Chapter 18
18 THE PAST
SEB
“Mike, we need to talk. If you can give me time today, I would appreciate it,” I say over the phone.
“Of course. Son, is everything okay?” I can hear the worry in his voice.
“Everything is okay. It’s is about Abbygail.”
“Of course, can you come to my office?”
“On my way.” I hung up and hurry toward the door. I found Elle on her desk. “Forward only important calls. I’ll call you tonight if I need off tomorrow.” After what I found out, I need a day off or even a month.
“Of course. Anything else?”
“That’s all.”
“Take care, Seb.”
“You too, Elle.”
***
His PA Grace leads me to his office. Mike is facing the window with a glass in his hand. I feel suffocated all of a sudden. I guess it won’t be easy for him to tell what happened years ago.
“Have a seat, son. You might need a drink.” He pours whiskey into a glass and hands it to me. I take it and drink it in one gulp.
“How did you find out? I made sure to seal every detail about her. I paid a huge amount to everyone involved in the investigations. It’s not even in local PD and FBI records.”
“I guess people talked around us since they saw Abby at her mom’s funeral. That woman is not hard to notice.” I bite my bottom lip.
“What do you want to know?” He pulls his desk drawer and takes something from it then he walks to the wall and removes one painting. He opens his safe and takes one manila envelope that looks old and bulky. I feel agitated, and I pour myself a stronger drink. It burns down to my throat as I take it in one gulp, but I don’t care. I need to know everything about my wife.
“Here. Should I read it to you or you can take it home and read it yourself. I don’t feel like retelling the horrible story of my daughter, but I know the moment I heard everything in my wife’s will, I know that you have the right to know about Abbygail because I know you will eventually figure it out. I just don’t know where to start. She will tell you her version when she’s ready,” Mike explains.
I guess I should read them at home because I might collapse in my seat right now. Whatever it is, I need to be alone.
“I guess I’ll read it at home. You don’t mind me having this with me for a while? I promise I will keep it safe.” The envelope is slightly heavier than it looks.
“Take it home with you. Keep it safe and make sure nobody will see it, especially Abbygail.”
“Of course.” I clear my throat that dries at the thought of keeping a secret to my wife—her own secret.
“Is she going to leave tomorrow? You can’t cancel her flight or at least, move to the next day?” Shit. Did I just ask that? I look Desperate.
“Why don’t you cancel her flight yourself? Did you forget you’re her husband.?”
I chuckle. Damnit. He got me there. I guess I’m still not used to being a husband. “Your daughter has her mind on her own, and I don’t think she would appreciate it I move her flight. I mean, for the first time in my life, I don’t know how and what to do next. And she—”
“Stubborn?”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“She’s probably safe there unless you will take her with you. She mentioned taking summer class since we have to cancel our summer vacation.”
“What do you mean safe there?”
“The FBI was not convinced that the man they found was the one who took her. I mean the mastermind. They can’t find any evidence or leads because the man they found was already dead beside Abby. Looks like he pulled the trigger by himself. That man has no reason to kidnap Abbygail. He was homeless, and how did have a gun? He may be a junkie, but he didn’t touch Abby. The bruises don’t match him. They said the captor was probably huge—a lot bigger and stronger than him.”
“Jesus. He maybe saw something that’s why he was killed.”
“That’s what they said. I can’t trust this city anymore, Seb. What if? Whoever he is—if he sees her again and he will take her again from me? It would kill me. What if he will not just take her? He will do more than what he already did?”
Mike looks so broken, and I look down at my trembling hands. I want to do something, but I don’t know where to start. Not until I read this file. I will do everything in my power to protect my wife, but I don’t know I am protecting her from whom.
“That’s the reason why she had to change her first name, moved to another state, and she’s still on therapy until now. Sometimes, she’s still having a nightmare.”
“Then why did you let her stay there alone, Mike? If she’s not safe here, she’s not safe there too, and she’s not safe anywhere.” My voice slightly raises with concern. God, it will kill me if something will happen to her.
“Calm down, Seb. She has Andrew.”
My nose is already flaring. “Andrew? Do you think he’ll risk his life for my wife? He may be fit, but I don’t think he’ll take a bullet for Abby.” I’m already standing, glaring down at Mike.
“Andrew is working with me, and he works at the security agency in Boston. I hired him after he meets Abby, and he’s her bodyguard, Seb, but Abbygail doesn’t know about it.”
“She’ll kick his ass if she finds out that her best friend is working with her dad behind her back. She will feel betrayed. She thinks he was being paid to be her best friend. She has already trust issues, and this will ruin her, Mike.” I look at him and shake my head.
“Nobody knows except you, me, and Andrew.”
“So, this is another secret should I keep?” I massage my temples.
“I can see that you truly care for her, aren’t you?” He looks at me intensely.
“You finding it hard to believe that I’m capable of caring for someone.”
He laughs. Shit, he’s laughing at me. “Don’t get me wrong, son. Considering your track records over women, it’s—”
I stop him. “Really? Then why did you trust me with your own and only daughter? She’s beautiful and sexy and hot. Excuse me, but I need to say it out loud. Then me, a playboy, and she called me a man-whore for God’s sake, and she’s right about almost everything about me. Why me?”
“I don’t know. That’s Catie’s idea.”
“Uh-huh! So, you knew about the will?”
“Part of it.”
“Which part?”
“Does it matter?”
“It does. Very much.”
“The assets, but the rest I have no idea.”
“You want me to keep your wife’s money? Why not keep it with you?”
“I’m already handling my asset and Abby’s. I trust you, son. I saw you grew up, become a man and a businessman. You may be ruthless, but you’re not greedy. You work hard. You don’t gamble. You don’t drink to oblivion. You don’t throw your money to women. Do you want to hear more? I still have lists I can tell.”
“Well, I take that as a compliment, but the marrying her part. I don’t know how could Catie trust me.”
“Catie was a romantic type. She believed in love at first sight or soulmate, or happily ever after, some crap like that. I only believe in love because I’m still in love with her up to this moment.”
I grin like an idiot. “Jeez. Wow.”
“Asshole. And aren’t you?”
I stiffen and clear my throat. “Now, I get it where Abby got the filthy mouth.”
“We don’t cuss at home.”
I sit back and look at my ring. “I care about her more than I should. I don’t know. Lately, everything is out of my control, especially when it comes to Abbygail.”
“Good to know. At least Catie is right after all.”
“What do you mean?”
“She always said you and Abby would look good together, would get married, have babies, and grow old. She was planning to set you and Abby on a date this summer, but since she is gone, I guess she just makes it short and fast, and in a different way.”
“I guess she succeeds.”
***
I left Mike’s office with an envelope in my hand. I keep it in my safe before I hit the shower and change to a shirt and jeans. I head to my home office and tear the envelope open. My heart beats faster as I take the folder into my hand. I pause and take a breath before I flip it open.
Medical records. I squeeze my eyes shut. I can’t read this. The fact that it’s something too intrusive, and it’s all about the horrible things my wife had gone through, breaks me that I can’t do anything to undo her past.
My palms start to sweat, and I feel the chills seep through my bones, My mouth gapes, and all I see are multiples—from her contusions to abrasions, and fractures.
No signs of penetrations on the genital and anal area. I look up and thank someone up there.
For psychological follow-up.
Patients: not very cooperative.
They thought after she was almost dead, she would just open up. Assholes. I want to punch someone in the face. Thank God she was not raped. Then I open some pages—it’s all bout her statement.
Fuck me. Never in my life, I cry for someone until today. I’ve never been this emotional, but this, this is my wife’s pictures, naked, almost unrecognizable. She was so frail, skinny, and with bruises all over her porcelain skin—blue, red, brown, yellow, purple were everywhere. Scrapes, cuts, swollen lips, eyes, burns on her wrists and ankles.
Jesus Christ, Abbygail. How did you survive this? I’m so glad you did, otherwise, I wouldn’t have met you, get married to you, and kissed you.
I promise that I will erase all the bad memories she had and replace them with good ones.
I close the folder, put it back in the envelope, and keep it safe. I close my eyes.
I miss you, Abby, and I want to feel you.
I wash my face, and I want to clear my head. It’s been a long memorable day. I need to get out and drink.
Nope.
I want to be with her.
My phone buzzes, and when I check who texts me, I grin.
