“Okay, Mr. Secretive.”
“Whatever. You got your shit together? You down with the plan?” Conner handed me his truck keys. He was changing the subject.
“Yeah, I have to pretend that my wife, that I love more than anything in the world, kicked me out and I need a place to crash where her brother can’t find me and beat my ass.”
He slapped me on the back as I climbed in the truck. “Go save your daughter, Ty.”
“This is fucked up in so many ways, you know that right?” I hated this.
“Yeah, but you’ve run out of options and I’d sell my soul to the devil before I let anyone from Tucker Chase’s family lay a hand on my niece. If this is what you have to do, then do it.”
I looked back at my carriage house, which had doubled in size now. All of the countless hours spent making it a home for my family rushed into my mind. The hours that I’d spent with Miranda drawing out the design of every single room. The nights we worked until the sun came up. Izzy seeing her room for the first time. Taking our first bath in the new Jacuzzi tub; planning out the room for the twins; having our first meal when the house was all finished.
All of those beautiful memories together and I was driving to do something I said I would never do again. The thought made me sick. I didn’t know how in the hell, if it came to touching Heather, I could go through with it, not when my beautiful wife was sitting at home worrying herself sick.
I waved to Conner and I pulled out of the driveway and headed for Heather’s place. Her mother worked weird hours at the hospital and there was no telling if she would be there when I arrived. I kind of hoped that she would be, because I didn’t want to be alone with Heather.
I sat out front of her house and thought about any other way that I could save my daughter from that woman. Did I have the balls to hire a hit man? Could I go through with something that evil for my daughter? What would something like that even cost? Miranda and I weren’t hurting for money, but I was certain something like that didn’t come easy.
Finally, I got to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed my phone and set the plan into motion.
I’m here. I love you more than you’ll ever know. Start sending the messages and stick to the plan. This is for Isabella. This is for our family.
I deleted the message and with shaking hands, awaiting what Miranda and I had planned on saying.
I hate you for what you’ve done to our family. Rot in hell Ty. You will never touch me again.- M
Even though I knew it was a lie, to read the words coming from my wife ripped my heart out. I never wanted to feel this way. I leaned over the steering wheel and tried to get my shit together, but the more I thought about those messages, the more upset I became. Soon, I had tears falling down my eyes and I was dialing my wife.
Ty?
Baby, I can’t do this.
I could hear her crying on the other end of the phone and I just lost it. Tears wet my cheeks and I listened to her pain.
I love you so much, Ty. I know you can do this for Bella, for your Izzy.
I can’t lose you to save her. I can’t choose.
You can’t lose me, if I’m not goin’ anywhere, okay?
I’m scared.
Please Ty, don’t make this any harder. Knowing you’re there and that you’re goin to have to touch her, it’s killin’ me. Get those papers and come home to me. Come home to us.
That’s the only place I want to be, Baby. I love our life.
Bye Ty.
She could barely talk and I wasn’t much better. After looking in the mirror, I decided to use the real tears as an advantage. I took a few deep breaths and grabbed the bag Conner had given me. I knocked on the door just once and Heather opened it. She saw the look on my face and I actually sensed genuine compassion. This plan may actually work.
“Ty? What’s going on? What happened to your face?”
“It’s Miranda. I defended you after our talk and she kicked me out. She said we’re done.”
She held the door opened and gestured for me to come in. “I’m sure she’ll get over it. You two seem to be attached at the hip. Besides, she is carrying your real children.”
Don’t clench your fists…
“You don’t understand. This isn’t the first time this happened. I’ve cheated before, so you claiming we had something, well it nailed my coffin. I tried to change, but I was no good at it.” I am lying…
Heather sat down beside me and I could tell she wanted to smile. I clenched my jaws and thought about hitting a girl again. I loathed her. She was a fucking evil person. “It’s okay to admit that you still haven’t found the one person to satisfy your every need. I mean, maybe you just aren’t looking hard enough.”