Read Online The Blue Room Vol. 5 by Kailin Gow - Free Book Online Page B

up. I never wanted to .But I
was scared if you knew the truth it would only make things worse. You'd be
angry at me for the life of poverty we led, knowing you were so close to
wealth...”
                “That's
not true, Mom! I could never be angry with you.”
                “Your
father and I loved each other very much,” my mother said. “And we wanted to get
married. That was our whole plan. But when the other Tennenbaums found out I
was pregnant – they must have had me followed to the doctor's – they knew even
before I told him, they got scary. Really scary. They offered me a million
dollars to have an abortion. They said I was a no-good showgirl slut who
probably slept with hundreds of other men and they didn't want me to sully the
perfect, pure bloodline or the Tennenbaum name. They threatened me. They made
it very clear that if I turned down their offer and refused to have an abortion
then they'd come after me. They told me they had access to hit men, that they
were untouchable. That you and I both would simply...disappear one day, and
nobody would ever even find the body. I was scared, Staci, so scared. They were
so powerful – and I was a nobody. But I knew that I would never kill you. Not
for a million dollars. Not if my own life depended on it. You were my baby. You
were my link to the man I loved. But I knew that if I stayed with your father,
neither of us would ever be safe. So I went into hiding. That's why I gave up
being a showgirl. I was afraid of being recognized, afraid of being out in
public.
                “But
they found you, Staci. Someone found a photo of us taken in a local paper of me
at your high school graduation. You in your cap and gown. Me hugging you. A
beautiful memory. But somebody must have seen it – and now you're in danger.
Oh, Staci, I'm so sorry. I wish I knew what do do. The Tennenbaum family is
urgently trying to reach us. But I won't let them find you Staci. I won't let
them have you.”
                I
can't believe what I'm hearing. It's one thing to have a killer on the loose in
the Blue Room, but to be in danger when I'm among my own family?
                “I
only just got home,” my mother said. “They've already been here, looking for
you. We need to move. We need to go somewhere safe.”
                “Don't
worry.” I hold my mom tight. “I'll take care of everything. I'll find you
another hospice – for now, I can find you a furnished apartment somewhere. I'll
use my Blue Room company credit card – they'll never be able to track the
purchase to me.”
                I
try and take all this in. I'm completely overwhelmed.
                There's
so much to do. So much to take care of.
                I
go through the house after my mother falls asleep. Everything has been
ransacked. Everything's been overturned. Photographs of me, my mother. I pick
up one photograph, half-crumpled, of me and Rita together some Christmas.
Looking like sisters. Looking happy.
                Memories
of a better time, I think. We may have been poor, but at least my mother had
her health. At least I had my friend.
                What
I wouldn't give to go back to that time now!
                I
cry softly so that my mother doesn't hear me. I can't let her see how I'm
suffering. My mother has given up so much to protect me. She's even risked her
life. What could I ever do to pay her back for that dedication, that love?
                What
can I ever do?
     
     
     

 
    Chapter 9
     
     
                T hat day, I use my Blue Towers credit card to
book my mother an apartment, furnished, secure, safe, in a gated community. I
use a fake name on the booking form: “Alexandra Blue.” There are so many Blues
knocking around, I reckon, that one more won't hurt.
                “You
don't have to do this,” my mother tries to insist.