Page 97 of Together Is Where We Belong

“I may have. Get to the office.”

twenty-seven

Carolina

My mind was groggy as I woke up. I opened my eyes, only to be met with darkness. They were covered with fabric.

My body lay against a soft comforter, my head at an odd angle on the pillow beneath.

Panic clawed at my insides as I tried to move my arms and legs, but couldn’t. The rope bit into my wrists and ankles, and I stilled as the pain shot into my wrists and up my arms. I pulled at the rope on my fingers, but couldn’t figure out how to untie it.

“Hello,” I choked out; my mouth was as dry as the desert.

“Ah … you’re awake,” Mitchell’s familiar voice said somewhere in the room.

The bed dipped beside me. My heart beat fast in my chest. I had to find a way to get away from here.

“What … what do you want from me?” I asked, trying to keep the panic within so he wouldn’t sense it. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“I already told you, my sweet Carolina. You… I want you and Luke and me to finally be a family,” he whispered, and his rancid breath caressed my cheek from above. At the mention of Luke, the panic consumed me even more.

“You’ll never get to my son,” I grit out through my teeth. Leo would never allow it. He’d protect him.

“It’s already in motion,” he said before he kissed my cheek.

I flinched away from his touch.

If it was in motion, that meant he had help. Because he was here with me. He couldn’t be in two places at once.

He had to be lying to get a rise out of me. And I gave him exactly what he wanted.

“Where am I?” I asked, trying to keep him talking so that I could come up with a plan. Maybe if I knew where we were, I could signal for help.

“In the perfect hiding place. They’ll never find you here,” he said as I heard him moving around the room.

“It’s Haven Valley. It’s a small town. There aren’t many places to hide here without someone noticing,” I said in an attempt to get him to slip up.

“I’ve been hiding here all along, and no one’s thought none the wiser,” he taunted.

“They know it’s you. You’ll never get away with it,” I revealed. Maybe if I got him mad enough he’d reveal something, anything that would help me get away.

The bed dipped beside me again, his breath right above me, one hand on each side of my head.

I swallowed hard. I had to keep him talking. Maybe get him to reveal something.

“I just don’t understand. Why me?”

“You don’t remember, beautiful?” he said as I felt his fingers move a piece of hair from my face. I had to keep myself from recoiling from his touch.

“Remember what?”

“I knew you were the one the moment I saw you when you brought Luke into the emergency room.”

That was five years ago. He’d been stalking me for longer than I realized.

“I still don’t understand,” I whispered as I wracked my brain to recall our interaction all those years ago.

“You brought him in and were so frantic. I’ll never forget the scared look in your eyes while we helped him, or the hug you gave me for helping to save his life. You thanked me over and over again for saving Luke. It was in that moment that I knew.” The hope in his voice as he recalled our interaction made my skin crawl.