Trapped (3 page)

“Well, I was wondering if you could contact Liam Gallagher for me. I know that you’re not close with him, and you barely know him, but he’s the only person I can think of who lives in London. I know that he has a palatial mansion, too, and I hope that he might take in two vagabonds who have no place to go.”

“And then what?” dad asked. “What are you going to do once you’re over there?”

“Try to make it in the London art scene. Luke and I both are eager to re-start our art careers. London would be the perfect place to do it. And, while we’re there, we’ll be thinking of ways to get around the whole Nottingham thing. I know that there’s an underlying solution to this whole thing, that will involve both of us eventually returning to New York with our heads held high, but I just don’t know what that solution would be just yet.”

Dad shook his head. “Oh, god, is there any way that I can talk you out of this?”

“No,” I said. “I’m doing it, with your help or without. Luke and I are both pretty broke, although he does have some money saved up from the proceeds from his show. That money will go fast, though, in an expensive city such as London. I would love to have a place to stay while we both try to get established. So, please, dad, please could you talk to grandma Maggie about talking to Liam? I know that she’s in touch with her cousins, so it probably would be best to be coming from her.”

Dad shook his head, defeated. His shoulders were slumped, and his head was down.

“Okay,” he finally said. “I’ll do what I can.”

Chapter 3

Ryan

On the way home from dinner, I drove to my house with my wife by my side. She wasn’t saying a word. But her eyes conveyed to me that she was in as much pain as I was about this whole mess. If that was even possible, because I felt that I couldn’t feel much lower than I did right at that moment.

I reached over for her hand, and she took it and gave me a weak smile. “I know what you’re thinking, and none of this is your fault. Or mine, for that matter. We’ve always known that she was going to be handful. Right from the very start. I still remember the first time that I knew that she was special. She said a word when she was just four months old, and knew what it meant. I knew, right then and there, that she was going to give us trouble.”

I sighed. “I know, beautiful. I know it’s not our fault. But it doesn’t make any of this any easier. What’s going to happen when Nottingham inevitably finds out what’s going on? Then what? Our daughter will be lucky if she doesn’t wind up serving time in prison, that’s what. But how do we stop her? Aside from chaining her up in our basement, that is.” I shook my head. “The sad thing is, she’s almost right. There’s very little that she can do in this situation that will have a good outcome. Of course, when Nottingham finds her and slaps her with felony kidnapping charges, he’s going to be the sole custodian of that child.”

Iris shook her head, tears in her eyes. “What can be done, here? I mean, within the bounds of the law, that is. We shoot the dice and hope that we get an understanding judge who will terminate Nottingham’s rights? I just don’t see that happening.”

She took a deep breath. I knew what was next. “Tell me about Paul Lucas.”

I shook my head. “I never wanted you to find out about that. But I know that you know the story of what he was doing to Scotty.”

“I do. I remember.”

“Well, Nick was at the end of his rope with that one. He was a complete waste of breath, that Paul Lucas, and he was threatening to completely make Scotty’s life a living hell, even more than he already was. He threatened her, saying that she wouldn’t be able to get a job in her field, and he unfortunately had the power to do just that. Make sure that she was a total pariah in the architecture world. And Nick had just had enough.”

Iris nodded. “So, Nick forced him to commit suicide? He as good as murdered that man?”

“Yes. And I helped him plan it.”

Iris got silent at that point. I took her hand, and rubbed it. “Talk to me, beautiful. What’s on your mind?”

“I have mixed emotions about that, to be honest with you. I mean, I know that, sometimes, people literally don’t deserve to live. If they’re serial killers or serial rapists like that Paul Lucas, or something like that, the world is better off without them. But, at the same time, Dalilah was right. You and Nick were the judge, jury and executioner of that man. Is it any wonder that she won’t listen to a word you say?”

“I never wanted that incident to be known. I never intended-“

“Yes, of course. You didn’t intend for Dalilah to find out about it. Yet, she did. She did, and now she thinks that breaking the law is the right thing to do, as long as the outcome is beneficial to her. She can’t get beyond that way of thinking, because her parents have not exactly shown her that there is a better way.”

I knew that Iris was right about that, of course. As much as I wanted to bury, completely bury, what Nick and I had done all those years ago, I wasn’t able to. And Dalilah now thought that my way was best, I guess. The ends justify the means. I felt just like The Prince in Niccolo Machiavelli’s novel about achieving ends with incredibly corrupt means. And the fact that I had passed this thinking down to my daughter devastated me beyond measure.

Iris squeezed my hand. “What’s done is done. Anyhow, it probably doesn’t really matter that you’ve done despicable things in your past. I think that Dalilah probably would have turned out just the same. And you know that she’s going to do what she’s going to do, no matter how much we lecture her against it. So, we might as well get in touch with Liam Gallagher, and ask if he’ll take Dalilah and Luke in. If we don’t, they’ll end up running away to London without any visible means of support, and then god knows what will happen.”

I shook my head. “That’s kind of ridiculous, too, if you ask me. I mean, I could buy her a gorgeous flat over there, in a safe neighborhood. But you know that she wouldn’t take it. She has never accepted my attempts to support her. Yet, she doesn’t mind staying with a total stranger. She makes no sense to me, sometimes.”

“Ah, but she’s twenty. I don’t think that you’re supposed to make a lot of sense at that age, do you?”

“Touché. I just hope and pray that this whole thing doesn’t blow up in everybody’s face.”

Iris sighed. “Even if it does, hopefully it will all turn out. I mean, look at all that blew up in our face when we first got together. And look at us now. It can work out.”

I shook my head. “Yes, but we got lucky. You know we did. I should’ve died when Andrew shot me. One millimeter to the left or right, and I would have. I would have bled out before the ambulance got there. You should have died when Rochelle attacked you. And who the hell knows what would have happened had Nick not dragged you back from the West coast when you left me. I was so close to getting back to using, you can’t even imagine. My will was dying a little bit every day. Everything worked out in the end, but it shouldn’t have. It really shouldn’t have.”

“I know,” Iris said. “I know. We made our share of mistakes. Especially me. Now it’s our daughter’s turn. I hate to be fatalistic about it all, and please don’t think that I’m taking this all lightly, because I’m not. But we really can’t stop what she’s going to do, so we just have to hope and pray that it will all turn out all right. And calling Liam and having him take in Dalilah and Luke will certainly be a step in the right direction.”

“I know. Which is why I’m going to do just that. But not before I talk to my mother to make sure that Liam is an okay guy. I wish that we could go with her to check it all out, and make sure that she’s not going from the frying pan into the fire. But I guess if my mother gives the go-ahead, that should be good enough.”

That was really all I could do. Give Dalilah and safe place to land, and hope and pray that it all would work out.

Chapter 4

Dalilah

The past few days had been a whirlwind. Luke and I pretty much packed up our clothes, and he got the rest of his money out of the bank. Then we hightailed it out of New York City on my dad’s private plane. I wasn’t going to let my dad support me, still, but I wasn’t totally stupid. Nor was I above borrowing his private plane for the journey across the pond.

From what I understood, Liam was willing to take us in. Even though he didn’t know either of us from Adam. My father assured me that Liam was going to put out the welcome mat for Luke and me, and I was grateful for that. Just because we were kinda sorta family. Distant family, but family nonetheless.

We landed at Heathrow some seven hours after we departed. Both of us were jet-lagged and stressed. And I had been puking the entire way there, too. It was bad enough that I was pregnant, and feeling nauseated non-stop. The traveling didn’t help matters at all.

I stepped out on the tarmac, and there was Liam, standing there with a sign that said “Dalilah” on it. He was a Gallagher, as far as looks go. The dark hair and the light eyes of my father and grandmother, and he was as tall as my dad, too. He was really a strikingly handsome guy, with his thick wavy hair and dimples, and it was also evident that, underneath the business suit he wore, he had a lean and muscular frame.

I squeezed Luke’s hand, and he looked at me, concerned.

“Don’t worry,” I whispered. “He might be hot, but not as hot as you.”

Luke shook his head. I could see worry on his face, and the worry was heightened as Liam looked at me appreciatively. Too appreciatively. He might be a cousin, but he was a distant cousin, so I suppose that his appreciative looks weren’t too creepy.

“Hello, there, Dalilah Gallagher,” he said, his handsome face lighting up. “Right happy to meet somebody from my dad’s side of the family.”

Luke went over the shake his hand, and Liam gripped Luke’s hand heartily. “Hello, mate. You must be the lucky bloke who stole this beautiful lass’ heart. I’m Liam.”

“Luke,” he said. “I’m so sorry, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what Dalilah said about how you’re related to her. That’s all so confusing for me.”

“Not a problem, mate. Her grandmother is the sister to my grandfather. I guess that makes us cousins several times removed or something of the sort. But she’s a Gallagher, so that’s right good enough for me. Family is family, isn’t it?”

At that, he picked up my suitcases, and started to wheel another of my suitcases behind him. We walked through the airport parking lot to Liam’s vehicle, which was a Mercedes SUV. Luke raised his eyebrows, although I don’t know why he was surprised. I had warned him about Liam’s wealth when we were on the plane on the way over here.

I knew that Luke was intimidated, and I hoped that he wouldn’t be. I squeezed his hand, and both of us rode in the backseat of Liam’s SUV, much to his dismay.

“Oh, come on, mates, I don’t smell bad, do I? You’re making me feel like a bloody chauffeur.”

“I’m sorry, Liam,” I said. “It’s been a long, strange trip, and we’re both disoriented. I hope you don’t mind if we ride in the back together.”

Liam shook his head. “Crikey. Oh, well, I guess if you both have that bug up your arse, I can’t do much about it, can I?”

In spite of myself, I suppressed a giggle. I wasn’t going to tell Luke, but I was digging Liam’s accent and Britishisms.

Liam hummed a tune while we drove along through heavy traffic. “I suppose you two are pretty exhausted, aren’t you?” he asked, looking in the rear-view mirror at the two of us huddled together in the back seat. The movement of the car was making me feel like I wanted to hurl. Which was really an expected thing, considering all of the stress that was going on, combined with my hormones going wild.

“Exhausted isn’t the word,” I said. “We’re both jet-lagged, and I, for one, am feeling like I’ve been hit by a semi.”

“Well, that’s too bad,” he said. “I’m looking to sign a new band, so I’m going to a club tonight. If you two feel up to it, you’re welcome to come, of course. But something tells me that you both are going to be staying at home.”

“You’re going to a club to see about a band?” I said. Liam was the CEO of his massively successful record label, Gallagher Records, so I was surprised that he was still doing things like scouting his own talent for the label.

“Of course,” he said. “I have to stay hungry, don’t I? Besides, even hard-working CEOs have to have a little fun once in awhile, don’t we?”

“Sure, of course,” I said. “Maybe Luke and I will feel up to coming with you.” Suddenly, that sounded like just the thing that I needed. It just might take my mind off of what was going on.

Luke and I had decided that we had to go ahead and live our lives the way that we were in the States, which meant that neither of us took an assumed name. After talking it through, we realized that was the only thing that we could do, as both us were going to concentrate on getting back into the art scene in London. So, there couldn’t be any kind of shielding of our identities. We also decided that we had to live our normal lives. That would mean going to clubs with Liam when the situation called for it.

I actually hadn’t heard from Nottingham since I left the night that he beat me. This surprised me, yet didn’t surprise me at the same time. It was as if that night broke the fever that he had that made him obsessed with me in the first place. Nevertheless, I still knew, in my heart and gut, that if he found out about the baby, he would become obsessed about the child. It would be his perfect method of revenge, getting his hands on the kid.

Beyond that, Luke and I had no good answers. Usually, I could think my way out of a situation like this one, but the extreme stress and the hormones coursing through my body was making my thinking extremely foggy. At the back of my mind, I knew that there was a solution. I knew that there was. I just had to take my mind off of my stress and confusion, and I hoped that getting settled into Liam’s home would give me the presence of mind to figure it out.

“What kind of band are you looking at?” Luke asked Liam.

“It’s a band that has a really retro sound. I can’t really explain it, except that the sound is something out of the early 1980s. I have a good sense that retro is going to be making a comeback. Everything old is new again, right?”

“Punk or New Wave?” Luke asked.

“Fusion of both, with a little bit of Ska mixed in. I have a feeling that, with the right promotion, this band has the potential to make it big.”

Luke looked at me. “Dalilah, what do you think? Are you feeling up to going to the club tonight?”

“I am, Luke. It might do both of us a lot of good.”

“Okay, then,” he said. “Liam, we’d like to join you tonight.”

Liam smiled at both of us, and nodded his head. “Right. Well, I guess you two don’t have a stick up your arse after all.”

Luke squeezed my hand, and we soon arrived at Liam’s home, which was in the Surrey suburb. It was an enormous Tudor-style home, with a brick façade, a circular drive with an enormous three-tiered fountain in the middle of the drive, and a perfectly manicured lawn. It was the type of home that I was used to, growing up. Luke, on the other hand, was sitting next to me, looking more intimidated than ever.