Page 31 of He Doesn't Deserve You

“I thought about it,” she muttered, her head dropping. “But I just wanted it to go away.” She hesitated, the painful memory making it difficult to continue. “Then Sydney called. She could sense that something was wrong. I asked if I could come over to talk. But when I went to leave, I found an envelope at my door.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she struggled to speak, her words catching in her throat. “It contained a note demanding $500,000. She claimed to be pregnant with your child.”

Gabriel ran his hands through his hair, attempting to digest everything he had just heard. Then he reached across the table and gently placed his hand on hers, “It’s not true,” he said quietly.

Emily wanted to believe him.

“Why didn’t you go to the police?”

“The note said if I went to the police, they would hurt Ava.” Gabriel withdrew his hand from hers, hurt evident in his eyes. “So, you turned to Roman instead of me?”

“He’s an ex-cop. He has experience in these types of things,” Emily explained.

“Go on,” he said.

Emily continued, “I wanted to come home to be with Ava and keep her safe, but Roman convinced me we needed protection.”

A lightbulb went off in Gabriel’s head, his eyes widening in realization. “It was Roman who broke into our house that night?”

Emily nodded, “Yeah.”

“And when that didn’t work, you went to the daycare and picked her up?”

Emily nodded again. “We thought you might have gotten the license plate number, so we couldn’t stay at Roman’s place any longer. He took me to his friend’s cabin on Oak Tree Road. I watched Ava while Roman worked on tracking down who was behind all of this.”

“You should have called to let me know what was happening. I was frantic with worry. I thought you were leaving me. I left you so many voice messages pleading for you to come home.”

Emily’s face clouded with guilt; the weight of the pain she had caused him was evident in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I never got them. Roman took my phone and turned it off. He insisted that no one should be able to track my location. He said it was to keep us safe.”

She continued, “One day, while he was out, I found a photo album. It had pictures of the homeowner, Travis, and his family, and Roman was in many of them, too. He told me he’d spent many summers at the cabin. But when I reached the end of the album, I was stunned. The homeowner—Roman’s friend—was the same man who had sat beside me at the bar that night.”

Gabriel’s jaw dropped. “What did you do?”

“I couldn’t believe it,” Emily replied, her voice thick with disbelief. “I needed to know what Roman’s involvement was. I wanted to believe he had nothing to do with it. So, I used Roman’s phone, pretending to be him, and told the man we needed to meet. Naturally, he denied drugging me. He claimed he wasn’t working for Roman or anyone else. He said he remembered seeing a photo of me at Roman’s house, and when he realized I was drugged, he texted Roman for help. Roman met us in thelobby and helped take me to my room. Once there, the man—Travis—said Roman told him he could handle it from there, so Travis left.”

“You don’t believe that?” Gabriel asked, skepticism written all over his face.

“I don’t know what to believe,” Emily admitted. “Travis might just be trying to pin it on Roman. That’s when I decided to go to the police. But they didn’t take me seriously because I had left Ava with Roman. They said maybe they just went somewhere and suggested I call him. When I went back to the cabin, they were gone. I went to the neighbor’s house to use the phone to call the police, but no one was home.” Emily broke down, her voice choked with sobs. “Something bad happened there. There was blood, and Ava’s toy was there. Oh my God, what have I done?”

Gabriel rushed to her side, wrapping her in his arms. “They will find her,” he murmured, trying to reassure her. “They have to.”

17

Roman pounded his fist against the vending machine, successfully dislodging the stubborn bag of potato chips. He then opened the machine’s door, retrieved all the items, and made his way through the crowded emergency room waiting area.

Standing before Ava, he held up two small bags and asked, “Chips or pretzels?”

Ava frowned, “You said we could get McDonald’s.”

Roman took his seat beside her and said, “I know, and we will. It’s just going to be a little longer.”

“Chips,” Ava said.

Roman opened the bag of chips and handed it to Ava. He wondered if what he had said was true. It had already been two hours since Mr. Longford was taken back for treatment; surely, he would be released soon. Emily must have returned to the cabin by now and was probably worried sick. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the television program above him was cut off by a breaking news story asking for the public’s help in locating an abducted child. This caused him to look up at the screen just as his and Ava’s faces were plastered across it.

The man sitting across from Roman pointed a finger and said, “Hey, that’s you.”

Roman’s heart raced. He grabbed Ava and pulled her out of her seat. “We have to go,” he whispered urgently.

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