I looked at Johnny accusingly, how the hell could he just trap me like this? Even if this argument was over something stupid like money, he should have known I wouldn't like to be confronted with it like this. He knew me well enough to know that I hated confrontations. Maybe he was doing this to hurt me.
"Johnny, I don't want to talk to him. Can you please ask him to leave?" I asked trying to keep my voice stronger than I felt. I glanced at my purse which I'd put down on the floor next to the sofa and was closer to Ben than it was to me. I couldn't even make a grab for it so I could call Ethan or Andrew.
Johnny frowned and shook his head, "Come on Ali, you two just need to talk it through and get this sorted out. It's not good for either of you to lose your family."
"I need to get to college." I mumbled looking at the door longingly, getting to the door would mean walking past Ben and I really didn't want to do that.
Ben smirked at me as he crossed his arms over his chest, he looked so arrogant right now that I just wanted to grab the nearest lamp or something and smash it into his face.
"We've got time to talk before college. How are you and Ethan getting on? I heard you two are getting married and having a baby." Ben raised one eyebrow looking at me challengingly.
Johnny's face dropped and he looked at me so hurt that I felt my heart break for him all over again.
"You're having his kid?" he asked his voice breaking slightly.
I gulped and scowled at Ben, the freaking asshole did that on purpose just to hurt Johnny I could tell by the amused expression on his face. "Yeah." I confirmed through the lump in my throat.
"Shit Ali, I thought you'd come back to me when you started to miss the lifestyle. I honestly thought you were just trying to prove something, I thought you'd come back begging me for another chance when you got fed up with having no money." Johnny said his voice and face tight and hurt. He looked devastated and it made me feel slightly sick.
I shook my head and looked at him apologetically, "I'm so sorry Johnny, you didn't deserve this, but it's happened so there's nothing I can do about it. I love Ethan." I said honestly.
Ben snorted when I said Ethan's name and I closed my eyes as hatred built up inside again, I honestly had never hated anything more in my life and the intense feeling that I had inside right now should have been able to kill him on the spot.
"I'm leaving." I said to Johnny pretending Ben wasn't even in the room. I willed myself to be strong as I stepped towards him and grabbed my purse from the floor. As I got level with Ben I looked at him with as much hate as I could muster. "This is low even for you, using Johnny like this. You don't ever come near me again, I don't ever want to see you." I growled angrily.
I turned and went to walk past before I punched him in the face. He was still smirking at me and looked so cocky and confident. He grabbed my wrist with bruising force yanking me to a stop, making me yelp as pain shot up my wrist. I turned to glare at him but his face made my heart stop.
He looked murderously angry, angrier than I had ever seen him and it honestly scared the life out of me.
"You're not fucking going anywhere! Do you have any idea how fucking long I've been planning this? You're stupid prick of a fiancée almost killed me and now he deserves what's coming to him. You're mine Ali, you always were! He's always been in my way, but no more. After today we'll be free to be together and no one will stand in our way." he growled as he shoved me roughly making me fall onto the sofa.
I looked up shocked to see him pull a gun from the waistband of his jeans and point it at Johnny, his face still murderously angry. Johnny was just staring at him caught between a mixture of shock and confusion. Holy shit what the hell is he doing with damn gun? I felt like my heart was trying to rip its way out of my chest it was beating so hard.
"Ben what the hell are you doing?" Johnny asked quietly, soothingly as if he could somehow talk him out of pointing a gun at his face.
"Shut the fuck up Johnny! I missed last time but trust me, at this distance I won't miss again. Get on the sofa with Ali." he commanded pointing in my direction.
My brain was starting to hurt as it overloaded with information. Ben said he'd missed last time, does that mean he'd tried to shoot Johnny before? If he had that meant that the stalker that had been threatening Johnny for the past few months and that had started threatening me...... was Ben. Could he be the stalker though? Why? Why would he do something like that?
Johnny was just standing there staring in shock and disbelief. I felt a little like that too, like I just couldn't believe my eyes, I thought that I was somehow imagining that my brother was standing in the middle of my ex's lounge pointing a gun at his face. I grabbed Johnny's hand and pulled him down onto the sofa like Ben had told him, I'd never seen Ben look like this. His face was the picture of rage and he looked like he was capable of anything at this moment in time. I needed to try and keep him calm or something and wait for Andrew or Johnny's day guard to come into the house, they'd see him with the gun and take him down. Surely it was just a matter of time before Andrew came in to check I was ok, right? I could feel the panic start to take over but I needed to keep calm and stay in control.
"Ben.... It was you?" I asked my eyes filling with tears at the betrayal and guilt that was rushing through my system. All this time someone had been trying to hurt Johnny, sending him threats, poisoned food, knives inside staffed animals and the countless other harmful things that had been sent through the post. They were all from Ben? Someone wanting to hurt Johnny was all my fault.
"Yeah it was me." he growled grabbing my purse from my hand, his gun still pointing at Johnny's face. Johnny hadn't really moved, he was just sitting on the sofa next to me, pale and sweaty.
"Why?" I whispered needing to know. I always knew he was deranged and warped because of what he did to me, his little sister. But I would have never in a million years thought he was capable of this, of trying to murder someone.
"Because you're mine!" he screamed his face going red with anger. I felt my stomach lurch again as my body threated to expel my breakfast. "You were always mine but there's always some fucker in the way! You stopped staying at home with me so you could stay with this prick," he waved the gun at Johnny angrily. "I hardly ever got to see you so I thought if he was out of the way then I'd get you back. Now there's that prick Ethan to sort out too, he always was fucking trouble!" he shouted hatefully.
He wanted to sort Ethan out? What the hell did that mean? He was going to try and hurt Ethan? I felt my life slowly being flushed down the toilet, if he hurt Ethan it honestly would kill me. I couldn't live without him again, he was my everything.
"Ben this is crazy, you've gone crazy!" I cried.
I didn't know what to say, I glanced in Johnny's direction for help but he was just looking at me confused and a little horrified. Maybe he was trying to work out what Ben was talking about, his eyes searched mine and I saw it slowly sink in as his face turned to a mix of sympathy and disgust.
I burst into sobs at the look in his eyes, the look I never wanted to see again from anyone. His hand gripped mine tightly crushing my fingers slightly as he turned to Ben. "You sick mother fucker." he growled moving to get up off of the sofa.
Ben moved so fast I barely even saw it as he smashed the handle of the gun against Johnny's head.
Almost instantly Johnny went limp, his head falling into my lap. I screamed and looked down at him, dry heaving as blood started to dribble down the side of his head. I pressed my hand over it to stop the flow.
"Johnny!" I screamed helplessly as I shook him trying to wake him up.
"He's still breathing." Ben said shrugging easily as he pulled my cell phone from my purse, flicking through it and typing something in quickly.
"What are you doing? Ben you need help! You're sick, this isn't right! You're my brother for God's sake, you can't do this!" I cried barely able to breathe.
"I can do whatever I want, and technically I'm not your brother. You're adopted so no b
lood relation of mine, so we can be together, it's fine." He shrugged as if it were no big deal. That him raping me over and over for the last six years were nothing out of the ordinary. Like this happened everyday and made total sense instead of being the sickest thing I could ever dream up.
Suddenly I realized what he had said. I looked at him shocked, I was adopted? What the hell? I wasn't adopted, was I? "Adopted?" I whispered.
He smiled sadly and sat down on the sofa next to me, I shrank away from him as far as I could but I had Johnny's head in my lap so I couldn't just get up and run away, I didn't want to move him if he was really hurt. He reached out a hand and caught some of my hair that had come loose and brushed it behind my ear softly. I whimpered as his skin touched mine, and turned my face away disgusted.
"Mom had some trouble when she gave birth to me, she couldn't have more children but they always wanted a little girl. So they met this young girl who was pregnant and didn't want to keep the baby so they paid her to keep you. When you were born they adopted you. You were such a beautiful baby and I remember the exact day you were brought home from the hospital. I was four years old and I remember it like it was yesterday. By the time I was ten, you were six and I knew you were supposed to be mine. You're so special Ali and I love you more than anything." he said softly smiling happily.
It scared me just how much he believed what he was saying, he was smiling at me so lovingly even though he had a gun in his hand and had just knocked someone out with it. He really had lost it. I couldn't think about the fact that I as adopted now, I'd deal with that later. If I made it out of this alive anyway, he didn't look like he was going to just let me go and there was no way in hell I was letting him near me again, I'd rather die.
"Ben what are you going to do?" I asked nodding at the gun in his hand trying to keep control of myself as all I wanted to do was curl into a ball and sob.
"I've text Ethan, he'll be here soon. Once he's out of the picture we'll leave, go somewhere nice and hot for a vacation. You like the sound of that?" he asked his hand cupping the side of my face making my whole body go cold.
He'd text Ethan? "What do you mean, once Ethan's out of the picture?" I whispered not really wanting to know the answer.
He smiled wickedly and stood up. "I'm going to kill that fucker for keeping us apart all these years.
We should have been together when you were ten, if it wasn't for him then we'd be together right now and that'd be my baby you're carrying." He nodded towards my stomach and I quickly moved my arm across it protectively.
I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. Ben had text Ethan and told him to come here so he could kill him? Oh God please don't let that happen, please don't let him hurt Ethan or our baby!
Chapter 27
Ethan
I sat on the little chair at the back of the gallery watching as Emanuel put the finishing touches to one of his new displays. I don’t know what all the fuss was about really, it was just a bunch of sculptures, nothing to jump up and down about. He got so damn excited on Mondays. Delivery days. I honestly just didn’t get it, but then again I never was one for art or anything.
My cell vibrated in my pocket so I pulled it out to see a new text from Lia. I grinned happily and opened it.
Ethan, please can you come to Johnny’s asap? Ali
I frowned, come to Johnny’s? What the hell was she doing at Johnny’s? I dialed her cell but it was turned off, what the hell is going on? I called Andrew quickly to see what was happening. He answered almost immediately.
“Hey Andrew, I just got a text from Lia asking me to come to Johnny’s. What’s she doing there?” I asked confused. He had better be with her!
“Not sure man, he text her and asked if they could talk so we came here before college.”
“You’re with her?” I asked frowning. Shit I hoped Johnny wasn’t asking her about the baby! What would we do if he didn’t believe her and knew that the baby was really his? That honestly would kill me.
“I’m in the car outside. She’s been in there for a little while, do you know what he wants to talk to her about?” he asked.
I gulped, “No idea.” I lied. I turned to look at Emanuel, if I needed to go I needed to get someone here to replace me. “I’m coming as soon as I can, I just need to get cover for my target.”
“Ok, I’ll see you when you get here.”
I disconnected the call and immediately called Trent arranging someone to come and replace me so I could leave for the day. Someone would be here within half an hour, hopefully Lia would be able to keep up with the lie until I got there. That asshole Johnny had better not lay a finger on her; I closed my eyes and tried not to imagine him hurting her if he got angry or if he was high.
I sat there watching the clock nervously waiting for my replacement, trying her cell phone every couple of minutes but I still couldn’t get through, I even tried Johnny’s phone but that was turned off too.
When my replacement finally arrived I sped to Johnny’s feeling sick. What do I do if she’s told him the baby was his, shit what if she’s changed her mind and wants to be with him instead of me?
Thoughts of her leaving me were buzzing through my head while I made the twenty minute drive, making me feel sick with worry. When I pulled up I waved at Andrew who was still sitting in the car looking like he was playing on his cell phone or something.
I headed to the house knocking quickly; Lia opened the door looking pale and sweaty. She shook her head looking at me pleadingly, her eyes flicking to my car for some reason.
I pushed the door open a little more and grabbed her hand as I stepped inside. “What the hell are you doing here? What’s happened?” I asked worriedly, her hands were shaking, her breathing coming out too fast and shallow. A tear rolled down her cheek scaring the life out of me. “Lia? What’s happened?” I asked shaking her a little, she looked like she was about to go into shock or something.
The door swung closed behind me and her eyes snapped over my shoulder as something cold and hard pressed against the back of my head. A gun.
I pulled her closer to me quickly, protecting her with my body as the gun pressed harder into my scalp. The fucking stalker was in Johnny’s house? My gun was in a little holster attached to my hip but I knew I had no chance of getting it and pointing it anywhere near the guy behind me before he shot me in the head. I clenched my jaw tighter, I needed to get my girl the hell out of this house now, because I was going to kill this fucker and make her safe if it was the last thing I did.
“Hey Ethan, long time no see.” he growled angrily. Oh shit I recognized that voice!
Ben.
The stalker was Ben? I knew I should have killed that asshole when I had the chance. His hand reached out and took my gun, shit! If Lia wasn’t this close to him then I could take him out but I couldn’t risk doing that near my girl, she could get hurt.
“Ben if you’ve touched her I swear to God I’m going to rip you to pieces.” I growled trying to contain the anger I felt inside. If I could just get Lia into another room or something I could take him out, I just needed to be sure that the gun wouldn’t go off by accident and hit her. I couldn’t risk her or the baby being hurt.
He laughed humorlessly and pressed the gun against my head harder, “Get in the lounge. I’m going to finish this quickly then Ali and I are leaving.” he shoved my shoulder roughly and I forced myself not to whip around and shove the gun down his throat.
I pushed Lia in front of me protecting her with my body, if I could just get her into the lounge and keep him outside in the hallway then I could make my move. I wouldn’t need long; just a couple of seconds was all I needed to kill him but not with my girl and my baby near. My eyes flicked to the kitchen as I walked past and I saw a guy laying on the floor. Who the hell is that? I stopped a little shocked, was that Johnny?
“Get in the lounge!” Ben shouted angrily.
“Who’s that? Is that Johnny?” I asked feeling a little sick, I couldn’t se
e the guys face but he looked a lot bigger than Johnny so I didn’t think it would be him.
“No, that’s his guard. Don’t worry he’s not dead, I just put something in his coffee to knock him out for a little while. If he wakes up I’ll kill him though.” Ben shrugged casually. Shit he really has lost the plot, I never thought he would have it in him to do this kind of thing. I can’t believe all this time the stalker everyone was looking for was right under everyone’s nose. I felt so freaking stupid for not having thought of him before.
“Where is Johnny?” I asked trying to keep him talking.
Lia gripped my hand tightly and I heard her whimper, “He’s in the lounge, he’s unconscious.” she croaked. I longed to soothe her but I had no idea how to make her feel better, why on earth would she come here in the first place?
As we got to the door of the lounge I was all set to push Lia in and slam the door closed, but Ben was too close behind me, there was no way I could do that and keep us both outside the door. I groaned internally thinking about the layout of Johnny’s lounge, thinking off all the places I could get Lia so she would be out of the line of fire, just in case. The nearest place was behind the sofa.