The Amendment (Arrangement #2)

Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

PETER

R ather than staying at the lake house for the entire weekend like we’d intended, we headed home Saturday night in decidedly less pleasant spirits than we’d arrived.

Maisy had been quiet for the rest of the day, audibly regretting ever telling Ainsley the truth about her dance coach. Ainsley and I were attempting to convince her things would be alright and stewing separately on what we’d learned as we tried to decide our best course of action.

Whatever we decided, it would be less vicious than what I wanted to do to him. If I’d been able to leave without getting caught, I’d have already torn the man limb from limb.

What kind of a sick freak could do that to kids?

I wasn’t missing the irony of the situation, for the record, but my victims were always adults. I’m not claiming to be a saint, but I did, at least, have some sense of morality .

We drove down the driveway in silence, everyone seemingly lost in their own thoughts. As the house came into view, I reached up, tapping the button to open the garage and froze.

The light was on.

It had definitely been off when we left… Hadn’t it?

We’d left in the middle of the day. There would’ve been no reason for it to be on.

I glanced at Ainsley in the passenger seat, but she didn’t seem to have noticed, still lost in her own world.

“Did we leave the garage light on?”

“Hm?” she asked, still not really listening.

“The light…”

I parked the car in the garage and stepped out first, looking around defensively. The shelf was still in place, nothing else appeared to be moved, but still, I found chills lining the back of my neck. The kids slid out of the car next. I could smell the lake water, sunscreen, bug spray, and sweat on them, even from where I was.

Dylan made it to the door, but I hurried forward, key outstretched. “Wait!” I tugged at the handle, grateful to see it was still locked. Ainsley yawned behind me, oblivious to my panic. When the doorknob turned, I stepped in front of Dylan, trying to squeeze my way inside first. “Wait,” I warned again.

“What’s the matter with you? You gotta take a dump or something?” he teased, stepping back and letting me through.

“Shh…” I whispered, turning back to face them. “Wait here. ”

Now I had Ainsley’s attention. She cocked her head to the side, sensing the seriousness in my expression.

“Get back in the car, kids.” Her tone carried weight, and none of them bothered to argue.

“What’s going on?” Maisy asked just before I heard the car door shut. I was already moving forward, opening the closet next to the garage door and grabbing an old lamp I’d been meaning to throw away. I held it above my head as a weapon, preparing to walk up the stairs with as much bravery as I could muster.

I heard footsteps approaching me from behind and turned around, shocked and relieved to see Ainsley there, following closely. “What is it? Should I wait with the kids?”

I pressed my fingers to my lips, trying to listen.

She stayed still, keeping watch through the open door on the children waiting in the car. I lost sight of her as I made it upstairs and rounded the corner, making my way cautiously down the hall. I checked each of the bedrooms, the laundry room, and the bathroom. I pulled back the shower curtain and the regular curtains, checking in closets and under beds. In the living room, I checked behind the entertainment center and under the table in the dining room.

To my relief, our house appeared empty and untouched. So, perhaps we had just left the light on, after all.

The tension had just begun to leave my body as I returned to the garage, giving Ainsley a wave with a puff of air from my lips. “False alarm. Everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure? What happened? ”

“I don’t know; it was probably silly. It’s just… I don’t remember leaving the garage light on, do you?”

She spun around, peering into the garage. “I don’t remember it, no. Why? Do you think someone’s been here?”

I gave an embarrassed laugh. “No, I guess not. Like I said, it was silly. I just had a bad feeling and overreacted.”

She watched me for an extra second. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, the coast is clear.”

I watched as she backed away from me slowly, moving back toward the kids, and motioned for them to get out of the car.

“What was that about?” Riley asked, obviously shaken.

“It’s nothing, sweetie. Your dad was worried someone might have tried to break in because the light was on. But he’s checked it out now and we’re safe.”

“You thought someone was inside our house?” Maisy gasped, her voice filled with horror.

“Bit of an overreaction. Everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” Even Dylan seemed hesitant to go in.

“Promise, bud.” I patted his head. “Help your mom and me with the bags.”

With that, we loaded up the luggage and carried it inside. Once everyone had set off on their own, I ventured back to the garage. It was probably nothing, but I had to check, just to be sure.

I shut the door behind me and crossed the garage toward the wall. With a quick check over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t being watched, I nudged the shelf out of the way and began to press the bricks in, waiting for the wall to open .

Once it had, I stepped inside, my breathing catching in my throat. The body had begun to decay, its rancid smell filling the room. I needed to move it to the freezer, though I’d been warned not to touch it. But now, I wasn’t sure that would even be possible.

In fact, it seemed impossible I would ever locate the freezer again. The room was filled with boxes I’d never seen before. As if a moving truck had hauled in a whole home’s worth of packages and dropped them in every nook and cranny it could find. I could hardly step inside, only a very narrow path through the center of the room still available.

“What the hell?” I muttered under my breath.

I stepped forward, no longer caring about our agreement, since he obviously didn’t care, either. I tore open the first box, spying the stacks of passports, ID cards, and social security cards.

Fakes, I assumed.

All of them.

I pieced through them, shaking my head before dropping the box and tearing open the next one. It contained more of the same.

What the hell?

I had no idea what sort of things Jim was into, but I knew they likely weren’t good. Still, this came as a shock.

I suspected he’d crossed further lines since we were in college—that he was dealing harder drugs, involving himself with more dangerous men, and probably hurting a lot more people. But keeping him close to me had always kept me protected .

We weren’t friends anymore, but I sent him a good amount of work. We’d been cordial. Pleasant.

He stayed in his world and I stayed in mine.

As long as that remained the unspoken agreement, I was fine with it. But this…this was crossing a line I didn’t even know I had.

The next box was filled with three briefcases, all locked. I could hazard a guess that they contained weapons of some sort. The next was filled with vials of a clear liquid. I dropped them back into their boxes, backing out of the room, my stomach roiling.

What had he done?

What was he thinking?

This couldn’t happen. Once out of the room, I shut the wall, then I stepped out of the garage and pulled out my phone, dialing his number. I had no idea what I was going to say to him, only that I needed to put an end to this now.

“Yeah?” he answered, his mouth full of food.

“What the hell, Jim?”

“Well, hello to you too, sunshine.”

“What have you done? Why is my room full of even more of your boxes? I never gave you permission to—”

He inhaled, swallowing his food loudly. “You lied to me, Greenburg.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You lied to me and said you’d have people over this weekend. And you didn’t.”

“Why did you come here? You were trespassing! You had no right to come onto my property. This has gone far enough. ”

He chuckled, sending my blood pressure through the roof. My vision was beginning to tunnel, my head throbbing.

“Do you think this is funny?”

“No. I don’t, actually. I don’t think it’s funny that you lied when you know how much is on the line.”

“What exactly are you going to do? You’re going to turn me in? Really? After everything we’ve been through? After you’ve done so much worse shit and for so much longer. What a fuckin’ hypocrite,” I spat, pacing the ground.

“Who says I’m going to rat you out? I ain’t no snitch, Greenburg. You oughta know that.”

“So what do you want, then? I can’t have this stuff here, man. I need that space. My wife and kids are here.” I glanced over my shoulder at the thought of them, pleased to see I was still alone. “You can’t bring anything else here, and you can’t leave all of this. It has to go. Whatever else it is you want—money, better projects at work, whatever—we’ll work it out.”

“Whatever I want, hm?” he asked, sucking his teeth.

“Name it.”

“It’s funny you say that because I actually have been thinking about something else I want.” A knot formed in my stomach as I waited for the bomb to drop.

“Ever since I saw that wife of yours—” He groaned. “ Uh-huh! I ain’t been able to take my mind off of her.”

“You’d better think long and hard about what you’re going to say.”

“Oh, I have,” he said, his voice a low growl. “Long and hard.” He drew out the words, and I felt my free hand clamp into a fist involuntarily. I imagined it was his throat.

“Forget it.”

“You haven’t even heard my proposition yet.”

“I’ve heard enough.”

“You never know, it could be a good deal.”

“She’s my wife, you sick fuck. The mother of my kids. If you think for one minute I’m going to—”

“I just want one night with her. One night, and this all goes away.”

“No way. Not gonna happen.”

“Suit yourself,” he said, taking a drink of something and swallowing loudly. “But those are the terms. One night with your wife—no rules—and everything goes away. The room could be cleared out tomorrow.”

I nearly dropped the phone; my hands were shaking so hard. The rage was boiling over, my stomach clenching with his every word. “You will never touch her, do you hear me? Not as long as I’m still breathing. If you so much as come near her, I swear to God, I’ll—”

“You’ll what, Greenburg?” He chuckled to himself. “Where’s your sense of fun? It could be like the old days.”

“I don’t seem to recall things working out too well for the women in our old days.”

“Nah, now, this wouldn’t be that. I’d bring her back to you alive and well… If not a little sore.”

“Fuck you—”

He laughed, cutting me off. “Suit yourself, but take some time to think about it, okay? You have twenty-four hours to decide. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll have another shipment being delivered next weekend. I’ll be around, unloading and loading stuff when I need to. Might have to send a few of my guys in when I get a bigger shipment. This one was a bitch to do myself. You can leave the door open if you want, but…well, you know, we can find our way in if we need to. Perks of building the room, I guess.”

“You’re crazy if you think—”

“Twenty-four hours.”

The call ended, and my chest swelled with outright horror.

Now what was I supposed to do? There was no way I was going to let him have any amount of time with Ainsley, not that she’d agree to it anyway. And I couldn’t have him and his guys —whatever the hell that meant—showing up to my house whenever they wanted to when my kids were home.

I already had one murder to plan; I desperately didn’t need another.

But here I was, with my hands tied.

There was no choice, really.

And now, I had a ticking clock on top of it all.

Twenty-four hours.