Chapter 29
Any Distance Is Too Much
Emily's Search History: are there any legal loopholes that let you live with an ex-patient if they technically kidnapped you?
Emily
“How was your holiday?” Kayla squeals as I walk into the reception area. It’s Monday, eight days after Eli kidnapped me, and here I am pretending like I’ve not been kept inside by a madman for a week.
“So good,” I tell her, hoping she doesn’t ask me too many questions.
No such luck.
“Where did you go?”
Fuck.
“Italy. To see my parents.”
Kayla sighs. “You’re so lucky you basically get a free holiday home.”
It would be nice. It’s a shame I haven’t been able to visit them, too scared that Gia would somehow know I’m there.
Damn Eli for being right. I am more scared of her than I am him.
For some reason, I trust that Eli will do everything in his power to keep me from harm.
I can’t say the same for Gia. Which means…
he is the lesser of two evils. At some point, I need to get away from him, but for now, I can use him as a shield.
“And who was that eyeful on the bike? You hopped off like a total pro. I didn’t realise that was your thing.” She eyes my outfit. “The leather’s a good look on you.”
I freeze, caught off guard at Kayla’s question. Plastering yet another fake smile on my face I wave her off. “Oh no one, just a friend giving me a lift.”
Thank God his face is covered by the helmet. If she knew that I was not only getting lifts with but also living with an ex-patient?
God. This breaches so many ethical codes it’s not even funny.
She raises a brow but doesn’t intrude further, clearly sensing my reluctance to give details.
“Has my first client arrived?” I ask Kayla, scanning the room for my patient.
“Oh, no. Lila cancelled last minute.”
Well, that gives me some time to check on all my emails and get caught up on the past week.
I quickly rush to get changed from the leather trousers and jacket Eli made me wear, and into my usual work outfit.
He refused to let me on the bike without them but also refused to take his car or let me walk.
Thankfully, I did manage to convince him that the jacket he got me with his name on—because of course he did—was not the appropriate attire for my workplace.
The morning flies by, and lunch sneaks up on me. I decide to eat at my desk, not wanting to give Gia any opportunities to find me by going outside.
I order a baguette to be delivered from the cafe down the road and shuffle through paperwork while I wait.
There’s a knock on my door. “Come in,” I call out, expecting the delivery man.
Kayla pokes her head in. “Hey, your old patient Eli is here. Said you had a lunchtime appointment.”
I barely contain my surprise. “Oh, right. Yes, of course. Send him in.”
A few moments later Eli is walking in, carrying a paper bag. He walks in as if this is all totally normal.
“Hi Angel,” he greets, exaggeratedly falling onto the sofa by my desk.
“What are you doing here?” I hiss.
I can’t have him showing up randomly. It sets me on edge. The risk of being caught is too great—and I’m not even really the one doing anything. It’s him. He kidnapped me. He forced me to live with him. Yet I feel guilty. It’s me that feels like I’m doing something wrong.
“I bought you lunch. Thought we could eat together,” he explains, shrugging nonchalantly and pulling out a panini from his bag.
“I already ordered something.”
Eli laughs. “I know, I cancelled it.”
I check my delivery app. Sure enough. Cancelled.
“How?” I ask through gritted teeth.
Eli rolls his eyes at me. “I bought the phone, Angel.”
Of course. I should have known that accepting a gift from him came with strings.
“You can have it back. I’ll buy one myself.”
Eli leans forward with predatory grace. “How else can I keep you safe, Angel? This is how I can track you.”
My fists clench at my sides. “You can’t control my life, Eli.”
His face takes on a far-off look as he speaks, eyes glazed over.
“You think it’s about control,” his voice drops to a jagged rasp, “but it’s the opposite.
I’m the one who doesn’t have control. The second you walk out the door, my lungs start to fail.
I need the dot on the map. Watching you isn’t a choice I make.
It’s the only way I can breathe.” He stares at me, unblinking.
“It’s not about keeping you prisoner, Angel. I’m keeping you in existence.”
I’m stunned into silence. A cavern in my chest opens, breaking for the abandoned boy inside him.
But then he shakes his head, clearing away the past as he grins, placing the panini in front of me. Brie, bacon, caramelised onion. My favourite.
I snatch it up, tearing into it angrily.
He just leans back against the sofa cushions, looking smug.
“How was your morning?” he asks as the silence stretches painfully between us.
“I’m sure you already know it was fine.”
He grins. “I know what you did. Doesn’t mean I know how you felt about it.”
I shake my head at him, finishing my panini while trying desperately not to focus on his lips as they wrap around his own sandwich. He moans low in his throat as he chews. My thighs clench. I know he’s doing it on purpose.
“I missed you this morning,” he says once he’s finished.
I glare at him. “You’ve been watching me. How could you miss me?”
He stands, leaning over my desk. I gulp.
He smirks. “I’ve had you by my side for the past week, Angel.
Any distance is too much.” I open my mouth, ready to argue, hoping he’s not about to take away my freedom.
He pulls back, collecting the rubbish and placing it in the bin by the door. “See you later. I’ll drive you home.”
Then he’s gone. But his presence lingers for the rest of the afternoon.
I can feel his eyes on me still.
There's a gap in my schedule reserved for admin, but instead I snoop around my own office, trying—and failing—to find some indication that he's got cameras hidden somewhere.
Giving up my search, I huff, annoyed. I know he's watching. I just know it. But I don't know how.
The rest of the week is much the same. Eli drives me to and from work on his bike, I see my clients, he brings me lunch a few times (which I have to play off as appointments), then we ride home.
In the evenings he makes dinner for us both, then we sleep in the same bed.
Because of course, he refuses to let me sleep elsewhere.
It’s Friday now. Gia hasn’t shown any signs of coming after me yet. And with my new phone number, she hasn’t texted. But that hasn’t eased the anxiety.
I step out of my office, my usual mask in place, covering my emotional turmoil.
Liam stands as I enter. Other therapists at the practice make their patients come to them, rather than greeting them in the waiting room, but I find they open up to you more if you’re more personable.
Make them feel valued, and they’re more likely to give you the truth.
“How are you today, Liam?” I ask as I close the door to my office.
Liam doesn’t sit on the sofa. Instead, he stands staring at me. I decide to remain standing too, not wanting him to talk down to me.
“Where were you last week?” he asks me, his tone almost accusing.
“That’s not really any of your business,” I explain, but then I offer a half truth. “I took the week off for some personal time.” Not a complete lie.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
I fight to remain professional at his questioning. “Liam, we’re not here to discuss me or my personal life.”
He finally sits. “Sorry.”
“What’s going on?” I ask, taking my seat across from him.
“It’s just my intrusive thoughts.”
“What are they saying?”
“That you’re in danger.”
I press my lips together. “For any particular reason?”
“I don’t know. I just have this feeling.”
Well, I might well be in danger if Gia ever finds me. But he doesn't know that.
“As we discussed last time, the thoughts are not rooted in reality. There is no reason for you to think I’m in danger.”
He squeezes his hands into fists. “Something bad is going to happen. You need to get away from him.”
I shake my head, smiling warmly, despite the anxiety inside me kicking up. “I promise, nothing is going to happen to me.”
Liam is tense for the rest of our session, but I think I manage to get through to him by the time it’s over.
It’s only once he’s left that I process his words fully. You need to get away from him. Him who? Eli? How would Liam know about that?
In the waiting room, Carina is waiting by Kayla’s desk.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, a slight spring to my step as I come closer.
“Lunch,” Carina declares. “You haven’t been answering my texts.”
I follow her out to the cafe down the road. The same one I sat in with Eli all those weeks ago. Back when I didn’t know he was my stalker.
Once we’re seated with our food at an outdoor table, Carina leans in. “Why have you been ignoring me?” she asks, hurt lacing her tone.
My shoulders drop. “I didn’t mean to… I—” I’m about to lie, but then I realise, she’s the one person in the world I can actually be honest with.
Just as I’m about to open my mouth again, Tess walks past.
Carina waves her down, and she drops into the spare seat dramatically.
Conflict rises inside me. Being friends with Carina is one thing.
Our friendship formed after our therapist-patient relationship was well over and a sea separated us.
But Tess? She’s technically still my patient.
But I guess if I’m breaking the rules with Eli, what’s one more person to add to the list?
Carina rests her hand on her chin expectantly. “So?”
“What’s happening?” Tess asks, leaning in excitedly.
Indecision wars inside me. Fuck it.
I drop my head closer to them, lowering my voice. “You know how I told you about my stalker?”
Carina nods. Tess’s eyebrows shoot upwards. “You have a stalker?” she whisper-yells, clearly trying very hard not to shout the words as she wants to.
I dip my chin in confirmation. “Well… I kind of live with him now.”
Carina laughs. Loudly. Heads turn. She grins sheepishly. “Sorry, I just can’t believe you of all people have—”
“A stalker? I know, I don’t understand why he’s interested in me.”
Carina rolls her eyes. “I was going to say—fallen for a criminal.”
“I have not fallen for him. This is the thing. He kidnapped me.”
Immediately the two of them sit up straighter. Carina bares her teeth. “I’ll kill him,” she hisses.
I snatch her hand in mine, holding her still so she doesn’t do just that. “No. I don’t need you to do that. I’m okay.”
Tess gapes at me in shock. “Start from the beginning and do not leave a single detail out because seriously, what the actual fuck?”
So, I spend my lunch explaining the past week, telling them all about Eli. I don’t leave out any details. Not one.
Carina’s eyes narrow at the end of my story. “Are you sure I shouldn’t kill him? Tying you to the bed doesn’t sound good—well, maybe in certain situations.” She winks.
“No, there’s no need to kill him. He scared me, and" —I lean in close, keeping my voice as low as possible— “I do eventually need to get away from him, but I don’t think he’s a danger to me.”
Carina smirks. “You like him.”
I blink at her. “What?”
Tess joins in with agreement. “You’re so going to end up with your stalker.”
I look between the two of them as if they’ve sprouted second heads. “Are you insane? He’s a murderer. He tortures people.”
They look at each other, then laugh. “Doc, you know who you’re talking to right?” Carina giggles.
Crap.
The only two people in the world that I might consider friends… are killers. Is Eli really worse than them?
I don’t know anymore.
Carina reaches out a hand to me. “The fact that you defended him when I said I wanted to kill him is telling. You care for him, at least in some capacity. From what you’ve said, it sounds like he’d genuinely do anything for you.
Are his methods unconventional? Sure. But it sounds like his heart is in the right place. ”
I certainly have a lot to think about.
“How is baby Nico?” I ask Tess, moving the topic on.
She gave birth only a couple of weeks ago, I’m surprised she’s even out right now, honestly. Tess groans, dropping her head to the table and running her fingers through her hair. “He hates me.”
Carina rolls her eyes. “He’s a baby. He doesn’t have that emotion.”
“Then why does he cry every time he sees me?”
“Because he’s a baby? Babies cry.”
Tess harrumphs. “He never cries for Kai.”
“Give him time,” I tell her.
She grumbles at us both.
The rest of lunch flies by. Thankfully, I didn’t have a client immediately after as I’ve ended up taking an extra-long break.
“I’ve got to get back to work.”
The three of us walk down the road towards the practice. My hairs stand on end as we get closer.
I scan my eyes around but don’t see anything. Not until we’re at my office.
Leaning outside the building is Eli, arms crossed in front of him, one leg thrown over the other. He looks sinfully hot: tight white t-shirt hugging his muscles, showing off his tanned skin and tattooed arms, and his signature ripped black jeans.
“Angel,” he greets.
Carina and Tess look between the two of us before forming a barrier, stepping in front of me.
Eli smirks, standing straighter.
Carina goes toe-to-toe with him. “I know who you are,” she remarks. “If you hurt one single hair on her head—”
“You’ll what?” Eli asks, tilting his head at her.
She leans in, standing on her toes to whisper in his eyes. His eyes widen. Then he grins. “Noted.”
He moves around Tess to wrap his arm around my shoulders. “Rest assured, ladies, I would never let my Angel come to any harm.”
“You okay?” Carina mouths to me.
“I’m good. I’ll see you guys soon?”
They hesitate for a moment before nodding in unison, then they both disappear. Nate appears, walking the two of them away, though not before he gives me a raised eyebrow.
“What did she say to you?” I ask Eli, shrugging his arm off my shoulder. My eyes flit around, checking that no one saw his casual affection.
He laughs. “That she would skin me alive, chop off my dick, then feed it to me.”
Okay then.
“That’s not an idle threat, you know?” I check.
“Really? It’s not just what girls say?”
“I mean… it might be. But Carina is… well she has certain extracurricular activities.”
His eyes hold a certain amount of surprise. “Good to know. I can handle myself.”
“Seriously. Don’t get on her bad side.”
He rolls his eyes as he pushes me inside, then disappears as I start the rest of my afternoon.