The Escape

Chapter 26

LAUREN

"Why can't you just love me, Lauren? Have you seen all the things I have done for you? I provide every day by giving you and Rose a place to live. You have nice things that some people would kill to have! Your brother is a damn billionaire! I do so much for you, and you don't care!" Eli picked up the beer bottle and smashed it against the wall behind me.

"Eli, you can't keep doing this! We have this conversation every night, and you never remember because you get so drunk. After we married, I told you that my parents drinking almost destroyed them, and you needed help. Why can't you listen to me?! I know you have done things for Rose and me, but this isn't what we need you to do!"

"Drinking has nothing to do with this!" Eli raised his voice, and it frightened me. "We are not your parents, and I do not get drunk every night!"

"Yes, you do! Eli, I can't keep doing this. Rose and I will stay with Jace tonight. You frighten your daughter every time you're like this. This isn't how she should see her father." I grabbed my keys from the kitchen counter and walked past Eli. Before I reached the doorway to get Rose, he grabbed my arm tightly and slammed me against the wall. "Eli, let me go!"

"You are not taking my daughter away from me! Ever!" That's when everything went black.

I was startled out of my sleep and sweat-drenched my forehead. It was only a dream, Lauren: a bad one, but only a dream. I sighed and pulled the covers off to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Lauren?" Callum asked. He turned on the light on the nightstand and then got up to sit next to me on the bed. "Hey, what happened? Why are you sweating?"

I was afraid to tell him, though I had to. He couldn't find out from someone else. It wouldn't be fair. "There is something I need to tell you. It's about my ex-husband."

JACE

While Abby and I were working from home and Bella was at school, we got a knock on the door. Abby came and got me immediately after seeing it; it was Lauren and Callum.

"What is it, Lauren? What happened?" I asked. We sat on the couch together and waited for her to speak first. She was pale and seemed sick-like.

"I had a nightmare last night about Eli. I woke up and told Callum what was going on. Then we went back to sleep. When I got back up when the alarm went off, I saw I had a missed phone call. I called the number back." Lauren began crying. "It's true, Jace. They let him out on probation."

Callum comforted Lauren as she cried. "He won't get a chance to take her Lauren. He won't lay a hand on you, either. Both of us will be sure of that." Callum nodded.

"Jace, he knows you have this house. You've had this one and the other since before this all happened. I'm sure he will come here. I can't stay here."

"Take a vacation away. Eli won't wait long to see you and Rose. Get out of town now, and I'll deal with him when he arrives. I mean it, all of you."

Lauren shook her head. "No, Jace, I will not risk you getting hurt! Or Abby or Bella! He will want to know where I am and get through all of you until you tell him!"

"Lauren, I may be your younger brother, but I can care for myself, Abby, and Bella. I can let Bella stay with Ryan. Abby and I will be fine. I have cop friends. I will make sure they are here, and you know what? I will invite Shane down here to stay while you are gone. After talking to him last night, you know he cares. He always has because he's always been family. Please go."

Abby nodded. "Lauren, Jace is right. We will keep you posted. Everything will all be fine."

"Okay, we will go." Lauren and Callum stood up. "I'll tell the girls we are going to Disneyland. That should distract us all and be far enough away, right?"

Abby and I nodded. "Be safe. I love you." I hugged Lauren, and so did Abby. My heart was about to pound out of my chest when we left the house.

"Are you afraid he's going to hurt us?" Abby asked.

Not wanting to lie to Abby, I nodded. "Hell yeah, I am. Eli is huge and a hard guy to take down. I can do it, but I can tell you what I'm going to do right now is go bust my ass in the gym. Want to join?"

"Yeah," Abby said nervously. She has the right to be afraid, and so do I.

"I won't let anything happen to you, okay? If he comes, you come to get me. The next thing you do is go get help." Abby nodded. "I love you."

"I love you too, but please stop acting like he will kill you, Jace. You're scaring me." Abby and I began working hard in the gym. I knew we wouldn't see much progress right away, but we didn't realize when Eli would come, and we needed to be more prepared.

Once school left for Bella, we asked Ryan to take her for the weekend. Bella didn't think anything of it and was excited to spend time with her dad. Abby and I were so lucky that Ryan had come into Bella's life. She deserved a father, and he was one to her.

Later that evening, I called Shane and booked him a flight down to Florida. I told him he could stay in Lauren's house until they returned and things calmed down. We informed him of everything going on, and he had our backs. We didn't speak much on the other subject, which was okay. What mattered was that we were on good terms.

When Abby and I crawled into bed next to each other that night, she seemed concerned. "Don't stress about it, babe."

"Jace, what if you get hurt like Lauren said? I don't want to see you like that. You getting punched in the face scared me." Abby cuddled up close to me, and I kissed her forehead.

"If I get hurt, I get hurt. I can heal from it, and you can take care of me. Won't you enjoy taking care of me?"

"Jace, that's not funny. I love taking care of you when I can, but I don't want that to be the cause of it all. You can't get harmed too badly. I need you around, you know?"

I smiled. "I know. Don't worry. Now, get some sleep. We can't be up waiting for the door to be knocked on or kicked down."

"Jace!"

I chuckled. "I'm sorry. I know it's not the time to crack jokes. Goodnight. I love you."

"I love you too."