Haunted - Sunny Wolfe Page 0,61

straight hours, and I didn’t even notice. I walked over to my phone and saw that I have one missed text and one missed call from five minutes ago.

I read the text “Damn it, Beth!” I cursed.

Berg walked into the room. “What’s wrong?”

“Beth had to leave the house without her bodyguard,” I told him as I called her phone. It kept ringing and then it went straight to voicemail.

“It’s Roman. Call me back ASAP. I need to know that you are safe.” I hung up.

“Bud, you’re overreacting. I am sure she will be fine. Why did she have to leave the house? I mean Beth isn’t one of those chicks who has to run up and down the road.”

“Joey got into a fight at school and apparently he is being suspended.”

“Oh shit, poor Beth. My little nephew is a handful, isn’t he? Well, I hope he at least won the fight.” I gave him a dirty look. “What?”

“Berg, we’re trying to get him to behave right. He needs to learn this is not acceptable behavior for when he gets older.”

“Wow, listen to you. You sound like a dad.”

Did I? I kind of felt as though Joey was mine. I loved him like he was mine. I smiled. “I am a dad, stepdad, but still he’s mine, you know?”

Berg smiled at me. I knew it was one of those smiles he gave me when he was proud of me.

I dialed my voicemail and put it on speaker. I waited for the commands and then the voicemail played. “…road on the right. Then you and I are going to have a little talk.”

"You want me to pull over on this dirt road on the right of Highway 61? Why Andrew? What are you going to do to me?”

“I am going to slit your fucking throat if you don’t help me get my money!”

I froze. Was this really happening? All I had done to keep her safe and the universe wanted to take her away from me. I felt as though I was being punished by God or something. I couldn’t lose her.

“Roman!” Berg screamed while shaking me.

I snapped out of the fog and looked at Berg, begging him with my eyes to help me. I felt paralyzed.

“Let’s go while you call 911. She is on Highway 61, heading for the school according to her voicemail.”

We ran out of the studio into the rain. Berg ran to his car and I jumped in, knowing I was in no shape to drive. I dialed 911 and explained who I was and about the voicemail that I received. They put a tracer on Beth’s phone, and it was three miles south from our house.

Berg drove down Highway 61 and passed our house. I knew she was within a three-mile radius or at least her phone was. I knew the dirt road was on the right side. I had to give Beth kudos on leaving me a voicemail telling me her location. She was smart, thank God.

Please, God, let her be alright.

We came up on the three-mile mark where I saw a dirt road off to the right.

“Dirt road!” I pointed and Berg pulled over.

“Oh fuck!” Berg yelled.

What we saw before us was a horror show. I saw a man in a creepy mask carrying my wife to her CRV. I saw that Beth was bleeding despite the mud on her body. I felt nothing but rage.

“I’ll get the guy and you take care of Beth,” Berg said.

We rushed out of the car. Andrew looked up and he staggered as though he was seconds away from dropping her. Once he saw us, he let her go and she dropped to the road. He lurched toward the CRV. Berg ran toward him at full speed. I was torn between wanting to go over and strangle Andrew to death or wanting to save Beth.

I ran to her and I looked her over. She was covered in blood and mud. I wasn’t sure where all the blood was coming from, but her shirt was torn open. I looked really hard at her right thigh because it was bleeding profusely. I took off my shirt and wrapped it around her thigh and tied it tight to put pressure on the wound. He had stabbed her. He had fucking stabbed her!

“Beth! Beth! Wake up, baby.”

Her big brown eyes opened, and she looked up at me while rain drops fell on her face. “Roman…I’m so sleepy. Where are we?” She sounded confused