Page 50 of Timeless Pages
“I’ll make the arrangements,” he replied. Ten minutes later, Daniel called back. “It’s all arranged. Whenever you want to go down to the station, you can.”
We went right away. I needed to get this done so that I could finally move on with my life.
“Now, when you go in there, Miss Wilcox, he will be in the cell,” the Chief told me as we walked toward the jail. “Don’t cross the red line. We’ll watch on camera and be in the room in less than ten seconds if something goes wrong, understand?”
“I understand. Thank you for letting me see him.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, swiping an ID card. The door buzzed loudly as it unlocked. “Gentlemen, this is as far as we go.”
“We’ll be right out here, Isa,” Nate assured me.
I nodded and walked through the door. I jumped slightly as it slammed behind me and paused to allow my eyes to adjust to thedarker room. Sunflower Falls’ police force was small, so our jail was comprised of three cells in a row. I walked along the edge of the bright red line painted on the cement floor. Everything here was gray except for an old wooden desk against the wall.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous about seeing Morris—quite the opposite. I felt excited. Nearly jubilant, though, I managed to hide it on the ride over to the station because I wasn’t sure that it was an entirely sane response. Finally, I would see my monster behind bars. Finally, he would pay for what he did to me.
“It took you long enough to get down here,” he drawled from the corner of the dimly lit room where his cot sat.
I hit record on my mental memory bank. There wasn’t any part of this that I wanted to forget, from the dust floating in the light of the lone bulb hanging in Morris’ cell to how he looked locked in the cage. From now on, whenever I thought of my father, this was the image that would come to mind. The great Morris Wilcox, locked in a nine-by-nine iron cage, surrounded by nothing but a cot, a metal toilet, and a small sink that dripped every three seconds.
“Here’s what’s going to happen, girl. You’re going to march your ass right back out those doors and tell the Chief that you are dropping all charges,” he ordered.
The fact that he was still delusional enough to think that was even an option was comical. “No, I won’t,” I replied.
“Listen here, you fucking cunt, you’ll do what you are told, or I’ll make you wish you had when I get out. They won’t convict me of shit!” he yelled.
“That’s where you’re wrong. By burning down my bookstore, you thought you were destroying the security footage, but you weren’t.” I pulled out my phone and brought up the two video feeds. I played the first one, where he had tried to kill me, and turned the phone so that he could see it. “And if that wasn’t damning enough,” I said as his face began to turn an angryred, “you came back and smiled big for the camera, leaving no question who started the fire.” I played the second clip for him. “You were already screwed before yesterday. The judge has seen these already. There was no going back, but then you added kidnapping and murder to your list of charges. You won’t go anywhere but to prison, father.”
“Delete those right fucking now!” he screamed, spit flying from his mouth.
Has he always been this stupid? “No. Now, everyone will see you for the monster you truly are. Everyone who never believed me won’t have a choice now. All of your friends who pitied the poor single father will know what you did to me. You can’t hide anymore, and neither will I.” I turned and walked away from him.
“Isabella Wilcox, you ungrateful little bitch, I will make sure you fucking pay for this!”
I stopped and turned back to him. “Ungrateful? What was I ever supposed to be grateful for?” I walked back to his cell and stared deep into his evil, hateful eyes. “This will be the last time you see me. I won’t attend any trials, and if my attendance is necessary, I’ll have my lawyer request that you not be present.”
I turned to walk away again but paused to look back at him. “She would have hated you, you know? Mother. You hated me because she died giving birth to me, and that hatred grew year after year because I looked like her. But she would have hated you for what you did to me, her only child, the piece of her she left behind.”
I turned away one final time, and this time, when he started screaming obscenities at me, I didn’t turn back. That part of my life was over, and as I stepped through the doors and into the arms of my men, I knew my future was bright.
A week later, I was blindfolded in a car. “Why won’t you let me see where we are going?” I complained.
“Because it’s a surprise,” Dom replied.
The car stopped, and they helped me step out and guided me into position. “It smells like fire,” I said. "Are we at my store?”
“Guessing ruins the surprise,” Nate sighed as he removed the blindfold.
As I thought, we were standing on the sidewalk in front of what was left of Timeless Pages. It wasn’t much. The Fire Marshall had asked if I wanted to sift through the rubble to see if anything was worth saving, but I knew there wouldn’t be. We had a crew come in and clear everything away a few days ago, but I still hadn’t brought myself to come down and see it.
“I’m confused. How is this a surprise?” I asked.
Evan, Nate, and Dom moved to stand in front of me with their hands behind their backs. “Hold out your hands,” Evan instructed.
I did as I was told, and they piled packets of papers into my hands one by one. I could see by their expressions that they were very proud of whatever this was. “I think I’m still confused,” I said when they had finished and looked at me expectantly.
“I told you we should have done something bigger,” Dom complained.
“Isa, those are the deeds to every building and lot in the square block of Timeless Pages,” Nate explained. “We want you to have them. Consider it a pre-engagement present.”
