Stalkers Secrets & Lies, Page 30

  Chapter 29

  I looked down at Lia, curled in my lap, a small sad smile on her face that was masking the panic and fear that I could see in her eyes. I stroked her face lightly, wiping away her tears.

  “Are you ok? Did he hurt you?” I asked. My eyes flicked to Ben again, just to make sure he was dead. If I could bring him back to life, I would do it in a heartbeat – just so I could kill him again, but make him suffer more this time.

  She sniffed loudly, her arms tightening around my neck. “I’m ok.”

  I shifted my hand and stroked her stomach lightly.

  She smiled, “Baby’s ok too,” she whispered, putting her hand on top of mine.

  I felt relief wash over my body that they were both now safe. The stalker who had been threatening her was dead, the sick ass of a brother that dared to touch her, was dead. She was finally safe. I could hear Johnny talking to Andrew on the phone and seconds later he burst through the door, a shocked, pale expression on his face.

  His eyes fell on Ben and then came back to me, “Ethan, what the…..”

  “That’s Johnny’s stalker. He’s also Lia’s brother,” I stated, emotionlessly.

  Andrew dropped to his knees, next to Ben and felt his neck for a pulse before he gulped and looked at me, eyes wider than they were when he first came in. “He’s dead,” he whispered.

  I nodded, “Yeah. Can you call the police? Also, call Trent, I’ll need someone from the legal department to come with me when I make my statement.” I shifted Lia on my lap gently, turning her face away as she started to stare at Ben’s lifeless body on the floor. It wasn’t good for her to do that, I didn’t want her to think bad of me and for this to be what she sees when she looks at me from now on. “Get an ambulance too, Johnny’s taken a blow to the head so he’ll need to go to the hospital and I think Lia’s in shock. The new day guard is in the kitchen, I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”

  Andrew nodded and stood up, looking between the three of us and Ben before he turned and walked into the hallway to make the calls. I looked back at Johnny, was he really prepared to lie for me?

  Why would he do that? I knew he loved Lia, but with me out of the picture then he was free to make his move on her again. If he got himself clean then he would probably even be good for her and the baby, well, that’s if he could stay clean that is.

  Johnny looked pale as he sat back against the sofa, his eyes closed, blood drying in his blonde hair.

  “Are you ok, Johnny?” I asked. Hopefully he would be ok, the fact that he was moving and talking was a good sign that it was nothing more serious than a concussion.

  He nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine.” He opened his eyes and looked at Lia, a burning passion and a lot of hurt showing across his face. “Ali….. he was talking about what I think he was talking about, right?” he asked her. His face looked both devastated and disgusted at the same time, but most of all it was pity that stretched across his features.

  She sniffed and nodded and he groaned, his eyes closing again as he shook his head in disbelief.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? Ali, for fuck sake I could have done something about it! I would have….. would have…..” he trailed off, his jaw and fists clenched in anger. He didn’t need to finish his sentence, we all knew what he would have done, and it would have been exactly what I had just done.

  “I didn’t think you’d believe me,” Lia whispered, her fingers clutching my shirt, pulling herself to me closer. “I didn’t want anyone to not believe me again.”

  Johnny opened his mouth to speak but I just held up my hand to stop him, Lia was shaking in my arms, her whole body trembling. They didn’t need to have this conversation when she was so fragile, this could wait a little while. “Johnny, just leave it a little while. You’re both in shock, we can all talk later,” I said firmly.

  His anger turned on me for a few seconds, probably because I was telling him what to do, but that soon faded when Lia’s breathing started to hitch with sobs again. He nodded and reached out a hand, stroking her back softly.

  Andrew walked back into the room, pushing his phone into his pocket. “Someone needs to tell me what the hell happened. The last I heard was that Johnny wanted to talk to Ali, we came over here, I waited in the car. Then you showed up Ethan. Then I get a call telling me that the stalker, who coincidently is Ali’s brother, is dead, and I need to call the police!” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Adopted brother,” Lia whispered.

  I looked down at her confused, adopted brother, what on earth was that about? “Huh?” I mumbled, not really able to get my words out.

  She sniffed and wiped her face with the back of her hand. “He said I was adopted. I guess he could have been lying….. I don’t know…..maybe he was lying.”

  I held her tighter in my arms. How could she have been adopted though, her parents brought her home from the hospital when she was a newborn, I remember seeing her that day. I racked my brains trying to remember seeing her mother pregnant, but I couldn’t. At the time I was only three, I couldn’t bring the memory back to see if she was expecting at all. I scowled down at Ben again, was Lia seriously adopted? Why would he tell her something like that if it wasn’t true? Was that how he explained the situation to himself, did he not believe it was incest because they weren’t blood relations? In my mind it didn’t make any difference, he was raised as her brother, therefore he was her brother.

  Johnny closed his eyes again and pressed a hand to the side of his head, wincing as he touched the gash. Lia scooted out of my lap and sat next to Johnny, hissing through her teeth as she looked at the cut on his head. “Shit, Jonny. This looks bad,” she whispered, fussing over him, pressing her shirt to his head to stop the light flow of blood that was seeping out. He smiled at her weakly and pulled her into a hug, I saw tears glisten in his eyes as he started whispering in her ear. I looked away as she buried her face in the side of his neck, hugging him fiercely as he continued to whisper things I couldn’t hear.

  I gulped and forced myself to stand up. I wanted to grab her and pull her away from him. I didn’t want her anywhere near him, the jealous fiancée in me, wanted her to hug me like that, but I forced myself to walk away. I nodded to Andrew to go into the hall and closed the door behind me, leaving the two of them hugging and crying on the sofa, maybe she needed him more than me at this point.

  After what he was doing for me I knew that I owed him big time, I couldn’t begrudge him a few minutes with the girl we were both in love with. I just prayed that she still wanted me after this. I knew there was a pretty good chance that she would look at me differently now. Maybe seeing me kill someone in cold blood would have changed her perception of me. Maybe she couldn’t love me anymore after watching that. Maybe she would be better off with Johnny……

  Andrew cleared his throat and I realised I was just standing there with my forehead pressed against the door, my hand gripping the handle so tight that my fingers were going numb. If she didn’t want me anymore then I don’t know what I would do. I couldn’t lose her for a second time. But if she wanted Johnny then I’d step aside, it would probably kill me, but I just needed her happy and she obviously loved him too, I just prayed that she loved me more.

  I pushed away from the door and sat on the bottom step explaining what happened to Andrew, ignoring how he jerked when I mentioned what Ben did to Lia. I ignored the string of expletives he let slip when I told him that Ben wanted to take Lia and leave. I ignored him slamming his fist on the wall when I mentioned Ben pulling a gun on me wanting to kill both me and Johnny.

  When I was done with the story, he gripped my knee tightly. “Ethan, you did the right thing. If that was my wife in danger like that I would have killed him, even if he didn’t have a gun,” he reassured me.

  I smiled weakly and nodded, I think most people would have done the same thing. But most people would feel bad about it after though, wouldn’t they? Shouldn’t I be feeling some sort of remorse or guilt for kil
ling someone like that? I’d killed people before for my job, in combat situations, but never just in cold blood, out of anger like that. Did it make me a bad person that I the only thing I regret, was having Lia watch? If I could do it over again, the only thing I would change would be to have Lia leave the room first.

  A few minutes later the medics arrived. Andrew took complete control and showed them into the lounge to Lia and Johnny. I just sat on the bottom step and waited for the police to show up and take me to the station. It would be a formality though, if Johnny really stuck to the story then Trent’s lawyer would have me out of there within a few hours. I was licensed to use deadly force if needed, it came as part of my job. As long as Johnny kept his word I would be home with my girl by tonight…… if she wanted that of course.

  The police showed up a couple of minutes after the medics. I slapped on my professional face and tried not to show the burning rage in my voice whenever I mentioned Ben’s name.

  It took a long time to get sorted out, both Johnny and Lia gave very brief statements then were taken to the hospital. Johnny was wheeled out of the lounge with Lia close on his heels, a medic trailing after her, trying to convince her to lay on a stretcher. If she was going into shock she really should be sitting or laying down, but Lia never was one for being fussed over. She stopped next to me, linking her fingers through mine, begging me with her eyes to go with her.

  I bent down and kissed her forehead softly. “I’ll come to the hospital as soon as I’m done. You go get yourself and the baby looked at, ok?” I rubbed my hand on her stomach lightly. I wanted desperately to go with her, but I wouldn’t be allowed, not with a dead body in the other room that still needed explaining.

  She smiled, “We’re fine, tough guy, don’t worry about us.”

  The cleared his throat. “Ma’am, lets get you into the ambulance.”

  She frowned but then her gaze landed on Johnny who was just being pushed out of the front door.

  “Ok.” She turned back to me with watery eyes, giving my hand a little squeeze. “I’ll see you there then,” she whispered.

  I gulped and nodded, she was more upset than she was letting on and it broke my heart a little.

  I spent hours down the police station, with my firm’s lawyer at my side, going over and over the story for their records. Apparently, both Johnny and Lia had already given their statements at the hospital, but they would have to go through it all again tomorrow.

  The police weren’t treating me as a suspect or anything, nothing untoward at all, they totally believed the lie and I felt better with every passing second. They had matched up Ben’s finger prints and saliva to the letters and threats that Johnny received, so they could prove without a shadow of a doubt that he was the stalker.

  DNA tests revealed that Ben was telling the truth. They weren’t related. The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I became. Lia’s parents had lied to her for her whole life, maybe this was partly the reason why they took Ben’s side over hers, why they never believed her, because she wasn’t actually theirs. It disgusted me to think that, how could anyone treat one child like that? They brought them both up from birth, you shouldn’t be able to chose between your kids. It didn’t matter if she was their flesh and blood or not, a child is a child, if you bring it up as your own then it’s yours. I know that was how I felt about Lia and Johnny’s baby. I thought of the baby as my own already, if I had kids of my own I would never treat them any differently at all, I would love them all the same, I knew it deep down.

  When they were satisfied with my version of events, I was finally allowed to leave. I headed out, only to find Andrew camped in the reception, waiting for me, his head in his hands. His eyes snapped up to mine as I walked out, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as he raked a hand through his hair.

  “Hey man. Wow you took your time in there,” he muttered, jumping up and heading to my side.

  I nodded, “Yeah, there was a lot to go through with Lia’s past and stuff. It took a lot longer because of that I guess.”

  He sighed and gripped my shoulder, looking at me apologetically. “I’m sorry I let this happen,” he muttered, his eyes dropping to the floor, looking ashamed of himself.

  “You didn’t let anything happen, Andrew. Listen can you give me a ride to the hospital? I left my car at Johnny’s,” I asked, wincing as I remembered being shepherded into a cop car to be questioned.

  He nodded and we headed to his car, with him apologizing over and over that he let Lia go in the house on her own. It wasn’t really his fault, as far as he was concerned there was already a grade one day guard inside the house, so there would be no need for him to go inside with her. Once she stepped into the house, it would have been Kevin’s responsibility to protect her, unfortunately Kevin had no idea about Ben and therefore subsequently let himself get drugged, leaving her and Johnny on their own.

  When we got to the hospital I found the nearest doctor, and demanded information on the three patients taken from Johnny’s house. It took a little lying to convince them that I was entitled to it, but finally he caved and gave in.

  Kevin, the new day guard was fine, he woke up after a couple of hours. Apparently the last thing he remembered was talking to Ben in the kitchen, drinking coffee and then Lia turned up and he couldn’t remember much after that.

  They treated Lia for shock, but both her and the baby were physically fine. They had monitored her for a few hours and then discharged her. Apparently she was in Johnny’s room at the moment.

  The doctor said that Johnny had concussion and stitches on his head, luckily the blow hadn’t caused any permanent damage or fractured his skull or anything, so he got off lightly. He was being kept in overnight as a precaution.

  I thanked the doctor and headed straight to the room that he’d pointed out as Johnny’s. I was desperate to see my girl and hold her, comfort her, after everything that had happened today. Each step seemed to take forever and finally I reached his room.

  The door was slightly ajar so I pushed it open and looked in. Lia was laying on the bed next to Johnny, her head on his shoulder, his arm firmly wrapped around her, she was holding his other hand. Both of them were sound asleep.

  I gulped at the pain that started to build in my chest, I could actually feel my heart breaking. What was the point in him lying for me to keep me out of jail, if she was going to leave me anyway? He was keeping me out of jail because Lia and the baby needed me, but the way she was curled around him, clinging to him like her life depended on it, said that she didn’t need me at all.

  Johnny was a good guy at heart and he loved her to pieces, she was carrying his child for goodness sake, they belonged together. He could give her everything, anything her heart desired, so much more than I would ever be able to give her and the baby. She deserved the best and I didn’t think I was that at the moment, I was a murderer and that would be all I was in her eyes now. Every time she looked at me from now on, she’d see me do that. Johnny was a millionaire who could treat her like a princess. All I wanted was for Lia to be happy, that was all I needed out of life.

  I closed my eyes to block out the sight of them snuggled on the bed, but I couldn’t get the image to leave my head, it was like it had been burned into the inside of my eyelids or something. I needed to leave, I couldn’t be here and watch her with someone else, that was one thing I knew I wasn’t strong enough for.

  I turned and stepped back out of the room, pulling the door closed behind me, silently. I slid down the wall and put my head in my hands, then I did something that I hadn’t done since I left her six years ago. I cried at the loss of the best thing that had ever happened to me.

  Epilogue

  Aaliyah

  I stood in front of the mirror, looking at my reflection. I barely even recognised myself, there was a glow to my cheeks but it wasn’t from makeup, my eyes sparkled with excitement, my lips were pulled into a smile that I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to. I smoothed down my white silk d
ress, making sure it wasn’t wrinkled and flowed out, just like it was supposed to.

  It was a little tighter around the stomach than it should have been, the little bump strained against the material, demanding attention. I rubbed my hand over it lightly, and felt my smile grow even bigger.

  “What do we think, little baby, are we ready to go get married to your daddy?” I asked my baby bump. I sighed and looked at my flowers that were on the side, so beautiful, a bunch of orange sunflowers, just perfect.

  I heard the door to the little ‘bridal dressing room’ open behind me and looked up to see Becca walk in. She was wearing a pale blue summer dress, her blonde hair scooped up in the back with loose curls hanging around her pretty face. She looked every inch the perfect maid of honour. I smiled at her feeling myself get even more excited.

  “How is he? Has he bolted?” I joked. She’d gone off to check on the groom a few minutes ago, to make sure everything was ok.

  She nodded, grinning wickedly, “He’s run for the hills. Never mind sweetie, we’ll pick up a quart of ice-cream on the way home,” she confirmed, playfully. I laughed and rolled my eyes, turning back to the mirror, fussing with my hair a little. She laughed too and slipped her arm around my waist, nodding in approval. “You look incredible, Ali,” she gushed.