4 Bad Boys to take to Bed (4 Book Bundle Set!) (23 page)

Even saying it to an empty room felt treasonous. It felt necessary, but scary, as if Steven himself would open the door and walk in, summoned by the sound of his name and the slur against him.

I held my breath and waited. Nothing happened and I let myself relax.

“Okay girl,” I told myself. “Time to see what you’re made of.”

With that thought, I pulled my shoes off and lay down on top of the comforter and fell asleep in minutes, exhausted by the life changing events of the day.

The next morning I awoke to the sound of knocking on the door.

When I opened my eyes, I went through that jumble of confusion that happens when you wake up in a strange bed. My first thought was that it had all been a horrible dream and Steven would be coming in with coffee or a request for me to pick up his dry cleaning that day. And then I remembered that Steven wouldn’t be bringing me coffee and I would never be running his errands again. And then the moment I remembered that, I remembered my mother was dead and I couldn’t turn to her for help.

For a second, it all felt like it was pressing down on me, trying to suffocate me again, the way I’d felt last night on Mrs. Foote’s couch. I had to make an effort to lift those feelings away from me and bury my fear and grief deep inside so it wouldn’t crush me. I blinked quickly to keep the tears from falling. I had to be strong today, and do something to get us out of this mess. But right now, I had to find out who was knocking on the door.

I got out of bed and pulled open the bedroom door. The hallway was empty and Sandra’s door was still shut. I hoped she still had the dresser blocking the door. Unexpected visitors were not welcome today.

Moving slowly through the house toward the front door, I passed through the kitchen to grab a knife. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it—I didn’t know if I was mentally ready to stab my husband, no matter what he may have done—but I didn’t think I would have a problem hurting Charlie if it turned out to be him at the door.

The knocking sounded again, more insistent this time, and I peered out of the living room curtains to see who was standing at the door.

Mrs. Foote saw me looking out and waved at me. I sighed and went to open the door.

“Hi honey,” she said cheerfully as I let her inside and we both took a seat. “I hope it’s not too early? I hate to do this to you, but the funeral home just received your mother’s body and they need some instructions from the family.”

“No, of course it’s not too early,” I said. “The only thing is, I just don’t think I can handle this right now…” My voice trailed off and I looked at her pleadingly.

Concerned she said, “Okay honey. I understand. Do you want me to go down there for you?”

I just nodded and hugged her.

“Don’t worry,” she said as she patted my back. “I’ll handle this and you can just sign what needs to be signed, alright?”

When I nodded again, I could feel her smile against my cheek and she whispered in my ear, “We loved her too, Katherine. She was my best friend all these years. It’s my privilege to do this for her, and for you.”

I was so filled with gratefulness that I couldn’t open my mouth to thank her again as she started toward the door.

Smiling sadly, she turned back to me and said, “I’ll call and let you know what’s happening later this afternoon, okay? Answer your phone!” And she stepped out the door, closing it gently behind her.

Her comment about my phone made me wonder if Steven had been trying to call me. By now he and Charlie must be wondering if I’d had anything to do with Sandra’s disappearance. It would be a stretch to immediately blame me for it, even though they knew I’d been at the agency asking about Sana. But both men were very smart, and judging from the conversation I’d overheard, Charlie didn’t trust me at all. Of course, it would be a simple thing to just check my phone’s messages and see if Steven had called, but the truth was, I was scared to hear his voice. I felt that the sound of his voice might scare me back into submission or shake my newfound confidence so much that I wouldn’t be able to do what I needed to do to help myself or Sandra. I was just plain too scared to find out. I kept my phone off and set it aside to check later.

Time for Sandra to get up. I started brewing some coffee and went down the hall to knock on her door. I had more questions for her and it was time we sat down for a real talk. Since we’d met yesterday afternoon, our lives had been a non-stop rollercoaster of new horrors and I hadn’t had a chance to learn more about what was really happening in Charlie’s house.

I knocked softly and pressed my ear against the door to hear if she was getting up. At first there was no sound coming from her room so I knocked again, a little louder. At that, I could hear the bed move and the sound of her sitting up. I could picture her scared little face and I was sorry she couldn’t be allowed to sleep longer. She really was just a child after all. It was tragic that she was facing so much terror.

“Sandra,” I called through the door. “It’s Katherine. You need to wake up now, okay? Come to the kitchen, I’m making coffee.”

I heard her sigh and the floor creaked as she stood up. Satisfied that she would be ready to talk soon, I left her alone and went back to the kitchen to see if my mother had any groceries we could use for breakfast.

Rooting through her cupboards and refrigerator made me feel like I was back in high school trying to find something to make for dinner. I smiled unhappily to think of all the events that had happened to make me come full circle back to this kitchen.

Finally, I unearthed some eggs, spinach and mushrooms that I could use to make omelets, and I set to work cracking the eggs and chopping and dicing the vegetables. The familiar task of cooking calmed me down and I tried to organize my thoughts enough to have a productive conversation with Sandra.

The first thing I had to know was what she wanted me to do. I was surprised I hadn’t thought of it before, but it seemed simple now. Yesterday, all I knew was that I needed to rescue this girl, but I hadn’t thought of what was going to come after that. I had been counting on my mother to help sort it out, but that was impossible now. But this was happening to Sandra; she must have her own thoughts about it and her own family that she wanted to get back to. I would ask her what she wanted to do and help her do it.

Secondly, I needed to consider calling the police. I hadn’t wanted to make that phone call yesterday because I was still reeling from the discovery. It took me until today to be honest with myself enough to know that at this point, I would not be able to salvage my marriage to Steven. I was on the run from my husband and his boss, and although I wasn’t sure of the extent of their crimes, what I did know was enough to guarantee that I could never blindly love and trust my husband again. I had to face the fact that that part of my life was over and I needed to figure out what I wanted in life. So, knowing that Steven and I were through, did I want to call the police?

On one hand I knew that trying to handle this situation by myself was foolish and I should absolutely call the police; but, on the other hand, I felt a sense of pride at how far I’d gotten without any help. Of course I would have to call the police at some point; but, I reasoned to myself, I’ll wait until I’ve spoken to Sandra and I have a better idea of what I’m actually reporting to the police. If I called right now, I wasn’t sure what I would say. I had no evidence. Plus, I’d heard Charlie mention a phone call to a senator. If powerful men like senators were involved in this, then I had better have my story straight before I tried to explain what was happening.

I was also starting to wonder if Steven would think to look for me at my mother’s house. He was scheduled to ‘come home’ from his fake trip tomorrow—if he hadn’t already been to the house by now. All it would take would be for him to listen to the answering machine messages that Cecilia had left and he would find out that my mother had died yesterday. He would assume that I had rushed to Danbury after hearing the news.

We weren’t safe here. I wasn’t sure how much longer we could stay here without putting ourselves in greater danger. It all hinged on whether Steven had believed in my innocent nature enough to want to maintain his deception about being out of town, or if he had started listening to Charlie who likely suspected me of helping Sandra escape. If he was suspicious of me, he would have checked the house, I was sure of it.

I heard Sandra coming down the hall to the kitchen. Not wanting to upset her further, I pushed the thought away and busied myself pouring her a cup of coffee and refilling my own empty mug.

“Do you take cream or sugar,” I asked her cheerfully.

“Both please,” she said, looking at me strangely.

I couldn’t blame her. We were hiding out from two men who had possibly killed a woman and who were certainly involved in something horrible, and here I was standing in a strange kitchen acting like a crazy person happily offering her condiments.

I turned away from her and added the cream and sugar to her cup before handing it to her with a sigh.

“Sandra,” I started. “We have to talk.”

She just looked at me, her eyes huge over the rim of her cup. She waited for me to ask her a question.

“How long were you living at Charlie’s house? Do you remember how you came to be there?

She took a deep breath before answering.

“A man came over to me when I was with my friends one day in Lima and told me that I was pretty enough to be a model. He gave me his business card and told me to call him if I was interested. Well, of course, I was interested in working as a model! I’m 17 and I was supposed to graduate from high school this year. I don’t want to go to college. I wanted to be a famous model!” She sounded defensive as she tried to explain.

“Sandra, you don’t have to make me understand why you called the man. Any girl would have done the same thing. This wasn’t your fault,” I tried to assure her.

“Well, when I called him, he told me that he could get me a job modeling in the United States, but I would have to leave before school was over. He wanted me to leave right away. He showed me all these papers and told me I would be making a lot of money if I did this. I wanted to do it. I believed him, so I asked my parents for permission to go to the United States. Of course, they said no. They want me to go to college. So I ran away.”

I just looked at her, urging her to continue with my eyes.

“The man bought me a plane ticket to Boston and said that another man, Charlie, would be waiting to pick me up and take me to the agency. He told me this man was an important lawyer and he worked for the agency to help the models like me. He gave me a passport, everything I needed.” Sandra sounded sad as she told me what she had done. “I was so excited then. I really thought I was going to be a famous model and my parents would be sorry they’d tried to stop me when I showed them how much money I was making. I was so stupid, right?”

I felt so sorry for this girl. She was so young to be caught up in something like this just because she had trusted the wrong man. But who was I kidding? I’d only been 19 when I’d been deceived into loving Steven.

“No, Sandra,” I told her again. “It wasn’t your fault. You were just trying to follow your dream.”

“When Charlie met me at the airport,” she continued, “he took me to his house and I’ve been there ever since. That was five days ago I think.”

“What did he tell you to stop you from leaving on your own?” I had been curious about that since I’d met her.

“He told me…” Her voice began to fill with tears and she started again. “He told me that he would have my parents killed if I didn’t do what he said. He made me swallow a pill and then I felt like I couldn’t stand up on my own anymore. He said I was going to be something better than a model. He told me I was going to be the girlfriend of a powerful man and I had to do everything he told me or my family would die.”

I was filled with rage. How could Charlie be so cruel? Was this what Steven was doing, too?

“Sandra, think carefully. Did he tell you the name of the man he was going to send you to?”

“I don’t remember,” she told me. “He kept giving me pills. He made me swallow them. Everything seems like a dream until the night I heard him hitting Sana. He forgot to give me a pill the next day. That was the day I met you and you helped me. Do you think he’s going to kill my family now that I disobeyed him?”

She started to cry at the thought, and anguish filled her face.

“No, I think he was just telling you that so you would do what he asked,” I told her to reassure her, but inside I was wondering how far Charlie would go. He was much more evil than I had suspected.

“Let’s call your parents and tell them you’re okay. They’ll want to know they can bring you home now.”

She started to cry harder and I couldn’t tell if it was out of relief or fear or both.

I put my arms around her and hugged her tight. I could feel her little body shaking with grief and regret and in that moment I hated Steven and Charlie with every cell in my body and I knew that the time had come to call the police.

“Sandra,” I said to her softly, patting her back. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to eat this omelet I made for you and get your strength up. Then we’re going to call your parents and figure out how to get you back to Peru safely.” I held her by her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “And then we’re going to call the police.”

She recoiled at the mention of the police.

“No,” she pleaded. “Can’t I please just go home? I don’t want to call the police! Charlie said he would kill me if I called the police. He said he would find me and kill me, that I wouldn’t be able to hide from him. Please, I just want to go home and never see him again.”

“Sandra, if you don’t tell the police what happened to you, and what you heard Charlie doing to Sana, he will be free to keep doing this to other girls. You don’t want that do you?” I asked.