Page 45 of Beguiled and Broken

“That whole time, man. That whole time she was right around the corner. Probably had a telescope pointed at your house and everything.” I gave him another look, clearly creeped the fuck out. Then he asked, “You didn’t require an address on her application when she wanted to work at the restaurant?”

I was having another sick moment. “I hadn’t made her fill out an application. I started to, but she came around the time when we were first opening and if you remember, we were slammed from the start. I remember her being nice and we got along great, so I figured she’d be perfect. I told her she could start immediately.” I looked at the ceiling and dragged my hand down my face. “I always handed out checks on Fridays, at the end of everyone’s shift. She wasn’t the only one who didn’t do direct deposit, so I didn’t think anything of it.” I was kicking myself in the ass as I thought about all the little mistakes I made along the way.

“Let’s go. We can check out the house. Let’s see if she’s still there.” He was nuts.

“Are you serious? I don’t wanna run into her, man.” That was the last thing I fucking needed.

“I’ll do it. You can stay in the car. Come on. If she’s living right around the corner from you guys, then you aren’t even the slightest bit safe.”

“I promised Bianca no more secrets. I have to tell her man. Let’s stop by the house first and then we can do a stake out of Sophia’s.” I was nervous about what Bianca was going to say. I wiggled my shoulders. “Gives me the goosebumps, man. Thinking about all this. It’s too fucking crazy.”

Chapter 31

Vinny

We pulled into my driveway and headed for the door. The house looked dark. As I walked in, I said, “Hey B, I need to talk to you. Cole’s here.” I took the stairs two at a time and headed for our bedroom. It was empty. I turned and went back downstairs where Cole was sitting on the couch. “She’s not here man. I’m gonna go look downstairs really quick. Maybe she’s going through more of Sophia’s stuff.”

I ran downstairs. It was the first time I’d been down there since I saw her with the guy in her bed. The room was torn apart, the bed was flipped over, and the dresser drawers were pulled out on the floor. It made me sick to think about the emotional toll it took on Bianca while she went through all this shit.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed. It was Sophia. I started to panic and read:

I tried to wait for you baby. I grew impatient though.

I wondered what she meant. Then a photo came through and if it was possible to feel sheer terror and rage at the same time, then that’s what I was feeling. It was Bianca sitting in a chair, in the middle of a room, with a blindfold on and something over her mouth. She looked unconscious, or worse. I didn’t know which and flipped the fuck out inside, but I managed to keep calm and tried to appeal to her feelings for me.

Cat! Don’t do this! Where are you? I’ll come to you.

…

Watching those three dots float on the screen was agonizing.

I want nothing more than that. We can finally be together. This little situation with Bianca can be over in minutes, but you and I will be together forever.

“COLE!!!” I yelled, and heard him taking the stairs two at a time. I couldn’t form words, so I held up my phone so he could see.

“Bro, what the fuck? She has Bianca?” He grabbed my phone from me and read the texts. “We gotta call the cops, man.”

“I’m not calling fucking anyone. I’m going to get my wife back.” I took my phone back from him.

“Vinny, man. You don’t even know where she’s at.” We stood staring at each other.

“I’ll bet my life she’s at her house.”

We ran around the corner towards where we thought Sophia’s house was and looked for the house number to be sure.

Cole said, “Right here. This is the one.”

The house was white with black shutters and a chain link fence around the yard. It was small. I wasn’t sure if we should go up to the front door or go around to the back.

Cole whispered, “Let’s go around back man, and just check out the situation and surroundings,” like he read my mind. I nodded at him and led the way.

The sun had already gone down an hour or so before, so the house was dark, inside and out, except one dim light in one of the rooms. I couldn’t tell what room it was. Then I looked over my shoulder and saw Cole pulling open a cellar door. “I’m going in this way man. If we go in together through the back, she’s gonna get spooked and who knows what she’ll do to Bianca.”

“You’re right. She’s expecting me alone, so I’m going around to the front door and knock. She’ll never hear you coming in if she’s at the front, just be quiet about it and wait until you hear her answer the door. See if you can find Bianca, first. Let’s turn off our phones, so it doesn’t make a noise.” I turned off my phone.

Cole nodded his head and said, “Ok, mine’s off too. Be careful bro.”

“You, too.”

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