29. Miles
Julius insisted he drive us to the smoothie place instead of letting me drive.
I’ve lived with Julius for a majority of my life and within the many years that I’ve known him, I’ve learned not to argue with him.
I have way too much respect and appreciation for this man to ever upset him, so if he wants to drive, then I guess he’s driving.
“You know, you never told me how you started working for my family,” I observe, and I’m honestly curious to know.
Julius has been with us for as long as I can remember and when my parents died, he stayed without question. He’s a good man.
“I was ten when I met your father and Benjamin. They had just moved into the house next to mine. Your father was nine and your uncle Benjamin was seven. Your father was a well-behaved kid, but your uncle Benjamin, well, he was something else.”
I laugh at the thought of a little uncle Benny. He's an asshole now, so I can only imagine the little heathen he was when he was a kid. Honestly, it tracks.
“When they moved in, my mother made your grandparents a welcome basket filled with pastries she made that morning and asked me to deliver them. When I knocked on the door, your father answered and we became best friends shortly after that.”
Listening to Julius talk about my grandparents makes me smile.
I never really knew anything about them, my dad never told me much, and I didn’t bother asking Benny.
I just didn’t see a point. The only thing I ever knew about my grandfather was that we shared a name, and that was something I was proud to carry.
I knew losing him was hard on my dad. Asking him would have further opened an already sore wound.
“When your grandfather's security business took off, they moved to a different neighborhood, and I lost all contact with your family. As you know, your father and uncle took over the family business when your grandparents had passed away, and at the time, I was just a bag boy at a grocery store. Your father came into that grocery store one day and we talked for a while. He offered me a job and I’ve been with your family ever since. You were only a year old when I started.”
Tears rim my lashes and I turn to look out the window so Julius doesn’t see how much his story affects me.
My father was the greatest man I knew, always so generous and kind. All he ever wanted to do was help people, unlike my uncle Benny. That son of a bitch can care less about anyone but himself.
When my parents died, he sold the family business to the highest bidder, and since I was only a minor, I had no say in any of it.
He put my portion in my trust and that was the end of it.
It’s like he threw away everything my father worked for, and now he’s too deep in whatever bullshit he’s playing to ever get out.
At the time, I didn’t care to look into the logistics of everything.
I was so broken and alone, I just wanted my parents back.
Izzi was all I had left, and even then, I felt more alone than I ever had in my life.
It’s been three years since I lost them, but it hurts just as much now as it did then.
At least now I have Maddie. I don’t think I’ll ever have the empty feeling of being alone again.
“Your parents were the best thing to ever happen to me, Alexander. I’m so grateful to have known them and to know you. They would be so proud of you.”
I look back over at Julius and see a single tear fall from his eyes as he continues to look out the windshield.
It’s enough for me to release the emotions I’ve been trying to hold back.
All the anger I’ve held from losing them and the hatred I’ve felt towards my uncle Benny for being the piece of shit he always has been, because despite everything, Julius has always been there.
He’s been the backbone I didn’t think I had.
We pull up to a red light and he finally looks over at me and smiles. It’s the first smile I’ve seen on his face in years.
“I love you, Julius. I’m sorry I never said it enough before. Thank you for everything you’ve ever done for us.”
I’ve never seen so much emotion come from Julius.
He’s always been the type to be professional and keep to himself.
The most emotion I’ve ever seen come from this man is the smallest smiles, but I always knew he loved us.
He’s the type of person who never needed to say it for us to know what we meant to him.
“I love you too, son. It has been my absolute pleasure.”
The light turns green, and we proceed to cruise into the intersection.
Nothing could have prepared me for what was going to happen next.
It all happened so quickly. Honking noises are blaring loudly around me.
My head is spinning and I can’t feel anything.
A loud ringing is penetrating my ears and I try to open my eyes to look around me.
What the fuck just happened?
I look over at Julius to see if he’s okay, and I stare at him in complete horror.
His head is facing towards me, his eyes open as blood drips from the gash on his forehead down into his eyes.
There’s blood and glass all over him, and I can’t see down past his shoulders.
His body is completely crushed by the black SUV that plowed into us.
Oh my god, this can’t be happening.
I can’t fucking breathe.
Trying my best to lift my arm, I look down and see shards of glass sticking out of it. Everything hurts, but I use whatever strength I have to lift my arm and shake Julius. He doesn’t move.
This can’t be happening. This can’t be fucking happening.
“Julius,” I attempt to shout, but the name barely comes out as a whisper. There’s so much smoke from the car, causing me to cough as it invades my lungs.
“Julius!” I croak out, trying again, but I can’t stop fucking coughing.
I manage to lift my hand up to his neck to check for a pulse but feel nothing.
“No, Julius!” I cry out into the smoke filled air, but he doesn’t say anything. He can’t.
“Please!” I scream as loud as I possibly can until my lungs give out. “Please don’t leave me too, Julius. Please…”
He just stares at me with his cold, dead eyes and a sob escapes me as I stare at the last parent I had left in this world sitting dead in the seat next to me.
Why is this happening? All I have left in this world is Maddie, and that’s if I make it out of this alive.
Oh my god, Maddie.
The thought that this could have been an attack and this accident could have very well not been an accident hits me, and now all I can think about is Maddie. I don’t know if she’s okay or where she’s at. What if he already got to her?
Fuck, what am I going to do?
Blood begins to slowly drip out of Julius’ mouth, and I lift my hand up to his eyes to shut them. He didn’t fucking deserve this. He didn’t deserve any of this. He didn’t even get the chance to have a family of his own, and now he’s fucking dead.
I’m still buckled into the seat, so I reach down to unbuckle myself, but the seatbelt is fucking stuck. I push as hard as I can until it finally releases and the weight is removed from my chest. I suck in a sharp intake of breath, coughing as the smoke continues to assault my lungs.
“Fuck.”
Looking up, I see a figure walking around the front of the car, making its way over to my side.
Red. All I can see is fucking red, as I stare into the unnaturally bright blue eyes of the masked man that’s been ruining my entire fucking life for the past few months.
“You son of a bitch,” I spit and as he smiles at me through his mask. “You’re going to fucking pay for this.” I cough out, and all he can do is laugh.
He’s fucking laughing at me. He opens the car door and leans over me as if he’s going to kill me right here. A part of me hopes he does. The other part of me knows Maddie won’t be able to handle it. I need to fight back for her, but I can’t, not trapped like this.
“Hello, Miles. It’s nice to finally meet you.” His eyes flicker over towards Julius and I can feel the rage as it courses through my veins. “Such a shame about your friend over there. I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to meet him before I killed him.”
That son of a bitch. I have to make it out of this. I don’t have a choice. I fucking have to. Because as soon as I do, I’m going to make him wish he wasn’t breathing.
His eyes glance towards the back of the car, clicking his tongue.
“Well, this isn’t exactly how I planned for this to go. I was kind of hoping you were the one driving and Maddie was the one sitting here, but since she’s not here—”
“Don’t you fucking touch her,” I growl, interrupting whatever plan he was about to announce to me. He pulls his mask down and my eyes widen at the unmasked man before me.
It’s fucking him.
“Don’t you understand, Miles?” he laughs. “I will do whatever I want, whenever I want, and there isn’t anything you can do to stop me.”
I spit in his direction, and it lands directly in his face.
Good.
He deserves worse. Wiping the spit from his face, he gives me a disgusted look before pulling his arm back. That’s the last thing I see before everything goes black.
Blinking a few times, my eyes attempt to adjust to the bright white light that faces me. I woke up with a headache and I can’t move my arms. What the fuck? I’m sitting in a chair, my hands zip-tied behind my back, and there’s a red velvet curtain in front of me.
What the fuck is this?
My body is sore from the car accident, my head's still spinning and the ringing in my ears hasn’t stopped. I look down at my legs and notice that they’re zip-tied too, one to each leg of the chair I’m sitting in.
Oh, that's fucking fantastic. I try to yell, but my mouth is duct taped shut.
Goddamnit!
I frantically look around, trying to figure out where the hell I am. All I see is the red curtain in front of me and the wooden floor beneath me.
What is this place?
It almost looks like some sort of stage. I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen this place before. Actually, I'm certain I haven't.
I try twisting my hands to free them from the zip-ties, but it’s no use. It’s too tight. There’s still shards of glass in my left arm and they dig deeper into my flesh the more I rub against the arms of the chair, trying to break free. I grunt, dropping my head in defeat.
How the fuck am I supposed to save Maddie from this crazy person if I can’t even save myself?
Dread sinks into my chest the longer I sit here.
So many scenarios are playing through my head.
Maddie is probably worried I haven’t made it back to the hospital yet.
I don’t even know where my phone is. I look down at my jeans and I don’t see it in my pocket.
For all I know, he’s probably using my phone to text her and convince her it’s me.
God fucking damnit, I hate this. I hate feeling so goddamn helpless.
I hear the faint noise of slow clapping coming towards me in the distance and I pick my head up, looking around to see where the fuck it’s coming from.
Loud, heavy footsteps make their way up what sounds like a set of stairs, moving closer and closer in my direction.
My heart begins to pound loudly in my chest and all I can feel is rage and dread that there’s nothing I can fucking do but sit here and wait for the asshole that’s walking toward me.
The right side of the curtain in front of me begins to move and out comes the lunatic that fucking brought me here, tied me up, and taped my mouth shut.
The guy I saw standing next to Maddie in her high school picture.
Fucking Austin.