Dangerously In Love (12 page)

I felt a huge sense of calm
after asking her to marry me, I always knew I'd ask her some day just not this
soon. Her life is about to change drastically. She'd probably feel like she had
no stability since her father is a monster who apparently offed her mother and
had been terrorizing her
her
whole life. With my ring
on her finger and my last name not to mention the power of the Blair family
behind her, she can't help but feel more secure. At least that’s what I’m
hoping for. Yes this is a good thing.

"Are you gonna answer me or what?"
For the last five minutes she's been staring at me wordlessly.

"You...you want to marry me?"

"Baby what the fuck? How can you be
surprised at this shit? Tell me you've always known that this is where we were
headed. How could you not know? No don't cry." She was crying and
clutching onto me.

Man so soft, so little, how
do I always forget what a tiny thing she is?

"I thought you changed your mind after...

"Victoria-Lynn no matter how mad I get at
you now, or in the future, I'll always love you. They'll never be a time when
I'm not in love with you. Can you try to remember that shit for me
please?"

"Yes...yes I'll marry you, I love
you." She started kissing all over my face while she cried.

"Okay baby, but you gotta stop that crying
shit, you know what that does to me." She sniffled and wiped her tears while
I combed my fingers through her hair. I hated knowing that I had to fucking
destroy
her world. I was gonna wait until in the morning
but, fuck.

"I have something to
tell you." Why wait? There was no point I'll tell her what was going on,
answer her questions and hopefully my love and support will be enough to keep
her from falling apart. I hope I was doing the right thing here though shit.

"Is it bad?" She looked up at me with
a little fear.

"It doesn't matter, all that matters is
that you're safe. No matter what happens hold on to that, you're safe and I
love you. We have each other now and always nothing means more than that
okay."

"Okay Roman." She laid her head on my
chest and I took a deep breath. How much did she know or suspect about father?
I had not a clue, she'd never once let on that there was anything going on.
She'd hid her own abuse very well so who knows.

"How much do you
remember about your mom?" I held my breath as I waited for her answer.

"My ...um...what? Not much, I was so young
when she left...why?"

"Did you ever hear from her after she
left? Anyone ever said they saw her?"

"No, my dad said she moved away
somewhere."

"Do you remember her at all?"

"No, not really I just remember her
hugging me a lot, and sometimes crying."

Her body shook and I hugged her closer.

"What?"

"I think he used to hit
her. I'm not sure but when I was younger, right after she left, I kept having
this recurring dream or at least I think it was a dream. She'd always be crying
and holding her face. When I was old enough to ask he just told me that it was
my imagination. Then as I grew older the dreams just stopped, I'd forgotten all
about them. Why are you asking me about my mom?"

I blew out a breath. "We
think there's a possibility that he might've killed your mother."

She jumped and tried to get out of bed but I
held her tight. She covered her ears and the tears started again as she rocked
back and forth in my arms. She was crying so hard there was no sound coming out
of her throat. I rubbed her back soothingly until she caught her breath again.

"Talk to me baby, don't shut down."
Fuck, maybe I should've waited after all.

"I think I knew, I think I always knew but
I shut it out. What did he do to her?"

"We don't know yet, we're only just
piecing it together and it's looking more and more like a possibility. There's
something else...it appears that your father and Stephen Crafton along with
some other very prominent men in the state and elsewhere are involved in some
kind of game. A game in which human beings are hunted for sport." I let
the words settle in and waited.

She got away from me that
time and made a run for the bathroom. I was hot on her heels as she threw up
and retched. Holding her hair back was the best I could do as I watched her
suffer.

She cried and gagged at the same time. I had to
hold her up as her body seemed to just give out on her.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, Jules and I found out about it when
we broke into his files. That's why my uncle Marcus is here, he knows more
about this stuff than we do so he's here to take care of it. He's already
spoken to someone who might have some information about what really happened to
your mother. We believe he killed her, we just don't know how or why. And if he
did, where's the body?"

"The apple tree in the
backyard."

"Pardon me?"

"The apple tree in the backyard, he
planted that when I was younger maybe right around the time she supposedly ran
off. He told me it was to remind me of her or something like that."

It can't be that easy. I wanted to run downstairs
and get the others right away. Get on it, see if we could uncover his crime so
easily, but I couldn't leave her, not in this state.

"Come back to bed baby
don't sit on the cold floor."

Tinks
must've picked up on her mama's
stress because she came galloping into the room and landed in her lap.

Victoria-Lynn tickled her and was lost in the
dog's antics for a good five minutes while I watched my two girls. Picking them
both up in my arms I carried them back to the bed.

Sitting with my back to the
headboard, I held them between my legs and closed my arms around her enfolding
her, protecting her. "If you remember anything else baby, tell me
okay."

"What're you going to do? Please Roman
just let the others take care of it don't get involved.

" I can't do that baby, it's my
responsibility,
you're
my responsibility I have to be
involved. I promise not to do anything stupid though okay. One more thing stay
away from Melanie, uncle saw her talking to the sheriff. We don't know exactly
what the hell that was about but we're gonna find out. In the meantime I know
you don't really deal with her but you're gonna have to cut back on that even
more. Do not be anywhere alone with her, I don't give a fuck what reason anyone
else gives you don't do it you hear me?"

"Yes, I still don't
understand why she hates me so much though."

"Because she's an insecure bitch who needs
to be the center of attention fuck her, she doesn't matter to us and I don't
want you worrying about any of this shit either."

"But if this is true, he's my dad. People
are gonna know he's monster. I never wanted anyone to know, that's why I
hid...for so long...oh Roman what am I going to do?"

"Victoria-Lynn, what do
you mean you hid for so long, hid what?" It was one thing to suspect that
her father had been hurting her and quite another for her to admit it. She'd
only owned up to the slap in the face because of the glaring evidence, now
this. "What did he do to you?"

"Nothing, he didn't do anything." She
turned around in my arms.

"What...did...he...do?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Fuck this shit." I tried to get out
from behind her but she played the human vine again. Arms and legs wrapped
around me keeping me in place.
Tinks
thought we were
playing around and started running around in circles on the bed and yipping her
head off.

"Roman you can't fight
everyone, stop it what he did or didn't do is in the past. I'm here aren't I?
You saved me...you don't have to do anything else."

"What did he do to you cheeks?" I
held her face in my hands.

"Oh Roman... sometimes he'd get upset and
he'd lash out at me okay, or if he'd been drinking he'd get angry..."

"How often?"

"What?"

"How often did he hit you?"

"Not a lot." She blushed and ducked
her head.

"Don't fucking lie to me."

"Do we have to do this?"

"Yes we do, now tell me what that fuck did
to you."

"On average... at least once a week."

"Once a..." I jumped off the bed and
headed out of the room and down the stairs.

I found dad and uncle Marcus
in the den, Jules was nowhere to be found and I guess mom and Petra had gone
off somewhere. Victoria-Lynn was right behind me as I walked into the room.

"I don't care what you find or don't find,
I want him fucking dead."

"Son what's wrong?" Dad was up and
coming towards me.

"He fucking beat her at least once a week.
How could I not know this, how? Why did you keep this shit from me
Victoria-Lynn?"

"Because I knew you'd
react this way you're going to get into trouble, please Roman, let it go.
Please, for me."

"Son calm down we'll take care of it but
don't go doing anything stupid. I told you before, you end up in jail she's out
here on her own, you don't want that."

"Dad, do you have any idea how this makes
me feel, any idea at all what I want to do to him? Look at her really look at
her. She's what five two a hundred pounds? The sheriffs over six feet tall and
weighs two fifty at least and you know he didn't pull his punches." I
looked at her then and walked pulled her away so the others couldn’t hear.

"All those times you
were too tired or whatever fucking excuse you gave me, he was beating the shit
out of you and I didn't know. I was supposed to be protecting you, you didn't
let me protect you, I hate that you didn't let me protect you. I'll never
forgive myself for not taking better care of you."

"Roman...don't, it's not your fault."

I pulled my hair as my head threatened to
explode. Dad slapped my back reassuringly.

"Nephew, no worries,
what's done is done. You can't go back and change anything, that day's already
gone never to be repeated. What you can do is make sure her life from now is
nothing but roses, you can be the man I know you are and reassure her that
you're not going to do anything stupid that'll take you away from her. You can
reassure her that she's safe now and that no one will ever get to her
again."

"Are you going to take
him out or am I?"

"Boy didn't you hear anything I
said?"

"Uncle he fucking beat the shit out of her
right under my fucking nose for over a year. What would you do?

"I'd get angry yes, but I hope that if
someone gave me some good advice that I'd follow it. I hope that I could put
aside my anger and take care of the special lady in my life and realize that my
erratic behavior is hurting more than helping."

Fuck, he called me out in
front of my girl. She's standing there clutching
Tinks
in one hand and my shirt in the other. Even the damn dog was looking at me
disapprovingly. Pulling her into my chest I held her for a while before just
nodding to my dad and uncle and leading her out of the room and back up the
stairs.

In the room I sat her on the
bed and paced as I tried to get my thoughts together. Kneeling in front of her,
I took her hands in mine as
Tinks
sat on her lap.

"I'm sorry I hurt you, I'm sorry that I
didn't know what kind of fucked up pressure you were under. Most of all I'm
sorry I added to your terror. Never again Victoria-Lynn, as long as we live I
will never hurt you again, I give you my solemn oath. Don't cry baby come
here." I pulled her into my arms and climbed onto the bed holding her to
my heart. A heart that was so full of love for this one person it threatened to
consume me completely. The pain would go away eventually I know, but the guilt
will linger I was certain. One thing was for sure, I’m gonna fucking gut the
sheriff.

Things were hectic for the
next few days, the cat was out of the bag now and Vicki knew what was going on,
there was no sense in keeping anything from her. Jules was trying to find out
in a roundabout way what Melanie's connection to the sheriff was without
tipping her off. Personally I say beat the truth out of the scheming bitch but
she's his to deal with not mine. Not yet anyway, if I find out she's done
anything to hurt Victoria-Lynn it'll be her ass though. She’s been steering
clear of me lately because I couldn’t find it in me to play nice to find out
what she knows so every time her ass got too close I gave her the ‘you’re gonna
come up missing glare.’

If she walked into a room
even with others there I went and got cheeks the fuck out. I have no idea what
Jules told her about my behavior and quite frankly could give a fuck.
Victoria-Lynn is now my only concern. It was hell going off to the hospital and
sending her off to school when there was so much to be done and things were so
unstable.

Lately I've become very clingy, I hated for her
to be out of my sight. And when we slept, I kept her body damn near buried
under mine. How the poor girl got any sleep like that was beyond me, but she
never complained, just held me as tight as I held her.

Uncle has been gathering more
info in the few days he's been here. He thinks in a situation like this with so
many heavy players we needed to cross all our T’s and dot
every
I
; though he says he's not above capping someone if the need arose.

Right now we're focusing on the neighbor who
has information on Stephanie Baldwin's disappearance. Dad, uncle and I are
right this minute sitting in her living room. Mrs. Dillard is a lady in her
early eighties who prides herself on the fact that she's lived alone for the
last twenty years and is very self-reliant. She remembers the young Stephanie
Baldwin as a beautiful vivacious girl who came to the neighborhood as a
blushing bride and soon became a dull shell of herself.

"She was a beautiful
young girl, all of eighteen when they got married I believe...That first year
you couldn't ask for a better neighbor. She picked up little odds and ends from
the store for me when I couldn't get out, helped me with my yard work, little
things that added up you know. Then gradually things started changing..."

"Can you remember
anything that was going on at the time, anything that you might attribute to
the change?" We’d decided to let uncle Marcus do the questioning and we'd
jump in if we thought of something he hadn't. That was probably best since I’m
not sure she’d forgiven me and Jules for breaking her windows.

"Well let's see now, that was so long ago,
hmm... let's see. I think that that's right about the time him and Stephen
started carrying on around here. He wasn't sheriff then of course, wasn't much
of a deputy either if you want to know the truth. But some body apparently put
in a good word for him and he landed the job after a couple of years at the
community college and then whatever training he had to put in."

"You say they started
carrying on, in what way?"

"Well now, there was a lot of coming and
going, that much I remember, all hours of night. A whole lot of creepy
characters in their hunting trucks tearing up and down the streets, no respect
for a body. Of course he was the police so what could you do?"

"Let's go back to Stephanie for a second,
what do you remember about the night she disappeared?"

"Hmm, heard the baby screaming from all
the way over here, she had to be three at the time then. That's what caught my
notice, Stephanie never let that baby cry like that, not ever."

"What makes you so sure
that she was even there, maybe she'd already left."

"No she didn't either, seen her with my
own two eyes not five minutes earlier pacing back and forth in the window
before his truck showed up. Don't know what all was going on over there but in
the days leading up to that night there was a lot of screaming going on over
there."

She dropped her voice an octave here as if
afraid someone might hear her. "I think he was hitting on that poor girl.
You know back then we didn't make too much of those things and people stayed to
themselves, not like today. When I think back on all the little mishaps it
makes me think you know. And then later, little Victoria-Lynn became prone to
accidents herself too if you know what I mean, disgusting." She shook her
head sadly.

I wanted to hunt the fucker
down and drive a stake through his black heart. I was sitting there with my
legs shaking like I needed a fix. What I really needed was that fucker’s blood
on my hands. The more she talked, the more convinced I became that he’d offed
his wife the fucking douche.

"What else happened that
night? You heard the baby screaming and then?"

"Then nothing. But I peeped outside a
little while later because it was all quiet like. I'd gotten so accustomed to
the hollering back-and-forth between them that went on for hours, I guess I was
a little surprised that it ended so quickly. Mind you I could never really make
out the words but no one yelled like that if they were just talking. Then I saw
Stephen's truck pull up outside and the two of them got some tools out the back
and went around to the yard. I think they were digging something back there
because they had shovels and the like. Anyway the next day I see Kenneth drive
up with a young apple tree in his truck bed. Mind you Stephanie had always told
me that Kenneth hated anything to do with gardening and the like. Then of
course there was no Stephanie out in the front yard with little Victoria-Lynn the
next day. Next I heard they were saying that she'd run off but I knew better.
That girl would've never left her baby, she loved that little girl something
fierce." She nodded her head emphatically.

"So what do you think
happened Mrs. Dillard?"

"Well now, no one pays me to think do
they, but I'll give you my opinion nonetheless. I think he did her in and
buried her in the backyard under that tree."

"If you thought that why didn't you ever
tell anyone?"

"Well, at first I waited for someone to
come around asking questions, but after a few days of nothing I started asking
around and that's when I heard that awful lie he's been telling everyone ever
since. How she'd ran off with some man. What man I ask you? The girl hardly
left the yard unless it was to be inside the house, he had her so afraid she
hardly stopped by anymore to have a chat. I'm telling you, you don't have to
take my word for it but I believe she's buried under that tree."

I felt my skin grow cold,
that's the same tree Victoria-Lynn had told me about, I was sure of it. Could
he really have done this? Even with everything else we've been uncovering about
his sick fucking ass this was just...How the fuck did he still appear human?

"Now back then with
everyone going around spreading that filth, who was I going to tell? In those
days people just disappeared as I'm sure Stephanie found out, and no one came
looking, not for long anyway. Next thing I know, Kenneth's the sheriff and
everyone just took it as gold that she ran off and left her child. Broke my
heart to see that little girl grow up believing that about her mama. She ought
to have known that her mama loved her completely. Of course he never let me
near her, he'd always hated my closeness with Stephanie, now I know why."

"Thanks for your time
Mrs. Dillard, you've been a lot of help." We stood to leave.

"Does this mean you're going to finally do
something about that poor girl?"

"Looks like. Let's just keep this little
talk between us though shall we."

"I'm not stupid young man, I watch
Discovery Channel. I'll tell you the world sure is a changed place, yes indeed,
everybody's lost their dang blamed minds."

We started to leave her house
through the back way when uncle thought of something else to ask.

"Have you seen any other suspicious
activities around here in the last few years? Anything that made you
uncomfortable?"

"Well..., except for the traffic
back-and-forth and the strange cars, sometimes from out of town, I can't say
that I have.

Then of course there were the visits from
ambassador Johnston. Use to wonder what his elitist ass was doing in these
parts. Mind you, all of this took place in the dead of night when any decent
body was in bed. But who can sleep with all that racket?"

"Racket?" I had to
ask.

"All the hooting and hollering. Seems to me
those men always had something to celebrate, dang near every other weekend or
there about. And always in the dead of night, and let's not get started on the
empty beer cans all over the place the next day. At first I thought somebody
had complained and that's why the ambassador came out, but that doesn't make
much sense now does it?"

"Thanks again Mrs.
Dillard we'll be seeing you." We each shook her hand as we took our leave.

"Thank you young man for giving me the
opportunity to finally get this off my chest after all these years."

As soon as we were out of earshot I said what
I'm sure we were all thinking.

"Fuck, ambassador Johnston, Melanie's
father. What the fuck could he have to do with this shit, and what does Melanie
know about it?" Give me a reason bitch, just one. I’ve been waiting to
break her fucking neck. I’m sure if she were involved in this shit my brother
wouldn’t mind. He’d probably want to do it himself.