Chapter 10 | Phase One

Callie's POV

"She's not going to believe I left her, we were planning a new life together Callie," Stefan's pleading words went in one ear and out the other.

His act of desperation lit a fire within me, "How can you love someone, but tell another the things you've told me?" I flicked around a razor blade in between my fingers and smirked as I noticed the small scratch on Stefan's neck still tracing blood from it. "It makes no sense to me Stefan," I crouched down beside him, "Your manuscript makes no sense. You're terrible at convincing me to let you go. It wouldn't work, but you could at least give me a reasonable show."

I retreated myself back to the countertop and stared off into the ultrasound pictures. It was haunting to believe Stefan would leave me here to rot as a single mother, but it was to be expected.

From the very beginning, I had known the relationship with Stefan would be nothing greater than a casual fling. Generating those genuine feelings for him was a mistake, as they would never be reciprocated. It was like signing a contract, except we sealed the deal over two vodka shots at Georgie's. We were solidified from that point, up until my confession.

Gathering two pictures into my hand, I made my way back to Stefan who was sobbing in despair. Crouching down beside him, I placed the two photos in his lap where he could see. "That's our child," my voice began cracking, "That was at the last doctors appointment, I was twelve weeks at the time. I should be right around fifteen weeks right now if I'm doing my math correctly."

You could feel the tension in the room getting higher and it seemed as if the air was beginning to get heavier,

Stefan was speechless.

"Say something," I wasn't pleading with him, but I wanted to hear his acknowledgement. I wanted him to understand that this was real. We did have an affair, I ended up pregnant. He left me out of the blue, and didn't come back when he had realized there was a baby on the way. I didn't want his help, I wanted his understanding that this was just as much his fault as it was mine.

He began sobbing uncontrollably, but words never escaped from his lips. He couldn't look me in the eyes. He managed to flail his legs enough to brush the ultrasound pictures onto the floor and out of his viewing range, "I don't want to look at that fetus in your stomach. It might be half mine, but you are not my wife. I gave you my ultimatum, let me go. I have a wife, I have a job, and I have a life. I left you because you were stupid enough to fall in love with me, you're crazy and naive. Did you ever think I was going to leave my wife because you're over here carrying my baby? The worst thing you can do for yourself is have that baby. I offered you my help, and I even offered you money. The offer stands, but you have got to let me go."

I stared blankly at the ultrasounds on the cement, the pit of rage growing out of control like a wildfire. Before I knew what had hit me, I swung one of my hands back, hearing the slap as it made contact with Stefan's cheekbone.

He wailed out in pain, his body convulsing as he couldn't cradle his face in his hand. I turned abruptly to face him regaining any composure and hiding any hint of shock in my face, "I don't have to do anything. You need to do as I say, and not piss me off in the process. I run the show here, I call the shots. You can kiss the outside world goodbye for awhile. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The choice is entirely up to you."

The shape of my hand appeared on his cheek, flashing a bright red. I gathered the ultrasounds into my hands, and walked away to place them back onto the counter. I fiddled with the contents in the white plastic bag, fiddling for my next means of torture.

The options were endless, all of which were painful. I kept seeing the scratch on Stefan's neck.

For weeks now I had questioned my capability of inflicting pain on another person, and going into this I was uncertain that I had it within myself to carry out the plan. I thought we would exchange a few harsh, and overly loud, words and that would be the end of it. Seeing Stefan shackled to the post struck a match. I saw his vulnerability, and it reminded me of the position he had put me into. He was stuck, just as I had been. The only way he could be removed of the shackles was if I freed me, just as I could be relieved of my entrapment if he emotionally set me free.

The container of iodized salt stood out to me and my thoughts jumped towards the bleeding scratch on Stefan's throat.

I sprinkled a handful into my palm and could feel the daggers from Stefan's eyes watching me profoundly, "What is that?"

"You know," I shook the contents in my hand softly as not to waste any on the floor, "If you don't have peroxide, they say the best way to disinfect a wound is through salt." I was evidently lying through my teeth.

Stefan's breathing became uneasy and rapid as I approached him and kneeled before him examining the scratch thoroughly. It wasn't deep at all, it was barely enough to draw blood and break through the skin. I pressed my palm full of salt to the cut and pulled away fast enough to avoid the wrath that was Stefan's body.

He moaned out in pain and in agony, "Why are you doing this? Callie, please stop!"

A sinister smile spread across my cheeks, I was beaming from ear to ear. A feeling of relief was washing over me, and a craving for more blood made the hairs on my arms stand tall.

I brushed the remnants of salt off of my hands and watched as Stefan slowly brought himself together, "I don't know why you're reacting this way. If that little bit of salt hurt you, you're in for a real treat when the rest of the stuff I have in store for you gets started."

The sound of the elevator descending it's way into the basement shook the entire floor, I gave Stefan a slight look of confusion for I didn't know who could possibly be coming down.

The clanking of heels gave away the presence of Melanie as her perky self entered the basement, "I must say, I'm shocked. I didn't think you would actually go through with it. It's not much, but it's your first time." She closely examined the wound on Stefan's neck in amazement, "Callie, you did it. How do you feel?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "If someone wasn't screaming, it would've been better. I'm not finished with him yet."

Melanie positioned herself upright and walked over towards me, "Chad is out grabbing a generator. Use the gag, it'll muffle his screams. We don't need anyone knowing or finding out he's down here. There's already slight media coverage."

Melanie's words struck me like lightning, "What do you mean slight media coverage? I thought Chad and Jeremy took care of Katherine?"

Melanie began pacing the room avoiding the question. I could feel the heat wash over me as I became increasingly anxious. I wanted to call a quits and release Stefan before things grew any further. It was just a scratch, I couldn't go to prison over a scratch.

As the minutes grew longer I found myself not being able to take the silence anymore. "What do you mean there's media coverage?" I said demanding for Melanie to answer me promptly.

Melanie folded her arms across her chest as she faced me, her face was blank. I couldn't read off any emotions but I could see the twinkle of fear escaping her eyes, "They found Benji's body this morning. Chad took him to the alleyway on Gretna, and a homeless man found him this morning according to the news statements. A missing person's report was also filed for Stefan and a reward is out for his safe return."

A look of confusion was across my face, "I thought Jeremy and Chad steered Katherine away from the idea of him being missing, he just ran away. They were supposed to make her certain he had run off, never showed up to the pub. What are you guys doing out there?"

Melanie headed back towards the elevator aggravatingly, "What are we doing up there? What are you doing down here? We have given you a solid twelve hours to prove your point, and you've done nothing but scratch the man. Get with the program, or this will all be for nothing. I'll be back in an hour with the generator, we're about to really have some fun."

A wave of emotions flew over me, but above every emotion I was feeling, I was scared.

I was terrified.

Killing Benji wasn't apart of the original plan, in fact Melanie and I had never placed him into the plan. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

∞∞∞

Chad and I parked on the side of Georgie's waiting for Melanie's que that the coast was clear, and that we could load Stefan into the trunk of Chad's Sedan. "What's taking so long?" I adjusted myself in my seat, trying to make myself comfortable. We had been waiting a solid forty minutes, Chad was endlessly checking his phone and occasionally responding to Stefan's texts. He was becoming increasingly aggravated, "I don't understand what you ever saw in the likes of him, he was married for crying out loud."

No matter how long he and I had been together, it had always came back to the 'why.' I stared out of the window emotionless, "I didn't know he was married, and when I did I was already in too deep. I didn't know there was better out there, now look at me." I positioned myself to face him and cupped his chin in my hands facing him towards me, "I made a mistake, and I can't thank you enough for being there. You are so understanding and I'm undeserving of your love." I pressed his lips to mine seizing the moment we were in.

Chad pulled me away and I noticed the shock on his face as he pointed his finger towards the windshield, and as a sudden impulse I had to look.

Benji's black car came into view, pulling into the parking lot and parking on the other side of Georgie's. My heart sank deep into the depths of my stomach, "What are we going to do? We can't go through with this, start up the car and let's go!"

Chad swatted my arm a few times trying to gain my attention, "First off, you need to take a couple deep breaths and calm down. What you're going to do is sit here, and I'm going to go take care of him. He knows me, he won't suspect a thing. I'll meet you at the place, keep the car running."

He planted a kiss on my cheek before retreating from the vehicle and being swallowed into a sea of darkness. My anxiety was left on high as I anxiously waited for a sign from Melanie or Jeremy. I watched Benji's car pull out of the parking lot, and I didn't see Chad anywhere in sight after that. I didn't know if he had made his way into the pub, if he was hiding out and staking out his surroundings.

Melanie sprinted to the vehicle just in time before I had completely lost my sanity, "Pull around to the back. He passed out, and thankfully everyone in there was too drunk to notice a thing. Jeremy wasn't cutting everyone off so he's having Stanley confiscate keys and call in taxis while he's handling a sudden 'family emergency.' He's waiting with Stefan in the back."

She stood at the passenger door waiting for me to retreat to the driver side, "Chad is meeting us at the place, Benji showed up."

Melanie's face went ghost white in shock, "What do you mean he showed up?"

"I mean he showed up," I retreated from the vehicle making my way to the driver's side as Melanie made herself comfortable in the passenger seat, "I guess I should've known Stefan has never driven anywhere by himself. He never has. He's never wanted to leave anywhere early either, it was shy of 10:00 so it was out of character. Chad knew it was best for him to say something since Benji knows him, and by now knows I'm no longer in the picture. Benji drove out just a little before you came out, I haven't seen Chad since."

Jeremy stood at the back door anxiously waiting, "What took you so long? I swear Stan is going to be here any second." I opened the hatch to the back of the Sedan and watched as Melanie and Jeremy hoisted Stefan's near lifeless body into the back.

A loud thud startled me, "Can we please not kill him here?"

Jeremy looked at me jokingly, "The idea was not to kill him at all."

The drive to the place took approximately twenty minutes from Georgie's pub. It was an abandoned building, near secluded. It was once owned by Chad's family, but they had delayed the upkeep after his sister decided she was no longer interested in running an apartment complex on her own. His mom now knew it was Chad's place of current hangout for any recent hookups.

Chad was at the entrance breathing at a rapid pace, "I don't have much time. He's knocked out for now, but he's suspicious. He was supposed to pick up Stefan at 10:00, I hate what I have to do. I don't have a choice." He made his way over to the driver's side door and assisted me out of the vehicle, "I'll be back soon beautiful." Wrapping me in a sudden embrace, he got into his vehicle and put it into reverse as he saw Jeremy and Melanie hoisting Stefan towards the inside of the building. The tires squealed as Chad accelerated the vehicle down the road.

My attention then turned towards Jeremy and Melanie who had finally gotten Stefan into the elevator, "Well, let's get this show on the road."

∞∞∞

It took Chad thirty minutes to finish off Benji. He killed him in cold blood after a supposed altercation. Chad led him to the Motel 6 on Gretna, claiming Stefan might have met with me and that was our usual meeting place. He led Benji down a dark alleyway as means to 'spy' and catch Stefan in the act, shooting Benji in cold blood.

He had ditched Benji's car after tidying up the remnants of blood and brain matter from the vehicle, and tossed Benji out in the alleyway like a piece of trash. When he returned he washed his hands of the blood, and continued forth as if nothing had happened.

Chad carrying out Benji's murder as calmly as he did made me fear him as a whole, and made me fear for my safety as a person. If he wasn't doing this entirely for me, I would've ran for the hills. I couldn't, however, look at him the same after he was easily willing to kill for me.

Would he be able to take his anger out on me, and end my life as easily as he had Benji's?

The future was uncertain, but I didn't have time to think that out right now.