Something Like Redemption (Something Like Normal #2) (34 page)

“You’re sorry?” Justin asks, his body shaking in fury.

I nod, my eyes filling with tears.

“Are you sorry that you’re a dirty drug dealer? Or are you sorry you got caught?” He pistol whips me again.

Blood pours into my eyes and trickles over my lips, but I remain still and remind myself I deserve this.

“That day, my dad died in his car, shooting up the junk you sold him. So excuse me if your apologies mean jack shit to me.” He slaps me across my left cheek, no doubt leaving a handprint behind.

My cheeks feel swollen, and all I can taste is the unmistakable tang of metal in my mouth. But I need him to know that I’m sorry.

“I’m sorry,” I spit out again, my eyes widening, needing to express how remorseful I really am.

“Stop apologizing!” he screams into my face, spittle covering my cheeks.

He is beyond reason, and that’s okay, so I only nod and stop with the apologies.

“What are you going to do with me?” I ask, which comes out muffled, but he understands me clearly.

He laughs, and it’s not a nice sound.

“This is the best part,” he says with a smile, pulling away from me as he begins pacing the room.

“You caused quite a scene back home, shooting your father.”

Suddenly, I feel the blood drain from my face.

“Ah finally, I see that you’re scared. Little bad ass Mia is actually human,” Justin says in mock horror as he stops pacing and watches me with a predatory grin.

“What did you do?” I spit, but I know the answer.

“When you were accused of shooting your father, I followed your case with interest, because after my dad’s death, I wanted vengeance for his murder. He was a bastard and a junkie, but he was still my father.”

I nod, understanding his reasoning all too well.

“So I sat and waited, thinking of all the ways I could make you pay for ruining my life, because as they say, revenge is a dish best served cold. But you made it so easy for me. When you shot that low-life and ran, thinking he was dead, that led me straight to you.”

I cock an eyebrow, confused.

Justin smiles, looking pleased with what he’s about to reveal. “I visited your father in the hospital, and the moment I saw him, I realized you and I were more alike than I thought. We both had junkies for fathers. And that made me hate you all the more. I just couldn’t understand how you chose to live that destructive lifestyle when you knew, firsthand, how many lives it impacts. How many lives it destroys, and this fact just fueled my need for revenge even more. Anyway, I gave him some sob story that we were dating, and that I wanted to find you, to bring you home, and the stupid bastard believed me. He most likely figured that I had more of a chance bringing you home than he did, as we were supposedly in love. He agreed, thinking he was in control. The police were hot on his ass, so he had to be careful and not rouse too much suspicion. So I’m sure he wasn’t looking too hard for you, as he thought I was doing all the legwork. And that’s what I wanted. I didn’t want him finding you first, because I knew he would kill you before I got my chance at revenge.”

Sonofabitch!

“I had to pull a lot of strings, but lucky for me an ex-girlfriend’s dad was a cop. I found the information I needed after I earned his trust, and I located you, trying to blend in, in that pathetic excuse of a town of South Boston. But what I didn’t realize was that your father was working with that dirty drug lord. That motherfucker was keeping a low profile, as he too was rousing suspicion among the cops, but he had his sources working on finding you, and unluckily for me, he also found out about your whereabouts around the same time as I did. Then it was game on.”

This story is getting worse with each passing second, but with no other choice, I listen.

“I followed them to South Boston, but you’d already split. So I asked around, and there was one blonde bimbo who was more than happy to divulge information on where you were headed. And with little persuasion, I might add.” Justin smirks. I know exactly who he’s talking about.

Stacey.

“Her boyfriend’s dad was a cop, and he had told his son there was a sighting of you headed for South Carolina, so I bailed. But I couldn’t believe my luck when I bumped into you.”

If I had just stayed put and not been jealous, none of this would have happened.

“It was fate. I followed you after our encounter, and then, then I called your dad.”

I close my eyes, wanting to shut this horrible reality out.

But Justin continues. “I knew they hadn’t found you, because I had the upper hand, thanks to the ever helpful Stacey. But I was running low on cash, as all my efforts to track you down bled me dry. Then I was struck with a brilliant idea. Who has lots of cash? Drug dealers. And who would pay for information of your whereabouts? Your drug dealer. I told your dad I wanted $50,000, and I would tell him where you were. He didn’t believe me, but when I gave them the cell number of your little friend, which I knew you were using, then they believed me when they called her phone, and her bubbly voice message answered, proving to them I was right. They didn’t even know she existed, but after they did their homework, they knew I was telling them the truth”

Shit. That message was from them.

“They asked why would I help them, and I told them I needed the cash. They knew they couldn’t do this on their own, and with the police also gunning after you, they had no other choice but to trust me. Your dad and Phil—they wanted you so badly—they agreed, but said I would get the money after I delivered you to them. Alive. I was so fucking happy. I would get my revenge, and I would also be one rich bastard after I finished with you. Life was good. But then you just left in the middle of the night and I fucking lost track of you. But… your little boyfriend’s romantic gesture tipped off the police, and thankfully for me, little Stacey knew all the details. But it was pure coincidence I stumbled across you at that rest stop. Fate once again had a part to play in our meeting.”

Justin is the reason why my father and Phil were always a step behind us? He’s the reason why they knew our every move? And he’s the reason why Lucky got hurt? This son of a bitch has been tipping them off, and I played right into his hands.

“I let your father know we were back in the game, but the stakes had been raised. I wanted $80,000 because we had a ‘complication.’”

Quinn.

“He asked if he was going to be a problem, and I told him no.”

And how wrong Justin was.

“I let them know where we were that first night in Arkansas, as they were looking for you in a totally different direction, the dumbasses. I didn’t want the police finding us, so we stayed in that fancy hotel to throw them off our tails. Phil deposited a couple of grand in my bank account as a sign of good faith, but because the stupid idiots were on the other side of the damn country, I got paranoid, thinking the cops might be onto us. So we left for Missouri, where I was to wait for them. I was happy to wait out the two days there, as I was going to beat, torture, and fuck you, and then hand you over to them. But because of that pierced motherfucker, I just couldn’t get you alone. And there was another problem—I wanted my damn money. I told your dad I would up and leave if they didn’t give me $20,000 as a down payment, and with no other choice, they paid me. But when I checked my account, the scumbags only paid me $5000. They thought they were so clever, but I showed them who’s clever by leaving early that morning in Missouri. That day that was the day I was going to hand you over, but those fuckers wanted to double cross me, so I showed them who was in control.”

That phone call in Wisconsin, the one I overheard, that was to my father. And I have no doubt that all the times Justin was on the phone, he was speaking to my dad, updating him on where we were, and where we were headed.

Thinking back to all the vague conversations Justin and I had, about him running toward revenge, and him being a ‘repo agent,’ I now get it. He was talking about me. He was repossessing me for his own personal revenge, because my tainted past ruined any chance of him having a normal future.

He had done his homework, using Canada as the proverbial carrot. He never had any intention of going there. He just used that as yet another bargaining chip and I fell for it. All those times he was nice to me, it was just a ruse to gain my trust and let my guard down. He was fucking with me, toying with me, paying me back for the times he believed I toyed with him.

He could have let my father have me within the first day of finding me, but now, everything makes perfect sense. We left Missouri because he wanted Phil and my dad to know that he had my trust, not them, and that they needed him. For someone who was never once needed before, the onetime Justin was wanted, he played it for as long as he could, as he loved the power. He loved the control.

I have no doubt my dad and Phil were always that step behind us, because Justin kept them apprised to our exact whereabouts. He was fucking with us all. We were just puppets in his sick little power trip, and he was the twisted, megalomaniac puppet master who loved the control.

I’m so stupid.

As if Justin reads my thoughts, he explains, “But there were times when nostalgia crept through and I wished things could have been different for us. Sometimes, I felt like you understood me. So, I gave you a chance to be honest when I asked what you were running from. If you could prove to me that you were sorry for your past, I would reconsider, but then you lied. So I knew what I had to do. The rest of the times, I was just playing you, trying to earn your trust. I was fucking with you, just as you were with me. Giving you a taste of your own medicine.”

“I never fucked with you!” I scream.

“Yes, you did!” He whacks my cheek, stunning me with the force. “You gave me hope that maybe I could be happy. Maybe I could be normal.”

My rattled brain can’t help but think what a pile of bittersweet irony this is, as we’re all trying to find normalcy in a not so normal world.

Interrupting my thoughts, Justin continues. “Finally, they paid me my money, and that’s when your little puppy paid the ultimate price. I needed an excuse for you stay put, and what better way to keep you grounded than fucking with your dog? Phil, he’s one sick motherfucker—you know that, right?”

I only shake my head, because he’s absolutely right.

“The morons were about two days away, so Phil told me to hurt you, try and break you down and scare you a little.”

So the voice I heard was my father then. Justin, the sick fuck, probably had him on loudspeaker, because I know that was his voice I heard.

“Why didn’t you just kill me?” I mutter.

Justin understands my gibberish and replies with a sick smile. “You’re worth a lot more to me alive than you are dead. But that night you screamed his name out, I lost it. You lied to me, pretended that you liked me, and I felt that rejection all over again, just because I fell for your fucking lies. That night, if you came to me, I was willing to give you one more chance to explain. But then you made it quite clear that liars never change. I had to leave before I killed you both. And like I said, you’re no good to me dead. But in a warped way, that night showed me how my original plan had veered off course. Greed was fueling me, but I wanted to bring it back to basics, and the only thing motivating me from that night forward was my revenge. I called your father, told him what happened, and now—now this is the part that gets really good.”

Greed and revenge—as simple as that sounds, that was the motivation fueling Justin’s rampage. The two most primitive of human emotions has turned an already unstable individual into a raging psychopath.

But I don’t understand why he would help my dad when he knows Phil is the drug lord. He’s the one who supplied the drugs that killed his father.

“I was just the messenger!” I scream, the gag biting into my mouth.

“Ah, you’re a clever whore. You’re thinking how could I tolerate working with your father, who is an obvious drug addict and Phil, who is the lowest form of scum known to mankind?”

I nod.

“Because as we know, money talks. Not only are your dad and Phil willing to pay a shitload of cash for you, but so are the police. There is a reward of $250,000 on your head. You’re worth a lot of money, Mia Mouse. Growing up where we were so poor that I had to wear hand me downs that were basically rags, you surely can understand how money is a strong motivation for me,” Justin spits.

I gasp, and my brain tries to process everything.

“So, do you want to hear my ingenious plan?” Justin asks, his eyes lighting up as he sits casually into the chair in front of me.

I nod again.

He looks at his silver wrist watch and smiles. “Your father will be here very soon to finally claim his prize.”

I feel my throat close over and a guttural sound gets trapped in my esophagus.

Oh my God—my father and Phil.

“But that’s not even the best part,” Justin says happily, rocking back in his chair.

“I know Phil is a sick bastard, and that he’s the supplier of all the drugs. So I’m going to make each and every one of you who had a hand in my father’s death pay, and pay dearly.”

“When they collect you, I’ll get the rest of my money, and I’ll happily let them drag you out of here without thinking twice. However, once they’re gone, an
anonymous
tip will be made to the police to your whereabouts, and I’ll get that reward, too. It’s poetic, really. I get a shitload of money for my revenge, and I also bring down the three people who destroyed my life. Phil for manufacturing those filthy drugs, your dad for creating you, and of course you, for destroying my life,” Justin sneers, ticking his hit list off on his fingers.

Shit, his plan will work. The state I’m in, the police will question Phil and my dad, and Justin knows I’ll rat them out, because that was my original plan all along. That was my revenge—to bring those fuckers down for what they did to Hank.

The police will take one look at me and believe me. I’m their perfect witness, as I’m happy to confess to everything they did, hoping to clear my name.