Chapter Twenty-Two #2
“There’s a good little pet,” Bill said as he patted my head after he finished tying me up.
The venom injected in the word pet was enough to take down an elephant.
It was a nickname he had used in the past when he was angry with me.
I think he truly thought of me as a pet in those moments.
Actually, I’m not sure he ever thought of me as a person at all.
“Now,” said George from a short distance away.
While the rest of us showed signs of a fight, he was in an immaculate suit, not a hair out of place.
“We need you to call your lawyer and have them release the funds in your trust.” He pulled a cell phone out of the inside pocket of his suit.
“Say anything to alert them of the situation and we will just be rid of you. I’m sure your mother would be more than happy to resolve this issue. ”
My blood ran cold. Was that a threat against her, or was she part of this? I hated that I didn’t know. I hated that my mother had been so awful that I couldn’t trust that she was innocent.
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” I said warily. I could taste the blood from my split lip, and that kept me going.
“The trust your grandmother gave you,” said Bill in a tone that conveyed he thought I was an idiot or a child.
He spoke to them the same way. “Why do you think I even married you? She set it up when you were still a child to be available upon her death or your thirtieth birthday. Don’t play dumb with me.
That’s why you left me. So I couldn’t touch it. ”
I genuinely had no idea what he was talking about. “I left you because you were a bad husband. I live in a run-down studio apartment and work more hours than is healthy just to eat.”
“Which is what you would do to hide the money until the divorce is finalized,” George said almost reasonably, like he had everything figured out and this whole situation bored him. “It’s why we had Bill ‘disappear,’ to delay things and give you time to slip up.”
I sagged, defeated and exhausted. I didn’t know what they were talking about, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of here.
The phone in George’s hand was my only hope and somehow I didn’t think he would just hand it over, even if I agreed to call my lawyer.
I had one chance and only one chance to get this right.
“Can you come closer?” I asked George. I made sure to sound as tired and weak as I could. He wasn’t going to come anywhere near me if he thought I could still fight him. “I can’t speak that loud.” I let my voice trail off for emphasis. “I’ll tell you how to get the money.”
It worked. George moved closer to me, his phone still in hand. Bill stayed close to me and I hoped he hadn’t changed his habit of keeping his phone in his back pocket.
I waited until they were both near and then shouted, “Siri! Call 911.” I prayed it worked. I prayed that I was loud enough and that at least one of the phones picked up my plea.
“What the fuck?” Bill exclaimed when his phone acknowledged the request and began the call.
One thing Anders had gone over when we were doing self-defense training was that even just dialing 911 would prompt a response from them.
They were required to contact a phone that called them, even if the caller hung up before they could answer.
Just as I expected, Bill hung up the phone right away, but I hoped it connected and ring while he fumbled to get it out of his pocket. I only needed it to be long enough for the system to pick up his number and location.
Bill slapped me again. I used to tell myself that he wasn’t abusive.
Sure, he demeaned me occasionally. Yes, he worked long hours and was never home.
Yes, when he was home, things had to be exactly how he wanted them.
He had negative opinions on almost everything.
But I could tell myself it wasn’t abuse. After all, he never hit me.
The illusion had been shattered before now. I had left him and figured out that most women don’t have to go through what I went through in a relationship. The slaps were just the final nail in the coffin of his abuse.
I laughed then. Maybe my brain was more rattled than I thought. It was all just so ridiculous.
“What’s so funny?” He demanded. He paced in front of me, fists clenched like he would lash out at me any moment.
George had moved further away again, so I couldn’t try the same stunt with the phones.
Kaye stood in the background and had backed up when he started pacing like that.
Maybe he never hit me, but based on that reaction, I’m betting she hadn’t spared.
“You,” I said between breaths. “All of you.” Bill clenched his fists, and I expected he would aim one of those fists at me soon.
“I’m the one who has you tied up, and I’m the one that’s funny?” He asked. He’d stopped pacing and faced me, his fist still clenched tightly. Yes, that blow would come soon. Still, I couldn’t stop laughing.
“How many years did you lecture me on being a good Christian wife so you could be a good Christian deacon? And now here you are, the preacher’s wife and a church deacon in tow, pathetic, desperate, and father to both the preacher’s kids!
” I couldn’t stop laughing, even if the bruises on my side hurt.
“Worse, we aren’t even officially divorced because you won’t sign the damn papers! ”
“I’d hoped you would come around and we could be happy again,” he said.
“Wait a minute,” Kaye screeched from her place by the wall, her hands fisted tightly at her sides, a snarl on her red face.
“How the hell we were supposed to run off together if you still wanted to be married to that whore?” She threw her hands towards me, if case anyone was confused about who she called a whore . I laughed again.
“Like you’re one to talk. Does your husband know neither of your children are his?” I couldn’t help needling her, too. It’s not like I had anything left to lose. “Does the righteous Pastor Robert know his wife spread her legs for someone else?”
This time, Bill punched me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me and cutting off anything else I had to say. He succeeded in finally stopping the laughter I couldn’t seem to control.
He grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head back to look at him. His face is only inches from mine. His hot, vile breath flowed over my skin.
“Listen here. You are going to get us that money. Then you are going to have a tragic accident. I’ll play the grieving widower for however long it takes to convince people that I had nothing to do with your accident and then I’m going to disappear with your money.
Do you understand? Do you understand? There’s nothing you can do to stop me. I’ve already won.”