I knew the tears were falling down my face. I wasn’t able to hide my fear. I was so scared.
“Why are you cryin’?”
I patted Noah as he walked by me. “I’m fine. I’m just real happy to see my friend.” Yes, I lied to the kid. I was petrified, but I didn’t want Noah doing anything to make Rick mad. Once the child was in the living room, I made a mad dash for Conner’s old bedroom, where my gun was.
“You can run, but you can’t get away.” I heard Rick yelling to me. I grabbed the gun out of its box and stuck it behind my back, before making my way back out into the living room. Rick saw me look down at my cell phone. He raced me to it, ripping it out of my hands. “This party is just for us, baby. Tell the kid goodbye.”
I tried so hard to be calm. I looked down at Noah and smiled. “You be a big boy and wait here until your parents come. Can you do that for me?”
He nodded and then went back to watching his show. I wish I could have slipped him a message to get to Conner. Just knowing that this may be my last chance to ever tell the man that I loved him, well, it made me even sadder.
I knew that Rick had waited for this. He had laid low until he had me right where he wanted. I was vulnerable and alone. This man wanted to kill me. He’d made it clear a hundred times before. I could only imagine how much more angry he was. When we got outside I saw that he was driving a mail truck. He led me toward the back and opened it up to reveal a bound and gagged Heather. I saw the fear in her eyes and could hear her sobbing when she saw me.
Rick shoved me inside beside Heather. He climbed in and tied my hands behind my back. Before I could even think of what to say, he was sticking something in my mouth preventing me from talking.
I should have used my gun, but he had been pushing me the whole time. He walked behind me and would see me reaching for it. Now I sat next to Heather, bound and gagged, with a weapon that could end everything, out of my reach.
Heather and I looked at each other as we both sobbed beneath the gag. She and I both knew our fate. Rick had planned the ultimate revenge and now he was seeing it through. Neither of us were going to make it out of this alive. Conner would never find out. We never saw this coming. We’d let our guard down and he took advantage.
When the truck started to move, I closed my eyes and tried to envision where we were headed, but it was much easier on television shows than it was in real life. It didn’t quite matter much when we came to an abrupt stop. Mine and Heather’s body slammed together. I saw her look down at my belly. My baby was unharmed. I couldn’t imagine what Rick was thinking when he saw my big belly. He was the kind of person to take the baby from me and let me lay there bleeding to death while morning the loss of my child.
No, this was going to end horribly. The back doors opened again and I noticed that we were in one of the barns. I couldn’t tell which one, but at least we were still on the Mitchell property. Rick leaned in and grabbed Heather out first. Once she was standing, he reached in and did the same to me. I kept my body close to Heather’s. She kept putting herself in front of my belly, which made me feel a little safer.
“Move your asses. I ain’t got all day.”
He was holding a knife in his hand and leading us out of the barn. Once we were outside, I saw where we were headed. Rick was taking us in the direction of the main house. I knew Heather had never been to Kentucky before. I couldn’t tell her to run and get away. She would never make it far.
Rick led us to the back door near the kitchen. “Keep moving.”
Once inside, he pushed us into the living room, where Lucy was sitting, tied to a chair. Her eyes got big when she saw that I was with Rick. I shook my head, trying to tell her not to look at me the way she was. I think she finally realized just who this person was and she was more scared than ever. Rick lined the three of us up on the couch. I was reminded of the gun being behind my back, because it was poking me in the skin.
I prayed for one of the family members to come and find us, but with Rick’s instability, there was no telling how much danger they would be in. I felt sorry for Lucy. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Rick took the knife and pressed it against my neck. He was blurry through all the tears. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to see you again?”
I wanted to shake my head, but with a sharp object pointed next to my jugular, I wasn’t in the position to do so. Instead, I closed my eyes and thought about all of the people that I loved. I finally felt like I had everything I ever wanted. I had my father back in my life, a great boyfriend that wanted to marry me and a perfect little baby on the way. What had I ever done to deserve this kind of ending? How was Conner going to feel when he didn’t just lose me, but our baby too? How long could a baby survive after the mother had been murdered? It was wrong for me to be thinking such horrible thoughts, but they completely filled my mind.