Chapter Thirty-Four
Jenny
“Lily will be down in a minute,” I tell her boyfriend on my way into the library. It’s my favorite place in the whole house, and I’m going to take advantage of it while I’m here.
He follows me inside and closes the door. I pick up my steps, hurrying to the far side of the room.
“I know who you are,” he says as I pull a book from the shelf.
“And?”
His gaze darkens, and he clicks his tongue. “Come and sit with me.” He lowers himself into one of the leather chairs in the middle of the room.
The tone of his voice makes me obey, and that concerns me.
“So, you know I’m a whore. Big deal. Doesn’t every senator have one?”
His gaze darkens, and he rests an ankle over his knee. “Ah, but we both know you’re much more than that, don’t we?”
My heart slows as he spins a golden ring around his finger.
“You’ve been giving him bad information, haven’t you, Jenny?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whisper.
He laughs. It’s rich and loud, and it sounds nothing like the laughter I hear coming from the senator’s office when they meet. I don’t know how he laughs around Lily. My guess is he doesn’t.
He leans forward. “Your handler. You’re not here by chance. I know someone sent you.”
“Senator Ramsey paid for me. He owns me.”
“He thinks he owns you,” he sneers. “That’s the biggest illusion of all.
They own you. They will always own you.” He leans back in his chair and steeples his fingers in front of his mouth.
“That has me wondering why you’ve been protecting the senator as of late.
Have you fallen in love with him? You know that is rule number one: never fall in love with your mark. ”
Benjamin looks at my stomach, and my arms automatically wrap around my growing belly. When his eyes return to mine, he smiles.
“I don’t love him,” I tell him honestly.
“No? I guess I don’t blame you. He’s a pig.”
When I don’t say anything, he continues.
“If it’s not love, then it must be something else. Something small and vulnerable and in your womb.”
My heart begins to race because how does he know all of this? I’ve been so careful to hide my pregnancy.
He tsks. “So, that’s it. You’ve broken rule number two. Don’t get pregnant.”
“How do you know their rules?” I snip, standing from the chair.
“Because my father makes them.”
I’m so confused, and he laughs again.
“Sometimes things aren’t what they seem. The man you think is in charge usually has a shadow, a puppet master, if you will.”
“A-and t-that’s your father?”
He nods slowly. “My father is the “they” you’re referring to.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I begin to back away slowly. This is information that I definitely do not want to know.
Benjamin sighs as if I’m boring him. “You’ve been trying to convince Lily to run.”
“No, I haven’t. I promise.”
He jumps to his feet, pushing me against the wall.
One hand wraps around my throat while the other rests heavily over my stomach.
“You had a job to do here. It was not to give your handler meaningless tips about the senator, and it wasn’t to befriend his daughter, and it sure as hell wasn’t to have his baby. ”
“I’m sorry.”
The baby kicks, and Benjamin looks down at his hand. His brows pull together as the little boy inside of me tries his best to karate chop the shit out of the asshole’s palm.
“It’s a feisty one.” He backs away, tapping his fingers over his mouth. “You know, keeping the senator’s love child a secret might be a good insurance policy for me to have. Especially when he sees how I’m going to treat his daughter.”
I hate to tell him, but the senator isn’t going to give two fucks about how he treats Lily.
Benjamin spins around, grabbing my cheeks in one hand. “As soon as you have this baby, you call me. I want to know where it goes. Do you understand?”
I nod, but there’s no way in hell I will call him.
“I assume you also understand that this conversation remains between us.”
I nod again.
“Your handler’s been too soft on you. I expect verbal answers. Yes or no?” He grips me tighter, his nails digging into my skin.
I struggle to swallow before speaking. “Yes, I understand.”
“Good.” He pats my cheek and then grabs me between the legs so hard, I cry out.
His gaze hardens, and the pupils of his eyes grow large, swallowing every bit of color. “If you run with Lily, I will hunt you and your bastard child down. I will cut the three of you ear to ear. Do you understand?”
Tears stream down my face because I know there’s only one way to protect my child, and that is with my death. Even then there might be a chance Benjamin will look for him, but only if he needs to use him to blackmail the senator.
It feels a bit strange to be on the senator’s side, but he’s letting me have this baby … I only told my handler a few innocent lies, and that was just so I could buy enough time to give birth. After that, I really don’t care what happens to me.
Lily knocks on the door. “Benjamin?”
He gives me a look of warning and then steps away from me.
“There you are,” he says as soon as she opens the door.
Lily looks from him to me, a look of concern passing over her face. I give her the best smile I can muster. “Benjamin was just helping me look for that book you recommended.”
“Oh, it’s right over here.” She disappears behind a shelf, and I let out a shaky breath.
Our world just became a whole lot more dangerous.
I’ve got no choice but to have faith that Lily will run without me.
I can’t tell her who he really is. It could cost her her life.
He’s a bigger monster than either of us ever imagined.
I startle awake, instantly grabbing my stomach protectively.
Fuck, it was just a nightmare. I sit up, struggling to catch my breath. That was one of the shittiest nights of sleep I’ve ever had.
Oh god, do I need to go out and sit with my tree. I feel like the walls are slowly closing in around me.
I grab a sweater from the closet and wander out to the kitchen to put a pot of coffee on. Garfield is waiting for me outside as he sunbathes in the morning light. The little frog in my window catches my eye as I put my apron on, and for a reason I don’t understand, I place him in my pocket.
My gaze roams over the cabin. If I could walk out right now and never look back, what else would I take besides the picture in my bedroom? Nothing. There is nothing.
The little crocheted baby doll a neighbor made for me a few months before Brody arrived draws my attention to the living room. I sat her in the corner and forgot about it. At the time I thought it was an odd thing to give me, a single woman with no children or grandchildren.
But maybe it was a premonition. A sign of things to come, because Aspen loves her.
I tuck her into the pocket of my apron, and then grab my coffee and head outside to do chores.
“Good morning, Garfield,” I say as I fill his bowl full of food. He does a few figure eights around my ankles in thanks. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.
After watering all of my flowers, I head down the path to my tree.
By this time Garfield has stuffed himself, but despite eating his fill, he lazily follows behind me.
A part of me has always wondered if Bill dropped him off out here to keep me company, but I could never prove it.
Just like me, he kept some things to himself.
“Why don’t you get a dog?” Bill asks, sipping his coffee on my front porch.
I roll my eyes. “Dogs are a lot of work, aren’t they?”
“My girls had a dog. Meanest looking son of a bitch I’d ever seen, but man did that old boy love my babies.”
“I don’t think I’m a dog person.”
“No?”
I shake my head.
He smiles when my wind chimes blow in the wind. “I’ll tell you what. Sometimes I see why you don’t want to leave this place. It’s a nice break from the real world. It’s a little bit like visiting Heaven when I come up here. You know, my mom always told me wind chimes were whispers from Heaven.”
I lower myself to the ground, leaning against my tree. “I miss you,” I say out loud to Bill. “Your daughter visited me yesterday. She’s exactly as you described.” I laugh. “You were such a good storyteller. I miss that too.”
I scratch Garfield for a few minutes.
“Your daughter is going to make me leave,” I tell him, or the tree, whoever is still listening. “I’m scared.”
The wind blows, and I can hear my chimes from here. It brings a smile to my face and makes me feel like maybe it’s his way of telling me everything will be okay. I close my eyes, letting my fingers trail through Garfield’s soft fur.
I’m not sure how much time passes before I open them again, but the first thing I notice is the smell of something burning. I jump to my feet and begin to rush down the path. Garfield runs in front of me and plops down, making me stop. “Garfield, move. Something is on fire.”
My foot shoves him aside and I continue on, but he does the same thing again. Not once but twice more. Eventually I give in and carry him. When I step from the trees, my mouth falls open and my heart sinks.
Flames lick out of the cabin windows, and all I can do is watch.
My gaze catches someone standing across from me. It’s someone in a mask. No, not a mask. I think their face is painted like a sugar skull. It’s hard to tell with all of the smoke billowing between us.
The skeleton tips its head to the side. Just like the woman who promised to set me free.
“Oh my god,” I whisper. “She’s crazy.”
A wide smile pulls at her face, making me shiver.
I turn away for a second to watch the fire. It’s like a living, breathing beast.
I’m in shock. When I turn back, she’s gone. Her arrival tells me that Benjamin is also gone.
My sanctuary is gone.
Almost everything I’ve ever owned … gone.
It leaves me wide open for something new.
How terrifying.