Death of a Waterfall (The Hayden Falls Saga) (29 page)

What could he possibly have that would make her stop hurting? Drugs? She'd had her fair share of those thanks to her father. Although a little bit of pot might help calm her, numb the pain a little, but nothing would ever make it go away completely. Teghan nodded and reluctantly followed him despite the dread coiled in her stomach. Last time she had this feeling, she'd ignored it and it had cost her dearly. She stole a glance at Donnie. His knuckles were white he was gripping the steering wheel so tight, his jaw was clenched, and he seemed oblivious to anything other than the road in front of him. "Will you please tell me where we're going?"

"We're here," he said, parking and killing the engine.

"It's an empty building." She got out of his car and hesitantly followed him inside. She wished she hadn't. Teghan cupped her hand over her mouth and gasped. Her father was in the middle of the room, tied to a chair, his bottom lip swollen, and blood trickled down the side of his face. "Dad?" she muttered. Her first instinct was to rush to his rescue, to untie him, and tend to his wounds. But she didn't. She remained frozen, stunned, a myriad of emotions raging through her. Hurt. Anger. Betrayal. Love. Fear. Confusion. Teghan looked at Donnie, who proudly boasted a smug smile, and her skin crawled. What the hell was going on?

"He was going to pay me a hundred thousand dollars to stay out of your life," Donnie said.

That didn't surprise her as much as she thought it should. Her father thought he could buy anything or anyone with enough money. And usually he could and did. It was the rare occasion when he couldn't.

"Don't forget to tell her you asked for it," Rob said.

Teghan looked back and forth between her father and her boyfriend. She had no idea what to do.

"It was just a ploy to get you here," Donnie said.

"Wait," she said, shaking her head in confusion. Donnie had tricked her father into coming here? Why? So he could tie him up and beat him? It dawned on her that she didn't know anything about Donnie. What kind of boyfriend did this to his girlfriend's father?
Only a psychopath.
"I don't understand what's going on here."

"I told you he was no good for you, Teghan," Rob said, fidgeting against his restraints. "Untie me."

"Shut up, Rob!" Teghan snapped. The room was musty and stunk of mold. It was stifling. "I don't want any part of this," she said, turning and rushing for the door.

"Teghan!" Rob shouted.

"Teghan." Donnie grabbed her wrist before she could get out the door. He spun her to face him and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Let me go," she said, her tears stripping the conviction from her voice.

"Get your goddamned hands off my daughter," Rob said.

Good Lord, what a friggin' nightmare.

"Teghan, babe, I did this for you," Donnie said.

Her eyes widened.
Oh my god. He's crazy.
She'd told him she didn't ever want to see her father again. Why would Donnie think this would be something she wanted? "I never asked you to."

"I know, but we both need answers. This way you can get them, and you don't have to worry about him hurting you again."

Teghan sliced a look at her father. She did want answers. But was this really the way to go about getting them? It seemed so wrong. "Okay, fine. I'll ask him, but then you let him go and we forget about this. All of it." She hoped to hell that by doing this, by asking her father why, that Donnie would let Rob go, and Teghan would never have to see her father again.

"Deal." Donnie hugged her and kissed her forehead.

She swallowed the bile rising in her throat and shook the nervousness from her hands. Everything about this felt wrong. But she had a sinking feeling that if she didn't do this, that if she didn't demand answers, Donnie wouldn't let it go. Teghan stood in front of her father, in front of the man she'd always trusted implicitly, the one man who, above all else, was supposed to protect her and love her unconditionally. The sight of him disgusted her.

"Untie me," Rob demanded.

He had a lot of nerve to demand anything from her. "Why, Dad? Why'd you do it?" She wanted to be angry, to yell and scream, but her entire body was deflated. Her shoulders were slumped, there were dark circles under her eyes, and she hadn't brushed her hair today. She was a total mess.

"I tried to reason with you, Teghan, but you weren't willing to listen," Rob said.

"So you drug me and give me an abortion without my knowledge?" she shouted, her anger flashing unexpectedly, taking precedent over all other emotion. "Do you know how much you hurt me? You stood there and watched as that sick fuck killed my baby. I called for you, Dad. I cried for you to help me and you just stood there." Teghan wiped tears from her face with trembling hands.

"Someday you'll thank me for this," Rob said.

The calmness he displayed only pissed her off more. She pointed her finger in his face. "I will
never
forgive you. I will never trust you. And you'll be lucky if I ever speak to you again."

"I saved you from ruining your life, which it seems like you're hell bent on doing anyway."

Teghan sobbed with disbelief. "God, do you have any idea how crazy you sound? Now answer my damn question so I don't have to look at you anymore. Why did you do it?"

Rob nodded his head in Donnie's direction. "Is he really the type of man you want to spend your life with? Is he really father material? Look at what he did to me!" He pulled against his restraints and wobbled in the chair.

She bunched her hands in her hair and glanced back and forth between Donnie and Rob. Donnie was standing to her right, arms crossed, a look of satisfaction plastered across his face. Part of her knew her father was right. That irritated her to no end. Donnie wasn't the man she thought he was. Donnie was too much like Rob and that terrified her. Teghan averted her gaze back to Rob. "You have no room to be passing judgment on him after what you've done."

"Yeah," Donnie said, walking over to stand beside Teghan. "You never even took the time to get to know me."

"I've seen enough to know." Rob glared at Donnie.

"I love Teghan more than anything else in this world, and I will not let you take her from me," Donnie said, pulling a knife from his pant leg and pressing it to Rob's throat. "You have no idea what you've done to her, how much you've hurt her. I won't let you keep hurting her!"

"Donnie!" Teghan screamed. She blinked rapidly several times. She had to be dreaming. Rob's face had gone pale, and the look in his eyes was one Teghan had only seen once before when Trevor had severely injured himself playing basketball and the prognosis was grim. It was the look of fear. "Donnie, please, put the knife down."

"He won't stop, Teghan," Donnie said calmly. "I can't stand by and watch you in so much pain."

She slowly and gingerly put her hand on his hand that held the knife. "Please, Donnie. I'm begging you not to do this." She thanked god that her voice didn't give out like she thought her legs were going to. "I'm getting better. I swear I am. You don't have to do this."

"Why?" Donnie looked at her and a chill worked down her spine. His eyes were cold, emotionless, murderous. "He'll never leave us alone."

That was probably true, but Rob was still her father, and a very small part of her would always be Daddy's Little Girl. Unlike Rob, she had a conscience and she couldn't stand by and watch Donnie kill her father. She turned to Rob, eyes pleading. "Yes, you will, won't you, Dad?" Teghan gently moved Donnie's hand, and the knife, from her father's throat, keeping her gaze locked with Rob's. Hoping, imploring, pleading with her eyes for him to, for once in his life, do the right thing.

"On one condition," Rob said with a faint smile.

Things kept getting more surreal by the moment. Even now, in this situation, her father was trying to negotiate. Unbelievable. "What?" she said.

"You have to move home for the summer."

"Absolutely not," Donnie said, dropping the knife to the floor and gripping her shoulders. "Teghan, you can't seriously be considering this."

What choice did she have? If she didn't do exactly as her father wanted, he'd go after Donnie. And after what Rob did to her, she cringed at the thought of what he'd do to Donnie. She pulled Donnie away from her father and lowered her voice. "I don't have a choice."

"Yes you do, babe. We can end this now," he said.

"Are you suggesting we kill my father?" He simply stared at her. Her face paled and the room began to spin. This wasn't happening. "No. No," she said, shaking her head. "If you love me like you say you do, then you can't do that. Please, Donnie. Stop this right now." Tears blurred her vision and clogged her throat. "If you kill him…" Oh god, she couldn't even think about it.

"I don't want to lose you, Teghan."

She cupped his face with her trembling hands and smiled weakly. "You won't. I promise. But I need you to promise me that you won't hurt my father."

"I'm not going to pretend I understand why you care so much after what he did to you, but I'll let it go. For you. I'd do anything for you," he said, giving her lips a soft kiss.

Teghan wanted to vomit. "Thank you."

"So what's it going to be, Teghan?" Rob asked.

Turning to Rob, she said, "I'll untie you, and I'll move home for the summer, but if you so much as hint at doing anything to Donnie, I will disappear so fast you'll never find me." She picked up the knife and put the blade against the ropes that bound his hands. "After I tell Mom what you did to me." She paused. "Understand?"

"Perfectly." Teghan cut the ropes and Rob rubbed at his wrists. "Maybe you two do deserve each other," he said before straightening his tie and walking out of the warehouse.

So that's what it felt like to make a deal with the devil. She swore it would've been less painful to simply die in the slowest, most gruesome way possible.

"Are you okay?" Donnie asked, his voice returning to its normal, soothing, loving tone.

Teghan was numb. Her brain was unable to comprehend everything that had just happened. Her heart shattered like glass in her chest, sharp, jagged pieces cutting her every time she took a breath. "Just take me back to my car."

Chapter Twenty-four

Rob flicked his tongue over his swollen bottom lip. That son of a bitch had a lot of balls lying to him, tricking him, tying him up, punching him, and threatening him. The bastard would pay. That would mean his daughter would pay too, and he felt slightly guilty about that. She'd been through enough, but then again, she'd had no problems putting her two cents in about everything. He was slightly disappointed that Teghan thought he'd be true to his word. Hadn't he taught her better than that? Oh well, she'd learn soon enough. "Jim?" Rob called as soon as he opened the door to Jim's office.

"Back here," Jim called from the conference room. "Looks like you had an interesting evening."

"My daughter's piece of shit boyfriend decided to play hero tonight," Rob said, looking around the room at half a dozen strange faces. "Who're they?"

"Have a seat, Rob. We need to talk."

That was never good. He pulled out a chair and sat.

"These are my men, Rob." Martin leaned forward in his chair and put his elbows on the table. "Do you remember when I told you that the only thing it was going to cost you was a reason?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm a fucking child." Rob pounded his fist on the table. "What the hell is this all about? I gave you a reason."

"You lied to me." Martin's voice was calm, even.

Rob glared at the men seated around the table. Did these people really expect him to divulge all the sordid details of his life to them? They were complete strangers for Christ's sake.

"Rob, you need to tell them the truth. All of it," Jim said.

"We know that Barbara Schaffer suddenly changed her name after the birth of her son. What we don't know is why. Now, if you can't fill in the blanks for us, we'll have no choice but to contact her," Martin said.

Rob scowled then sighed. His back was against the wall. It was time to come clean. "Teghan was born with a fraternal twin brother, and for reasons I refuse to discuss, I gave him up for adoption. I have reason to believe that my daughter's boyfriend, Donnie Marks is her twin brother." Christ that sounded horrible.

"You've gotta give us more information than that," Martin said.

Rob took a deep breath. He swore he'd never tell anyone about this, but he was desperate. "I had an affair with Barbara Schaffer. She became pregnant and begged me to leave my wife. Of course I refused, so she resorted to threats. Then she lost the baby and threatened to tell my wife everything if I didn't make things right. Rachel, my wife, found out she was pregnant with twins shortly after all of this happened. When she went into labor, I paid off the doctor, took the baby boy and gave it to the woman I'd had an affair with to shut her up. I told Rachel the baby died." A collective gasp filled the room. All eyes were on Rob, imploring, waiting, expecting him to say more. He remained silent, stoic. These men had no right to judge him.

"Son of a bitch." Martin leaned back in his chair.

"This kid tricked me, lied to me, tied me up and beat me," Rob said, running his tongue over his swollen lip. "He's dangerous. I want him out of my daughter's life. Now."