Dayanara Chapter 20 #3
“Sorry? Sorry doesn’t fucking cut it. You betrayed your sisters for a guy you called your best friend—the same guy who molested and raped them. You make us sick. You can’t explain this away,” Predator snarled. His face was livid.
“Predator is right. You’re the worst kind of traitor. I don’t need to hear his pathetic excuses. He can join his buddy,” Stalker added.
Stalker took a step toward him, as if to pull Jess from the chair and take him out to the rest. I halted him.
“Stalker, wait. I agree, Jess’s actions have crushed Breezy and me.
I can’t imagine anything he says can change that he needs to suffer.
But I still want to hear it. I need to see how he tries to twist this.
If our parents were alive, they’d be ashamed of their son.
I bet they’re turning over in their graves,” I hissed.
Jess flinched. When his audience said no more, Jess opened his mouth again. I hardened myself to hear whatever came out of him.
“You’re right, I did have contact with Marsh since he was released.
It wasn’t right away. It was after he disappeared, and no one knew where he was.
Right after you told me about you and those two, I was home alone.
I was angry. I couldn’t understand how you could be with both of them. I was drinking.
“My house phone rang. At first, I ignored it. Anyone important knew to call my cell. I assumed it was a late-night telemarketer. However, when it kept ringing, I got up to answer it. I was intent on chewing the caller’s ass. I had this anger inside of me that needed an outlet.
“It wasn’t a telemarketer. It was Marsh. I was so stunned that I didn’t hang up the phone. He began talking. I listened, and when he was through presenting his case, there was only one thing I could do. I saw my path so clearly. I jumped in without a second thought.”
His admission made my chest hurt. I rubbed my hand over my heart.
In sync, both of my guys dropped to the mattress on either side of me.
I was tucked snugly between them. Predator put his arm around me.
Stalker placed a hand on my thigh, which he rubbed soothingly.
Their strength flowed into me. Stryder was clenching both fists.
Jess’s gaze met mine and stayed there. “I told Marsh I understood what he did and that it wasn’t something dirty like it was portrayed.
That he was overwhelmed with his feelings first for you, then for Breezy.
I lied. It was all a ploy to get him to tell me what he was up to and where he was hiding.
“Your guy, Outlaw, wasn’t able to locate him.
The police weren’t even looking for him because his parole officer, Bauer, hadn’t reported that he was missing his appointments.
I couldn’t sit back and watch my sisters live in fear of the monster’s return or what he might do to you.
But to convince him that I was sincere, because he was suspicious, I had to make it look real.
I had to make you believe I was siding with him. We had to have a visible break.
“You have no goddamn idea how much it almost destroyed me to lie to you and watch the way it hurt you. The look of disgust you directed at me gutted me. But I had to make it real. Marsh is clever, and he would know if we were still in touch. I hurt us all to protect you. You might not believe it, but I did.” My brother’s eyes bore into mine.
I felt a sliver of hope. I wanted him to be telling the truth. But what if he wasn’t?
“If what you say is true, tell us what has been happening since you left her last time?” Predator asked.
“I began to have daily phone contact with him. He always used a different phone. I knew not to ask where he was right away, or he’d know I was lying, so I didn’t.
Instead, I asked him if he was okay. Did he need anything?
How did he get his ankle monitor off? Wasn’t he worried the cops would start looking for him?
Those revealed some information, some answers.
“He knew in advance that he was to be paroled early. He’d been plotting the entire time he was in prison to come back for Breezy. When he learned Daya was home, he changed his mind and decided to have them both. He’s fucking obsessed. More on that in a minute.
“Marsh bragged that he had someone on the outside who helped him figure out how to remove the ankle monitor without alerting the authorities. Once it was off, he left for an old house one of his convict friends had told him about. It was out in the sticks, so no one bothered him there.
“I questioned him about the friend who told him about the monitor. March admitted it was Bauer. It seems they knew each other from the time Bauer was a prison guard. I never got the whole story on why they were friends. That friendship explained why Steven Bauer never reported Marsh for missing his PO meetings. He only went to the first one to be convincing and to get the instructions on how to remove the monitor.”
I glanced over at my cousin. He’d moved closer to where Jess sat. He was attentive to every word. We all were.
“I kept it up, letting him spew day after day about his sickness, though he never saw it that way. He claimed that he liked them young because of their innocence and their malleability. He could mold them to like and want anything he desired sexually. And they would become totally dependent on him, never wanting to leave. He had a hang-up about being abandoned. You know his mom left when he was a kid. He never got over it. His dad used to bitch about how she was too independent, and he should’ve gone after her when she was still a teenager.
She would’ve stayed if he had. He said it to Marsh, and he internalized it.
“The things he talked about wanting from women were beyond sick. And when he’d talk about you and Breezy, he was lucky he was on the other end of a phone.
If he’d been in front of me, I would’ve killed him.
He admitted to doing it to other girls until he was caught and convicted.
They were bought off or terrorized to say nothing or drop charges.
“But in all of it, Marsh kept going back to Daya and then Breezy. He talked about how he couldn’t forget Daya.
He regretted moving. He said he should’ve stayed, but the job opportunity was too lucrative.
Then, as the years passed and he didn’t see you, he accepted that he’d lost something special. Those are his words.
“I asked him why he came back. He said he couldn’t resist Breezy. She reminded him of you, Daya. He claimed he mourned the loss of you. He said he should’ve stayed and won your heart. Made you his wife.
“Remember when we had that party for Breezy on her fifteenth birthday? We threw the party, and she invited her friends. She posted a ton of pictures on social media. He came across her on social media. Since it was public, not private, he saw those pictures. Remember, we had her change it to private not long afterward when we realized it was public. Though now it seems she might’ve set it to public again.
“He said Breezy reminded him so much of you that he saw her as his second chance. He knew you were gone and that you were a Marine. He thought you were forever out of his reach. He was determined to have her when he was released. Only that day came sooner than he imagined.”
He paused. I thought he might be gathering his thoughts. We waited impatiently. I was antsy. I wanted to figure out the next steps with my brother and take care of Marshall.
“Keep going, there’s more,” Stryder muttered.
“You’re right, there is. So, daily, I was treated to his sick, crazy ramblings.
He had this fantasy built in his head that he’d have both of you, and you’d be his perfect, submissive, loving wives.
You’d stay home to keep it up, raise the kids, and fulfill his every sexual demand.
He claimed that he’d provide for you, and there was no need for you to want other people, not even friends.
I asked what about me? He backtracked and claimed family was different, as long as whoever it was accepted their life.
“I lied to that motherfucker. I told him how I finally saw the wisdom behind what he did. How I regretted that I hadn’t known it before, or I could’ve prevented him from going to prison.
I assured him that if he’d let me help, I’d get you and Breezy for him.
I’d help him change your mind about him. He was impatient for that to happen.
“That brings us to today. Marshall and I were talking late last night. It was around midnight when he called. It was later than usual, so I was wondering what it was about. It was during the call that he began telling me, in a manic voice, that the time had finally come. He’d been watching the compound from a distance.
He knew that around daybreak every day, one of the guys would open the gate and take a short walk.
He told me he planned to slip inside. If he were seen, he’d overpower the guard and secure him so he was helpless to raise an alarm.
“He assumed it would be easy to find and remove you. His thinking is all fucked up. He told me after he got the two of you, he’d need a little while to get you to settle in with him. He assured me that when he did, I’d be invited to see you. He hoped that I understood.
“When he hung up, I knew I had to tell you, and it had to be in person. I was too afraid to take my truck. What if he was watching me? I got that feeling from time to time. I couldn’t blow our chance to get our hands on him.
Instead, I snuck out the back door and down the street, where I caught a ride with the hired car I ordered while in the house.
I had the driver drop me off half a mile up the road from here, then I walked to the gate and called to be admitted.
You know the rest. If you don’t believe me, in my wallet, there’s a tiny microchip.
I recorded every interaction we had. I wanted proof that I was never on his side. ”
His admission and the offer of the microchip left me stunned and unable to speak.
I was still angry, even though, if what he said was true, I totally understood why he did it.
But telling him that and then assuring him we were all good wasn’t possible at the moment.
I gave my guys a helpless look. They nodded, telling me to sit back and let them do the work.