His Revenge by Charlene Raquel

Chapter Twenty-Two

 

 

A beep, beep, beep sounded on Jeff’s laptop. “One of the cameras picked up something at Gwen and Sam’s.” He clicked a few buttons and showed the live feed.”

Rip looked closely at the screen. “Someone’s just out of range of the cameras. It’s almost as if they knew where the cameras were.”

Drew was already out of his seat. “I’m going over there.”

Dean and Crash jumped to intercept him. Dean blocked the door. “Be smart. She’s not in any trouble yet.”

Drew growled. “She could be at any moment. I’m going over there. Either come with me or get out of my way.”

Boomer nodded. “Looks like we’re going for a short ride.”

 

~*~*~

 

Boomer parked his SUV down the street from Gwen’s apartment and they spread out on both sides of the quaint road, scanning around the old Victorian houses and their manicured lawns.

Two houses from Mrs. Hamby’s place, Dominic stepped out of the shadows to face Drew. Boomer and Crash drew their weapons, but Dominic didn’t pay them any attention.

Dominic’s angry eyes glared at Drew. “Are you that fuckin stupid? I can’t believe I gave you more credit than that. Maybe I’m the dumbass here.” He turned to face the others. “I thought you were all smarter than this.”

Crash looked at Boomer. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“Not a fuckin clue.” Boomer glanced at Rip.

“Don’t look at me.”

Jeff lowered his weapon since Dominic appeared to be alone and was not armed. “Maybe we should all have a little chat somewhere more private and away from all the little old ladies on the street looking out of their drapes.”

Dominic nodded, still glaring at Drew.

“No. Wait! I want to know what the hell he’s doing here and where he gets off yelling at me!” Drew scowled right back at Dominic.

Dominic moved into Drew’s space to look at him eye to eye. “That girl is in there crushed and crying her damn eyes out all alone!”

Drew dropped his gaze to the ground.

Rip moved to stand next to the two men so he could separate them if necessary. “Let’s take this somewhere else.”

Dominic nodded. “I’m renting a place on the next block. Why don’t we meet there in a couple of hours? I have something I need to take care of.”

Dominic had been so close, and no one knew.

“How do we know you’ll be there?” Rip folded his arms over his chest.

Drew chimed in. “Or that you’re not trying to get us to leave so you can do something to Gwen.”

“Listen, you little shit, if I wanted to harm that girl, I could have done it a long time ago. I could have taken you all out at any time I wanted. I’ve got eyes on you right now.”

That had all the men glancing around.

Dominic continued. “There’s a lot more at play here that I thought and if we want to protect Gwen, we need to work together. I have a lot of resources, but then, so do you. I’ll meet you at 7 tonight.”

Crash tipped his head, surveying Dominic. “On your turf?”

Dominic rolled his eyes. “Would you rather I met you at fifteen Magnolia?”

Jeff hadn’t rented the house in his name and listed a different location on his employment records with the school. “That works. Are you coming alone, or should we plan for additional guests?”

Dominic grinned. “I’m man enough to come inside alone.” In other words, his men will be outside the house keeping watch for any sign their boss was in trouble. “See you in a couple of hours.”

 

~*~*~

 

Gwen couldn’t get Dominic’s words out of her head. Some people might think she was stupid for believing his story about his sister, but she could see the sadness in his eyes. There was no way he could pretend that much raw emotion. He said he wanted to keep her safe and that he didn’t want her end up like his sister. Was that his motivation?

She wanted to ask him that. How did he get involved in the first place? How did he hear that her father was basically putting her up for sale? Would she ever be free?

When she was little, she wished she had a normal family with two loving parents. Gwen saw what her friends had and wanted that. She wanted to be hugged and loved and look forward to holidays. Instead, she got cold indifference, demands, and strict rules of perfect decorum.

Now, she would take all that over knowing her father felt nothing at all except how much she could benefit him. How much he could make selling her off to the highest bidder.

Gwen couldn’t cry anymore and didn’t want to. She needed to be strong and take control of her life. She’d said that before but didn’t embrace it. Didn’t truly believe she could be strong enough to overcome anything. But, how can she trust again?

Doubt had no place anymore. I can do this, she repeated in her head. Then she laughed, thinking that she sounded like the little train from the children’s story. I think I can. I think I can.

Small steps first. She needed to confront Drew. Dominic told her to really think about everything and the situation with Drew didn’t make sense.

Now that she was done wallowing in self-pity and insecurity, she could evaluate everything. Drew had been frantic with worry when she was jogging, and he was at her house waiting for her. He grabbed her and held her close, telling her over and over that he loved her. He was terrified. Guys who no longer wanted to date you, did not act that way.

He held her all night long and he held onto her, not the other way around. He had his head on her chest and laid wrapped around her. That was not someone who had fallen out of love. He was holding on tight, almost as if he was going to lose her, and then he did.

Drew was supposed to meet with the society that night and then the next day, he dumped her. That had to be related.

The only thing that didn’t make sense was that photo. Her stomach tightened just thinking about Clarissa all over Drew. Was it a fake? Graphic designers could do that easily, but did they?

It was obvious that Parker wanted her to see it. He set the whole thing up to seem innocent, but it had been deliberate. Parker wanted to date her. Could his reasoning be purely to keep Drew and her apart, or was it more sinister?

She wasn’t going to get any answers alone in her room. Gwen was going to have to talk to Drew.

Mustering up as much courage as she could, Gwen slipped her shoes on, grabbed her purse, and marched out of the house.

 

~*~*~

 

Gwen didn’t knock on the door of Jeff’s house. She didn’t wait for someone to answer, Gwen stormed inside, passed a couple of gaping guys in the living room, and tramped up the steps.

His bedroom door stood ajar, so she shoved it open, slamming it against the wall, and stomped into the room. Fists on her hips, she glared at the man she’d loved most of her life.

Just looking at him hurt her heart.

It took Drew a few seconds to get over his initial shock. “What are you doing here?”

“You don’t get to ask questions right now. I’m asking the questions, and you’re going to answer me.” She almost faltered when a pained expression crossed his features.

“You need to leave, Gwen.”

“You need to tell me what’s going on.”

Drew ran a hand though his hair. “Gwen, just go.”

“No.” She folded her arms across her chest. “What happened at the society meeting, Drew?”

Drew’s eyes grew large. “I’m asking you nicely.”

“I don’t care what you want. I’m done being a carpet. I’m done letting everyone dictate my life. I’m done following directions blindly. I am done not questioning what is really going on. How can you love me one minute and decide you don’t the next?” She leaned forward. “Listen carefully, Drew. I. Am. Not. Leaving. Until. You. Talk to ME!”

She was watching him closely, so she saw pride and desire flicker in his eyes before he masked it with anger. That was the encouragement she needed to keep going. He was hiding something from her, and she was going to piss him off so badly that he’d let it slip.

“I know you still love me but for some dumbass, macho, bullshit reason, you decided to break up with me. With a note, Drew. You wrote a damn note to tell me. That’s how I know it’s crap. You don’t have the guts to tell me to my face. You know I’d see through it, and it took me a few days, but I did see through it.”

She could have sworn he mumbled “a week,” but that could have been wishful thinking.

Drew matched her stance with his arms folded over his chest, but wisely kept his mouth closed. He had no idea what to say to her.

Gwen didn’t have that problem. “You promised to always love me, and you crushed my heart.”

He winced and rubbed his own heart. “It’s done, Gwen. Why do you need to hash this out again?”

“We didn’t get the chance to talk about this. You took that opportunity away from me.”

“I don’t want to talk about it. There’s nothing to say. Just go home. It’s getting late and it’s not safe.”

Gwen’s eyes snapped to his. “So, you care about my safety?”

Drew groaned. “I’m not a complete asshole, Gwen. Of course, I care about your safety. I just don’t want to date you anymore. Why can’t you get that through your head? I’ve moved on. You need to do the same!”

For the first time, Gwen considered maybe he was telling the truth and really did move on. Could she be that wrong? “To Clarissa?”

His eyes couldn’t have gotten any bigger or guiltier.

Gwen covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, God. You did, didn’t you? She said you were together, but Clarissa is a horrible bitch, so I didn’t believe her. I couldn’t imagine you with someone like her. I thought maybe the photo Parker had of the two of you was faked, but I can see it in your eyes. You kissed her.” She blinked away the tears that were brimming. “The photo is real, and you were really with her.”

Gwen turned to flee, but Drew grabbed her hand. “Gwen, wait.”

She pulled away from him. “Don’t touch me. I—I can’t.”

With tears running down her face, Gwen ran down the steps and was forced to stop at the bottom landing. Rip was blocking her way from leaving. “Get out of my way.”

“Gwen!” Drew stumbled down after her.

Rip shook his head. “I should have spoken up before when he came up with this dumbass idea, but I didn’t. I understood why he felt he needed to do it. I probably would have done the same thing. Doesn’t mean it’s right.”

She tried to go around Rip, but he was like an unmovable brick wall. “Please let me by.”

Rip widened his stance and took up even more room. “I was there that night. I was his shadow. I could hear and see everything. Drew didn’t want anything to do with that slut. He was playing along to gather information, but it was all a set up. He didn’t cheat on you. I have the recording if you need to hear it.”

Drew’s eyes widened. He had no idea Rip was recording it. “Dude.”

Rip scowled at Drew. “Your plan isn’t working. It’s time to come clean and come up with another course of action.”

Gwen faced Drew and was shocked to see such a stricken look in his eyes.

“I didn’t cheat.”

“Why?” She needed to know why he broke up with her. Why did he do this to them?

“They threatened to kill you.”