stepped to the side of the podium and gave a
small bow. The room erupted with applause and almost every seat in the ballroom
was empty. Everyone was on their feet; clapping and making me feel like I
really was going to be okay. As I made my way down the stairs, I caught sight
of Tristan standing against the back wall. I hadn't even seen him come back in,
and then it hit me, he had just heard everything I had just said. I held my
head high as I made my way over to him. I was no longer ashamed of who I was or
even my past. My past made me who I am today and apparently myself now, was
enough for him to want me, and that was all that mattered.

"That was amazing, Riley. I'm so proud of
you."

I wrapped my arms around Tristan's neck, pulling
him as close to me as I could. "Thank you." I whispered.

His arms slipped around my waist and held me tight
against him. The safety and security that I always longed for, I had found in
his arms. A stray tear fell from the corner of my eye as I looked into
Tristan's eyes. He swiped it away with the pad of his thumb.

"There's no reason to cry." He kissed me
lightly on the lips and then pulled away from me. I was about to ask why, but
then I heard London's voice from behind me.

"You are so amazing, beautiful. That was
great."

I turned, trying to wipe the annoyed expression
from my face before he saw me, "Thanks, London. I'm getting pretty tired,
do you think we could go now?"

"Um, yeah I guess so. You don't want to finish
your drink or anything?" He held out my champagne flute to me and downed
it without even thinking, just so we could get out of here.

"Okay, all ready to go."

"Are you sure? Don't you want to say good-bye
to Julia before we leave?" He was stalling, and I knew exactly why.

"No, I think I'll just send her a thank you
card. Come on." I tugged at his arm, but he forcefully removed my hand.

"Ow, London. What the hell was that?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I just
think it'll be rude if we don't say good-bye to her."

"I'll tell her for Riley. I mean, she is my
mother after all. I think she'd understand. Call me later and let me know you
got home safely." Tristan leaned in to give me a quick hug bye, and
whispered in my ear so only I could hear him. "She's been taken care
of."

I mouthed a thank you and then looked in London's
direction. "I'll go say good-bye real quick."

I quickly moved across the room and sought out
Tristan's mom. When I came up to her, she turned and was practically glowing.
"Oh, Riley dear, you are such a brave young lady. I'm so sorry for
everything you had to go through as a child. We must do lunch some day."

"Yeah, that would be nice. I just wanted to
say good-bye and thank you for having me. It was a lovely evening."

"Do keep in touch." She kissed my cheeks
and I gave her my fake smile before I turned to leave. If I didn't have to see
that woman ever again in my life, I would count myself lucky.

When I caught back up with London, Tristan was
nowhere to be found and I was a little relieved to not have to play the same
back and forth game with the two of them, that they had been playing all night.
As we started making our way back towards the house, I suddenly became
extremely sleepy. My eyes felt like ten pound weights hung off of each one, I
could barely keep them open any longer. The inside of the car began to spin a
bit and I couldn't concentrate on anything. Moments later, I got one last look
at London's smug face and then everything faded to black.

When I woke up, it felt as though someone had hit
me with a two by four on the back of my head. I tried to move my hand to rub
the back of it, but my hands were bound together. I quickly started to panic as
I realized that I had duct tape over my mouth as well. Suppressed memories from
that year of hell when I was ten started running through my mind. I quickly
tried to untie my hands, but all I heard was a low chuckle from in front of me.
My vision was still a bit blurry, but I could make out the face well enough to
know that it belonged to London.

"You're going to make yourself bleed if you
keep that shit up."

My eyes went up to his, but all semblance of the
man I thought I knew, had been replaced with a cold-hearted asshole. "I
don't want to have to hurt you, Riley. So when I take the tape off your mouth,
I think it best if you don't scream. Got me?"

I nodded my head and leaned forward a bit, so he
could remove the tape from my mouth. With one swift motion the tape was gone
and I was licking my lips, trying to get some circulation back into them.

"What do you want?" I whispered.

"I
want
for
you to help me find my dear old dad."

"I don't even know your dad, London. I heard
what you asked Nancy to do. What is going on with the two of you?"

"You know, I didn't take you for one to ask so
many questions. I miss the days when you used to just be quiet and keep to
yourself. Not that it's any of your business, but Nancy and I, well we have a
history I guess you could say. She was my fuck buddy when I was locked up in
the psych ward a couple years ago. Needless to say, she's still a fucking crazy
mess."

"Ya think."

London came at me with a kitchen knife, pressing it
against the base of my throat. "You don't get to talk about her like
that."

"Sorry." I muttered.

"Nancy knows all about my father and what he
did. She was actually the only person to believe me when I told her. She's been
by my side ever since. Actually, I have a fun little story to tell you. I think
you'll just love it. See your mom and my dad, well I guess they had a little
thing going on for a while. Nancy says she used to see my dad over her quite a
bit while your mother was sick. Who knows, maybe he offed her just like he did
my mom." I tried to lunge for London but it was no use, my feet were bound
together as well. "Tsk tsk, you might want to stay where you're at. See
dear old dad disappeared after he got away with murdering my mom. He started a
new job, tried to start a new family, but obviously that didn't work out so
well for him. You still looked confused. You still trying to figure out who
daddy is? Well, I'm getting there. See, Nancy used to come over all the time,
buttering up your mom and my dad, just getting to know them better for me.
Unfortunately, her time was cut short when your mom became ill. My father, the
loving man he is, decided to leave your mother high and dry while she fought
her battle. Nancy was about to do the same, but see then Tristan had to start
coming around. Yeah that threw a hitch in the plan at first, but I made it
perfectly clear to Nancy who her loyalties should lie with. When I found out
that he was looking for her sweet little daughter, I figured it was fate. I had
Nancy find out as much as she could from Tristan without being too obvious, and
well that's what led me to you at the hospital. Nancy and Tristan led me
straight to my father. The best part about the entire thing, is not once did
dear old dad even realize that his very own son had been working by his side
this entire time."

"Oh my god." I whispered.

"Ah, so you've finally figured it out. Yes
dear old daddy is none other than
your
therapist,
Mr. Rollins. Although that's not really his last name, but running from the law
will do that to a man. His name is Bryan Richards, and he is going to get
what's coming to him. So now you have a choice to make, my sweet Riley. You
either tell me where I can find my father, or you will find yourself lying
right next to him."

"London, I don't know where he lives, honest.
I have only ever been to his office."

"You're lying to me." He came closer to
me, waving the knife in front of my face.

"I'm not lying to you, London. I don't know
where he lives."

"Well then, you'll just have to call him and
find out for me." He brought my cell phone over to me and dialed his
number. "Now when he answers, you tell him it's an emergency and you need
to see him immediately, at his home. Got it?"

I nodded my head and waiting for Mr. Rollins, or
whoever he was to answer. "Hello?"

"Hi Mr. Rollins, it's Riley. I know it's a
little bit late, but I really need to talk to you. I'm having a really bad
night since the benefit and I could use a session. Can I come to your
house?"

"My house? Well Riley, I don't usually let
patients come to my house. We could meet at my office."

London pressed the tip of the knife into my knee. I
bit my lip until I could taste the blood I had drawn, trying to bite back the
pain. "I don't think I can make it all the way to your office. Please, can
I just come over for a minute?"

"Riley, just for the record I'm not okay with
this, but yes. I'll text you my home address, but you need to make it
quick."

"I promise, I'll be quick. Thank you, Mr.
Rollins. I'll see you soon."

London snatched the phone from between my shoulder
and face and pressed the knife in just a little bit more before he pulled it
all the way out. "Such a good little girl. Well, looks like I'm off.
Thanks for all of your help, Riley."

He started for the door, but it dawned on me that I
was still tied up. "LONDON!"

"Yes, beautiful."

I practically vomited in my mouth a bit at his
words, but pushed past it. "Can you please untie me?"

"Don't worry, lover boy will be here shortly
to do just that. Have a nice life Riley Turner." And then he was gone.

The house was eerily silent and I couldn't help but
wonder if he would come back for me. I didn't have to wonder for too long,
because minutes later, Tristan was rushing through the back door.

"Riley, oh my god what happened? Are you
okay?" He quickly untied my wrists and then started to work on my ankles.
I sat on the couch rubbing my raw wrists, before I frantically started
searching for my phone.

"We need to call the cops. London, he's going
to go kill Mr. Rollins."

"What do you mean he's going to kill Mr. Rollins?
I don't understand."

"Mr. Rollins is his father. Apparently he
murdered his mother and London witnessed the entire thing as a child. His dad
knew people and got away with it, and then his father became involved with my
mom, I don't know really. A lot of it didn't make any sense. We need to call
them, now."

"I'm on it." Tristan began pacing the
room once he got on the phone. "Yes this is Officer Tristan Hayes. I need
a unit sent to 1710 W Stryker Road in Malibu. Yes, it's an urgent matter there
is a suspect there who is threatening to kill the man who lives there. Yes,
I'll hold."

"What did they say?"

"They're checking the address and sending a
unit out. Yes, I'm still here. Okay, thank you. Yes please keep me
updated." He ended his call and came right over to me. "Riley, are
you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I think we should go. We
need to go and make sure London doesn't do anything stupid."

"Riley, I don't think that's such a good idea.
He's dangerous and obviously on a mission for revenge."

"I know Tristan, but I have to try and help
him."

"After everything you found out tonight, you
still want to help him, why?"

"Because he was there for me. Whether or not
he was genuinely interested in me, he helped me a lot. He was there. You
know?"

"Not really, but if this will help you get
over the whole thing, then I'll take you."

"Thank you, Tristan."

I gave him a quick hug before we raced out to my
car and took off towards Mr. Rollins house. It didn't take too long to get
there, but once we did we realized the entire house was dark. Maybe he hadn't
actually been home when I talked to him. Maybe London hadn't gotten to him yet.
We pulled up in the driveway next to a black sedan that I didn't recognize. The
police weren't here yet, and that worried me. I jumped out of the car and
started making my way up to the front door. Tristan ran up behind me, wrapping
his arms around mine, pining them to my sides so I couldn't move them.

"Tristan, what are you doing?"

"I'm stopping you from doing something
completely stupid. We need to wait for the police to show up."

"Aren't you the police?"

"Yes, but they need to be here. I can't just
go barging into someone's house."

I tried to keep walking, pulling Tristan behind me,
but I didn't make it far. Tristan was far too large for me to move and just as
I was about to give up, a gunshot rang out. I covered my ears as Tristan pulled
his pistol from behind his back. He headed for the door and I was quickly
following behind him.

Another gunshot rang out and Tristan kicked the
door down, all the while keeping me hidden safely behind him. When we crossed
the threshold, I dropped to my knees at the sight laid out before me. My eyes
went wide. My hands flew up to my mouth, as I tried to muffle the scream
forcing its way out of my mouth. There, not more than five feet in front of me Mr.
Rollins and London lay dead, blood pouring from the bullet wounds in their
heads. Mr. Rollins between his eyes and London's to his temple. I couldn't
believe what I was looking at. As much as I had tried to hate London tonight
for all the shit he had put me through, a part of me still cared for that
scared and hurt little boy. How could I have let this happen? I crawled over to
London's body as the tears began to roll down my face. I reached out for his
hand and pulled it to my chest. I cried, not for the man who wanted revenge and
would stop at nothing to get it, but for the man I had met who just wanted
peace for his mother. I don't think I could ever blame London for what he did.
Did I agree with it? Absolutely not, but I understood how it felt to have someone
hurt you so badly that you would stop at nothing to have them feel that same
pain. I understood London. As much as I didn't want to be able to relate to
him, I did. Because not a day goes by when I don't think about something awful
happening to Gavin for what he did to me. I just wasn't brave enough to do it
myself.

Tristan's arms wrapped around my waist, as he tried
to pull me back from London's body. "Riley, we have to go outside. The
police are here and they need to have full access to the crime scene."

"He wasn't a bad guy." I whispered
between sobs.

"What, honey?"

"He wasn't a bad guy."

"How can you say that? He killed a man."

"A man who got away with murdering his wife. A
man he watched murder his own mother. Can you imagine what that would do to a
person? Of course not, because officer Hayes has it all together. You pretend
to be one of us, the abused and hurt ones but let's face it, you're not. You're
just a normal guy with normal problems, who just so happened to fall for a
broken soul. You'll never understand what it feels like to feel that amount of
pain and not be able to do anything about it."

"Riley, I do understand. Trust me. Let me take
you home."

"No! I think I'm good. I'll drive
myself."

I ran down to my car that still had the keys in it
and started it right up. I peeled out of the driveway and took off in the
direction of the one place that I knew would help ease the pain.