“You remember Sarah. You remember the young, naïve, idolizing, wanting to please at any cost wife you could control and manipulate.” I keep my gaze steady and feel my hands tightening. “Sarah is dead. You have to deal with Faith now.”
I can tell by the expression on his face he doesn’t know what to make of this. He studies my face and sits back in the chair opposite of me.
“Let me get this straight. You’re saying that figuratively you have killed Sarah and, in her place, Faith has arisen like a Phoenix to become this strong, independent, woman?”
“Yes.”
He laughs, and it makes me angry.
“I’m not buying it. You only think you’re strong because you’ve got a rich man taking care of you. You couldn’t live on your own. You couldn’t support yourself.”
“Yes, she can!” This was from Kara.
Daniel looks at her and once again, I am fearful of how he’s looking at her.
“Oh? What exactly does your mother do?”
“She’s an architect. She’s very successful. People hire her from all over the world to design their dream homes.”
Daniel cocks his head to one side and looks at me.
“You finished college then? I know it was one of the things we argued about while we were together.”
“I did. Here locally and online.”
“Did your husband finance your business? I bet he did. You women can’t get anything without a man getting it for you.”
“I built my business on my own and my husband is very proud of me and all I’ve accomplished.”
I hate talking about Matt with Daniel. It’s like throwing dirt on my husband, muddying our life together by even talking about him to the sociopath in front of me.
Daniel’s reappearance in our home was a horrible nightmare.
“Does Dad know?” Jake asks. “Does he know about him?”
I can see the hurt on my children’s faces. The betrayal. It kills me that this has come into their lives and harmed them.
“Yes,” I whisper. “Your father knows everything.”
“And he still married you? Knowing you were another man’s wife?” This was from Daniel. I can see the anger brewing beneath the surface in his eyes.
“Even though you refused to sign the divorce papers, the judge granted my divorce request. We are divorced, Daniel. I talked all of this over with my lawyer and he assured me everything was legally binding.
“The detective who arrested you for Julianna’s murder and my assault helped -”
“Murder?” Kara broke in. “He murdered someone?”
“One of my best friends,” I say.
“Then why isn’t he in jail?”
“They never found Julianna’s body, but he admitted to me that he’d killed her. He used to threaten me with the same end if I wasn’t a good wife.”
I can see Kara shrink back into the couch and Jake move forward at the thought of someone threatening me. It would be imperceptible to anyone who wasn’t his mother and paying attention.
“What happened, Mama?” Kara whispers. “Why does he keep calling you Sarah?”
“Yes, Sarah,” he says. “I’d be interested to hear your version of the story.”
I note that it’s starting to get dark outside which means we’ve been his prisoner for almost eighteen hours. The wind has picked up considerably. It sounds as though the house could be blown away, though I know it won’t. This home was built to withstand harsh weather like this. I made sure of it.
I look at my children and say a silent prayer that God will keep us safe and keep my husband safe during this storm.
I also pray God will allow us to live through this nightmare the Devil brought to our doorstep.
Matt
“There’s a foot of snow fallen already and it’s coming down harder than it was when we got here,” Caleb says, looking out toward the falling snow swirling around in the heavy wind.
“I wonder if it’s hit home yet,” I say looking past him and out toward the raging storm building momentum.
“It’s not like Faith and the kids are there riding it out,” he says. “Your wife has sense.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Ava has never allowed anyone to tell her what to do,” I admit. “I’m sure my sister is taking good care of the girls and that Faith and the kids are well on their way to Florida by now.” My words bely the knot in my gut. “I don’t know what it is, Caleb. I can’t get rid of this sick feeling that something’s not right back at the house.”
“Well, you’re going to have to live with that feeling, because there’s no way we can get back there now. The way this snow is coming down we’ll be lucky if we can even start back toward home in a few days.”
I nod, knowing that his words are true.
“I think I’d feel better if I heard something from them.”
“We all knew we wouldn’t have any cell service when we got out here.”
I put my phone back in my pocket. It was useless looking for a signal that would never appear. Caleb puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes.
“They’re fine, Matt.”
“I know you’re probably right. Still, I would feel much better if I knew they were safe and sound in Miami with her parents enjoying the nice weather.”
“It’s times like these where we just have to trust that God’s got this, my friend. Put your faith in Him and everything will turn out just fine.”
I nod again, knowing that even if there is a problem, there is absolutely nothing I can do about it now.
Daniel
I look at the four of them tied up and resigned to their situation. I’ve been foolish. I did not consider having to deal with the older boy.
Jake.
From looking at the photos in their frames and looking at him sitting there staring daggers at me, I can tell he is just a younger version of his father.
And I hate him.
I hate that he is the product of their father screwing my wife. My Sarah.
I look at her and know she is spoiled for me now. Not only is she older, she’s changed. She is no longer the sweet innocent young woman I remember from years ago.
There is a toughness about her now. Not tough as in she looks as though she’s had a hard life, but the toughness that comes from self-esteem. I knowingly and quite expertly manipulated that out of her all those years ago. She somehow managed to get it back.
I don’t like it.
I don’t like it at all.
But the daughter. The daughter is a different story.
She’s like getting a fresh chance with Sarah.
Kara is lovely. She’s beautiful, sweet and as far as I can tell by her expression when I asked the question, she’s still a virgin.
It is like I am given a second chance to have my Sarah all over again, only this time she won’t leave me. I won’t allow it.
My gaze meets Sarah’s and I can tell she’s not happy with me looking at Kara.
She’s obviously jealous of her own daughter.
Too bad. If you wanted me for yourself, you shouldn’t have left me all those years ago.
Now it’s Kara’s turn.
But what should I do about those boys?
Faith
Daniel keeps looking at my sons. It frightens me. I don’t like the way he’s looking at them. I don’t like the way he looks at Kara.
If we could just get loose from these ties, the four of us could do something.