Chapter Thirteen
June 2014—Two months later
Her life was no longer glamorous, no longer rich and filled with socialites and parties with gold and dripping diamonds. Her home was now a one-bedroom apartment, and compared to what she’d used to live in it was a hovel and a place her father and everyone that he associated with would call poverty.
She sat in front of the computer at the library and stared at the screen. Over the last two months she had tried to get away from everything that had to do with her parents. It was hard because she did love them, but the lack of compassion that they still showed made her realize that she was not a part of their world. Maybe she had been foolish to try and reconcile some kind of relationship with them after she left their house those two months ago. It certainly served them right, but after her mother contacted her, wanted to have lunch with her and talk, Bethany had thought maybe at least her mom had seen the error of her ways. But that lunch had just been a way for her mother to implore Bethany to apologize to her father. Hell, her mom hadn’t even told her father she had gone out to lunch with her own daughter for fear of his anger. That was it, when Bethany had called it all quits and moved out of Sinnerstown. She might only be in the next town over, but for starters that was good enough for her.
The police had come and talked to her, but it had been easy enough with her staying in the only motel in town. Of course they had wanted to know where she had been, and if she had left voluntarily. The interrogation—which was what it had felt like—hadn’t lasted long, because she had nothing to say to them.
“Yes, Officer, I did leave voluntarily.”
“I came back because I thought my parents deserved to hear it from my mouth as to why I had left, Officer.”
“No, sir, I was not kidnapped.”
“No, I don’t really know Abraham Sparrow, or where he has gone.”
Even as she told them she hadn’t been kidnapped, she had been able to tell they didn’t believe her. But they had no choice.
She hit print and listened to the map of the woods surrounding Sinnerstown being printed out. She turned in her seat and grabbed the piece of paper. It showed an aerial view of the land. There were a few houses closer to city limits, but it wasn’t those houses she was interested in, but the one more in the center of the land. It sat there like a lone stranger calling out for isolation and peace. Hadn’t she found a level of that there? She was still so confused about her emotions, but then again, she assumed that was normal, given the circumstances. Even though it had only been a couple of months, she knew what she ultimately wanted wouldn’t just vanish, and what she wanted was to see Abe again. What had surprised her was that Abe hadn’t come after her. She couldn’t understand why he hadn’t tracked her down, why he hadn’t dragged her back to the cabin and professed his dark love for her. Had she killed him? That thought had played through her mind over and over again. It was like Abe just up and disappeared. She might not have told the police about who had actually taken her, but they knew. Obviously it was suspicious that Abe had left the same time she had, and the authorities weren’t stupid. But it was like he never even existed because no one could find out anything about him. And once again she hadn’t felt right giving them the information they would need to connect Abe to her kidnapping. It was strange to protect him in such a way, but the feelings had been so strong that she couldn’t ignore them. And then when she tried to find out where this cabin actually was, but the only reference was of one owned by a Mitchel Greenlocke. It could be an alias, or it could be that Abe had taken her to a place owned by another, and one he knew would be vacant for an extended amount of time. Who was to say what he told her in that cabin was the truth?
She folded the piece of paper, shoved it in her purse, and stood. She left the library, got in her used POS, and gripped the steering wheel tightly. She certainly wasn’t living the plush life, but she didn’t care. Money wasn’t everything, and the sad, hard truth was that family wasn’t everything either. Robert had indeed cut her off financially. She had gotten a certified letter from his attorney telling her that all financial assistance had ceased. She had crumpled up that note and tossed it in the trash.
She grabbed the paper out of her purse and stared at the map once more. She was about an hour from where the cabin was, but she had been thinking about doing this ever since she’d left him. Now that she was on her own, had a job—albeit a crappy-paying one at the local bakery—she was doing this all on her own.
Three hours later Bethany was trying to navigate her way through the thick, overgrown woods. The road was narrow, and branches scraped against the side of her car. She was lost, that much was clear, and honestly she didn’t even know if that cabin was the one Abe had kept her in. She was purely going on instinct here, and despite her anxiety rising with each passing second, she knew she was doing the right thing. If she didn’t do this, that nagging voice inside of her would drive her insane. Did she think that Abe would still be at the cabin? Of course not, but she wanted to go back, like some kind of sick individual wanting to relive what at first she’d thought was a nightmare.
And then the trees parted and she saw the cabin up in the distance. She hadn’t seen the exterior when she’d escaped, which had been the only time during her week there that she had stepped outside of the structure, but in her heart she knew this was the right place. She pulled the car to a stop in front of the porch and cut the engine. Then she was unbuckling her seat belt and climbing out. It seemed like she was in another world, standing amidst the towering trees that blocked out the rest of the world. She felt no fear, no anxiety anymore as she stood and stared at the front door. And then she found herself moving closer to the cabin, stepping up onto the porch, and reaching out for the handle. It was cool and hard to her touch, but gradually warmed the longer she held it. She turned the handle and pushed it open. The scent of a house that had been locked up for some time filled her nose. Dust, age, and staleness surrounded her, and although they were unpleasant aromas, there was a calming sensation that moved through her.
She took a step inside and looked at the kitchen. Everything was cleaned up and in its rightful order. No pot of rotting pasta on the floor, and no dead body of the man she had whacked upside the head. Relief filled her that she hadn’t walked in to a coffin of death and decay. She glanced at the living room and her gaze focused right on where the metal padlock had been that had kept her prisoner for so long. It was gone, and as she moved through the house and inspected each location where Abe had kept her tethered to the wall, she saw that all of them had been removed. It was like this had never happened, like they had never been here. She couldn’t say she had dreamt all of this, and not just for the obvious reasons. She thought about Abe each and every day. He was the first thing on her mind when she woke up, and the last thing when she fell asleep. He consumed her even though she was no longer with him, and she felt this emptiness in the pit of her stomach at the knowledge that he was alone.
Moving into the bedroom she had shared with him, she looked at the bed, remembered what they had done on it, and actually felt herself grow warm and wet. He had touched her in a way that she had never even imagined, opened her eyes to this feeling of being alive and free, even when she hadn’t been in the literal sense. She took a step closer to the bed, and then another one, and when she could touch it she did just that. Reaching out and running her hands over the comforter that had covered their bodies as he held her, Bethany closed her eyes. And then she felt it, that light shift in the air, that feeling that she was being watched again. The hairs on her arms stood on end, and she turned around and stared at the man that had been consuming her entire being for the last two months. The room was shrouded in shadows, but she knew it was Abe, could smell that dark and spicy scent that had embedded itself in her nose, and she took a step forward.
“You’re here,” she whispered, but stopped after only moving forward a foot.
“I never left.”
He didn’t elaborate, but she knew he wasn’t speaking about staying in this cabin.
“You’ve been watching me this whole time.”
He nodded once, but made no move to come closer. “Did you think I would just walk away from you, Bethany?” He did move forward now. “Did you think that you running could keep me away?”
She reached behind her and gripped the metal slats of the bedframe. “You did stay away, though.”
He shook his head and moved closer yet. He looked like an animal about to tear her to pieces. “No, I never left. I watched and waited for you to do what I knew you would.” He stopped and reached out to take a piece of her hair between his fingers. “You are now free and alive…” he leaned in close so their lips were inches apart. “…but you’re barely living. Isn’t that right?”
She found herself nodding without even realizing she was doing the act until it had already been done. “Yes, I am barely living.” Did she need to tell him that it was because of his absence that she felt this hollowness inside of her? She knew she didn’t, because she could see the truth in his dark eyes. “I always felt this presence.” She closed her eyes and trembled as he brushed his lips across hers.
“You always felt me.” He grabbed a chunk of her hair in one hand, tilting her head back, and used the other one to reach around her body to secure her wrists in his strong hold. “I told you that you were mine, and that I wouldn’t let you go.” He pulled back enough that he could look in her eyes.
“You just disappeared,” she said on a shaky breath and clenched her hands into tight balls. “I tried to find you—”
“My sweet, sweet Bethany.” He kissed her lightly on the lips as he tightened his hold on her wrists painfully. That had a spark of pleasure and pain filling her. “You hurt me, ran from me, and went back to that life that I knew wasn’t really yours,” he said in a firmer voice, and his anger was becoming more tangible. “But I didn’t stop you, even though I tracked you the entire way, watched you walk through those gates to that prison, and even saw you come back out with your bag in hand.” He pulled her head back slightly so her throat was arched even further. “But I knew this is what you needed to realize where you belonged.”
He didn’t speak for several long seconds, and she knew what she wanted to hear, what she wanted him to say. “And where do I belong?”
The corner of his mouth lifted in a dark, pleased smile. “You belong with me, with my restraints holding you down, keeping you prisoner but also setting you free.” He kissed her then, hard and demanding. “Tell me you believe this and we can start from the beginning, go wherever you please, and never think about the regrets of our past,” he murmured against her lips, and pulled back enough that she could answer.
But Bethany didn’t answer right away, didn’t know what to say. She wanted this, missed this with him even, but now that she was faced with it did she have the courage? He let go of her hair and gripped her chin. They stared into each other’s eyes for several seconds, and then she took a deep breath, and knew what she needed to say. “I want to feel alive, Abe.”
He smoothed a thumb over her cheek and lowered his gaze to her mouth.
“I want to feel alive with you.”
And then he kissed her again, took her in that hard and possessive way that she had grown pliant for when she had been taken away from her prison of lies and false love. She wanted to be here, with him, and let Abe release her in the dark and pleasure-filled way that he knew she desperately needed.
She wanted to be his.