52. KADENCE

KADENCE

D id you miss me, Princess?

I jerk with a gasp. Jeremy's voice rings in my head alongside the dull thud of a headache. A wave of nausea rolls through me as the musty smell of the room begins to take hold of my senses. It's dark aside from the table I'm sitting at and a bowl of what looks like day old oatmeal sits in front of me, doing nothing to quell my turning stomach. I feel a trickle of warm sticky liquid against my skin as I reach up to touch the gash on my temple. That explains the headache .

"You look different."

My eyes flick up to where his voice lurks in the dark. Squinting slightly only able to make out the silhouette of his figure hiding in the corner.

"What happened to you, Princess?" He sounds hurt, feigning pain in his voice as he takes a step forward, still shrouded by the darkness. I know it's not real. I know that the hurt he's pretending to feel is just that. Pretend.

I'm silent as he slowly creeps his way into the light. A tired yet dark look is in his eyes as he slams a hand on the table.

"Answer me!"

My eyes draw closed when I jump with the sound that echoes against the walls around us. "What are you doing here?"

"I came for you, baby," he sings, arms wide. "You've been missing for a very long time." Jeremy leans over the table and it's then I see the truly manic look in his eyes. "I wasted a lot of resources looking for you. Only to find you in some shithole town." He spits the words like venom and it takes everything in me not to wipe away the spit that lands on my cheek.

Deep down, I'm scared to say anything. Even the simplest of statements could set him off. For a moment I'm that same scared woman cowering in her kitchen corner. Until my mind wanders to the baby I'm carrying, to the man who hopefully knows by now I'm missing. Something wrenches in my heart, something so entangled within me that I narrow my eyes at him. Steeling myself against the power his gaze used to have.

"This shit hole town has been more of a home than Miami ever was," I taunt daringly.

He laughs and it sends a chill down my spine. "God, you were always so easily fooled." His eyes land on mine again as he pushes the bowl towards me. "Take a bite, baby, I made it."

I glance down at the bowl of slop and glare up at him. "I'm not eating it."

His jaw ticks as I sit back in the chair I'm surprised I'm not bound to. My eyes flick past him for a moment seeing something move in the shadows and I do my best to hide the racing of my heart.

"That's too bad." He shrugs, picking up the bowl and staring into it for a moment. "I was hoping you'd eat before our flight." In a flash Jeremy chucks the bowl to the side, sending it flying across the open space and shattering against what sounds like a concrete wall.

"Flight?" I ask and swallow back the rising bile.

Watson steps out into the light, glaring at Jeremy as he makes his way to the table. "Do you really need to make a mess?" He curses, staring at where the bowl crashed.

Jeremy rolls his eyes and glances over at him. "It was proving a point."

"Yeah that you're an asshole."

"What flight?" I all but yell bringing the two of them back. Two pairs of terrifying eyes hone in on me.

"We're going home, sweetheart!" Jeremy smiles though it doesn't reach his eyes. "Watson just got himself a promotion! It's time to celebrate." He pats Watson's chest before turning away from me, grabbing something from the dark.

"You see, my darling," Jeremy drones on. "It's time we make this official. We're getting married." He says the words like they're the most obvious statement in the world with his back still to me, and when he turns around, my eyes flick down to where he's got a handful of zip ties. "And then, you're going to give me back the child you killed."