Page 36 of Totally Shipped
It’s probably because of my plant bashing that I don’t hear who’s right behind me.
One second I’m humming away happily, the next a hand goes across my mouth.
“Just look at you, Jackson. Ripe with my baby. You must have been so worried, but you can relax now. Daddy’s here.”
If I scream, all my guys will come running. I open my mouth, but that’s when I feel something sharp poke into my stomach. I don’t know what it is but it does not feel good at all.
“Now, now. I don’t want you to make a noise, we’ll get you out of here with no fuss please,” he hisses in my ear. “You understand?”
I’m frozen. All I can think about is a knife next to my belly.
“I don’t want to hurt the baby,” Harvey continues, “but I will if I have to. After all, we can just make another. Now are you going to come with me quietly?”
I nod. What else can I do?
“So here is the plan: you're going to take a walk with me, and you are not going to make any noise, you got me? I have a knife and I’m fucking not afraid to use it. I’ve been waiting to take you back, Brooke. I’m fucking not waiting any more. I’ll stab our baby without blinking an eye. Do you believe me?”
Do I?
I try to move my head to look at him. He allows the motion.
Harvey looks completely crazed. He’s gaunt and filthy. He’s missing a tooth and his left eyelid is puffy and swollen.
“What do you want, Harvey?” I whisper into his hand.
“My family, Brooke, my family.” He narrows his eyes and presses the knife harder into my abdomen. I feel the metal break my skin.
“When I saw you were pregnant…I knew I had to take you back. I need my Brooke and my baby.”
He’s completely lost it.
“So now we are going to head out of here,” he continues, speaking in a low voice. “You’ll come, and don’t make a fuss, got it?”
“No,” I whisper, and shake my head, but the knife traces around my belly button. It’s the missing box-cutter; the one we all blamed Leander for losing.
Just one slip of Harvey’s hand, and my baby…
“Please, just let me go, Harvey. Go back to the other island and no one needs to know about this.”
Hard lines shape around his mouth and eyes, and he grips the back of my neck. “Just move.”
If I can just get away from his blade, I can run and scream and I’ll have help within seconds, but his hold on my neck is too strong and I dare not yell with that wicked blade next to my baby.
As move farther from the airplane glade, Harvey slows down, then slams my back against a tree, pinning me there and pressing my jaw so hard, I can’t help but cry out in pain.
“You think this is what I want?” he spits. “I want to be back in my penthouse apartment in Beverly fucking Hills. But apparently this is the rest of my goddamn life, and I refuse to spend it alone without some companionship…so Brooke, it’s time to get over your nonsense and come home with me.”
Harvey is murderously strong, the rage in his body is terrifying. I feel like he could snap my neck in an instant.
“OK,” I mumble. I’ll just go with him and trust the guys to find me.
“So, are you going to come sensibly?”
“I’ll be sensible,” I nod.
I’m desperate to run. But he’d catch me so easily. When he turns, I quickly take off my new necklace and I drop it on the jungle floor, praying the guys will spot it.
We move off, further into the depths of the island, and must walk for at least an hour or two. I'm exhausted and thirsty. Harvey and I don’t speak as we trek. What is there to say, anyway? He’ll do some more crazy talk, and not listen when I ask him to set me free.
