Mogul (34 page)

He glanced from the street to her, annoyed by
her intrusion. He stomped over to where she sat and she tried to
convey through her eyes to remove the gag while she screamed deep
in her throat. “What’s your problem, pig?” he sneered. “Used to
your five-star accommodations?” He laughed as he looked down at
her. “Those days are over,” he promised. “In fact, all your days
are over. I’m just waiting for your little boyfriend to show up for
the party.” He bent down to look her in the eye. “Or should I say
the fireworks?”

Her eyes widened. She tried to plead with him
through her gag but he turned away from her and walked back to the
window. She tried in vain to pull from her restraints. Another
contraction hit, wrapping around from her back to her front.

“You richies all think you’re entitled to
everything,” he said as he watched the first police car idle up to
the curb. “You don’t care who you step on or use to get there. You
treat everyone else like toilet paper. You wipe your ass on all of
us and then when you’re done you just toss us in the trash. It’s
about time for the trash to get even,” he declared. He took a break
from his post to check on all his rigged explosives. He seemed
immensely proud of himself. “Amazing what you can do with a few
household chemicals, isn’t it?” he asked. “It’s going to blow your
little love nest sky high, and take you and your bastard along with
it.”

Tears ran down her face. She would have tried
to reason with him if she could speak, but he seemed wholly
uninterested in whatever she had to say.

He was listening to the voices in his own
head now.

When the next contraction hit, warm fluid
flowed between her legs, taking both her and Donny by surprise. He
came over and backhanded her out of disgust. “You fucking pig!
Don’t you piss all over yourself!”

She nearly gagged on the towel as she wept.
How could she explain it wasn’t urine? But when he looked down he
realized there was blood on her nightgown.

He pulled the gag from her mouth by ripping
the tape from her face. “Please,” she begged as she tried to catch
her breath. “I’m going into labor. Please don’t do this!”

He stared at her, as if he couldn’t process
what she was saying. This was not part of his plan. “What are you
talking about?” he demanded finally.

“I’ve been having contractions for about a
half hour,” she said. “That’s not urine. My water just broke. I’m
going to have this baby right here, right now.”

He shook his head as he backed away. “This is
a trick.”

She tried not to sob out of terror as she
shook her own head. “Donny, it’s Donny right?” His face twitched
and she pressed on. “I know you. I know why you’re so angry. I
understand what you must be feeling…”

He backhanded her again, which sent more pain
down around her womb. “You don’t understand anything, you pig! But
you will,” he promised. “You all will!”

He went back over to the window and she bit
her lip so she wouldn’t cry out as another contraction hit. Things
were happening much quicker than she expected. She could even feel
her daughter drop down toward her pelvis, which immediately made
her want to push to relieve the pressure. “Donny, please,” she
croaked. “This is not a trick. I’m going to have this baby. Please,
I’ll do anything as long as you let her live. I’ll give up my life.
You can blow me to hell and back again. But please,” she sobbed.
“Please let my daughter live.”

He laughed as he glanced back at her from his
perch at the window. “Why should I do that?” he asked. “No one let
my sister live.”

Her eyes widened. She didn’t know that Baylee
had died. It all made sense now. “When?” she asked.

“Last night,” he answered flatly. “Someone
pulled her life support. She had gotten too inconvenient.”

“It wasn’t us, I swear it,” she
responded.

“I took care of the pigs who did it,” he told
her. “Maybe you’ll meet up with ol’ Leo and Julian and Holly in
hell. I’m sure you’ll have a lot to talk about.”

Her heart sank. He killed Holly? That meant
he wouldn’t think twice about letting her die in childbirth right
in that chair.

Vanni would lose both his children. It seemed
to be what Donny wanted most.

She wept softly. When the next contraction
came she couldn’t help but cry out.

Donny stood up and walked over to her,
reattaching her gag to her face.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Redondo Beach, California

June 17, 2010

Police had lined the street out front and the
beach out back by the time Graham, Vanni and Maggie reached the
house. They were trying to locate Raelynn Wilke to see if she could
defuse the situation, but hospital staff where Baylee had died told
them she had fallen completely apart at the news. Hotel staff had
reported that the room where Donny had been staying was trashed in
the middle of the night, and no one had been able to locate
him.

According to the security feed at the house,
he had arrived at Vanni’s sometime around 3:00 a.m., but it had no
aroused suspicion due to the late hours Vanni usually kept. He was
likely waiting for Vanni to show up just hours after Baylee had
died in her hospital bed. Recent reports showed that he had
recently purchased quite a few firearms, none of which were present
at the hotel room. The authorities believed he had brought those
weapons to Vanni’s house to exact his revenge on the one he thought
responsible for his sister’s death.

Worse, the computer he left behind showed
clues that he had purchased items to use as explosives, and they
were extremely concerned with his history that he was going to blow
up that house and half of Redondo Beach along with it.

When the police got to Redondo Beach, it had
turned into a standoff. They evacuated the neighbors as they tried
to communicate with Donny, but he hadn’t responded. Snipers had
been put into position, and they could clearly see that Andy was
tied to a chair and a crossbow was trained on her should anyone try
to get in to rescue her. She was clearly in distress, which made
the situation more dangerous.

Vanni paced like a racehorse stuck in the
starting gate. “We have to do something!” he told them. Donny was a
true psychopath who no longer seemed to care about getting away
with anything. He was leaving a path of destruction all over L.A.
to exact his revenge for his sister’s death.

And now Andy and their baby were in his
clutches. He couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.

Graham tried to calm him down. “You’re not
going to help her by storming into the house like some barbarian,”
he told him. “The police fear he’s rigged the entire place. You
could end up killing her.”

Vanni spun away, more frustrated than ever.
He couldn’t just stand there. He’d already been in this position
before, when he lunged away from a bullet that was meant for her.
Now he had put her in harm’s way again.

He’d rather die himself than have anything
happen to her or their child.

But the police were unsure how to handle
Donny Wilke. He had a criminal record that suggested mental illness
and psychosis. He was the fuse to his own bomb, and they didn’t
want to do anything to inadvertently light it, especially with a
pregnant woman in peril.

Worse, it wasn’t just any woman. It was the
fiancé of a celebrity, so the media was out in full force covering
the story. They wouldn’t just have a family to answer to if they
made the wrong move – they’d have to answer to an entire city.

When Vanni’s phone rang, everyone held their
breath.

It was Andy’s number, but a man was on the
other end. It was Donny.

“Your pig fiancé is in labor,” he told
him.

“Oh God,” he breathed. “Please,” Vanni
continued. “Let her go free. Take me instead. I’ll do whatever you
want as long as you let her go.”

“You’ll do whatever I want anyway,” Donny
informed him.

“Haven’t enough innocent people died?” Vanni
implored.

Maggie motioned for the phone, which Vanni
reluctantly handed over. “Donny, my name is Maggie. I’m a nurse.
What’s going on?” She paused, listening intently. Finally she
nodded and handed the phone back to Vanni, but Donny had already
disconnected.

“He’s going to let me go into the house,” she
said as she turned toward the ambulance to retrieve medical
supplies.

“What?” Graham exclaimed. “Maggie, no!”

She touched his hand. “Andy needs me. She’s
in labor. Her water already broke and her contractions are only
minutes apart. I’m the only chance that baby has at survival. You
forget. I was a nurse in the army. I have training in high stress
situations. Maybe I can defuse it.”

He held onto her arms. “Mags…” he trailed
off. “I can’t lose you. I love you,” he finally admitted, wondering
when the hell it happened and why the hell he’d wasted so much time
figuring it out.

She smiled as she reached up to kiss him
softly. “I love you, too.” She’d waited a long time to hear it, but
they couldn’t savor the moment. Andy and her baby needed her. She
turned to Vanni. “I’ll get them both out.”

Graham tried to hold onto her but she slipped
out of his grasp as she headed for the house, leaving both Vanni
and Graham to wait helplessly behind.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Redondo Beach, California

June 17, 2011

Donny watched the redheaded nurse approach
the house. He plucked the arrow out of the crossbow, which
discharged loudly when Maggie opened the door. Andy was delirious
with pain and terror by the time she saw Maggie enter the house
like an angel. Donny shut the door behind her and reconfigured his
trap while Maggie rushed to where Andy sat tied to a chair.

Her gaze swept over the house, assessing all
the visible data in a second. Maggie turned back to Donny. “Please
let me untie her and move her to the sofa,” she said. “So I can
examine her,” she added when she saw that Andy’s comfort did not
concern Donny.

He paused briefly, and then gave her an
imperceptible nod. He didn’t lift a finger to help Maggie undo the
restraints. She tore the gag from her mouth after she freed her
hands. “What’s going on?” she asked Andy.

“A few minutes apart, I don’t know, I can’t
time them.”

“Intense?”

Andy nodded. “Getting worse with each one. My
water broke.”

“How far along are you?”

“Thirty-six weeks,” she said.

Maggie nodded. “Let’s get you to the
couch.”

She lifted the other woman underneath her
arms to guide her down into the sunken living room. Just as they
stepped down another contraction hit, which brought Andy to her
knees, nearly taking Maggie with her. Maggie encouraged her to
breathe through it as she timed the duration with her watch.

Donny stood and started to pace again as they
struggled to get Andy to the couch.

Lying down hurt worse than sitting up and
Andy was crying from the pain. Maggie crooned to her and told her
to concentrate on her breathing as she propped her up on the
pillows from the sofa. She reached under her nightgown to remove
her underwear, which made it sink into Andy just how real this
situation was.

“Please get him to let me go,” she whispered
desperately.

Deftly Maggie checked her cervix. It was too
late for any of that. “Shh, Andy, listen to me. You’re going to
have to stay calm, okay?” She rose to face Donny. “She’s going to
have the baby within a few minutes.”

He glanced down into the living room where
Andy lay panting on the couch. “This is another trick,” he said as
he glared at Maggie suspiciously. “How am I supposed to know you’re
telling the truth?”

“You could look for yourself,” Maggie
bluffed, but Andy looked even more terrified at the prospect.

“A few minutes, huh?” he asked again. He went
over to one of timers on his explosives and set it for five
minutes. “Get cracking, otherwise you’ll blow to hell, too.”

Andy started to scream but Maggie dropped
down beside her and put her finger over her mouth. “Don’t scream. I
need you to push.”

Andy nodded as she spread her legs wider.
“Bear down,” Maggie instructed.

Andy grunted as she did as Maggie told her to
do. She could feel her skin burn from the tear as her baby crowned.
Andy screamed again from the pain and tried to push even
harder.

“Hold on,” Maggie said. “The baby’s umbilical
cord is around her neck. Hold on, Andy.”

Andy nearly choked on her tears as she felt
Maggie tug and pull between her legs. She glanced up at the timer,
which Donny would turn off and set again over and over to further
torment his captives. Only a few minutes remained.

With sweet release Andy felt the baby slip
from her body. She was barely conscious as she pleaded with Maggie,
“Please get her out of her. Do whatever it takes. Save her.”

Maggie nodded as she cleaned out the baby’s
mouth. Andy heard her daughter’s robust cry fill the room before
she fainted dead away from the trauma and the effort.

Maggie tore the blanket from
the couch, rolling Andy off into the floor in the process with a
thud.
It was best that
way
, she thought to herself as she swaddled
the baby and glanced back at the timer where only precious seconds
remained.

Outside Vanni and Graham waited impatiently
behind the police cruiser. They held onto each other for strength,
especially once the first explosion rocked the house and sent a
huge plume of black smoke up against the crystal blue sky.

Epilogue

Redondo Beach, California

June 17, 2011

I watched the first explosion light up the
southern California skyline in disbelief. This couldn’t be
happening again. A year to the date of the last disaster, it was
all happening again. It was as if there could be no other
conclusion; as if fate always had another idea. After all these
years, after all our struggles, I guess I should have known there
could be no happily ever after. We had always been star-crossed
lovers, doomed to die out just like a candle that had reached the
end of its wick. My soul eked from my pores as I watched fire
consume the place where we had lived, the home where we had loved –
the life that we had made. Smoke rose from the sparkling, crackling
embers of my broken dreams. Everything around me was in ruins, and
I knew once again it was my fault. I learned a long time ago that
love did not come without a cost. Everyone I had ever counted on
had left – one way or another. I tried to keep everyone at arm’s
length, sure if I never made any promises I could never truly let
anyone down any more than they could let me down. I didn’t care who
I hurt as long as I got my way – which was all the benefits of love
without any accountability.