Reckless (37 page)

“Wait Ethan, aren’t you going to help me?”

He turns around looking me up and down, “No … I changed my mind.”

“
ETHAN!”
He continues to walk out while I chase after him, but I am stopped when another man walks in.

 
“Ma’am, I am here to take possession of all household items to pay back taxes on behalf of Mr. Butch Castor.”

Ava

According to Sean, time is flying by. According to Sean, that is, but he isn’t the one carrying a bowling ball or been unable to sleep for the last eight weeks. This baby is nearly ready to be born and Sean is even more protective of me than usual. I try to be patient with him and his overprotective ways, but I am becoming anxious and I need to get out of the house. I need something to distract me.

I pull out the mail to find some magazines or even some junk mail to read, and stuck in the middle of it all is a letter addressed to me. I don’t recognize the handwriting, but I am curious and bored enough to not care.

My Dear Ava,

I have to say I am quite surprised that you haven’t come to visit me and gloat, but then again you do still have some time. Anyway, I would actually love to see you if you ever get a chance. I want to apologize. It has been hard to come to terms with what I have done, but I promise I am truly remorseful for what has happened. Ethan said at one time he could help me stay out of jail, I assume that he can also help me get out. My attorney said personal references could go a long way. If you could get them to make some calls for me, I would be so grateful. I promise I will never bother you again or ask for anything else ever again.

Please Ava, it is so scary here and they have taken everything from me. Even when I get out I am not sure what I will do. My career is surely over and Joel is not expected to get out for some time. His father is long gone and all of Joel’s money with him. I have nothing and will have even less when I get out, but the thought of staying here any longer is so terrifying. I have been threatened and beaten, I don’t know how much longer I can survive in here. I am so frightened. I would call, but Sean threatened to make things worse for me if I ever contacted any of you. I had to try something, though. I hope this letter finds you well and that you are able to find it in your heart to forgive me before it is too late. If I do not survive before I am able to speak to you again, please know, I don’t blame you. I do believe you to be one of the kindest and most sincerely wonderful people I have ever met. If nothing else please visit me and let me apologize properly to you.

Best Wishes,

Rebecca

I twist the envelope right and left until I see a prison stamp. Rebecca must have assumed I would know how to get a hold of her, but since I don’t, then obviously Sean must. Anger and fear course through me as I try to remember everything he said, Ethan said, the actions of the both of them including short trips to L.A. I never thought to question.

“Okay, I got you a little bit of everything since I wasn’t sure what you would want,” Sean says, walking in with several bags of groceries. I stare at him intently as he approaches. “What?”

“I got a letter today,” I wave it at him until he takes it from me. “What is going on Sean?”

“That fucking bitch! Don’t worry about it, I will take care of it.” He slams the letter to his side cursing under his breath.

“What did you do Sean?”

“I didn’t do anything, now relax and forget all about it.”

“I don’t understand. Rebecca is in jail? For what? And Joel? I don’t know what is going on, but I am pretty damn sure you and Ethan do and at the very least have some responsibility for it.”

“Baby, calm down.”

“No! Not until you tell me what that letter is all about.”

I can see him contemplating, but he eventually sighs and looks at me with his hands on hips, “We set them up.”

“Set them up how?”

“We hung out some bait for Joel to take. He took it and spent all of his money on a failing business.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because he thought he had outsmarted Ethan and I, buying it before we could. Then he decided to celebrate.” He begins to laugh. “Although
celebrate
doesn’t do it justice. I never imagined him buying that much.” He glances back at my irritated face and straightens. “He bought a lot of drugs and other things he shouldn’t have. I had a feeling he would do something like that, so we made a few calls and had his house raided and surprise, I was right.”

“And?”

“And they were arrested and that’s that.”

“No it isn’t, I know better than that Sean. I’m not stupid and that letter said Joel’s father took off. Why would he do that?”

He rolls his eyes, sitting at the edge of the bed. “That was more of calling attention to his own stupidity. The man was making a ton of money and not paying any taxes on it. So they convicted him, of all kinds of charges, things we didn’t even know about so they liquidated as much as they could to pay back his debt. In the meantime, he took off to hide what little he managed to save.”

“What about the movie?”

“It was sold.”

“To who?” He smiles at me. “You?” He nods.

“Ethan and I both, since it was our company that bought it. We are working on getting it back on track, hoping to get it released sometime this next summer - early fall at the latest.”

“And Rebecca and Joel are serving time on drug possession charges?”

“Yes, and no. Ethan also got Rebecca to confess to some additional charges, crimes that she and Joel both committed. Such as, tampering with my breaks, drugging you and attacking you several times. We didn’t do anything illegal, we simply know the right people to call and the rest was betting on them being themselves.”

“How did you set the bait?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Mom.” My eyes widened with shock. Sean laughs, “I have to give her credit, the woman still has it. We sent them tickets to a restaurant opening that we knew they couldn’t refuse and Mom went with Bobby, making sure to run into them
accidently
, baiting them perfectly.”

“Oh, I don’t want to know.” I said, hiding my face in my hands.

“The only surprise was that stupid Joel bought a puppy. We knew that wouldn’t sit too well with you, forcing another puppy into the pound.”

“Hollywood?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes. We got the paperwork needed for Randy to go in there and pour on the charm, and he walked right out of there with no problems. Of course, we also made a sizeable donation so they would not think to call anybody about it. He barely got out of there before Rebecca showed up. We shouldn’t have bailed her out so soon, but who would have ever thought she would ever think to rescue the puppy?”

“I’m not going to ask.”

“Probably best. When we got back from Ireland I went to check on them both. Joel was ready to tear me apart - I enjoyed that immensely. Rebecca was more subdued. She made small talk for a few minutes, then started yelling at me to help her, that I owed her for helping convict Joel on more charges. Then she calmed again and started asking about you, which pissed me off, so I told her if she ever came near you I would find a way to make it worse for her. And now the stupid bitch goes and writes you. I swear … Ava don’t fall for her bullshit. Nothing has happened to her. Hell, she sits in her cell all day watching TV and being a snob to anyone that tries to talk to her, well except for the guard that she is sleeping with to get extra privileges. No one has threatened her or done anything to her, I promise. Trust me, she is fine. Now don’t worry about anything else, both of them are out of our lives for good. All you have to worry about is taking care of yourself and having my baby.”

I wake up to the bright sun beaming through the window. “Good morning,” my overjoyed husband said while rocking our newborn son.

“How is he?” I asked.

“Perfect,” he said, walking over and putting Jayden in my arms. I nuzzle my son while checking all his fingers and toes. “They’re all there, I checked,” Sean said.

The door slowly opens and balloons drift in, “Can we come in?” Mary asked.

“Definitely. Come meet your new grandson.” The whole crew comes in, each of them taking their turn to come over and kiss me and look over Jayden.

“Another beautiful baby Ava,” Kyle said while kissing me, tears already streaming down his face. I grip his hand and he nods before having to go hide his face in Michael’s shoulder.

“I love you,” I said and he nodded, burying deeper into Michael’s shoulder.

Ethan walks over and kisses me. “Well I don’t know what all the crying is about, the boy is only another fine Grant boy, just like his uncle.” I hand him Jayden, much to Ethan’s surprise, but he takes him anyway. “Definitely a Grant, too handsome not to be. So what did you end up naming my nephew,” Ethan asked, cradling Jayden as Abbey plays with him at his side.

“Jayden,” Sean said, watching Ethan carefully.

“Jayden, that’s a good name,” Ethan said.

“Jayden … Ethan … Grant,” Sean said confidently with a smile. Ethan looks up in shock, already showing watery eyes. “Well you got Dad’s name, so we took the next best.”

Sean

I can’t take the silence anymore, I don’t care if she is mad at me for being here. “So what are you going to say?” I asked.

“I don’t know for sure,” Ava said, still dazed by the landscape passing by.

“Then can you tell me again why the hell we are doing this?”

“
We
weren’t supposed to be doing anything. But for the tenth time today, I want to see her and verify on my own that she is truly not remorseful about anything.”

“And you think you are going to know that by seeing her?”

“I do, actually.” She said. I shake my head, disbelieving that it could be possible.

“I don’t care what you think Sean. You got your closure - I didn’t.”

“I know Ava, but …”

“But nothing. I deserve this as much as you did.” She yells at me as I pull in and escort her inside.

They are allowing us to talk to Rebecca during off hours so we can have privacy from other visitors. My mind is racing, watching everything around me as I hover over Ava, wanting to grab her and carry her out of here as quickly as possible. This is the exact reason I never told her anything about it in the first place.
Damn she’s so fucking stubborn.
“You know our plane leaves in two hours?” I said, earning her typical shut-up-Sean expression. I fidget tirelessly as we wait for them to get Rebecca. “It’s going to take us at least forty-five minutes to get to the airport and we should try and get there early so …”

“Sean!” She snaps at me. I put my arm around her shoulders mumbling under my breath, but sit up straight when the door opens. Rebecca comes in casually and smug at first, then she eyes us with a sarcastic grin.
I already want to strangle her.
I take notice of Ava’s fists balling up tighter. There is no glass, or barrier of any sort, blocking her from us, only a room-length counter with barriers in between each guest section. I am not sure if I am more worried about Rebecca trying something or Ava, although I probably will not stop Ava.

“Well if it isn’t the couple of the year” Rebecca said, sitting down in front of us, glancing in my direction but concentrating on Ava. “So what do I owe this visit to?”

“I wanted to talk to you, of course. I would have sooner, but I didn’t know you were here until I received your letter,” Ava said.

Rebecca looks hard at me with a slight laugh, “Of course you didn’t, because you two are so open and
honest
with each other.” I roll my eyes leaning into Ava and ignoring the witch across from us.

“Sean did what he thought was best for me at the time, Rebecca,” Ava said.

“Oh that’s right. I heard congratulations are in order. A boy, is that right?”

“Yes,” Ava said.

“And how is he doing?” Rebecca smiled her meaningless smile.

“He’s perfect, and none of your damn business,” I snapped at her.