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Yet, I pause right before entering the apartment driveway.
From this distance, I can see straight to Rena's apartment, and through the sliding glass, I see a man in a black cloak that looks suspiciously like the professor. He's talking to Delilah and Rena.
My instinct is to rush in but I still it for a second when I see him move.
He’s pulling something out of his cloak. A gun.
He has a fucking gun on her.
Rage and fear explode through me. Fear not for myself but for Delilah. If anything happens and the gun goes off, she’s dead. Just like that.
Her life is held so tentatively in this maniac's hands and if I make a wrong move she’s dead. I need to call the police, but I can’t wait for them to get here. Any minute now he could let the bullet fly and she’d be gone.
I can’t lose her. Not when I just found her.
I need to dosomething.
Chapter Nineteen
Delilah
Everythingfreezesforafew seconds.
I’m blinking at Theo as he stands at the doorway, his tweed jacket billowing in the slight wind behind him. I shiver a little too but it’s not from the draft. It’s from the look in his eyes, a dark look that I can’t put a finger on but it makes me uncomfortable.
“Hello, Delilah," he says smoothly as he drops his briefcase on the side table, fitting a charming smile on his face. “Have you been well?”
“Call the police, Delilah.” Rena’s voice is still too light, and when I glance back, I see that she’s gone completely pale. Her eyes are wide with horror as she watches Theo, one shaking hand still extending toward me. “Now!”
I don’t know what’s happening but the fear in her words springs me into action. I’m scrambling in my bag for my phone when I hear a little click. Everything goes still.
“I already told you it’s too late," Theo says again, and this time a shiver goes down my spine. Fear tenses up my muscles, echoing in my chest. I can feel the threat in the atmosphere even before I hear Rena’s gasp, and look up.
And then it’s my turn to gasp.
Theo is very casually holding a gun pointed right at me.
It’s an odd feeling because my body is reacting before my mind can conceptualize what's happening. My heart starts pounding in my chest and my legs shake, but I’m still asking stupidly, “What are you doing?”
“You know, it’s great that you’re here,” he says in that same damn conversational tone. “I was wondering how I was going to lure you out, but you’ve made this easy for me.”
“Lure me out? What are you—” It hits me then like a sledgehammer. The possibility seems too horrific to contemplate but it's the only thing that makes sense in this fever dream. “You’re the one who left me the note.”
“Bingo,” he responds and smiles again, a reptilian grin that only heightens my terror. “I thought you knew. I thought that was why you sent your little boyfriend to come scare me off." His smile tightens at the word boyfriend and it adds a bite to his expression.
“Didn't work," he adds, as though it's important to show me that he couldn't be spooked. "But I had to make him believe it did, at least until I got the next phase of my plan sorted out. And you've made this so easy for me. Thank you, my love."
He calls the last part out to Rena who meets my eyes and shakes her head, as if trying to tell me that she wasn't involved in setting the trap.
But she knew how dangerous he was. She told me to call the police when I told her about the note. When and how did she figure it out?
"Now, here’s how this is going to go," Theo says in the following silence. "You’re both going to go over there and sit like good little girls until I plan our escape trip. But actually, before that, Rena, why don’t you be a dear and go to the drawer by the TV and grab the cable ties?"
My heart is racing right now, and I glance back at Rena who looks even more terrified than I am. We share a look but I’m not sure what the look says other than we both can’t believe that this is happening.
“Now, Rena.”
The quiet order in Theo’s voice gets her moving and she starts practically stumbling toward the drawer in question. Her hands shake as she pulls it open and reaches in.
