Thirty-Eight
Ameila
S omething isn’t right—my whole body hurts . . .
Why does my body hurt?
Okay, Amelia, don’t panic. Let’s take stock of body parts.
I wiggle my fingers and toes to check, and everything is still there .
Okay, let’s try to stand up.
Attempting to stand, I feel something tug at my arms and legs.
Okay, I can’t stand up. What the fuck happened?
The last thing I remember is getting out of the Jeep at the farm, then disarming the alarm . . . then nothing.
Around me, I can hear the pumps cycling on and off, so I know I’m still at the farm. I hear a door close in the distance, voices, and then a door opening and closing.
Peeking through slitted eyes, I can tell I’m in the part of the farm that’s under construction.
“Good evening, Amelia.”
I fight a shiver . . . I know that voice. It’s the voice that haunted me for so long after I left DC.
“I know you’re awake, you stupid bitch. Open your eyes.”
As I open my eyes, a lifeless gaze glares back at me. It’s the man I saw at the store . . .
“Leo?” I work hard to keep my voice level.
His blue eyes, which once shone brightly, are now dull and bloodshot. He went from physically fit and one of the most put-together men I’ve ever seen to . . . a man who’s far too skinny, with greasy hair long enough to cover his eyes and a thick, full beard that looks like it hasn’t been trimmed in years.
He brushes my hair out of my face. “Aren’t you excited to see me, sweetie?”
Absolutely not.
I would rather see literally anyone else, but I can’t let him know that.
I look around to see if I can see who’s here with him, unless I imagined another voice.
“What’s going on, Leo? Why am I tied to a chair?”
“I need to make sure you hear me out, and I don’t trust you to not leave me again.”
I freeze at his statement.
His voice has an edge to it that makes me nervous.
Without breaking eye contact, I wiggle my hands to see if there’s any way I can slip out. “What do you want to talk about?”
“We were so good together, weren’t we, Amelia?” He walks around me, dragging his fingers over my shoulders.
Forcing myself not to move a muscle, I hesitate before answering. My gut is telling me that one wrong word will be the deciding factor in how this will go. I don’t know his angle. Hell, I don’t even know why he’s here.
“We had some very good memories, and I’ll treasure a lot of those memories forever.”
“Everything was perfect!” he yells, spittle hitting my face, and I fight back a gag from his breath that smells more like a liquor store than anything else. “I was up for a promotion! You were working a respectable job. Why did you leave me, Amelia? You ruined everything, and I told you I would make you pay!”
It all starts to click together. The fish randomly dying, the lock on the door here at the greenhouse. “Were you the one who was killing off my fish?” My eyes widen in surprise as I put the pieces together.
“Of course, it was me,” he says as he starts pacing.
“I didn’t mean to ruin anything, Leo. I wasn’t happy in DC. You were so happy with your job, and your family was there. You were doing big things. We grew apart, Leo.”
“You are mine! Mine , Amelia!” He picks up a scrap piece of wood and throws it toward me.
It whooshes next to my ear as it just misses me, the breeze fluttering loose strands of my hair.
My heart is pounding so hard I can hear it in my ears.
He bends so that we’re eye level again. His breathing is labored, and his eyes are wild. “It’s time to come back home and end this pipe dream. I need to show them that I deserve my job back.”
I fight to pull back as he talks.
“Leo, I can’t just leave. I have people who count on me here. What happened with your job?”
I’m hoping talking about himself distracts him just long enough that I can figure out my next steps. I don’t know how I’ll be able to call for help, so I have to figure out if I can get away.
“What happened to my job? I’ll tell you what happened!” He straightens and starts pacing and flailing his arms. “You left me to come live in Hicktown, and I couldn’t focus on anything after you left. I waited for you to come back and apologize. I had to use the resources at work to find you, and apparently, that was a misuse of government time and property.” He spins on his heel to face me again and stalks toward me. Bending at the waist, he looks me in the eye as he puts his hands on the arms of the chair. “It took me longer to find you after I lost my job, but I never stopped looking. And once I got close, I was able to get some . . . inside help.”
What the fuck, he really has lost it.
I fight to maintain eye contact, which infuriates me because I worked so hard to be confident enough to hold eye contact with men. But his presence sends me back to the habits I created to make my life easier when we were together.
“I’m sorry that happened to you, Leo. That wasn’t my intention.” I truly mean that too.
He might have been a controlling, mentally abusive asshole, but I’m not one to wish ill will on someone. Now, if you had asked me four years ago, I would have told you I’m glad it happened. But I’ve moved past that. I just wanted to live my life on my terms with someone who treated me as an actual partner.
Luke.
My chest constricts at the thought of him finding out what’s happening.
“Now you’re down here with your dirty animals, whoring around with that man. I knew Pam was a bad influence on you, but maybe you were always just as bad as her. It’s time to come to your senses and come back home with me. You have ten minutes to decide if you’ll come with me willingly or if I’ll burn everything in this shithole down and take you forcefully.”
With that, he stands and walks away from me, mumbling to himself.
As he walks to the door that leads outside, I allow myself to panic. He must have taken my phone since I don’t feel it in my pocket anymore, so Pam can’t track me when I don’t show up.
How long have I been here?
Regardless, if I don’t touch base soon, she’ll alert the troops. Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I freeze on my first inhale. Leo says something as he walks out the door, but it’s the smell of gasoline that sends my brain into overdrive.
Tears fill my eyes because I don’t know what to do.
Do I go with him and hope someone can find me before we get too far away? Or do I try to slip away before he can get me anywhere?
I have to try and get away. I can’t risk him getting me even a couple of towns away. My only chance will be when he unties me enough for me to stand.
This is my farm. I know this place like the back of my hand. I can do this, if not for me, for the people I care about.
He comes back into the room and walks back toward me. He places a finger under my chin to make me look at him. “That fear looks so pretty on you. Are you going to come with me willingly?”
I hear a door open to my left, and someone walks toward us.
So I didn’t imagine hearing someone else.
“The other subject is on fire, and the fire department is tied up with that. There will be a delay in someone getting here. What’s the hold up here?” the new person says.
I know that voice too . . . There’s no fucking way this is happening right now.
“Amelia and I are just having a chat about what’s going to happen next,” Leo says without breaking eye contact with me.
“What happens next is we start the fire, you leave, and I save her. That was our agreement.”
I look to my side and find Brian.
Of course, this fucker was his inside man. Why is this my life?
“Brian?” I ask, confused. “What are you doing here?”
He turns to me. “Well, simple. You wouldn’t give me the time of day. Always saying you weren’t ready to date. Then Luke comes to town, and you start dating. So when your friend here said he wanted to make you pay for something you did before moving here, I figured, why not? He destroys the farm you were always so busy with, and I come in and save the day.” Turning back to Leo, he continues. “Except you were supposed to be knocked out and not know any of this. What the fuck, man? This isn’t how this is supposed to happen.”
“Plans change. If you think I’m going to leave Amelia in this stupid-ass town to be with you, you’re as stupid as you look.” Leo pulls a gun from his lower back and shoots before Brian even has a chance to dodge the bullet.
I close my eyes and scream as the sound of the gunshot echoes off the empty walls of the greenhouse.
Peeling my eyes open, I see Brian lying on the ground, blood starting to pool around him.
Holy Fuck.
“Sorry about that. I just had to tie up some loose ends before the next step happens.” Turning back to face me, he says, “Now, you have a choice. You can come with me willingly, or you can make this very difficult for both of us. Either way, you’re coming with me.”
I make eye contact for a second and lower my eyes, easily falling into the roll he expects from me. “I realize my mistake. I’ll come with you.”
“I knew once you realized how much we need each other, you would see it my way.” Leaning forward, he kisses my forehead, and I fight to sit still with my eyes down.
The ropes holding me down loosen, but I still can’t move my hands. But I don’t need my hands to run. I just need to get to the other side of the door that connects to the main area with the offices to be able to hit one of the panic buttons.
And to think I thought the panic button was overkill.
He ties my hands in front of me and uses my elbow to help me balance as I stand.
“No funny business. I don’t want to have to use my contingency plan,” he says, pointing to the gas cans scattered around.
I don’t say anything as we take a couple of steps, and I pretend to trip.
“You always were a clumsy bi—”
I throw my elbow into his stomach, and as he doubles over, I throw my head back to hit his nose.
I see spots when my head connects with something hard with a crunch. His hand loosens enough for me to twist out of his grip, and I take off. I can hear him behind me, and I get to the door, throw it open, and slam my hand on the panic button.
“Why do you have to do this the hard way? There’s no way out without me, Amelia.” He grabs me by the hair, and a whimper escapes my lips.
Turning me to face him, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lighter. I now realize it smells like gas in here too.
“You can come with me, or you can burn with me. The choice is yours.” He clicks the lighter on and off as he waits for my answer.
I’m fucked.
I hit the button, but I don’t know what the response time is.
My life and the future I could have flash before my eyes.
I know two things for sure.
I’ll miss my babies, and I wish I had told Luke how I feel instead of being a chicken and fighting it. In the distance, my office phone rings, and Leo grips my arm tighter.
“I hope for your sake you didn’t alert anyone.”
“I’ll tell them I have no idea what happened. You’ll have the benefit of a head start if you just leave now, but if I don’t answer that call, they’ll alert the authorities.”
Based on how we set the system up, I have about two rounds of calls before they alert the local police department and my emergency contacts.
His face turns red. “I’m not leaving without you, and if I can’t have you, no one else can.”
He flicks the Zippo lighter with his finger, and without a second thought, he drops it.
The flames race around the room, leading to the gas tanks he has around the farm. I flick my eyes to the ceiling, hoping my fire system works.
“I cut the water system. We aren’t getting out of here alive. It’s you and me forever.”