I barreled round the corner as fast as I could; the piercing screeches were cutting through the evening air like needles, thrumming around my head so fast I could hardly keep track of them. I didn’t recognize the voice, but as I returned to the diner, I crashed into two waitresses who had been on shift while we had been ordering dinner.
“You can’t go in there!” urged one, catching my arm. I shook her off and pushed forward.
“Call the police!” I called over my shoulder as I pushed open the door to the place and strode inside. And the scene that greeted me made my heart stop.
The place was empty, except for our little group—Paul, Mary, and Scott were cowering in the booth where we’d left them, while Lucy and Declan were on their feet. It must have been Mary who screamed, as she had both her hands clapped over her mouth as though to keep in any other outbursts of terror. And finally, I could see why she was so terrified.
Ian stood opposite the booth, a gun in one hand, dangling casually from his fingers like he was holding a cigarette or something. Addison was there, too—standing just behind Ian, an unreadable expression on his face, as though he wanted to apologize but just wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. And there, in front of Ian, pulled tight against his legs, was Ella.
It overwhelmed me at once—fear, relief. She was alive, but we still had to find a way to get her out of here unharmed, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that. Her eyes were filled with tears, but she wasn’t making a sound—she gazed up at me and I gazed back, for a moment forgetting the situation we found ourselves in. I didn’t give a damn about anything other than the fact that she was alive. I had half-convinced myself that there was no way she would make it out of Ian’s clutches alive, and frankly, none of that was guaranteed yet—but with her here, we were closer than we had been before. Now, I just had to find some way to convince him to let her go.
The door burst open, and Mona tumbled into the room—she looked around, taking in the scene, and then her eyes landed on Ella.
“Ella!” she cried, and made towards her at once—but I dove in front of her, holding her back.
“Good idea,” sneered Ian, the first words I’d heard him speak through this entire mess. “You don’t want someone getting shot, now, do you?”
“What the hell do you want?” I asked, spreading my arms so I could keep Mona behind me. She clutched at my shoulders, peering over, trying to take everything in.
“I want to be left in peace with my sister.” Ian jerked his chin down towards Ella, and she flinched at his words—my stomach filled with anger at the sight of it and I had to clench my fists to keep from lunging for him there and then. Declan and I exchanged a look, and I could tell he was silently asking if he should just go for this asshole. I shook my head, barely perceptibly, and he blinked his acknowledgement. I needed to keep the situation under control—though I wasn’t sure how I was meant to, with a psychopath waving a gun around.
“Ian, you need to give her back,” I appealed to him, trying to keep my voice steady. I was having a hard time, and found that my hands were curling up into fists even as I spoke. Okay. Deep breaths. I know you want to beat the holy crap out of this guy, and you can do that as soon as you’ve got your daughter back in your arms.
“I don’t think so.” Ian reached down and put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her closer. Rage lanced through my body, and I fought it as best I could—though I knew I was contesting the inevitable.
“Please,” I implored, my voice cracking slightly as I spoke. “Just…give Ella back. She wants to be with me. She needs to be with me.”
“She’s not called Ella anymore,” Ian spat the name with disgust, as though the very concept of it made him sick. “Her name is Susie.”
I looked over at Addison, widening my eyes at him, begging him to intervene; he was the only one who had been through the same things Ian had, so surely he could find some way to relate to him, some way to put this into a context that Ian would see was completely crazy. But Addison avoided my gaze and stood, uselessly, still, his hands dangling limply by his sides. How had he got dragged into this? Or had he been in on it since the start? I would have my answers in due time; for now, all I wanted was my daughter.
“Her name is Ella,” Mona piped up from behind me, and we all turned to look at her; she stepped out from behind me. I could see that she was shaking, but she kept her tone firm and clear. “Ella.”
“I don’t need to hear from you.” Ian snapped. “You didn’t stop me before and you won’t now.”
“Ian, please—” she begged, and took a step towards him—he lifted the gun up and levelled it at her coolly, his eyes flashing as he did so. His face was usually blank, but I could see that she had shaken him. He had expected to deal with me, and yet, here was Mona—a mother figure, the one thing he didn’t need to fit into his perfect little storybook world. Of course it would have thrown him. Mona came to a standstill at once and held her hands up in a defensive position, showing that she posed no threat to him.
“Get away,” he snarled—I could see Ella straining forward to get out of his grasp, her eyes fixed on Mona. There was a desperation in her face that I’d never seen before, as though she knew how close she was to getting away. Mona looked down at Ella and managed to give her a reassuring smile, even though the situation seemed to be getting more dire by the minute.
“Why did you bring her here?” I demanded, pulling the attention back off Mona and onto me. The thought of either one of them getting hurt—it sent shivers down my spine. Add to the fact that Mona was pregnant, another little detail that probably wouldn’t fit too neatly into his perfect little outline, and we had trouble on our hands.
“What do you mean?” Ian snapped, scratching the back of his head with the barrel of his gun. Even though I found myself hoping it would go off, I still flinched as he did it—it was clear this guy had no idea what he was doing with a weapon, and that made him almost more dangerous than someone who did.
“If you don’t want to give her back, why did you come here?” I demanded. “You must have a reason. Or are you just here to gloat until the police arrive?”
“I’ll be long gone by the time the cops get here,” he grinned cockily. “I took everyone’s cell phones. It’ll be a long time before anyone can get the police down.”
Shit. I had hoped that Ian wouldn’t have thought that far ahead, but it seemed like he had this planned out—well, as planned out as a maniac wielding a gun and a kidnapped child could, anyway.
“Then tell me why,” I implored desperately. “If we’ve got time, tell me why you’re here.”
“I tracked your phone when you called me,” he explained coolly, his voice calm despite the circumstances. It wouldn’t be long before someone stuck their head in to see what was going on, and when they did, there was going to be hell to pay. Why didn’t he seem bothered? It was like he’d come here with a game-plan, and so far, everything was falling into place with him. This made me even madder than ever—the thought that I was somehow playing right into his hands without even knowing it. I clenched my fists and did my best to keep those thoughts from my brain while I waited for him to continue.
“I know you’ve been looking for her,” he went on. I blinked slowly. Of course I had. What the fuck did he expect, me to just keel over and let him take my daughter from me? This guy was crazier than I thought. I couldn’t believe that he’d watched me all that time and seriously thought that I might just let this happen.
“So I thought it would only be fair if I offered you a deal.” His eyes jumped from me to Mona and back again. I realized that everyone else in the room was completely silent; Declan and Lucy had frozen where they stood as soon as Ian had pointed the gun at Mona, and the three in the booth were stock-still, eyes swiveling to keep up with the conversation as it went on. Even Addison seemed frozen to the spot—in fact, Ian was the only person in the room who seemed as though he was in his element. For some reason, this made my stomach churn with nausea—it must have been my natural reaction to knowing that if things were going right for a guy like him, then you could be sure they were going wrong for a whole lot of other people in response.
“What’s the deal?” I demanded impatiently. “Anything. Is it money? Or—”
“It’s her.” Ian jerked his head towards Mona. I turned to her, and found she’d gone white with fear. I grabbed her hand and pulled her protectively against my chest. I needed her; I wasn’t going to let him hurt a hair on her head. Or our baby’s.
“What do you want with her?” I asked, softer now, trying to coax him into giving us some leeway—I knew it wasn’t going to work, but surely it was worth a shot just in case.
“I want her dead,” he replied. His tone was matter-of-fact, but that didn’t stop his words landing with a thud in between us. Mona tensed up against me, and let out a small whimper of fear in reaction. I couldn’t say I blamed her—I knew exactly how she felt. My heart finally seemed to start again, but this time it was beating so fast that I could hardly catch my breath.
“What do you mean?” I managed. If I could just keep him talking long enough, then maybe someone else would turn up and we could find a way out of this without Ella or Mona getting hurt…
“Don’t play dumb with me,” he snarled. “You know she doesn’t fit. She doesn’t fit with any of this.”
“It doesn’t work that way, Ian,” I replied slowly. “You don’t get to dictate who does and doesn’t fit in your life. Mona has nothing to do with any of this—”
“Of course she does!” Ian exploded, his cool lost suddenly in one sharp outburst. “She has everything to do with this! If it hadn’t been for her, I wouldn’t have had to wait so long in the first place.”
I inhaled deeply, but I knew that any chance I had at keeping myself under control was gone. I released Mona and took a few steps towards Ian—to my twisted delight, he stepped back, refusing to meet my gaze. He was scared of me. Good.
“Then she’s more important than you could ever know,” I murmured, my face not far from his. The gun hung limply at his side—I could have reached out to grab Ella there and then, run off with her and left everyone behind—but I knew that wouldn’t work. He was already on his guard, and any sudden movements would just cause him to finally use the gun that he was obviously too afraid to fire. I still didn’t know how he’d gotten his hands on it—but that wasn’t important now.
“Give her to me!” he screeched into my face, his eyes bulging wildly out of his skull. “Now! That’s the only way you’ll get your daughter back, you asshole!”
“I’m not giving you anything!” I yelled back, the blood rushing to my head all of a sudden; I wasn’t going to be spoken to like this, not by the monster who had all but ruined my life. “I don’t owe you anything! Neither does anyone else in this room!”
“Then why were you always parading them in front of me?” he demanded, jamming his face so close to my own that I could smell his sticky breath. “In and out of the house, playing in the garden…”
“Because no one knew you were watching us,” I snapped back. “If I’d had any idea that some sick fucking pervert had been taking us in, I never would have—”
“Never would have what?” he snarled in response. “Never would have moved there in the first place?”
“I would have killed you with my bare hands before I let you get near her,” I replied, my voice low and threatening. He knew I wasn’t messing around; he placed his hands on my chest and shoved, sending me stumbling backwards. Declan hurried to catch me as I crashed back towards the booths, and Ian lifted the gun and pointed it at me. It seemed to be the only way he could feel safe, by putting the weapon in between himself and anyone who Ella might have loved more than him.
“Give me the woman, and we can talk about getting your daughter back to you,” he promised.
I shot a look at Mona; this was an impossible choice. The woman I loved, and the baby she was carrying…or my daughter? Mona stared back at me, her eyes blank—I knew she had as little idea as I did of what to do next. How did we end up here? With him bargaining us? He didn’t get to set the rules—he should have been the one fighting just to stay alive, but here he was, in control. My stomach twisted and knotted as I tried to figure out what to do next. Ella looked up at me, tears now spilling down her cheeks—she still hadn’t said a word, but she was taking all of this in.
Even if we made it out of here, this would be imprinted on her memory, an ugly, disturbing outing that would color how she lived the rest of her life. And that made me angry—angrier than I’d been since I walked in that door. I looked at Mona, and back to Ella—and knew that I couldn’t wait a moment longer. I took a deep breath, clenched my fists, and just as I was about to lunge forward and do what I could to take Ian down, a voice came from behind me. A voice that made me freeze up at once.