31. Claire
CLAIRE
I waited by the phone, knowing any day she would call. I never knew when the call would come in or how long we would be able to talk, but that never stopped me from waiting day in and day out. Everything else in my life ceased to exist until she called.
It was the only thing that let me know she was still alive, that all the pain and heartache, while terrible, let me know my baby might still come home to me.
When the shrill ring of the phone sounded, I picked it up, choking on my words as I spit them out. “Isabelle?”
The line was silent for a minute, but then a harsh voice came over the phone. “What would you give for your daughter’s life?”
No one had ever contacted me other than Isabelle. But now…this voice…was he saying he could get her back? “Anything.”
The line went dead and I cried out in agony. Why would someone torture me like that? Why would anyone ask me such a question, give me hope, then leave me dangling?
I cried and screamed, punched the cushions on the couch as frustration welled within me. I was so tired of playing these games, of always wondering if she would come home. It wasn’t fair that she was paying for someone else’s sins.
Just when I thought I was all screamed out, there was a knock on the door. I briefly considered not answering. I was in no mood to talk to anyone, especially not after I just screamed myself raw. But then it occurred to me that no one ever rang my doorbell.
No one.
Holding my breath, I walked toward the door, each step feeling like a life sentence in prison. The man on the telephone suddenly felt like an ominous sign of things to come, and I wasn’t sure I could handle too much more, not after all I had been through.
But I forced myself to turn the knob, to open the door and look at the stranger on my doorstep. “Who are you?”
“Someone who’s here to offer you a bargain.”
“For my daughter’s life,” I surmised.
At his nod, I stepped aside and let him in. Nerves skittered down my spine, but I pushed them away as best I could. This was about Isabelle’s life. I couldn’t afford to be afraid when she needed me.
“What do you want?” I asked, my voice coming out stronger than I felt.
He spun around, taking in my house before speaking. “Information. In exchange, I will allow someone to retrieve your daughter.”
“When?” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could consider everything that might happen if I agreed to this. All I cared about was bringing Isabelle home.
“It’ll take some time, but I hear there’s already someone working on it.”
“Who?” I asked, desperate to know who this was.
“Are you familiar with a man named Rafe?”
“Rafe?” I repeated. The name wasn’t familiar at all. “No, I don’t know anyone by that name.”
The man smirked at me. “Why am I not surprised Shadow didn’t tell you.”
Shadow. I knew that name. My husband Michael went by that name when he was working. I overheard it one time, but the answers I got when I questioned him were few and far between.
“My husband,” I hedged.
“Yes.” His head cocked to the side as he studied me, probably trying to figure out if I was telling the truth. “He really didn’t tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“About his other family.” My stomach dropped out at his declaration. My husband couldn’t have another family. It wasn’t possible. He was always with me. Always…working. He was gone all the time. Yes, when he was here, he was by my side, but I had no idea what he did when he was on a job.
I stumbled back a step, gripping the wall so I didn’t fall over. His words shredded me, tearing me to pieces. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because Rafe is your husband’s son. Well, one of them.”
“One of them,” I repeated. Acid churned in my stomach at his words, but I pushed it down. Now wasn’t the time to break down.
“What does Rafe have to do with my daughter?”
“He’s been working to find her and bring her home. I’ve been watching him for about a year.”
“And…do you think he can do this?”
“With time,” the man shrugged. “It won’t happen overnight.”
My mind whirled with all the information thrown at me. Second family, other kids, a man going after my daughter…
“What do you want?”
He stepped forward, getting in my face. “I could put a stop to all of this right now. With a single order, I could not only kill Rafe but also stop anyone from ever going after Isabelle again. Or…”
“Or what?” I asked, looking up at him hopefully.
“Or I could look the other way. For a price.”
Whatever that price was, I knew it would be too much. No one agreed to something like this unless there was something good in it for them.
“And what is that price?”
“A future favor. There will be a time when I come to you for information, and you will give it to me.”
“Information? But…I don’t know anything. I’m not part of Michael’s world. I ? —”
“You’ll find a way to get it,” he snapped. “If you want your daughter back, you will do this.”
Betray my husband. I didn’t even know what information the man wanted. It could be anything, and I doubted it would be something simple. But the need to see my daughter again, to help the innocent young adult who was snatched from her life, I would give anything.
“I’ll do it.”
I’m calling in my favor.
I sat in the living room, my finger tapping on the arm of the couch as I awaited my fate.
The message had come in yesterday, and I knew it wouldn’t be too much longer before he arrived.
I had waited for years for him to call in his favor, always on pins and needles, wondering every morning if today would be the day I would have to do something I could never take back.
But it had been worth it.
That’s what I hoped, anyway. My daughter was safe, had found love and was finally living the life she deserved. I couldn’t have asked for any more than that. Well, I really hoped we would reconcile, but I knew that would take time.
Time that I now felt was quickly slipping through my fingers.
My heart pounded with anxiety at the thought of betraying the man I loved.
So many memories ran through my mind, playing on repeat.
Everything from my earliest days as a new mother, to the day I watched my daughter walk down the aisle and graduate high school, and then college.
Those were some of the proudest days of my life, but they were followed by so many torturous nights.
I just wanted it all to be over, to finally live my life in peace, but I knew now that would never happen. Whatever this man was asking, I knew it would be too much, that I would regret ever making that deal.
Gravel crunching outside signaled his arrival, but I didn’t stand. I didn’t greet him at the door as he walked up my steps, and as he strode into the house uninvited, I refused to move a muscle. This was the end.
“I’ve come to collect.”
“I got that from your text message,” I said, my voice coming out a tad sweeter than necessary. “So, what is it you want from me?”
“Nothing much. Nothing you can’t afford to give.”
“And what would that be?” I asked, cocking my head at him.
Instead of answering, he walked over to the chair opposite me, unbuttoning his jacket as he sat down, crossing one leg over the other. “I’m sure you’ve heard of the recent events at the Middle East Peace Summit.”
I had, but I gave no indication that I knew what he was talking about.
“Do you remember those children I told you about? The ones your husband kept from you?”
As if I could forget. Rafe had died saving Isabelle. The price was already higher than I expected.
“Well, one of those kids has gone off the rails and ruined one of our jobs. And in the process, his former employees have managed to hack into our accounts and drain our funds.”
“That’s a pity,” I said, keeping the glee out of my voice.
“You are going to get me inside.”
I snorted out a laugh at the ridiculousness of the favor. “And just how am I supposed to do that?”
“Your daughter is staying on the property. All you have to do is get me inside.”
“For what reason?”
“To get my money back,” he snarled.
But that would not be all that happened. He would get inside and he would kill everyone there. I was certain of that. There was no justice unless everyone paid. And that price was more than I could bear. There were kids on that property, my daughter and her husband—his daughter.
No, I would not be the one to destroy all those lives over money and some horrible pact I made years ago to get my daughter back. I didn’t care what he thought of me, if he decided to kill me slowly and painfully. I would never do another thing to help this man as long as I lived.
“Get packed. We leave in an hour.” He pushed to his feet, but I remained sitting.
“No.”
“Excuse me?” The snarl on his face promised retribution, but I was beyond caring.
“I said no. I’m not getting you inside.”
“You will if you want your daughter to live.”
“My daughter is now protected by the best men. If they can’t keep her safe, I have no hope of doing any better.”
He charged at me, swinging his fist hard into my face. I felt the bone shatter as I fell onto the couch, clutching my cheek as it throbbed with pain. He grabbed me by the shoulders, pulling me upright as he yelled at me.
“You’re going to give me everything I ask for or you can kiss your daughter and your husband goodbye! We made a deal!”
I sucked in a ragged breath and pulled the gun from behind my back. “That deal is being revoked.” I fired just once, reveling in the surprise on his face as he dropped me and looked down at his gut where the bullet had lodged.
He stumbled back a step, his eyes growing wide as he clutched a hand to his stomach, tripping over the table before falling to the ground.
I didn’t know what to do, who to call. The police would instantly arrest me. Michael…he would hate me if he ever knew the deal I made. There was no way out of this for me. I would be sent to prison at the very least.
If I was lucky.
If not, there would be someone else on my doorstep in a matter of minutes, putting a bullet in my head for murdering one of their own.
A sob tore through my chest as I dropped the gun and fell to the ground, crying at what I had just done— what I had done every day since Isabelle had been taken. All the choices I made, all the terrible things that had led me to this moment…
I had foolishly wondered if all the bad things in my life would disappear when Isabelle came home. Over a year passed and the man didn’t come for me. I thought maybe it was over.
But it never was. The pain never ended. It just continued to grow with each passing day, taunting me with promises of what could be. I hardly recognized the woman I was anymore. Those men had stripped something from me when they broke into my home and raped me. Yet, I kept hoping the end was near.
Then Michael showed up, turning my world on its axis and shaking up everything I thought I knew.
And now…all hope of ever having a future with him seemed so far away.
I had murdered someone in cold blood. Yes, he was a bad man, but I knew the type of men he worked with.
I would not walk away from this unscathed.
Crawling across the floor, I snagged my phone off the table and with shaky fingers, dialed Michael’s number. It started to ring just as I felt a wrench in my neck as my head snapped back violently.
Screaming, I dropped the phone, clutching the hands that dragged me across the floor. A sharp pain shot through my scalp as my hair was pulled out.
The man tossed me on the floor, then landed a swift kick to my stomach. I groaned in pain, crying out a second time when his boot came down hard on my face. Through my tears, I could see him struggling to stay upright, to take his vengeance while he could. I had to get away from him.
Fighting the pain, I scrambled to my knees and tried to crawl away, but something hard came down on my head, shattering into little pieces.
As my vision swam, a tiny shard of my lamp came into focus.
It had been a gift from my grandmother when I first got the house, and seeing it scattered across the room made me so angry that I attacked, flying to my knees as I slammed my fist into the man’s gut, right where I had shot him.
He doubled over, gripping me by the hair again, refusing to let go as I struggled to get away from him.
Jerking as much as possible, I spotted my gun on the ground and reached for it, screaming as loud as I could, hoping that would help me get to it.
My fingers brushed the metal, so close I could taste the victory.
With one final yank, I tore myself from his arms, only for him to fall on top of me. I could feel the gun pressing against my back, but there was no way to reach it. I tried shoving him off me, but the blood from his gut was slicking against my skin, making it impossible to get a grip on his body.
The flash of metal barely gave me a moment to react. He pulled the knife from his side, and then it was over me, my hands wrapped around his arm as I fought to keep him from burying it to the hilt in my chest.
My arms throbbed as I struggled to overpower him. My heart beat so fast that I was sure it would pound out of my chest, making it easier for him to kill me. But with every second that passed, I knew I wasn’t strong enough to fend him off.
I kicked my legs, trying to get out from under him, but his weight was too heavy and the gleam in his eyes told me he was going to take me with him. Gasping, tears rolled down my cheeks as I fought him with everything in me, knowing I couldn’t beat him.
I shook my head as the knife inched closer to me, until it was pressing against my chest. The sharp tip penetrated my skin, pressing against my bone. “No,” I whispered, pleading with him not to do this.
For a second, I thought he might listen. His energy was flagging, but so was mine. With a last-ditch effort, I pushed him away with everything I had, but my bloodied hands slipped and the knife plunged into my chest, stealing my breath from me.
At first, all I felt was shock. Utter and complete shock that the knife had pierced my body. But after a beat, all-consuming pain slithered through my chest, spreading out through my limbs and invading every cell of my body.
We both laid there, neither of us moving as the realization of what just happened struck. The man rolled off me, too weak to move, he fell over and laid beside me on the ground.
I sucked in a ragged breath, trying to will myself to move, but there wasn’t a single ounce of strength left in my body. A darkness swirled in my mind as everything around me turned dark. I could feel the blood leaching from my body in droves.
I was dying, and I was never going to see Michael or Isabelle again.