A/N: I can't thank ya'll enough for the love on this story. It was only supposed to be a one-shot but I'm glad ya'll encouraged me to keep writing it. I know I've said it before but it really is wrapping up, only one more chapter and an epilogue left!
Tris looks at her watch impatiently. She had to move quickly. Zeke and Harrison were on the phone on the balcony to the loft having another heated discussion about the next steps in how to get to Tobias. She was done waiting, She was not going to sit back and let the love of her life die while the police officers planned to storm the location. She gathered her gun that Tobias had purchased for her when she started learning how to shoot and slipped it into her bag with Tobias's phone. Quietly while they were distracted she slipped out the door, hoping that by the time they realized she was gone she would already be close to the location where she was supposed to meet Al. Tris believed in her heart that Al wouldn't hurt her or the baby. She just needed to make sure that he didn't hurt Tobias.
She walks as fast as she can to her car, cradling her belly. She tears out of the parking garage with the tires screeching, following the GPS directions on the phone. Thankfully traffic is lite and she makes it to the house with no issues. She stops the car further up the street and walks to 1107 Conner Rd.
Just as she is about to get out Tobias's phone starts to ring. Zeke. He knew Tris had the phone and probably finally realized she was gone.
"Sorry Zeke," Tris states out loud as she silences the phone and declines the call.
Tris can feel her heart beating out of her chest when she grabs her bag and starts walking toward the house. She inhales sharply through her nose and the baby kicks up a storm as she walks.
"Don't worry little one, we are going to save Daddy" she says quietly as she walks up the steps clutching her bag.
Tris cautiously opens the front door, and steps inside. She notices a light on in the front room. There's only a small lamp on the front door.
She's startled when standing in the room is a woman with their back to her. What the hell, where was Al?
"Who are you, Where's Al?" Tris demands.
"Don't worry you'll see him soon enough" the woman says as she turns around.
Tris gasps, she had been looking at Harrison's files all morning. She knew who this was without a doubt.
"Molly" Tris whispers.
Tobias stares at Al, he doesn't have any words. He was an only child or so he had been told his entire life. He searched Al's face for any type of resemblance. Tobias was the spitting image of his mother, Evelyn except for his eyes, those belonged to his father. Did Al look like his father? Tobias couldn't tell. Was this part of his delusion or was it true? He had no idea but whether or not it was true, but the most important thing right now was that Al believed it.
"I never knew my father had any other children," Tobias says quietly, finally finding his voice. He knew his father wasn't the best man, his mother had been very frank with him about what led to their divorce. Tobias hadn't been interested in really getting to know him but his summer in Boston helped him understand so much more. Marcus had been a known womanizer and known to make shady business deals. His law firm had been know to represent suspected mob bosses. When his mother confronted Marcus about the truth he had kept from her regarding his business and the other women, he'd turned violent. Evelyn wasn't having it. She packed up Tobias and left that same night, never looking back. His grandparents had distanced themselves from their son at that time as well, hoping that losing his family would make him come to his senses but he died before they reconciled.
Al scoffs, "Of course you didn't know. Your mother was his everything. Mine just dumped me on his doorstep when I was 12 because she couldn't be bothered anymore. I was the burden that he never wanted from the woman he didn't really love. The one that never got to meet the grandparents, or his friends because I wasn't you."
"I'm sorry I had no idea, you don't have to do it this way," Tobias says quietly again. He's not sure what he's feeling, but hearing that this man in front of him who claims to be his brother was abused is a clear indicator that he needs help.
"Oh but I do, no one will see me for me, none of them did, all they saw was you!" Al says in an annoyed tone as his voice gets louder and he moves to the board filled with pictures.
"I thought if I got rid of Marcus, it would make everything better" Al comments nonchalantly.
"You killed him?" Tobias asks wide-eyed. When his grandparents called to tell him his father was dead they had said he was in a car accident and never recovered from his injuries. "He died in the hospital after an accident"
Al rolls his eyes, "Of course, he thought he could still beat me and compare me to you, and I would just stand back and take it. I cut the breaks on his car but when he didn't die in the accident I put a pillow over his face in the hospital. I made sure my face was the last one he saw and he knew I was the one ending it for him."
Tobias sucks in a breath, Al was more lethal than he thought and he's been harboring his anger and resentment towards Tobias for years. Tobias wasn't sure how he was going to get out of this alive. He had to get unchained from this bed if he was going to have a chance. It didn't look like Zeke was able to find him, it had been too long.
He yanks off Molly's picture "That night in the diner, I thought it was fate when I saw you walk in. I had been a cook at that restaurant for two years struggling to make ends meet, and there you were right in front of me. You were laughing with Myra and Zeke like you didn't have a care in the world. I brought your food out to you and you didn't even notice me. Even Molly noticed you that night. Molly was my girl, she was mine!" he screams at Tobias.
Tobias puts his hands up and steps back towards the wall.
"She didn't think I heard her whispering to the other waitress how hot you were and how she'd jump on the chance to go home with you even if it meant dumping me. So I thought I would finally fix the problem once and for all. There was no need for the perfect son anymore" Al says, throwing the picture of Molly on the ground and snatching one of Myra off the wall.
"You tampered with the brakes to my grandparents' car didn't you?" Tobias says, realizing the depth of Al's delusions.
"When I found out you didn't die when the car wrecked and I confronted Molly, she still wanted to leave, I decided on a better course of action. I could make them love me, make them look at me the way they looked at you."
"So you decided to brainwash them" Tobias reasons. This was something like a movie he and Tris watched. The kidnapper creates a bond with the victims. Clearly, Molly was bought into this, moving about freely. Tobias would bet money that she had even helped with delivering the messages and flowers to Tris.
"I didn't brainwash them! I made them love me" Al screams as he points at his chest. Suddenly he composed himself and spoke in a quieter voice, almost normal again. Tobias can't understand what is causing him to go off the rails.
"Molly resisted at first but once we got to Texas to find Myra things changed, she knew if she was a good girl I would always take care of her she just had to learn her lesson. And when Myra wanted to leave I had to teach her the same lesson"
Tobias rubs his hand across his forehead, Jesus Al was completely insane, murder, kidnapping, this was like a movie or something off one of those police shows Tris used to love to watch.
"And you are planning to teach Tris and Lauren this same lesson?" Tobias asks, trying to keep Al talking.
"That bitch Lauren, What did you ever see in her?" Al chuckles yanking her picture off the wall. "She's lucky I saw she didn't really love you, she was fucking a music producer behind your back and you didn't even notice. She wasn't worth my time."
Again, Tobias's eyes go wide with how much Al knew about his life. He had suspected that Lauren had been cheating on him which is what started the downfall of their marriage. She had confessed when they met with their lawyers that she needed an escape since she felt his heart wasn't in their marriage. It had been true, he knew he still loved Tris. Now he knows why Lauren was more than happy to agree that she didn't need alimony so quickly, she didn't want Tobias to go digging and find out what she had been up to.
"Now Tris" Al says in a tone that makes his stomach churn "She was going to be the crown jewel. It was by chance that I saw her sitting in that restaurant here in Chicago all alone and I knew I had to make a move. It was fate, I had planned to find her once our little family was settled but she found me. And she wanted so desperately to forget you, she let me give her everything. Until you showed up again" Al spits out at the end.
"If you have Molly and Myra why do you need Tris?" Tobias asks curiously.
"Because she loves you!" Al says getting agitated again. "Do you know I would catch her looking at your photo and she doesn't even remember that she called out your name when we had sex! I want her to love me like that, she's going to love me like that. She's going to be mine again and you will finally have nothing".
Al looks at his phone and moves towards the stairs, seemingly having enough of this conversation. His mood swings were exhausting and Tobias was having a hard time keeping up. Tobias is starting to feel living out the rest of his life with Tris and see his son born were slipping away. He sits down on the bed and puts his head in his hands.
He knows he's tempting fate with his next question but he has to know the answer. As Al moves to walk up the steps Tobias asks "Why not just kill me now?"
Al doesn't bother to look back at him, he simply states with his voice void of emotion "Because I want Tris to be the one to do it."
Without another word, he continues up the top of the stairs and Tobias hears the door shut and the locks put in place and Tobias hears voices and the footsteps upstairs and the front door open and close.