Chapter 84 Part 84
Asher
“Is that your girlfriend?” she asked him.
“My sister. I’ve been single for a few months.”
“Oh,” she said, and resumed eating.
“Look, I know this is awkward for you, and the situation is a little unconventional, but on the ranch there’s always work to be done. If you’re not up at 7, I’m not making you breakfast. Familiarize yourself with the kitchen because there will be stretches of time when I’m not here, so you’ll need to do things for yourself. I’m not here to cater to your whims, and we all pull our weight here,” Asher said.
“I don’t expect you to wait on me,” she said.
“That’s good because I won’t. We’ll be going into town this afternoon, so be ready at around 2 o’clock. If you’re allergic to anything, make sure to tell me before we get to the store.”
“Were you a drill sergeant in the Army?” Her eyes suggested she was joking but Asher took this very seriously.
“Something like that,” he replied. “I’ll get you a burner phone you can use to call me, and only me. There’s a TV in the living room with cable and a hard drive. Tonight, you’ll meet the rest of my family. Don’t venture out of the house today. Tomorrow, I’ll show you around after my chores.”
“Yes, Sir!” she said, and smiled again.
Asher shook his head. “From now on, you’re Emma. It’s close enough to your real name not to confuse you but not as unique as Emerson,” he said.
“My parents called me Emmie a lot, but I never told Grover that. He wasn’t that interested in my life,” she said.
“Tell me about him. I can’t do a search on the Balducci family, it could get flagged, and the longer your location stays secret, the better.”
“Isn’t going into town defeating the purpose of me staying incognito?”
Asher smiled then. “You won’t look like yourself by the time I’m done with you.”
“That scares me a little,” she said, and Asher got the feeling she used humor as a mask. “Grover can be nice when he wants to be. In the beginning of our relationship, he was caring and attentive; bought me lots of gifts. We went to a different restaurant almost every night.”
A shiver ran up Asher’s spine as he relived the story Maggie had told him. He blocked it out of his mind. ‘It never happened, Asher.’
“I realized who and what he was too late. I was living with him, estranged from my friends. My parents are dead, and I am an only child. I didn’t work because he said that, “no girlfriend of Grover Balducci works.” He took care of everything so I had only him to rely on. I should’ve realized sooner what he was doing, but I didn’t. It started off small, a drug deal here, a weapons deal there. One time, he made me transport his drugs so I was an accomplice. My fingerprints were on those packages, but the deal went off without a hitch. I was so scared the entire time. Scared the police would show up, but also scared that they wouldn’t. I started collecting small pieces of evidence. Snippets of conversations that I overheard. I never wrote anything down. I made recordings and emailed them to myself. I took pictures of everything I could find. I always made sure that there was nothing on my phone because Grover liked to check. He was very jealous and possessive.”
“When did he start to abuse you?” He had no idea why he asked her that, but it felt like something that was true.
“A year after we started dating, by that time we were engaged, and he told me my only role after the wedding would be to look good and give him children.” Her body visibly shuddered, and Asher wasn’t sure if he should comfort her or not.
“Does he have a signature in how he does things? Killings, deals?”
“He’s a coward at heart. He always waits for nightfall, when they’re asleep, or alone. He never goes anywhere alone, and he’ll be the first person to duck if shots are fired.”
“So if he found you, he wouldn’t yell your name in public? He’d wait until it was dark and sneak into wherever you were?”
“Yes. He would take me to the warehouse where he likes to torture people who have wronged him. He told me once that if I ever betrayed him, he would make sure I suffered.”
“He’s not going to look for you in Two Bear Meadow. We’re still going to change your appearance and if you need to go anywhere, I’ll take you, and be with you.”
“Trust me, I’ll kill myself before he ever gets to me. I know what he’s capable of,” she said.
“Where is he from? Where would he go to hide out?”
“He was born in New York. I don’t really know where he’d go, maybe Mexico, or someplace warm where they can't extradite him.”
“Don’t tell anyone on this ranch who you are, why you’re here, or how we know each other. I’ll think of something to tell my family by tonight. If you need to talk about what happened to you, talk to me.”
“I can tell you’re a really good listener,” she said, and this time there was no amusement in her eyes.
“You’ll be fine, Emma,” he said, and stood up from the kitchen table. “What do you like to do?”
“In what sense? That can be a loaded question,” she said, and smirked.
“If you had never met Grover, what would you have done for a living?”
“Wow, loaded indeed,” she said. She looked thoughtful for quite a while before answering. “I’m not really sure…I did some illustrating for children’s books before I met Grover to pay the bills. I enjoyed doing it. The stories were cute and sweet and made me miss being a child again,” she said. “It was a perfect job because I could do it from home.”
“Children’s books, huh? I can get you some art stuff this afternoon.”