Chapter 36 – Bleed For Me (Part One)

“Hey, you've reached Addy. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.”

Lance narrowed his eyebrows at his phone in his hands, staring at it with a bewildered expression as if he expected it to answer his question.

That was the second time he had tried to call Addy's cell since the last commercial break, to check on her and make sure she was still feeling okay. For the second time in a row, he listened to it ring twice before going straight to her voicemail – as if it was turned off, or she was hitting the ignore button.

“You know, I'm starting to take your absence personally,” JC said, walking up next to Lance in the studio. “That and the fact that the minute you cut to a commercial, you bolt away from me.”

“It's not you,” Lance said, shaking his head. He had forgotten when he came in today that he had JC and the girls from his band, Girl Radical, in the studio today. “It's just...when I left the house, Addy wasn't feeling too great, she was really hurting, and I'm a little worried about her. But she's not answering her phone.”

“Maybe she laid down to take a nap,” JC said.

“No, the phone would wake her up,” Lance replied. “I'm worried that she can't get to her phone.”

“What, you think she's in labor?”

“I'm not an expert, but that's what it looked like to me,” Lance said, putting the phone up to his ear again after having hit the redial button.

JC looked on for a few seconds before Lance shook his head and lowered the phone, pressing the end button.

“It's still going straight to her voicemail,” he said. “It's like she's deliberately ignoring my call or something – but that's not like her.”

“Well, you have been slightly overbearing lately, man,” JC said with a small smile. “I know you've had a lot to worry about, but maybe she needs some time to herself where you're not hovering over her. Maybe she went to a dark, private place.”

“She's not a cat, JC,” Lance said with a slight chuckle. “It's not like she ran under the bed to have her babies.”

“I'll be glad when she finally has that kid,” JC said. “You'll be a lot more pleasant to be around.”

Lance shook his head disapprovingly at his friend before hitting the button on his phone yet again. This time, he was calling their old apartment, thinking maybe she had run over there for something and forgotten to take her phone with her.

When he got nothing after several rings, he hit the end button on his phone and immediately dialed their new home phone number.

“Maybe her phone is dead and she doesn't know it,” Lance said to JC, mostly to comfort himself.

The phone rang five times before a voice finally came over the line, but it wasn't quite what he was wanting to hear.

“You've reached Addy and Lance,” the answering machine said in her voice. “We're not home right now but leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.”

He waited for the beep.

“Ad, you're not answering your cell phone, you're not at the old apartment, and now you're not answering at home. I'm worried about you,” he said. “I'm coming home. Please call me back and let me know you're okay. Love you.”

JC shook his head once Lance hung up the phone.

“She's gonna hurt you when she realizes you left work to come all the way home,” he said. “You know Addy and her independent streak.”

“Yeah, and I also know that if nothing was wrong and she didn't want me to run straight home, she'd pick up at least one out of three phones,” he said, shoving the phone in his pocket and running to grab his coat and keys. “Something's wrong, Jace. Sorry to run out on you but Turkey can run the show. If nothing's wrong, I'll be back in half an hour.”

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“I'm coming home. Please call me back and let me know you're okay. Love you.”

Addy watched as the answering machine turned off and a smile came to Marc's face.

“Looks like we'll make this party of three into a party of four soon,” he said. “I didn't expect him to come to me so easily.”

“Please don't do this, Marc,” she begged, Lance's voice over the machine ringing in her ears. “Let me call him back and tell him not to come home. I'll tell him I was in the bath when he called, and I couldn't come to the phone. You can have me all to yourself. Just...please.”

“And miss my golden opportunity?” he asked. “I'll have him right where I want him. Why would I give that up?”

“Why are you doing this to us?” she asked him.

“Whatever do you mean, Adeline?” he asked, throwing his arm over the back of the chair he had turned to face her. “Do you mean the stalking? The harassment? The suicide alibi? My genius revenge plan? Or do you mean my lovely sidekick?”

Adeline could see Mackenzie standing next to her out of the corner of her eye, smiling as she slightly pressed the cold barrel of the gun further into Addy's skin.

“It was such a beautiful plan, wasn't it?” Marc said. “And it worked so well.”

“It doesn't have to come to this,” Addy said. “Whatever you want, you can take it. I know the combination to Lance's safe and I know all his PIN numbers. He even leaves our checkbook at home.”

Marc chuckled. “You think I want your money? I have my own money. I don't need boyband wages. You're not that stupid, Addy.”

“What do you want then?” she asked.

“I want him dead,” he said, his face turning to an angry scowl.

She paused a moment, fighting a flood of emotion that threatened to come over her – sadness, fear, and anxiety especially.

“Let me call him,” she said. “I'll tell him I'm leaving – that I want a divorce. You can get what you want – me – and nobody has to get hurt.”

“I don't want you,” he said. “I'm not on a quest to win you back, Addy. My quest is much simpler.”

“What is your quest?” she asked. “If you don't want me, what do you want?”

“I want to watch him suffer,” he responded. “I want to watch him suffer the same way that I did two and a half years ago.”

She closed her eyes, the sobs coming.

“No,” she said. “Please don't hurt the baby, Marc.”

“It takes, what Mackenzie? Ten minutes for him to get home from the station?” he asked.

“Five if he takes the shortcut,” she answered. “And if he's in a hurry.”

“Oh, I guarantee he's in a hurry,” he said with a smile towards her. “Take her to the baby's room. Tie her up. I'll wait here and give Loverboy a proper greeting.”

Mackenzie nodded and without a word, handed the gun over to Marc, who pulled a large knife out of a sheath against his hip, hidden under his black shirt.

“Keep an eye on her,” he said, handing the knife over to her. “All the time, Mackenzie. She likes to try to play a hero. Don't let her pull one over on you.”

Addy could feel tears come to her eyes as Mackenzie grabbed her arm, helping her off the couch as she reluctantly stood. Without a word, Mackenzie placed the dull side of the knife lightly against her back.

“Go,” she ordered.

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Lance pulled into the driveway quickly, his eyes immediately cutting to Addy's car in the driveway. It hadn't moved an inch from where it was parked all weekend.

It concerned him. If her car hadn't moved, that had to mean she was home – she certainly wouldn't take a cab or go for a walk, especially considering how badly she'd been feeling all weekend. And Addy never ignored the phone ringing. Since her job was being a personal assistant, her phone was one of her best friends – and she always answered it. He often joked about her having her phone strapped to her waist like a holstered gun, reminding him of an Old West cowboy the way she reached for it upon the first ring, her version of a “quick draw”. And she was a light sleeper – she could hear her cell ring two rooms away at three in the morning when she was in her deepest sleep. To make matters worse, lately her “deepest” sleep wasn't so deep, being pregnant and constantly uncomfortable. If she was anywhere near her phone, she would answer at least one of his calls – unless there was a reason she couldn't.

He ran up the sidewalk and up the porch steps, taking them two at a time, reaching the door. To his relief, the door was at least locked, so he quickly put his keys in and opened it.

Silence hit him the moment he opened the door and stepped in, with the only thing he could hear being the television.

“Addy?” he yelled.

He was surprised to get no answer.

“Addy, baby, are you okay?” he yelled. “You're not answering the phones.”

Expecting to hear her yell at him from up the stairs that he had interrupted his show and come all the way home from work, he was surprised when he heard a strange click. The next thing he felt was a hard object pressed up to the nape of his neck.

“She's currently indisposed,” a voice said.

Lance closed his eyes, realizing he had a gun pressed to his head – and recognizing the voice of Marc.

“Nice to see you again, Lance,” he said. “Let's go find her and have some fun, shall we?”

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Addy did as she was told to do, walking from the living room up the stairs, and down the hallway towards the baby's room. Once there, Mackenzie led her to a chair by the window, instructing her to sit down. Adeline was surprised when Mackenzie pulled a piece of cloth – a bandana, she thought – out of her back pocket, and immediately reached behind Addy.

“Do as you're told to do,” she told Addy, her voice robotic as if repeating a mantra. “Don't try to be a hero, Addy. This will be a lot easier.”

“It was you the whole time,” Addy responded. “I knew it. And so did Lance. I should have listened to him.”

Mackenzie was silent as she finished tying Addy's hands together, securing them with a double knot. Addy let a whimper escape when she heard Lance's voice quietly from downstairs.

“He's home,” Mackenzie whispered.

Addy narrowed her eyebrows. Mackenzie's behavior was strange, even to her. It was as if she was only going through the motions – doing a poor job of acting, following a script that she had studied over and over again until she had every last word memorized. Her eyes were dead, even more so than the last time she had seen her a week and a half ago.

“Kenzie...” she finally whispered. “Why are you doing this to us?”

“Addy,” Mackenzie harshly whispered. “Shut up. If you want to make it out of this alive...you and Lance...don't talk.”

That's when Addy realized – Mackenzie may have been holding a knife to her, but she wasn't doing this by her own choice.

“Well, look who I found.”

Adeline looked up and saw Lance, still in his suit from work, walking slowly into the room – behind him, Marc appeared, holding the gun to the back of his head.

“It's Loverboy,” he said, looking at Adeline. “All of us in the same room again, after all this time. It's like a reunion. Isn't that nice?”

“Marc,” Adeline begged, feeling tears staining her eyes. “Please don't.”

“Ohhh,” Marc drawled. “You and him – so in love. Don't want me to shoot him, do you?”

She flinched and cried out when she heard the gun go off – only making a clicking sound. She looked up to see Lance, his eyes closed.

“False fire,” Marc said. “Oops. Guess I forgot to put bullets in.”

As Marc pulled the bullets out of his pockets and loaded the gun, Addy could see Lance breathing – heavily. He was as terrified as she was, but he was trying to put on a brave face for her. When he finished loading the gun, he put it back up to Lance's head and she watched him flinch as the barrel hit his scalp.

“Uh-oh,” Marc said, looking at Adeline. “We're locked and loaded now.”

“You're a sicker bastard than I thought you were,” she said, trying to hold back her tears.

“Addy, shut up,” Lance said.

“Yeah, Addy,” Marc said with a smile. “This isn't the time to let that mouth of yours get the better of you. I could shoot him...right now.”

“It's not him you want,” she said. “You know that, Marc. I'm the one you want.”

“Addy, shut...up,” Lance said, nearly growling.

“Better listen to your husband, Addy,” Marc said, laughing. “I don't think he wants to die.”

That was when he grabbed the collar of Lance's suit jacket, using it to push him closer to Addy and Mackenzie, until they were standing in front of them.

“But you know, I don't think I'll kill him yet,” Marc said, looking at Lance. “I have other plans.”

He motioned to Kenzie, who immediately stepped away from Adeline to his side. He gave her the gun and held out his hand, and she immediately placed the knife in his palm and took his place behind Lance, pressing the gun to the back of his head again.

Adeline took a deep breath as Marc walked behind her, holding the knife in his hand. She saw Lance clench up in front of her when he brought the knife down to her rounded stomach.

“I'd rather see him suffer the way I've suffered,” he said. “Mackenzie, gag him.”

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He felt woozy. Lance knew now why they called it a gag – the sensation of having something stuck in his mouth and not being able to get it out made him want to do exactly that...gag. He felt relieved when he'd seen Marc lower the knife from Addy's stomach, but surprised when Mackenzie had wrapped the bandana around him and stuffed it in his mouth, tying it tightly around the back of his head. That wasn't the Mackenzie he knew, the Mackenzie he used to call his Kenzie. He knew Marc had to have been behind this all along...but he never expected Mackenzie.

Looking in her eyes before she had followed Marc out of the room, though, something told him it wasn't really her. Something was different about her. She had pain in her eyes, like she didn't want to do this to him; like she didn't have this in her. She wasn't a cold-blooded killer.

Of course, that was before she reared her arm back and pistol-whipped him.

From then, everything had been slightly blurry. He knew he was handcuffed to something, sitting here on the floor. He could feel the blood from his eyebrow trickling down his temple. It hurt like hell; far worse than when he was a kid and his cousin had hit him over the head with the broom handle.

But at least a busted eyebrow was better than being dead right now.

He could hear Addy in the corner, crying to herself, prevented from speaking by her own gag. He wanted to reach out for her, but the handcuffs prevented him from moving his arms, and he'd been moved several feet away from her as it was. He'd have talked to her to comfort her, but the gag prevented him from doing much more than mumbling nonsensically. He was essentially helpless.

From his spot, he could hear them talking out in his living room.

“This wasn't in the plan,” Mackenzie said.

“Screw the plan,” Marc said.

“So what? Now you're going to kill him, too?”

Lance could tell that Addy could hear them too, because she looked over at him with tears in her eyes.

“Why not?” Marc said. “It's not like anybody will miss him.”

“The plan was to hurt her enough that she would lose the baby, Marc!” Mackenzie yelled. “That was the original plan! We were never going to kill them.”

“I don't think that's enough,” he said in response. “I don't think it's enough to destroy them. Their relationship is too strong. He's determined to stick with her no matter what happens. I can't have that happen.”

“Why are you so hell-bent on destroying his life?” she asked. “What did he ever do to you? She's the one who left you for him!”

“And I want to destroy her,” he said. “The only way to do that is get him and that baby out of the picture. He'll die, and she'll lose the baby...she'll finally be so distraught she won't be able to function. It'll destroy her from the inside.”

“You're disgusting.”

Lance and Adeline heard a loud thump against the wall that made both of them jump.

“Do you want out now?” Lance heard Marc ask Mackenzie. “It can be arranged.”

“N...no,” he heard her stutter.

“It's only one more hole to dig, one more body to bury, Kenz,” he said. “Now, I'll ask you again. The new plan – are you in, or are you out?”

Lance swore in the silence he heard Mackenzie whimper.

“Y-yeah,” she stuttered. “I'm...I'm in.”

The entire house went silent again for a few moments before he heard Marc speak again.

“I'm going to have a few minutes alone with the little bitch,” he said. “You babysit Loverboy – and if you get any bright ideas to help him escape, I'll bury the two of you next to each other.”

Lance's eyes widened and he looked over at Adeline, who struggled for breath.

He was coming to get her.

Marc breezed into the room holding the knife at his side, and Mackenzie followed slowly after. He flew past Lance, sitting on the floor, and immediately went to Adeline – grabbing her hair in his hand and pulling it up as he reached behind her to untie her from the chair.

“You're coming with me, my little darling,” he said as she whimpered in pain. “Don't worry – your wonderful husband will be well taken care of while we're gone.”