Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
So many times Fletcher had held her like this. But it didn't feel right. It had never felt right, because he wasn’t the man she wanted and needed.
Everleigh pulled away, more desperate than ever to see Knox. She lifted her head and realized that, as he'd comforted her, he'd slowly moved them away from the door of the hospital.
“Oh, but—”
“No.” He shook his head. “Come on, my car’s right over here. I'll take you home.”
“No.” She tried to pull away, but his hands tightened around her biceps. Fear rippled through her as a dark look entered his eyes.
“I have to go,” she said. “My mother is waiting for me.”
She spun, breaking his hold momentarily. But a second later, something cold and hard pressed into her side as he wrapped his free arm around her shoulders. “Don’t be stupid. Start walking.”
She didn't have to look down to recognize the pistol. Her breath stuttered, and he took advantage of her hesitation. “That's right,” he said softly. “I'm parked right over here.”
He dropped his hand from her shoulders as he guided them quickly across the parking lot to a small black sedan. A chill ran through her as she recognized it from the day she had been run off the road while jogging. Keys jangled as he passed them to her. “You're driving.”
She took a step toward the driver side, and he made a low sound in his throat. “Not a chance. Climb across the seat.”
She followed him to the passenger side, then crawled over the console and settled behind the steering wheel. Her lungs felt tight and her hands trembled as she shakily shoved the key into the ignition.
“Let's go.” He gestured impatiently with the gun, and she put the car in gear.
“Where are we going?”
“Shut up and drive!”
She barely managed to bite her tongue to keep from snapping back at him. Silence fell over the car as she drove out of town. As they drove, she waited for him to say something, to explain what he thought he was doing. She watched as he rooted through her purse, then dug out her phone.
He held it out to her, a scowl on his face. “What’s your password?”
She threw an angry glare his way, a retort on the tip of her tongue. But she had to be smart about this. Needling him would only make things worse. Instead, she recited the passcode and watched as he punched it in then began to type away.
The vibration of her phone sounded like a rumble of thunder breaking the silence.
Every muscle in her body tensed as one ring turned into two…
three. The vibrations eventually stopped, broken by a short pause before starting up all over again.
Relief rushed through her. Zane had realized she was gone; he would tell Knox.
Then all hell would break loose.
“He’ll come for me,” she said softly.
“Oh, I’m counting on it,” he said darkly.
His words sent a chill down her spine. “Why are you doing this?”
He let out a mirthless laugh. “Is that a serious question? You had everything, and you threw it all away for what? Some piece of trailer trash who lives in a shack?”
Anger burst through her at hearing him reduce the place she and Knox called home to a shack. It was a thousand times better than the luxury apartment she had shared with Fletcher in the city. At least Knox’s home was full of love; she could hardly say the same for her ex.
“You made a mockery of me,” he seethed. “Everyone looks at me differently, like I’m the problem. I won’t stand for it.”
“W-what are you talking about?” Her fingers clenched on the wheel as he leaned close, and she fought the urge to recoil.
“Did you really think I’d just let you go?” In her peripheral vision, she watched him shake his head. “Not a chance. You’re mine, Everleigh. You belong to me, and I’ll do whatever I have to.”
The ominous words ricocheted through the cabin of the car. “Don’t do this,” she pleaded softly. “This isn’t Knox’s fault. I’ll do whatever you want—just leave him alone.”
“He’ll do anything to keep you safe, won’t he?”
His words caused goosebumps to break out over her arms. She knew Knox would never let anything happen to her, but it worried her that Fletcher seemed to sense the same thing.
All she cared about at this point, though, was making sure no one got hurt.
Especially not Knox. “Please. I’ll go with you. I’ll—”
“You’ll do whatever I say,” he ground out, the pistol waving in her face.
She sucked in a breath and flinched a little. “Okay, okay. I will, I promise. Just tell me what to do.”
He still hadn’t told her where they were going, but she had a sinking feeling she already knew even before he gestured to the road coming up on their left.
“Turn.”
Her stomach twisted as she navigated the car onto the bumpy road that led to Knox’s house. She strove for reason. “As soon as they realize I’m gone, they’ll alert the authorities. They’ll—”
“We’ll be long gone before that… Emily.”
Surprise rendered her speechless, and she turned to look at him for a second. “What?”
“Like it?” He sat back in his seat with a little smile. “That’s what your new passport says. From here on out, we are Emily and Kirk Tilson.”
He was insane. There was no way this would work. “Fletcher—”
“Kirk,” he abruptly cut her off. “May as well get used to it now.”
Her head spun. She had to figure out how to get out of this. It made her sick to think of what he was planning. He knew Knox would come for her. He would draw Knox out, kill him, then kidnap her and take her God knew where. She wouldn’t let that happen.
Fletcher was completely out of his mind. He claimed he couldn’t live without her, yet it didn’t seem to dawn on him that she could have been seriously injured when her car crashed. She could have been killed, and then—
Her entire body stilled as something suddenly occurred to her. She didn’t want to believe it, but… “You poisoned my father.”
A grimace passed over his face. “Sorry about that. I genuinely liked him. But when he took your side… I didn’t have a choice.”
“He’s my father,” she snapped. “Of course he took my side.”
She knew getting angry wouldn’t help the situation, but he’d blown past the line of reason long ago.
“It was supposed to be me!” Fletcher yelled. “All that hard work, and the coward rolled over just when things were starting to fall into place.”
So, he’d been blackmailing her father the whole time. The pictures, everything. “Why?”
“I wanted you back, and he wanted you to come back, too. We both knew it was best for you. You just needed a little nudge.” He shrugged.
“I thought the photographs would do it. You called me, and I was amazed that it had worked so quickly. He was supposed to keep pushing you my way until you came back. Instead, you ran to him.”
His voice turned petulant, cold. “I’ll never let him have you.”
Anger and upset warred inside her in equal measure, but she didn’t have time to dissect her feelings right now. She needed to figure out how to alert Knox of what was about to happen so he didn’t walk into a trap.
“Slow down.”
She automatically let off the accelerator and allowed the car to coast. In the entire time they’d been driving on this road, they hadn’t passed another vehicle.
Not that she could have flagged anyone down for help.
Fletcher obviously had zero compunction getting rid of anyone who interfered with his plans.
They came along a wooded stretch of road, and Fletcher gestured. “Pull in here and park behind the brush.”
She maneuvered the car over the bumpy terrain, then put it in park and cut the engine, wondering if she could make a break for it.
Knox’s house was only half a mile up the road on the right; her parents’ was through the woods at a diagonal.
She’d have to cut in front of Fletcher to get to either place, but she knew these woods well.
If she could just evade him long enough to get a head start…
He seemed to read her thoughts. “Don’t do anything stupid. Climb out on my side.”
She unbuckled and crawled across the seats. “Easy now,” he said, the pistol trained on her. “Let’s go.”
He kept her in front of him, the gun pressing into her lower back as he urged her toward Knox’s house. As they walked through the woods, an idea occurred to her, and she slowly began to cut to her right.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
She motioned off to her left. “The ground is wet over there where the culvert runs. I figured you’d want to stay over here.” She tossed a look his way. “Less chance of leaving footprints.”
He regarded her suspiciously but finally nodded. It didn’t matter that the leaves would be disturbed. That could have been done by anything. What was important was that Knox’s perimeter wire was set up out this way. If she tripped it on the way in, he’d know exactly where they were.
Her gaze flitted around, and her heart leaped when she finally saw the trail camera mounted high up in the tree.
Sliding a glance Fletcher’s way, she studied him briefly to see if he’d noticed.
He hadn’t. She bit down on her tongue and tried to regulate her breathing so she wouldn’t give anything away.
She angled them so they walked directly in the line of sight and prayed that Knox would be there soon.