25. His Dad’s Killer
CHAPTER 25
His Dad’s Killer
Nikki
I darted to the end of the corridor as the warm and musty air brushed my face. When I reached the door, I turned the handle and shoved my body against it to crack it open. The same way I’d done when Henry and I were here a few weeks ago. But the door didn’t budge. I kicked it then took off running in the opposite direction toward the garden exit.
“All the doors are locked.” Tessa’s voice echoed against the walls, like a ghost from my dreams whispering in my ear.
The pictures of James in Lisa’s file came rushing to my mind, the recording, the attempt on Henry’s life when we were stupid enough to think Tessa needed our help and went looking for her. How could she do this to her own family? I trudged back to her. She stood in the middle of the passageway, holding her elbows, her head cocked to the side.
“Why did you send Henry away? Do you have any idea how alone he’s been all these years?” I fired questions at her.
I didn’t care for her answers. I wanted her to know what she’d done to her own son. She needed to feel the pain he felt all this time. In the same year, he lost his dad and mom.
“I didn’t send him away.” Her voice quavered. “Not at first, anyway.”
“You took everything from Henry. Why?” I stepped toward her.
“No.” Her hands were dark shapes wiping tears off her cheek I couldn’t see. “I didn’t. I did everything I could to help him.”
“I found the recording you kept in your security box. I heard everything. How could you? You helped them set up my sister to take the fall for what they did to your husband.”
“So that’s why I’m here? Francesca knows I no longer have the recording. Hipolita, you shouldn’t be here. Now Henry’s life and yours are in danger again. Don’t you see?” She paced the corridor.
“What happened, Tessa? Why did you turn your back on your son and Lisa?” I yelled at her. Heat flushed my cheeks. “Maybe you didn’t owe Lisa and me anything, but Henry is your only son. You left him!”
“I made the mistake of believing them when they said it was all an accident. I hadn’t seen James yet. I didn’t know what Francesca was capable of at the time.” She sobbed. “I only made the recording because I was sure Francesca was putting something in my food. I kept having lapses in time, so I started recording bits of conversations to replay them later, make sure I wasn’t going crazy.”
“That’s why you got sick.” A chill seeped through my body, even though the tunnels were humid and warm. “You really expect me to believe that? Francesca drugged you?” I raised my voice. I didn’t care if they heard us.
“You have to believe me.” Tessa stepped closer to me .
“You broke Henry’s heart.” I gritted my teeth. “Every time you pushed him away?—”
She gripped my arm. “Please. That day I wasn’t feeling sick, and it was a beautiful day outside. I thought a bit of sun would help me feel even better, so I grabbed my sewing bag, and for the first time in weeks, I left my room. When I came downstairs, Jonathan was covered in blood. I…I was already recording some thoughts on my phone. When I saw him, I left the recorder on and dumped the phone in the bag.”
“He killed James?” I put my arm around her. This was Henry’s mom. If there was a small chance she was innocent in all this, I wanted to believe it. For Henry.
“No.” She shook her head. “Francesca did. She smashed his head. Killed him instantly. When I found them, Jonathan was trying to move the body. They were going to bury him in the garden. Jonathan had no choice but to tell me the truth. James had decided to take us to Europe for a long while. He thought traveling again would help me recover. He also thought it was time for Jonathan and his wife to move out and get a house of their own. Jonathan spent most of his time gambling and not really doing much with his life.”
I scoffed. “Let me guess. When Francesca found out their cash cow was kicking them out, she went ballistic.”
“Exactly. She hadn’t planned to kill him.” Tessa hugged herself. “But after she killed him, they came up with a plan very quickly. I found out about it years later, though.”
“What happened to you?”
“When I turned my back on Francesca, she injected me with a strong sedative. The same one she used on me over and over, whenever I tried to escape or if they had visitors. Jonathan and Francesca, they wanted more than just the money. They wanted to take our place in Paradise Creek. They needed me to earn the town’s trust. As far as everyone knows, I’m very sick, and Francesca has been taking care of me.”
It was exactly as Henry had suspected. Jonathan had always envied James. James had been the one to follow in their father’s footsteps, the one who’d managed to double his inheritance instead of gambling it all away on shady investments and at the poker table. Jonathan and Francesca had kept Tessa alive because they needed someone to connect them to James and this town.
“Please know that I tried to help Lisa, but by the time I recovered, the police already had her in custody. The news was already showing all the gruesome details, and Lisa was the main suspect. By then, I knew exactly what I was dealing with. I had to play it smart.” She looked down at her hands. “For Henry. And even you. I hid James’s original will and replaced it with a duplicate. That’s the one Jonathan found in the safe. I called the bank and had Mr. Paredes come here in person to collect my jewelry and getaway money. He’d always been a loyal friend. I knew he would help me, but I also knew that if I got him involved, Francesca would somehow get rid of him. I didn’t want any more people suffering over this. So I simply gave him a box to take with him. He left me a key and left without even asking what the contents were.”
“Why did Jonathan send someone to hurt Henry?” I asked.
“No. He wouldn’t do that.”
“Well, someone did, Tessa.”
She shook her head. “Guilt had been eating at him. He was the one who helped me escape after Henry showed up at the manor.”
“If he did, how are you still here?”
“I couldn’t leave, knowing you and Henry were in danger. I came back for the key, but it was gone.”
“I took it.” I sighe d
“I kept it there, always ready in case I had a chance to escape.” She rubbed her temple. “Francesca and her men caught up to me before I reached the gardens. And now here I am. Back where I started.”
“Francesca deserves to rot in jail for what she did to your family and mine,” I said through gritted teeth.
“You have no idea what she’s capable of. Even Jonathan is afraid of her.” She cradled her cheek.
Yeah, I’d seen that fear register on his face the day of the gala, but I didn’t recognize it for what it was. What did she have over him? How had she gotten him to do all the terrible things he’d done to Henry? It didn’t matter that Jonathan hadn’t been the one to strike his brother. He’d been there, and he hadn’t stopped it. He was as guilty as Francesca.
“Well, I’m not afraid of her. We’re going to get out of here, Tessa. You deserve to see your son again. And I know he’s been dying to get you back.”
“How is he? What is he like?” She let out a sad laugh, wiping her nose.
“Well, he’s still Henry. Very stubborn and…” Incredibly hot. “And kind and generous. All the pain he’s suffered didn’t change him, not where it counts, anyway.”
“He still loves you, doesn’t he?” She stroked my hair. “I’m sorry Jonathan sent him away, but it was for the best. He was too young to go against Jonathan and Francesca. I begged Jonathan to keep him safe. He was at least able to give me that much.”
I turned away from her. Knowing Henry and I couldn’t have a life together ever…it would never happen. As much as I hated Jonathan for what he did to us, I knew Tessa had done the right thing. But had I made a mistake sending him away today ?
“Henry is not that kid anymore, Tessa. He can hold his own against these vultures.”
“My heart leaped out of my chest the day I saw him in the garden. He looked all grown up and handsome—so much like James. He didn’t blame me for what happened. He was concerned. Who knows what Francesca would’ve done if he’d tried to rescue me?” She brought up a shaky hand to cover her mouth.
“We tried. But you were gone. Why did you tell them about Henry? Were you afraid he might get caught?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I should’ve known Henry would never stop. Now that you’re here, he’ll come after them.”
“I don’t know about that, Tessa.” I rubbed my chest to ease the pain . “I hurt him to push him away. After I heard the recording, I thought it would be best if Jonathan didn’t have any leverage over Henry. I wanted Henry to be free of his uncle so he could save Lisa and himself.”
“Hipolita, that’s not going to work. He loves you too much. Even when you were kids and you thought you didn’t deserve him because you were the help, as you said.” She squeezed my hand. “Do you remember when you first got here? How many times did you push him away when he tried to make friends with you? Did it work? Were you able to dissuade him from wanting to be around you?”
No. It hadn’t worked. He won me over with hot chocolate and fake clandestine adventures. Even then he’d known exactly what I needed to get over my grief. But this was different. I cut him deep this time, using his fears against him. All I could hope for was that he would do right by Lisa.
“The name is Nikki Swift now.” I took in a deep breath.
“I didn’t know that.” She smiled. “When did that happen?”
“Shortly after I left here. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that just like Henry, I’m not a kid anymore, and I have certain skills that can help us get out of here.” I grabbed the emergency pack off the belt wrapped tight around my thigh. “Come on. Our best shot is to use the door that leads to the gardens.”
In the darkness of the corridor, we had no way of knowing what time of day it was or how long we had until Francesca and her goons came back with more sedatives or, worse, a gun.
When we reached the end of the tunnel, I sat on my haunches and got to work on the lock. The deadbolt was on the inside, but there was also a lock on the doorknob outside. How many times had Tessa tried to escape before they decided to reinforce their security?
Luckily, they hadn’t bothered changing the locks since the last time we were here. I closed my eyes and pushed on the pins, listening as each one fell into place with a quiet click. After the final pin lined up just right, I turned the doorknob and flipped the deadbolt. The heavy door squeaked open, and I peeked through the small gap. The scent of the shrub right outside wafted in. Freedom was just fifty feet away.
“Seems quiet out there, but we’ll have to make a run for it. Are you up for it?” I whispered so low I wasn’t sure if Tessa had heard me until she nodded.
We squeezed through the small gap, making sure we didn’t open the door too much. Any movement could catch the guards’ attention. With my heart racing, I waited until I was sure the guards hadn’t heard us come.
“Ready?” I mouthed.
When Tessa nodded, I took off running toward the manhole on the other side of the garden. The ringing in my ears was immediate, but it took me a few seconds to figure out what was whizzing past my ears. Bullets. They were fucking shooting at us .
“We’re almost there. We can still make it.” I slanted a glance at Tessa.
Except she wasn’t behind me. She was on the ground, a few feet outside the door. Another shot made me drop to my knees. I couldn’t leave without Tessa. I had to make sure she was still alive.
I crawled back to her, covered her with my body, and lay still. My lungs ached as I held my breath, waiting for the guards to come after us. The shooting stopped, but no one came for us. Were the guards randomly shooting at anything that moved out here, or did they have specific orders to simply keep us contained? When everything quieted down, I hooked my hands under Tessa’s underarms and pulled her back into the tunnel. Out of habit or fear, I flipped the latch to lock the door.
“I got you.” I eased Tessa onto the cement floor and applied pressure to her side. “Stay with me, please.” Tears streamed down my cheeks.
“You should’ve kept going.” Tessa winced in pain.
“We’re gonna get out of here. I promise.”