Chapter 5
After I threw a shirt over the window, I barely slept, tossing and turning as I tried to figure out what to do.
I had to break the trajectory of his fixation.
I could not let it develop into a full-blown obsession.
That meant, despite the risk, I had to leave in the morning before anyone else was up.
Once I was safely away, I would hire someone to somehow wipe the phone remotely and delete that picture.
I got up when dawn was still hovering on the horizon, and it took all the courage I had to open that doorknob.
Lucian was still sleeping.
I didn’t know if I could continue seeing him, knowing what his son had done to me.
My skin prickled.
I waited until I was almost falling asleep on my feet.
And the massive walls of the manor waited around me.
But there was only silence from outside.
The walls felt heavy, dark. Was there something sticky on them?
No, it was just my imagination.
My heart was pounding harder than it ever had in my life as I eased the door open, silently praying to all the gods it wouldn’t make any noise.
Please please. . .
When I eased it open, I gripped my purse tightly and stepped outside.
Lucian would have to bring my luggage back to town, because no way in hell I was ever coming back here.
So much for my dreams of becoming Lady Lark Devereaux of Ashgrove Manor.
I almost sagged against the doorframe with relief.
Gabriel wasn’t there.
The hall was empty.
If I was lucky, he’d sleep until noon and forget all about me.
My knees weak, I stumbled over to the stairs and down to the first floor.
Everything looked less sinister in the morning, the hallways lit with a soft pinkish peach glow.
But I remembered how it had felt last night.
Things weren’t as they seemed here.
I hurried out the front door, past the stagnant waters of the pond as fall leaves drifted gently across the surface, strange bubbles breaking in random, gray bursts.
The sharp rocks jutting out looked massive.
How deep was this pond?
Almost crying in relief, I made it to my car. My hands were shaking so badly that I could barely get the key in the lock.
But finally I got it in and threw my purse in the driver’s seat.
Yes!
Jamming the key in the ignition, I punched down on the gas.
I was going to get out of here and tell Lucian we were over unless he promised I would never have to be around his son ever again.
But nothing happened.
I turned the key again, desperately this time.
Still nothing.
Shit, what could be wrong with it?
This was a new car; I regularly got it serviced.
The hell?
I twisted the key again, jamming my foot down on the gas pedal as if I’d get another result.
“Come on!” I cried in frustration.
Then a shadow fell across my window and loomed over my steering wheel.
I shrieked as Gabriel’s hand shot out and slammed into my driver’s side mirror, knocking it askew with a savage, brutal blow. I screamed again as he punched the mirror, shattering the glass this time and knocking the whole thing onto the ground with a crash.
Then he turned and put his hands on the top of my car.
He had a gray hoodie on, his eyes glinting out at me under that dark shock of hair.
“Going somewhere without me?”
For a moment I couldn’t speak.
“You—know I am!”
His knuckles were bleeding where the jagged pieces of mirror had cut him, but he didn’t even seem to notice.
Gabriel jerked his head.
“Come out of there.”
I shook my head vigorously.
OK, this was embarrassing, but surely at some point someone would wake up and rescue me?
“Help!” I cried, even though I didn’t know if anyone could hear me. “Someone come help me!”
Gabriel’s lips twisted with a sick smile and he picked up a tire iron and slammed it down onto the hood of my car.
I screamed and he did it again.
There was a massive dent in my hood now and it was starting to smoke.
“Get the fuck out of there. I want you.”
“You’re a psycho!”
He didn’t even pause, just smiled at me with that twisted grin.
“Yeah, I am. So get the fuck out of there.”
I flung myself into the passenger seat as he put the tire iron in between the handle and the door.
Crack
Another splintering metallic groan.
But my fingers had barely reached the opposite door handle when he broke through and clamped one hard hand on my ankle.
I squealed as he yanked me back, dragging me across the console and dash.
“Don’t go, baby girl.”
He smelled like smoke and ice, sin and fear, as he held me against his chest.
“What’s wrong with you? Let me go!”
“No. What would you ever need to leave me for?”
His voice was rough and ragged, his hand snaking around my chest to spread across my breasts.
The feel of his fingers digging into my soft curves made me moan with fear at the sheer brazen obscenity of his touch.
With his other hand, he cupped my pussy, the thin fabric of my yoga pants barely any protection against him.
I struggled in his arms, but his grip was like an iron bar. Bucking against his hold was doing nothing but making me panic.
My body shook with fear, but he only pressed me closer.
Maybe I needed to lie.
“I’ll come back,” I said, trying to calm my wildly beating heart. “Really.”
“You’re not going to leave.”
“Why?”
“I want your ass trapped here.”
“I will never be trapped here!” I seethed.
“Oh?” he asked, and then he turned to my car, putting his big shoulders against the frame. Then he shoved, and I gasped as the car began to move, picking up speed, then faster now, as Gabriel pushed it to the precipice looking over the dense, heavy pond.
Then it tipped over the edge.
My frozen feet suddenly moved, and I darted over to watch the car shoot down the steep embankment and plunge headfirst into the cool, oozing waters.
My boots slipped on the slick, early-morning grass, and Gabriel grabbed me by the back of the hoodie.