Dictator s Daughter (29 page)

“Riley knew I would be imprisoned and beaten
because of his lie, yet he said it anyway. His ugly self-serving
character was as present then as it is today and I paid dearly for
his lie. I was locked up and beaten regularly by Reginald. He
thought I would eventually become a willing bride by force, but
what actually happened was the beatings put me in contact with Dr.
John Randall Roth. I still bear the scars on my back.

“He took care of my wounds and broken bones
after every beating. And when I decided to end my life by
starvation, he was ordered to nourish me intravenously. He was
repulsed with the abuse I was receiving so he took it upon himself
to help me cross the border. And it was successful, for a little
while.

“Back then, crossers didn’t know where they
would be staying, only that some Slaterville citizens took in
defectors for pay. We were flown out in groups and dropped over the
lake. I have always told you your father saved my life; he really
did.

“It didn’t take long for Reginald to find me.
His spies were everywhere and one spotted me, I was captured along
with Paul. We were both taken back to the palace with Paul placed
in the dungeon and I was set to marry Victor.

“Dr. Randall was fixing me up after my
arrival back to the palace when he told me about a new plan. It
would free both me and Paul. It involved an exploding car crash and
a couple of dead bodies from the morgue. Paul and I were locked
away in the infirmary closet for a while as the plan transpired.”
Sara blushed at the thought and smiled shyly.

“Jump ahead now to a few months ago, when
Riley discovered the crosser home he had been dealing with and the
man named Paul was none other than my Paul. Our home was scouted
out and Riley got the confirmation photos. He told me this
yesterday at the palace. He’s been planning the raid on our home
for months.

“Eliwese’s crossing was not his idea, but he
used it to his advantage. He placed her at our home so he could
snatch her and me at the same time. Only it didn’t work out that
way, and Riley nearly exploded when Victor gave the order to let me
go at the mall. That wasn’t the plan. When the tables turned,
Victor served himself without any regard to Riley, once again. The
two of them are at war with each other; except one of them doesn’t
realize it.” Sara concluded.

“What was your name when you lived in
Rendier?” Sean asked.

“Sierra Montgomery.”

“When I met Victor Rawlings, he said I had
Sierra’s eyes. I didn’t know who he was talking about. Why didn’t
you ever tell us about your past?”

“The decision at the time and all through the
years seemed like the right one. It would be nice if we always knew
exactly how each choice would affect us in the future, but it
doesn’t work that way. I think the biggest regret I have is that I
never told your father about Riley Stone. If I had, maybe he would
have recognized the name or he might have been more wary of
accepting crossers from anyone named Riley, but I didn’t fully
understand the level of Riley’s feelings for me.

“Sean, ever since you became old enough to
drive I’ve had you run the errands. Before that, I used Paul’s
brother Sam and his wife. I have lived in fear of being found for
all these years. Dr. Randall’s been my ears and eyes on many
occasions, even though he lived in constant fear of being found
too.”

Ryan commented, “So, Dr. Randall became a
crosser too. I’ve always wondered how he tied into our family or
why Dad trusted him so much.”

“Me too,” Sean added. “It was just one of the
many questions I never asked.”

Lyndee said, “I knew about Dr. Randall. He
confided in me a couple of years ago. He didn’t tell me much but
enough to know he had helped Mom cross.”

“Technically, Dr. Randall didn’t become a
crosser. He was a Baylend citizen who worked as Reginald Rawlings’
personal physician. He went into hiding after our deaths were faked
and we had been successfully brought across the border.”

Sara inhaled a deep breath and let it out as
if she had cleansed out her whole soul. “I’m tired of living this
way. I’ve raised you with lies and deception. I’m so sorry.” Her
eyes had filled with tears again. Lyndee put a painful arm around
her mother.

“Mom, you’ve done an excellent job raising
us. You’ve only done what you felt would protect us the best.” Ryan
and Sean agreed with their sister and comforted their mother.
Jacquline watched with envy.

Sara accepted the love and compassion from
her children with bated breath for she still hadn’t told them
everything. Hopefully she wouldn’t ever have to expose the rest of
the saga. That vault door closed a long time ago and it would take
an act of God for Sara to consider revealing she had actually been
married to Victor for a short while and conceived a child. The
thought had crossed her mind to end the pregnancy all those years
ago, but if she had, she wouldn’t have her beautiful daughter.

As the day went on, Sean thought about what
he would say to Rawlings once he received the call. He hoped
Eliwese was alright and not being mistreated. He missed her
terribly and still felt he had let her down at the mall. He
pondered over the account his mother gave of her life in Rendier
and the cruel irony that was Eliwese’s life. Sara had escaped the
dictator all those years ago, but some other woman took her place
and Eliwese was born into the nightmare.

Later on over dinner, Ryan asked Sean, “So
where does this leave us now?”

“We wait. We can’t touch the hundred mil till
the morning.”

“Yeah, but then what?”

“I’m not sure.”

Jacquline’s phone rang, making everyone jump.
After a short conversation, Jacquline hung up and looked over at
Sean.

“That was Riley. He wants to meet me in the
lounge.”

Ryan’s ears popped right up. “Does he usually
call you like this? Do you normally meet him in the lounge?”

“Yes. I didn’t detect anything out of the
ordinary in his voice. I am going to go down and find out what he
wants.”

Ryan walked quickly over to her and gently
grabbed her arm. “Be careful, Jacquline. Act like you usually do,
don’t give anything away.”

“I’ll be careful, Ryan,” she said tenderly
and left the room.

One hour went by, then two hours, and still
Jacquline hadn’t returned. Sean thought he would check on Lyndee
and his mother’s injuries. He was shocked at the amount of bruising
on Lyndee’s body. These injuries were Riley’s doing and now he was
with Jacquline; he hoped she was alright. Ryan was obviously
agitated and had been pacing the floor since she left; Sean
wondered what Ryan must be thinking. Sean helped his mother clean
Lyndee’s abrasions and put new bandages on.

Finally, Jacquline returned. Ryan rushed over
to her when she entered the room. “Are you ok? Did he hurt you?
What did he want?”

“I’m fine, but you’re not.” She motioned to
everyone in the room. “Riley wanted to see the surveillance videos
for the time frame you arrived back here at the hotel. They are
trying to find you. I did get some information out of him. More
like, he volunteered it to me. He said they would be staying here
tonight because the business meeting today went sour and now he has
a few loose ends to tie up, four to be exact; I assumed he meant
the four of you.”

The rest of the evening played out with Ryan
talking with Jacquline about her family and interesting childhood;
Ryan was clearly smitten. Sara and Lyndee joined in on the
conversation, asking questions and having a semi-good time.
Jacquline seemed right in her element.

Sean sat off to the side with his mind on
Eliwese. If she could only hold on until tomorrow, he’d rescue her,
and become the fairytale prince she’d spoken of. She deserved a
knight in shining armor for once in her life.

A few floors up and almost directly above
Sean, Eliwese stared across the room to the French doors. The tiny
balcony held two small chairs and an even smaller round table. She
knew the Presidential Suite was on the top floor of the hotel with
no way of escaping unless she meant to escape life permanently.
That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?

Her view out the window was of the night sky.
Large puffy clouds illuminated by the full moon soared past one at
a time. Sitting on the floor with her back up against the wall, she
reached her hand up to her face and felt her cheek and eye and the
rapid swelling. She couldn’t take deep breaths for the sharp pain;
another cracked or broken rib, no doubt.

Those clouds were so soft looking and
ethereal. If only she could climb on one and be removed from this
hellish life. Riley made sure she remembered, with full clarity,
what her life had been like before. Now she had all new bruises,
just like old times. But it didn’t matter, Sean and his family was
whole again and safe from harm. A pained smile spread across her
face as she recalled Sean’s bravery toward Riley and her father. He
didn’t hesitate to dish out insults, and he certainly didn’t shrink
away from a fight. She only hoped he did as she instructed;
transfer the money and get out of town.

Her guilt began to invade her mind making her
fret about her reasons for crossing in the first place; to take her
father down. It seemed she was farther away from that goal now than
she was prior to crossing a few weeks ago.

Eliwese’s body jerked tensely as the door
opened and her father entered. He held a laptop computer in his
arms and stood for a moment surveying Riley’s handiwork. A devilish
grin formed on his face and Eliwese’s hair on the back of her neck
raised.

“Riley never lets me down,” he said
confidently.

“Yeah, well he’s losing his touch; he didn’t
even rape me this time.”

Victor’s eyes narrowed and his brow knit
together. His chin dipped a fraction of an inch and he glared at
her intensely. She wasn’t sure what to think. Was her father upset
Riley didn’t complete his task or was he upset that Riley had raped
her in the past? She stared at her father trying to guess his
thoughts.

“What do you mean ‘this time’?” The simple
question had so many layers of understanding for Eliwese. In the
blink of an eye, her mind opened up to the barrage of enlightenment
that was her father’s ignorance. Riley had never been given
permission to impregnate her. Her father was genuinely shocked to
hear her say, ‘this time’ and it gave Eliwese hope that maybe Riley
would finally get what he deserved.

“What do I mean? I mean all throughout the
time you locked me in solitary confinement and accepted money for
my body, Riley used every chance he had, for free I might add, and
he had many chances being that you placed him as the guard to my
room. What’s the matter? Don’t you want Riley to be your
son-in-law, father of your heir?”

The unreadable look on his face scared
Eliwese. He walked away from her placing the laptop on the table
and initialized the setup of her account. He was here to make her
transfer the money back. She hoped with every last fiber of her
body Sean had listened to her and moved the money already.

“What is your password?” he growled at
her.

She spelled it out and he typed the letters
as she spoke them, “R-E-V-E-N-G-E.” It was like watching all the
little tumblers fall in place when unlocking a safe. Even though
the computer screen showed asterisks for the entered letters, his
mind was spelling it out. The clicking of his brain coincided with
the bank’s information popping up on the screen; an empty
account.

Revenge
.

He whirled around almost losing his balance
and marched across the room. “Riley!” he yelled and Riley appeared
in an instant. “Pick her up and drag her insolent ass over there.”
He motioned to the computer.

Riley did so and dumped her in a chair. She
was in so much pain her breath was gone and her eyes wept.

“Move it back!”

She whispered, “Move what back?” She didn’t
want to lead on to the fact that she knew exactly what her father
was talking about.

“My money!”

She looked at the screen and the zero balance
of the account and her insides rejoiced. “I don’t understand,
didn’t you put the money in my account?”

“You know I did, where is it?”

She moved the mouse and pressed on recent
transactions. The two transfers were there plain as day;
one-hundred million in and one-hundred million out. “It would
appear, father, you’ve donated an absurd amount of money to a
worthy charity.”

His hand swung around so quickly that Eliwese
didn’t have time to duck. The violent force of his blow knocked her
from the chair and to the floor. He kicked her in the stomach and
reached down with both hands and grabbed the front of her shirt and
lifted her easily from the floor to a standing position.

“What have you done with my money?!”

He shook her violently. She tried to regain
her breath but from the kick to the gut, her air was still
unattainable. He shook her again.

She gasped and whispered, “Sean,” she
coughed, “Sean got the better of you.”

Victor released his grip on her shirt and
turned away from her as she crumpled to the floor like a scarecrow
with its sticks removed.

Sean slept very little that night. Once the
morning hours arrived, he got up and took a quick shower, and went
into the kitchen for some breakfast. Jacquline was already
preparing some food for them.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all
you’ve done for us. Once we’re in the clear, I’ll make it right
with you.”

“No need. It is my pleasure to help.”

Ryan came in the kitchen yawning, “What’s
going on?”

“Nothing yet.” Sean picked up his cell phone
and turned it on.