Page 68 of After Midnight

Iwoke up with a blistering headache. My hands ached and I made to rub them, only to discover they were tied behind my back. I began to panic as I realized I couldn’t see anything. The room was pitch black, and my nose stung with the smell of urine.Where was I?

“Hello?” I yelled, but doing so made my head pound even more.

Unable to move and in intense pain, I felt myself slipping back into unconsciousness when a door creaked open on what sounded like rusty hinges. Light filtered in, momentarily blinding me so I couldn’t see who was there.

“Well, look at how the mighty have fallen.” I recognized the voice immediately. I lay still, mostly trying to figure out how to respond to my stepmother. Although she’d never hit me, she had shoved me around a few times so I didn’t discount the woman being prone to violence. But this? Keeping me locked away in what felt like a dungeon? That was beyond the pale even for her.

“Ignoring me, huh? Well, you’ve done that enough, you should be an expert at it. Now you’re awake, let me tell you what Ishould’ve told you when you attacked me at the gala. You are trash, lowlife garbage. You might’ve weaseled your way into that boy’s fancy home, but we both know you didn’t deserve to be there. You’re nothing more than his charity case.”

When I lay quietly, not moving a muscle, she huffed angrily. “Well, no matter, you won’t keep me from getting what’s rightfully mine. Even that judge knew it. You are nothing, never were, and the trust fund is rightfully mine.”

Something had changed in Margarette, even since the gala. The woman had always had a screw loose, but it seemed something else had cracked in her. She had ranted at me before, so often it’d become more or less normal, but I knew deep down, she knew the truth even though she lied about things. Now, though, she seemed to actually believe my trust fund was hers. That I’d wronged her when I’d won the appellate court case, and she was somehow righting that by holding me captive.

I jumped when she yelled, “Randy! He’s not dead, the pip-squeak woke up. Send the letter. Lolli, you get his picture as proof of life.”

Fear swarmed inside my head like a nest of angry bees as a woman I’d never seen before came in and placed a newspaper next to my head. Despite laying on a urine-soaked mattress, I could smell her and my stomach recoiled. The woman clearly hadn’t bathed in weeks. It was only then I wondered how long I’d been laying here in my stepmother’s dungeon. I had no sense of time, and couldn’t see the date on the newspaper.

As soon as she snapped the picture, she left without speaking. When the door creaked shut again, I struggled against the restraints, but they didn’t budge. I hoped to God the cops found me soon.

I thought of the girls safe at home with Miss Rita, and Uncle Jeffrey flirting up a storm with Ashton just to see him blush. It warmed me amid the coldness of the room knowing they wouldbe okay in the long run, however this turned out for me. Then there was Dillon, my sweet and funny prince. How had the magical night we shared turned so quickly from dream-like to a nightmare? Of course, I knew the answer, and in that moment I wished my evil stepmother had succeeded in taking my money and running. At least then I’d be rid of her, but I’d still have what mattered most.

Margarette had already tried to take everything and everyone in my life from me, and failed. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, there was only one possible endgame for her, and my life hung in the balance. No doubt as far as she was concerned, this was now a battle to the death. I’d be lying if I didn’t say even the thought of that scared the daylights out of me. But I also knew the people I loved were out there searching for me, and I clung to the hope they’d find me in time.

Chapter thirty

Dillon

My dads already had dinner plans so I showed up at Dominic’s house alone the following evening, and saw three cop cars in the driveway. I parked down the street, and rushed up to the house.Had they found Dominic? Was he okay? Are the girls…I was immediately stopped at the front door by a uniformed officer, who interrupted my internal freak-out. “What’s your name and why are you here, sir?” he asked.

“I’m Dillon Pearson, a friend of the family. They’re expecting me for dinner. Has something happened? Have you found Dominic?”

The man shook his head in a dismissive way, not actually answering any of my questions.

When he confirmed I was indeed expected, he let me enter the house.

I was immediately embraced by the girls, who were both crying. I knelt down to their level. “What’s going on? Is Dominic okay?”

Olivia shook her head as Miss Rita appeared behind her. My heart leapt to my throat when I noticed she’d obviously shed some tears as well.

“Miss Rita, please tell me, what’s happened? There must be some news. I have to know.”

She shook her head again, led the girls over to the couch, and turned the TV on for them. “Girls, stay in here,” she said and then took me by the arm and led me to the laundry room behind the kitchen. She spoke in a hushed tone, I assumed so the girls wouldn’t hear.

“A ransom letter arrived today. In fact, we just got it about an hour ago. Olivia found it stuffed under the door and opened it, thinking it was from the mailperson. Oh, Dillon, it was awful. There was a picture of Dominic tucked inside, and he was bleeding. Handcuffed too, it looked like. Olivia, poor baby, just screamed until I got to her. Then she fell into my arms, wailing. It was horrible, just horrible.”

Dominic was alive, I had to focus on that. My body was shaking but I forced myself to hold it together. “What did the ransom letter demand?” I asked.

“They demanded we empty both Dominic’s and the girls’ trusts and leave the money with a broker of some kind. I didn’t quite understand it, but it’s clear who sent it. No one else would know how much money is in those trusts. That evil woman is behind all this, plain as day.”

I didn’t try to hold back the tears that leaked out. There was just no way I could hide all the emotions stirring inside me, but I couldn’t let myself completely break down, either. Not yet, not until Dominic was home safe, and wrapped in my arms. Then I may never let him go. “Come on, let’s go back out there,” I managed to say, even though it came out as a whisper. “I want to hear what the police are saying.” I wiped my eyes on my sleeve.“Then I can take you and the girls to get ice cream. They need to get out of here, away from all the cops.”

She nodded, then I followed her out of the laundry room and into the kitchen.

One of the cops, the female officer who’d been to my house, recognized me and came over asking questions. “Mr. Pearson, where were you earlier today?” she asked.

I tamped down the anger that immediately flared in me.I’ll be damned if they don’t still consider me a suspect. Keep it together for Dominic. You need them to get him back.“I spent the entire day with my fathers,” I replied.

“Can they verify your whereabouts?” she asked, and I nodded.

---