Page 132 of Drowning in Darkness

I don’t say a word, not giving him anything to use against me, the trackers burning a hole in my proverbial pocket. I scan his attire, looking for a good place to put one, knowing I can reach inside my clutch for my lipstick as a cover.

“Why the sudden change of heart, Steph? Why come out now?”

I hate how he uses that nickname, the sound making nausea grip my stomach. “It was time, wasn’t it? I’m done receiving threatening flowers from strangers and insincere apologies for what you’ve done and are yet to do.”

“Stephanie,” James warns, but I’m following my gut tonight, and he just needs to be ready.

“The calla lilies were beautiful, weren’t they?” Christopher grins, but it’s more like showing his teeth, nothing mirthful behind it. “I had to admire the creativity of your previous ‘admirer.’”

My heart kicks against my sternum, the nausea doubling down. I knew. Of course, I knew where he’d gotten the inspiration. But it’s something else to hear it coming out of his sick mouth.

“It must be so wonderful to get such nice gifts every week, with such sweet messages.”

Yeah, flowers with notes threatening my life are just the best.

Tension rings through my spine, making my blood pump loudly in my ears. I want this over. I walk over to a nearby standing table and set down my champagne. I reach into my clutch, wrapping my fingers around my lipstick—and the tracker.

My eyes are only off Christopher for a moment, but when I look up, I notice the cold glee he tries to hide behind stoicism and the fizzing bubbles in my glass. He drugged it, and I can’t let him realize I know. I keep my expression neutral, taking the cap off my lipstick and bringing it up to my mouth. The tracker is still pressed between my thumb and the tube, but Christopher is on the other side of the table. I can’t get to him.

“He put something in your drink,” James growls, and I can feel how badly he wants to get to me. “Don’t drink that.”

Christopher picks up the glass and slides it toward me, waiting for me to take it, preventing me from putting on the lipstick. “Such a brave girl, aren’t you? Cheers, then, to the future.”

I take the glass while he lifts his, every instinct inside me screaming. I can barely hear the volume of the room over it.

“Stephanie, don’t fucking drink that.” James sounds so insistent, so worried.

“To the future.” I clink my glass against Christopher’s, the tracker in my other hand. I have no choice. There’s no clean way out of this that ends in his capture, and I always knew it. I can’t risk the other victims, and the fact that they’re being hurt because I was hiding is unacceptable. I won’t let him hurt anyone else ever again.

“Stephanie!” James is so loud I worry Christopher will hear it, and then I put the glass to my lips and down the entire thing. He needs to think he’s won. He needs to be vulnerable, and this is how we accomplish that.

After setting the empty flute down, I apply my lipstick, touching up the color just as I’d planned to, and as I smooth the stick over my top lip, I drop the tracker in my mouth, swallowing it down. If Christopher searches me or takes my clothes, he won’t find that one.

“What the hell did you do? Are you out of your mind?” James yells through the earpiece, his voice distorting toward the end. The drugs work quickly, and I find my head spinning after only a few seconds. I try to fight it on instinct, hating the feeling of being so out of control. It’s like being drunk but way worse.

After a few moments, with James’s barking orders fading away, I start to lose my balance, and I have to grip the table to keep standing.

“Oh, dear. Are you alright? You poor thing.” Christopher rounds the table, scooping his arm under mine, and I can’t help but lean on him. “Let’s get you some fresh air.”

The world becomes a blur as he guides me, my feet carrying me forward even though I know I shouldn’t be going anywhere with this man. He tugs me toward a door at the back of the room. I can barely keep my eyes open now, my gaze dropping to the floor to watch my feet moving across the shiny tiles, unable to stop them.

I’m clumsy and tripping over myself, forcing Christopher to manhandle me all the more. We go through the door, navigating through corridors I’ve never been in. Reality twists and warps, my eyelids straining to remain open for more than a moment. Each blink stretches longer, my mind struggling to make sense of what’s happening.

After an indeterminate amount of time, we’re outside. We walk toward a line of cars parked along the back of the building, and Christopher lifts his hand, holding up a key fob to unlock one of the vehicles. He drops me into a seat, and there’s nothing I can do about it. My body doesn’t respond as I fight to remain conscious.

Christopher walks around to the other side of the car, ready to get in the driver’s seat and take off. The last thing I can manage to do is whisper into the earpiece, my voice scratchy and weak. “Find me,” is all I say, knowing James will do everything in his power to do just that.

I pull the earpiece out and drop it into one of the crevices between my seat and the center console, knowing Christopher won’t find it there. When he sits down and fires up the engine, the world slowly disappears as my eyes shut, unable to force them back open this time.

FORTY-SEVEN

STEPHANIE

I have survived worse men than you. The difference is that this time I know how to bite back.

The slowing of the car pulls me toward consciousness, a sliver of awareness appearing even though I still can’t move beyond lifting my head an inch or two. Christopher glances over at me after he parks, and all I can do is glare. I will not break for this man. Black spots edge my vision, and I hold on to that belief even as my body fades back into that laxity.

He grabs my chin in a bruising grip, and I stare back at him in defiance. It only serves to excite him, but that’s the aim. The more he wants to play with me, the longer James has to find me. I will happily go on record to nail this fucker. I will be the last woman he ever touches, not as his victim, but as his retribution.