Page 27 of Never Forget You
“You thought you could get away from me, huh?” he snarls, showing me just how angry he is. I don’t understand why he’s angry, though. What reason does he have to be annoyed? We have been out of one another’s lives for ages now. There is no need for any kind of angst between us. Nor should I still feel scared of him, but I do as he stomps into my home like he belongs here, like this isn’t my sacred space without him. “Well, you can’t. Don’t forget that I have the kind of money to hire private investigators to discover where you are withmychild.”
“But… but you signed over all parental rights.” My words feel thick and heavy in my mouth. I can hardly get them out. I want to be strong now, confident against him, but somehow, I can’t quite seem to make that happen. Still, the impact that he has hadon me remains and there isn’t anything I can do about it. “You didn’t want her.”
He shoves me until I slam back against the wall. All I want to do is weep because he’s here, tainting my safe space, but I can’t cry because this isn’t just me that I’m standing up for here. It’s Ella too.
“I only did that so you couldn’t get your greedy fucking hands on any of my money. You and your father, that’s all you were ever interested in, wasn’t it?” He runs his eyes up and down me in an all too familiar disgusted way. “My cash flow. So, I had to ensure that wasn’t ever going to get into your grubby hands. But now, I want her.”
I want to throw up. I need to. Thiscannotbe happening. He can’t seriously be back here for Ella now.
“But… but why?” I gasp in shock. “Why do you want her now? You were never interested before.”
“Don’t youdaretell me that I wasn’t interested when I was out working to keep you guys in the lifestyle that you were accustomed to.” He’s deluded. He didn’t even see Ella for the first week of her life. He hasn’t ever shown a scrap of interest in her life. Why he would suddenly do this is beyond me. It must be to hurt me. He’s upset that I haven’t been as affected as he wants me to be by it all. “I didn’t expect you to move away like you did.”
“But I couldn’t stay,” I stammer. “I couldn’t stay there. I needed a fresh start, and so did Ella.”
“She needed to be taken away from her father, huh? Some mother you are. You’re a piece of trash.”
His words slam hard against my chest, winding me. I should be used to cruelty from him these days. I’ve had years of it, but I think the break might have made me weak to it. It makes me want to scream.
“Ella would be much better without you, and shewillbe much better when I take her somewhere so she can be safe.” He paces the room around me, seemingly knowing that he has me frozen to the spot. This amazing day has just taken the most horrific turn ever. “And that’s what I’m going to do to you. I’ll take her away somewhere you can’t find her and show you what it’s like to fear your child might be in danger somewhere. Only she’sallyou have, isn’t she? Not like me. I have a full life. And you don’t have any money to come after me.”
“Don’t do this.” He’s right. Ella is everything to me. She always has been. She’s always been an angel in a terrible situation for me, and I love her. I won’t be able to cope without her. I really won’t. Nor will I be able to get a private investigator to help me. I don’t even know if I can do any fighting in court because I really can’t beat him out money-wise, and everyone knows that money rules the world when it comes to justice. Even if he did sign over his parental rights, I don’t know that it will be enough. I can’t be sure of anything anymore. “Please, don’t do this.”
He knows that he has me. It doesn’t matter that I’ve shown weakness. He already knew that this would be the thing to get me. Ella is my weak spot, the absolute love of my life. If he takes her away from me, I have nothing. The only way that I can defend myself right now is with the cell phone in my hand that I was going to use to text Harry with my good job news, which feels like it happened in another lifetime now, but I’ll have to be discrete.
As Ben rants on at me, making me feel about two feet tall as he does, like I am worthless, I try to dial the numbers. It’s only three numbers, and while I might not be able to say anything on the line, they might hear that I am being threatened and do what they can to track me down… hopefully. At least it’s better than nothing.
“Oh, poor little Georgia Fredericks, I assume that you’re going by your maiden name again now?” I don’t nod to give him the satisfaction. He doesn’t deserve to know that for sure. “And you’ve changed Ella’s as well?” Now, that, I haven’t gotten around to yet, but the time will come when it’s right. “Well, I can change her name completely so that you won’t ever be able to find her. How does that make you feel? A shitty mother with no child?”
“Why are you doing this?” I beg. “Why now? What’s going on here? I don’t understand.”
“You think you have one-upped me, but you haven’t. No one ever gets one over on me.”
He spots the cell phone in my hand and slams it to the floor before I even have a chance to react. He’s lightning quick when he’s annoyed, I remember that now, and willing to do whatever it takes to get his own way. I should have known that things would never be over with this spoiled brat. They never really are.
“Fuck you.” All of a sudden, he grabs me by the throat and he begins to choke me with such hatred that it’s mere seconds before my vision becomes blurry. He might have been a bit rough with me in the past, but I’ve never felt this close to death before. Now, though, I don’t think it matters how much I claw at his hands as I try to get him off me. He won’t let me go. I’ve pushed Ben over the edge and there is no stopping him. He can’ttake this so he’s going to kill me. Kill me and take Ella away from me forever. I’m going to lose everything including my life, just as I was finally getting the happiness that I’ve always wanted. “Fuck you, Georgia. I never lose.”
All because of a man I didn’t want to marry. This is my father’s doing. How could he kill me like this?
22
HARRY
“Where is Mommy?” Ella asks me in a slightly whining tone of voice. “She’s always here. I don’t understand.”
“I don’t know,” I admit, a little bit worried myself. “I’m sure she’s on the way. Maybe she got held up.”
It’s weird, there isn’t any way Georgia wouldn’t be here. Ella is right, she is always here. She lives too close to be late like this, and Iknowhow much she loves coming to get Ella at the end of the day. This doesn’t make any sense at all. I don’t understand why she would all of a sudden not turn up and not call in or anything like that. I’ve already checked with the reception desk and no message has been left, so this is incredibly strange.
“Let me give her a call.” I wouldn’t normally do this, but now I feel like I need to. We are different anyway. We’re on a different level. We know one another, we’re together, so I can call her. “Hold on.”
I already know that I don’t have any messages from her personally. That was my first point of contact, but she willanswer if I call her. I know she will. Which is why it freaks me the hell out when the calls go straight through to voicemail. I’m pretty sure there isn’t any point in leaving her a message because I could see her first.
“Right, Ella…” I try to disguise the fact that my heart is pounding in my mouth from Ella because she’s already frightened. The last thing I want to do is make it worse. “I’m going to walk you home, okay?”
“You are?” Her eyes widen as I say this, and I think it’s with relief because all she wants to do right now is leave the school grounds and get back home to see where her mom is… and I have to admit that I feel the same way as well. I’m absolutely terrified that this is bad. I don’t know how it will be bad, but it has to be, doesn’t it?
“I am.” I force a smile on my face. “It’s just around the corner, isn’t it? So it’ll be fine.”