To say that I'm nervous would be the understatement of the decade. As I sit here on this park bench, I'm contemplating the fact that my entire world is inside the four walls of that loft and I'm worried about everything that could be going wrong. I want to believe that Tripp will be able to protect Ciara if anything goes wrong, but facts are facts, and I just don't.
When my phone dings notifying me that I have a text, I look down at the screen and my heart sinks; it's the S.O.S that I've been dreading would come. I'm on my feet and bolting toward the loft in less than a second. I don't think I have ever run so fast in my life.
The minute that it takes me to reach the loft is the longest of my life because I don't know what is going on in those four walls, but if Ciara sent that S.O.S…it can't be good. My woman is a fighter through and through and she wouldn't have sent it unless she felt she wasn't going to make it without me there.
When I make my way into the hallway, I can hear angry yelling. As I approach the door to Ciara's loft the yelling only intensifies.
"I didn't plan on killing you when I got to the cabin, I really didn't. But, when I got there, I saw you just lying there, and I knew that this was my opportunity to get rid of you so that I could have Tripp. I just wasn't thinking straight…"
"Claire, you can try and keep selling me your pathetic sob story, the fact is I'm not buying it, and I have proof now that Ben is innocent. You tried to kill me!"
I open the door and storm into the room assessing the situation at hand as quickly as I can. Tripp is sprawled out on the floor in front of the bathroom door and appears to be knocked out. Claire is obviously stunned that I have entered the loft and is standing at one end of the kitchen counter and Ciara is at the other. I can see Claire is agitated and it's growing by the second. Her eyes are darting about the room and I can only imagine the thoughts rolling through her head about how she is going to get out of this mess. I remember the feelings of being trapped and the paranoia that surrounded me when I had my mental break and I almost feel sorry for her. I intend to do for her what nobody was willing to do for me when I was out of my mind, talk her down and get her help.
After a few seconds her eyes narrow in on a target. She sees the block containing the kitchen knives and quickly removes the chef knife and points it at Ciara. I swiftly pull her behind my body, because there is no way in hell that this is going to end with Ciara getting hurt.
"Ben, what the hell are you doing here? You and Ciara are broken up."
Ciara exhales, "Actually, we are still very much together," she states. "We've been pretending to be broken up ever since he was arrested for setting the Horton cabin on fire. Before you did that, he tried to tell me that he suspected you were the one who attempted to burn the cabin down, but I didn't believe him. I had it in my head that you would never do that to me and that we were family and loved each other. Boy was I wrong! We pretended to be apart in the hopes that we would catch you in your lie, and now we have."
"So, you've been lying the whole time about the two of you being together?!"
"We've been lying? Are you fucking kidding me? You blamed Ben for starting that fire for how long when it was you all along!"
Claire takes another step toward me, "I can't believe this…Eve said she was going to get me out of this."
Ciara and I both agreed that what we wanted most for Claire was to get her help, because she is obviously not mentally stable. Our goal is to get her to turn herself into the hospital so they can begin treatment and while there have her make a statement that will clear me of the wrongdoing I'm being accused of.
I take a deep breath, "You should have known better than to trust Eve. She was using you for her own agenda. Eve only looks out for one person, Eve, and what benefits her, but Claire I need you to know I mean what I am going to say to you next. I'm going to help you."
"Why would you help me?" she glares at me and slowly walks to within a yard to where I stand with Ciara behind me, slashing the knife through the air, and grazing my forearm. I can see the blood start to ooze from the long gash.
I wince, and bite my lip, but keep my focus, not wanting to let the situation get out of control, "Because, Claire, I know what it's like to feel like you have absolutely no control in your life. I know what it's like to know that something is wrong, and you can't stop yourself from doing it anyway. I know what it's like to think that you are all alone and that no one understands or is on your side. Trust me, I get it."
"Yeah right, Ben. You have all the answers. You know what it feels like to feel like nobody wants you or loves you?!" she bellows taking another step closer.
I take a step back and push Ciara with me, "Yeah, Claire, I know what that's like. When I was with Abigail, she would tell me how much she loved me and yet she still cheated on me with Chad, over and over. I lost my mind. You don't do that to someone you love. If she just would have been honest with me and ended things, I don't think I would have spiraled like I did. But she kept toying with my emotions and I just lost it. Like you, I thought that if I could get rid of Chad all of my problems would be solved."
"Well maybe all of my problems will be solved when I get rid of the two of you," she screams, while regripping the handle of the knife.
"Claire, think about this. You really don't want to do this. I heard you tell Ciara out in the hallway that you didn't intend to kill her. Trust me when I say that if you go through with this, you will regret it and be haunted by it. I regret the lives that I took every damn day. I wish I could take it back, but it doesn't work that way. Ciara and I, we want to help you."
"And how the hell do you plan on doing that? It's too late," she takes a step toward us again and this time when I try to step back Ciara doesn't budge. She's already against the wall.
I swallow, hoping that I can talk her down because if she takes another step, I'm going to be left with no choice but to disarm her and I don't want that with Ciara so close to me. I need to keep her and our babies that she is carrying safe.
"No, it's not too late. You haven't actually killed anyone. It's obvious that you need help and were also being taken advantage of. Those are mitigating circumstances. We'll take you to the hospital and start getting you treatment right away. We'll get you a lawyer and you can confess as to what really happened and start to heal."
"But why would you do that after everything that I have done?"
Ciara steps out from behind me and I feel my stomach drop.
Ciara sighs, "Because I love you and I can see that you are not well and that you need help, and because, deep down, I know that you do love me too."
Claire drops the knife and I quickly kick it across the room just before she falls to her knees and begins sobbing.
"I'm sorry, Ciara, I'm so sorry."
Ciara kneels down next to her and puts her arms around her, "Shh, I know you are. It's going to be okay. We'll figure this out together."
I put my hand on Claire's shoulder, "Come on, let's get you to the hospital. We're going to get you the help we promised."
Claire looks up at me, "You really do get it, don't you?"
"I do."
"I'm sorry I set you up to take the fall for all of this."
"I'll get over it. It's not like I wasn't very capable of doing those crimes with my past."
"But you're better now, right?"
"With the right meds and attending my therapies, you bet. If I can make it with only Ciara and Dr. Evans believing in me, you can make it with your entire family loving and supporting you."
Claire stands up, "Will the two of you take me to the hospital?"
"Umm,…" I hesitate not quite trusting Claire and wanting to risk Ciara's safety while we deliver her to the hospital.
Before I can finish my full response, Ciara cuts in, "Sure we can take you, I think Ben needs to get checked out anyway."
I look down at my arm and see that my wound is bleeding pretty badly and that I will probably need stitches. Ciara goes to one of the drawers in the kitchen and pulls out a kitchen towel and then wraps it around my arm.
"Sure, we can take you. Ciara you drive, I'll ride in the back with Claire."
Ciara raises her eyebrow at me, just like her mother has done to me so many times, and I try to tell her with my eyes to just trust me. She takes a deep sigh and we head out the door to drive to the hospital.
