Cold Deception (His Agenda 4): Prequel to the His Agenda Series (16 page)

“Let me go.” She yanked away her arm and rubbed it. “Why are you here?”

“I want answers.” Terence reached for her hand and gripped it so tight she winced. “Let’s talk inside my car. I’ll drive you home.”

“Fine.” She tried to pull her hand out of his, but he held on tight. He walked her to his car, helped her inside, and locked all the doors and windows.

A muscle in Terence’s jaw twitched as he turned the key in the ignition.

She turned to look out the window and whispered her home address. Terence didn’t acknowledge it. He had a completely different destination in mind.

“First question. Father told me that I’m not his kid. True or false?”

She looked at him then, but Terence’s gaze was fixed on the road. “He lied to you.”

“You know he’s dead?”

“I do.” She looked away again.

“Why would he lie about me not being his son?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a long time, Terence… a lifetime.” From the corner of his eye, Terence saw her wringing her hands in her lap. “Fine. I had an affair. You happy now?” She breathed in sharply. “He didn’t want to accept that the baby… that you were his. You were conceived around that time. But I did a DNA test that proved he was your father. You’ve got your answer.”

“So that was why he was abusive toward you? All those years I thought he was the one responsible for your divorce.”

“It doesn’t matter now. That’s history. I don’t understand why you feel the need to dig up the past. It’s best if you forget me, forget everything about me.”

Terence’s jaw tightened. “Why do you hate me so much? I am your son. How could you leave me?”

“If you want to know the truth, I’ll tell you the truth. I didn’t want you, okay?” She spoke with such force, Terence’s insides trembled. “I only wanted one child. I hate you because
you
are the reason your father abused me. Because you killed my dreams.” Her voice lowered. “I would have gotten rid of you if it weren’t too late.”

“I see.” Terence swerved onto another street.

“This isn’t the way to my apartment.”

“No, it isn’t. I’m taking you back home, to your real home…Serendipity.”

During their drive, his mother cried and cursed until Terence’s head was about to explode. Once he’d had enough, he stopped the car on a quiet side road and forced her into the trunk. It was the only way she would make it to Serendipity alive. He should have felt guilty for what he was doing to her, but he didn’t. After what she’d done to him as a child, after what she’d said to him tonight, she meant nothing to him.

Chapter Forty-Two

Jude

“You’re not fine, Lacey,” Kellie said. “I’ve been watching you all day and you’re not yourself. What’s going on?”

“Personal stuff. I’ll pull myself together. I promise.” Lacey crossed her fingers under the table as she searched Kellie’s face for understanding. She couldn’t lose this job, not now that she was starting a new life. Since leaving Terence, she had been a mess, unable to eat or sleep. Makeup failed to hide her pale cheeks and the dark circles under her eyes.

Kellie clasped her hands on the desk and leaned forward. “There’s one thing you should know about me, Lacey. I care about my employees. I’ve been in this business long enough to know that their wellbeing and the success of my business are connected.” She smiled. “That’s why my door is always open. I love that my employees trust me. I want you to do the same. If there’s something you need to get off your chest, I’m here.”

Lacey wiped a tear from her cheek. It was a miracle she had gotten through a whole day of work without breaking down in tears. Until now. “I left my husband. I’m staying with Florene.”

“Lacey, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry. What happened?”

“A lot. It started with me wanting to work. He was against it from the start. When I was looking for a job, I did it behind his back. He was furious when he found out.”

“Do you feel you made the right decision by leaving him?”

Lacey nodded. “I know so.”

“Then that’s what you should focus on. You made a decision that is right for you.” Kellie pulled a Kleenex from the box on the desk and handed it to Lacey.

“It’s so hard.” Lacey dabbed at her eyes. “He was the love of my life. I never thought—”

“People change. As someone who has been divorced three times, the only advice I can give you is to look ahead. Don’t dwell on the past. Don’t keep asking yourself what went wrong. Focus on you right now. Focus on starting over.” Kellie picked up her cell phone. “Speaking of starting over, I called you in here to make you an offer.”

“An offer?” Lacey blinked.

Kellie put down her phone again. “I got a call from Desiree, the employee you’ve been covering for. She has decided to stay home with her baby, to be a stay-at-home mom. What that means is that we have a vacancy. I guess you know where I’m going with this.”

“You want to give me the job?” Joy spiraled down Lacey’s spine and she found herself smiling for the first time in days.

“It’s yours, if you want it. I’m too lazy to find somebody else.” Kellie laughed. “No. I’m offering you a permanent job because I like how you work, and I like you. You fit right in with the team. And I want to help you start over.”

“Thank you, Kellie. Thank you so much.” Lacey came around the desk to give Kellie a hug.

At first Kellie seemed taken aback, but she returned the embrace. “You’re welcome. Before you start working as a full-time employee, though, I want you to go home and get some rest. You need it. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Lacey nodded, thanked Kellie again, and went to find Florene, who was thrilled to hear the good news.

On the way to her car, the hairs on the back of Lacey’s neck bristled. Was it Terence, watching her? She hadn’t seen him since she’d left. But it had to be only a matter of time before he showed up. 

Chapter Forty-Three

Terence

“Welcome home, Mom.” Terence yanked his mother from the trunk of the car and slung an arm around her shoulders to keep her upright.

When she saw the house she had walked away from years ago, swathed in darkness, she panicked and tried to run. Terence tightened his grip on her shoulders, making sure she stayed right where he wanted her. They were standing on the other side of the road—a perfect view. Her shoulders trembled under his touch. He smiled.

He led her into the house and switched on the lights. Her shoulders relaxed when she saw the interior—perhaps because it looked so different. But Terence wasn’t about to make it easy on her.

“I want to show you something.” He gripped her shoulders tighter, causing her to let out a yelp, and led her through the living room door, then down the short corridor to the basement door. Down there, nothing had changed. He had told Lacey to leave it the way it was because he hadn’t planned on ever going down there. Until tonight.

He switched on the light at the top of the stairs and breathed deeply. For a moment he stood still, gazing down at the setting of many of his childhood memories, all covered in dust and cobwebs. The basement was bare apart from the chair in the center of the room. His breathing quickened when he remembered how his father used to tie him up in that chair and whip the living daylights out of him.

“He used to bring me here a lot,” Terence whispered into his mother’s ear. “He beat me and kept me here for days without food or water. He enjoyed torturing me.” Terence moved his mother forward. She almost tripped as he led her down the dusty staircase.

When they arrived at the bottom, she backed away from him. Shaking her head, she cried louder, sliding to the floor and resting her head on her knees. “I’m sorry,” she said between sobs and coughing fits.

Terence had waited so many years to hear those words, but now too much had happened for him to care. Her words had absolutely no effect on him.

“I am… I’m sorry for leaving you with him,” she repeated, looking up with tears pouring from her eyes. “I had to get away. I couldn’t take you with me.”

Terence went to stand over her. “It’s too late. You left us with him. You didn’t even try to come back for us. I was in jail, and you didn’t even come and see me. You ruined my life, and there’s no going back.”

“You’re a grown man now, Terence. You can rebuild your life.”

He laughed and shook his head. “You have no idea, do you? You have no idea what I went through. Your decisions had a ripple effect. Let me recap: I was not only abused by my father, I was sexually abused at the orphanage where I was sent. Then I was in prison for years for a crime I did not commit.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “Now I’m married to a woman who I love more than anything. But guess what? She’s unfaithful… just like you were. I blame you, Mother. I blame you for all of it. Now you have to pay for the pain you’ve caused me.”

“You can’t keep me here. I’m diabetic. I need insulin or I could die.”

Terence looked at her for a long time, then simply turned and walked up the basement stairs. He locked the door behind him.

He returned two hours later with a glass of water and some food. No medicine. He didn’t care if she ultimately succumbed to her disease; he only wanted her to live a little longer, to feel the fear, the helplessness, the isolation, the pain he had felt when his father locked him up in that cold room.

She was lying on the floor when he walked in, her arms covering her head. He couldn’t tell whether she was sleeping. He placed the food and water next to her head and left without saying a word.

Chapter Forty-Four

On the second day, Terence returned to the basement to check on his mother. The sharp smells of urine and vomit hit him hard as soon as he opened the door. She sat in a corner of the room with her knees pulled up to her chest. The food and water were gone, but she still looked like she was falling apart, so different from the woman he had picked up in Milwaukee. The circles around her red eyes were dark, the bags under them swollen. He sat down on the chair and she raised her eyes slowly, as though her head were too heavy to carry.

“How was it?” He swept the top of his lip with the back of his hand to remove the sweat that had collected there. “How was it leaving two small boys alone with a monster? Did you feel guilty at all?”

She shifted on the floor and slumped against the wall. “Life with your father was hell.” She wet her lips. Terence noticed they were bluish in color. “I felt relief after leaving him, not guilt.”

“I did not ask you whether you felt guilty about leaving him,” Terence said, his temper soaring with each word. “I asked how you felt about leaving your children.”

“Like I said, I couldn’t take you… with me.”

“Why? Because you wanted to start from scratch, and we would have been a burden to you? Is that it?”

She hung her head and didn’t respond.

Terence bit into his lip, drawing blood. “I don’t even feel like I know you. I look at you now and I don’t see my mother. I see… I see a stranger sitting in front of me. I don’t feel a connection to you at all. Nothing.”

She raised her gaze. “Please don’t hurt me. Let me go.”

Terence shifted the chair closer to her. “Are you really sorry for what you did to me?”

“Yes,” she answered.

Terence was no fool. Her blank eyes showed no remorse whatsoever.

“Bullshit. If you were sorry, you would have come back before I found you. If you were sorry, you would not have denied knowing me when I called you.”

“You can’t keep me here forever. The police might start looking for me. I have friends—they will be worried.” She dropped her head. “I have a boyfriend.”

“No, you don’t. Not anymore. I saw your phone, the texts. You broke up a month ago. If I read them correctly, he wants you to stay away from him.” Terence sighed. “As for your job, I sorted that out. You’ve quit and moved out of town.”

He couldn’t watch as his mother wept. The very sight of her disgusted him. He stood up and left the basement, with her wailing and begging behind him. He didn’t even flinch.

Chapter Forty-Five

Lacey

Florene had gone to sleep. Lacey was sitting up in bed, looking at apartment listings, when the phone rang. For an instant she feared it might be Terence, even though she had gotten a new number.

She picked up the phone from the bed. Her heart lifted, then pounded furiously as she read the short message from Winston. Two days ago she had texted him her new number. Before sending off the text, she also mentioned that she had left her husband. For some unknown reason, she couldn’t let their line of communication close. She was not ready for a new relationship, as much as she liked him and felt comfortable around him. She only wanted to keep him in her life, even as a friend. The disappointment when he did not respond for two days was crushing, though she’d tried to convince herself it wasn’t a big deal.

I’m back in Serendipity. I want to see you. Meet me at the Lux Hotel for breakfast tomorrow, if possible.

Lacey nibbled on her lip and glanced at the clock. It was 11 p.m., but she was completely awake. A small smile crept up on her face as she hit reply.

What if I come and see you now?

His response was almost immediate: That’s perfect.

She shut down the laptop and dressed quickly. Not wanting to wake Florene, Lacey pushed a note under her bedroom door saying she was meeting a friend and not to worry.

Winston was waiting outside in the cold when Lacey arrived at the hotel. For a while, she sat in her car and watched him pacing around at the entrance, his hands in the pockets of his black coat. He was so handsome. Watching him made her heart quicken. But she had learned a lot from her relationship with Terence. She would not be making the same mistake again. She would not jump into a relationship with another man for a while. Maybe for once in her life, she could have a little fun with no strings attached. She couldn’t deny that she had wondered a few times how Winston’s hands would feel on her body.