Chapter 17 #3
“Never! You’re lying again. You just stated that you never believed Isaac would let me go. You paid so that Isaac would keep quiet even after I died.” This realization only trickled into my mind in small drops. “It wasn’t money for the ransom, it was hush money.” The gun shook in my hand.
“That’s not true, Willa. I always had the irrational hope that he would let you go in the end.
That’s the only reason I paid. I love you.
I’ve always loved you. Like I always loved your mom.
But she wanted to leave me and take you with her.
I couldn’t lose both of you… So, I did what I had to do.
To keep you. You said that you didn’t want to leave me. Basically, I did it for both of us.”
Outraged, I gasped. “I was a child. I didn’t know the truth.” I walked around him. “I’m going now and you’re not going to stop me!”
“Willa!” Dad’s warning tone made me pause before the stairs. I turned to him. “Mr. Cox will never open that door for you. I won’t let you go.”
I blinked, disturbed by how positive he sounded.
“Dr. Moore will help you. He will give you something to calm you down.”
“I don’t need to be calmed down!” I shouted angrily.
“You’re pointing a gun at me. You’re sick, honey.”
I glanced down into the foyer. “Mr. Cox will open the door if I threaten to shoot you.”
Dad smiled gently. “What are you going to do? Drive me in front of you like a human shield? That won’t work. Mr. Cox has a gun too. And we both know you would never pull the trigger.”
The vein in my temple throbbed. I had the horrible feeling that I had fallen into a trap, especially since I couldn’t even fire a warning shot. Unlike Dad’s security men.
“You’re not getting out of here, Willa Rae.”
I’m not getting out!
The thought was like a tight rope around my neck.
I’m locked in!
In the most shameful way …
The familiar fear of being trapped rose inside me and my vision became a wall of red stars. I blinked and saw Dad coming toward me.
“Come on, Willa Mouse, there’s no point in this. Give me the gun,” I heard him say as if through water.
“No!” Reality slipped from my hands, but I needed to stay in the present. I had to fight back.
“He always called you little lady, didn’t he?”
For a moment, I was so quiet inside that I felt like I had fallen back into the white coma of shock. “How…” I couldn’t continue speaking, staggering as if the ground beneath me had turned to white nothingness. Dad had his own ammo, he didn’t need a Glock.
You did that on purpose! I heard Mom cry.
The rope around my neck tightened.
I’m locked in!
I tried to run to the front door, but I fell to my knees and dropped the gun. Dad immediately picked it up and put it in his belt.
“You’re completely out of your mind, child. You belong in bed!” he said now, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet.
“How do you know…” I choked out.
“I saw a lot more than just these pictures. Isaac sent me videos and personal messages.” Dad didn’t sound triumphant, more like disgusted.
“And now you’re using…” You’re using what you saw to fuel my fears even more … I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let his words bog me down. But I was so dizzy. Grabbing my arm, Dad pulled me to my room, but suddenly, a voice rose from the floor below.
A piercing, impatient, impetuous voice that made my heart heavy and light. “Will? Will, can you hear me?” Nathan! Some of the panic fell away from me. I wanted to laugh and cry. He must have somehow managed to get by our doorman, Franklin.
“I’m here,” I shouted, praying he heard me.
Confused, Dad stared at the door. “Who is that?”
Still shaking, I looked at his face. “Someone who’ll get me out of here!” The tightness in my throat loosened and reality became sharper. I took advantage of the element of surprise, tore myself away from Dad, and ran down the stairs, one hand on the railing.
When I reached the bottom, I heard Dad’s piercing voice, “Stop!”
I turned. Dad pointed the Glock at me and followed me. My heart suddenly started pounding wildly.
“I’m sorry, Willa, but you’re going to tell Mr. Cox that you’re sick and need psychiatric help.”
“No.”
Dad shook his head unhappily. “Don’t make me hurt you.”
I ran to the door. “He won’t let me go, Nathan. Mr. Cox, please, he has a gun. Open the door!”
“Open that goddamn door,” I heard Nathan yell. “She’s not his daughter. I can prove it. He’s holding her against her will!”
He found the copy!
“Will!” It sounded like Nathan was throwing himself at the heavy wood with all his might.
“The door stays locked, Mr. Cox!” Dad said loudly. “Whatever he shows you, it’s a fake! She’s sick. And I don’t have a gun either.”
Mr. Cox seemed to be arguing with Nathan outside. Quite heatedly.
“Willa!” That was my father. Outside the door, I turned to him, my knees going weak. If Nathan couldn’t convince Mr. Cox to open the door, that man would have me drugged and locked in my room. Probably for years. Decades. Forever.
“We’ll get this right, honey, believe me.”
He sounded so harmless, so completely gentle, almost as if he believed it himself.
I swallowed hard. “I’m not a rarity that you can keep safe behind glass. I’m not your property. I wonder what would have come after Mom’s wedding ring. Your bed?”
He looked at me completely openly. “What would have been so bad about that? We’re not related. I would have told you one day.”
I wanted to spit on him. “You disgust me! You chained me to you with guilt and lies, and made me a nervous, over-anxious girl. Easily controlled—for all your needs.”
“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly calm. Much too calm.
I blinked, irritated. “What are you sorry for?”
“That I have to do this now.” He suddenly called out loudly, “Willa, no! Child, put the gun down, for God’s sake!”
“Willa!” Nathan shouted from outside.
Don’t do that, Dad! Please don’t! I closed my eyes.
Heard the soft click.
And fell. Seconds. Minutes. Years. No idea where to. It was only my mind that fell because when I opened my eyes, I was still standing in front of Dad, and yet it felt like the ground had opened up and the depths had ripped me apart.
He had pulled the trigger! He had actually pulled the trigger! Now he was staring at me in dismay, his Glock dangling in his hand.
“Did you truly believe I was threatening you with a loaded gun?” I heard myself whisper.
I didn’t see it coming, it happened so fast. Dad raised his arm and hit me in the temple with the semi-automatic. Blood-red birds fluttered before my eyes and the ground rushed toward me. I saw Dad lunge again. “Mr. Cox! Quick! We need Dr. Moore,” he shouted.
At that moment, the door flew open and my father paused. “She attacked me!”
“Will!” Nathan stormed in and involuntarily stopped.
I lay on my back, staring at him. He looked like he did on the Agamemnon when I had first seen him without the blindfold.
He wore a black headband and black clothes, looking wild and dark.
However, that wasn’t what made my heart beat even harder.
It was the way Nathan looked at my father, who was now standing over me.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen more hatred in a person’s eyes except for when Noah grabbed me by the neck and shoved me against the wall.
“You damn bastard,” I heard him curse. His voice sounded like the roar of the sea, but it was merely a whisper.
In a few steps, he was by my side, grabbing my father’s arm, who was completely taken aback, and knocking the gun out of his hand.
It slid like a puck across the white marble, stopping directly in front of Mr. Cox’s feet, who was staring wide-eyed at me from the door.
“You’ll never hurt her again! Not her or anyone else!
” With a single blow, Nathan sent my father to the ground and was immediately on top of him while Mr. Cox yelled “Stop!” from the background.
Nathan, however, ignored him. He grabbed my father by the collar and hit him repeatedly as if with every single blow he was avenging one of the dead from Coldville.
I wanted to calm him down, to grab his arm, but I was still dazed and not fast enough. A shot rang out in the air. I screamed and Mr. Cox yelled, “That’s the last warning, young man!”
Through a shower of sparkling stars, I saw Mr. Cox approaching us with his gun drawn. My heart was racing. Nathan had stopped, his fist raised. Below him, Dad groaned in agony. Blood was oozing from a gash in his eyebrow and his eye was black.
With my head pounding, I rose and stood in front of Nathan.
“Don’t shoot! He was only defending me. My father…
Mr. Hampton…threatened me. You saw it yourself.
” Our doorman, Franklin, and another security guard suddenly appeared behind Mr. Cox, who picked up the Glock from the floor.
From them, I looked at Nathan, who was still standing over my father in a fighting stance.
“Don’t,” I whispered into the silence that had fallen over the foyer. “Stop, please…”
Nathan looked at me, seemingly completely taken aback.
“Let’s get out of here. We have evidence,” I said and began to cry as everything that had happened suddenly came crashing down on me. “We need to…we just need to collect it.” The tears streamed nonstop down my face. “Right now!”
Nathan blinked. “Will, he’s done so many terrible things,” he said as if he didn’t care about Mr. Cox and his gun.
“And he’ll be punished for that,” I said, crying.
Nathan shook his head, still holding Dad by the collar. “He’ll get away with it. Men like him always get away with it.”
Dad looked up. He obviously didn’t understand anything. “Who are you?” he asked almost tonelessly, his right eyelid twitching incessantly.