A Course of Passion

8: Pain and Suffering

"Maddison! Maddison!" My brain recognizes the calling of my name. I try to open my eyes but they are heavy in my head, "Maddison, come on, Maddison!" I hear it again and recognize it now as Sonny's voice.

"Sonny?" I mumble back, my eyes still closed. Am I dreaming? I wonder to myself.

"Oh, thank God. Maddison, come on, open your eyes." He encourages me.

I work at it and they open, things bright and blurry in front of me, "where-- where's Doyle?" I spit out, still waiting for my vision to come to fully. Everything came rushing back.

Sonny answers, "I think he's prepping to move us, Maddison, what are you doing here?" He asks.

"I came back, I came back for work, for you." I say, feeling the pain from the hit to my head throb through my skull, "owww."

I hear him sigh and say "we need to get out of here, can you get free?" He asks.

I start to move at my feet and hands but know I am tied too tight soon after, "I can't." Although it's useless I keep trying, "what are you doing here? How did this happen?"

"I got a text from you, asking me to come over and talk. I got hit from behind at your door." He explains to me through the grunting of him trying to get loose.

"I didn't send you a text." I respond.

He answers back, "I figured as much after."

Before I could say anything back to him, the door to the apartment opens again and Doyle walks back in with a knife in his hand a wicked grin on his face, "you made me move fast my puppet, I wasn't expecting you to return so abruptly!"

"My father will get you just like last time! Go ahead, call him." I threaten back with disdain and hate oozing out my my voice.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk." He clicks back at me, stepping closer, "haven't you figured out this isn't all about him."

"What do you mean?" I ask in return.

"Stop engaging Maddison, that's what he wants!" Sonny yells over to me.

"Shut up!" Doyle slaps him hard across the face. I try to jump at him instinctively, of course with no affect. Doyle laughs, "so it seems you're not the only one who keeps secrets in the family."

"What secret?" I spit out.

He comes and stands behind me, putting his knife at the side of my neck, "leave her alone!" Sonny spits quickly, his own rage surfacing through his voice.

"So, your father never told you about the deal I offered him?" Doyle asks me, "I know you never told him about us."

"Don't listen to him Maddison." Sonny tries to deter me from engaging.

"What deal?" I question, trying to turn my head away from his knife, ignoring his later comment.

Doyle now comes around to the front of the chair, leaning his face close to mine, "it wasn't your mother or your father I was after, it was you."

"What?" I question, not following what he's saying.

He leans in to kiss me and I try to move my head away. I hear Sonny yelling things but can only focus on the bile churning in my stomach. When I can't move my head away I bite down on his lip, "damn it." Doyle pulls away with an evil smirk and blood dripping down from his lip, "you're still a feisty one" he mutters wiping at his lip. "I offered your dad a deal. His wife for his daughter." When I don't respond, trying to process what he's saying to me, he goes on, "I'd let both of you live if he let me take you with me, but your father thought he was smarter than me."

"He is smarter than you!" I yell at him.

He tilts his head, "I don't think your mother would agree with that."

I try to attack him again, as if I'm a wild animal, but nothing comes of it and my restraints are too strong, "why did you kill her?!" I holler, my breathing inconsistent, tears starting to form.

"I didn't kill her, your daddy did. He didn't agree to the deal or the time line." He answers me back.

"What time line?" I scream, my head flooded with memories and moments of that day, of the days following it. My father never told me any of this.

"He's lying Maddison, don't believe him." Sonny tries to calm me down.

I go to look at him, to let his ocean blue eyes calm me but Doyle keeps my head focused on him with his hand holding at my chin, "I wouldn't lie sweetheart, not to you." I keep his stare and he goes on, "I gave him 24 hours to accept my deal or you both die. He thought it better to come after me so after 12 hours, I showed him who was really in control." He tells me as if it's so simple. "If he didn't agree 12 hours later then he would've lost you too."

"But he found me!" I growl between my teeth, tears streaming my face.

"Yes." Doyle sighs as if it was no big deal, "but here we are again. It's like deja vu, isn't it?"

My mind runs through everything he is saying. Although I know better then to believe him, I can't help but wonder if it's true or not. He could be playing a game, like he does, or maybe that really was his game. Doyle just stands in front of me with a smile as my mind races through everything, "why is he here?" I jerk my head in Sonny's direction, "he doesn't mean anything to my father." I finally ask, wishing Sonny wasn't involved in this.

"Like I said, it's not about your father love, it's about you." He returns calmly to me.

I shake my head, "I don't even know what that means!"

"You're old enough to make your own decisions now, and I have one for you to make." He returns.

"Don't listen to him!" Sonny tries again to reach me.

The cloud of emotion hovering over me keeps me from listening to him and I question Doyle, "what is it?"

"Come with me, he lives. Refuse, and he dies." He simply puts it.

Sonny argues, "don't do it Maddison. They'll find us, don't give up."

Doyle moves over to Sonny and hits him hard over the head, knocking him out, "noooo!" I shout, watching in so much pain.

"He's almost as bad as your father." Doyle comments back to me, "I'll give you some time to think about it, but remember what happens after 12 hours." He smiles, dropping a crime scene photo of my mother on the ground in front of me. I try to kick and grab my way out of the chair again, to attack him and kill him but he only laughs and leaves the apartment.