Good Morning, Arizona! by Kaleb Richardson (romantic novels to read txt) 📗

I wasn’t thinking. I let out a blood curdling scream, right in Cindy’s ear. I’m sure everyone in Arizona heard it. I don’t even know what to think. All I want to do is cry and cry. Tate. He was a cause in my father’s death. I don’t know how he figured out Louis was Tate, but I don’t think I care at this point. I believe these men deserve what they got. Thank you, dad. Thank you. I just wish you wouldn’t have taken your own. I miss you so much already. You were all I had. Why!

“His phone is unlocked and open on the ground.” Cindy said to me. He had a voicemail from Mr. O’Keefe. “Looks like it was about an hour ago.” She hit play so we could listen.

Hey, Cordell. I’ve got news that I think you’ll want to know. First of all, the desk officer at the Vanetta-Tope station from Elle’s incident report is the police chief now, who is also Gladys’ cousin. That’s why it took so long to get the Jordy Jason papers! Also, the truck that hit your daughter’s car was on the news. It was a delivery truck from the company “Limbo Stocks.” Limbo is owned by Gladys’ company “StockBriggers.” The GM of the store it was going to, said it veered off the route. It was meant to stay on the highway, but it came off the exit and hit your daughter and her friends. It killed one of the passengers of the truck, but the other was sent in for questioning. He revealed messages from Louis himself, telling him to do the crime or else his family will ‘disappear’. Louis is claiming these are fake messages and the CEO of Limbo is covering everything up. Call me when you get the chance, this is our time to move.

“I was targeted? Are you fucking kidding me?”

Cindy and I heard a voice from the entrance to the room.

“Ah, I see someone finally did it.” They said.

14

It was a woman. Beautiful woman. Looked about dad’s age, maybe younger. She began to walk towards us. Cindy and I began to back away and I wiped my tears. I tried to stay cool and collected.

“Ladies. I mean no harm. May I ask who you two are?”

“You tell us first.” Cindy instinctively replied.

“Fair enough. I’m Cassidy. Cassidy Hugo. But I’m sure y’all will know me from my former name. Cassidy Gladys.”

“Wait. Are you—”

“Yes. I’m Louis’ wife. Well, ex-wife.”

“Why are you—”

“No questions yet, young one. First I need to know who you two are.”

“Fine. I’m Cindy Kidd.”

“And I’m Heather Hendricks.” I looked at dad. “I’m his daughter. And Po’s ex-girlfriend.”

“You dated my son?”

“Well. It was complicated. We were never ‘officially’ a couple, but it seemed like we were. At least for a little bit.”

“Tell me what happened, little one.”

“Long story short, your son and ex-husband sexually assaulted me.”

“Was your father, Cordell Hendricks?”

“Yes.”

“Well I am happy to see you alive.”

“Wha–what?” Cindy and I said simultaneously.

“It was his plan. After what he did to your mother, he felt no remorse. His plan was to do the same to you. This is all out of spite because Elle wanted to be with your father instead of him. He was going to do the same thing to you whenever the chance arose. He was going to use that and his ‘fame-power’ to imprison your father for life and possibly sentence him to death.”

“Why didn’t you expose him?” Asked Cindy.

“Because I didn’t know how.”

We sat down as she told her story.

“I’m a TV producer from Phoenix. I met Louis Gladys as he moved into the house next to me. Said he just moved to Phoenix. We hit it off and got married. He told me nothing about his past during our entire relationship. He was 19, I was 21. I was an assistant when I met him, and he was starting to bring in some money already. He proposed to me about 6 months after we started dating. At 19, he was already becoming famous. He had lots of knowledge about the stock market and told me he was running an independent stock company. He became power-hungry and obsessed with hiding his identity. He was an extremely aggressive man. Physically and sexually abusing me throughout our relationship. It was after I had given birth to Po and he fought with me in the hospital because he didn’t believe Po was his. He thought I cheated. That’s when he bought a house in Tope, unbeknownst to me, and we moved in. This house. Said he wanted Po to attend the ‘great Vanetta-Tope schools’ but didn’t tell me how he knew they were so great. This house has a weird room in it. I called it the secret room. When Po was 8, he was too close to his father. Learning his mannerisms. At age 12, Po was roughly midway through puberty and was abusing me just like his father. And Louis encouraged it. Louis would sexually assault me anytime I told him no. He believed if he wanted me, he got me. He even allowed and encouraged Po to do the same. Do you know how fucked up it is to be sexually assaulted by your own 12-year-old? Because it’s beyond fucked up. I was always afraid to leave because I was afraid he’d kill me. Well when he peaked in ‘stardom’, that’s when I woman’d-up. I had been gathering evidence to support a court case since Po was born. But when I broke into his secret room one night, that’s when I learned about his past. I learned his plan. I saw a document saying that he attended Vanetta-Tope High and his diploma. The name on it