CAITLYN
My best friend continues to hammer on the door, and I know if I don’t answer and shut her up soon, the neighbors are going to call the cops or something, and that’s only going to lead to more problems.
I open the door a fraction of an inch, knowing I have to get Amber out of here as quickly as possible. If David finds out she was here, her life could be in danger.
An inch is all my best friend needs, and with surprising strength, she shoves the door wide open and storms into the house.
“What’s going on?” she demands. “And don’t give me that bull shit you told me on the phone.”
After forcing me to move in with him, David made me call Amber and tell her I was selling my share in kennels and giving up Bella to get back with him. I haven’t had contact with Amber since -- David won’t allow it -- but clearly my best friend doesn’t believe me.
I can’t show any signs of weakness though. I still haven’t found anything against David, meaning if I don’t do exactly what he wants, he will have Josh killed, and likely Josh’s whole family and probably Amber too.
“I made a mistake,” I tell Amber, trying to hide the sorry in my voice. “I thought I loved Josh, but I didn’t. He was just filling the whole David left in my heart.”
“I don’t buy it. I saw you and Josh together.
I know how happy you two made each other.
And I know you’d never trust David again.
Not after you caught him cheating. And that’s not even mentioning the kennels and Bella -- there’s NO WAY you’d let David force you to give up the things you love most …
unless … Caitlyn, is he blackmailing you? ”
I don’t answer. I know Amber will see through my lies.
“Where is he? Where is that bastard? I’ll knock him out!”
I almost laugh at the mental image of petite little Amber fighting David, who is at least a foot taller than she is.
She starts pulling doors open, as though she expects to find David here, and when she opens the guest room door, a look of triumph covers her face.
“See, you’re not even sleeping in his room. You’re in here. What’s really going on, Cait?”
My whole-body shakes, and I force myself to say, “It’s nothing. Please, just trust me, Amber.”
Amber's eyes narrow. “I don’t believe you’re really happy, but if you’re so desperate for me to trust you, just tell me one thing. Answer honestly, and if you do, I’ll leave you to David or whatever … What are you doing about the baby? Have you told David?”
Amber’s trump card! She’s the only one who knows about the pregnancy, and she also knows how happy I was when I found out. Yes, I was scared, but I was so excited too. And Amber knows David would never let me keep another man’s child. He never wanted kids, let alone a child that wasn’t even his.
The mention of the baby shatters my resolve, and I break down. I drop to the floor and start sobbing. Amber kneels beside me and wraps her arms around me.
“It’s okay, I’m here,” she says soothingly, stroking my hair. “Tell me what’s going on. I can help.”
“You can’t. No one can.” I sniffle. “David said if I tell you, he’ll have you killed.”
Amber doesn’t react with shock or worry, and instead steams straight ahead. “I’d like to see him try!”
“Amber, I’m being serious. He’s friends with Lorenzo Esposito.
” This revelation finally shocks my friend into silence, and I continue, “David said if I don’t move back in with him, he will have one of Esposito’s men kill Joshua.
And if I try to stop him, he will have the whole Braddock family killed. ”
“That fucker! I’m going to kill him myself. With my bare hands if I have to. Call him now, beg him to come home. You can distract him, and I’ll jump him with a knife. Problem solved.”
I pull Amber closer. “I love you, and I love that you’ll fight for me, but it’s not worth going over to jail. Even if you could kill David, his father would make sure you never saw freedom again. Hell, he might even retaliate against me and Joshua.”
The fire leaves Amber’s eyes and she nods, knowing I'm right. “Okay, then let me tell Josh. His family is rich and powerful. They can do something.”
I sniffle and shake my head. “It’s no good. No matter how rich and powerful the Braddock’s are, they don’t play dirty like David and his family. It’s too much of a risk until I have hard evidence against David--”
“What do you mean?” Amber asks, raising a brow.
“Well, I was thinking, if David insists, I live with him, and work with him at the club--”
“He really said that?” Amber interjects.
“Yeah. He won’t let me out of his sight. Honestly, I’m surprised he left me alone here today, but his father wanted to speak to him about something important.”
“And thank God he did. If David had been here, I’d never have gotten the truth,” Amber says. “So, you were saying, David wants you to work at the club with him, so you’re going to use that as a chance to find evidence against him?”
“Exactly. I already searched the house, but there was nothing here. It has to be at the club.”
“What if there’s nothing there, either? Or it’s in a safe you can’t access? What if he catches you?”
Amber’s questions give me pause. I hadn’t thought about all those possibilities.
I’d just been so focused on finding something, anything, to get me out of this mess without risking the lives of the people I cared about.
But what if Amber was right? How likely was it David just left incriminating evidence laying around for anyone to find?
And well, if he caught me … I shuddered. It didn’t bear thinking about.
“Please, let me just tell Josh. He and his brothers will be able to do something.”
“His brothers hate me,” I insist, remembering what Josh told me about Ryan’s feelings about me, especially since David turned up at the gym. “And you didn’t see the look on Josh’s face when I told him I didn’t love him … he looked so heartbroken. I think he hates me too. He’ll never forgive me.”
“He would if he knew about the baby, and that David was blackmailing you.”
Amber reaches into her purse for her phone, but I grab her hands.
“Please, Amber, don’t. It’s too much of a risk.
In fact, you should probably go too. If David finds out that you were here, that I told you his plans, he’d send one of Esposito’s men to kill you.
I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to the people, I love because of me. ”
“It wouldn’t be because of you. Anything that happens is because David is a psycho. But I understand you’re in a difficult position. I’ll go now and won’t contact you again. I trust you that you know what you’re doing.”
I embrace Amber, laying my head on her shoulder. “Thank you. Hopefully I can find some say out of this soon.”
Amber climbs to her feet, and then offers me her hands to help me up.
“Thank you for coming to check on me,” I say as I walk my friend to the front door. “Is Bella okay? I was scared David was going to hurt her, too.”
“She’s missing you like crazy, and I can tell she knows something is going on, but she’s as okay as she can be. I’m looking after her.”
“Thank you. And please, stay safe. Don’t tell anyone about this, and don’t come here again.”
“I won’t, I promise,” Amber says.
We embrace one final time, before Amber leaves, and I’m alone in my prison once more.
But Amber’s words have taken root in my mind, and I start weighing the different possibilities.
What I need to do is to get David on side and convince him I’m here because I want to be, not just because he’s forcing me.
If I can get him to trust me, it will be easier for me to find evidence of his criminal dealings without arousing his suspicions.
I go through the whole house and give it a good clean to make sure there isn’t a trace of Amber.
Her perfume is distinct, so I cover the smell with incense, candles and bubble bath.
Then I start cooking up some steaks. Though they’re not venison, I know David loves red meat and the smell of them, along with mushrooms and onions, combines with the other scents so there’s no trace of Amber’s perfume left.
When David returns, he does so with a slam of the front door, and my body goes rigid. What’s happened to put him in such a bad mood?
I plaster a smile on my face as he comes into the kitchen.
“What’s all this?” he asks, his eyes narrowed.
“Well, if I'm going to be staying here, I might as well make the most of it,” I say, pouring him a glass of wine. Softening my voice, and batting my lashes, I ask, “What’s wrong? You seem tense.”
“My father,” David says, then swallows down the wine in one gulp, before pouring himself another. “He wasn’t happy to hear we’re back together.”
Under different circumstances, I’d be happy to hear this, and quick to point out that while I’m here, we’re not back together, but I don’t want to say or do anything to direct David’s anger at me.
“He’ll come around when he sees how much we love each other,” I say, the words like poison on my tongue.
David’s eyes narrow. “What are you talking about? I thought you loved Braddock?”
“Maybe I was wrong,” I say in a sultry tone. “I’ve had a lot of time to think today.”
David’s eyes gleam hungrily, and before I can react, he crosses the room, and crushes his lips to mine. The contact makes my stomach lurch, and I think I’m going to be sick. I fight every instinct inside me so that I don’t push him off.
David pulls away, smiling smugly. “I knew you’d come around eventually. Why don’t you move your things back into our room?”
I want to run. I want to scream. Letting David kiss me was one thing, but I will not share a bed with him.
Keeping the smile on my lips, I say, “Soon. Let's not rush things, yeah?”
David opens his mouth, as if he’s going to argue, then shakes his head. “Yesterday, you said you hated me and loved Josh, and today, you’re willing to give things another try. I knew you’d come around. And you’ll change your mind about sleeping with me soon enough too.”
He runs his finger down my arm, and I suppress a shudder.
Turning away, I say, “I best get back to it, so dinner doesn’t burn.”
David misinterprets my hesitancy as being flustered by his advances, and smirks.
Once he’s left the kitchen, I finally allow myself to stop holding my breath. I shudder all over, feeling so dirty I don’t think even a million showers will make me feel clean again.
I’m willing to do a lot of things to convince David I’m still in love with him, but I will never sleep with him. Even if he starts getting suspicious and calls my bluff. My heart and body belong to Josh, and only Josh.