26

26

Hutson was an advocate known for his impenetrable calm. Over forty years in the courtroom with not a sweat drop shed and now, at the end of his career, he stared down at his trembling hands.

Aaron stood before him, the determination in the younger man’s eyes enough to have Hutson’s throat drying.

“Are you sure of this, Aaron?”

“One hundred percent,” Aaron responded. He moved forward and laid a hand upon Hutson’s shoulder.

“You’ve done a lot for me, Montgomery Hutson and I will never be able to repay you. I’m grateful for what you did for me twenty years ago and practically through my whole life, but I need this to come to an end now.”

Hutson nodded as he looked up into Aaron’s eyes.

“I cannot stop you, son. You’re not sixteen any longer, you’re a grown man now and the decision is solely yours. Know this: if you need me, I’ll help you.”

Aaron nodded his thanks.

“We need to leave now. We don’t have much time.”

Aaron had started for the door, urging the older man to follow when Jason reappeared.

“Where are we going?” the young man questioned, eyeing Aaron and Hutson like they were two mischievous little boys. “You are going to rip those stitches out,” he said pointing to Aaron before turning to Hutson. “And you, Sir, have just taken your afternoon medication. You need to rest for a while.”

Hutson waved the concerns away. “Not now, sonny. This is life and death.”

He reached for his cane, grateful when Aaron handed it to him.

“We have to go, Jason,” Aaron said, leading Hutson to the door. “I’ll take care of Hutson here.”

Jason sighed and shook his head. “Okay, well, be careful with him, he’s delicate.”

Hutson scoffed as Aaron pulled the door open. “Delicate, my ass.”

“Language, Mr. Hutson!” Jason called with a laugh.

Aaron didn’t pay attention to their banter. He couldn’t have even if he’d tried. It was happening. It was finally happening, everything was coming to an end.

Quickly he helped Hutson towards the car.

“Mr. Spencer!”

Aaron turned to the door to find Higgins Jnr looking out at them, Jason stood beside him.

“Yes.”

“Let me come, Sir.”

“Look, I’m not sure—”

“You’ve injured your arm, Sir,” said Higgins Jnr as he hurried down the stairs and toward Aaron and Hutson. “And Mr. Hutson no longer drives. It wouldn’t be safe for you to do this alone. Let me.”

Aaron glanced at Hutson and when the old man nodded, he handed Higgins the car keys before helping Hutson into the back seat.

Higgins quickly slid behind the wheel, sliding the key right into the ignition.

Aaron slipped on his seatbelt before digging his phone out of his pocket.

“Where to, Sir?” Higgins asked.

“Go to Fair Haven,” called Hutson from the backseat.

With not another second wasted, Higgins had the car off the property and on the road.

*******

Lauren could feel her hands trembling. Her plan to keep Marcus stalling wasn’t working. He only came into the room for minutes at the most and she couldn’t keep him engaged in conversation no matter how hard she tried.

She had no clue what he was doing out there and when she guessed, she wasn’t too happy with what her mind brought up. She had to get out.

Just then, the door slid open and Lauren watched Marcus stroll in.

It was now or never.

He carried a big glass of water over to the bed and put it on the bedside table.

He glanced at her with a smile as he dug around in his pockets.

Lauren began to wriggle her wrists. “These chains, Marcus,” she murmured in a bored tone. “Are not necessary. What? Are you scared of me?”

Marcus laughed and shook his head as he found the straw in his pocket.

Carefully he began to unwrap it.

“I’m not afraid of you, Lauren,” he said with a smug grin.

“Then get rid of these. They make you look like a sissy.”

With a scoff, Marcus took a step closer to her and knelt on the bed. The arrogant look in his eye told her that she had him.

“They hurt,” Lauren said, forcing a sad pout.

Marcus pursed his lips and dug a set of keys out of his pockets.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Lauren. So be a good girl for daddy, okay?”

Lauren smiled as he brought her hands up to unlock the chains. She saw the calculating glint in his eye and knew she’d have to be very careful. He wasn’t going to be careless about this.

When her wrists were free of the chains, Lauren rubbed them, wincing at the redness around them.

Marcus put the chains aside and reached for the glass of water, handing it to her.

She held it in both hands, wheels turning rapidly in her head. What now? Marcus was kneeling on the bed, inches from where she sat, staring at her as she drank.

There was no taking chances, he was too focused to miss any moves on her part. She needed to distract him.

Lauren swallowed a few gulps of water and Marcus began stroking her hair, making her skin crawl. What in the hell was he doing?

“That’s it,” Marcus said softly, missing how she stiffened beneath his touch. “Drink up, darlin’.”

This was it. This would be her only chance.

Discreetly, Lauren pulled her lips a fraction of a millimeter away from the glass, letting a few drops of water run down her chin, tracing a path down her neck and between her breasts.

Just as she’d hoped, Marcus’s eyes followed, like bees to honey, following the water sliding down her body.

With his mouth parting hungrily and his eyes focused on her chest, he was more distracted than she could ever hope him to be.

Wasting not a second more, Lauren pulled her arm back and sent the rest of the water splashing into Marcus’ face.

“What the hell?!” was all he’d managed to shout before she reached back and brought the big empty glass down on his head with a dull thump.

Lauren froze, the glass clutched tightly in her hand as Marcus stared her in the face, unmoving.

“What the fuck?” he whispered and just as Lauren was about to start crying and saying sorry, his mass collapsed on top of her as he passed out cold.

“Oh, my God!” Lauren gasped, pushing his weight off her. “Oh my God...oh, my God…”

Feeling panicked now that it was done, she put the glass aside and glanced at Marcus’s face, noticing the stream of red that had begun trickling down the side of his face.

“Oh, my Goood!” Lauren stared wide-eyed at the thick flow of blood.

She’d killed him. She hadn’t meant to kill him! She’d only wanted to knock him out.

“Oh, no…oh, no…oh, no!” Lauren panted in panic as she looked around her as if waiting for someone to lend a helping hand.

She had to get out.

Swallowing her fear, she nudged Marcus back until she could reach his pockets, where she dug around for the keys.

When she’d found them, Lauren scooted forward on her butt until her knees were up against her chest and unlocked the chains around her feet with trembling fingers.

It was still daylight outside, perhaps late afternoon. Glancing away from the windows, she stumbled onto the floor, staring at Marcus’s still body.

“Please don’t let him be dead...please…” she panted staring at him as she crawled towards the door.

Lauren pulled herself up with a hand against the wall and with a final glance at Marcus, she darted out of the room. The long corridor in which she found herself led to a vast living room with a huge flat screen on which Lauren was horrified to see the room she’d just escaped from, Marcus sprawled across the bed.

He had been watching her the whole time? Closing her eyes tightly to shake off the shivers creeping up her spine, Lauren started looking for the exit.

It wasn’t here.

The window outside didn’t show the road. It was a double story house.

Without hesitation, she darted through another doorway that led her straight to the landing at the top of a staircase.

Feeling her heart lift in her chest, Lauren raced down the stairs, eyes searching desperately for the exit. She came to a halt at a minibar downstairs, staring wide-eyed at a small screen put up at the bar. It also showed the room that had been her prison.

Only this time, the bed was empty.

“No…” The whisper left her mouth without her realizing it and Lauren ran like the hounds of hell were after her, which in a way, they were.

A joyful whimper left her lips when she saw the two double doors that stood at the entrance to the parlor.

Waiting not a second more, Lauren ran and threw herself against it in full force, pulling the doors open with all her strength.

The heavy wood flew open in her hands and Lauren felt the afternoon breeze blow over her face as she started outside.

It was a place she’d never seen before.

Running a distance away from the house, she turned to glance up at it. It was a house in the middle of nowhere. All she could see in the distance behind the house was forest. The long driveway winded out of view and Lauren couldn’t be sure if she’d find a passing car were she to go down there. She couldn’t take a chance.

“Oh, God…oh, my God…”

Lauren dragged her hands up into her hair. A car. There had to be a car! How else had Marcus gotten here?

She raced towards the back of the house seeing as the front was bare of any vehicles. Lauren ran as fast as her legs could carry her, not caring if her bare feet hurt. That bastard was after her, she could worry about her feet later.

When Lauren reached the back, the first thing that grabbed her attention was the sleek car parked haphazardly across the rich lawn and the sight brought tears to her eyes.

She dashed for it, not even thinking twice before she pulled on the driver’s door.

Locked.

“Fuck.”

Lauren clutched her hair as frustration bit deeply into her. She didn’t know what this Stanford family wanted from her! All she wanted was to go home. She hadn’t come to Woodfair to die!

Then don’t give up.

She would go on foot. Lauren spun around to make a dash for the road when she collided right into a horrifying sight.

The scream left her mouth before she could stop it as Marcus grabbed her arm, staring blankly at her, even with his entire face covered in blood.

Lauren shrunk away from his blood-drenched face, feeling like her heart would explode from the fear, but his grip was too strong and soon enough, he had it locked around her throat, choking the life out of her.

“You don’ listen...do you, baby doll? I didn’ wanna hurt you…but you don’ listen.” he whispered.

Lauren struggled to get away, whether from his murderous grip or from his creepy words, she wasn’t sure.

The ache in her muscles began and her struggling lessened. No, she had to hold on, she had to fight him. She couldn’t give up!

Tears blurred her vision and just before she gave up the fight, Lauren saw something above Marcus’s bloody face.

In the setting sun, she caught with her blurry vision, a movement of dark hair, a flash of golden eyes. Then, like sorcery, Marcus had disappeared, snatched off her and all Lauren heard before she sunk into dark oblivion was his scream of pain.

********

“That useless idiot! I’ll get him for this!” Martin growled, turning pink from rage as he paced in his office, hiding from the loud voices chanting downstairs. The Town Hall was overrun by angry protesters in minutes and there had been no time to escape.

Martha rapped her nails on the table. “To betray his own parents this way!” she hissed.

Martin swiped a paper off his desk in frustration. “I should have known he was up to somethin’, that little weasel! Is this what I raised him for? Sent him to school for?! I’ll disown that boy, if I’ll do anythin’, I swear it!”

The mayor ran a hand through his hair. How the hell had things run out of control like this? He didn’t have the photographs that could ruin his whole career. He didn’t have Lauren to use to send Aaron to jail and save his reputation. He didn’t even know where in the hell Aaron Spencer had gone!

“Rubbish!” he exploded, swiping angrily at the air.

Martha sighed and patted her hair. “Come now, it ain’t gonna do you any good to be raisin’ your blood pressure like that, Marty.”

Martin dropped into his chair and put his fat elbows on the table.

“There’s only one thing we can do at this point.”

Martha perked up. Thank God, her husband’s big brain was finally working again.

“Yeah, what’s that?”

Martin looked up at her. “Let Marcus take it.”

“Take what?”

She blinked at him. What did he mean? Soon enough the penny dropped and her eyes widened.

“What? Are you insane?! I am not lettin’ those people take my baby to jail, Martin!”

“He’s not a baby, he’s a grown man and he brought it upon himself! Now he’ll know not to be messin’ with me!”

“You’re gonna let your son go to jail because of your damn ego?” she demanded, feeling her heart constrict with fear.

Martin was mad...he was insane if he thought she’d let him do this.

“Not because of my ego, because we got no other choice, Martha! Those people know he kidnapped her, the best we can do is get ourselves out of firin’ range and—”

“You’re insane! They’re gonna lock up my baby if we do that! The only reason he took Lauren for himself was that you never give him what he deserves, Martin! Now he’s fightin’ for it!”

“Well, good for him, cause that’s about to send him right to jail, honey!”

Refusing to hear her response, Martin stalked to the door, grabbing his jacket on the way and putting it on with much difficulty as his wife certainly wasn’t about to help him.

“Martin, don’t do this! He’s our only son!” Martha pleaded as her husband threw open the door and stalked out to speak to the crowd.

Martin saw the crowd before he reached them, feeling their anger even before he saw them. It buzzed in the air, crackling like electricity as they pushed and shoved at security, demanding to see the mayor.

Martha came hurrying behind him as he reached the crowd. He’d control this situation. Everything was fine, he was still mayor. And, by God, he would not lose position to his pompous Vice!

“People of Woodfair-”

“Where’s the girl, Stanford?” demanded the Sheriff calmly as he dangerously eyed a security guard trying to pull him away from the mayor. “Touch me, sonny, and I’ll make you wish you never were born.”

Martin gulped and waved the guard away to control the rest of the crowd.

“Well, sheriff, I swear I don’t—”

“His evil son’s got her!!” screamed a lady from the crowd. “His evil son’s got Reverend Jonathan’s gran’daughter and the Mayor’s tryin’ to hide it!”

“Mrs. Oswald, I swear, now,” started Martin, red-faced. “All of this is solely Marcus’s doing! My wife and I have no hand—”

“Lies!” screamed Grayson as two guards held him back. “Tell us where Lauren is right now, Martin Stanford or you won’ be livin’ to see tomorrow!”

“Marcus took her!” Martin screamed, feeling the panic mount inside him. He couldn’t lose the seat. He couldn’t.

“Y’all heard that?” said Grayson as everyone nodded and prepared to charge. “Either you or your son or both of y’all are goin’ straight to jail, Martin Stanford!”

“It-It...I had no hand in it, I swear to y’all! Marcus has g-gone mad, he kidnapped that young girl and has refused to bring her back!”

The sheriff grabbed one of his constables and whispered an order to him after which the lad took off running out of Town Hall.

Martha gasped. Oh, no. They were going to arrest her son. They would lock him away.

“I tried to reason with him over the phone just now,” Martin was still saying, glad to have gotten the crowd’s attention. “But he won’t let her go, he’s gone and truly kidnapped that young woman!”

“Only because you told him to do so!!” screamed Martha.

The crowd gasped.

Martin stared wide-eyed at his wife.

What the hell was she doing?