Tortured - Jaele

|| Chapter Thirty ||

Jace -

I'm racing through the parking garage, my mind feels like a blank canvas and my thoughts were like paint splatters coming at every angle. I was trying to get ahold of James and his location, but he wasn't picking up his phone, which led me to believe he was either having a hard time with Riele or she had gotten away. Either conclusion didn't please me, and my hand was crushing the sides of my phone as the anger began to solidly build within me. I looked everywhere for them. All 12 levels were empty of a struggling black girl and a older man pulling her along.

"Damn it!"

I slammed my hand against the cement wall and rested my hands on my hips, looking down at the street view below. It was a long way down. Do it. Just do it. Jump and all of this will be over. If she's gotten away you won't have to face any charges, you won't have to be tortured that she's in the arms of another man, you won't be able to think about her. You won't be able to see her. You won't be able to ever see anyone ever again. My thoughts led me to stand on the ledge of the wall, I felt the wind breeze across my face. I closed my eyes and swallowed. I hadn't moved an inch but yet I could feel myself falling. Dropping several feet down to my death. Did I want this? Did I want to be freed from everything? Including my own existence? The moment I took that large, ballooning breath my phone buzzed in the palm of my hand. I opened my eyes and examined the screen through the blurriness of my vision. Isabela was calling.

In the ID picture she was holding Promise. My baby girl. I can't... I can't go. Even though I don't have Riele anymore I still have my daughter. I still have someone to live for. I stepped off of the ledge and swiped the green button across the screen to answer the call.

"What do you want?"

"What the hell is going on, Jace? Why haven't you been answering the damn phone? You're late today! And my daughter is crying because she was told her daddy would be here to see her graduate pre-school!"

Fuck. I forgot this afternoon was Promise's junior graduation. With everything else going on this had been the least of my worries. I've forgiven myself for a lot of things, but this one was something else. Something deeper than a half ass apology to my conscience. .

"Isa..."

I sighed, gently placing my free hand on the side of my head that was still slick with drying blood.

"Go ahead, make up another excuse. Tell me how fucking sorry you are... But remember you aren't saying this to me you're saying this to your daughter. She trusted you to be here and you let her down... Again!"

Isabela's voice as sharp in my ear. I could have thought of a million and one reasons why I forgot, and why I was a terrible father. If she knew what was happening in my life... She wouldn't have given herself up to me. She wouldn't have married me. She wouldn't have called.

"Look, I'm on my way to the emergency room right now, there was an accident at work and I'm not gonna make it. Tell her I'm hurting right now, but I'll make it up to her, alright?"

I paced that small stretch of parking space, over and over again. All I could think about was how much distance Riele was putting between James and I right now. Isabela made a sound of disgust.

"I hope you're dying, you bastard. Whatever happened you deserve every bit of it."

And then she hung up. In a sense she was right, but the side behind that was I couldn't give two fucks worth of what she thought I deserved or not. She didn't matter, but my daughter did and that was the only pang in my heart that I felt while redirecting myself to the service elevator that would take my back to the main lobby. Riele might have escaped for now, but the hunt for her wasn't over. Not if I could help it.