Quickening my steps, I looked forward. Maybe he wasn’t following me and it was all paranoia. He could have left his luggage with someone and was on his way back. Besides, it was a straight corridor and this was the only path. There was nowhere else he could have gone.
I saw my gate number but decided not to stop. I kept walking, nearly running and when I looked back the man had also increased his pace. There was no doubt anymore, he was after me.
Panicking, I searched for a security guard but I couldn’t find any around. I could have screamed, however, the plan was to not draw any undue attention. Attention meant trouble since I was attempting to leave the country with a fake passport.
I kept running. Spectators would assume I was about to miss my flight. My heart raced and sweat formed on my forehead. I endeavored to wipe the sweat off of my forehead and my wig slipped. I reached for it, but it was too late.
“Shit,” I cursed. But I didn’t stop until I was at Gate 49.
They were boarding and making the final call. The flight was headed to London. Swiftly I turned left and reached the counter. My tongue sticking out as I fought to catch my breath.
“Passport ma’am,” the woman behind the counter said. Her name tag read: Shelly. “We’re about to depart.”
“Listen to me Shelly,” I said. “There is a man behind me in jeans and a blue shirt. With a big beard. His name is Steve and he’s my ex-husband.”
Her eyes immediately traveled over my shoulder. I clasped her arm with pleading eyes.
“Please don’t look.” She brought her gaze down to level with mine. “I need you to call security. He’s violent and abusive. Let me go through but I won’t board. I need him to think I’m boarding so I can get away from him and onto my flight.”
Nodding she put on her best fake smile. I sighed a breath of relief when she let me pass and picked up her phone. Once I was in the tube that connected the ongoing passengers to the plane, I yanked the ribbon off my hair, letting it fall over my shoulders, removed my glasses and took off my jacket. It was the best I could.
Minutes later, Shelly returned. “Ma’am,” she called. “You’re free to go. He’s gone and since he didn’t have a ticket security escorted him out. They don’t even know how he got this far without one. Anyway, he’s out of here. Do you want me to call the police?”
“No,” I jumped to answer. “I just need to get on my flight and away from everything. I want to put this all behind me. Start over away from him.”
Shelly took my hands in mine. “I know how you feel. I hope you can restart and find happiness.”
I thanked her feeling a bit guilty. Per Shelly’s request, a man in a guard uniform accompanied me to my gate. Always watchful and wary, I made it onto the plane. But Ezra had not.
I checked my phone but there was nothing on it. I glanced back one more time as the captain announced that we were about to take off. Nothing. I sunk into my seat, hands flung to my face and tears erupted from eyes knowing that it would be a long flight carried by agony.
I decided to change my entire life by leaving behind everyone I loved for a man who wasn’t next to me. Ezra could not be hurt or dead. I needed him alive. As the plane took off, I wondered if it was all a mistake. Had I made the wrong choice?
Chapter Thirty
Ezra
Iwasn’t sure if I had passed out or not but the sound of a dog barking outside, beyond the walls around me, brought me back to consciousness. Gritting my teeth, I winced with pain. I looked down at my abdomen, toward the source of the pain. My shirt was bloodstained.
Taking shallow, careful breaths, I pushed through the agony observing my surroundings. It seemed like a basement. All the walls were the color of concrete and it was cold. So cold my body shook.
Wiggling in the chair, I tried to free my hands but it was useless. They were bound behind my back and my feet tied together at my ankles with a zip-tie. The next thing I remembered was the phone. I moved my feet and felt its hard edges pressing against my skin.
“You’re awake,” Chichi said, emerging from behind me. “Surprised to see me?” She smiled with an air of superiority.
That I was surprised to see her was undeniable, she was supposed to have been arrested by now.
Slowly she walked towards me and bent to level herself with me. “Where is my money?” she demanded.
Marshaling the last of my strength, I laughed ironically and then coughed. Blood splattering from my mouth.
“Very well,” she said.
With a white towel swaddled around her hand, she made a fist and pressed it against my stomach, where the pain originated. I screamed, a long, agonizing scream. The continuous ache brought a buzz to my ears, my vision blinked in and out and my belly exploded with the twinge.
“Stop it. He’ll bleed out,” I recognized the voice, but I was frail, unable to look up. “We need to take him to a hospital.”
“Not until he gives me my money.”
She dug deeper into the wound. The towel reddened, soaking up the blood. The pain returned; this time twice as strong. Gnashing my teeth, I yelled. She stopped the torture and I fought to catch my breath.
“You ungrateful shit,” she hissed, droplets of her saliva touching my skin. “Where is my money?”
“How—how cold are you?” Stuttering, I fought to drag air into my lungs. I was tired—cold and not in full control of my body. “Will … you kill me? Your son?” I was hoping that reminding her I was her son would grant me clemency.
“I will do anything to get my money back.”
“You won’t get your money if he’s dead.” The male voice spoke once again, this time he was closely examining me. He placed his fingers on my neck taking my pulse and that’s when I got a good look at him. It was Chichi’s nurse. “We have to transfer him now before we start to lose him. He needs blood.”
Chichi stood, casting the dirty towel onto the ground. “This isn’t over yet.” A crude smile touched her lips. “But I must say that I’m impressed, Ezra. If it hadn’t been for fate you might have pulled this off. God must love me because this morning I was sick. You know, because of the chemo. I wasn’t at the warehouse and Rowan wasn’t inside either. He saw the police break-in and was able to escape in time to help me find you.
“I tried to turn you into one of the most powerful men in the world but you double-crossed me, so now you’ll know what your mama is truly like. After you get the blood, every day you’ll beg for death. The pain I’ll inflict on your body will be so terrible you’ll wish you could sell your soul to the devil to make the pain stop. And that is a promise, son.”
I could barely keep my eyes open but I managed a wry chuckle.
“The girl’s headed to London,” it was Rowan’s voice but it seemed so far away. “Our guy saw her checking-in.”
They must be talking about Christina, but she wasn’t supposed to be on a plane to London. What the hell?
“Good,” Chichi answered. “Organize a welcoming committee.” She turned to the doctor. “You can take him.”
The nurse was cutting the ties on my ankles when suddenly a loud blast reverberated around the room. Smoke emerged and all of a sudden everything went dark. I heard voices, many of them yelling and screaming, “Drop your weapons. Get on the ground.” So much noise. Flashlights blinded me and in the flickers of light, I noted that the men were clad in armored vests.