Thin Ice 7 - Echoes of Reckoning Read Free Page B

she was happy to simply be alive. She thought back to the past year and the day she walked into her and Ray’s bedroom finding Rahja waiting for her. “Let’s not make this difficult,” he told her calmly, pointing the loaded .380 at her. “Come,” he spoke once more as Gabrielle obediently followed. She had a very bad feeling as they entered the den and Ray sat sipping his drink, regarding her calmly. “Gabrielle, have I not been good to you, to a fault I might add,” he addressed her calmly. Shaking her head yes quickly, she opened her mouth to try and speak, when Rahja told her to shut up. “You will not speak unless Mr. Lockhart requests it,” he barked angrily. Her eyes pleading with Ray, Gabrielle waited on him to address her once more. “You tried to play me for a fool Gabrielle,” he told her, the anger showing on his face. “I would have made your life a fairy tale,” Ray told her getting right in her face. “Now I’m going to make it a nightmare,” he said simply, giving Rahja the signal. Gabrielle remembered searing pain and then blackness.
    As she rode in the car headed to town for shopping she continued to remember. She woke later tied to a chair in an abandoned warehouse, mouth gagged as Rahja watched her emotionless. Seeing that she was awake, he rose, turning his back as he arranged items on the small table he stood in front of. Finishing his task he returned his attention to her and she saw the malice in his eyes. Glancing at the table Gabrielle saw the things he placed there, her eyes growing huge with horror. Rahja chuckled seeing her fear as he came closer, speaking calmly as he addressed her. “You should never have stolen from him,” Rahja told her. “He left your torture up to me,” he went on gleefully. “I have studied you. You are the type of woman who beguiles men with her beauty, then takes their manhood from them,” he told her turning back to the table and donning the rubber gloves. “I’ve decided to rectify that problem,” Rahja told her coldly, holding the small cup like container in his hands.
    Gabrielle flinched now, her hands instinctively going to her face as she recalled the memory. Rahja poured the caustic cleaner on her skin, watching as it began to burn and blister her exceptionally fair complexion. Making sure the angry welts and scars wouldn’t fade with time, he finally pulled a screaming Gabrielle from the chair and washed her face, stopping in its entirety the mixtures acidic qualities. The tears came again as they sat at the light and she looked out into the ocean in font of them. Her face was permanently scarred garnering gawking stares and whispers wherever she went. Gabrielle was thankful for her cousin Zeke. After Rahja finished with her face, he’d beaten her, sodomized her, before pushing her from a moving vehicle with $100 pinned to her. Gabrielle remembered walking until she reached a major highway, collapsing just as a vacationing family passed her on the interstate. Thankfully they stopped and took her to the local hospital where she was able to contact Zeke. The police questioned her about the attack, but Gabrielle feigned the inability to identify her attacker.
    “ We’re here,” Zeke told her softly seeing her crying again.
    She smiled slightly drying her eyes and got out of the car, scarf and hat in place. I never thought this would be my life, Gabrielle thought sadly. She hadn’t told Zeke, but she had plans. Ray Lockhart wasn’t going to get away Scott free just yet, him or that snake Rahja that worked for him. Smiling a tad underneath the scarf, Gabrielle continued to plot her revenge.
    *****
    “ Hello darling,” Ray greeted India as she arrived at the house.
    Even with him and Gabrielle apart, India refused to live with Ray. She told him they both had lives and she didn’t want to cramp his style or hinder his movements. Ray loved the independence of India. Things were wonderful once again and he truly did accept her apology