Page 23 of Loving Vincent

Sixteen

Before she could react and twist around and look at her attacker, her arms were seized, yanked behind her back and tied. She kicked out, her running shoe connecting with something soft. The man cried out in pain and shoved her legs into the van. Jenna could hear Lola’s screams and her heart nearly burst out of her chest. Would he go after Lola next? Would he hurt her?

Jenna began screaming as he slammed the door shut. Even though she was closed in, she continued to scream, trying to get someone’s attention, as he climbed into the driver’s seat and reversed out of the space with enough force to send Jenna rolling across the dirty hard surface of the empty back of the van. She slammed into the side, curling into a ball so her head wouldn’t hit anything.

As soon as she was able to roll onto her back she began screaming bloody murder again.

The guy twisted in his seat to look at her and snarled, “Shut the fuck up, Jenna!”

“Zach!” she gasped, staring at him in disbelief.

He didn’t respond but turned his attention back to the road where he sped away from the grocery store taking almost every turn he saw. Jenna figured he was trying to lose her security team. It wouldn’t take Jenna’s security long to realize what happened and come after them.

“You motherfucking spineless asshole!” Jenna screeched going up onto her knees and crawling forward toward him. “You left our daughter in a parking lot!”

“You’d rather I grabbed her too?” he asked, his voice low and ugly, as though he’d reached the end of his sanity.

“I’d rather you stop being a kidnapping stalker!” she yelled back.

He hit the brakes, stopping fast for a light. Jenna was flung into his seat and then onto her back, knocking the wind out of her and crushing her hands underneath her. She yelped in pain and rolled onto her side. The van started moving again.

“He made me sign custody documents, airtight, I’ll never get to see my daughter again, never see you again,” Zach said venomously. “He threatened my life. This was the only way I would get to see you again, Jenna. You have to understand.” His voice turned pathetic, wheedling.

“You left our daughter in a parking lot!” she shouted back, rage flowing through her with enough force that she was incapable of thinking logically. She wanted him to drop dead instantly. She didn’t care if he took her with him, she wanted to fucking main him in the worst way. He’d caused years of misery with his accusations and legal fights. The final straw was leaving his screaming daughter vulnerable in a parking lot, strapped into her chair. What if the security team didn’t find Lola right away? She had to get back to her!

That thought calmed some of her rage. She had to try to reason with him. “Zach, we have to go back! We have to go get Lola. You can’t just leave her there for anyone to grab.”

She saw the back of his head go side to side in a negative shake. “We can’t go back.”

“She’s our daughter, she could get hurt!” she shouted in disbelief.

“We’ll make a new child,” he said pleadingly.

She stared at him. Did he actually say that? That they would leave their precious girl behind and go make a new one? Images of his broken bleeding body slashed through her mind giving her small comfort as she worried over what would happen to Lola.

“What’s wrong with you?” she cried angrily. “How did you turn into such a monster? I used to love you, Zach. If any part of you still cares for me please, please go back and get Lola.”

He seemed to think about it for a second, then shook his head. “We can’t. You have to understand, Jenna, if I go back that place is going to be crawling in Corey’s guys. He’ll take you away, grab me and have me killed. Might even do it himself.”

Jenna had never been so angry in her life, not even when Zach was dragging her through the mud, trying to convince the world she was a terrible mother who deserved to lose her daughter. At least back then Lola had been protected, in the care of nannies while Zach tried desperately to keep Jenna in his life. Now, he had what he wanted and it was clear Lola meant nothing to him, dead or alive.

“I want you to die!” Jenna growled, and kicked out with all her might, slamming her feet into the back of his chair. She kept kicking, venting her rage and wriggling closer so she could do some real damage.

“Stop it! Jenna, fuck!” he shouted, trying to shove her flailing legs away.

“No!” She screamed and slammed her feet into the back of his head sending him flying forward into the steering wheel. He hadn’t bothered to put on a seatbelt.

The only warning Jenna had that they were about to crash was the screeching of the tires as Zach hit the brakes. She rolled onto her side and tucked herself against the seats just as they impacted. The air was shoved from her body as her back slammed into the seats with enough force that Jenna lost consciousness for a few seconds.

When she came to, she blinked into the gloom of the back of the van and took a quick inventory of her body. Sore hands from where they were tied behind her back, bump on the head, no broken bones that she could tell. She wriggled her fingers and found the knot on the rope had come loose. It took about a minute of working her fingers against the rough rope before she managed to free herself. She pushed herself onto her knees and looked into the front seat.

Zach was slumped over the steering wheel, unconscious and bleeding from his head. The entire windscreen was smashed, probably from the impact with his head.

“You motherfucker!”

Jenna slammed her fist down onto his shoulder, uncaring that he might have a cracked skull. She was going to finish the job, kill the kidnapping, child abandoning fucker. She smashed her fists into him over and over again, catching him on the face, head and torso, hitting him wherever she could. He didn’t move.

The door next to her was jerked open and Jenna let out a yelp of surprise and twisted around to see who was behind her. Vince stood in the doorway, his face a mask of relief, before it melted into something so truly scary even Jenna cringed back. Then she remembered how much he cared about her and Lola. She pointed at her bleeding, broken and unconscious ex-husband and yelled, “He left Lola alone in a parking lot!”

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