AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I roll my eyes. My husband solves issues in one of two ways. Sex and humor. “I don’t know. What?”
“A bad lawyer might let a case drag on for several years. A good lawyer knows how to make it last even longer.”
The second night we are home, I put Blair to bed downstairs and turn on the old baby monitor Greg dug out of the garage, bringing it to the bathroom with me while I shower. Greg sends me a text from upstairs. I need you. And we need to talk.
I respond with a thumbs-up emoji. And then I type out, I’ll be up in a minute.
His response is immediate. Are you in the mood to play?
Am I in the mood to play? Such a loaded question. I am actually exhausted in every way. Although I know what he is asking, and I know that we need to talk. For weeks now we have been like two parallel roads that never cross. It’s impossible to sustain a marriage like that over the long haul, and who really knows where the line is drawn. This is not my first rodeo. I understand that with what I have to lay on him, so to speak, I’m better off just giving him what he wants.
Chapter Thirty
He was frozen. Straight-up paralyzed. An ever-present sense of panic gnawed at him. When he placed the cameras, this is not what he was expecting to see. He only wanted to know the children were all right. Yes, he’d wanted proof that they needed more supervision and confirmation that their parents needed to do better, but what he has now is bigger than that. It’s a situation, and now he cannot turn away.
She entered the room like an angel, dressed in a thin robe with a towel framing her head like a halo. The husband had been seated on the bed, his hands folded in his lap, his gaze fixed on the floor as though he were thinking, or waiting, or both. He looked up when she appeared and stood immediately, his shoulders squared off.
He moved toward her, and then they moved out of range. For several moments, all he could hear were sounds. At first, grunts, and then smacking followed by an abrupt silence. It felt like forever before he heard anything again. He went to the window and searched for their shadows. He peered through binoculars. Outside, the sky was peppered with stars, enveloped by a bitter cold. He wished he could float away. He wished he could see them again. And then, finally, he did.
“It’s time you learned who’s in charge,” his neighbor said. “And surprise, Amy. It isn’t you.”
He was the first to come back into frame. Him in his flat-fronted khakis and fancy sweater. It reminded Theo of something his mother would have bought and forced him to wear. Greg Stone led his wife by the hand, stopping in the perfect position as though on cue, directly in front of the camera
. Their eyes met briefly before hers fell to the floor. Theo watched as he slipped her silky robe from her shoulders. He placed his hand under her chin and lifted her face, forcing her to look at him. “You haven’t listened very well, have you?”
“If you thought otherwise, you wouldn’t have asked the question.”
“It’s considered consent, darling.” He laughed, dropped her face, turned and shook his head. “God, could you be anymore ignorant?”
Quickly, he shuffled back, grabbing her chin once more. When she attempted to twist away, he tightened his grip. Once again, he belted out a laugh. It sounded nothing short of evil. “We are going to come to an agreement, aren’t we?”
Amy Stone looked resigned and as fragile as Theo had ever seen her. It was as though she knew something terrible was going to happen, and she was powerless to stop it. It was as though her thoughts couldn’t keep up with her fear, as though she, too, were paralyzed by what she was seeing.
“You see,” Greg Stone said. “Every action has its consequences.”
He backed away and took her in, eyeing her from head to toe.
“Now, I know—” he told her, his mouth twisting into a firm knot. “I know you didn’t mean for any of this to happen. But that doesn’t change it, now does it?”
There’s just a stifled silence that serves as her reply. He appears unsure whether his wife hears him, whether her mind is present in the same room, or whether it is far off and she is patently ignoring every word of his scolding.
His mouth curled into a grim smile. He tied her hands and then shoved a washcloth into her mouth. Finally, he wrapped duct tape around her head, lodging the towel in place. This reminded Theo of his mother’s crime shows, and he squeezed his eyes shut because he was afraid of what comes next.
When he opened them again the man’s face was expressionless. A somber look passed across Amy Stone’s face and then nothing. Theo knows that look. He’s offered it himself countless times. It’s what happens when he checks out.
Theo wished he could do that now, but Amy Stone deserved a witness. So he watched as her husband pushed her down onto the floor. He yanked the towel off her head and tossed it aside. Then he hauled her up by her hair. She fought back just a little, but not a lot, because Theo imagined it isn’t easy to fight with your hands tied behind your back and your ankles fastened in the crisscross position. After he forced Amy to her knees, he put both hands around her neck and he squeezed. He stopped only to step forward and shove his crotch in her face. “You’re going to find out what punishment tastes like.”
Amy Stone turned her head away and tried to scoot back. In turn, her husband wrapped both hands around her neck and held her in place. He squeezed until the fighting stopped. He held her head in his hands and trained her eyes on him. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. But like it or not, it’s going to happen.”
It took a long time. An eternity, it felt like. But eventually, after more choking—at which point Amy nearly passed out and he slapped her repeatedly, so she remained conscious—she gave in. She parted her lips and took Greg Stone in her mouth. He pulled at her neck and jaw so fiercely that Theo didn’t want to watch, but it scared him to look away. It took a long time for it to be over, and when it was, Amy Stone curled into a ball and sobbed, her cries sounding very much like a wounded animal. The evil man stuffed the towel back in her mouth, wrapped fresh tape around her head, muffling her. Then he hauled her up and laid her on the bed.
Theo’s mother called him then. It was time to go back to the extended stay. He dreaded that place and longed for the day they could come back home full-time. She yelled his name again. He heard her mulling about at the bottom of the stairs. He knew better than to ignore her, so he quickly shut down his computer. She’d come looking for him, and then they’d never come back here. They’d have to move again.
Chapter Thirty-One
I wake to the smell of pancakes and bacon and the distant laughter of my children. I dress in workout attire, thinking if it warms up, maybe we’ll do something fun, something to get us out of the house for a few hours. When I enter the kitchen, the girls are seated at the table playing on their iPads. Greg looks up from the frying pan and smiles. He turns the burner down, walks over and kisses my forehead. “You feeling okay?”
Before I can respond, the doorbell rings. His eyes narrow. “I’ll get it.”
