CHAPTER TWENTY 

CASSIE

I should have listened to Rylan. How could I be so fucking stupid? 

Sure, I got antsy from being cooped up in the apartment but I didn’t even leave the building and never intended to. All I did was go down to the lobby to check Rylan’s mailbox.

He was waiting for me there. 

Something hard poked me in the back and a heavy hand dropped onto my shoulder. Before I could turn around or even speak, Mark’s voice rasped into my ear.

“Don’t move. Don’t scream. If you try to catch any attention, I won’t hesitate to fire this thing right through your spine. Understand?”

My whole body froze. I forced my head to give a shaky nod and felt the barrel pull away from my back. 

“Why don’t you walk me up to the apartment,” he said cheerfully. “I’d love to see how well your new boyfriend is taking care of you.” 

Oh, God. Oh no, he can’t know where Ryland lives too! But what else am I going to do?

“Walk.”

Mark kicked the back of my shoe and I forced my feet to move in a slow shuffle toward the elevator. I tried to think, tried to figure out a way to signal someone to call the cops for me. But no one in the lobby glanced up at the two of us. Even if the did, how could I possibly convey that I was in trouble? My brain was frozen and blank. 

We made our way to the elevator and stepped inside. When the door closed, I felt like prey trapped inside the cage of a predator. 

“I’ll do whatever you want,” I said shakily. “Just please leave Rylan alone.” 

“Aw. How brave of you,” Mark mocked me. “It’s a little too late for that, babe. I already know where your loyalties lie.” He jerked his head toward the panel of buttons. “Pick the floor. And don’t even think about wasting my time and leading me to the wrong one.” 

I tried to swallow the lump in my throat but it never went away. I lifted a shaky finger and pushed the button to Rylan’s floor. As I drew my hand back, it brushed against my phone in my pocket. 

“I’ll take that,” Mark said with a cruel smile as he held his hand out. “You won’t be needing it.” 

Fuck, fuck, fuck. 

I always knew I had a terrible poker face but hoped it wouldn’t betray me when I needed it most. 

“Hand it the fuck over,” Mark snapped. 

I withdrew the phone from my pocket and placed my only lifeline of escape into Mark’s awaiting hand. 

“Good girl,” he praised. “You were always better at being told what to do than making your own decisions.” He slid my phone into his own pocket. “Which is why you’re coming back to me.”

“Fine, I’m yours. I’ll never leave you again.” I spat out the words like a curse, hating how they tasted. “Let’s just go and start over without--”

“Nah, nah, nah. You’re not thinking again.” 

My breath caught in my chest as he withdrew the gun from his waistband and tapped the barrel three times against his temple. I pressed every inch of my body against the elevator wall, every instinct screaming at me to run and hide. But trapped in a box with him, there was nowhere to go. 

Mark still looked unfazed. 

“Like I said, leave the thinking to me from now on. You’re no good at it.” 

He returned the gun to his waistband but I didn’t dare take a breath. My eyes searched his face desperately for any ounce of reason, for the Mark I once knew and trusted. But everything about him was different, from the look in his eye to the way he carried himself. 

The Mark I knew was no longer there. Or maybe that was the disguise all along. 

“How do I know you’re not going to run again the first chance you get?” His maniacal grin grew wider. “I gotta make sure there’s nowhere for you to run to.” 

The elevator came to a halt and the door slid open to Rylan’s wing. Mark jerked his head, indicating I should lead the way. 

Everything inside me begged me to stop, to do anything but lead him right to the home of the man I loved.

Love? Well, I guess it’s good I realized it now. Before I’m dead.

Mark walked behind me, practically breathing down my neck. I tried telling myself I could turn around and knee him in the balls or something. Or I could end up with my brains decorating the walls.

No one was dead yet. And for that reason, I had to keep walking.

***

Mark hung up the phone on Rylan with a wide, taunting grin on his face. I sat in a crumpled heap on the floor, feeling all my hope sinking away.

“How fast do you think he’ll be here? Three, five minutes?” Mark asked cheerfully, wiping the gun barrel with his shirt for the hundredth time. He didn’t care about keeping it hidden now that we were inside the apartment.

“I hate you,” I choked through my tears. “I hope he kills you.”

I didn’t care about protecting myself anymore. I just wanted it to end, hopefully with both Rylan and I staying alive and never seeing Mark’s face again. But it didn’t seem likely he’d kill me since I was the whole reason he was pulling this crazy, homicidal stunt in the first place.

“Too bad for you he won’t,” Mark said smugly. “He seems more like a lover than a fighter.” He mockingly stressed the word lover like a dirty word.

“He is,” I confirmed through gritted teeth. “That’s why he’s more of a man than you’ll ever be.”

The smile dropped and his face contorted into an expression of pure evil. My heart stopped for half a moment as I wondered if he really would shoot me. 

Then a hard pounding at the door sent it beating into overdrive. 

“Police! Open the door now!”

At the sound of that voice, all the memories of that day at my old house hit me like a brick to the chest. Mark lunging at me. The police yelling. The tight, suffocating fear in my chest. Only this time, there was no Rylan to protect me. 

“Motherfucking pigs.” 

A sharp click-clack cut through the air as Mark cocked the gun and started angrily toward the front door. 

“No! Mark, please!” I cried in a last, desperate plea. 

“Cassie!” 

I heard it muffled and far away, somewhere down the hall but I definitely heard it. 

Rylan, you heroic idiot. Why’d you have to let him know you’re here?

“Looks like Lover Boy showed up,” Mark sneered and pointed his gun at the door. 

I screamed, running on pure instinct, and dove behind the couch for cover.

A shot fired. 

Next came a crashing, breaking sound and the chaos of several voices yelling. My ears began to ring.

I covered my head, trying to make my body as small as possible as my heart pounded like a drum. With my knees pulled to my chest and my arms around my legs, I tried to shut my eyes tight but they stay wide open. 

He could have killed somebody just now. And here I am cowering in a corner. Oh God, what do I do?!

It felt like I stayed there for hours but it couldn’t have been more than a minute. 

“Ma’am, are you alright? Are you hurt?”

The voice sounded so far away but somewhere between the ringing in my ears and numbness inside my body, I felt a gentle pressure on my arm. 

“Ma’am, can you tell me your name?” 

Slowly, I dared to look up as the voice slowly became clearer. 

A pair of warm, brown eyes behind a heavy helmet and face shield searched mine. As my eyes slowly traveled over him, gathering information, I saw he was dressed completely in black, carried a gun much bigger than Mark’s, and wore a thick bulletproof vest. 

The man pulled down his face shield to speak to me clearer.

“You’re safe now, ma’am.”

“Rylan,” I said his name as barely a whisper at first but felt my voice growing stronger. “Rylan! Where’s Rylan?” 

“Your friend is right outside with medical staff,” the officer informed me. “The suspect has been taken into custody.” 

I sprang to my feet, barely noticing all the other police in SWAT gear including the heavy bulletproof shield, and ran out into the hall.

“Rylan!” I cried. 

He turned around. His arms were crossed and his face looked haggard from worry, but it all disappeared the moment I started running to him.

“Cassie!” he choked out. 

I jumped into his arms and we both collapsed to the floor, tears of relief overflowing from both of us. 

It was just like a scene from a movie.

“I’m sorry!” I sobbed into his shoulder. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!”

“No, no, no, stop.” He kissed all across my face in a frenzy and held me tighter than he ever had before. “You’re alive. You’re okay. Fuck, Cassie, I love you so much.”

“I love you so much,” I sniffed, kissing him back. “I thought for sure I lost you. He told me that--”

“Shhh, it’s okay,” he said, stroking my hair. “It’s over now. It’s in the past. He’ll never do this to us again.” 

“No, he won’t,” I agreed. “And I’ll be thankful for that every day of my life from now on.”