Notes: You're going to really hate me after this chapter. But there is only one chapter after this, and if I can, I'll try to finish it tonight.
Warning: Just another reminder that this is rated M for language, violence and some sexual content.
Stilling pointing the gun at Martin's head, Lauren looked more and more agitated. "This isn't right. This isn't how I wanted it to be."
"How did you want it to be, Lauren?" Martin responded, trying to stay calm despite feeling like he could die at any moment.
"I wanted him to admit it. I wanted him—"
"Lauren," a soft voice called out from the hallway.
Turning her head, Lauren strained to see who was in the shadows. Swinging the gun around, she pointed it at the form in the hallway.
"Stop! Don't come any closer! I'll shoot…I swear---"
"Lauren, it's me. It's Danny," he said as he came out of the shadows. "It's just me."
"No! No!" she cried. "You're not supposed to be here. Oh God…I…I told you to come alone!" she yelled as she pointed the gun at Martin again.
Martin started to respond, but Danny spoke again.
"It's not his fault, Lauren. None of this is his fault," Danny said as he continued to walk towards her. "I'm here because I can help you. We have to get out of here right now and let them go. Give me the gun, Lauren."
Turning to him, she pointed the gun. "No! I don't want you here," she cried. "I don't want you to be a part of this. Please…just go….please, Danny. Please!"
Shaking his head, Danny stopped when he was just inches away from the pointed gun. "I'm not going anywhere. And I'm not going to let you kill an innocent man. That's not you, Lauren. Killing him won't make any of this go away, baby," he pleaded. "This isn't what you wanted to do? Is it?" he asked as he glanced at Martin. "You didn't want to involve, Martin. You just wanted it end, right? And it got out of control. Everyone will understand that. It just got out of control, didn't it?"
Nodding, Lauren sank to the floor in front of him. Still clutching the gun, she told them how they all got there.
Sitting at the foot of the bed, Lauren cried uncontrollably. Her brother had left a half hour ago. She'd finally given in and told him she'd stay. She hadn't known what else to do or say.
Her cell phone interrupted her crying. Sniffing and trying to get herself under control, she answered the phone.
"Hello."
"I understand you're at the apartment now?" he asked in a chilling voice.
Recognizing Victor's voice, Lauren felt sick to her stomach. "You're a monster," was all she could think of to say.
"This actually works better for me," he continued as if she hadn't said anything. "I'm in D.C. much more frequently. I'll be there tonight sometime after midnight. You can expect a visitor shortly after I arrive. Wear the black."
"I knew I had to get away or die trying. I could do it anymore. I couldn't," Lauren said as she looked up at Danny. "I left the apartment, took a cab to my mother's and then stole her car. The only reason she didn't report it missing was because she knew it would lead to him being exposed."
"Why didn't you come back to New York?" Danny asked in a gentle tone. "I...I would have helped you."
"You don't know how much I wanted to. But he set my brother up…I was terrified to think of what he'd do to you…your family…your career. I couldn't…I couldn't jeopardize you like that. I couldn't," she said as tears streamed down her face. "So I started to drive south instead."
"What happened outside of Richmond, Virginia? That's where they found your mom's car. Who's blood was in the car? Did someone try to hurt you?" he asked as he reached out to touch the bruises around her neck, but she flinched and back away, still with a tight grip on the gun.
"My mother must have called him as soon as she realized I'd taken the car…because he found me within a couple of hours. I was driving on the Interstate, and it was getting late. I was tired, so I pulled off at a rest stop to sleep for a while.
After using the lady's room at the rest area, Lauren made her way back to the car. Spotting a black SUV a few parking spaces away from her, she began to feel nervous. The rest area was vacant except for her car and the SUV. She moved as quickly as possible to get to the car, and then reached out to open her door. Before she could react, she felt someone rush up behind her and pin her against her car. Then just as quickly, he spun her around and slammed her back against the car.
It was him, Victor Fitzgerald. He kept one hand on her throat while his other hand twisted her arm behind her back.
"I thought I said we were playing our game tonight? Did you not hear me right?" he whispered in her ear.
Completely terrified, Lauren felt like she was an animal caught in a trap. "Please…please let me go. I can't do this anymore."
"Why? Because you're in love with him? I told you, he could be a part of the game, too."
"No! No!" Lauren pleaded." He has nothing to do with this. I'm never going to see him again. I just can't…I just—"
"It's the only thing that makes you worth a damn. Don't fight me on this. You'll lose," he said as he tightened her twisted arm even more.
Cringing with pain and taking a breath, Lauren responded. "Let go of me. I'll go back with you," she said in a defeated tone.
Just as he started to loosen his grip and move away, she pulled her arm away and took a swing at him using her key as a weapon. The key gashed at his face and he winced in pain. She tried to run, but he recovered too quickly and grabbed her arm. Grabbing the keys out of her hand, he opened the back door of the car, pushed her down onto the back seat and got on top of her.
He put his hands around her neck again and squeezed. There was blood dripping from his cheekbone, as he was taking her breath away. But suddenly he stopped right before she could pass out. Gasping for breath, Lauren started to cry again. For a moment, she had hoped that he would just kill her, but instead he seemed intent on punishing her.
He stayed on top of her as she started to breath normally again. Looking up at him, she saw pure evil in his eyes. She couldn't understand why he wasn't moving away from her, and then she felt him move above her, and a feeling of dread overwhelmed her.
"It's time, once and for all, for you to understand. You belong to me. I should have broken you myself a long time ago," he stated in a sinister, cold tone..
She heard the sound of a zipper unzipping.
"You're mine," was the the last thing he said to her.
Her mind raced with ways to get away from him…to make him stop. Trying to feel around on the floor of the back seat, she grabbed for a flashlight under the seat. He hadn't been paying attention as he moved above her. Running on pure adrenaline and fear, she swung and struck his head as hard as she could. He was knocked out immediately.
"After he passed out, I got out from beneath him. I think I was in shock because I don't even remember putting him in the SUV. All I remember is finding myself driving back to New York with his gun in my hand. That's when I thought about calling Martin. It's the only way I thought he'd suffer. This house belongs to a friend of mine who's away in LA. I had a key to water her plants. I got him in here and cuffed him to the chair. And then I waited until he woke up, and called Martin," Lauren relayed in a surprising calm tone.
Danny was now sitting across from her on the floor. A few times, he'd tried to comfort her, but she hadn't wanted him to touch her. Occasionally, he'd lock eyes with Martin as she told them the horrific tale, but what he hadn't done was look at Victor.
Not knowing what else he could say to Lauren, he stood up and took out his gun.
"Danny…Danny, what are you doing?" Martin asked. He'd seen the cold look in Danny's eyes and knew what Danny intended to do.
Victor had been looking down the whole time, but upon hearing Martin's voice, he looked up and met Danny's glare.
Taking a few steps toward Victor, Danny raised his gun and aimed. "Explain to me how you could hurt someone so much? All for what? For your own sick, sadistic pleasure?"
Victor shook his head. "She's lying. She's lying."
"Then why is your blood in her car in Virginia?" Danny asked.
"Her mother asked me to help find her—"
Shaking his head, Danny yelled, "Shut up! Shut. Up!"
Quickly, Danny flipped the safety off his gun. "You…you don't deserve to live. And she shouldn't have to pay for killing you. She's suffered enough—"
"Danny! Danny! No!" Martin shouted.
Ignoring Martin, Danny moved closer and put the gun to Victor's head. "See you in hell."
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Lauren called out, "Don't…please don't do this, Danny. Please! He's not worth it."
Danny closed his eyes when he heard her voice.
"I'm going to let Martin go," Lauren continued. "Just like you asked me to."
Turning, he watched as she left the gun on the floor and stood up. She walked behind Martin and uncuffed his wrists.
"It's over, Danny. I'll do whatever you tell me to do. But you don't have to kill him for me. I'd die if something happened to you because of me," Lauren said as she walked towards him.
As if awakening from a trance, Danny put the safety on his gun and holstered it. Then, he slowly walked over to Lauren.
Lauren just sighed in relief as she wiped a couple of tears from her eyes.
Martin rose from the chair and approached them.
"What are we going to do now?" he asked, careful not to make eye contact with this father.
"Jack followed us here," Danny replied not taking his eyes off of Lauren. "There's probably a tactical team out there right now."
"So that means…" Martin started, but then stopped.
Biting her lip, Lauren said, "That means they are going to arrest me."
Danny nodded. "Do you trust me?"
"Yes," she answered emphatically.
"You're going to surrender to the authorities, but you aren't going to say a word. I'll get you a lawyer, and we'll figure everything out."
Lauren nodded in agreement as she seemed to get strength from just looking into his eyes.
"Martin, can you uncuff him?" Danny asked as he looked at Victor. "This will go easier if you and him go out first."
"Right," Martin replied quietly as he took the keys from Lauren and walked over to his father.
As soon as Martin approached him, Victor started talking. "I'll prove that she's lying when we—"
"Stop it. Just stop it. I don't want hear your voice right now," Martin said as he uncuffed Victor.
Victor took a few moments to gather himself as Martin headed for the door.
"I'll call you on the two-way, as soon as Tactical says they are ready," Martin said.
"Okay," Danny replied as he kept his eyes focused on Lauren.
"You're going to be okay. I'll tell them to take you to the hospital, so you won't have to go to jail. And then we'll expedite a bail hearing. It's over, Lauren. Okay?" he said as he reached out to stroke her arms.
This time, she let him touch her as she felt an overwhelming since of relief. "Yeah, okay—"
"Dad! Dad! No!" Martin called out.
Danny looked up to see Victor aiming a gun at Lauren. Making a quick move to shield her, he heard the gun go off.