Chapter 22
Amelia’s mind kept going back to the threatening email she’d received a few days ago. Avery knew she’d waited tables at the club, and she assumed he knew what that meant. But what if he got upset at her?
She hadn’t had sex with any of the customers, but she had flirted heavily, and sometimes that meant they played with her tits.
She hadn’t liked it, but letting some guy touch her breasts had gotten her bigger tips.
That’s the only way she’d survived. The tips had paid her bills and kept her head above water.
She hated feeling like she was under someone’s thumb. So much worse had happened to her after she’d been abducted than what she’d been through working at the club, but this person seemed to think she would pay money to them just because they sent a photo of some guy with his hand on her.
The thoughts twisted too tight, and she had to look at the email again.
First, she put Lainey on the bus to preschool, then went back to Avery’s place and pulled up her email.
What exactly did this person want? She reread the email, seeing that they wanted five thousand dollars.
It was laughable. She didn’t have that kind of money.
If she did, she sure as hell wouldn’t have been working at some crappy club with men who thought they could take whatever they wanted just because they paid a dancer some cash.
She opened a browser and looked into what it would take for her to get a real estate license.
When she got to the part about a background check, panic set in.
Would they turn her down because she’d worked at the club?
She hadn’t danced, only served drinks. Working at the club as a waitress hadn’t seemed like an issue at the time, but now she wondered if it would bite her in the ass.
Searching for answers, she found a post by someone who had been a dancer and become a real estate agent.
They emphasized being truthful. She hated that the place would follow her into a new job, but she couldn’t lie.
That would be worse. She would just have to disclose her association to that place.
Were they still open? She’d been taken because her boss hadn’t paid off his drug suppliers. How stupid had he been?
She opened yet another browser and typed the name of the club into the bar at the top.
The first search came back with a news article.
The club had burned down. There was nothing left of it.
Was that why they were coming after her for money?
They were broke and needed cash, and they thought blackmailing her was preferable?
Anger flashed through her. No way would she send them any money. She had no idea how to deal with someone trying to extort money from her, but she imagined Apple knew.
He hadn’t been gone long. Only a few days. Could she wait for him to come back before she took care of this? There hadn’t been a second email. At least that was going for her. No one had shown up on their doorstep, either. That wasn’t surprising since no one knew where she was.
She'd taken enough time looking up information today, and she was supposed to head to Los Angeles and check in on Dena. Ava was picking Lainey up this afternoon, so she had time to get to Los Angeles, but not much.
The drive didn't take too long. It was surprisingly fast, considering how bad it could be. Dena had been in a coma for a long time. Someone needed to make a decision about her health, but there wasn't anyone left to decide.
Lainey didn't feel it was her place to tell the doctors to pull the plug.
Maybe she should make the decision for her friend, but she wasn't family.
They should have talked more in-depth about what to do in a situation like this.
No question, she wouldn't want to be in this situation.
She doubted Dena would want to be lying in a hospital bed for years, her body no longer able to function as medical professionals did all the basic things for her.
After the nurses gave her a rundown of what was going on with Dena, a doctor came over to chat with her.
“Hello, you’re a friend, not family, right?”
She nodded. “Yes. She has no family left. We should have done more to prepare for something like this, but we didn’t know.”
The doctor's lips twisted up on one side. “No, we never really know, and it's often too late.”
“What can we do?”
“Well, she signed the back of her driver’s license, so we can use her organs without getting family permission. If it comes to that. I’m not ready to give up on her yet.”
Amelia shook her head. “She doesn't have a family. Who will make the decisions for her?”
The doctor nodded. “No, she doesn't have family.
Her respiration rate is too slow for her to breathe on her own, but it is getting better.
If it keeps getting better when we test, we'll let her breathe on her own and see how it goes.
If she doesn't improve, then the state's ethics committee will take over, and the decisions will be made by strangers.
Please, if you aren't married, find someone to make this decision for you.
Even if you are married, have someone listed who can make the decision for you.
I'm sorry your friend is going through this, but a life can end in a second.”
Amelia nodded, tears filling her eyes. “Is there any chance of her waking up?”
The doctor shrugged. “Maybe. But the longer she stays under, the less likely it is. There have been instances of people waking up weeks or months, sometimes years later. Once she’s no longer intubated and she’s allowed to breathe on her own, it will just be up to her body to keep going.”
Amelia didn’t know what to think. The doctor didn’t take away all her hope, but there was very little hope left. She didn’t have the money to put Dena up in a nice facility close to San Diego. It sucked that she didn’t have the resources to take care of her friend.
The drive back to San Diego took longer than the drive here took. Lainey was already out of school and at Ava’s when she made it home. When she knocked, she heard Ava let out a loud shriek. At first, panic raced through her, then she heard laughter from the other two girls. They were playing.
Ava opened the door and waved her in. “They are playing twister.”
“Oh my.”
Another shriek of laughter erupted, and she stepped into the main room to find the girls in a pile in the middle of the den. They kept laughing as she shook her head, smiling down at them.
“You all seem to be having fun.”
All three of them started talking at once. It was chaotic at best. They were speaking over each other, words tumbling out fast.
Ava headed into the kitchen. “I made mac and cheese and some soup. Come into the kitchen and wash up.”
“I need to pee,” Lainey called out as she ran to the bathroom.
Amelia made sure Lainey made it to the bathroom then she headed into the kitchen. “Thank you so much for helping.”
“I love helping. And Lainey is such a good kid. She’s easy. Not every child I’ve watched has been easy.”
Amelia chuckled. “Thank you. I like her.”
Lainey came into the kitchen, and Amelia placed a small bowl of soup in front of her. Her daughter frowned.
“You need to eat some vegetables.”
Lainey shrugged and started in on the soup.
She ate everything in the bowl, and then Amelia got her some of the mac and cheese, which she wolfed down.
Ava was right. Lainey was easy. She'd always just eaten what had been given to her.
So far, they hadn't fought about food or other little issues.
It was easy to get her into bed, into the bath, up in the morning, everything.
She was very lucky. Apple did tell her a few stories about Lainey trying to get away with eating cereal and cookies instead of healthy food, but once she'd been caught telling half-truths about food, she'd not tried again.
After the girls finished eating, they headed into the den and sat down in front of the TV, watching some cartoons. Ava poured them both tea and opened the back door, waving her out.
“How are you doing with Apple being gone?”
“Fine. It’s good. You’re the one who has to put up with Wild being gone for a while. How are you doing?”
Ava chuckled. “It sucks, but we’re doing fine. The girls are doing okay.”
“Lainey cried last night. She wanted Avery to tuck her in.”
Ava rolled her eyes. “Yeah, we get that from time to time.
These shorter bouts, where they're gone a few weeks, will help you prepare for the longer deployments.
Eight months is a long time for kids. They'll be in different grades.
All of their clothes will have changed. The cute blue dress will be outgrown, and they'll be wearing different things.
They'll like different foods and have different friends.
They'll look different. It's hard on the men when they come back. You have to give them time.”
“I hadn’t really thought of that.”
Ava shrugged. “Yeah. It’s weird. You just have to be patient.”
Amelia had felt like Lainey had grown so much in the few weeks she’d been gone. “I bet that is hard. When I was abducted, Lainey changed so much.”
“I’m sure that was difficult.”
“It was.”
“You’re better now, right?”
She didn’t want to mention the blackmail to Ava. Her friend didn’t need to worry. She had enough on her plate with Wild gone. It wouldn’t be fair to mention something to Ava since there wasn’t anything she could do.
“Yes. I’m much better. There is a therapist who is doing video sessions with me. One a week now. I’ve come a long way.”
“I’m glad you’re doing better.”
The door opened, and Emma stepped out. “Can I have a cookie?”
“Sure.” Ava stood, and Amelia got up, too, following them inside.
She needed to get Lainey home. Her daughter needed a bath, and they needed a snack before bed. Clothes needed to be washed, and dishes needed to be cleaned. She would have to do some cleaning this weekend.
She’d found an online realtor course she could take that would get her started.
It would take her a few months to complete all the requirements, but it would be worth it.
There was a study preparation class she wanted to take in a couple of months.
She was giving herself plenty of time to study because she’d seen the failure rate for the test to become licensed was around fifty percent.
She really wanted to pass on the first take, and that meant she would have to study hard and really pay attention to the information.
She would start on the process now. That would give her plenty of time to drink it all in and make sure she understood what she was learning. It would suck to study so hard and not be able to pass the test.
“We should be going,” Amelia said.
“Aww, do we have to?” Lainey asked.
“Yes, sweetie. You still need a bath, and I need to make sure you don’t have anything that needs to be done before tomorrow.” She turned to Ava. “Thank you again.”
“Any time.”
She gave Ava a hug, smiling as Lainey gave both girls hugs and then hugged Ava.
She'd been lucky to have found these people.
On Saturday, she was getting together with the women attached to the SEALs on Apple's team.
They were planning on spending the night at Danika's place.
They were looking forward to getting to know Lainey better.
At home, she got Lainey into the bath, a little surprised at how dirty her daughter was.
Then again, the girls had been playing hard.
She got Lainey's hair washed and dried before they sat down for a snack.
She read to her daughter while she ate and then got her up to bed.
Lainey passed out fast. Long before Amelia completed reading one page of the book upstairs.
She headed downstairs and grabbed a mug of tea.
Once she had her beverage, she settled in front of the computer, pulling up her email.
She was ready to pay for her real-estate classes when she saw another email from the person trying to blackmail her.
They had more pictures and were threatening to track her down and expose her.
The note concerned her. Apple wasn’t here. Who could she show it to? Maybe she should just call the police, but she didn’t want Lainey involved in this. She closed her email, worry making fear build.
She opened her email again and read over the two emails. The second email hadn’t said that they would tell him, instead it was a vague threat about tracking her down.
A noise sounded out front and she jumped then laughed as she realized it was the neighbor starting their motorcycle. She got up and checked the doors then the windows. Everything was locked, and she didn’t need to worry about anyone coming in. She was safe.
The person sending those emails didn’t know where she was, and they wouldn’t be able to find her.
They knew nothing about her. The threat had been vague and not specific.
She bet they had no idea she was in San Diego.
They’d just lobbed some threat and expected her to fill in the blanks and get scared.
She was fine. They wouldn't find her, and there wasn't anything they could do to her.
The motorcycle revved out front, and a shiver snaked through her.
What if she was wrong? There wasn't any money to send this jerk, anyway.
Maybe she should tell someone, but who could help her?
Wild was gone, and so were all the men on Apple's team.
There were other guys, but she didn't want to bother them since she didn't know them well.
This would all blow over as soon as the man realized she wasn't going to give him anything.