Temptation

48 - Madden

It's 3PM now and the plan is set in motion. DJ, Adam and Luke are all positioned in specific rooms that we will not be entering, I even doubt we will be going anywhere around the house other than the living room. DJ has locked himself in Hero's office, Adam hides in one of the guest's room, closest to our bedroom and Luke is hiding in the storage closet by the theatre in the basement. Police and two FBI agents—Hero has a lot of pull—hide in the pool house while Mara and Hero are to stay in a van with an FBI techy, parked one street over where they have live feed into the house from connecting through the security cameras. Hero fought all day yesterday and for hours today for us to let him be in the house, but it was too risky; he needs to be off the property.

Half hour goes by and Hero needs to leave before I send the text to Noah. "I love you so much and I'm so happy to have spent these months with you," I say to him. Although I agreed to this plan; actually, I basically volunteered myself to be the bait but for some reason, in the pit of my stomach I feel like this isn't going to work. I love Hero and I don't want Noah to do any harm to him or this family so if in the end, I need to leave then that's what I will do, and I will do it today. I need to get a goodbye off my chest. "Why are you saying this to me as if I won't see you again. I'm seeing you again." He plants a kiss on my forehead, "We're getting through this and when we do, I'm marrying you!" I'm caught me off guard, but he couldn't really mean it. Maybe he means like eventually he'll marry me but not anytime soon. His announcement of marriage has helped that feeling in my stomach go away, rather than me running away to keep him safe, and instead I feel like there may be a future with us. "I love you," is all I manage to say in response to his declaration of marriage. He places a kiss on the tip of my nose which brings warmth to my body, "I love you; my brave girl and I will see you soon." His lips touch mine and for that quick moment, I forget what is about to happen and am intoxicated by the movements of our tongues. "I don't want to let you go." He says as he releases his hold on me. Hero turns around and disappears out the front door and that's when I text Noah:

We're good now. Come over.

Now, I just sit in the kitchen alone; with many people in and around the house but by myself to bait my psychopathic ex-boyfriend. 4PM and Noah is right on time, he knocks on the door, as I stand from my chair, I take on deep breath and head towards the door. As I open the door, there stands Noah, his blonde hair longer than I last saw him and his eyes look dark with more aggression them I've ever seen in them. I motion for him to come into our home and he steps in, dirtying the white floor with muddy timberland boots. Noah's hair is shaggy, his jeans ripped and his t-shirt dirty; how long has he been wearing these clothes for? When he starts speaking to me, I want to cringe at his words, but I hold in my disgust, "What is this fucking photo?" He points to the massive framed image of Hero and I on the wall by the door. I just shrug, trying not to defend my relationship which is taking a lot out of me and Noah pulls the frame off the wall smashing it to the ground. The sound of the glass hitting the floor makes me flinch and I look down to see all the shattered pieces are everywhere. I go to my knees to pick up the mess he's made. Noah pulls me by my hair to lift me up and face him, "Let him do that. He must have maids." I acknowledge that if I continue to clean the mess, he will get even more aggressive with me, instead I direct the two of us to the living room. His dirty clothes on the couch are going to leave stains; we're going to need a new couch. "Before we do anything Noah, I need to know things are going to be different with us." His face turns red with anger—I can almost see the flames in his pupils. His voice becomes loud, "You think you can control me. You are very wrong." He wraps his hand around my wrist, very tight not allowing me to remove myself from him. He continues to lecture me about how he owns me, how he has power over me and that I will never be able to be free of him. He reminds me of all the physical pain he can cause me, but also reminds me how he has hurt all the people around me and that he is not afraid to do it again. Before he can say anything more about my deceased family, I stop him, "I have a plan." "I'm listening," for once, Noah is actually listening to me. I remember a time with Noah when we were so simple and happy, before he showed his true colours.

It was one of our first dates together, he had organized a picnic out on the campus quad, and he had made up all the food for the picnic. He brought a blanket for us to lay down on and he even brought me my favourite novel—I haven't read that book since then—so I could read under the sunlight. Noah told me I was beautiful and that I make him happy; this was the day Noah asked me to officially be his girlfriend. At the time, I did not know any better, I did not know he was possessive and aggressive, so I regrettably said yes.

"I will stay here with him for a couple more months—" "NO! You absolutely will not," he punches me in the face and used to the feeling, I sit back up to face him again with a sting in my cheek, "You didn't let me finish," I pause, waiting for another blow to the face because of my harsh tone with him but he doesn't do anything, so I continue, "I will be able to get money from him and lots of it then you and I can escape with it all. I just need a few more months?" I make my tone sound as if I am begging him, waiting for him to give me an answer and tensing my body to prepare for any hits that may come.

Noah breaks the silence with laughter, a scary laugh that unsettles me, making me shake in my spot on the couch. He stands over me, "You really think I'm that fucking stupid. An hour ago, when I got here, I thought maybe this isn't a set up, I don't see any police around the home but throughout this hour...I know you Madden. You are a terrible liar and ironically a terrible actress. So, what's the rest of the plan?" He's figured some of the plan out, but he hasn't figured out the whole thing. Even with him yelling over me, all I can think about is how Hero must be feeling, watching and hearing this. Mara has probably tied him down to the chair at this point. "Cops aren't here, so what, you're just going to kill me?" He takes my neck in both his hands and pushes me up against the wall beside our television, he pulls out a set of matches from his pocket and a lighter, "Remember what happened last time?" He questions me. He lights the entire box of matches, throwing them around us in the living room. Quickly, the couch catches fire along with the carpet and the wooden coffee table. I can barely breathe with his hold and the smoke that is filling this room quickly is making it even harder to breathe now. "Stop Noah, it's over." As soon as the smoke gets worse and I say the words, the Police and FBI agents storm the room from the sliding doors that lead to the backyard. He drops me to the floor and with all the smoke I've inhaled without being able to breathe all the bad out, I've passed out onto the floor. The last thing I see is an FBI agent wrapping cuffs around Noah's large wrists and that allows me to rest in this chaos.

Alarms sound off, the fire department comes quickly, and everyone is quick to leave the home. The problem is that the police were so focused on their arrest of Noah, that I remain, passed out in the house. DJ comes to my rescue, pushing himself through the smoke and the flames and he manages to find me, picking me up from the floor. The giant man walks me out through the backyard, his arms burnt from the fire walking towards the front of the home. DJ walks straight to the ambulance, placing me on the gurney so the pracademics can assess me. One of the paramedics assists me, giving me fluids and oxygen to help with the smoke inhalation while the other has noticed the skin on DJ's arms and wraps them in some kind of gauze that will help with the burns. "We will need to take you to the hospital," the woman notifies him. He agrees to go, but not until Mara and Hero are here.