When we board, I make my way to my seat, but suddenly, with each step I take, my heart starts pounding from out of nowhere.
The hairs at the back of my neck rise.
My insides start tingling with a strange sensation as I step forward. The last time I had this feeling, Julian ambushed me on when I wanted to get away, advised by that bitch, Courtney.
I look behind me, then back at the First-Class cabin. It’s filling up slowly of course, so why am I about to freak-out?
I’m practically persona non grata to Julian now, after he fucked me when I was all but comatose. Or maybe that’s how I decided to table it? I mean I have an amazing history of burying information I don’t want to face. Maybe that steamy night with Julian is was one of them because fuck, I still think of it even years later.
I realized I wasn’t so much as mad at him as I was at myself… It didn’t feel great baring. Myself to a guy who wasn’t in my bed when I woke up. It sucked.
So, it wouldn’t surprise me that by now, he’s probably forgotten all about me anyway and if Cole is a major ladies-man, with a new girl every week, his best friend is Julian, they’re both probably living the same lifestyle.
No bitch, stop overreacting and accept the gifts the universe if giving you.
With that in mind, I reach my seat, deciding not to do what I did before, swapping seats with someone else from Economy.
Mine is the window seat, that makes me a little happy, so I put my bag in the compartment above.
I grab my Kindle, then I strap myself in and plug in my Airpods, ready for the flight back to LA.
I’m so into the book I’m reading that before I know it, I hear the pilot’s voice over the speaking. We took off without me even noticing three things.
One, there’s a tense, silent guy now sitting next to me, wearing all black. When I glance at him, I swear the air between us crackles. He doesn’t once look at me though. His face is in shadows, as the lights in the cabin are now dimmed low. My poor heart kicks into overdrive for nothing.
Two, there’s a new text from a BLOCKED number on my phone I didn’t notice before. Opening it, the words on the screen turn my blood into ice.
There’s a picture. A picture of the contract Nathan made me sign over a forever ago. Just under it is a text:
You threw away our contract. Did you think this was over, Mia?
You belong to me. It’s time you get on your knees.
Oh my God.
But before I can panic, the third and final red flag decides to make itself known when I stumble up onto my feet only to be dragged back down by my seatbelt, but I see it all clearly.
The entire cabin is EMPTY.
There is no one at all. The seats in front of me and behind me are all empty.
It’s just me… and the guy sitting beside me, who I swear on my life is watching me intently.
Without even thinking about it, my jaw drops open and I let out a blood-curdling scream.
Chapter Forty-Four
Mia
In my haze of panic and fear, I fumble to unsnap myself from the seatbelt that’s holding me hostage in this freaking seat!
My heart jackhammers against my chest. All I know is my flight-fight reaction just kicked in and I’m already losing before I make a choice on what to do.
Where are the flight attendants I saw when I boarded?
Where are all the passengers I saw coming in?
The cabin was full of life, hell, when I was boarding, there was a pretty long line of people making their way to Cali and now… I’m in a flying tin-can, alone with…
“After everything, Mia,” a deep, low voice starts. “How could you board a plane and not be aware of your surroundings?”
I snap my head to the right, and there he is, the stranger whose voice is so familiar and when I see what’s in his flipping over and over in his large hand, my stomach drops to the floor of the plane.
It’s a silver lighter.
A familiar silver lighter.
Oh my God.
Frozen, I hold my breath trapped in my lungs as I stare at him.
His large body lounges in the leather seat, his legs spread before him, looking like a resting beast that can devour me whole at any second.
I can feel my chest rise and fall so fast and I can literally hear myself panting a fucking dying stuck pig.
An intense burn starts in my chest, which is ironic because at that exact same second, he starts flicking the lighter, revealing a small flame that flickers in his eyes.
A sense of déjà vu hits me, rising above the fear.
This very image, it’s so damn familiar, a violent shudder goes through me.
The darkness in the cabin, it’s similar to the darkness in the room I slept in where he laid in wait for me so many years ago, the night he burned Nancy’s ballet dress.
The way he sits there, watching me like a predator as the light flickers in his green eyes… so masterfully done to arouse my panic.
“Breathe, Mia,” he whispers.
“Breathe?” I shriek. “Seriously? Breathe?”
I stare at him dumbfounded, disbelief coursing through my veins.
“Unless you want to get a stroke without a doctor on board, yes, breathe,” Julian says nonchalantly, not even bothered that I just screamed at the top of my lungs.
Hell, he doesn’t even bat an eye as I finally manage to unclip myself from the seatbelt then get up and practically jump over him as, trying to escape like my ass is on fire.
I get as far away from Julian as I can, shaking my head.
I expect him to say something, to call me back, to come after me at the very least, but he does none of those things.
He just remains seated, looking like a statue of a Greek god, twirling and flicking the lighter in his hands every four seconds.
Yes, I do count. In my heart.
“This was a mistake,” I breathe.
No, this is a nightmare!
I turn on my heel and run down the aisle and out the First-Class cabin only to come to a dead stop when I realize that this section of the plane… is totally empty as well.
“No way,” I whisper, my panic level rising all over again. I quickly run down the aisle of this section to the rest of the plane, until the very end but it’s all the same. The plane is empty.
The flight attendants, the passengers I saw before, all gone.
Oh my God.
I rush the length of this large plane back to the First-Class, bursting through the curtain only to find total darkness.
The slight light that was there before is all but gone. Am I having some sort of hallucination?
“What kind of fuckery is this?” I whisper to myself.
“The kind of fuckery you’ve forced me to play,” a voice says behind me.
I whip around so fast; my breath catches in my throat.
“Julian,” I gasp, backing away and bumping into seats as I go. “W-what are you doing here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he whispers. “I’m here for you, Little Minx.”
I blink rapidly, his softly spoken words sinking into my fractured mind as I try to trace his face, or even his body, with my eyes, but I can’t see anything.
“What happened to the lights? Where is everyone? Is this plane even in the air?”
“You’re not having a nightmare. This is real life, Mia.”