It had been a long time since he'd been here but really nothing had changed much. There had been repairs made and fresh paint applied but everything else remained the same. The shrubs seemed to be the same height he was more than sure Don and Ben still argued about the shape of the one in front of the restaurant but the big shade oak was huge now it's trunk the width of a man. Amazing what can happen in twenty years.
In twenty years Jay Stockton had been able to amass a fortune move into the big house on the hill, become a pillar and leader in town all achieved by fear mind you but still achieved. Everyone seemed to fear him well, not everyone. There were still a few ready and willing to stand against him but most feared the power he wielded and well they should. He'd been the victim of that power and it had cost him twenty years of his life and everything he'd held dear. Twenty years, eleven spent in that shit hole he put him in the rest hiding in plain sight among his family working, watching, waiting planning for his moment. In the meantime helping to creating an empire more powerful than Jay could imagine. When he took him down tomorrow it would be complete. No more business, no wife no children nothing. Maybe he could crawl to that sad little mistress of his if she would have him with his pockets out or if he hadn't already burned that bridge. He just hoped his own family would understand why he done things the way he had.
He sits and watches the people coming in and out of the building recognizing some unsure of others none recognizing him. Why should they? After twenty years and what they'd done to him he was unrecognizable to himself both outside and in. Cracked larynx from screaming and a well placed baton, broken nose and orbital socket. A plastic surgeon had taken care of the outside and his voice, the prison had taken care of the rest. Once he was a happy husband and father content with his wife and children. People used to laugh and tell him they loved the twinkle in his eye and quick smile. Ha! Now they said there was a fire burning in them and smiles were rare. Sometimes he still wasn't sure exactly who he was. He wasn't evil he could still feel compassion for those that deserved it but there was a ruthlessness about him when it came to business. He wasn't cruel in his normal dealings but he was shrewd. He was only a sadist when it came to those that betrayed him. He'd dispatched them quickly quietly and only those who'd directly helped Jay never through their families. He was proud of that fact. That, and so far none of the families had ever come after him most had been happy to have the miserable bastards gone from their lives the few that had families left anyway. Most had lied and manipulated their ways to the top and in the end were left abandoned and alone. He was no monster but he definitely wasn't the man he was not even close. If Jay had, had his way he wouldn't have even been left that, he'd be dead. If Aidan hadn't found him when he did a few more years in that hole and he would have been.
It had been by sheer miracle he had been tossed in the same cell. Together with his knowledge of the prison and the help of Aidan's friends they'd escaped. Aidan had taken him first back to his agency to be debriefed and treated. With the help of his new friends and the WSB his external wounds were healed quickly which resulted in a new face. Then again external wounds always heal the quickest. It had taken a while for him to shift his mind out of survival mode, to let go of the fear, for the nightmares to stop and for him to be any semblance of the person he was. Once he'd become human again and was able to get information on his family thanks again to the WSB he'd realized he was presumed dead his children practically grown up without him and his wife had gone on with her life what good would he have been to them anyway back then? There was no way he could have come back here not until now. Not until he knew there was no way he could hurt him or his family again.
Consumed by anger and loss he chosen what he knew survival and worked with agency for a while. In doing so he had met a woman that had changed his life and had given him the start he needed to build what he had. Now he was ready for Jay and for Alex. He had the money, influence and the power to match. He could fight whatever Jay had in his arsenal. There would be no getting rid of him in some foreign prison. They had come full circle he had the means and every intent to use any and every means necessary to keep them safe and strip away most of Jay's power. He would love to leave them both completely destitute but that would mean the same fate for their children and they had paid long enough for their parents lies and manipulations. They had all suffered enough especially the children.
He looks across the parking lot smiling broadly that when he saw her exist the bar. She stops in front for a moment laughing and chatting with one of the patrons. She was still as beautiful as he remembered. Time had been very good to her better than it had to him. Of course there were the small creases around her eyes and mouth random streaks of silver mixed in with the blond and auburn in her hair. On her they only added to her beauty not detract from it giving her a more genuine feel than her sister. She squints up at the fading sun then fishes in her bag for what he assumed were her sunglasses. Why she never took them out before she got to the door he would never know, he guessed old habits were hard to break. Like sitting in parking lots watching the past walk by he chided himself then chuckles. He watches as she gets in her car starts it then pulls out of the lot passing him on the way by. He turns his head and looks down at the the seat as she passes. Not that she would recognize him but still driving by was one thing sitting around the lot was another he chides himself starting the car and putting it in gear. He watches which way she turned wondering if she still lived in the same small house she had years ago and decides to follow her till she got to the turn. He pulls along the curb on the corner watching her in the rear-view mirror as she enters the house then speeds off as the door closes. He shouldn't have come and he shouldn't have followed her any further that was just begging for trouble. He just couldn't help himself he needed to see all of it, all of them. He needed to remind himself why and for whom he was doing this. To remind himself that it wasn't just a selfish acts of revenge. He needed confirmation that what he was doing was a reckoning that it was justice for all of them if nothing else he had that. Knowing she still lived in the same house on the same street had given it to him.
"Harbinger Falls" Copyright 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment