“Don’t even fucking think about it.”
Releasing the door handle, I swallow and close my eyes, only to open them back up immediately when the car swerves to the right then back to the left.
“Please slow down,” I urge as Ryan tries to keep the car under control while he ties a piece of his torn shirt over the wound on his arm. A wound he got when I came across a pair of garden shears after he forced me out the window. I didn’t get him in the chest where I was aiming, but I did get him.
Touching the skin under my eye, I wince. I know without looking that there is a bruise on my cheek from where he backhanded me after he caught me by my hair when I tried to get away from him. “Stupid, stupid woman, you belong to me.” His head turns my way and our eyes lock. “You belong to me!” he snarls, and I see the monster inside of him lurking near the surface. If I’m not careful, I may not make it out of this alive. I might not ever get to pick out a wedding dress or say I do to Liam, or see him with our child.
Our child.
Tears fill my eyes and I try to fight them back. Forty-eight hours ago, I had no idea I was pregnant, and now that I know, our baby has become everything to me and I will do whatever necessary to protect him or her. Balling my hands into fists, I let out a deep breath and try to come up with a plan. I hope by now someone has realized I’m no longer in the house and has started to search for me. I know that even if they have, I will still be on my own until they catch up to us.
“I do belong to you.” The words leave a bad taste in my mouth, but seeing his reaction, seeing him relax, lets me know this plan might actually work. “I didn’t think you wanted me anymore,” I whisper, and he reaches over, resting his hand on the top of my thigh.
“I’ll always want you.” He slides his hand up my leg, and I swallow over the bile creeping up the back of my throat and cover his hand with mine.
Flipping his hand over, I run my finger down the inside of his palm. “We should stop somewhere.”
“No,” he barks, making me jump. “We need to get out of town. I can’t risk anyone seeing you and trying to take you from me.” He shakes his head, squeezing my fingers so hard I’m afraid they might break.
“You’re hurting me.”
“I want to hurt you.” He releases me and begins pounding the steering wheel with his fist. “You were with him. I saw you with him. Did you love him?”
“Why are you doing this?” I choke out as he speeds up and swerves around car after car. Off in the distance, I hear police sirens.
“I already told you, you belong to me. I knew you did the moment I met you. The second I saw how innocent you were, I knew God had made you just for me.”
“What about your kids, your family?”
He turns his head to look at me, and I see his lips pull upward into a creepy-looking smile. “You’ve been checking up on me,” he murmurs. I have been checking up on him, but not for the reasons he thinks. “I knew eventually I would find you. I knew that one day, God would lead me back to you. Then I saw you on TV and I knew it was a sign. It was time to get back what belongs to me. I left everything behind, got in my car, and drove. The news told me everything I needed to know. They told me that you had been in England, and then they told me that you were on a flight to LA. When I got here, I sat in my hotel room and waited for the right moment. That’s when the story broke about you planning your wedding and a secret ceremony. I knew that if the rumors were true, there would be people all over the place and I could blend in. No one would ever expect me to take you right out from under Roger Ruck’s nose.”
He laughs, and my heart starts to pound when I see his eyes go to the rearview mirror and the sound of police sirens close in.
“Fuck!” he barks.
“Please, slow down before you kill us both!” I scream when he starts to speed up.
“That would be a good way for us to die, together like Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers.”
God, he’s crazy. Of course, I knew he was crazy before, but every time he opens his mouth and says something else, I realize exactly how crazy he really is. And now I’m in a car with him going God knows where at ninety miles an hour on an LA highway.
Suddenly, he exits the highway and starts to slow down as we turn again and again down residential streets before he pulls into the parking lot of a rinky-dink motel. He turns in his seat, pointing the gun at me. “If you make a scene, I’ll fucking shoot you.” His eyes are wild and flicking all over the place, going from left to right to see if anyone is around as he opens the door and pulls me out of the driver’s side behind him.
Looking around, I try to take in our surroundings. The hotel is backed up to what looks like a forest, but I don’t know if there is housing behind it. What I do know is there is no one outside, no one to hear me if I scream.
“Come on.” He holds me around the waist with one hand while using the other to hold the gun close to my side as he begins leading me toward one of the many rooms that line the bottom level of the hotel. Fear fills me as we get closer to the door. If he gets me inside, I might not ever make it out. I try to pull away when we get to the door and he puts in the key, but I don’t get far. “You won’t make it.” He shoves me into the room, which has one bed, a TV on a dresser, and an open door that leads to the bathroom.
“Please, it’s not too late. You can let me go and no one will ever know. I won’t tell them it was you who took me.”
“Shut up.” He shoves me to sit on the side of the bed and pulls out a set of handcuffs from a drawer, slapping one on my wrist and the other around the drawer handle. “Do not fucking move.” He walks off to the bathroom. Looking around the room, I search for a weapon, anything I can use to protect myself. Seeing a pen with the hotel’s name on it, I snatch it up, look at the phone, and lick my lips. It’s a long shot, but if I’m lucky, I might be able to get some help. Taking the phone off the cradle, I press 911 slowly, trying to be quiet while my heart beats so hard I’m sure it will pound out of my chest.
Coming out of the bathroom, he looks at me then the side table where the phone is. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” I shake my head. “Please let me go,” I beg, hoping 911 has picked up and they can hear me.
“I’m never letting you go.”
He starts to come for me, and I know it’s now or never. Swallowing, I make my move, taking the pen and stabbing it right in his upper leg. Blood starts seeping out as he howls like a wounded animal, dropping to his knees, and his gun falls to the floor.
Grabbing the gun, I jerk my hand cuffed to the handle and the drawer comes flying out, hitting him in the head and stunning him. I run screaming toward the door with the gun in one hand and the drawer in the other. Getting the door open, I start running toward the forest. The only thing going through my head is my baby.
“Get back here. Emmaaa!” I hear from him, right before I turn and see him pull the pen out of his leg.
I don’t wait. I run. I run and run till my lungs burn, till I can’t breathe anymore, through bushes, around trees, all to the tune of him shouting my name. Seeing a cabin in between two huge trees, I run toward it, hoping, praying I can rest for a minute and catch my breath. Hurrying up the steps, I bang on the door.
“Help me please!” I turn my head, looking to see if I can hear where Ryan is. With no answer, I try the handle and turn the knob, falling into the house. I breathe in a sigh of relief, but it’s not for long because the next thing I know, I’m tackled from behind and my world turns black.