Chapter Nine: Prey
1144 Words
Dane
Humans were boringly predictable, and Evangeline Thatcher was no different.
I watched her continue to run like she was being chased by wild dogs and shook my head. With her, there was still a long way to go.
I turned the car around and zoomed out of there. Evangeline had just blindly walked into her own death. And I allowed it.
Ignorance, as Gavin had loved to say, was deadly. Evangeline had just proved that.
My jaw locked at the memory of Gavin, at the thought of the man I had grown up calling father. The same man who had once looked at me like I was his greatest reward.
My first hero and teacher.
Everything had been perfect, plans shaping up as everyone had imagined until that one letter that crumbled the reality I'd known.
I gripped the steering wheel harder, feeling my palm go numb from the vice-like grip. I wished to the high heavens that I could make my heart arrive at the same numbness.
My phone suddenly rang out, the sudden noise a welcoming distraction from the thoughts my mind had veered towards until I read the caller ID.
With a sigh, I picked it up.
“Good day, Mother.”
“Have you found her?” Mother was never one for preamble. And with me, it was no different.
“I did, but she is out of my hands now.” I couldn't keep the resignation out of my voice.
There was a short pause on the other end, and the painful silence carried a quiet condemnation that was familiar but still made my heart ache.
“You were supposed to take her somewhere safe, Dane.” Her tone was not accusatory, but the evident disappointment made me feel like I had fallen short. Again.
“I know.” I sighed. “But she took off on her own. I wasn't going to chase her down, she's not a criminal, mother. And we don't want to call more attention to ourselves more than Gavin's death already has.”
“I know, darling. But that girl is the key to their hearts. And we're not the only ones who want her.”
I shut my eyes and gritted my teeth. Mother was right.
I wished she wasn't. I wished everything were as simple as it was two years ago. I wished Mother's desperation hadn't caused her to do the one thing that had changed my fate forever.
But even though the past could not be undone, the future could be altered. And that alteration was what Mother and I were trying to make happen.
Otherwise, the shameful tag of being Gavin's bastard son was going to remain my only inheritance. Forever.
“She is resolutely set on getting rid of the baby.” I announced quietly to Mother as I recalled the stubborn fire in her eyes at the hospital parking lot.
Evangeline had looked nothing like the quiet young woman I had met at Gavin's wedding and seen occasionally during dinner at the mansion.
Those sparkling eyes had once been guileless. Her only mission was seeing to it that her unseeing mother got all the help she needed.
I had never imagined that she would one day throw her legs open for her mother's new husband. But that was the thing about women, wasn't it?
With them, everyone stood to be awfully surprised.
“We can't let her do that.” Mother's voice was sharp, piercing through my thoughts and hurling me back to the present.
“I was hoping that little scare with the SUV would make her stay put for a while.” I muttered, recalling the way she'd stood frozen in fear, pupils blown. She'd staggered out of that car as though she had barely survived her worst nightmare.
“She can't get rid of that child, Dane. This might be your only chance at winning them over, you can't let her ruin it.”
A pulse feathered my jaw as I clenched hard. “I know.”
“So, go back. You must take her back with you. Make her believe you're her only savior.”
Evangeline's petrified look crossed my mind again, and something unnameable fluttered in my chest.
“Are you sure there's no other way to do this, Mother?”
“If you have thought of smarter ways to take over the company that has rightfully always been yours without making the authorities question your ways, then do tell.”
“Fine.” I snapped, whirling the car around.
“That's what I thought.”
I snapped my jaws together, the bruising impact momentarily distracting me from Mother's smug gloating at my concession.
When the phone beeped, I breathed out deeply.
How the hell was I going to convince Evangeline to return home with me? Make her see me as her savior and not the man who was planning on taking the child out of her womb on his own terms?
That strange flutter caused my eyes to narrow. There was no time to analyze the unwelcome feeling. I needed to get Evangeline back in this car.
I slowed down as I neared the coffee shop, determined not to drive in. I wasn't going to waste more than a minute in there.
I looked at the entrance, prepared to go in. But Evangeline's sudden appearance gave me a pause. There was a strange air about her. Her eyes were glazed over, and she looked half paralyzed by fear.
That was when I saw it, or rather, Him. A man dressed in a black tuxedo, sunglasses half hiding his identity.
The bulge in his suit jacket was impossible to miss, which explained the terror on Evangeline's face.
Without taking my eyes off them, I picked up my phone and pressed "dial" on Mother's number. She picked up on the first ring.
“Did you command another jumpscare?” I asked as I tracked their movement with my eyes. He didn't look like one of the men who worked for Mother.
But then, Mother changed her thugs faster than she did the collections in her wardrobe.
The suited man had inched closer to Evangeline and was now guiding her movement with his hands.
“No, I did not. Why? What's happening?”
My heart crashed against my chest as the man pushed Evangeline harshly towards a waiting car.
“I have to call you back, Mother. It'll appear that we're not the only ones with eyes set on Gavin's pregnant stepdaughter.”
“What?” Mother's shocked voice rang out. “What's happening, Dane? Have you found her?”
“I have my eyes on her, Mother. But someone else got to her first.” And with that, I ended the call and jumped out of the car with fire in my veins.
- Writer
