Page 31 of Cain
Chapter Fifteen
Emma
My phone beeps and when I pull it out my entire world freezes. It’s a picture of Amy in a trunk. The message says:
Go to the back of the building in two minutes without calling for help or she’s dead
Ditch your phone
I immediately stand up trying to think of an excuse, or a plan. I need Amy safe but I also know someone needs to know where we are. I grab a napkin quick and jot a note down to Ana then slip it under her phone. Standing up I head toward the hallway and no one questions me. When I walk out of the back door I notice a fence like the one in the front. I pull on it hard enough and make just enough space to slip through. The wire cuts my side and I wince, as I feel blood drip down my skin. After a few seconds a pair of headlights comes into view. When the truck pulls up I gasp at who is behind the wall.
Anthony, he is one of the parents from school.
Why would he be doing something like this?
Lily, his daughter, is sitting in the backseat and she looks scared.
The door gets pushed open and he tells me to get in. I climb into the truck and he immediately starts running his hands over my shorts. I try to move away from him but I barely have any room.
“Good girl, you listened.” He pulls away from the club.
I didn’t listen though. My phone is wedged under my bra in the center so it isn’t noticeable. “What are you doing Anthony?”
“I’m taking you home. You’ve been gone for too long Cheryl.”
Who the hell is Cheryl?
His hand grabs my thigh, “you can’t ever leave us like that again. I won’t stand for it.” I don’t know what to say to him. His voice is calm but edgy at the same time. Even when he looks over at me I don’t think he is really seeing me. “I can’t believe you thought I’d stand for you letting that biker trash touch you. I warned you that first night that you’d be mine.”
Bile rises in my throat as his hand moves closer to my core. It takes everything in me not to push him away but with him driving I know it’s not the best idea right now. The country road we are on is really dark and most of the turns have been pretty sharp.
“Why didn’t you just talk to me?” I try to distract him hoping at this point that Ana has found my note.
“I did!” he screams his one hand hitting the wheel as the other one tightens on my thigh. “I asked you out, you said you didn’t date parents.”
That’s when the memory comes back. It was when he and Lily first enrolled and the encounter was so brief I completely forgot about it. “I—I’m sorry”
I don’t know what else to say to him. I look into the backseat and Lily has her feet pulled up to her chest. She hasn’t said a word. “Anthony why don’t we stop the car and get Amy out? Let her sit with Lily in the backseat.”
“No.”
I wait for more of an answer but it’s all I get.
“She’s probably getting scared and I know that’s not what you want.” I’m hoping if I play along I can get all of us out of this in one piece.
“You’re right, I don’t want her scared.” He turns to face me. “I want her gone.”
My heart stops at his admission.
“She isn’t part of the family Cheryl. We were a family of three not four. It needs to be like it was.”
I rack my brain thinking of something, anything I might be able to say to him to change his mind. “Four people in a family is just more love.”
“No!” he screams and the car swerves. Lily yells in the backseat. “I will not share you. You tried that once with your boyfriend and I showed you. You never saw it coming!”
He’s almost manic as he’s screaming and I decide I need to drop this and pray we pull over soon so I can try to save Amy.
The car start’s to slow down.
“This is it Cheryl. This is where I caught you with him. Where you told me you were taking my family from me.” He starts to shift into the other lane where there are a few trees and some benches then a lookout spot over the mountains. “This is also where we will all leave to be a family together.”
The car revs as Anthony pushes on the gas.
I scream as we go hurdling toward the cliff.
Please God no.
