Chapter 9

 
He pulled the company truck two houses away from Nanna's house. He would have pulled closer, but the police and ambulance were blocking the middle of the street.
They both looked at each other, wondering what was going on, until they both saw Nanna being carried on a stretcher and placed in the ambulance. An ESO was on top of her, pumping her chest to resuscitate her. Before Ethan could stop her, Nicole was jumping out of the truck and running toward the ambulance. But the police stopped her. She demanded to get inside the ambulance, but the double doors closed and the police still held her back. The ambulance took off for the hospital with Nanna inside.
Nicole wailed her pain for her grandmother.
Looking through the crowd toward the house, she saw Marvin and Lynne standing there signing some papers for an officer, then he walked away.
Ethan watched from the truck her heading toward the house and gripped the steering wheel, wondering if he should get out the car to join her. To follow her meant letting Lynne and Marvin know of his involvement with Nicole, but he wasn't sure if he wanted them to know yet. Would Nicole be hurt enough when she found out? Would Nicole's pain be worth it all? Damn his guilty conscious. When did that start coming into play in his quest for the ultimate revenge against his now ex-wife?
He waited and watched.
Nicole went straight up to Marvin and shoved him with all of her might and anger that she had inside of her. "What did you do?" she demanded to know. "What did you do to her?"
Marvin grabbed her arms to keep her from hitting him in the chest. "If you were here, then you would know what happened. Nanna had a relapse."
"Relapse? You're lying! You tried to kill her, didn't you?"
"If you weren't running off, then maybe Nanna would be fine."
"I ran off to save my life."
"You ran off to find your lover, you selfish bitch."
She backhanded him with all her might and she wasn't sorry about it.
Lynne stepped up quickly between them, seeing Marvin bawling up his fist to hit Nicole back. "Maybe we should calm down," she insisted.
They glared heatedly at each other, both knowing the truth as to why she ran away. Marvin’s eyes dared her to speak the truth.
"I think we all need to get inside," Lynne suggested.
Nicole broke eye contact with Marvin and glared at her mother. "I think you ought to tell the police exactly what he did to Nanna. Don't you care one bit about her? She was your mother; your flesh and blood. The only one who cared about your selfish horrible self was Nanna because I don't care whether you live or die. I wish you were dying. I wish you had the bad heart because you don't deserve to live another day!"
Lynne stiffened at the hard words of her daughter. Nicole turned to walk away, but Marvin grabbed her arm.
"Where do you think you're going?" he sneered, jerking her back to him.
She tried to snatch out of his grip, but he held tight.
"I think you should come into the house," he said, pulling her toward the door of the house.
Nicole desperately tried to get away without making a scene for the crowd that was now dissipating. She looked back over her shoulder to see if Ethan had left her.
"Come Nicole, you can go to the hospital with us."
She knew Marvin had no intentions of letting her out the house again. If he had his way, she would forever be locked up in that room for the rest of her life. She didn't want to go through that again. Lynne only stood there watching, not doing anything. Nicole began to struggle more.
"I think you should let the girl go," a voice came through to them from the street.
Marvin stopped his dragging and looked in the direction of the voice.
Ethan stepped up on the curb, lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag.
"Mind your own business, mister," Marvin seethed.
Lynne gasped, “What the hell are you doing here?"
Ethan came up to the porch. "I think he should let her go."
"Get the hell off of my property." Marvin swung Nicole behind him, holding her wrist still very tight.
"And I think Nicole can let us know where she wants to go because I don't think she wants to go in that house." Ethan stepped up to Marvin.
"This has nothing to do with you," Lynne cried.
"As long as he's got his hands on Nicole, it has everything to do with me."
Lynne looked from Ethan to Nicole. "How do you know him?" she demanded of her daughter.
Nicole wasn't paying much attention to her mother's words. Ethan's words brought so much encouragement inside Nicole and she brought her knee up and hit Marvin between the legs, then elbowed him in the spine. He let her go and fell to the ground. Nicole jumped over his body and moved to Ethan's side. Marvin made a weak attempt to get to Nicole, but he was in so much pain that he couldn't get up. He ordered Lynne to not let her go. Ethan took her hand and they began to walk away.
Lynne called for her daughter, following them. But Nicole continued to walk toward the truck. "Ethan, what are the two of you doing together?"
Nicole stopped instantly and turned slowly to look at her mother then to Ethan, who looked very stiff. "How does she know your name?" When Ethan didn't answer, she looked at her mother. "How do you know his name?"
"I know his name because he's my husband. He's Ethan Black."
"Ex-husband!" Ethan sneered, finding his tongue.
Nicole snatched away from his hand as the truth came to her. She grasped her chest, not knowing if she could breathe through all of this. "You're her husband?" She took several steps back. "You knew all the time. You knew I was her daughter, didn't you?!" she screamed. "Didn't you?!"
Ethan closed his eyes, trying to remain calm. This wasn't how he'd planned it. This wasn't how he was supposed to feel.
She needed no confirmation from him to know exactly what was going on. "You stay away from me," she seethed, barely able to get the words out. "I never want to see you again...EVER." With that, she ran down the street.
Ethan wanted to go after her. He really did, but his feet wouldn't move, his body wouldn't follow. Instead, he turned around to see that look in Lynne's eyes - that angry, confused, defeated look.
"You went after my daughter?" she asked, blinking hard. "Even after you destroyed me financially and sociably, you still went after my daughter? How could you?"
He grounded out the cigarette and smiled wickedly. "I was trying to be like you and keep it all in the family, Lynne."
"Are you done with your deceit?" she asked disgustedly. "Or would you like to go to the hospital and fuck my mother too before she dies?"
"You better hope she doesn't because I'll make sure the investigator looks to you for foul play."
"This has nothing to do with you."
"It does as long as Nicole cares."
"Stay away from my daughter."
"Fuck you."
"What more do you want, Ethan? Has hurting my daughter healed what I've done to you? You've taken everything away from me. Everything and you have the gall to go and break my daughter's heart?"
"I had to go and break the next best thing since you don't have one." He walked to his truck and jumped inside. Peeling out of there at a high speed, he felt almost complete. He'd done it! He'd gotten his revenge against that whore! She was standing there speechless, hurt, and ruined.
So why did he feel like an ass?