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She takes something out of her pocket. It’s pair of silver handcuffs. She tosses them to Ivie. “Now be a good girl for once and put these on so we can talk. Wouldn’t want you to mess up and ruin everything.”
Ivie bends slowly to get them and put them on her wrists. “Go sit by Lucy.”
She backs over until she hits the wall and slides down beside me. “Don’t worry,baby girl.”Jade snarls. “We’re just waiting on one more guest, should be here any minute.”
“What are you doing, Jade? What are you hoping to accomplish by kidnapping Lucy and holding me against my will?” Ivie is trying to keep her talking.
“You came on your own, sweetheart. I knew you’d come running when you realized I had Lucy. You’re so predictable, and you came alone just like I told you to. No one knows you’re here. Who in their right mind would suspect this place? Taylor’s family’s abandoned hospital. And Lucy, well, she has some other things going on that you don’t know about. Isn’t that right?” Jade saunters over and crouches in front of us, running her hand over my face. “Life can be so unfair, can’t it?”
I start to cry harder, and my body shakes as I choke on sobs that won’t quite escape because of the tape on my mouth. “Leave her alone, Jade. You’ve been messing with me. She’s not a part of this, just let her go.”
Jade stands again but towers over us. “That’s where you’re wrong. She’s very much a part of this. A really big part.”
We hear more footsteps and Jade turns her gun toward the door. She quickly but quietly moves out of view before the new “guest” can enter the room.
I lift my eyes to see the ashen face of my own father. “Ivie.” He looks over and sees me and Ivie. “Lucy.” He tries to make his way to us, but Jade reappears and slips behind him, then pushes the gun into his back. He stops short and I go still.
“Hello, Judge Davis. You’re gonna come sit over here at the desk.” She pushes him until he moves and sits in an old desk chair chained to the heavy antique looking desk off to the side. She keeps the gun pointed at his head as she cuffs his legs and wrists to the desk. Then smiles because she thinks she has us all.
“So now that the gang is all here, let’s get started, shall we?” She waves the gun in the air like it’s a toy.
Rhett spears me with his pleading eyes. Unspoken emotions lie there.
“Okay, you have our attention. We’re listening,” Ivie spits at her.
“Do you want to see what dear old Dad has to say first?” she asks joyfully like we aren’t in a hostage situation.
He opens his mouth, but she shushes him. “Never mind, Judge. I think I’ll tell it from the beginning.
“My dad, Harlan, and your dad have always been rivals. That didn’t stop when they grew up. Your daddy was born with a silver spoon in his handsome devil mouth. They always competed for everything. Friends, sports, women, jobs.” She pauses staring at Rhett with a smirk.
“When Dad married my mom, he finally had something of his own, something untouched by Rhett Davis. He encouraged healthy competition between you and me, Ivie, when we were growing up. He pushed his old rivalry onto me to carry out. We’ve always been in the same circles, competed in sports, academics, you name it. Our lives have been very similar. But you’ve always had all the friends, all the boys, all the luck, all the love. I had no one.”
“Jade, we were always friends. I mean, yeah, we competed in a lot of things but that doesn’t mean I didn’t consider you my friend,” Ivie tries to reason with her.
She whips around on Ivie and presses the barrel of the gun to her head. Rhett’s eyes widen in fear. “Jade, no, keep talking, we want to hear your story,” he says in a calm and soothing voice.
She stands back upright and starts pacing again while she talks. We’re facing Rhett while she walks in between.
“You were never my friend. You just tolerated me. Dad warned me about you, pushed me to be better than you in every way. He wanted his daughter to be better than Rhett Davis’s little princess. I tried my best to make him happy and do just that, but then when we were in junior high, I realized I was so consumed with making him happy I had done nothing to make myself happy. Truth be told, I started to like you. We hung out a few times, just us, without my dad knowing, of course. But Lucy always interrupted. She took you from me when I thought we might have a chance at really being friends. After that, it was always just you and her. Then the boys came. Sterling liked you before Dean did, by the way, in case you didn’t know. See, I’ve been watching everything since the day you chose Lucy over me. I madeyourbusinessmybusiness.”
“My mom left my dad one day when we were in high school and never came back to us. She just wanted away from him, wanted a new life. I wasn’t good enough for my own mom, isn’t that a trip?” She laughs humorlessly.
“So, then Dad became obsessed with me besting you in every way. I didn’t matter anymore as his daughter; nothing was ever good enough after that. So, I took it to the next level. When you became serious with Dean, I started sleeping with him, right under that pretty little nose of yours. He told me every time was the last, that he loved his precious little V.” She makes quotations in the air.
She cackles at the vile hatred she spews. “But I always kept him coming back. The night of Taylor’s Halloween party, he was with me. That’s why he was late.” She sneers.
“Oh, but I knew you had eyes for Sterling too. Any fool could see that, even Dean. I was the one black mailing him. He had no clue. That night I lured him outside and beat him with a two by four. I almost killed him. I wanted to cause you pain. Why were you treated like a princess and loved so much no matter what you did, while I never got anything but your sloppy seconds? I’ve never been good enough to be anyone’s first choice, and I have a dad who hates me because I look just like my mother, and I still couldn’t be better than his enemy’s daughter.”
“Jade, I…” Ivie starts.
She stalks over and back hands Ivie. “Shut up, Ivie. There you go again trying to steal the show.”
Briella and Sterling are arguing as we drive down the road trying to find where Ivie went in such a hurry. Briella is tracing Ivie’s cell phone.
“I think you may have underestimated Ivie a bit, bro,” I tell him. Sterling flicks his eyes at me in the rearview mirror. “Not helping,” he growls at me.
“Got her. She’s at the playground right down from the outlook,” Briella says.
