You Belong To Me (21 page)

“Well that’s why you have me silly. So hang up so I can take the pic and send it to you.” 

Calling Mitch upstairs, Danielle wanted to take a funny pic to send to Shayla's cell
phone. 

“Danielle you’re lucky that I love you so much,” said Mitch as he held the purse in his hand.

“Awww, I love you too babe, now hold it up with both hands. Now smile,” she said as she took different views and angles of Mitch holding the evening bag.

“Now take one of me holding it this way,” she said to Mitch as he took the picture of a smiling Danielle with her left palm up evening bag resting on top of it.
 

That'll do! And very funny! Shayla texted immediately after she received the pictures.

As he lay in bed that night, Ethan thought to himself,
tomorrow night's the night Danielle.  I've got it all planned out, by this time tomorrow you'll be all mine, and no one will know where you are. Except Mitch of course,
he let out a creepy hoot.

The night of Shayla and Jason's engagement party had arrived and Danielle and Mitch awoke a little after twelve pm. They had wanted to sleep late so they would be able to enjoy the party that they were sure would lead late into the night. 

“Rise and shine su
nshine,” said Mitch. “Party starts at six and you know Shay wants us there early.” 

“Yes I know, but I want to stay in bed with you Mitch.”
 

“Now that sounds like a much better idea Danielle, but I don’t think Shay and Jason would appreciate it very much
if we didn't show up,” he said while laughing and kissing her on the cheek as he got out of bed.  “Yeah, I suppose your right, how about a quick lunch before we start getting ready?” Said Danielle.

“I'll make us a couple sandwiches.”

“Okay babe.”

Letting
Samson out into the backyard, Mitch watched Danielle as she moved around the kitchen. 

“You know Danielle; you get more beautiful with each and every day.”
 

“Mitch, what a beautiful thing to say. And I love you for saying so, even though my hair is a mes
s and I don’t have on a drop of makeup,” she said laughing. “But thanks for making me feel good.” 

“Danielle, I mean it, your beautiful and you don’t need makeup or your hair done.”
 

“I don’t huh, so if I went to the party looking like this you'd still w
ant me?” 

“Of course Danielle,
 but once we got there I would act like I didn't know you, but behind closed doors, absolutely!” He teased.

“Ha-ha, very funny,” she said throwing a grape at him.

“Ohhh you know I'm kidding babe, I can't wait to see you in your gown, you know that.” 

“And I can't wait to see you in your tux and mask, I'm going to be the envy of every woman there.”

After lunch and playing with Samson, Danielle and Mitch started getting ready. Danielle showered first and while Mitch jumped in afterward, she applied her makeup very carefully.  Want to go all out for tonight, she thought as she smoothed on foundation that matched her beautiful skin tone.

Next she applied some powder, blush and for her eyes, she used black eyeliner with glitter mi
xed in. After putting on sheer lip glass, and a light dusting of body glitter, she was all set.  Now comes the exciting part, she thought to herself. Putting it all together, she stepped into her gown.  With a wiggle here and a jiggle there she was able to pull it all the way up. When Mitch comes out of the shower he can zip me.  While waiting to get zipped, Danielle held up her dress and walked over to the mirror.

With her hair up in loose and curly tendrils, she looked stunning.
Wow!
She thought to herself.
Not too shabby woman, not shabby at all
. Hearing a loud wolf whistle, Danielle turned and smiled as she looked at Mitch, who was glistening wet from the shower.

“My god you are sexy,” she said.
 

“I'm nothing compared to how you look right
now Danielle,” Mitch said walking over to her and turning her to face the mirror again. 

“Look at you Danielle, you look amazing!”
 

“Well thank you, would you mind zipping me up?”
 

“Yes I would mind because I really don’t want to Danielle.”
 

“Oh I know
what you want to do mister and we can't, you’ve gotta zip me up, get dressed and then we've gotta go. But when we get home, I expect you to make love to me all night long Mitchell Conway.”

“Absolutely!”

“Good, now zip me up lover.”

Slipping into a pair of open toe evening sandals, Danielle put the essentials in her beaded evening bag and was ready to go.

“All set Danielle?” Shouted Mitch from downstairs.  Just then, Mitch’s cell phone rang and on the other end was his employee’s Hank. Hearing the sense of urgency in his voice, Mitch tried to calm him down. “Hank buddy slow down, what’s going on?”

"Sorry to bother you Mitch but there’s been some kind of accident at the new work site, you better get down here and fast. Mitch it’s on fir
e, the whole place is engulfed in flames. The fire department is on the way.”

Mitch needed a moment to take it all in, he could not believe what he was hearing; in all the years that he’s run his contracting business there has never been so much as a slip
and fall let alone a fire. “Hank, I'm on my way buddy, you just keep everybody clear of the area until the fire department gets there you got that? And that means you too Hank,” he demanded before hanging up the phone.

After he hung up the phone, Mitch gla
nced at the stairway and watched as his beautiful girlfriend descended the stairs.  Seeing the grim expression on his face, Danielle knew that something was wrong.

“Baby, what is it? Who was that on the phone?” She asked with concern in her voice.

“Honey, there’s a fire at the new job site. That was Hank; he’s waiting on the fire department. Babe I gotta get down there.”

Danielle let out a gasp, “Was anybody hurt?”

“No thank god, but I’ve gotta go assess the damage.”

“Of course you do, would you like me to
go with you?” Danielle asked. “Even though Shayla would probably have my head on a platter if I didn’t show up, I'm sure both she and Jason would understand,” she said with worry.

“No Danielle. Shayla and Jason would never forgive me if I took you away fr
om one of the most important nights of their lives, no. You go on ahead to the party, and I’ll meet you there.”

“Are you sure Mitch? I don’t mind going with you.”

Mitch pulled her close, “I know you wouldn’t mind but I promise I won’t be long, a couple hours at most. Here you take the Xterra,” he said handing her the keys. “I’ll take my truck and I’ll meet you there as soon as I can. Love you,” he said before giving her a quick kiss and rushing out the door.

Ahhh, just as I planned
. Ethan sat parked in his familiar spot next to Mitch’s house. Although it was still light out, he always managed to conceal the vehicle he was using either by parking where he was sure to blend in or simply by making sure the vehicle was concealed by large brush or parked in heavily wooded areas. It also helped that he had switched out the SUV for a small sedan.  “That cocky son of a bitch thinks no one can get near him or Danielle,” Ethan said under his breath as he watched Mitch drive by.

Starting that fire
was the best idea I’ve had in a very long time
, he silently told himself. 
I knew Neanderthal would send you to the party alone my love, because he’s selfish and thinks of no one but himself. But I will never do that to you Danielle, I’ll always put you first. So now all I have to do is get there before you do and the rest as they say will be history.
  “I hope you said goodbye to your Mitchy-poo Danielle. But you needn’t worry your pretty little head about seeing him again my love, because you two will be together sooner than you think,” he whispered cunningly as he started the car and drove in the direction of the party.

It wasn’t until Mitch arrived at the job site did he realize the severity of the damage. Not only was the site burning to the ground,
his office trailer had been ransacked and valuable tools and equipment were missing. Standing in front of the blaze in his tuxedo, Mitch watched as the fire department fought diligently to stop the fire from spreading.  He started thinking about how excited he and his crew were when they found out that they had won the bid and could start to build on the undeveloped land.

The area was a prime location for single family homes and his bid was one of many but given his excellent reputation, the developers tol
d him that he was a shoe in. His crew had just laid the foundation and had begun work on the bones of the home, and now it looked like there would be no saving it. How the hell did this happen? Mitch wondered as a second fire truck approached the chaotic scene.

Ethan pulled into the large parking lot of the hotel where Shayla and Jason’s engagement party was being held. When he parked, he made sure to find the perfect spot, he needed to make sure that he would be able to see Danielle when she arrived. All
he had to do now was sit and wait, wait for his love to arrive. The entire evening had been premeditated, and when he glanced around the lot and noticed that the spaces closest to the entrance were full, he smiled to himself. She’ll have to park further away. “But don’t you fret about having to make that long walk Danielle. You’re never going to make it to the party anyway,” he said, a sinister grin appearing on his face.

As she neared the hotel, Danielle tried to keep her thoughts on seeing her best frien
ds and enjoying the evening. She hoped that Mitch was alright and that he’d be able to join her at the party sooner, rather than later. She didn’t want Shayla and Jason to feel as if they had to entertain her. She wanted them to enjoy their party; she wanted all of them to enjoy the party. Well at least I'm not too late, she smiled as she pulled into the parking lot. And if I know Shayla like I know I do, she’ll have gone all out for tonight, I can’t wait to see how it all turned out. Taking one last glance in the mirror, Danielle touched up her lipstick, grabbed her wrap and evening bag and stepped out of the Xterra.

As she turned to arm the vehicle, she dropped her purse. Cursing, she knelt down and began picking up the contents that had spilled out. While
recovering the items, she suddenly felt a presence nearby. Thinking that it was Mitch, she smiled and quickly shoved everything back into the small evening bag. But by the time she looked up, it was too late.

Ethan was rushing towards her and he was hold
ing something in his hand. She tried to scream but Ethan, in one extremely swift move, wielded a knife to her throat and was already forcing her towards his car. Danielle could feel the sharpness of the blade as it nicked the side of her neck. She thought it amazing how even though the parking lot was full, it was deserted of people.

There was obviously no one around to help her. “Make any sudden moves Danielle and I’ll slice your head clean off
of your body, do you doubt that I will do that Danielle?” Ethan asked as he yanked at her hair to force her closer to him. She could smell the stench of his breath as he told her, “Now sit back and relax my love, we’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”

“It lo
oks like it was arson Mr. Conway,” the fire marshal said as he approached Mitch. Wiping the sweat off his brow he explained to Mitch that gasoline had been poured all around the interior of the home and that whoever did it had intended for the home to burn to the ground.

“We managed to put out the fire Mr. Conway but there’s a lot of damage. We’re lucky that it didn’t spread.”

 Mitch looked over the charred ruins and shook his head; all of the hard work he and his crew had put in was now a pile of rubble. “Looks like we’ll have to start over,” he said to the fire marshal as he let out a heavy breath. “I'm not giving up, I’ll tell you that much.”

Mitchell Conway was not the kind of man to take defeat, if someone told him he couldn’t do something, that made
him try all the harder to get it done. And to Mitch, this fire was just a bump in the road.

“Mr. Conway have you noticed anyone suspicious lurking around the site? I mean this place is pretty remote. The nearest house is about a mile away. It could have be
en a bunch of kids fooling around and things got out of hand.  Do you know of anyone who would want to sabotage you or your business?” The fire marshal asked.

“I have no idea, but I have every intention of finding out and when I do I want them prosecuted
to the fullest extent of the law,” Mitch growled.

“Now you just leave that up to us Mr. Conway. We’re losing daylight here, but come first thing tomorrow, the investigators will go in and do a more thorough search for evidence. In the meantime, you look l
ike you have some plans. There’s nothing more you can do here tonight so why don’t you head on home or to wherever you were going and as soon as I know anything I’ll give you a call.”

I almost forgot about the party
, thought Mitch as he looked down at his tuxedo. His white shirt had dark smears all over it and the whole tuxedo now reeked of smoke and charred lumber. When he checked the time he frowned when he realized that he had been at the scene for more than three hours. “Yeah, you’re right, think I’ll head home and grab a shower first,” he said to the marshal. “You’ll keep me posted?” He asked again.

“Will do Mr. Conway, will do. Now go on home.”
 

On the way back to his truck, Mitch reached for his cell.
  I better call Danielle and let her know that I’ll be later than expected. When he got no answer from her, he chalked it up to her leaving her cell phone on silent.  I'm sure she’s having a good time with her friends; he smiled to himself as he made the drive home.

“Why are you doing this Ethan?” Danielle asked while she tried to struggle out of the flex cuffs that Ethan had placed on her moments after he forced her into his car. She couldn’t help but notice how incredibly calm he seemed, and that made her panic even more. You’ve gotta stay calm too, her conscience urged her. But it was hard for her to listen to it. The more she struggled, the more the flex cuffs seemed to tighten their grip.

“Danielle my love, you’ll understand everything once we reach our destination. Now be a good girl and shut the
fuck up so that I can drive,” he said as he stepped on the gas.

“Ethan it’s not too late to put a stop to this, I don’t know where you’re taking me, but whatever sick plan you have is not going to work. Please just turn the car around Ethan and take me
back now!” She shouted. Ethan was beginning to lose his patience. They were nearing Mitch’s cabin and he needed to concentrate on his next move. My plan won’t work if I can’t concentrate, he told himself. Time to shut this bitch up, a voice inside his head told him.

While he abruptly pulled the car over, Danielle could hear the sound of gravel being kicked up as he slammed on the brakes. Ethan turned to face Danielle and said, “Now Danielle, this is going to hurt me a lot more than it’s going to hurt you.”
Before she could even react, Ethan with a sudden jerk rammed his fist into the side of her face so hard that it knocked her out. “Ahhh,” he smiled. “That’s much better.”  After a few more miles of driving, Ethan pulled into the long driveway that led to Mitch’s cabin. “Time to call Mitchy-poo,” Ethan teased an unconscious Danielle.