Saving Hailey: Chapter 41

THE NIGHT OF THE ACCIDENT

The taxi driver glances at me over his shoulder as I hand him a fifty. The sky outside is dark, specked with a few stars, though most of them are hidden by the city’s light pollution.

I push the door open, ignoring the proffered change, every muscle in my body wound up so tight the ligaments aren’t far off snapping. There’s a lead weight in the pit of my stomach that makes my knees wobble as I glance around the sketchy neighborhood.

The driver pulls away from the curb, disappearing behind a corner. I’m alone, nothing but a patch of abandoned wasteland before me, and a few run-down houses behind. The few working streetlamps illuminate the trash bags littering the pavement, but no lights are flickering in the windows.

In the distance, a few rickety warehouses stand out like a sore thumb. They were part of a watch factory that closed years ago and the area has been abandoned ever since.

At least that’s what I thought, but Aalyiah said her father uses the warehouses from time to time.

“He’s in a meeting this evening, so he won’t be there,” she assured me over the phone. “It’s remote. There’s no surveillance.”

I swallow hard, stepping off the curb to cross the street. Soon enough my sneakers sink into muddy ground, the darkness of the night shadowing my presence. The chilly air—a subtle reminder of summer’s end—whips my face, tangling my hair and raising goosebumps up my arms.

Though that might be both the cold evening and the anxiety clutching at my throat. I didn’t think this through when I called her. It was a spur of the moment decision fueled by Alex’s fear.

I wanted to help, so I dialed Aalyiah’s number, failing to weigh the pros and cons of meeting his girlfriend in the dead of night. Since we hung up, I’ve spent every minute wondering what I’ll say when I see the girl Alex loves.

How do I explain this clusterfuck?

What do I expect from her?

That one’s easy. I want her to end her relationship with Alex. If she finds out about me, she’ll leave him and he can give my father the evidence. If she’s not in the picture, the solution is much simpler. Alex can finish his job without worrying he’ll lose her for failing to protect her brother.

Every step I take quickens my pulse to the point where every heartbeat resonates inside my head. All the reasons why I shouldn’t meet a stranger in a remote location without letting anyone know where I am flood my mind.

It might be a trap. I don’t know Aalyiah. I have no idea what she’s capable of, or who she might’ve told about this meeting. Maybe the phone call spooked her and she ran straight to Rhett, confessing that she’s been seeing a cop?

Maybe she told Alex and he’s waiting for me, ready to unleash every ounce of his anger.

I shove those thoughts aside and step between two buildings, wondering which one she’s in. Old machinery litters the empty yard, five buildings circling the tarmacked space.

Glancing around the corner, I scan the factory for signs of life. I’m about ready to turn around and give up when I notice lights in the windows to my left. It looks like someone’s lighting candles.

Staying in the shadows, I circle the perimeter, moving away from the entrance and around the back. I’m not walking in there without checking Aalyiah’s alone. If it’s even her in there. Dry leaves crunch softly under my feet, the only sound in the otherwise silent night.

I pause, listening for any movement before moving closer to the wall, each step measured, my senses heightened.

When another window appears, I plaster myself to the wall and almost have a coronary when the stillness is broken by the sound of a quickly approaching car. I wonder if it’s Aalyiah until it stops abruptly and the doors bang shut. Two pairs of boots thump into the building.

Definitely male steps. Rushed, angry, heavy.

My heart leaps into my throat, every dark scenario I imagined about this situation coming true. There’s a shuffle of feet close by, right behind the wall I’m leaning against. I inch closer to the window, peering through the gaps in the broken, misty glass.

The warehouse is bathed in shadows, vast but not empty. Dust swirls in the orange glow of candles irregularly placed around the floor and on metal tables lining the far wall, but the dimmed lightning changes to clinical at the flip of a switch.

Aalyiah stands in the middle, glancing around with big, fearful eyes. She’s even prettier than her picture. Long, dark brown hair, round face, full lips. There’s a vulnerability about her I hadn’t expected. An aura of pure goodness.

She was supposed to be alone, but the heavy footsteps echoing through the warehouse betray that this is a trap.

My blood runs cold when I recognize the man at the front. Rhett Willard in the flesh, his presence menacing even from a distance. Aalyiah turns sharply, her body stiffening as she locks eyes with her father, and it’s in this moment I realize she wasn’t expecting him.

“You dumb bitch!” Rhett bellows, his voice slicing the air like a blade. “You’re dating a cop?! You’d betray your own blood?!”

All I see is their profiles, but Aalyiah’s cowering, shaking softly, tears in her eyes as she sinks in on herself, pale and clammy.

“You’re a fucking disgrace,” he spits out, getting closer. “Are you meeting him here? You’re using my warehouse to fuck around with that scum?” He stops and backhands her so hard her head swings to the side.

Blood oozes from her split lip but she doesn’t have a chance to wipe it. Rhett grabs a fistful of her hair, yanking her closer, and she yelps as tears slide down her cheeks.

“What did you tell him?”

“Dad, please… I didn’t mean to… I—”

“He got his hands on a shitload of important documents,” he seethes, shoving her to the ground. “Did you help him?! Did you betray me for that son of a bitch?!”

“Please don’t hurt him,” she begs, choking on her tears as she clambers over the dried bloodstains that cover the concrete floor. “Please, it’s not his fault. Vaughn’s using him, he—”

“I don’t give a fuck about excuses!” Rhett snaps, pacing like a caged animal, fury igniting him from the inside out. He turns to the man who arrived with him, sputtering through clenched teeth. “Get Babyface on it. I want Alex here alive within the hour!” He turns to Aalyiah, kicking her away when she tries grabbing his leg. “You can watch him die.”

“No! No, you can’t kill him!”

“I can and I will. You better pray he gives up the evidence quickly or you’ll watch him die for days.”

“No, Dad, please…” Aalyiah wails, her sobs filling the warehouse. “I beg you! I’m so sorry! Please, I’ll do anything. Just don’t hurt him. I love him!”

There’s a moment, a split second, where Rhett’s rage spills over a far more sinister edge.

His eyes blaze with a wild, uncontrolled madness and his hand moves to the gun at his belt. It happens so fast my brain barely registers the movement before a gunshot, a single, deafening blast, freezes my blood.

Aalyiah collapses, her body crumpling to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut. Blood seeps from the hole in her forehead, dull eyes staring into the abyss of death.

Rhett stands over her, holding the gun, his chest heaving with labored breaths.

Stunned silence blankets the warehouse.

It doesn’t last…

Rhett whips himself back from his lunacy and his vengeful façade cracks. He crumples to his knees beside Aalyiah, the most agonizing, animalistic anguish tearing out of his mouth.

“No, no, no…” he chants, gathering her lifeless body up off the floor, his face twisted with grief, shock, and an ocean of agony. “No, baby, no, no, no. Please… I’m sorry.” He grabs her chin, shaking her head like he’s trying to wake her up. “Come back, baby,” he begs, his voice barely audible. “You’re okay, little girl, you’re okay… Please come back…”

Tears slide down his cheeks in sync with the tears dripping from the tip of his nose as he gathers Aalyiah further into his arms. He rocks her back and forth, her blood seeping into his clothes. He tangles his fingers in her hair, begging and apologizing on repeat, his body shaken by pained cries.

I watch, paralyzed, as the ruthless mafia boss I’ve heard so much about is reduced to a broken shell of a man, undone by his own hand. His momentary lapse of judgment, a split-second loss of control, cost him his daughter.

It’s not until the other man speaks that I realize I’m shaking and hugging myself, sorrow tearing through me as if I was the one to pull the trigger.

I’m still hidden in the shadows, the gravity of what I’ve witnessed sending a rush of panic through my nerve endings.

But I can’t move, my legs feel like two tubs of water.

It seems an eternity before Rhett’s sobs cease and my muscles unwind. Slowly, he lays Aalyiah down, closing her eyes with a trembling hand. He marshals his emotions, standing up as if in slow motion, like he can barely move under the weight of what he’s done.

My stomach churns.

There’s so much blood. It’s everywhere… spattered over his white shirt, brown coat, and gray pants, dripping from his hands, speckling his forehead—a jarring contrast to his pale complexion. He’s white as a sheet, staring at the crimson river pooling around his feet.

I’m transfixed, watching him wipe his hands down the front of his shirt. His chest rises and falls as he steadies his breathing, lifting his chin higher, his dark gaze still on his lifeless daughter.

In a mechanical move, like he’s done this a thousand times before, he tucks his gun into a coat pocket.

“Boss?”

As Rhett turns toward the other man, his eyes are vacant, face sinister and torn. Every line and wrinkle screams about his grief, but not just grief… there’s more. A mindless, deranged kind of thirst for vengeance.

And that’s when I realize the danger Alex and I are in.

Holding my breath, I stare at the ground, inch away from the window as quietly as possible. My mind races faster than my heart. My flight instinct kicks into its highest gear, burning through my shock. Soundlessly, taking every step as if it were my last, I back away, one hand clasped over my mouth until I’m far enough away that I can’t hear anything from the warehouse.

Spinning on my heel, I pull my phone out and break into a sprint. Tears sting my eyes, panicked sobs catch in my throat, but I run, simultaneously dialing Alex’s number.

I trip, land in the mud, then gather myself up and keep running, lured by the doubtful safety of the distant streetlamps, sending call after call to Alex’s phone that he keeps rejecting.

“What?” Alex finally snaps into the receiver on my fifth try. “What do you want?”

“Rhett’s coming for you. You need to run!”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Where are you?”

“Alex, listen! Aalyiah… she’s dead, I—”

I fall again, bracing against the damp ground, my knee hitting a large rock. Pain doesn’t register, pushed to the background by the adrenaline.

“Hailey!” Alex booms into my ear when I pick up the phone. “What’s going on?! Where are you?”

“I went to see Aalyiah at the warehouse, but Rhett came first,” I pant, looking over my shoulder in case I’m being chased. “He knows you’re a cop. He shot her, Alex. He didn’t mean to, but he did. She’s dead and his men are coming for you!”

I run out onto the empty street, sprinting across, then left and right between buildings while Alex stays silent, nothing save for his heavy breaths sounding in my ear.

“I’m so sorry,” I heave, not far off collapsing. “I—”

“Where are you?” he asks, his voice weak, pure anguish tearing him apart. “Did Rhett see you?”

“No, I ran. Don’t worry about me. Get out—”

“Hold on, I’ll track your phone.”

“No! You need to run, he’ll kill you!”

I turn into a dark alleyway and hide behind an overflowing trash can. My connection to Alex clicks and crackles.

“Stay right where you are. I’m coming for you.”

“No! You—”

He cuts the call.

I redial immediately, but this time he doesn’t answer no matter how many times I try. And, even though it’s selfish, a small part of me cheers knowing he won’t leave me here alone. That he cares, even if only a little.

Cowering in the darkness, my chest hurts with the effort it took to flee. Tears no longer trail down my cheeks but fear lingers like something vile stuck to the back of my throat, complemented by the stench of trash, piss, and feces.

Deep breaths don’t calm me down. I freak out again every time I blink and see Aalyiah’s dead body on the stained floor.

Wind howls above, and every sound makes my skin break out in goosebumps, but I focus on the minutes moving forward in the right-hand corner of my cell screen until a car pulls up nearby. Doors open, close, and rushed footsteps beat closer.

“Hailey?” Alex stutters, his voice thick with tears.

All air leaves my lungs in a long gasp. I scramble off the ground, coming out from behind the trash can to find him a few steps away, his shoulders shaking, face wet.

“I’m so sorry,” I yelp, flinging myself into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Alex, I—”

“We don’t have time for this,” he snaps, shoving me away. “I’m taking you to your father.”

He drags me toward the car and almost throws me into the passenger seat. Once I’m secured in place, he slams the door and rounds the hood, his despair amplified when the headlights illuminate his face.

“Why are we going to see Dad? You need to run!” I shout once he’s in the driving seat.

“There’s nowhere I can hide from Rhett!” He bangs his hands against the steering wheel. “What the fuck were you doing at the warehouse?!” He shoves the car into gear, dropping the gas pedal all the way. “Why were you there?”

“Aalyiah told me to meet her there.”

He clamps his jaw shut, grinding his teeth, anger temporarily taking center stage and pushing his grief aside.

We’re flying at eighty miles an hour, the city a blur outside the windows. For the first time, I don’t mind the speed. I want to put as much distance between us and Rhett as quickly as possible.

“I was trying to protect you,” I whisper, yanking the seatbelt across my body. “You wouldn’t listen, so I stole Aalyiah’s number from your phone. I thought maybe you’d listen to her…”

“You told her about us?” He slams the brakes, slowing down for a traffic light. His head whips left and right quickly before he runs a red. “Did you say anything over the phone about me working for Vaughn?”

“N-no, I… I just told her you weren’t honest and asked if we could meet.”

He drags his hand down his face, swearing under his breath. “How the fuck did Rhett find out about me?”

“I don’t know… I peeked inside the warehouse to check the meeting wasn’t a trap and then Rhett’s car pulled up. I didn’t talk to Aalyiah. No one saw me. Rhett already knew about you when he arrived. He started screaming at Aalyiah.”

Did… did she suffer?” he asks, his voice barely above a whisper, fresh tears brimming in his eyes.

“No, she didn’t. It—” I blink my own tears away, twisting the seatbelt between my fingers. “It happened so fast…”

Alex clears his throat, still going double the speed limit. He takes a moment to compose himself, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. “No matter what happens, your father needs to get the evidence. Promise you’ll give it to him.”

I open my mouth but instead of I promise,a yelp escapes me when Alex slams the brakes. He pulls up by the curb, turning toward me and lunging forward like he’s about to grab my throat. My back hits the passenger side door, eyes wide, panic rising like a tidal wave.

“Watch,” Alex orders, unhooking my necklace.

Using his thumbs to push apart the hooks he opens the heart, exhaling a shaky breath.

Inside, stuffed into a slit, is a small, black square.

“Memory card,” he tells me. “All the evidence I gathered is on this. If anything happens to me, give this to your father.”