-Jacey-
“Oh my dear! Are you all right?!” Petra asked, scurrying over to me. “Roy, get something to clean this up!”
I stared at Leon, who grinned at me. I didn’t like the look of his grin.
Caleb put his arm around me, a fake smile plastered on his face. I knew it was a fake smile because I knew all his smiles. I also knew he’d heard what Leon said and come to the same conclusion.
I decided I needed to up my game, too. My smile shook, but I managed to put one on my face. “I’m sorry, Petra. It slipped right out of my hand.”
“Condensation,” Caleb added.
“Of course, my dear,” Petra said sympathetically. &ldq
-Caleb-Jacey’s nails dug into my thigh all the way back to the Mastersons’ mansion. I think she was trying to keep me quiet. I didn’t want her to have to face all this alone, so I stayed quiet. As much as I hated Masterson, I knew he wasn’t lying. I was inconsequential at this point. They were keeping me around just to keep Jacey happy.I imagined the same could be said for my mother, her father, and baby Timothy. Everyone was woven into a carefully crafted web to ensnare Jacey into doing whatever Masterson wanted.Hopefully, Masterson wasn’t going to revisit fucking Jacey himself.The mansion was just the same as we had left it. The decor was still inviting. It still had a happy, alive feeling.
-Jacey-For two months, Caleb and Will put their heads together and whispered about how we could possibly get out. And for two months, they came up empty.My water broke in the middle of the night seven weeks after our recapture. Or re-kidnapping. Or whatever it was called.Caleb called for Will, and they both decided maybe this would be the opportunity they were looking for as I started having contractions.But, as usual, Mr. Masterson had thought of everything. As Caleb held one of my hands and Will the other, a whole crew of doctors and nurses, with equipment, arrived in our bedroom.“This is exciting,” Mr. Masterson said, coming in himself. “And before you say you don’t want me here, remember, Caleb is still expendable.”I shut my mouth. So did Caleb and Will.“Can she have an epidural?” Caleb asked when I started crushing both their hands trying not to cry out. I didn’t want to give Mr. Masterson the satisfaction.I expected Mr. Masterson to say ‘no,’ but instead he shrugged. “Go
-Caleb-Masterson, of course, had me back in the office the very next day, even though I felt as though my heart had been ripped from my chest, and the bastard was playing hacky sack with it. I tried not to glare at him from my desk when he passed back and forth during the day.He also got me working immediately on his more nefarious undertakings. I thought Masterson got a little giggle out of me having to deal with the illegal logging operations he had throughout the world, given it was running into the illegal logging operation he had in Canada that had first put Jacey and me on his radar.I’d been hoping Masterson would bring Will Jr. to the office, but that silver lining wasn’t coming, either. Masterson left Will Jr. wherever he’d put him. I wondered if the baby was just in another part of the
-Jacey-The days passed too slowly and too quickly at the same time. I missed Caleb terribly. and no matter how much Will pleaded with his father, I hadn’t seen Will Jr. once.At four weeks to the day since I gave birth, Mr. Masterson finally appeared in our bedroom. My heart sank when I saw he didn’t have Will Jr. with him.“It seems the time has come,” Mr. Masterson grinned at Will and me as we poked our heads up over the covers. “Four weeks. Get to it.”“Four to six weeks, Father.” Will stifled a yawn to give his father a serious look.“I’ve decided four was perfectly sufficient. Now get to it,” Mr. Masterson repeated.
-Caleb-The first thing I noticed was that the door wasn’t opening. At least not much. This made the guard next to me scowl.What I saw next made my heart beat fast. Jacey. My Jacey was in my apartment.Sitting on the floor. Duct taped, in her lingerie nightie, with her mouth covered.Rage simmered in my gut. “What the hell, guys? Who left her duct taped on my floor, huh?”The guards just chuckled.“Jacey, love, let me in,” I murmured, trying to reduce the fear in her eyes.She finally recognized me, and her eyes welled up with tears.“Jacey, honey, you n
-Jacey-I put my hand over Caleb’s as we sat in the fourth row of the church, toward the middle. Caleb had done a wonderful job with the flowers, blues and whites, and Will’s baseball memorabilia was sitting on and around the coffin. All in all, everything was beautiful.The priest had been paid a large sum of money to ignore the fact that Will wasn’t Catholic. According to Masterson, they weren’t anything, really. But it was the only space large enough in a thirty-mile radius of their home with enough space to accommodate the big to-do Masterson wanted.Well-wishers came to a grieving Masterson in a line that extended out of the church doors and into the street. The who’s who of business were all there to pay their respects, to Masterson and not Will. But Will’s old baseball team was here along with his coach. And
-Caleb-I brought up the information I had on Jacob Ramacher and handed my phone to Masterson. “He’s the son of Gregory Ramacher, head of Ramacher Industries.”Masterson grimaced. “What are they worth?”“Enough to be expensive to buy, but not impossible,” I said reluctantly.“Good. Call the lawyers and tell them to make it happen,” Masterson responded. He looked Jacey up and down in a way I did not like. Not that I would have liked any way he looked at Jacey. “You certainly are a miracle worker, young lady. It used to be like pulling teeth to get this one to do anything.”Jacey swallowed uncertainly. “Thank you, sir?”
-Jacey-“Spend lots of time pissing him off,” I told Caleb as I hugged him before he went to work.The guard waiting in our doorway rolled his eyes. “Come on, let’s be on time.” He tapped his watch.“I could start by coming in late,” Caleb teased.The guard did not take kindly to that and dragged Caleb out of my arms and out of the apartment. “He’ll be back later,” he said.I scowled at him, but it didn’t stop him from marching Caleb away.When the door closed, I was left alone in the apartment. Again.I walked around, noticing several cameras discreetly placed around th