Chapter 14
Tracey
S chool was starting next week and we needed to get on with living our lives, so today we were at the hair salon and then we were going to pick up school supplies.
Jenna sat perfectly still while getting her hair trimmed, but Jill seemed unsettled.
Her gaze stayed fixed on the door, tracking who came and went.
I stopped beside her. “You’re okay, sweetie. This will all be over very soon. I thought you liked getting your hair done?”
Her small hand reached for mine. She glanced nervously from the door to me and back again. “Does he know where we are?”
First Jenna and now Jill, each terrified of their father finding them, but in different ways. Jenna had nightmares and Jill had anxiety about being in public. “No. How could he?”
“He knows,” she said timidly. I didn’t like the way her voice trembled. This situation made me realize that I needed to go ahead and get them into therapy, the sooner the better. Clearly, I’d thought they were doing much better than they were.
When we finished up and the hair was dusted off them, I slid the card Axel gave me through the card reader at the front desk and added a tip.
Jenna raced for the door, while Jill clung to my side.
Shame filled my very soul for not getting us away from Bryce sooner.
I hadn’t realized they’d seen so much, but I guess kids are more observant than we give them credit for.
The two prospects escorting us today kept a respectful distance.
One of them was someone I’d never seen before and the other was Jamie, someone who’d spent countless hours guarding us at Axel’s home.
Jamie stayed in front of us about ten or twelve feet, ever on the lookout for trouble.
The brand new one lagged behind and seemed less guarded.
Just when I was starting to think this was all a gigantic overkill, I spotted Bryce strolling towards us. When had he gotten back? Last I’d heard he was still in Mexico. A chill crept up my spine. I still had the restraining order in place, but I had to get my girls away.
I snapped my fingers at the prospect up front. I said, “Jamie, take the girls to that ice cream shop across the street. Get them whatever they want and stay there until I come for them.”
“We’ve been instructed not to leave your side.”
“Go now,” I hissed.
He took a step back and grabbed each of their hands. One look at them told me it was too late. Jenna had already seen him. Her face had drained of color, and her bottom lip was quivering. She appeared to be frozen in place.
I squatted down and told them, “Go with Uncle Jamie. He’s going to get you ice cream. I’ll be along in a few minutes.”
“I don’t want to leave you, Mommy,” Jenna whispered. “I’m scared.”
“I’m going to have a little talk to your father and you two are going to get me a scoop of chocolate ice cream,” I told her. “I’ll be along before my ice cream melts. Be good for Uncle Jamie.”
When Jamie tugged her hand one more time, she allowed herself to be led away.
The second prospect, the brand new one came immediately to my side. “That’s their dad, right?”
“I’m starting to think of him as their sperm donor, actually.
” The hollow tone of my own voice took me by surprise.
“Give us some space, please,” I said, glancing at his name patch for the first time.
“Look Fred, he’s not going to do anything stupid in public.
He might not care about me, but he does care about his public image. ”
Fred stepped back just as Bryce came to a stop in front of me.
“Restraining orders don’t mean a thing to you, do they?” I said.
“Not really. The Sterling name means something in this town. No judge in his right mind is going to throw me in jail simply for speaking to my own wife.”
“I noticed you and your father weren’t able to get the prosecutor to drop the DV charges. If you’re so well connected, it seems like that would have been easy.” I knew I was taunting him, but I hated him with a passion for what he’d put us all through.
“It’s unfortunate our daughter was injured due to my clumsiness. Losing my temper with a lying, cheating whore like you was no big deal. I don’t want you turning my children against me.”
“Why don’t you cut the crap, Bryce. You’ve never given a rat’s ass about your kids. We both know that, so how about you stop pretending that you care.”
“Look, I’m not here to argue. I’m here to give you one last chance to keep our family intact.”
“You mean the family you threw away because you didn’t want to pay for child support?”
He frowned, like he thought this conversation would go some other way. “I’m offering you a fresh start. We could move to another country and put all this nonsense behind us.”
“Why would I even want that? Just sign the divorce papers,” I shot back.
“I did sign them. They were delivered to your attorney this morning. Being divorced doesn’t have to be the end for you and me, you know that right?”
“Yes, it does. It’s why I filed for divorce in the first place. I want you out of our life.”
Bryce opened his mouth to protest, but Fred leaned forward, and spoke quietly, “Your company is no longer wanted, sir.”
Bryce ignored the prospect and leveled a cold stare straight at me. “If you think a divorce decree will make me vanish, you’re even stupider than I thought you were.”
Panic surged in my chest. “Stay away, Bryce. They don’t want to see you.”
“They’re five years old. Children that age are very impressionable. They don’t know what they want.”
I turned away and fled into the nearest building, a brewery with restrooms. That was fortunate, since I was seriously about to vomit. I handed the prospect my shopping bag, and said, “I need a minute in the bathroom.”
The restroom was cool, and clean. I ran the cold tap and splashed water on my face. I hated that seeing Bryce had this effect on me.
When I finally stepped out of the restroom, I felt more composed. People weren’t staring at me as they passed, so I figured I must have done a good job of putting on a happy face.
Fred stood near the door with his hands shoved into his front pockets. His eyes darted to my face when he saw me coming and slid away again. Something in his expression gave me a weird feeling, but I was too shaken up to analyze it.
“Your girls are still across the street,” he said, his tone of voice cold and distant. “Jamie’s still with them.”
I nodded as relief swarmed my mind. “Good. Let’s go get them and then head back to the house.”
“You mean Axel’s house, right?”
I turned to look at him more closely. “What other house do you think we might be referring to?”
Rather than answering, he gestured towards a side exit, not the one I’d come through. “I think your ex has gone, but it might be safer if you head out this way.”
“Thanks,” I said gratefully as I followed him.
My mind wouldn’t stop repeating Bryce’s words, ‘You’re still mine. Papers don’t change blood.’
The prospect walked briskly, checking over his shoulder for any sign of Bryce. That steadied me a little. At least someone was here, keeping watch. At least Axel had made sure of that.
We reached the side door. He held the door open for me and stepped through it. It didn’t lead to a sidewalk, but to a parking lot. There were only a few cars there and it took me a minute to realize why it was quiet. It was the employee parking lot.
I turned to Fred. “What the hell is going on here? I want to go to the ice cream shop and get my girls.”
“Jamie’s going to bring them to you,” he explained in a low voice. “Maybe he saw something that I didn’t. He told me to get you to the car first and I’m just following orders.”
I frowned, unable to understand what was actually going on. Axel told me to trust his prospects, so that’s what I did.
But something about this situation seemed off, though I was still shaken after my run-in with Bryce. I really just needed to get my girls and go straight home. Once we were home, everything would be okay.
That’s when the prospect stopped short, clamping his hand down on my shoulder.
His head turned to the left and then suddenly Bryce stepped out from between two parked cars.
He looked casual and relaxed, like he violated restraining orders and ambushed people just about all the time.
He had that same smile on his face, the one that rarely reached his eyes.
The prospect just stepped aside. That’s when it hit me that he’d led me to Bryce.
“Tracey, Tracey, Tracey,” Bryce sneered. “I tried to tell you that divorce papers don’t change a thing.”
“Get the hell away from me,” I yelled. Turning towards the prospect, desperate for backup, I asked him, “Why would you do this? I’m under the protection of the Dark Slayers.
They aren’t going to look kindly on you for setting me up like this.
” His eyes slid away. Shame burned on his young face, but he didn’t move.
Bryce closed the distance between us, reaching for me. I recoiled but his hand clamped down on my arm. When I tried to jerk free, he dug his fingernails into my skin.
When I didn’t immediately give up the fight to get free, he snarled, “Stop it before you hurt yourself. I know seeing Alvin again had an effect on you. I’m willing to overlook all this, if you come back now.”
“You hurt us, Bryce. I’m never letting you near the girls again.”
He jerked my arm so hard, it felt like it came out of its socket for a second.
“Bryce, stop it. You’re hurting me.” My voice cracked. “You gave the girls up.”
His laugh was low and cruel. “God, you really are naive. I was just protecting the Sterling family fortune. I have no intention of letting my family go.”
I pulled harder, panic surging in my chest. Fred stood there and watched.
I don’t know if Bryce got him into the Dark Slayers intentionally, or if he’d taken a bribe.
I tried to appeal to his better nature—that’s if he had one—he just looked like a young kid, and right now he looked totally out of his depth.
“Are you just going to stand there and do nothing? Get help!” I screamed at him.
He went pale but still didn’t move. “The Dark Slayers are never going to forgive you for this. And Axel will hunt you down and make you regret turning against his club. If anything happens to me, you’re dead.”
Bryce’s grip yanked me away. He opened the back door of his Lexus and used his tie to bind my hands to the front passenger side headrest. Giving me one last cold smile, he said, “I told you. You’ll always be mine.”
That’s when I realized no one was coming to save me.