Chapter 3
Three
“I’ve finally found you.”
A shiver runs up my spine at the sound of Kol’s voice. A cry similar to a wounded animal erupts from my throat.
“This is how it’s going to play out. You’re not getting married today. You’re leaving with me.”
My eyes meet his in the mirror, widening in shock, and his delighted eyes shine at my distress. The vibrations from his chuckle thump on my back.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find you?”
Yes. No. I tried not to think about it. About any of it.
I’m not sure what answer he wants or how I’m supposed to answer him with his hand over my mouth. My answer might piss him off, and he’ll snap my neck. There’s no doubt that he could do it with one easy twist of his hands.
“We’re going to leave out the back way without incident. If you scream or fight me in any way, I won’t hesitate to knock you out, understand?”
My heart beats like a bass drum pounding against my rib cage, and my breathing increases. I nod, tears welling in my eyes.
This time, he shows zero reaction to my distress. His burnished copper eyes hold immense resentment and fury, making my stomach curdle. What is he going to do to me once we leave the church? With a man like Kol, it won’t be anything good.
“Do not scream when I remove my hand. Understood?”
I nod as much as I can with his hand covering half my face. I could risk it and scream, but who knows what he’ll do if I defy him? I don’t want to find out.
He slowly removes his hand and steps back. I spin to face him, my limbs trembling.
I’m sucked into a time warp, getting a full look at him instead of his reflection. His hair is still almost shaved off, his jaw sculpted to perfection. The only difference is rather than being dressed in fatigues, he wears a tailored deep blue suit that highlights his broad shoulders. He looks even more lethal in the polished attire.
After four years, my body still purrs at the sight of him, which is beyond messed up since I’m supposed to be marrying another man. And this man wants to harm me.
His gaze roams my body quickly, and his lips furrow into a frown. He yanks me by my wrist, dragging me toward the door. “Let’s go.”
My feet barely hit the floor as we move through the door to the hallway that runs along the side of the sanctuary, then out the side door of the church. He knows the church too well, speaking to his training.
When I realize he’s taking me out of the church, I unsuccessfully try to dig my heels into the tiles.
He doesn’t let up and looks over his shoulder, his eyes brimming with irritation. “Don’t test me, Rapsody.”
It’s as if he’s not talking to me. No one’s called me Rapsody for years.
I stop fussing. Maybe I can escape once we reach the door or call for help when we’re outside the church. I struggle to keep up. He opens the side door and leads us across the grass to a beat-up minivan backed into a parking spot.
Movement from my right draws my attention across the road. I open my mouth, but his hand lands on my neck, squeezing.
“Fuck,” he mutters.
My vision blurs before I can strangle out any words. My limbs grow heavy, and my body goes limp. I think about the first time I met this man and how different I thought he was then.
My mom had developed complications from a MRSA infection, and her doctor told me that she’d likely be hospitalized for at least two weeks.
It was on the second day of my mother’s hospital stay that I first saw him in the cafeteria.
I was tired, emotionally drained, and overwhelmed. I sat quietly crying into a tissue at one of the tables in the cafeteria. She was all I’d ever known. Until she came home with me, healthy and back to her old self, there was no way I’d sleep through the night.
Kol walked in, and I sat up, taking notice. He was in a T-shirt with army cargo pants and boots, dark hair shorn short, and he commanded attention as though it was owed to him. A God-given right.
I was eighteen and sheltered—homeschooled. My mom had never allowed me to have a job or leave the house without her, and even then, it was a rarity. In the couple of days I’d been left alone, it was overwhelming. I shrank back from anyone I encountered, anxiety washing over me.
I wasn’t the only one who noticed Kol. Everyone’s head turned in his direction, but most diverted their eyes right away from his intimidating presence. Not me, though. I couldn’t take my eyes off the man.
He ordered and sat on his own, eating farther down the same row as me.
He turned in my direction, and I swung my gaze down to my food, cheeks heated.
After almost getting caught staring, I forced myself not to look in his direction again. There was no point. Once my mother felt better, she would never allow me to date anyone, let alone him. He was clearly older than me by at least a decade. My mother would never approve of me spending time with him. She didn’t even allow me to walk to the corner store on my own.
I was used to my mother’s overprotectiveness. She was always going on about the dangers of the world and how you can’t trust anyone. After seeing the nightly news at the age of ten, I knew she was right. School shootings, homelessness, mental health issues, political corruption, endless wars—the world overflowed with evil.
Usually, my lack of freedom didn’t bother me, but for the past year, I’d felt antsy, as if there was more for me out there than staying within the walls of our two-bedroom apartment.
While the past two days on my own had been overwhelming and downright scary, the simple freedom of calling a taxi and taking it on my own to the hospital, heck, even just going down to the cafeteria, felt like a small victory. But those thoughts left me feeling guilty because the only reason I was experiencing a little bit of freedom was because my mom was ill.
Maybe once my mom was better, we could discuss the possibility of giving me some more independence. That’s if she got better…
Tears pooled in my eyes as I worried again about the possibility that she might not improve. The doctor had made it clear that her recovery wasn’t a given at this point. I judged myself for thinking about my own life while my mother’s hung on a thread. She had to get better. She just had to.
I stood, grabbing the tray to dispose of the garbage. My vision concentrated on my tray as I passed Kol’s table, and I silently repeated to myself not to look at him. But an urge came over me as I approached, and I just had to take one last look. But in doing so, I didn’t see the doctor cutting through the aisle in the opposite direction. It was too late to prepare for when he passed in front of me, causing me to come to a sudden stop. The empty water bottle resting on my tray tipped over and rolled off.
Right over to the base of Kol’s table.
Having no choice, I swallowed and met his gaze. Rushing over, I bent to pick up the piece of plastic.
“Sorry.” My voice was hardly audible, and I felt my face heat, knowing how beet red I most likely was.
I set the water bottle on my tray, and the damn thing tipped over a second time, rolling off. His hand caught it right before it hit the floor.
I straightened up and locked eyes with him. He held the water bottle out to me, and at that moment, I knew. I knew that this man’s face would be etched into my memory forever. That this moment would play over and over in my head.
What I didn’t know at the time was that our chance meeting would go from us chatting for a few minutes, to him inviting me to sit down, to the two of us meeting again the next day when I came down to the cafeteria. Soon when I told my mom I was going home for the evening, I was really spending my nights with Kol, traipsing around Atlanta and falling in love with him. The biggest surprise was him asking me to marry him before he left for his final deployment.
It happened fast and felt like a whirlwind, a magical sign of fate.
But just as my mother had taught me, the world was filled with cruel individuals.
It was all a lie.
The mechanical hum of something is the first sound my mind registers when I wake up. The second is the slight jostling of the world underneath me.
Am I in a vehicle? Where am I?
My eyes blink open, and it takes a moment to register the softness under me. I’m on a bed in some strange room, based on the pattern of the blanket my cheek is plastered to and the small nightstand to my left.
Something pulls on my hair, and I reach back and feel rough fabric. I pull out my veil. and the nightmare of what happened rushes back to my mind.
I startle and roll over, bolting into a sitting position.
“Good, you’re awake.”
My head whips in the direction of Kol’s voice. He sits in a chair in the corner of the room.
I don’t know how long I’ve been out, but my mother must be freaking out. I can’t imagine her panic when she returned to the room I was in, only to find it empty.
And what about Alistair? He’s going to think I’m some runaway bride.
“Where are we?”
“Probably thirty-five thousand feet above Idaho.”
“What?” I shriek, looking right and left.
My chest tightens, restricting my airflow.
No, no, no.
I force myself to inhale a deep, steadying breath and hold it for a moment before releasing the air through my nose. I do it again a few more times, trying to calm myself.
“I’ve never flown before.” Why am I even bothering to tell him that? He just kidnapped me. He definitely doesn’t care that I feel uneasy being airborne.
He frowns, and a line creases on his forehead as if I’m lying. “How’d you move from Atlanta to outside Seattle?”
“We drove. My mom won’t fly.” I don’t want to discuss that move and why we had to do it in the first place.
I shuffle to the edge of the bed and glance out the small plane window. Seeing the clouds below us makes my stomach swoop as if I jumped from the plane.
Kol remains quiet, but I feel his eyes on me.
I shut my eyes to calm my nerves and get my emotions under control. It’s unbelievable I’m in this confined space with Kol. How many times did I daydream about being with him again? How many times did I wonder what he thought when I didn’t show up at city hall to marry him? And now he’s here.
I have no idea how he’s going to punish me.
“Where are we going?” I ask, not turning around.
“You’ll see.” I can hear the smirk in his voice.
He’s enjoying making me off-kilter. He wants to scare me.
If I give him what he wants and cower to his needs, maybe he’ll let me go? No, probably not. He’ll probably relish his revenge even more.
Maybe I’m best to not show him how deeply afraid I am but rather to act unaffected. Maybe if he doesn’t get the reaction he desires, he’ll tire of me.
My eyes snap open and stare at the clouds again, but this time I don’t balk. I turn and meet his gaze. “Great, tell me when we get there. I’m going to take a nap.”
I step over to the bed, pull back the covers, and slide under the blankets, wedding dress and all. I purposely turn my back on him. But I don’t fall asleep. I lie with my eyes closed and even out my breathing to pretend. After a while, I hear him rise from the chair and walk out of the room. It’s only then that I can take a full breath.
Rolling over, I stare at the ceiling of the plane. How am I ever going to get away from this man?