25

25

Lauren blinked. “What?”

Marcus smiled and nodded as if he expected to be handed an award for his ingenuity at any moment.

“You are worth far more than you know, young lady,” he said in a weird fatherly way, making Lauren cringe.

“What the hell do you mean?” she demanded.

God, how could she have been so stupid to have actually run away from Aaron? Aaron wasn’t the enemy here. Right?

Lauren bit her lip. She didn’t know what to think anymore. The last thing she wanted was for Aaron to be what everybody called him.

A cold-blooded murderer. Lauren knew that he knew far more than he was telling, but still, she wanted him to be what her heart told her he was.

A man as caring as the Aaron she’d come to know couldn’t possibly have murdered her family. Could he?

“What I mean,” drawled Marcus as he strolled to the window and gazed out. “…is much more than you can understand, Lauren.”

“I’m not an idiot, Marcus! You’ve got me sitting here in goddamn chains, talking about collectin’ ransom! I demand to know what it is!”

Marcus’s brows rose and a sly smile curved his lips.

“Oh. ‘Collectin’’? I see you’ve been hanging out with Aaron for too long, eh? Or is the accent change a direct result of having his mouth on yours so much? Did he fuck you?” Marcus waved a careless hand. “Doesn’t matter. I bet I’ll fuck you much, much better.”

Lauren gasped. “Piss off, you dirtbag!”

He chuckled. “Uh-huh. Anyway, I should go and make the phone call...let papa know I’ve got what he wants and that I’m holding all the cards.”

He turned to the door.

“Wait!” Lauren jerked forward, making her chains clang. “Wait…”

“Yes?”

She paused, unsure of what to say. Maybe Aaron was coming for her. If he was, the least she could do was hold Marcus’s plans off until Aaron got to her.

“W-what does Mayor Stanford need me for?”

Marcus rolled his tongue around in his mouth and pondered. Lauren held her breath waiting for him.

Finally, he shrugged and walked over to the bed.

“Can’t hurt. Well...my father needs your corpse to send Aaron Spencer to jail.”

She winced. He’d said it as though he was saying his father needed a spanner to change a flat tire.

“Uhm…” Lauren said, still trying to quieten her racing mind and think through the pounding headache.

“So, you kidnapped me to...to get him to give you money in order for him to get my...my corpse?”

Marcus shook his head. “Not exactly. It’s not money I want, Lauren. It’s the seat.”

“The seat?”

“I want the mayoral chair.”

If she hadn’t been in chains, Lauren would have face-palmed so hard, the whole world would have heard it. Oh, heaven above. This was all about becoming mayor of this stinking town?! Lauren wanted to groan in exasperation and only hoped her face didn’t show it.

Her true emotions had to remain hidden from now on. She needed to make him see her as a friend, not just a one-way ticket to the mayoral seat. She needed him to tell her more. If she got out...when she got out, she would make sure she used all the information against him however she could.

Lauren swallowed and forced herself to give out a chuckle that sounded like that of a man with a gun to his head.

“Oh...that seat,” she murmured. “I w-was going to offer you the rocking chair i-in my bedroom. Sure is comfy!”

She watched his eyebrow rise and kept the crooked plastic smile plastered onto her face.

“Well, w-why?” Lauren went on. “Why do you want to be mayor? Also, you’re the heir anyway, so why not just release me and wait for your turn to rule?”

Marcus chuckled dryly and shook his head. “That old man will die soon, that I know. All that pork he eats will kill him, but his partners in crime will want to take over where he’s stopped. No. I will possess the throne-”

“Mayoral seat.”

“-before they get the chance to sink their claws into my birthright.”

Lauren shook her own head. “But that has nothing to do with me!”

“It has everything to do with you!”

His face grew red from frustration and Lauren gulped, shrinking away.

“Don’t you see?” Marcus said, waving his arms at her. “The elections are coming up very, very soon. Father is terrified that his Deputy, Vincent Krowski, upright and honest man that he is- although he really is way better than my father at everything- he’s scared Vince will be elected to replace him and in order to avoid that he’ll use his all-time trump-card. The Burns family.”

Lauren’s brows drew together as she shook her head slowly from side to side.

What was it with everybody and this obsession with her family? They were all dead and gone. Why couldn’t people just leave them to rest in peace, for Christ’s sake?

“What does my family—”

“Your family…” Marcus said loudly, cutting her soft voice off. “Your family is what Martin Stanford built his campaign on all those years ago. He was the first mayor elected after the reign of the town council because he was that political genius who convinced the people that those old fools were useless. They weren’t even able to convict one little boy of the murder of the dear priest! It was unacceptable. So why not throw out the old men and elect a man better than all others? A hero! Someone who would ensure the memory of the beloved priest and his family is cherished forever in the town!”

Lauren’s eyes were wide as she listened.

“Aaaand…” emphasized Marcus with a raised finger. “And who would make sure that Aaron Son-of-the-Devil Spencer was punished accordingly for his crime. He put the man and his mother in isolation in their own town, making everyone avoid them or suffer the consequences.”

“But he has no proof…”

“He needs no proof, Lauren! You think my father cares about that?!” Marcus threw his head back and roared with laughter, clapping his hands while she only stared at him. “He doesn’t care about Aaron’s innocence or guilt! As long as he can continue using Aaron Spencer as a scapegoat for all the evil in the town in order to keep his fat butt planted in that seat, he’s happy.”

Lauren felt her heart beat harder, faster.

“But is he, though, isn’t he? Aaron. He is innocent?”

Marcus paused before chuckling. “Oh. Doubting lover-boy now, are you? Shame on you, Lauren. What is a relationship without trust?”

“I need to know!”

“I don’t know! Nobody does. Only Aaron Spencer himself truly knows what happened that night.”

She swallowed hard. “And he won’t tell anybody.”

Marcus nodded. “Exactly. Which is perfect for my father. As long as Aaron Spencer denies nothing, nobody will ask questions. He wants to have you killed Lauren…” The words sent ice glaciating down Lauren’s spine and she stayed as still as a china doll.

“He wants you dead,” Marcus repeated. “So he can frame Aaron, finally have the evidence to put him away and be seen as a hero in the people’s eyes once more.”

Lauren didn’t even flinch. “And you’re against that?” she asked stiffly.

Marcus studied her quietly. “I just want my seat.”

With that, he whirled around and stalked out of the room not sparing her another glance.

*******

Grayson was certain that his face was as red as a tomato, but at that very moment, he couldn’t give a damn.

“I’m dead serious!” he insisted, glaring at Parker who leaned lazily against his doorpost.

Parker grimaced. “If the mayor’s son was some maniacal murderer, I think the whole town would know that, Gray,” drawled Parker.

He stiffened slightly when Gray’s eyes closed and his teeth clenched. He could swear there was steam coming out of his ears.

“That’s just it!” Grayson screamed. “I need to let everyone know and the longer we argue the less time Lauren has!”

At the urgent look in Grayson’s eyes, Parker straightened with a frown.

“You’re serious about this,” he stated.

Gray sighed, reaching his limit on how the hell to convince his friend that this wasn’t April fools.

Quickly an idea formed in his head and Gray pulled out his phone and looked up recordings.

The expression on Parker’s face changed from one of bewilderment to one of utter horror as Grayson played back the recording of Mayor Stanford planning Lauren’s murder.

Gray stopped the tape and put his phone away.

“Now do you believe me?”

Parker could hardly speak. He shook his head in incredulity and pointed at Gray’s phone.

“The...Lauren…”

Grayson nodded. “Exactly! Listen to me, Parker! This town ain’t never been what you’ve thought it to be. Everything's a lie and the truth is hidden by the people in power. There’s a dark and twisted side to Woodfair and I got a feelin’ it’s all comin’ to light soon. I need to know you’re with me, partner.”

His friend sucked in a huge breath and slowly nodded. Grayson smiled and clapped him on the back.

“Fuckin’ hell, Grayson. What do we do? I mean...goddamn it, Gray, it’s the mayor!”

Grayson nodded. “I know, I know, but don’t you worry ‘bout that. Aaron’s handlin’ all that.”

“Aaron? Aaron Spencer?”

Parker’s face went from pale to red with anger and Grayson held up a hand to pacify him.

“Yes, Aaron. Stay calm, Parker. Don’ be thinkin’ about all that right now. We need to help Lauren.”

With a clenched jaw, Parker pushed the thought that he might be working with a potential murderer to the back of his mind and followed Grayson into the street. Lauren was a great person and now a friend. He wasn’t letting anything happen to her, especially if Marcus Stanford was behind it.

Once Grayson got word to his mother about the kidnapping and she spread it to the market ladies, it spread like wildfire and the entire town was burning in a few hours.

“Y’all ain’t seriously goin’ to believe all of this now, are y’all?” demanded old Johnson as he looked around at the faces of his fellow townsmen gathered at the town’s square.

“Death to Marcus Stanford!” yelled old man Reginald, hoisting up his pitchfork with all the gusto of an eighty-year-old man.

The square buzzed with murmurs and whispers as the people gathered around Gray, Parker, Samantha, and James. Some trying to discredit their wild accusations and others trying to convince them that it was probably Aaron Spencer who took Lauren. Some, still, were in favor and believed what the five were saying, even though they’d been careful to keep the recording from the rest of the town.

Gray knew that Aaron wanted to use that recording later and it would do no good to announce its existence to the entire town and lessen its chance of existing for long enough.

“I don’ know ‘bout y’all, but I’m not lettin’ that girl come to harm!” stated Christina, the market lady, boldly. “This town saw the death of the beloved reverend as well as his daughter’s, she has no family left!”

“Exactly!” Grayson’s mom agreed, pushing past the men. “If y’all men ain’t brave enough to bring justice to that evil mayor home, I bet y’all, I’ll do it myself!”

“Now hold on a damn minute,” began Sheriff Nelson. “If there’s any justice to be brought, y’all better know I’ll be bringin’ it too!”

Grayson’s mom nodded and clapped her hands. “Then let’s find the girl, Sheriff! I ain’t wastin’ no time!”

“I’m with you, Mabel!... That’s right!... Y’all heard?!” agreed the other women and soon enough Grayson was looking at a group of angry townsfolk, ready to burn the mayor’s house.

With a satisfied nod, he raised his hands, silencing the people.

The crown turned to him, the vegetables, newspapers and pitchforks of their daily routines held in their hands.

“What happens now, young Grayson?” asked old man Reginald.

“We go to Town Hall,” Gray said with a determined frown. “We rain fury down on the mayor ‘til we find Lauren and we find her well and alive.”

“Yeah!” said the crowd, shaking fists and rolled-up newspapers in the air.

Gray spun around, with Parker and James at his side, leading the way to the old Town Hall.

********

Lauren…

Aaron jerked awake, hissing when the pain shot through his arm.

“Woah, woah, woah, big guy!”

A pair of hands landed gently onto his shoulders trying to push him back against the cushions, but he pushed them off, looking around the room in a panic.

“Trying to rip out your stitches, are you?” came a weathered voice from beside the couch.

Aaron turned toward the voice and pushed himself up, breathing hard with the effort.

“Goddamn it, Hutson…” he murmured, tugging at the sling that held his arm.

The old man sat reclined in his chair, dressed in a clean-cut suit with a look of unhidden interest gleaming in his eye.

“Well, son?” asked Hutson. “Are you going to tell me why you bled all over my floor today?”

Aaron pushed himself onto his feet, cursing when he saw stars and began to sway.

Jason, Hutson’s live-in nurse, grabbed his arm again.

“You need rest, Aaron, you bled quite a…”

“Don’t have time!” Aaron said sharply, patting Jason’s shoulder to take the bite out of his words before he turned to Huston.

“Well?” asked the old man, looking at Aaron over his wire-rimmed glasses.

“You need to come to Woodfair with me…” Aaron said. “Now.”

“I don’t want to step foot in that cursed town, Aaron.”

“It’s about Lauren!”

The man stopped cold, his eyes becoming filled with tender concern.

“The girl? What’s happened to her? Aaron.”

“She’s been taken by the mayor’s family. They’ve planned to kill her, Hutson, if you don’t come with me right now and put an end to this, I’m really goin’ to commit murder this time.”

Hutson pushed himself slowly out of his chair, holding out a pacifying hand.

“Hold on, hold on, Aaron...I...I’m not sure what you mean. All you should do is rescue Lauren and tell the entire town of Martin’s evil.”

“What?! They won’t believe me, you know that.”

Jason looked between the two men and slipped out of the room as casually as possible to find Aaron painkillers.

“They won’t believe you, but they’ll believe Lauren!”

“Until Marcus tells everyone that she’s been stayin’ in my house! Sleepin’ with the man who killed her mother and grandfather really should make her a town’s hero!”

“Blast!” snapped Hutson. “You had to go and fall in love with the girl, goddamn. Well, what do you suggest then? You’ve got to save Lauren, to begin with.”

Aaron’s jaw clenched, his heart thudding at Hutson calling it “Love”. Was it?

“If I could get her right now, I would and rip Marcus's face to fuckin’ shreds for touchin’ her, but I need to sort this out first. Grayson will take care of that, I trust him. What I want,” Aaron looked down into Hutson’s faded eyes. “…is to end it.”

The words carried cold fury and Montgomery Hutson understood immediately.

“Aaron…”

“I’m endin’ it, Hutson. The truth needs to come out and it needs to come out now. For twenty years, I’ve carried the weight of Woodfair’s evil on my shoulders, while they praised the devil and cherished his memory. It needs to end. Hutson, I’m...I’m going to find Catherine.”