Memory

Chapter 42

The next day

Jennifer P.O.V

Since my car and David's were still parked outside his apartment, we had no choice but to take Emilia's.

She owns a black Cadillac Escalade, which, to other people, specifically horrible people like Nicolas, looks like a spy car. Hopefully it'll put him on edge.

Of course, she was driving because she would never let anybody drive her precious car while I was in the passenger seat and David and Jackson were in the back.

We left little Isa at home because we didn't know what could potentially happen and refused to put a child's life in danger.

Thankfully, Estaban stayed behind to watch her.

"Alright, we're here," Emilia says, putting the car in park. Are you still sure you want to go in alone? At least have David and Jackson stand outside the door."

"I'll be fine. I have a mic in my shirt, so you all will be able to hear everything that happens inside. If it gets out of hand, I know you'll waste no time jumping in," I say confidently to mask the fear floating inside.

I'm horrified right now. I suddenly went missing, and Nicolas didn't know where I was. Coming in out of the blue to confront him wasn't exactly going to leave him in a happy mood.

Unbuckling my seat belt, I exited the car and slowly walked to the house.

You can do this, Jennifer, but don't back out now.

You have a crazy fiance, an even crazier best friend, and Jackson, who will beat anybody's ass in a heartbeat.

You're not in this alone, you have support behind you, and you know they'll come in to save the day if anything goes wrong.

Just say what you've come here to speak and walk out because I won't see him again.

Reaching into my purse, I shakily pull out my keys, inserting them in the keyhole.

Twisting the key, I hear the door unlock, placing my hand on the doorknob.

Time to finally get this shit over with.

Turning the knob, I open the door, step inside and see a distrust Nicolas on the phone with the police.

"My wife has been missing for three weeks now, and none of you idiots have found even a trace of her. How hard is it to find one fucking person" he spat out, slamming his hand on the counter of the kitchen island.

Mm, he may sound concerned, but I know for a fact that he's not.

"Look, I will give you a week to find her, or so help me-."

I cleared my throat, catching his attention.

"Never mind, I did what none of you police couldn't do, have a good fucking day," he says through gritted teeth, hanging up the phone and tossing it on the counter.

"Where the fuck have you been? Do you now understand how worried sick I've been about you?" he rushes toward me, pulling me into his tight embrace.

He sounds harsh but acts kind. He's trying to confuse me, but I know this game all too well now.

"I was kidnapped," I flatly say, hiding my fear.

The more scared I am, the more he'll feed off that, but what if I don't know fear? What'll happen then?

"Kidnapped," he says, shocked, "by who? Do you remember their face, name, or the location they brought you to, anything?" he asked in a panic, pushing me away.

"Yeah, I remember their face. I'm beginning to remember everything now," I say, giving him a fake smile.

"Who was it? "I'll call the police and have that bastard locked away for life for laying their filthy hands on my wife.

The same way you laid those filthy hands on me when you beat me repeatedly when you took advantage of me and raped me?

"Emilia Rodriguez" is the only thing I say as fear spreads in his face.

I don't think I've ever experienced him being scared before. It was always me on the other end of that.

"W-what was that name?" he asked, inching away from me.

"Emilia Rodriguez, my best friend since middle school. We all went to college, apparently," I answer. "Ring a bell," I say, annoyance laced in my voice.

"Jennifer, you don't have any friends, so who-"

"Oh no, I do have friends, one you don't know about and the other you took me away from," I spat out, placing my hands on my hips. "Oh, and another little detail that she told me was that you," I point the finger at him, "is that you kidnapped me eight years ago and lied this entire time about us being married."

"Kidnapped you?" he asks, growing defensive, "You get kidnapped by some strange woman that's telling you lies about me, and you believe her just like that?".

"When she shows me evidence backing up her statements, yes, I do believe her," I roll my eyes. "The only thing you have to prove we're married is a marriage certificate, which, by the way, is forged."

The scared look in his eyes disappears, replaced with an angry one I'm all too familiar with.

"So that bitch finally found you," he says with a smirk. "I expected her to find you sooner, but I guess I hid you pretty damn well," he laughs hysterically, "I'm guessing she also told you about David and Isabella as well?".

Glaring at him, I put up all my defenses. "What do you think?"

Shrugging his shoulders, he tilts his head to the side, placing his hands behind his back.

"So what, now you're going to try and leave me to go run off with that mistake you call a family?".

Holding my head up high, I don't let his words get to me. "They're not a mistake. They're the people who have shown me love, something you haven't shown me in years. They've given me purpose and meaning, the one thing I thought I would never be capable of, but I did it with their help".

"Mm, how sweet," he dryly says, then rushes towards me.

There goes that Bipolar disorder again.

"So you truly believe your life would be perfect without me? That you would have any meaning without me. You need me in your life, and you know it because without me, you wouldn't have this Lavish lifestyle that I have given you, all of these designer clothes, shoes, pieces of jewelry, and purses for you, but yet it's somehow still not enough!"

Wait? This all seems so.....familiar.

"Nicolas-"

"Don't', he raised a hand, cutting me off. I don't even want to hear it. You say I don't love you, but I have sat here and tried for so long to make you love me, to make you forget all about David and Isabella, but it's like a piece of them was always in your heart, leaving me completely out!"

Oh my—I dreamt about this before. I had a dream where we were arguing about me leaving him, and he said those exact words to me.

I guess god was trying to give me a sign that I'd eventually leave him one day.

But of course, he's trying to portray me as the bad guy, to guilt me back into his arms, and make me return to our "happy" relationship.

Well, jokes about him. It's not going to happen, not this time anyway.

After all the fucked up shit he put me through and Emilia adding more to the list, there is no way in hell I'm going back to him.