How to Kill Your Boss (25 page)

“He loved you, Mom. I saw it in his eyes, the way he looked at you, the way he touched you. He loved you.”

“Yes, he did. Because I gave him you. You’re the only girl he truly gave his heart to.”

My broken pieces shattered into a million more.

I’d never look at my mother through the same eyes again. After our long and emotional talk, we headed outside for fresh air. The sun was out, the beach was busy, so I figured it was safe. If Jay were out there, he wouldn’t dare make a move.

I longed for Franklin. My body didn’t feel right without him near. He hadn’t called or texted since the night we left the safe house. I had to trust him, or drive myself bat shit crazy with worry. I didn’t need any more crazy, so I sucked it up and tried to keep my mind busy. It helped having Mom with me.

We walked in silence for a few blocks. One more question burned a hole in my gut. “Mom. Do you regret being with Dad?”

Grabbing my shoulder, she stopped and turned. “Never. I never want you to think that. Love doesn’t always look or feel the way we think it ought to. And I never want you to look down at your father for his infidelities or feel sorry for me. I knew who I was marrying. I never asked or expected him to be anything other than who he’d always been.”

She sucked in a deep breath and grabbed my hand, marching back into a brisk pace. “He was exactly who I needed, when I needed him. He was an amazing father and we did have fun together.”

Did amazing fathers use their children to train future killers? I wanted to ask if she knew about Franklin, but deep down, I honestly didn’t want to know. Or, maybe I didn’t want to see her in the same light as Dad.

“Should we get a coffee?” I asked. We were close to my favorite coffee shop and I needed a caffeine boost.

“I’d love some tea.”

We jaywalked and slipped inside. “I’m running to the ladies room. Be right back.” She handed me her sweatshirt and I laid it on the chair next to me over my phone. My phone that still hadn’t buzzed.

I slipped into the bistro-sized table and perused the small menu. A sharp sting pierced my side. A pungent cologne filled my nostrils. “Come with me. Don’t make a sound, don’t struggle, and no one gets hurt.”

Holy shocker of all shockers. He
did
dare to make a move. “Jay,” I grumbled through my teeth without making eye contact. “What the hell are you doing?”

He bent over me and feigned a hug. “Stand the fuck up and come with me.” The sharp object dug deeper into my skin.

“Okay, okay.” I stood, searching for a fork, a knife, a napkin holder, anything I could use to defend myself, but everything was out of reach. I searched the small room for a pair of eyes I could connect with and plead for help. Everyone’s heads hung on their shoulders, worshipping their smart phones or tablets or laptops.

Shit.

Something sharp and cold pierced the skin above my hipbone. I grimaced and he pulled me away from the table. “I’ve got someone in the bathroom with your mother. You don’t cooperate, she’s not walking out of there.”

I stumbled alongside him to the rear exit. A needle pierced my neck. Everything went fuzzy—the tables, the people, the door. He pulled me outside, shoved me into the backseat of a waiting car, then forced the full weight of his body on top of me.

“Drive,” he ordered. The car rolled forward. I looked up to see long blond hair in the front seat. Then a dark tunnel, then nothing.

* * * *

The throbbing rhythm in my head, accompanied by stabbing jolts of pain, coaxed me from my state of unconsciousness. Darkness surrounded me, thank goodness. Light would’ve made my eyeballs explode. A faint hum carried on its business to my left. To my right, a heavily shaded window did little to drown out the street noise. I was a couple stories up, that much I could deduce.

Panic tore through me when I realized my hands were bound to the chair I sat on. As the dizzying buzz in my brain faded, and memories swooped down on me, blood-boiling anger pushed the terror away.

That son of a bitch swiped me from my favorite cafe. In broad daylight. How in the hell do people not notice somebody being kidnapped? What’s wrong with this world?

The creak of the door behind me made me jump. “One-Date.” A creepy chuckle hung in the air behind me like bad breath in a small space. “Long time, huh?”

A soft glow illuminated the room, revealing a small office. Jay sauntered into my field of vision then squatted at my feet, placing his hands with surprising tenderness above my knees. The gesture that appeared so natural to him was completely vile to me. “I must say. You’ve grown up quite nicely.” The prick offered a warm smile.

“Where’s my mom?” I asked with an embarrassing tremble to my voice. “Did you hurt her?”

He clapped my thighs, then stood. “No, no. You came like a good little girl. We didn’t touch her.” He walked to the window and propped the shade to look out.

“You lied, didn’t you?” My voice shook. “There was nobody in the bathroom with her. You said that to make me go with you.”

Leaning a shoulder against the window, he pretended to inspect his nails. “It worked.”

Yes, it did. I was such an idiot. “What’s going on here, Jay? What’s the plan? You’ve been stalking me for weeks—”

“Months,” he interrupted. “Two months to be exact.”

Prickles of fear danced across my scalp. “Okay, months. Why?”

Showing way too much of the white between his lips, Jay crossed his hands over his heart. “Tatum. You were the one girl I wanted. The only girl I never had. I couldn’t wait a moment longer to be with you.”

I laughed. “Oh, my God.” I threw my head back and laughed so hard, hot tears ran down my cheeks. Had I gone crazy? Maybe. Laughing was better than screaming or crying. Relieved tension, just the same. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

He stalked toward me. I’d expected to see anger on his face. Instead, he laughed, too, like we shared a private joke or something.

“Every girl in school threw themselves at you. You never looked at me twice.”

Jay crossed his arms, tilted his head and pursed his lips. “Not buying it, huh? You’re half right. I had my pick of bitches. Didn’t want them, though, want to know why?”

“Sure, Jay. Why don’t you fill me in?”

“You were the hottest chick in school. The cool thing is, you didn’t know it. All the other girls, they wanted me for my money.”

“Oh, come on. You’re certainly not ugly. I’m sure that aside from Daddy’s deep pockets and the creepy stalker thing you’ve got going on, you have plenty to offer a lady.”

He didn’t appear to appreciate my wit. His dimples disappeared.

“That’s precisely the problem. I had more than enough to offer. Someone stole that from me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I got the shit beat out of me for teasing a certain girl at school. Broken arm, ribs, cracked cheekbone. Any of this ring a bell?”

Oh. Shit. I nodded my head. “You’re blaming that on me? How in the hell was that my fault?”

He shrugged his shoulders. His face beamed crimson with barely contained rage. “Well, you know, grudges and shit.”

Oh, God, he wanted to make me pay for what Dad did to him all those years ago. I rocked the chair back and forth, struggling to loosen the binds. “What’s your plan here, Einstein?”

A spark of amusement danced in his eyes. “We wait.”

“For what?”

“The ghost. He’ll come. He always comes.”

Ghost? Yup, he was crazy.

The familiar clop, clop, clop of heels echoed from behind the door. It creaked open. A proud, toothy grin spread across Jay’s face. “Baby.” He sauntered past me. I heard the rustling of clothes and something that sounded like a wet, breathy kiss.

The heel clomp drew closer, then a familiar voice made me cringe. “Have a nice nap?” The woman stepped in front of me.

I noticed her shoes first. Red platforms, adorning a pair of naked, fake-tanned, albeit toned, legs. She wore a springy floral number with a flouncy skirt and fitted bodice that accentuated a pair of obviously fake tits.

Dahlia Montgomery.

“Hmm.” She took me in with an amused grin for a long, uncomfortable spell. “I don’t get it, Jay. What’s so special about this tiny thing?”

I pulled at my binds. “Seriously. Could someone please let me in on the joke?”

“I’d be happy to.” Dahlia plopped her perky rear on a desk across from me. “Wallace Cruse.”

A dull ache throbbed in the pit of my stomach. “What about him?”

“The man was a miserable, lying, greedy son of a bitch. He ruined my marriage, ruined my life. Took everything from me.”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

“Oh, come on now. You want me to believe you weren’t in on his elaborate scheme?”

“This isn’t funny anymore. What’s going on?” I asked, desperately trying to hold the panic at bay.

“Jay, darling. I get the feeling she’s telling the truth. She’s clueless. Too bad, huh?”

“Yeah, baby. Too fucking bad.” Jay smirked.

“I loved my husband and was loyal to a fault, despite his multiple affairs. I made the mistake of telling him I’d leave if he didn’t stop seeing other women. He assumed I’d take him for everything he’s worth. Who knows, maybe someday I would have. At the time, I’d had no intention. He hired Wallace to investigate me and dig up dirt. There wasn’t any. Like I said, I was faithful. So Cruse Investigations made up dirt. Made sure I got screwed in the divorce settlement.”

“You had an affair. There were compromising photos.”

“No, dear. I didn’t.” Dahlia reached into her handbag and pulled out a stack of glossy photos. “Do you recognize any of these people?” One by one, she showed me the pictures and watched my response. She stopped at a handsome man and wiggled it in front of my nose. “Doesn’t ring a bell?” Her lips pursed when I shook my head. “This is the bastard your boss hired to pose as my supposed lover. He’s an actor. All of these people are actors Mr. Cruse hired at one time or another.”

I stared, dumbfounded and pissed off. Of course he would hire phonies to make his cases and earn hefty bonuses. I knew the sleaze-ball was scum, but this was a low I hadn’t expected. He’d built his empire on a lie. A lie I just inherited.

After dropping the
Wallace was a bigger dick than I imagined
bomb, Jay and Dahlia left me to stew in my murderous juices. I hated Wallace Cruse. He shit all over my father’s company, then handed it to me.

I sat, tied to an office chair, and simmered. It sucked, hearing that my father’s business had been turned into a seedy house of lies and deceit. Did these crazy loons kill Wallace? Was I next? My head spun. They still hadn’t let me in on why I was there. I suppose, for a kidnapping, things could’ve gone worse. I was in a comfortable chair, a warm room, and they’d given me a drink of water.

I heard their muffled voices through the thin walls. They started to yell.

“This has gone too far, Jay. We got Wallace. Let her go.”

“No, the asshole will come. He’s getting what’s due.”

“Come on, baby, this was supposed to be about Wallace. We took care of him, she’ll go to jail. Isn’t that punishment enough?”

Glass shattered. “Bitch. You don’t understand. This is my only chance to get that fucker. He ruined me.”

Clomp, clomp, clomp. “Oh Jesus, you truly are insane. Get over it, it was years ago. It’s not her fault you were a bully.”

Smack. “Ahh!” Dahlia cried out. I felt the sting, and despite being furious, winced for her. “No, Jay. Stop,” she begged.

Grunts. Bangs. The wall behind me rattled.

I had a hard time persuading my heart to stop racing. What asshole might come? Who were they talking about?

The wall-rattling subsided. I heard mumbles, pleading, then a loud thud followed by a louder crash. Glass shattered outside the door. Jay shouted, “Shit! Shit! Stupid bitch.”

My heart no longer raced—it exploded with a series of rib-cracking whacks. I struggled to breathe, and my eyes blurred with tears of fear.

“Stupid cunt. Couldn’t keep your mouth shut for one goddamned second,” Jay cried and burst through the door. “This is your fault. Your fucking fault.” Spittle moistened my face as he screamed at me. A splash of something dark dotted his shirt and neck.

“What’s my fault? What did I do?” I screamed back, trying to shake my arms loose. “I don’t know what I did or why the hell I’m here.”

Jay’s chest rose and fell in angry heaves. His eyes danced wild and crazed, darting from my face to the door. “You cunts are all the same. Playing dumb. Dear old Dad was right about one thing.” He paced back and forth in front of me, one hand on his hip, the other pulling the hair on top of his head. “Tits and ass. Tits and ass. That’s all you bitches are good for.”

“Where’s Dahlia? What did you do?” I whispered. I didn’t want the answer but I needed to gauge how much trouble I was in. “Jay. Jay!” He ceased pacing and turned toward me. “What did you do?”

“You were always such a daddy’s girl, you know that?” he scoffed. “Such a little prude.” He clawed both hands through his hair and laced his fingers at the back of his head. “Couldn’t take a fucking joke.”

“Goddammit, Jay. What are you talking about?”

“You had big tits! Every boy in school talked about your chest. Why the fuck did I get punished for it? I would’ve been running the fucking company by now.” He squatted at my feet and grabbed my forearms. “Do you know what? I was set for life. Now, I’m the crazy fucking son who’s too unstable to work in the goddamned mail room.” His fingernails scored my flesh. “That asshole stole my future. Now, I’m stealing his.”

Jay stood and took two steps back, dragging his tongue slowly between his lips. Dipping his chin, he raised his eyes to mine, then slowly lifted his hands to his belt buckle. A crooked grin spread across his face. My blood turned to ice when he pulled the leather through the loop. My throat closed. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t swallow, couldn’t form a word. This wasn’t happening. No. The room narrowed to the insane man standing in front of me. The devil danced in his eyes, promising retribution.

I wanted Franklin to burst through the door or smash through the window and rescue me from this nightmare. He was a million miles away, and I would never see him again. The last words I’d spoken to him were “I hate you,” right before he kissed the ever-loving shit out of me. Had I known that would be our last kiss, I would’ve…oh God, no. It wasn’t going to be our last goodbye. I had to fight. I had to at least try.