THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION. NAMES, CHARACTERS, BUSINESSES, PLACES, EVENTS, LOCALES AND INCIDENTS ARE THE PRODUCTS OF THE AUTHOR’S IMAGINATION. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ACTUAL PERSONS, LIVING OR DEAD, OR ACTUAL EVENTS IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.
chapter 8 : EXPOSED
Carter climbed down the stairs to see Sasha crouched on the floor. It looked like she was cleaning up broken strands of glass.
“Hey What’s up?” Carter called her as he walked up to her.
“I am so sorry. The noise must have woken you up. I couldn’t sleep so I thought I will have some more of the champagne but unfortunately the glass slipped from my hand and broke into pieces. I know you can’t stand mess so I will clean it up quickly.” She continued to pick up glass pieces with bare hands. Carter noticed she was drunk and disorderly. He got worried.
“Sasha, tell me the truth. How many glasses have you had until now? You look tipsy.”
Sasha shrugged and thought about it for a moment, “May be one or two, not much.”
Carter crossed his arms, towered over her and gave her a tight-lipped glance. Sasha tried to get up but lost her balance and almost stepped on the sharp broken glass fragments. Carter grabbed her just in time. She was safe in his arms, as her eyes met his, they stayed locked in the embrace for a transient moment, before being brought back to their senses by Cleo’s whines. Clearly Cleo didn’t approve of their growing closeness.
Carter helped Sasha up on her feet and said “I think you have had enough to drink tonight. It’s time for you to sleep. In the morning if the snow clears, your car is fixed, roadblock is lifted, you can be on your way home to your family.”
Sasha smiled in a forlorn manner, “Am I causing so much trouble that you are in the hurry of to get rid of me?”
Carter’s cheeks heated up, his ears turned red. “On the contrary I’m rather glad for your company especially in this weather and the scenario that I was in. The thing is my wife is gone, sort of left the house in anger and I have no idea as to where to find her. That’s the reason I haven’t been myself lately.”
Sasha placed her hand over her mouth in sympathy and sighed “Oh dear Carter. That is so sad. I think you need a drink more than I do. Come sit with me for a while, talk with me. I promise you’ll feel better and you might even get some sleep. Have you informed the cops about your wife’s situation?” Sasha said pouring a drink for Carter.
Carter perched on the sofa and hung his head, “No I haven’t. It’s complicated.”
He took the glass of whiskey Sasha handed him. She had gotten the whiskey from the mini bar. It was almost as if she belonged here, Carter couldn’t help but wonder.
“Where are your kids?” Sasha asked again taking a long swig from her glass of neat whiskey.
Carter didn’t answer her question, instead he stared into her eyes and said “I have a feeling that you are here for a reason. I am almost certain you are hiding something; I can sense it.” The whiskey had started taking effect.
She nodded “Before I answer your question, I shall refill your glass and we shall talk about your kids.” Her voice was authoritative.
“Why should I agree to what you say? I want to I hear your side of the story first.” Carter pointed his glass to her asking for a refill. Inspite of himself, he was reveling in this new-found engaging company.
Sasha refilled both of their glasses. Carter gulped it down.
“You will do just as I say, else you lose James forever.” Sasha said with a smirk.
Carter’s eyes widened with dread. His lips parched. His feet started shaking. He felt dizzy.
“You think you scare me? Your words are nothing but hoax. Besides I don’t know any James. Get out of the house right now else I am calling the cops. I should have never let you stay in the first place. What was I thinking!”
Carter got up from his seat, but fell back as if something strong pulled him from behind, he realized horror-struck he couldn’t stand. The muscles of his body were stiffening, he couldn’t stand back up, he felt like he was having a paralytic attack, he passed out, his body hit the ground with a thud, his face contorted.
After that he kept drifting in and out of consciousness. There were distant noises. Sasha was pacing up and down the room, Cleo on her tail. Sasha on the phone, speaking in hurried hushed voices, in indistinguishable words. Sasha forcing his eyes wide open and checking his consciousness. Sasha tying him up, binding his mouth with sellotape. After what seemed like days of being in a confused state of semi alertness, Carter woke up to a loud noise playing near him, which made his blood curdle.
“Wakey Wakey”
The entire house was upside down. Carter realized he was lying on his side on the ground, his body tied to a chair, sweating profusely, he tried moving but was unable to. He felt scatterbrained.
“Hey I said wake up. We need to talk, right now.” Sasha kicked his stomach as she said so.
There was bright light outside. The snowstorm had passed. He felt too weak to talk.
He whispered “What have you done to me? What did I ever do to you? Leave me alone.” He mumbled through the tape on his mouth.
Much to his dismay, he wept like a child. He felt helpless, as if he were going to die.
“Oh, don’t cry. I could alleviate your pain in an instant if you co-operate.” Said Sasha.
They both were startled to hear keys being jangled outside the door.
Carter guffawed, it was Evelyn, his prayers had been answered, she would rescue him from this evil witch.
Sasha’s face turned pale. She stayed put for a second before racing to the door.
He couldn’t see who it was on the other side of the door but Sasha rushed the visitor with her to the outdoors and closed the door behind her.
Carter’s ray of hope started diminishing faster than it had appeared. He tried to untie his body with all his might but his body didn’t respond to his desire. He felt like being in a vegetative state. He looked at Cleo with hopeful eyes, wishing Cleo freed him from the ropes. Cleo stayed unmoved, panting and puffing, watching him with a glimmer in his eyes. Was Cleo happy to see his master tied up like that or was his mind playing tricks on him?
After a while Sasha came back through the door with Evelyn behind her. Carter’s joy knew no bounds. It was Evelyn who had come back, just like he had assumed. But Evelyn’s eyes looked bloodshot as if she were crying. She came running towards him and slapped him hard. His ears rang with the aftereffect.
She stripped out the sellotape from his mouth rather a little too quickly. The pain numbed Carter, making him wince. Even though he wanted to ask and say a thousand things to her, his first words were “Water, Ev. Please……some water.”
Evelyn stood still, her eyes red with fury, her body shaking in frenzy, as if she wanted to scream but was trying to calm herself down first.
Evelyn went to the kitchen, grabbed the jug and as Carter opened his mouth, instead of pouring into his mouth, she poured water all over the floor.
“You can lick it all you can.”
Even though Carter was baffled with her reaction, he didn’t protest. He was too weak and thirsty to revolt. The water trickled on the floor soaking his hair wet. He was still lying on the ground with his body arched to the side. Evelyn didn’t lift him up nor untied him, she wasn’t going to, he deduced. Being thirsty and option-less, he started licking water. Today is their day but when the time is on my side, they will pay for this, he thought.
Sasha entered the room. Evelyn threw a furtive glance at her. Sasha replied with a nod.
She stepped forward and stood on Carter’s palm. She had her heels on. Carter flinched with agony.
“Let me make this crystal clear to you. We haven’t got all day for this drama. Let’s cut to the chase. Help us get back Mia, we will hand you over to the cops and let James walk. If you don’t, then both you and James disappear into thin air, as if you both never existed.” Sasha said twitching her heels deeper into the skin of Carter’s palm.
“Mia is no more. She died in that car accident. Her body was never found. I don’t know who James is. Leave me alone, let me go. Sasha, please stop all this nonsense else I will make sure you pay for it. Stop this now!” Each word was a struggle to utter. Every syllable was an effort. It took every ounce of Carter’s energy to be able to keep his eyes open. The pain inflicted by Sasha was blinding him.
He felt a tinge on his arms, as if he was being bit by an insect. He realized Sasha was injecting something into his veins. Whatever it was, it bore effect immediately, he felt stronger, alert.
He tried with all his might to lift himself up, he screamed, shouted, hurled abuses and threatening at Sasha and Evelyn. They didn’t react, held his chair, picked it up and placed it on all fours. It felt much better to be sitting straight than lying on his side. Why was Evelyn being a part of all this nonsensical torture, he wondered. Did she know? But that wasn’t possible, couldn’t be, he dismissed his thoughts.
“Listen Carter, the more time you waste, the quicker James dies.” said Sasha.
Carter closed his eyes and hissed “I said I don’t know any James.”
Evelyn screamed at this response “Enough of you and your lies. I am done with you. I could kill you with my bare hands right now but all I want is my baby back. You have to get her back. I knew, I always knew that Mia was alive but never had I imagined in my wildest dreams, you behind all of this. Why Carter? Why did you do this? What did you get out of this? You are Mia’s father, you were supposed to protect her and yet you pushed her towards danger. You watched me suffer in silence. You tried your best to convince me that she was no more. All of this for what?” Evelyn’s voice changed pitch from an ear curdling scream to an appeal, finally ending in a whisper.
“Because….. because she wasn’t my daughter.”
Carter replied in a steely voice. Evelyn’s eyes widened. “What did you say?”
“I said what I said. She wasn’t my daughter. Nor was Ethan my son. They were your sins which you forced on me. I couldn’t protest nor leave you because it wasn’t so easy to walk out of this relationship. There was so much at stake.”
“How can you say that? Are you out of your mind Carter? They are our kids. They are your children. You loved them, adored them, at times even more than I did. Why would you even say these things and …and …and I cannot digest the fact that you staged Mia’s kidnap. You were cheating on me with a guy! It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.” Evelyn’s words sounded like she was in a state of trance. Her lips moved mechanically while her entire body was crumbling into pieces.
Sasha placed a hand on her shoulder. Evelyn broke down into tears.
“I know you are hurting Evelyn. I know all of this information is ripping your world apart, but I beg you for a little more strength. The worst isn’t over yet, we have to get to Mia and rescue her before it’s too late. When I had made up my mind to confront Carter and tell you everything, I wasn’t sure of the outcome. I was doubtful about winning your confidence. What if you didn’t trust me, what if my plan didn’t work, what if I fail, there were a thousand Ifs on my mind yet there was a glimmer of hope that God was on my side. I was doing the right thing. I was going to get Mia back by one way or another. I arrived here to find Carter alone, you gone, I wasn’t sure what to do. Then I got a call from my informant that James and Carter were planning to sell Mia to some child traffickers in the east coast. I decided I had to act. I spiked Carter’s drink, overpowered him, but the amount of drug had been a little more than prescribed. As a result, Carter became temporarily paralytic, losing his muscle strength and drifting into stupor. After that I made few more calls to find an antidote. I had to wait for the storm to pass. As soon as it did, I rushed to the store to grab that antidote. After I rendered that to him, he gained some of his consciousness. Then you arrived. Thank Goodness you gave me a chance to explain everything. I cannot fathom your agony, but you must know that every second we waste, we are drifting away from Mia. We need to get to her as fast as we can.”
“You will never make it to her on time.” Carter replied with a sardonic smile.
“I am done with you, you bastard. I will kill you right now.” Sasha charged towards Carter in full swing. Evelyn caught her before she sprung on him.
“No Sasha. Not so easy. He will pay for all his sins but his karma will make him pay, not us.” Evelyn’s tone was acerbic.
“You are right. I know of a better way to make him suffer.”
Sasha retrieved her phone, pulled out a video from her gallery, hit the play button, shoved it in Carter’s face,.
Carter’s face turned ashen. He started trembling in fear. He shook his head, tears started streaming down his cheeks. “Leave him. Let him go. Please. Please, I beg you.”
Sasha bore a satisfactory smile. “It hurts, doesn’t it? To see someone, you love in pain. I too had loved James briefly, but I had to do this to him to get to you. You do know how strong he is. It took all of my strength to incapacitate him. The drug didn’t affect him the way it affected you. James is huge, athletic, robust; I was a fool to expect him to drop like a fly with a single dose. It took more than one serving of the drug to overpower him. Even though he lost his muscle strength, still he refused to give you away. So much of loyalty for his partner. Thus, I had to pour some acid drops on him, enough to make him beg for his life, spill all the beans. Right now, I have hired a guy who is seated beside James, a gun pointed to his head, ready to splatter his brain if I say the word. So, if you delay information by one more minute, it’s the end of James. I swear I will get him killed in a matter of seconds, don’t test my patience anymore and get talking.”
“But…but….how do you know James? How do you know about Mia? James never mentioned you. ”
((To be continued….))
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I enjoyed this chapter very much!! =) I love the twist! Can’t wait to see what happens next!
Thank you so much for the appreciation and support 🙂 I am eternally grateful!
Bookmarking now to read from the beginning!
Thank you so much 🙂 🙂
gripping… didnot expect this kind of turn to the story… hoping for a great ending !
Ha Ha. Am glad. Thanks for reading and commenting 🙂
Ok! i did not see that twist coming…👏🏻
I am hooked to your stories…You are a terrific writer…hope to see your work published in the future…
Fingers crossed for the publishing part, until then please do keep reading the blogs. Comments like these are motivating 🙂 Thank you so much!
Wow! What a great read! I am so excited to keep reading! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks a lot Jackie for reading and the comment! Please do keep reading 🙂 🙂
Well written, interesting story that keeps me coming back. Thank you for sharing!!
Thanks a lot for taking the time to read and the feedback. It means a lot to me 🙂
It’s been so incredible keeping up with this story! You always end them on such a cliff hanger! Can’t wait to read the rest ❤️
You have no idea how happy I am to see your comment on my post! Thanks a lot for reading and stopping by 🙂
Again an excellent frame of writing dear.
A gripping plot, subtle and focused explanation of emotions…
Good going ..waiting for your next
Thanks a lot Linga for the feedback and uplifting comments 🙂