All He Wants (28 page)

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“When I was little I liked to hide in there. I pretended that I was a princess locked in a dungeon or a tower by the evil queen. I would stay in there for hours waiting for my prince to come and save me. I had coloring books, Legos, and Barbies, to keep me occupied. It was my favorite place in the gym to play. Sometimes I used to fall asleep playing in there.”

She took a shaky breath as she uncrossed her arms and shook her hands out. Unshed tears filled her eyes and she smiled ruefully. “Sorry, I’ve never really talked about this out loud…to someone I know.”

Seeing her getting this upset had all kinds of alarm bells ringing in his head and protective impulses raging through him. He wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her that she was safe and that he would never let anyone hurt her, but he knew that she needed to tell her story and he needed to hear it.

After a few more deep breaths she continued. “One day I fell asleep, I’m not sure how long I’d been in there but when I woke up, Damien was in the equipment room with a girl. They were having sex. I didn’t know that’s what they were doing then, I was only eight. But I knew it was something I wasn’t supposed to be seeing. I didn’t make a sound because I was scared that they would catch me and tell my dad.

“At first I was just scared because I didn’t want to get in trouble, but then it changed. He changed. He was laying on top of her, kissing her and then he put his hand around her throat and…” Maxi’s lip trembled. “And she started hitting him. I couldn’t see her face, but I heard her choking and her arms were flailing and…I didn’t do anything. I was scared if I did he would hurt me. She started kicking him and he…he kept choking her.” Tears were now falling down Maxi’s face.

Billy moved closer to her and ran his hand up and down her back that was trembling beneath his touch.

“He kept doing it…until she just stopped moving. Then everything got really quiet. All I could hear was his panting. Until he freaked out. He yelled fuck and pulled up his pants. Then he picked her up and ran out the back door that led to the alley.”

Billy had never liked Samuels but now he wanted to kill him.

His phone buzzed again, but he ignored it.

“I’m so sorry that you saw that, that you were so scared.” He continued rubbing her back.

She gulped. “That was the night he disappeared. I remember Lloyd being furious because he was the biggest name he had and the fight that he had coming up was going to put Gianni’s Gym on the map. But, I was relieved. I did my best to put the whole thing out of my mind and I did a good job. Every day that passed I thought about it less and less until…I just forgot about it.

“Then, he showed up again when I was twelve. Right when you started there. Flashes of that night started coming back to me when I saw him, when I smelled him. I thought about telling my dad, but I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d imagined the whole thing. It felt real to me, but I wasn’t sure. And Lloyd was
so happy
. I didn’t know what to do. I just tried to stay away from him.

“Then a couple of weeks after he came back I was up on the roof, I went up there to do homework and just think, and I heard a car screech in the alleyway. When I looked over the side of the building I saw Damien carrying an unconscious girl in his arms and the night that I thought I’d been imagining came back to me in vivid detail. I knew for sure then that it was real. It had really happened and it was happening again. The trunk was popped and he put her inside, shut it and ran to the passenger’s side of the car and jumped in and they sped off.

“I was shaking and terrified and,” she took a breath, “I doubt you remember this but you came up there as I was heading down and you saw me.”

“When I caught you smoking?” That was the only time he remembered her being up there.

“Yes, but I wasn’t smoking. You asked me what was wrong and then you noticed the butts on the ground and asked if I’d been smoking. I nodded because I thought it would explain why I looked scared.”

He pulled her into his arms and he felt his phone buzz again. He ignored it.

She melted against him as she continued, “That night the phone rang in the middle of the night, my dad answered it. It was Lloyd saying that Damien had been in a fight at some bar and he’d been arrested. He was in jail and before he made bail the guy died. My dad said that it looked like Damien was going to go away for a long time.

“I never told anyone what I saw. I was too scared the first time and then the second time he was already going to jail. But I followed his case and when I heard that he was eligible for parole I knew I had to do something. I was a scared kid when those things happened, but I’m an adult now. Damien needs to be behind bars and I knew if he got paroled and I didn’t tell the police what I’d seen, if anything happened it would be my fault. So, I went and spoke to the DA about testifying at his parole hearing.”

The hairs on Billy’s neck stood up as his phone started buzzing again. “When?”

“About two months ago.” Maxi sniffed.

“Right before these incidents started happening.” Billy said aloud what he was thinking.

She nodded against him. “But I kept calling to make sure that he was still in jail. That was the call that I took, it was the prison confirming that he hadn’t been released.”

Seconds after the buzzing stopped, it started again and Billy pulled the device out of his pocket. He’d missed several calls and texts from Nate. He’d asked him to look into Samuels when he’d seen Maxi’s reaction to his photo on the TV. It had been a hunch at the time, but now he was sure that there was a connection.

“I need to take this,” he answered the phone. “What do you have?”

The connection was breaking up and he could only hear every other word. Billy placed his hand over his ear and moved around the apartment, but it just kept going in and out.

“The best reception is out on the patio,” Maxi motioned to the sliding glass door off her living room.

“Are you going to be okay?” As important as it was for Billy to talk to Nate, Maxi’s well-being was more important.

“I’ll be fine. I’m in my Fort Knox apartment. I’m safe.”

He wanted to insist that she come out on the patio with him or for her to stay where he could see her, but he knew that wouldn’t go over well. As she moved back into the kitchen he stepped out onto the patio and Nate’s voice came through clear as day.

M
axi’s hands were shaking as she rinsed off the dinner dishes in an attempt to distract herself from what she’d just done. She’d told Billy the secret that she’d kept for so long. Finally saying it out loud to someone, other than a lawyer that didn’t know her from Adam, was scarier and more liberating than she ever could have imagined. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off of her and at the same time she was pretty sure she was going to throw up.

Thankfully, she had a few minutes to compose herself. When Billy needed to step outside to take the call, she could see that he felt bad about it, but she was happy that he’d gone to the patio. What she’d just done was a lot to process and she appreciated not having an audience.

Her phone buzzed and her heart sped as she reached for it. This was the first night that her dad was home after being in the hospital and he was alone. She’d given him strict instructions to call if he needed
anything
, or if he felt any pain or nausea or a headache, just anything. Her brain immediately filled in several dire scenarios all ending with her racing her dad back to the hospital.

When she saw the message her shoulders dropped in relief but her heart sank at the same time. It was Jana asking if she was home. She
really
didn’t want company
but
since her friend lived across the hall it’s not like she could really lie to her. She typed back a quick yes. Her phone instantly lit up again with an emoji of clapping hands and then a message that said Jana was coming up the elevator now with a ton of groceries and she just realized she didn’t have her keys so she was wondering if Maxi could unlock her door for her.

Maxi breathed a sigh of relief. She loved her and had missed her this week, but tonight was full enough without adding someone else to the mix. On her way out she grabbed the spare key that she kept for her friend’s apartment and paused for a moment. She thought about telling Billy that she was going to run across the hall, but the call he was on seemed important. Also the guy that had broken in was in custody and she remembered that he’d told her that she was safe here because there were cameras at all the entry points.

Note to self: Stop being so paranoid.

Shaking off the paranoia that she’d developed over the past two weeks she stepped out into the hall and made quick work of unlocking her friend’s door. She debated waiting in the hall for Jana to help her with the groceries, but decided that she’d check to see if Billy was still on the call to let him know what she was doing.

When she started to turn to go back to her apartment a hand covered her mouth and something hard jammed into her back. She started to scream and struggle but was restrained by a large arm wrapping around her, pinning her own arms at her sides. The man moved down the hall, dragging her with him and there was nothing she could do about it. Panic and fear gripped her and she fought as hard as she could as she was pulled into the elevator.

Once the doors closed she could see the reflection of her abductor in them. He was over six foot. Dark hair and very dark, beady eyes. He released the arm he’d wrapped around her and that’s when she saw the gun he was holding before she once again felt it being jammed into her lower back. His hand still remained covering her mouth.

He stared at her through the reflection. He spoke quietly. Calmly. “This is what’s going to happen. When the doors open you and I are going to walk to across the foyer to the side exit of the building. Do not draw any attention to us. There’s a car in the alley, we have Jana. No one has to get hurt if you do everything I say. Do you understand?”

Maxi couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. Her mind was racing.

“Do you understand?” His fingers tightened over her mouth.

Not knowing what else to do she nodded.

“I’m going to take my hand off your mouth. If you scream, Jana is not going to have a good day. Do you understand?”

She nodded again and as promised he removed his hand just as the doors slid open. Everything felt like it was simultaneously moving in slow motion and on fast forward. It was like she was outside of herself looking in.

Her legs shook as she forced herself to walk out of the elevator. She stared straight ahead as she crossed the foyer that led to the small hallway where the side entrance of the building was. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the lobby to her left. There were several people there.

She knew that she had to do something, but she didn’t know what. If she signaled someone, would they know to call Billy? Would they try to step in? Would they see the gun at her back?

She could make a run for it and hope for the best but even if she somehow got away from the man, would Jana be safe?

There were no good answers to any of her questions and the isolated hallway to the door he’d instructed her to exit was getting closer and closer. Every television procedural that she watched had taught her that you should
never
let yourself be taken to a second location. But they had Jana.

“Good girl. Keep moving.” The man whispered behind her in a menacing voice.

Just as she reached the far side of the foyer she heard the ding of the elevator moments before she noticed a blur of black in her peripheral vision.

“No! Down!” A male voice yelled.

The next thing she knew she was being knocked down on the floor and Bonnie and Clyde were hopping over her and around her. Lifting her head she tried to sit up and she saw that her kidnapper was down too. He was crawling towards the lobby. Innocent people were in the lobby.

“Gun!” She yelled. “He has a gun!”

There were screams and several people running. The dogs started going crazy barking. She lost sight of the man that had grabbed her. Then she remembered the side door. The alley. She had to help Jana. She kept trying to get up and get to the exit to help Jana but with the dogs jumping all over her, she wasn’t making any progress.

As she twisted to move towards the exit a loud, familiar crack of a jaw breaking sounded. She pushed herself up to see Carter standing between her and the man who’d tried to abduct her. The man was flat on his back, knocked out and Carter was rubbing his knuckles.

“Gun!” She yelled again. They needed to get it away from him while he was unconscious. “He has a gun.”

Carter bent down, lifting the abductors arm as he searched around him. “I don’t see it.”

“It’s here! I’ve got it!” Mr. 7G, who was standing in front of the elevators retrieved the weapon just as the elevator doors opened and Billy stepped out.

When Billy saw Mr. 7G holding the gun, he immediately tackled him to the ground and grabbed the gun. Maxi saw the flash of fury in his eyes as he lifted his fist to punch 7G.