Unreal Part 3 - FREE AND DISGUISED: (THRILLER ROMANCE AND MYSTERY) Read online

  With their bodies entwined, they fell away from the table. Ethan kissed her lightly as he held her under the force of his strong arms. He was nearly inside her again when he suddenly appeared to hesitate and drew back.

  “Ethan?” she asked. “What’s---?”

  “Did you want dinner first? Because… I mean… I can wait.”

  That was sweet of him, but Julie twisted her head against the rug and smiled.

  “But I can’t,” she said. “More, Ethan. Please?”

  Without needing another word, Ethan slipped inside her again, and Julie cried out happily as he made her nothing and no one but his.

  12

  Why couldn’t this just be over?

  Julie stood in front of a mirror, endlessly running a brush through her hair until any knots were nothing more than a distant memory. But as she tied her hair behind her neck with a heavy sigh, her scar looming large despite the copious amount of concealer she had smeared across the marked area, Julie quivered before the sink. As the room started to spin around her, she held her hands to her head at the thought of her body broken, her hands bound.

  She was almost able to bury it back when…

  When Ethan held her, when he kissed for, when he asked for her hand, his touch had the power to do more than make her forget; sometimes, in the space on his arms, it was as if it had never happened at all, like it was a nightmare that didn’t even haunt her dreamscape. Now, more often than not, Julie’s mind filled with what it would mean to make it official. Would she wear white? Not a virgin when he found her, not by her choice. And she had been with him now more times than she could count, each embrace sweeter than the last as he stroked her sides and kissed her hair. But his hands purified her, sanctified her skin. So it would be white. And a veil, the scar covered until he lifted the lace to kiss to her. They would bypass tradition as soon as they were pronounced, and Ethan would cover her face again. To live behind a veil seemed sweet, to dwell in his arms even sweeter.

  But on this day, there was no moving forward. Only stepping back, and she pulled her hair loose as she slammed her hand to the sink. Turning the faucet, she let the water pour through her fingers and scrubbed her face clean. If she had to face him… and her… let them see what it had cost her. Cost Kim. Hardly able to imagine what it was for Kim to find her mother’s lifeless body so soon after her own departure, she almost wished that there was a way to put Amanda Beyer on display so that the world could truly see what Greg’s actions had cost them. But the woman was reduced to ashes in an urn. No way to make that happen now.

  But Julie could still…

  She started to strip her turtleneck from her shoulders when Ethan lightly rapped on the door.

  “Juliet?” he asked. “Are you ready to go?”

  His voice trailed off when he saw her stripped above the waist, her cheeks and hair dripping as she hung her head.

  “Juliet?”

  Ethan’s hands were at her arms, and he caressed her flesh as he pressed his brow to hers.

  “I could tell,” he whispered, his lips warm against her ear.

  “Tell what?” she asked. “

  “You didn’t sleep last night.”

  “I… of course I did.”

  Julie started to back away from him when Ethan shook his head and dragged her closer into his arms, the silk of his tie soft against her cheek as she murmured into his chest.

  “How did you know?”

  “By the way that you breathed,” he said. “Maybe your eyes were closed, but I always know when you’re faking.”

  “Should I be flattered or freaked?” she said, trying to tease him as she stroked his cheek.

  “Just know that I’m always looking out for you,” he said. “And you know me and sleep.”

  The dark circles under his eyes told the tale, and Julie took him into her arms.

  “I didn’t mean to worry you,” she said.

  “At least I knew where you were. That you were there. And truth be told, I don’t want to do this either.”

  Snatching a hand towel from the rack, Ethan dried her face and worked the terrycloth down her shoulders.

  “Morales said that I could sit this one out,” Julie said. “He’s already been convicted.”

  “Damn good thing,” Ethan said, his voice thick as he turned her to her back, his arms light and loose around her waist as he kissed the top of her head and nuzzled her hair. “Hope a day doesn’t go by when that prick doesn’t suffer.

  Julie started to push away from him when Ethan stretched his fingers under her chin.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I wouldn’t wish what happened to you and Kim on any---”

  “I would,” Julie said. “Let the punishment fit the crime.”

  Straightening up the length of her neck, Julie tied her hair over her head and moved away from his embrace, his touch just grazing the tips of her fingers as she flung the bedroom closet open and pushed the hangers aside. Seizing a violet shell, Julie glanced over her shoulder at her back in the full length mirror. Nodding her approval. She added a black cardigan into the mix to be removed at the right moment, and she gave no thought to reapplying her makeup. Let them see; let everyone know what had happened to her. Her scars could fill in any blanks that Kim might leave out.

  “I’m ready now,” she said as Ethan stepped back to her side.

  “Like this?” he asked, his hand at her scar. Pressing his fingers closer to her face, they stared together in the glass. His ring was right there, under her eyes. Let them see that, too. Let them know that she was going to move forward and be happy. Tonight she would even sleep, and Julie twirled around to face him again. Taking his face in her hands, she kissed him quickly and moaned into his mouth.

  “Promise me you’ll stick close,” she said.

  “Like you even have to ask me that,” Ethan said with a laugh. “I go where you go.”

  “Because you like taking care of me,” she said, kissing him again as she fondled his face. “Rescuing me…”

  “I like doing everything for you… to you…”

  Her last kiss was soft and short, and Julie patted his cheek as she scanned her body in the glass one more time. She was more than ready. And when the moment was right, Greg Heller would get everything that he deserved.

  “Well hello, there, Miss!”

  Ed Swanson bowed politely and tenderly shook her hand. Glad to see him, Julie’s ears still turned towards the activity buzzing behind the closed door, and she pulled the bailiff aside, Ethan’s arms firmly planted around her shoulders.

  “Are they all in there?” Julie asked.

  “Nearly show time,” he said. “Think Mr. Barber is just going over some of the specifics with your friend.”

  So Kim was already on the scene. Had hers been a sleepless night as well? Maybe Brian watched over her. In her mother’s absence, Kim probably needed him now more than ever. Julie thanked Ed for the update and started to move towards the door when he snagged her shoulder and shot her a quick wink.

  “Give ‘em hell,” he said as he pushed his thumb into the air. “Do whatever you gotta do to see that the dick pays.”

  Whatever she had to do. It would be simple, but Julie felt certain that her actions would strike the right chord.

  The courthouse was the same, but the chambers were different, as was the defendant. Greg Heller’s face was like a sheet as he wrung his hands, his shoulders hunched over the table as his lawyer whispered into his ear. Leo Barber conferred with Morales, but Kim was nowhere to be found. Had she backed out at the last moment? Was it suddenly just too much for her to face? Crawling closer to Ethan’s side, she started to speak when a familiar voice hit the air.

  “Julie? Honey?”

  Not a hair was out of place on her mother’s head, and Julie had the profound sensation that she had indeed slept. Probably took a couple of valium along with a vodka chaser. But she looked no worse for the wear. No sign that she was on the verge of ending it all in a show of some kind o
f solidarity. Ethan started to pull her into one of the abandoned seats when Julie waved him off and glared into her mother’s eyes.

  “So you’re still sticking by him,” Julie said. “Were you always this pathetic?”

  Sharon tittered and tried to take Julie into a dark corner when Ethan stepped between them.

  “Not so fast,” he said. “You don’t get the right to challenge her.”

  “Mister… maybe you get off on this white knight complex thing or whatever, but this is a family matter.”

  “Yes it is,” Julie muttered. “Ethan is my family now.”

  Flashing the ring before her mother’s watering eyes, Sharon pressed her hand to her mouth and gasped.

  “You’re… you’re marrying this man?” Sharon asked.

  “As soon as this is settled, yes,” Julie said. “And you shouldn’t expect an invitation.”

  Smiling up at Ethan, they started to step away when Sharon grabbed her arm and forced her back to her face.

  “Did you ever stop to think that he might be using you?” Sharon spat. “He was with those men---”

  “The ones that you’re husband sent? None of that is lost on me. But when you add them all up, only one took the time to get me out of that hell.”

  Julie clutched Ethan’s arm and felt her scar blazing across her cheek.

  “So this is where I leave you,” Julie said. “I’m going to have a life. Maybe even a child someday.”

  Ethan’s eyebrows lifted at the sound of that suggestion, but he kept her close as he joined her in staring Sharon down.

  “And know that you will never be part of what we share,” Julie said. “He’s gonna get his sentence, and you can stay in that fucking house all alone and wonder why you let your loyalties lie on the wrong side of this.”

  Sharon tried to speak again as Julie pushed away from her, Ethan’s hand tight in hers as they took a few steps towards Barber and Morales. Julie already felt liberated, and the cop hugged her close before her eyes scanned her cheek.

  “Were you in a rush or something?” she asked. “Are you alright, Julie?”

  “I am,” Julie answered. “I’m keeping it real.”

  Leo Barber cocked his head as his eyes focused on her scar in all of its awful glory. As his lips parted to speak, Julie was ready to bat back any insistence that it was too much, but he stunned her with a smile and his tongued curled across his bright teeth.

  “Anything to help the cause,” he said. “Extra points for creativity.”

  Ethan snorted, but Julie assuaged him with a quick kiss as her eyes continued to move around the courtroom.

  “Where is Kim?” she asked. “She… she needs to be here.”

  If she wasn’t, Julie felt strong enough to speak, but Kim had the whole story to tell, and any aspect of that that Julie might relate would likely be chalked up to a kind of heresy.

  “Just wanted to grab a drink of water,” Morales assured her as she patted her arm. “Have you… you talked to her since…”

  “Only on the phone,” Julie said. “I offered to go to the services or whatever. But she said that it was something that she had to do on her own.”

  “Horrible thing,” Leo muttered as he flipped through his briefs. “Sometimes the fallout never stops.”

  Julie nodded her head sadly. Kim said that she was fine, that she was grateful for the fact that she and her mother finally had some time just to themselves in the short space that was their reunion to set a lot of things straight. Something that Julie would never have. In the end, Amanda Beyer proved a real mother. At least she stuck up for and by her child. Let Kim bounce back from this, too and keep moving forward.

  “She’s a strong girl,” Morales said. “Just like you.”

  Maybe. Maybe not. And as she shuddered, Ethan started to pull her back when she suddenly grabbed Leo’s arms and peered into his eyes.

  “What about the other two?” she muttered under her breath. “When do they get tried again?”

  The lawyer exchanged a quick glance with Morales, and the cop wordlessly gestured for him to answer the question as Leo pressed his hands into his pockets.

  “Don’t see that happening,” he confessed. “But creeps like that... there’s always a next time.”

  “We just have to wait for it,” Morales said with a soft sneer.

  The idea that those men, those monsters, were out and about worked its way like ice around her heart. What if their freedom truly led them to find other girls? Maybe this time they would capture them on their own and laughed at the court’s incompetence and their stroke of good luck as they ravaged new victims and beat their bodies raw? Just the thought sent a shiver up her spine, but Ethan held her close to his side as they say on a bench. He kissed her scar before bringing the entirety of his smile to her eyes.

  “I’m right here,” he assured you. “With you.”

  Resting her head on his shoulder, her heart lifted further at the sight of Kim finally entering the room on Brian’s arm. She looked healthy, strong, and when their eyes locked, Kim smiled softly even as Brian’s shoulders sagged. Whole thing had to be hard for him, but Kim kissed his hands as Leo Barber conferred with her quietly, his hands on her shoulders, his eyes sympathetic. Kim nodded into her chest and sat at Morales’ side. The cop touched her shoulder even as her nose crinkled, and she shot Julie a quick glance. It was good that Kim had Morales in her corner. Maybe one of the only honest women left on the face of the earth.

  “Mr. Barber? Is the victim ready to give her statement now?”

  Leo nodded as he extended her arm towards Kim. The redhead stood slowly and took careful steps toward the podium as she pulled a crisp sheet of paper from her breast pocket. Unfolding the page slowly, Kim took a deep breath and started to speak.

  “I…”

  As she hesitated, Julie started to rise, longing to take her friend into her arms. Pulling the cardigan away, she let the court see her scars, and closed her eyes as the room gasped. One squeal was definitely courtesy of her mother. Let her see and know…

  Ethan kept her close and held her hand as Kim swallowed hard and somehow found the strength to go on.

  “Sometimes… sometimes I look back on what happened to me. And I wonder why. Why did it happen? Why did a simple trip turn into too many months when I found myself a captive?”

  Kim started to break down, and Leo handed her a glass of water. Sipping greedily, Kim set the glass aside, wiping her mouth on the back of her trembling hand as she took a deep breath and sighed.

  “It’s… it’s a nightmare that will stay with me always,” she continued. “It’s burned into my brain, and I long for day when it leaves me. But I… I don’t see how it ever can.”

  Tears of commiseration pooled in Julie’s eyes, and she fell closer to Ethan.

  One day you will. You’ll know what it is to just be loved and not be scared.

  “Miss Beyer,” Leo started. “You’ve heard the facts. You know that one Greg Heller engineered you abduction. Along with that of his own stepdaughter”

  He shot Julie as quick glance, and she wished that her father had never died. Then this never would have happened. Ethan steadied her body in the seat, and Julie watched Kim with wide eyes. How was she going to spin this? Greg deserved to go down, but if Julie had never known….

  “I know it all,” Kim said. “And it doesn’t surprise me. Greg Heller always had his eye on me. Had his hand up my skirt when no one else was looking. Sometimes… sometimes I thought that he might take me at any moment.”

  Julie flinched forward. Once again in the back of her mind, she knew that that had never happened. Because the girl that Kim was would have slapped him hard or at least told her friend that that man was up to no good. Never a word. So why was she changing the story now?

  “But you do admit that Greg Heller was never present, not even once, during the days of your captivity?”

  “Can’t even be sure about that,” Kim said. “So many men. All of their hands…
their mouths….”

  Kim started to break down, and Leo made a show of stroking her hunched shoulders.

  “I… I can’t remember any others,” she said. “And… whoever they were… they didn’t take me. That… that was all him!”

  She pointed at Greg Heller and swallowed back a fresh stream of tears.

  “You set me up!” she cried. “Set Julie up, too. You… you were always after me!”

  Ethan held her tight as Julie’s body wriggled in her seat. Part of her wanted to leap up and take Kim into her arms, slap Greg hard and sneer at her mother. But there was still something off when it came to Kim’s recollection. She was always the first one to assure Julie that Greg wasn’t so bad. Had she been keeping things from her friend, from her best friend?

  Or was there something else to---?

  “But you… you couldn’t get it up on your own!” Kim cried. “So next best thing was to sell me out. Did you whack off to the pictures? Did that get you off?”

  Greg started to shift from his seat as his counsel held him back. Julie’s heart froze as the sight of her mother’s hands rubbing his back, and as she looked back to Kim, Leo Barber reeled her in for the final nail.

  “So it’s our statement that you are in no way surprised that Gregory Heller engineered your abduction? So that your body could be used by men that paid him for the pleasure?”

  Kim calmed, and she pushed what there was of her auburn locks behind her ears as she sat up straighter, her eyes almost blank as she finally spoke again.

  “Yes,” she hissed. “And the men that took me were just other pawns in his game.”

  That put the point on it, and as her stepfather was ordered to stand, Greg hung his head.

  “Mr. Heller, I have seen many a monster as I sat on this bench,” Judge Warner started. “And even without Miss Beyer’s testimony, you are still as guilty as sin.”

  The judge sat up tall and glared at Greg as she tapped her fingers against the bench.

  “But… but to turn out girls these girls. Those that thought they could trust you…”

  Greg started to offer an apology, an explanation, when the judge pressed her hand to the air and ordered Greg to keep still.