54
* * *
PENELOPE
AFTER ONE WEEK INTO my stay, I’d filled an entire sketch pad with Raven Abbey’s facade.
It was late afternoon, and Blake had called, suggesting that I visit his mother. He’d spoken to her, and she was looking forward to my visit and even hoped I would stay the night, which appealed to me.
Tony, my bodyguard, showed me pictures of his young daughter. I could see that he missed her madly, and I asked him if he’d like to return earlier than he’d planned.
He shook his head. “I need the work. And Blake Sinclair pays really well. I just wanted to show you a picture of Carly.”
I smiled. “She’s lovely.” I headed toward the dirt path. “So, are you ready for a walk in the forest?”
He nodded. “I’ve lost a bit of weight with all this exercise. It’s better than standing around looking threatening.”
I laughed along with him, having grown to like him.
We made our way into the thick wood, and although it was afternoon, the forest was bathed in shadows. I stood in a rare beam of sunlight and lifted my face. A robin in a tall oak greeted me.
I heard a rustle behind me and assumed it was Tony, who always insisted on walking a few steps back to protect me.
Leaning against a tree, I took a break. After a few moments, I heard scuffling, which I assumed was the sound of creatures scurrying about. But then I heard men’s voices. I walked out of the scrub and saw Tony on the ground, clutching his stomach. Blood puddled around him. He’d been stabbed.
When I ran to him, he shook his head. “Run” exited silently from his mouth. Just as I was searching for my phone, a man came toward me.
In the space of a breath, I started running as fast as I could, stumbling along the way until I found a thick piece of scrub to hide in.
I’d only just settled, after having my skin scratched and bitten, when my phone buzzed. He came into view, headed toward me.
My heart raced, and I could barely breathe. Luckily, it wasn’t too far to the cottage.
I bolted like lightning. He was a big heavy man who struggled to keep up. I kept running until I arrived at the cottage. I pushed the gate open and knocked on the door, nearly banging it down.
Mary came to the door. Her smile faded when her eyes traveled over my shoulder. My pursuer was there at the doorstep.
“What do you want?” she asked him.
“You’ve come back from the grave. And to think I mourned your passing, you bitch.”
As Mary’s eyes widened, telling me to run, he grabbed my arm and shoved me into the cottage.
“What are you doing here, Jack?” asked Mary.
“I’ve come to visit my dear wife.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“A little fairy told me.” He looked over at me.
“Leave her be,” implored Mary. “This is between you and me.”
My heart was in my mouth—I could hardly speak. “I didn’t know he was there. He killed Tony, my guard.”
Mary turned to Jack. “Do you want to go to prison again?”
My cell sounded. As I removed it from my pocket, Jack snatched it from me and took the call. “Oh, it’s my billionaire son, who refuses to acknowledge his dear old dad.” His face contorted into a malicious grin. “I’m just visiting your lovely mother, and your girlfriend’s even here. Mary’s come back to life it seems.”
I tried to escape, but even while holding the phone, he managed to lock the door and push me to the ground. His big foot rested on my back.
Lying there with my cheek pressed against the cold hard floor, I couldn’t see Mary, and I prayed that she’d escaped.
“I want cash. Plenty of it,” he barked into the phone. “I’m sending my account details. I want ten million. If it’s not there by today, there’ll be no happily ever after for you.”
As Jack listened to Blake, I writhed like a rattlesnake to free myself. But his foot pressed heavily onto my spine.
He closed the call and then tied my legs and wrists with curtain cords. Then he picked me up roughly, pushed me into the bathroom, and locked the door from the outside.
I heard scuffling and Mary screaming.
I was trying to free my wrists, using my teeth, when the door burst open. He was a big ugly brute more than six feet tall, with evil sneering eyes.
I’d forgotten to breathe, and my heart pounded madly.
He dragged me out and pushed me onto a chair. Holding some tape, he wrapped it tightly around my wrists, the chair, and my body before taping over my mouth.
While he was securing my body onto the chair, Mary scrambled into the kitchen. Suddenly, she appeared with a knife. It all happened so quickly. She went to lunge at him, but he grabbed her wrist, and I felt the clang of the knife hitting the floor in my ankles. My heart shriveled at the lost opportunity.
“You were never that bright.” Pushing her into a chair, he yelled, “Sit.”
As he taped up her hands and feet, I tried to wiggle free, but I was bound up too tightly.
My phone buzzed again. I wished I could answer it. He went over to it, picked it up, and listened.
He responded, “I will text an email. Send me proof of that transaction.”
I couldn’t believe that monster even had an email account, let alone lived in the real world. He ended the call and looked at me. “You’ve obviously left your mark on Blake.” His greasy eyes looked up and down my body, which was covered in cold sweat. My nerves were so frazzled that I was close to wetting my pants.
Such was his strength that he lifted Mary’s chair effortlessly and carried it to the bedroom.
At least I didn’t have to watch, which was a small mercy, although her cries were like razor blades digging into my flesh.
Using my body to push the chair along, I was focusing on the knife on the floor when someone burst through the door.
It was Tony. He’d somehow managed to bandage his wound with his shirt. He looked at me, and I cocked my head toward the bedroom, where the monster’s grunts could be heard.
Holding a pistol, he placed a finger in front of his mouth for me to remain quiet.
That was easy enough to do. I just wished I could seal my ears from poor Mary’s screams mingling with that monster’s groans.
All went quiet just for one second, and then a gunshot echoed through my ribcage. And another.
Mary ran out. With her ripped dress hanging off her, she grabbed scissors and cut me free.
Clutching his belly, Tony came out and fell to his knees.
“Is he dead?” Mary asked, holding her mouth.
He nodded and then fell unconscious to the floor.
Mary fumbled at her phone. Sobs muddied her words as she gave directions for an ambulance.
55
* * *
BLAKE
I DROPPED EVERYTHING AND flew to Raven Abbey in a helicopter before jumping into the gardener’s SUV and driving like fury down the dirt track to the cottage.
When I arrived, I found the two women I loved huddled tightly together and shaking. I held them both.
After a few strong hits of whisky, my mother was restored. Penelope was another matter.