Chapter 3

            Lacey had grabbed her bag and raced outside. She had ignored the people who stared at her on the golf course as she ran to a golf cart for freedom.

Lacey got to the back of the property and brought the cart to a screeching halt on the sidewalk.

Some New Yorkers starred at her as she grabbed her bag. Others walked by casually like a girl wasn’t on a golf cart in her wedding dress.

She desperately ran out into the street to flag down a cab. Two drove by her. The third one stopped. Probably because she had literally threw herself in front of the car.

She walked around to get in and then he took off and blared his horn. “Crazy broad!”

Lacey looked around with urgency. She would have taken her mother’s limo, but she couldn’t trust the driver to get her out of there.  He was loyal to Lacey’s mother – not her.

She was about to run back to the sidewalk when a bus slowed next to her.

The driver opened the window. “Honey, something tells me you need a ride,” the white male said.

“Yes, very much so,” Lacey answered and then looked behind her like she was being chased by a wolf.

“Come around and get in. But, know this. I have scheduled stops in Manhattan and at JFK.”

“JFK Airport? That’s perfect,” Lacey said and began moving around the bus to get in on the other side.

Several motorists blew their horns angrily, but she didn’t care. She had to get away from the country club. She hiked up her dress so she wouldn’t step on it getting on the bus. Her bag hung on her shoulder.

“You got money?”

            “Oh, yes, of course,” Lacey said. She reached in her bag to find her wallet. She had two hundred dollars. She also had a credit card with a ten thousand dollar limit – if her father had paid the bill.

                                                                                      ****

Once Lacey got to the airport she changed out of her wedding dress in the bathroom and back into the clothes she had worn to the country club. Thank heavens, she had the mind to grab her garment bag. It had the essentials in it. Her cell, phone charger, her wallet, tablet, her passport, an extra pair of underwear and socks, and a pair of tennis shoes.

She left the wedding dress in the bathroom and hightailed it to the first terminal she saw. Delta Airlines.  For the hundredth time her phone vibrated. While she was on the bus, her phone had gone off like mad. Her mother tried calling her three times. Her cousins tried to call and text God knows how many times. This text was from her father.

Lawrence: Where in the hell are you? The wedding should have started an hour ago!

Lacey: I’m sorry, Daddy. I can’t go through with it. Goodbye.

She hit the button to turn her phone off. She had to get a burner as soon as possible – with a new number. The last thing she wanted was her father – or even Blake Dandridge finding a way to track her.

Lacey approached the desk.

“May I help you?” the black woman asked with a little smile.

“Yes. I need a flight that’s leaving . . . within the next thirty minutes. I don’t care where. It can be Montana or Spain,” Lacey said bluntly.

                                                                                 ****

            “Oh my god,” Lawrence groaned with despair as he looked at Lacey’s text.

            “What?” Roxanne asked as she walked to him.

            Lawrence, Roxanne, Carlie, Pauline, and Roxanne’s mother had spilt up to look for Lacey. After thirty minutes, they had met back in the bridal dressing room.

            Lawrence showed Roxanne the message.

            Roxanne exhaled – with relief. “Well, at least we know she wasn’t kidnapped.”

            “Yes, but you knew that, didn’t you? Was this your influence?” Lawrence asked with an accusatory tone.

            “What was my influence?” Roxanne asked.

            “You told her all those rumors about Blake as soon as she landed a week ago,” Lawrence stated. “Don’t try to deny it because she told me you did.”

            “I’m not,” Roxanne stated with twisted lips.

            “It spooked her. But that’s what you had hoped happened. After all, you did leave her alone in here to think,” Lawrence stressed with resentment.

            “No. I didn’t think she would run off like this. But I’m glad she did,” Roxanne said defensively. “You had no business making a deal with the devil, anyway. It’s time you faced the music concerning your gambling, Lawrence.”

            He was about to say something when he was interrupted by his ex-mother-in-law. She had flown in from Florida for the wedding.

            “She’s right, son. This addiction has cost you everything. Bargaining your only child to a man who has a notorious reputation? If that’s not rock bottom, I don’t know what is.”

            “She’s right, Lawrence. Your gambling has cost you your wife and everything you’ve worked for. Don’t you think it’s time to face the music?” Carlie asked.

            They weren’t coming off in an accusatory manner. They said these things with empathy and concern. It made Lawrence realize that they were actually right. His gambling had ruined his life. If he didn’t get a hold of it, he could end up living in the streets.

            The door swung open with force. The knob hit the wall. It was Blake Dandridge. He had fire in his eyes and his nostrils were flared.

            “Where the hell is your daughter, Stevens?” he barked.

            Lawrence straightened. “Looks like she’s gone.”

            “Gone? Gone where?” Blake asked with heat.

            “Not sure, but she sure as hell isn’t here,” Lawrence said casually. “Looks like she really doesn’t want to marry you.”

            “What!” Blake roared. “The damn wafe should be grateful that a man of my means and looks would want to marry her.”

            “Wafe?” Roxanne repeated, offended.

            “Honey, let me handle this,” Lawrence said as he stepped to Blake.

            “The only thing you can handle is a card game,” Blake sneered. “I suggest you get your daughter back here in fifteen minutes or the deal is off.”

            “The deal is off, Dandridge,” Lawrence said with strength. “I never should have agreed to it.”

            “You fool! Without me paying your debts you’ll lose everything.” Blake was supposed to make a call to have the money wired to MGM and Caesars after the ceremony - before the reception.

            “I’ve already lost everything that mattered. My wife and now my daughter,” Lawrence stated. He had no idea if Lacey would ever speak to him again after this. Look what he had almost made her do. Marry a man – a real prick, who she didn’t love and sure as hell didn’t know. Lawrence began to smile as he realized Lacey had done the right thing.

            “What are you smirking at?” Blake asked in a menacing tone.

            “I’m smirking at my daughter being somewhere far, far, away from you,” Lawrence answered with glee.

            Next thing Lawrence knew he had gotten a right cross to the jaw.

                                                                                 ****

            Blake stalked the halls of the country club like a lion.

How dare that little bitch do this to me.  I’m Blake Dandridge.  Women throw themselves into fire to be with me for an hour. And this little bitch girl ran. Leaving me looking like a fool! Well, this isn’t over Ms. Stevens. Not by a long shot!

            Blake got to the ballroom where they were supposed to have the reception. He flipped one of the round tables over in a rage.