Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
***
*Janie*
I don’t know how long I lay there after she was gone, but from the shadows on the walls in the room, it must’ve been a while because it had grown dark outside. I kept telling myself that I needed to get up and, at the very least, find something to eat, but the thought of food made me sick, so there was no rush.
I was lying there, ruminating, when I felt a presence like there was someone else in the house with me. I hadn’t heard a sound, like a door opening and closing or anything like that; it was just a sense that I was not alone. Then someone walked into the room and scared me half to death.
He turned on the light, and it took me a moment to recognize him as one of the men who had driven me home earlier. Was that today or yesterday? I can’t recall; the days just seem to be running into each other. I swallowed the fear that had crawled up my throat, “You, what are you doing here?”
“Someone wants to talk to you.” He held out a phone that was not mine, and I took it reflexively, not even thinking about who he could possibly know who would want to talk to me. If my mind was working correctly, I would’ve guessed.
“Hello, Janie.”
“Oh, it’s you.” The little bitch as I had taken to calling her, had the nerve, the audacity.
“Yes, it’s me. I’m calling to let you know what we have decided about your future.”
“What? What the hell are you talking about? What does my future have to do with you?”
For some reason, my heart started racing, and my mouth was filled with the taste of fear. Something about her fills me with dread, which I don’t understand because she’s just a kid. But just the tone of her voice and the matter-of-fact way in which she said those words sent fear coursing down my spine.
“We thought long and hard about what should become of you; we even gave some thought to releasing you. In fact, we had a hard time deciding your fate. We considered that maybe you were a victim of your father’s greed, which would make it hard to punish you.”
“Who is we? And what right do you have to decide anything about me?” She carried on as if I hadn’t spoken while the man’s presence in the room suddenly felt like a threat. He hadn’t moved, hadn’t said a word since handing me the phone, but now I was looking around him to find an escape. I don’t think I like where this was going.
“But then you sent that last message, and we realized that you are just as foul as he is. You knew about the missing girls and did nothing; instead, you held onto the information to use it for your own gain. Despicable quadruped.”
“What the hell is that?”
“Anyway, I thought it only fair that I reminded you of why you ended up here, lest you convince yourself that you’re being wronged.” Again, I tried to interject, but once again, she just kept going as if I hadn’t spoken a word.
“Six years ago, you lied to one Ryder Sumner about his longtime lover having an abortion and getting rid of a baby that he desperately wanted, a baby that did not exist. At the same time, you, your father, along with Mary Hudson and her kids, concocted a scheme in which you sent Elena Gianni overseas on a supposed girl’s trip, which was just a cover to give you time to carry out your schemes.”
“Once your lies bore fruit and you had destroyed the relationship between the two, thereby marrying Mr. Sumner, that wasn’t enough for you; you then proceeded to spend the next five years tormenting her into a mental hell that dogged her every step by vilifying her in the press.”
“As if that weren’t enough, you turned her best friend against her, used said friend to spy on her, and placed listening devices throughout her home, which you then used to drive her over the edge into insanity. And here we have the doctor you paid off to convince her that she was indeed going insane.”
“How do you…”
“Your commentary is not needed.”
How could she possibly know about all this? I’d forgotten about that bitch, Rachel. Was this all her doing? Had she somehow got an attack of conscience and spilled everything? It can’t be; we had her mother in our sights, something she knew only too well. I remember paying the old woman a visit myself and putting the fear of hell in her to get her daughter to do my bidding.
It hadn’t been too hard in the end because she was looking for any excuse to stick it to Elena because she, too, hated her guts. But it was a little bit of added incentive at the time just to ensure that she didn’t go back on her word and let their failing friendship stand in the way.