Page 75 of Where We Found Our Home
Ciara
The “closed” sign is on at Sasha’s, but the door is open. I stumble in and rush to the back room since no one is out front.
There he is.
The source of my nightmares.
Eddie is positioned against the back wall with a gun pointed at Sasha, who is standing perfectly still in the corner. She refuses to show Eddie fear, and I love her so much for that.
I decide to take a page out of Sasha’s book, and I square my shoulders before looking into his soulless eyes.
“This is between you and me, Eddie. She doesn’t need to be here.”
“You’re wrong. You involved her when you thought you could run away from me. I told you I’d never let you go. But you thought you’d run away and find a new group of fools to protect you. Did you really think I wouldn’t threaten them like I did your friends back home? All of this is your fault.” His words cut, but I won’t let him know that. He laughs cruelly. “You thought you’d get yourself a hero boyfriend and he could save you from me? Laughable. You and I are inevitable, doll. Nothing can keep you from me.”
I still don’t understand his obsession with me. Is this all just a game to him? I don’t want to agitate him, but I do want to keep him talking until I figure out what the hell to do. “What’s so special about me?”
He glares at me and regards me from head to toe, never releasing his aim from Sasha. “I lost my job, my license, my livelihood. All because of that damn accident. All because of you. I wanted to see the scum who stripped me of everything I had. That’s why I came to see you in the hospital. But when I saw you in that hospital bed, all broken, I knew. I knew I had stumbled upon something better than a job. You were my new favorite toy. My purpose.”
“You lost your job and your license because you got behind the wheel drunk and high.” His jaw clenches. So much for not trying to agitate him. I might as well dive in. “How did you even find me?” His scowl turns back up into a grin. I look away from his face, down to his scarred hands, to try to stop the shiver threatening to run down my spine.
“You’re not understanding me. Nothing could’ve kept you from me. I would’ve found you no matter what. But your incessant need to talk out your feelings certainly sped up the process.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’d be surprised how easy it is to find the weakest link in a therapist’s office. All you have to do is pay them and threaten their family, and they’ll willingly break into their boss’s files and give you information on any client of your choosing.”
Holy shit.This sick fuck had been getting information on me…from me. My desire to cope with the shit he put me through in a healthy way led to my downfall. How poetic.
“Does Dr. Goodwin know?”
He scoffs. “No, your beloved therapist didn’t betray you. She just hires easily corruptible people.” He moves his hand to point the gun at me instead of Sasha, and I release a faint breath of relief. “Does that hurt? Does knowing your own emotions brought us back together give you goosebumps?”
“What do you want from me?”
“Your precious family would’ve led me to you eventually. If I had gone to them and sliced them from their cunts to their throats, I bet you would’ve come out from hiding. But what fun would that be? If I were gonna kill them I’d want to make you watch every moment of it. All I wanted was to have some fun. You’re the most fun to play with when you’re broken. More moldable. I wanted to see how far I could bend you beneath my hold before you shattered into a million ugly pieces. But quite frankly, I’ve grown tired of this little game. I’ve turned into a goddam arsonist because of you.” He looks truly disgusted with me over his own actions, and that clues me in to just how demented he really is. “You felt the need to try to hide behind the people in this fucking city to protect you. You thought you could replace me with a…public servant. I had to set quite a few fires just to make sure he was indisposed when I needed him to be. I’ve never set a fire in my life. Just one of the many ways you’ve ruined me, doll.”
This man is delusional. He truly thinks I owe him something. That I bring out the worst in him. That he owns me and I’m his to do with what he pleases.
“So it was you who set the fire that day Lincoln was trapped in the building. It was you who trapped him in there.” It’s a statement, not a question. I don’t need a confirmation—I’ve known since the moment Lincoln told me. He seems to recognize that I don’t need a response. He just sets his mouth in a hard line. I subtly motion for Sasha to move closer to the door. He has his gun and focus pointed at me, exactly what I want. If I play this right, I can at least get her out of here. I take a quick look next to Eddie, to the door that leads to the roof. Maybe I can lead him up there and give Sasha even more time. Sasha takes a tentative side step closer to the door. He doesn’t seem to notice. I try to get him talking again. “How long have you been here watching me?”
“Long enough. Long enough to see you wedge your way into this godforsaken community. Long enough to see you draw that idiot into your web. Long enough to realize that you think I’m stupid. I even visited you in your apartment one night. I could’ve ended you right then and there. But I wasn’t ready to end our game.”
“So what, you’re ready to end it now? What changed?”
“I told you. I’ve grown bored. I’m tired of watching you walk around here like you’re above me. Like you’ve outrun me. Like you’ve won. It’s time you truly learned your lesson.”
I resist the urge to laugh. He obviously hasn’t been paying as close attention to me as he claims if he doesn’t realize I’ve allowed him to completely control my life. That I’ve been operating under the assumption that I’d never outrun him.
“When those obnoxious friends of yours formed a twenty-four-hour circle around you to ‘protect you,’ I told you then that I’d kill every single one of them to get to you. So you thought you’d run away to a different state and get new so-called bodyguards and I’d sit around with my dick in my hands? You must’ve thought I was a fucking joke. You. Are. Mine. You belong to me. I own you. You stole my life from me so I stole yours from you and yet you think you have the power to change that. So it’s time you pay the consequences. I’m going to kill your friend here and make you watch as she bleeds out. Then we’ll call your…boyfriend to come over here, and I’ll make you watch him die too. After they die, maybe I’ll finally be satisfied enough to put an end to your misery. Or maybe I’ll let you drown in your grief while I slowly pick off everyone you care about.”
My self-control is hanging on by a thread. I’m trying to keep my eyes on Eddie while making sure Sasha is continuing her advance to the door, but his words threaten to consume me. He won’t be satisfied with just my life anymore. He’s determined to punish me, and now everyone is going to pay the price for my life. I’ve had enough. I won’t let this end this way.
“You don’t own me.” I grit out.
“I’ll kill everyone you come into contact with. The mailman. The cashier at the goddamn grocery store. Every patron that walks into this pitiful coffee shop. Although who knows what it’ll be once your friend here is gone. And just think, all that blood will be on your hands.” He’s preying on the fears I divulged to Dr. Goodwin. I’m working at a disadvantage because he knows all my deepest darkest secrets and fears, and I have no idea what makes him tick. He’s obsessed with me and wants to make me pay for my imagined betrayal, but I don’t understand why. I decide to go for straight agitation. Disobedience. If I can make him angry enough maybe he’ll forget his plan and attack me head-on, and I can fight back long enough for Sasha to run for help.
“You know what I think, Eddie?” I ask, giving Sasha a slight nod. He doesn’t even answer, he just tilts his head to the side. “I think you’re pathetic. I don’t owe you a goddamn thing. Not my time and definitely not my life. I didn’t make you get in that truck that day. I didn’t move away to run away from you. I’ve forgotten about you. You don’t matter to me.” His jaw clenches. It’s working. “You’re delusional. I’m not afraid of you. I wouldn’t waste a single emotion on you.” I keep my eye on the gun in his hand. This plan of mine only works if I can get to him before he fires that gun. I’m not bulletproof.
