Page 132 of All Our Ghosts

Closing my eyes I take a deep steadying breath, letting every thought racing through my mind quiet down before picking out noises in the silence. Rats, water dripping, the distant sound of a train on tracks. But no sounds of footsteps, no rattle of anything human.

Slowly, I start to rock the chair, using my feet to wobble back and forth, the legs whine underneath my weight as I move. With one more final shove, I start to tip over faster than intended. My shoulder lands first into the concrete floor and the chair doesn’t budge.

“Fuck!” I hiss as pain radiates through my shoulder and down to my fingers. Tugging on the binds again I can’t help but let out a soft sob. None of them budge. I’m still strapped to this fucking thing only now, I’m on my side and my shoulder feels like it’s popped out of place.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit.” The words come out strained in a whine while holding back tears. My eyes slide close and any ounce of hope of saving myself, saving the baby, leaves my body.

I’m not sure how long I stay on the floor like that but my arm has gone numb and the musty smell of the room is worse down here. My stomach churns just as the door to the building slams closed. I can already tell it’s Jeremy. The way his boots thud across the floor, like a ticking time bomb just waiting for the right moment to explode.

“What the fuck did you do?” Jeremy hisses coming into the light. His anger is quickly replaced with a cackle. “Did you think you could actually get away from me?” Long fingers tangle into the back of my hair, tugging my head back so I have to look at him. “You stupid bitch.”

“Get off of me,” I snap trying to pull away from him but it’s no use. The grip he has on me tightens, pulling an involuntary yelp from me as he drags me back up onto all four legs on the chair. I suck in a breath as fire radiates through my shoulder blade andpins and needles start to prickle down my arm. “Why are you doing this?” I ask harshly. “Why the fuck do you still want me?”

“Because you’remineand you owe me the life I promised you,” Jeremy’s voice booms across empty space. “Don’t you get it Kadie–”

“Don’t fucking call me that!” I pull at the restraints, trying to lunge at him even though I know it’s completely useless.

He freezes in front of me, the table is the only thing separating us. “I forgot. Your mother is the only one that gets to call you that.” A sickening grin spreads across his face. “You know I reached out to her. To try and find you but, like the ungrateful bitch you are, not even your mother knew. Who does that?” Jeremy shakes his head. “Just up and leaves their family?”

I let out a huff of frustration. “My mother never cared about my whereabouts.”

His head tilts as he regards me. “Are you sure about that, Princess? Janice was pretty upset to find out you’d gone missing.” He rounds the table and sits on the edge of it. Getting closer to me. “I assume you got her text message?”

I look up at him with my brows furrowed. The look in his eye has a sinking feeling that starts to riddle my gut.

“Well, I mean the text messageIsent you.” That wolfish smirk finds his lips as all of his teeth show. “See, Janice was beside herself that you left. Allwoe is me, I should have been a better mother.” He makes a face of disgust. “Honestly, it was quite exhausting. After the third hour of that lunch I was tired of hearing it.”

He shrugs like whatever he isn’t saying is obvious. “All I wanted was to know where you ran off to. To know why my sweet sweetobedientprincess would just leave me to rot in jail.”

“What did you do?”

Jeremy continues like I haven’t said anything. “When she had no idea where you went I had to end her blubbering.” He crosseshis arms and lets out a long drawn out sigh. “Messier than I would have liked, but it got the job done.”

I stare at him, tears prick at the corners of my eyes as the realization that he killed my mother starts to set in. “You killed her?”

“Looks like your mother had a heart for you after all.” Jeremy shakes his head. “Too bad she won’t be around to share it with you.”

“You son of a bitch!” I scream just as a large hand impacts my cheek. His fingers wrap around my chin, squeezing painfully as he pulls my face to his.

“Watch your tone with me, Kadence. My patience with you is already wearing extremely thin.” He lets me go, shoving my head back as he does so. “We have six hours before Watson’s plane will be ready and if you don’t want to spend that time with a bag over your head, I suggest you shut the fuck up.”

I glare at him, twisting my wrists against the plastic ties trying anything to stretch it enough in order to get free. He stares at me.

“I feel bad Maria got caught up in this as well,” he says and that switch flips back off as he sits back down on the edge of the table. “She’s a good friend. Keeping secrets for you. Helping you leave…it’s too bad she was attacked.” He tuts.

My eyes narrow at him, biting my tongue to keep myself from saying something that will send him over the edge. If I wasn’t pregnant, I’d fight like hell. But with the baby, this had to be strategic. As much as I can figure out on my own. I won’t do anything to lose this baby. Not like I did the first and I sure as hell would not give Jeremy the satisfaction of knowing he killed another one of my children. Even if he blames me.

“Don’t worry though, sweetheart, I made sure she had the best room in the ICU.” He leans into me again as he says the words. Those dark hateful eyes holding my own.

“I’m going to kill you,” I spit.

“I’d like to see you fucking try,” Jeremy says standing. The door slams closed and Watson walks in the room, glancing between the two of us. I notice another person standing behind Watson, just within the shadows.

“Did you get what you needed?” Jeremy asks, rounding the table.

Watson nods, tugging the person forward. Bright red hair and snake eyes come into view under the dim light as Layla stares back at me. A smug smile pulling at her poorly painted lips.

“You went back for this?” Jeremy barks glaring at the woman who has done nothing but try to get between Holden and I for weeks. Only now, her fingers are laced between Watson’s and she stands just far enough behind him like he’ll protect her if anything goes wrong.

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