Promise of Forever Love Read online

  Around four o’clock, Marvel’s stomach started to growl. He wished he’d stopped at Subway and grabbed his favorite sub: turkey, ham, and pepper jack cheese on wheat. Thinking about it only made his stomach growl louder. But it would have to wait until he’d taken care of his treacherous girlfriend.

  At four thirty, his cell phone rang. It was Toya. She had been playing him for a fool for the past week, so he had no problem playing along. With a huge smile on his face, Marvel pressed “Talk.” “Hey, baby! I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

  “I’ve been thinking about you, too. I’m sorry that I’ve been so busy these past few days. But I was hoping that you’d let me make it up to you this evening.”

  “Oh? And how do you plan to do that?”

  “How about dinner? My treat.”

  “I’d love to, but I have to be at that city council meeting tonight.” If this meeting weren’t so important, he would have loved to go to dinner with Toya just to see what she was trying to pull.

  “I was thinking about leaving work now. That way, I could pick you up at five. We could eat early, and you’d have plenty of time to get to your meeting.”

  His workaholic girlfriend was willing to leave work early, and she was offering to pick him up? She was really trying hard. He was kind of sorry that he was about to spoil her plans. Just for fun, though, he said, “Yeah, dinner sounds good. Hurry up and get off work. You can pick me up at my house.”

  “Great! I’ll leave in ten minutes.”

  Marvel smiled with self-satisfaction. He was done with Toya. He had tried to be so good, not wanting anything to spoil their relationship, but all bets were off now. And Miss Toya was going to get what was coming to her.

  Ten minutes later, he smiled as he watched his lovely girlfriend—soon-to-be ex-girlfriend, thanks to what Clarence had revealed—rush out of her office building. He removed his pistol from the glove compartment, stuffed it in his waistband, and stepped out of the car.

  Toya slowed her pace when she noticed him standing by the trunk of his car. She frowned but then recovered and gave him a warm smile.

  “What are you doing here? And why didn’t you tell me you were waiting on me?” She turned her head to the left, then right, as if she were looking for someone.

  His smile matched hers. “I wanted to surprise you, baby. We haven’t spent much time together, and I was missing my boo.”

  She gave him a hug and kissed him on the cheek. “So, do you want to leave your car here and ride with me to the restaurant?”

  “No, I want you to get in my car,” he said, still smiling.

  “I don’t want to leave my car at the office. Why don’t you just follow me?” She looked around the parking lot again.

  Marvel wrapped his hand around Toya’s arm, gently at first, but as he opened his jacket and showed her his gun, he tightened his grip. “Get in my car now, Toya.”

  “W-what’s the problem, Marvel?”

  “Get in the car.” He shoved her toward the passenger door.

  “All right, all right. You don’t have to push.”

  “And you didn’t have to betray me,” he said as he opened the door, shoved her inside, and slammed it shut.

  He locked the car from the outside, then ran around to the driver’s door and unlocked it so that he could get in. Turning the key in the ignition, he said, “I hate to spoil your dinner, but I have other plans for you.”

  “What’s wrong with you, Marvel? Will you at least tell me what’s going on?” Her eyes were wild with fear.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that you read that e-mail from Clarence Brown? If we’re in a relationship, then we shouldn’t keep secrets, Toya.”

  “What are you talking about?” she screamed. “Have you lost your mind or something? You’ll go to jail for kidnapping me!”

  “Who am I kidnapping? You just called and invited me to dinner. Remember?”

  “I didn’t ask to be shoved into your car at gunpoint.”

  “Hey, this is just the way we get down. You know how we do it, how we joke around and kid with each other. And as soon as I get you to my house, I’m going to kid around with you a little more…after I tie you up.” He smiled at her as if he were offering to draw her a bubble bath.

  “Why are you doing this, Marvel? I thought we really had something.”

  “I’m just getting you before you get me. Do you think I really believed that you wanted to have dinner with me?” He looked at her. “What were you going to do, put something in my drink to knock me out so that I wouldn’t be able to make it to the city council meeting?”

  Toya didn’t respond.

  “You and your mother thought you were going to rat me out at this meeting tonight, but I’m about to change the good pastor’s mind.”

  “And how are you going to do that?” Toya defiantly asked, as if she weren’t riding with a man with a gun in his pants.

  “Call her.”

  “No.”

  Marvel pulled the gun out of his waistband and pointed it at Toya. “Call your mother.”

  “What did she ever do to you? Why are you trying to destroy her ministry?”

  “It’s personal. Now call,” he barked.

  Toya pulled her cell phone out of her purse, pressed a button, and held the phone with shaking hand to her ear. Several seconds later, she said, “Mama, I’m so sorry. I should have listened to you.”

  “Hand me that phone,” Marvel said. He snatched it away from Toya, who had started crying in a high-pitched, panicked sort of way. “Hey, Pastor Yvonne,” he said coolly. “This is Marvel.”

  “What do you want?” Yvonne shrieked. “What are you doing with my daughter?”

  “She’s my girlfriend, remember?”

  When Yvonne didn’t reply to that, Marvel continued. “Anyway, I just wanted you to know that Toya is going to be otherwise occupied until after the city council meeting. I’m the only one who knows where she’ll be, so I suggest that you think long and hard before sharing anything about my business dealings at this meeting tonight.”

  “He’s got a gun,” Toya screamed.

  “Don’t you hurt my daughter!” Yvonne yelled.

  He held his hand to the back of Toya’s head and gently moved it down her neck. “Oh, I could never hurt Toya. But you can…just as you always hurt innocent people. It’s up to you, Pastor Yvonne.” He hoped that she could hear the depth of his contempt. “Is Toya going to get hurt? You decide.”

  Chapter

  Twenty-three

  I would never hurt my daughter, or any other innocent person for that matter,” Yvonne managed. How could this be happening? How could she have left her daughter vulnerable to this evil man?

  “That’s not exactly true, now, is it?” Marvel screamed back at her. “You hurt innocent people all the time. Children grow up motherless and fatherless because of your stupid teachings.”

  Yvonne realized that she was not talking to a rational person. Something deep inside of Marvel was broken. She didn’t want to say anything that would set him off further, so she simply asked, “What do you want me to do?”

  “Oh, so now I’m in charge, huh?” he sneered.

  “Just tell me what you want, and I’ll do it,” Yvonne practically begged. “Just don’t hurt my daughter.”

  “Just don’t hurt my daughter,” Marvel mimicked in a high-pitched voice.

  Tears of fear were streaming down Yvonne’s face. She had lost a husband. No way was she prepared to lose a daughter. “Whatever you want, you can have it. You want the church to move so you can have the land, then we will move. You don’t have to hurt Toya.”

  “Listen to the sound of a mother’s love. You’re willing to give up everything for Toya, aren’t you?”

  “I told you I would. You can have the land.”

  “What if I want you to stop preaching altogether? And not to write any more stupid books?”

  Yvonne had a feeling that this thing with Marvel had been about her all along.
It had nothing to do with the land the church was on. But why did this young man want her to stop ministering to God’s people? “Marvel, I don’t know why you are waging a personal vendetta against me when I’ve done nothing to you.”

  “Ha!” he sneered. “I knew you wouldn’t agree to that. Not even to save your own daughter’s life.”

  Father God, I need You right now, she prayed silently, desperately. I cannot deny You or Your will, because I know why I was put on earth—to help bring Your children to salvation and then into closer relationships with You. But this man has my child. I know You allowed Your Child to be destroyed for the good of mankind, but I’m not You. I’m not strong enough to bear something like this. So, I’m begging You in the mighty name of Jesus to send help. Send Your angels, Lord.

  “You’re praying, aren’t you?” Marvel asked sarcastically.

  “You’d better believe it.” Yvonne spoke with authority now. “And I can promise you this, Mr. Williams: my God will not allow you to hurt Toya.”

  “If you go to that meeting and discuss my business, you’re going to see just how powerless your God is. And don’t call the police, or she’s dead.”

  Yvonne heard the click that ended the call. “Wait! Wait!” she screamed. “Don’t hang up.” But he was gone. She called Toya’s phone but didn’t get an answer. After trying her daughter’s phone three more times, Yvonne decided to call someone else.

  There was no answer at Thomas’s house, so she tried his cell phone. It rang once and then went straight to his voice mail.

  Yvonne needed help fast. She was afraid to call the police because of Marvel’s threats. She dialed Elder Conrad. When he answered, she said, “I don’t have much time to talk, Elder. I need you to get a message to everyone who signed up for the prayer chain. Tell them that even though today is the last day of the prayer vigil, it’s also the day when we need the most prayer. Tell them to pray for Toya’s safety, and that I might be able to do what needs to be done at the meeting tonight in order to save our church.”

  “Is Toya in trouble, Pastor?”

  “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you anything more. But please, Elder, please, have them pray as never before.”

  “I’m on it,” Elder Conrad said.

  Yvonne hung up the phone and fell on her knees. She wanted to call the police, but if Marvel was telling the truth, calling the cops just might get her daughter killed. So, she would call on Jesus instead and pray that He would make a way out of “No way.”

  All over the city of Detroit, prayer warriors were falling on their knees and praying for God to show up and show out on this day—the day that they needed Him the most. The city had been pushed back and held down by economic woes for a long time, but today, none of that mattered. From Rosa Parks Boulevard, where many houses sat abandoned and vacant, to the Joseph Barry Subdivision, just east of the mayor’s mansion, prayers were going up to heaven. In the suburbs of Royal Oak, Berkley, Sterling Heights, and Troy, prayers were going up to God concerning Christ-Life Sanctuary and all of its members.

  Detroiters routinely tell visitors not to get off the highway where I-75 and I-94 meet, but today, visitors could have gotten off the interstate using that exit without thinking twice about it, because a dear old woman by the name of Lillian Thornton was lying on her couch, praying. She’d had both knees replaced, so she didn’t try to get on her knees anymore, but her prayers were just as powerful when she was lying on her back.

  Mother Thornton had been a member of Christ-Life Sanctuary for fifteen years. In recent months, she had stopped attending the church, but it had nothing to do with a faltering faith in Pastor Yvonne. The woman who had transported her back and forth to church for the past ten years had died three months ago, and Mother Thornton had no other way to get to church. When the evangelistic team at Christ-Life had come to check in on her a few weeks ago, they had arranged for a bus to pick her up once a week, and she’d attended every Sunday service since.

  Mother Thornton had joined the prayer chain but decided that since she was retired and had the entire day to herself, she wasn’t going to pray for her scheduled hour alone; she was going to pray all day. And she wasn’t praying only that Christ-Life Sanctuary would get the victory today, but also that her neighborhood would be healed and the hoodlums on the streets would come to know Jesus.

  In Highland Park, Beverly Carson was calling out a special prayer for the leadership of Christ-Life and their families, which included Thomas, Yvonne, Tia, and Toya. Debra had no idea just how much they really needed her prayers at that moment. She was just being obedient to the Lord and praying during the time period she had signed up for.

  Thomas slammed his fist into the steering wheel. Why had he allowed Toya to talk him into this foolish plan? She had asked to borrow his classic 1964 Mustang convertible, saying that if she picked up Marvel in a car like that, he wouldn’t be so suspicious about her offer to drive him to dinner. The plan had been for Thomas to then come to the restaurant and drive away in the Mustang while Marvel and Toya were in the restaurant having dinner. When they went to leave, Toya would pretend that the car had been stolen, just as Marvel had done to her a couple of months back. Marvel would therefore be tardy for the city council meeting, giving Yvonne enough time to reveal everything she knew without Marvel being there with his slick answers.

  But when Thomas pulled his Mustang into the parking lot at the law offices of Wilson, Brickholm, and Wiley, he saw Marvel open his jacket and Toya’s eyes widen with fear as Marvel grabbed her arm and shoved her into his car. Thomas had kept his cover so that he could follow them whenever they drove away.

  Now, Thomas was following a few cars behind Marvel. He was determined not to let the madman out of his sight. Toya was like a daughter to him, and there was no way he would let anything happen to her. But when he picked up his cell phone to call the police, the battery was dead. He hadn’t charged the thing in two days. He’d had no reason to. It wasn’t as if he had been expecting a call from Yvonne.

  Now, he regretted allowing his anger toward Yvonne to affect his emotions to the point that he hadn’t bothered charging his phone. What was he going to do? If he stopped at a pay phone, he’d lose Marvel’s trail, and there was no telling what he’d do to Toya. “My God, my God, we need Your help!” Thomas shouted in a voice loud enough to carry a prayer straight to the throne of God.

  Chapter

  Twenty-four

  You do realize that you are going to be arrested, right?” Toya said, apparently trying to talk some sense into him. “There is no way out of this but prison.”

  Driving down the street like a dope man running from the law, Marvel said, “If I’m in prison but you’re dead, which one of us is better off?”

  “Why are you doing this, Marvel? What did I ever do to you?” Toya was screaming at him. Anger flashed in her eyes.

  But Marvel had just as much anger and attitude. “You betrayed me, that’s what you did. Just like my mother betrayed my father. And I’m going to give you just what he gave her.”

  “I don’t have anything to do with what happened between your mother and father.”

  “Oh, yes, you do. Your mother is the reason my mother is dead and my father is still in prison.”

  “That’s ridiculous, Marvel. My mother doesn’t even know your parents!” Toya screamed.

  Marvel drove wildly through the streets of Detroit. He’d made so many swerves and U-turns that he’d almost forgotten where he was trying to go. “Your mother wrote that stupid book, Girl, Free Yourself!” he screamed back at her as he made another U-turn. “And my mother read it!”

  Toya rolled her eyes. “So what? I don’t see the relevance.”

  “You wouldn’t,” Marvel sneered. “But my weak-minded mother suddenly found the strength to leave my father after reading that idiotic book by Pastor Yvonne Milner.” He spoke Yvonne’s name as if it were poison that he needed to spit out of his mouth before it killed him.

  “My mother didn’t ha
ve anything to do with what your mother did.”

  “She didn’t put the gun in my father’s hand, either, but he still killed my mother. And I still blame yours.”

  “That’s totally irrational,” Toya said.

  “It might be irrational to you, but it’s all that I’ve thought about since the day my father was sentenced to prison.” He pulled up in front of an abandoned house on Rosa Parks Boulevard and gave Toya a lopsided grin. “Honey, we’re home.”

  Thomas was having a hard time keeping up with Marvel. The man was swerving all over the place and turning down random streets as if he knew someone was following him. Somehow, Thomas managed not to lose Marvel, in spite of his out-of-control driving. He was not about to let Toya out of his sight.

  Just then, Marvel sped up, and Thomas accelerated his speed to stay with him. He only prayed that he wouldn’t get stopped by the police. Soon, though, Thomas didn’t think he had to worry about that, for Marvel had just turned off the main road into an area where even the police feared to tread.

  When Thomas rounded a corner, his worst nightmare came into view. Police cars were barreling down the street with sirens blaring in hot pursuit of a car that was about to crash into him head-on. Thomas couldn’t survive a hit like that, especially considering the speed both his car and the other were going. So, he swerved, hoping and praying that the other car would bypass him.

  But that didn’t happen. The moment Thomas swerved, the other guy lost control, and his car spun round and round, as if it were some demented carnival ride that wouldn’t stop. Thomas slammed on his breaks.

  The next thing he knew, he was trapped next to the spinning car, and the police had the street blockaded. Several officers got out of their patrol cars, pulled their guns, and waited for the car to stop spinning. Thomas looked over and saw that the car was slowing down but also inching closer and closer to him. He slid over into the passenger seat, opened the door, and jumped out of the car just as the impact from the other car sent his classic 1964 Mustang convertible into a tailspin of its own.