Chapter 9
Audrey
My toes are tapping in my shoes as Spencer appears in the doorway. I open my mouth to tell him about the phone call with Beth but the look on his face stops me in my tracks.
He doesn’t say a word, just stalks to where the gun is lying on the floor where it landed.
He grabs it, but rather than put it away, he keeps it pointed at the floorboards. His voice comes out menacing and there’s no trace of the man who just ravished me on the tabletop. “What happened in law school?”
My stomach backflips. “I beg your pardon?”
He takes a step closer. “You went to law school, but you left, why?” he says.
Pain, real, and visceral stabs into my chest as he keeps asking me about the most horrific time in my life.
“You were studying law then you broke it. But your father covered for you, didn’t he? Is that what you think will happen here?”
Cold is spreading through my body, and I can feel myself shutting down, building a protective wall to insulate myself.
My reply comes out in a monotone. “He had to. If I was convicted of a crime, I was of no use to him.”
I can feel Spencer’s eyes on me, and just like at the trial, I know he’s going to probe deeper.
But I’m tired of lying. Tired of hiding. Maybe that’s why I’m here?
“What do you mean no use to him?”
I take a breath. “When I was in law school, my mom was murdered. My father told me she was having an affair. And that when she tried to break it off with the guy, he broke into her house, and shot her.”
Spencer’s forehead creases. “That’s why you left law school?”
I nod and have to force the words out. “I gave my father an alibi. After the trial, I was a mess. I barely remember what I was doing or who I was doing it with.”
He drags a chair in front of me and frowns. “You think your father had something to do with your mother’s death?”
I release a breath and admit something I’ve never done, not even to Beth.
“He was so controlling, so obsessed with us appearing to be a happy family, that he monitored everything we did. I had no friends he hadn’t approved. The higher into office he got, the worse it got.”
He doesn’t say anything, so I carry on while I have the courage to. “The whole trial was a circus and my father was the star attraction. He loved it. His popularity rose, and he continued to advance his career.”
Spencer shakes his head. “All on the back of your alibi?”
I nod weakly. “All on the back of my mother’s death and then my ‘breakdown’.”
He pulls a face. “Breakdown?”
My face twists into a scowl. “That’s how he and his people spun it to the press.”
He reaches forward and takes my hands in his. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to open this up for you again.”
At that, and the admission I’m terrified of him, my eyes fill. “Pathetic isn’t it? Ten years later and I’m just as trapped.”
He frowns and squeezes my hands, his voice so tender it hurts. “What if I told you we could make him pay?”
I don’t bother to stop the tears from falling. “You can’t. No one can.”
He releases my hands. “Yeah, I can. Because if what you told me is true, we can use that as leverage.”
I sniff and swipe my eyes. “And by leverage you mean blackmail?”
He nods. I squirm on my chair and think about the man still behind bars for a crime he may not have committed. “I don’t want to blackmail him. I want to know the truth,” I say.
Spencer holds my gaze for a couple of seconds before he nods. “The truth and blackmail aren’t mutually exclusive. But what concerns me is why the Feebs came to you.”
Since I haven’t told him they came asking after him, I chew my lip. “They mostly asked after you,” I say.
His face blanches and he runs a hand over his battered face. “That changes things.”
I twist my hands in my lap, feeling as powerless as I always do when my father has decided to exert pressure. “So, you can’t help me then?”
He frowns at me. “I didn’t say that. I’m saying that if you stay on this road with me, there’s no going back.”
I look up at him and somehow manage to sound confident. “I was on this road before I met you. I don’t think I can go back,” I say.
***
Spencer
This is getting worse and worse. Not only are the Feebs on to me, but now Audrey’s caught in the middle, her old man is probably the kind of asshole we target.
Having Audrey on the inside could be either a help or a hindrance, depending on far she’s willing to go.
No matter what, if I don’t stop this, she could get hurt.
I chew on that for a second, and since I’ve got no interest in tangling with the feebs or in Audrey getting hurt, that’s not going to be an option.
“We’ll have to play it differently,” I mutter, more to myself than to her.
Her eyebrow arches. “Different from your usual blackmail victims you mean?”
At the way her brow is knotting, I switch gears. “Look, I get it. He’s your father. But we’re in the middle of this now. I need to see if I can fix it.”
“Who is we?”
I scratch my chin, not sure how much I want to divulge just in case.
She seems to notice my hesitation and blows out a breath. “You don’t want to tell me who you work with and how because you intend to keep blackmailing people like my father, don’t you?”
At the thinly veiled disgust in her voice, I shrug. “Like I said before. We only go after corrupt people with shit loads of money.”
Her eyes narrow. “How much money do you make?”
Knowing we’re now getting into dangerous territory; I chose my words carefully. “It depends on the dirt we find. The bigger the crime, the bigger the payout.”
“I see. And it’s a one-time payment?”
I nod. “We don’t stick around.”
Her eyes slide to the floor. “How much do you take?”
I shrug. “As much as they can afford without drawing attention to themselves.”
She looks up and says something I’ve never even considered. “So, they are never really held accountable for their crimes. They never really get punished.”
“We don’t do it to punish people. We do it because they give us an opportunity to and because they have the cash to spare. It’s a victimless crime, no one gets hurt.”
She snorts. “There is no such thing as a victimless crime.”
We aren’t getting anywhere, so I pull out my cell again. “I’ll just be a minute.”
I can’t wait for her agreement, so I just walk back out the door, with my phone pressed to my ear.
Kurt picks up immediately. “What now?”
I grunt down the line. “Change of plans. I wasn’t the one being set up, someone in the FBI has a bone to pick with Audrey’s dad.”
He growls. “So, you’re off the hook then? Good. Get the hell away from her and you might have a chance to get out of the country.”
I stare at the fence. “Her dad is covering something big and I think if we play this right, we can still bleed him.”
I know I have his attention when he starts to breathe a little quicker. “I’m listening,” he says.
***
Audrey
From inside the shack I’ve spent the last day inside, I’m so anxious, so riddled with guilt and fear, that I can’t stop pacing.
Night is pressing in, and I’m beginning to feel like this was a horrible mistake.
I have a life waiting for me.
Granted, it’s not much of one, but I have an apartment, a savings account, a job, and responsibilities.
As I wait for Spencer to come back from making yet another phone call, the temptation to call my father or Beth is becoming unbearable.
I fight the impulse by thinking of how I ended up here.
I chose to go to the island with Spencer, I chose to leave the resort, but I never chose to lie for my father.
He placed me in an impossible position, then that lie changed the course of my life.
I may never know if he was responsible for my mother’s death and I’m not so sure I want to know.
All I know for sure is my life would have been very different if I’d continued to study law and still had faith in the legal system.
Exhausted, physically, and emotionally, I slump into the chair and place my head in my hands.
I shouldn’t be here.
Not with Spencer, not in this mess, still living with the consequences of a single lie.
I close my eyes and think back over the past decade of a life Beth thinks I haven’t really lived.
And the more time I spend with Spencer, the more I see she’s right. With my father always lurking, always judging me, and with the weight of what I did, I’ve been seeking redemption by denying myself.
Even though it’s been a rollercoaster, this weekend with Spencer, has made me see what I’ve been missing out on.
At the sound of footsteps, I look up expecting to see Spencer.
My heart leaps to my throat as I take in an amused smirk on a handsome face. “Your driver’s license photo doesn’t do you justice,” he says.
I frown as he sidesteps, eyes still on me as Spencer appears and punches the new arrival's shoulder. “Don’t mind my brother. Kurt’s an idiot.”
The sudden arrival of his brother does nothing to still the storm brewing inside me.
“I’m sorry, did you say my driver’s license?”
Spencer winces. “Yeah. Your father is pulling out all the stops. I’m wanted for kidnapping. It’s all over the news.”
I shoot to my feet and pull out my cell phone so I can see for myself. “Kidnapping?”
Neither of them says anything as I check a few news sites. When I see my ID and a description of Spencer and a blurry photo of us leaving the resort, I know this is my father’s doing.
“The only thing we have going for us is that the picture isn’t clear,” Kurt says.
Spencer nods. “Whatever is going on with the Feebs, it’s not been sanctioned. There’s no way they would have left if it had been. It means they’re working alone.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “So we find the agents and see what they wanted with me?”
Kurt pulls a face. “They mentioned Spencer by name?”
I nod. “Yes.”
Both of them exchange a look before Spencer looks at me. “Do you know the names of the agents? Kurt has a buddy who can check them out.”
I chew my lip and try to recall the names. “Special Agent David Jenkins. And Special Agent Tammy Higgins,” I say.
Spencer looks pleased. “Great. Kurt go make a call. When we know what we’re up against we can leave.”
Kurt mock salutes him and slips out of the door into the fading light.
I steal my opportunity and step closer to Spencer. “Why didn’t you tell me you were bringing him here?”
He shifts his weight and a ripple of unease builds as he doesn’t answer me directly. “I needed his help.”
I frown so hard my head aches. “How do you know no one followed him here?”
He frowns back at me. “We’re good at what we do. Every aspect of it.”
“Is that why the FBI knows who you are?”
He nods slowly. “And they saw you with me and decided to use that to their advantage?” I say.
His reply comes out flat. “Since they aren’t talking to the Miami PD or Atlanta, looks that way.”
We don’t have any more time to talk before Kurt comes back inside. “I’ve found a place for you to lay low for a few days, Spence. We need to move.”
My eyebrows raise. “We’re leaving?”
Spencer's jaw works furiously as he stares at the floorboards. “Give me a second.”
Kurt nods, and doesn’t bother to look at me as he exits.
If I didn’t already know something has changed, I’d know it from the tension on Spencer’s face.
Spencer blows out a breath and looks me dead in the eye. “The Feebs are looking for me, and now the entire Miami PD is looking for me too.”
In one dreadful moment of clarity I know he’s preparing me.
Sure enough, his voice comes out as if he’s truly pained. “You haven’t done anything wrong. You can walk away from this and go back to your life.”
After everything we talked about, after revealing my biggest secret, he’s actually telling me to let it go?
My stomach twists painfully as I begin to see just how he’s able to gather information.
Even now when he’s telling me it’s over, that he has what he needs, he’s just as charming as he was all weekend.
My voice cracks as I fight tears I refuse to shed. “You used me.”
He shakes his head. “I’m trying to do the right thing here. I’m going to leave the country while I can. I can’t ask you to do the same.”
Ice trickles down my spine as I see I walked right into this willingly.
Worse than knowing he played me, is knowing that he was so smug he even told me how good he was at reading people.
“Stop it. Just stop it,” I say.
He grips my hands tighter. “Audrey, I didn’t plan for this to happen. And I can’t see any other way—”
I shake my head and jerk my hands from his. “I can’t listen to your lies anymore. You got what you wanted, leave.”
He flinches as though I’ve struck him. “This is not what I wanted.”
But I’m no longer listening.
Humiliation is washing through me, shifting the hope I had into familiar numbness that I am powerless to change my life.
I don’t hear anything else he says.
I’m barely aware of him telling me he’s sorry and that he’s told Beth where I am.
I’m already trying to find a way to explain to my father what I know I never can.
