“Son, that girl is head over heels in love with you. She needs you. She has nothing and no one. If she’s severed all ties with you, believe me, it’s for your benefit not hers,” he replied.
Once again, I slammed on the brakes, this time as I had an epiphany. I realized that I was a complete and utter idiot. Only hours earlier, I’d had the woman of my dreams in my arms and let her convince me to leave without putting up any real fight at all. I’d left her penniless and completely alone and as heartbroken as I was.
How could I ever have believed that this was somehow the best thing for us both? So what if the odds of a successful long-distance relationship were slim? The odds of finding her at all had been practically non-existent, but it happened. I’d been handed a miracle, and I was turning it into a tragedy.
“Gabriel, I’m sorry but I need to go back,” I said.
“You do that. Now don’t worry about me. I’m exactly where I need to be. You do want you need to,” he said, and to my surprise, he undid his seat belt and let himself out of the truck.
“Merry Christmas, and Godspeed,” he said with a smile before slamming the door shut.
Just at that moment, my phone rang. “Jensen, are you at the airport yet?” Nancy asked as soon as I connected the call.
“No. I’m actually on my way back to Friendship,” I explained.
“Thank goodness. Jill’s just called to tell me that Lauren’s in jail. I don’t know what’s happened, but I think she’s going to need you,” Nancy said.
“I’ll head straight there. Whatever it is, I’ll sort it out,” I replied, worried sick about what her dad had gotten her into.
“If there’s anything I can do, just let me know,” she said.
“Actually, I’d like to ask you a favor,” I replied. We talked for a few minutes before hanging up. Turning the truck around, I looked down the barren highway for Gabriel, unwilling to leave him out in the cold … only to find that he’d completely disappeared.
Without stopping to think, I put my foot to the floor and broke more than a few speed limits as I raced back to my girl.
Chapter Seventeen
Lauren
Five hours earlier, I’d stood heart-broken at the door of the motel room, watching for the last time as my father threw his clothes into a bag. Jensen had offered me everything I’d ever wanted. And I’d rejected him. As he laid himself bare for me, I remembered every single word of Nancy’s speech, and I knew that this was the moment she feared. The moment where he’d start compromising his dream or, worse still, give it up for me. So I’d pulled off the con of a lifetime and convinced him that leaving me behind was for the best.
Now I was faced with the very reality I’d protected him from. “What have you done?” I asked, knowing from the urgency of his packing that it was really bad.
“It’s about time you showed up. I’ve not seen you for days, and then I hear today that you’ve been hooking up with some fancy mark. Well, I hope that boy has deep pockets, because we’re going to need them if we’re caught. Now pack your stuff,” he demanded.
“What have you done?” I repeated, trying to remain calm.
“An acquaintance of mine sold me a copy of the database details for the community center senior citizens club. Names, addresses, contact telephone numbers, that sort of thing. So, I called a few and told them I was from the bank, calling to conduct a security check. Worried them a little with the threat that their ATM cards might be frozen and talked them into giving away their bank details to verify their account. I used that to set up an e-wallet account, and from there, I transferred a little cash into a withdrawal account.” The
slight note of pride in his voice sickened me. He’d deliberately targeted the weak and the vulnerable, and he was proud of himself for it.
“How much did you take?” I asked, dreading the thought of how I could possibly face anybody in this town after what he’d done.
“Don’t you look at me all high and mighty. This puts food on our table. Now pack your stuff. We’re going. One of the stupid pensioners freaked out and went to the sheriff.”
“I’m not going with you,” I said. It was the first time I’d said it, and the shock was enough to make him pause.
“What do you mean, you’re not going with me? For years I’ve carried you, and now you’re walking away? Just when we’re starting to make some real money?” he replied.
“This is not a life. Running place to place, conning retirees out of their life savings. It’s wrong, Dad. It’s no way to live, and it ends now,” I argued.
“I don’t think you understand, girlie. The withdrawal account is in your name. Some stupid savings account your grandmother set up for you. I knew it would come in useful one day. So you see, it’s not me that’s implicated in this whole thing, it’s you.”
“I had nothing to do with any of this. Why would you use my name?”
“Stop acting all superior. You’re no different than me. Cut from the same cloth, both of us. You don’t give a crap about those people. Now I’m not asking you, I’m telling you. Pack your stuff and get moving,” he shouted.
“You’re wrong! I’m nothing like you. It’s Christmas Eve, and you’ve taken from elderly people who probably couldn’t afford to lose that money. I’ll admit I’ve done things that I’ll be ashamed of for the rest of my life, but I did them to eat. To survive. You do it so you can drink and gamble your life away.