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Rich lights up a cigarette, places the tip in his mouth, allows it to hang from his lip and crosses his broad tattooed arms. He stares at me with his cold dark eyes and waits to see if I dare to challenge him. The memories of that night shoot to the forefront of my mind as my arm starts to itch, a reminder of the pain he brought on me. He knows I hate smoking; he must have seen the signs that say this is a strictly ‘no smoking’ area, but then Rich doesn’t abide by rules; he makes his own. I have to keep him calm and I know that if I rile him up, the chances of me getting out of here without him losing his temper are slim. I just need to bide my time. Levi is on his way, and hopefully Aiden will try to call back and realize something is wrong when he can’t reach me.
I take a deep breath and plant my feet directly beneath me. “Fancy a drink?” I ask casually, trying to ignore his huge presence as he leans forward on the edge of the sofa. He squints, brings his eyebrows into a creased line as I try to hide to rub the sweat from my pores on my trousers.
“No,” he snarls, as he takes a long drag of his cigarette. He flicks the ash across the room with a wicked laugh and throws his head back as my mind recalls that fateful night. Subconsciously, I start to trace my fingers across my skin of my arms. “Sit or I will make you.”
I slow my breathing down and take a few steps toward the sofa. The longer I’m in his presence, the easier the memories become of how to disguise my panic. I sit down in the small gap and push myself as close to the edge as possible, away from Rich.
“That wasn’t hard, was it? Now, where shall we start? I know, let’s go with why you ran,” he says with serene calmness. “But then, I know that, don’t I? I’m a violent monster that lashed out and gave you what you deserved. I’ve never hidden what I am. I may have told some white lies that I’d changed, but people are what they are, Blaire. They don’t change who they really are. The thing I found the hardest to accept, but has me wondering, was how you got away?”
Rich blows a perfect ring of smoke, leaving the question hanging in the air poised like a poison arrow waiting to hit me in the back. Where is he going with this? What’s his motive in it all? Rich doesn’t do anything unless he has an end game to his plan.
“Something wrong with your voice, princess? Or shall we wait for Levi to arrive to fill us in?” Rich raises his eyebrow slightly as he takes the last drag of his cigarette before he flicks it across the room into one of the packing boxes. “He let my little bird escape, just like he did Isla and George, except I don’t want them. I want you.”
“How did you find out?” I reply, as I shake my head in confusion, only taking in the fact that he knows Levi is on his way here.
He raises his hand to silence me. My stomach churns and my throat feels tight. If he knows Levi is on his way here, then what’s he planning to do? I need to get out of here and get to Aiden.
“That guy downstairs is too easy to talk to, spouts his mouth like an old fish wife. Easy to get information when you know what you’re looking for.” Rich stands and walks toward the window before he drops his eyes down to the street and points. “Like a nice car for example. Did you really think a license plate change would throw me?”
“I…”
“Spit it out, you bitch,” Rich growls as he turns around to face me. His face is bright red in anger as his fists start to clench in and out.
“I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t be that person, Rich,” I explain as I stand up and hold my head up high, trying to hide the shudder. I know that I’m poking the beast but that's what I want.
I allow the adrenaline to course through my veins while I edge around the coffee table and continue my hurtful words that hit him deep in the chest.
“You are a monster, Rich. An evil darkness overtakes you. Why would I want that for my life? Why would I want to join the pits of darkness and not climb out? No, I’m happy to leave you trying to climb out from the pits of hell. I did my time and now I’ve found my light with someone new.” I scream out in glee, thankful to get every little part off my chest until I look up into Rich’s eyes and see the pure fury and the tell-tale tick in his jaw just before his anger unleashes.
“What did you say?” He inches forward, closer and closer while I curl my hand into a fist and move as close to the coffee table as I can.
“Which part exactly – the part about your hollow heart in the darkness or the fact I’m with someone else?” I say sweetly as I watch his calculating moves.
“Someone else has touched what’s mine?” He growls until he’s inches from my face. I grab the lamp at the base and swing at him, but he grabs my hand and stops any impact and the lamp falls back to the coffee table. “Not a chance in hell are you going anywhere, bitch.”
As he loosens his grip slightly, I go for the lamp again with my other hand. This time my swing hits him hard on the side of the head and he falters. I make a run for the door but he’s too fast. He lunges for me with lightning speed and we crash into the door. His head and my shoulder take the impact and I feel a searing pain instantly. We fall to the floor together. My head makes contact with the hard wooden floor and his body pins me down. I notice his eyes roll to the back of his head and for a split second, I think I’ve made it and I can escape but then my own body fails me as I start to drift into unconsciousness.
A burning smell starts to fill my nostrils. My eyes flit in fear when I notice the box; Rich’s cigarette. I shudder as the flames start to climb higher and higher as I lay in shock coming back to consciousness, groggy and transfixed by the flames.
“No,” I scream but my lungs feel heavy. I punch Rich's back hard as I try to move his body off mine, but I can't. “Help, please…”
But then it all turns dark.
10
AIDEN
I’ve just come back from a bushfire call. It seems today is one of those days where I don't have two minutes to piss, let alone think about my girl, but I have to find the time, somehow. I need to check in with her and Levi, and ease my rolling gut which isn't a great sensation to have when out saving lives.
I grab a glance at my cell and notice that Jake is currently preoccupied with some paperwork when my heart drops in my stomach. I have missed calls from Levi. I pace back and forth and gather my thoughts before I head in between two of the engines in the garage and call him back. “Levi, what's up?”
“I’m almost there, just driving into town now.” He heaves, clearly out of breath. “There's no answer from Blaire.”
“What do you mean there's no answer?” I reply in panic, an ache forming in my chest.
I look up and see my best friend staring at me. His eyes bore straight at me and his jaw ticks. I avoid his gaze and drop my head down, about to speak when the familiar siren sounds loud and to the familiar beat. The radio transmission comes alive. “Smoke has been alerted from the apartment above Pete’s bakery.”
“Everyone out?” Jake asks calmly as he presses the button on his walkie-talkie.
