35

35

STACEY

“Iforgive you,” he says an hour later as we drive along a road sandwiched between two forests.

I screw my face up with confusion. “For what?”

“Sleeping with Kade Mitchell. You can lie to me all you want, but I know he was your boyfriend. I saw the messages between you, and I got so fucking mad and acted out of spite.”

“Acted out of spite…”

He looks heartbroken, but I don’t care. I watch him until he sighs and elaborates. “When I found out you weren’t a virgin anymore, and who took your virginity, I fucked someone to see if it made me feel better, but it didn’t.”

I’m about to tell him I don’t give a shit when he waves his hand around.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have fawned over you and told you I loved you then had sex with someone else. It was wrong of me. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve only had sex with three pe—”

“Did you force yourself on her like you did me?”

“I swear to you I won’t fuck anyone else. It’s you. It’s always been you, sweetheart.”

“That doesn’t answer my question. Did you hurt her? Was it consensual?”

Chris looks offended. “Why would it not be consensual?”

God, this asshole is delusional. “You know what? Never mind. You’re more of a lunatic than I thought.”

“It was consensual, I promise. I have a video, if you don’t believe me.” Chris catches my bound fists aiming for his face, and he lets out a laugh. “I’m kidding! I’m kidding!”

“I can’t wait until you’re in prison, or even better – dead.”

“You’d be devastated, don’t lie.”

Sarcasm fills my tone as I say, “My heart breaks thinking about all the peace I’d get.”

The music on the radio cuts out, and a steady voice takes over. “We have an emergency announcement. Reports say that Tobias Mitchell has escaped his institution.”

I gasp, and Chris snaps his gaze to the radio. “The murderer and psychopath was given a life sentence over twenty years ago.”

There’s a short pause, and I chew my lip nervously while Chris turns up the volume.

“I would like to stress to everyone that this individual is extremely dangerous and may not be in touch with reality. Do not approach him. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact your local station.”

There’s a deadly silence between us, butterflies replacing the sickening feeling in my stomach. My heart restarts as a breath shudders through me, attempting to pump blood through my very still body.

Words like dangerous and deadly and in possession of a firearm fill the silence between Chris and I, echoing over the engine as Chris pulls over to pay more attention. Apparently, they found a note in his bed, a repetitive mantra about saving him, her and them, and the specialists have come to the conclusion that Tobias Mitchell is no longer on his meds and maybe hasn’t been for a while.

I want to cry – he was doing so well with therapy and behaviour. He’d even started to accept that he and Aria would never be a couple again.

For a while, he’d believed that they could still have a happy, calm and carefree life together. That they’d watch their kids turn into parents, their grandkids running wild on the grounds while he told them the story he wished was theirs but wasn’t.

He had photo books upon photo books filled with pictures of the twins over the years, and all the letters Aria had written to him when she couldn’t visit. He let me read one once, and it was filled with all the praise and love that’s kept him going for the last twenty years.

And now all of the progress he’s made is gone.

“The individual is believed to have been planning this escape for many years and constructed an escape route by digging into the sewers from a broom closet.”

I shake my head and tug at the ropes again, using the pain of my burning wrists to distract me from getting upset. Chris will only assume I’m in love with him or something equally insane.

I’m both terrified and disappointed, but what should I expect? His son is working for a disgusting woman and I’ve never missed a visitation. He’ll know there’s something wrong.

The first place he’ll check is my house, and when he sees all the destruction, he’ll assume I’m dead. And I have no idea what he’ll do. Maybe he’ll make sure Barry and his family are okay then try to find his son.

Chris wipes a hand down his face. “Jesus Christ. Is he going to look for you?”

I raise a shoulder. Chris looks deadly pale.

“Tell me the truth – are you sleeping with him?”

I scoff. “He’s my ex’s dad and over twenty years older than me – what do you think?”

“That means nothing to me. You fucked Kade’s brother. But fine. I’ll assume he has no interest in your whereabouts then. I already have Bernadette Sawyer on my ass – I don’t need him hunting for me as well.”

I don’t say a word as the radio talks more about Tobias escaping.

A random woman I’ve never heard of is speaking to the host about her experience with Tobias and the signs she knew meant he was starting to spiral. In my opinion, these details are far too personal to be aired, and I want to slap them both for laughing that it took him long enough. She mentions that she’s reached out to Aria, but Dr Miller has yet to respond.

Then they go into a big discussion about their history.

Aria must be devastated. I want to call her, to contact Lu – ask if there’s anything I can do. But even if I could, all I’d do is make things worse.

I turn down the volume, and Chris lets me.

As much as Tobias is dangerous, he’s also vulnerable. I called him my big teddy bear once, and he thought I was trying to offend him. He’s a loose cannon when he’s not under control and lets his dark side take over, but most of the time, he just wants to talk about his lost love and read a book.

His dark side – an evil motherfucker according to Aria – the Toby of Tobias – will stop at nothing until he has her to himself. He’ll most likely look for her, maybe even put a bullet in Ewan’s head, and then delude himself into thinking Aria will choose him – exactly how things played out over twenty years ago.

I have no idea how I manage, considering everything that’s happening, but I fall asleep with my head against the window.

“Give me my phone,” I demand, my hand out – waiting.

Chris looks at his friend, who’s studying the burn marks circling my wrists, and lies, “I don’t have your phone.”

“If you think I’m getting on a flight with you without letting anyone know where I am, you can think again.”

The guy, who has shaggy hair and a beard, steps forward. “So this is your girlfriend?”

Chris nods before I can say no, and his friend adds with an outstretched hand, “Nice to meet you. I’m Edgar.”

I’m in such a snotty mood that I want to mock his name, but I hold back any immature response. “Give me my fucking phone!” I shout at Chris instead as he pulls on his jacket and makes sure our fake passports are in his bag.

He sighs. “As you can tell, she’s on her period.”

I punch him across the face, and Edgar pretends he doesn’t see as he goes back into his gaming room and mumbles a quiet, “Goodnight.”

I punch him again, and he grabs my throat and slams me into the wall. “Stop fucking hitting me!”

I snarl. “You’re lucky that’s all I’m doing!”

Two hours later, I’m sitting on a flight to Scotland with my arms crossed, Chris by my side, refusing to listen to a word he says.

I sleep most of the flight – or at least I pretend to.

Chris tries to take my hand when we get to the family lodge – tries to help me up the steps, but I push him. “Fuck off.”

He sighs. “You need to stop being mad at me.”

“And you need to accept we’ll never work and let me go, but here we are.”

He tosses down the bags with a temper. “Can you just fucking behave for one minute? Do you want her to get you? I might not be your knight in shining armour, but I’m the only person able to keep you safe. I’ll give you my word that I won’t touch you. I’ll promise not to even think about it. But in return, I need you to let me keep you hidden without fighting me on it – preferably keeping you alive in the process.”

He steps forward, and I stiffen.

“I’ll make a deal with Bernadette. I’ll reach out in a few days. Your life for her stupid files, and you’ll be safe. Kyle will stop threatening me, I can go home to my mother and all will be good in the world.”

“Why?”

He throws his hands out. “Why what?”

“Why are you trying to protect me?”

He chews his lip, grits his teeth and turns around with a shake of his head. “I looked into Bernadette Sawyer’s files. She’s demonic, Stacey. You think I’m bad? She has recordings upon recordings of shit I never want to look at again. If she gets her hands on you, she’ll destroy you, and I’ll never see you again. Despite your hatred for me and the stupid mistakes I’ll continue to make, I do love you.”

“You killed my daughter and raped me. That’s not love.”

He stays silent, hands falling to his sides.

I keep going. “I was going to have a beautiful baby girl. And you took her away from me. You robbed me of my daughter.”

“The baby was his. I wanted you to have my kid.”

“You’ve preyed on me since I met you, even when I was underage. I was a minor, and you still watched me shower with your dick in your hand. You still forced your way into my bed and made me hold you while we slept. You beat me for not loving you, for not wanting to love you, and then you took every ounce of happiness I had.”

His brows narrow. “But you wanted me to watch. You wanted me to come to your bed. You told me you loved me.”

“You forced those words out of my mouth. I was scared, Chris. I was fucking terrified because I was only fourteen and had a new older stepbrother who told me he was going to take my virginity and strangled me when I refused him.”

“You were fifteen then.”

“That’s not the point!” I take another step to the lodge and stop, my lip trembling, but I refuse to let any tears fall. I feel the sting behind my eyes as I take a deep breath. “What would you have done if I actually wanted you, the baby was yours, and someone beat me up because it wasn’t theirs and it died?”

His eyes turn dark. “I would kill them.”

I nod. “I should’ve told Kade what was happening. He would have protected our child – that’s on me. But I can’t wait until Kade gets his revenge on you. You took his daughter from him, and even if he doesn’t care about me anymore, he’ll torture you for that. I hope he puts you through hell.”

“Let’s assume Kade does get his hands on me,” he says as he follows me with our bags. “Would you help him, Stacey?”

I throw my head back and laugh. “He’s the son of Tobias Mitchell. He doesn’t need help.”