Page 41 of Rescued By My Best Friend's Brother

“You did this!” Bradley shouts. “Don’t you dare!”

Elena grunts, and I hear her struggle with him. I hold my breath as I race down the road. My phone vibrates briefly, informing me I have gotten a text message. I ignore it and listen for Elena’s voice. I need to hear that she is still alive. I just need her to say a single word, no matter what word it is.

The phone beeps, a sound that makes my heart sink into my gut. I look at the screen, the call has dropped. I groan and try not to punch my steering wheel. I pull down my notifications to find the most recent one. It isn’t actually a text message. No. The notification reads that Elena has shared her phone’s location with me. I click on it, and a map opens with a pin of Elena’s location. Right now, it is still at my house.

I keep my eye on the blue dot on my phone. The one dot that tells me Elena is still alive. I hope that Bradley doesn’t know she has shared her location with me. If he does, then he must know that not only am I coming for him, but so are the police.

The blue dot disappears. Did he see her phone? Did something happen? How am I supposed to find her if he takes her somewhere else?

Chapter Twenty-Four

Elena

Aftereatingbreakfastalone,I walk out of the kitchen into the backyard. The first thing I notice is Josie’s car in the driveway. I didn’t even hear her return. She must have forgotten something and had to return. Good thing Jasper went out, or we may have gotten caught by her.

As I walk through the yard, my phone begins to vibrate in my hand. I lift the screen so I can read the contact information: Jasper. I answer it.

“Elena?” His voice sounds stern and a little uneasy, not quite his usual, calm self.

“Yes?” I open the door to the guest house. “Did you forget something?” I ask, assuming that’s why he’s calling.

“No. But have you heard from Bradley lately?” My heart stops as the question reverberates in my ears again. Bradley? Why would he be asking about Bradley? Did something happen? Did Bradley try to contact him? Shit. I forgot to tell him that Bradley had access to my location.

I open my mouth to tell him that I need to talk to him about Bradley when he returns, I need to tell him, but my blood runs cold when a shadow steps into the living room. Bradley’s features slowly come into the light from the windows. My eyes focus on his raised hand and what he holds: a black handgun.

“Bradley,” I gasp, my mouth going dry in an instant, making it hard for me to gulp down the fear rising up inside me.

“Elena. You made me do this,” he says, sweat beading at his brow and slowly rolling down the sides of his face.

I drop my hand, trying to hide my phone. Hopefully, he didn’t realize I was talking to someone when I walked in. I can’t be certain.

I think about all the amazing moments I’ve had with Jasper over the last few days, up until now. Of course, I would have a perfect weekend right before something like this happened. Is this the universe telling me that my time is up?

My heart stops when I remember I saw Josie’s car out front. I scan the living room and find Josie and Lily bound on the ground. I didn’t notice them when I first entered, they were hidden by the couch, but now I can see them. Duct tape is on their mouths, keeping them from screaming out and catching anyone’s attention.

“Josie! Lily!” I start towards them, but Bradley intervenes, backhanding me across the face. I fall down, my phone still in my hand. I take this time to try and share my location with Jasper. He sees this and grabs the phone from my grip. In a swift motion, he brings his foot down on it, cracking the screen and causing it to go black.

I roll over; my jaw pulsates with pain, making it hard to open my mouth to speak. I lay on my stomach on the floor, staring at my phone. I wonder if I was able to share my phone’s location before Bradley destroyed it. I groan as I reach for my phone. Maybe I can grab it and slide it in my pocket without him noticing. Does the location still work if the screen is busted? I have no clue but I have to try.

“You did this Elena! You did this!” Bradley shouts down at me. He paces back and forth, his hands on his head. “All you had to do was come back home with me. You are the reason I had to find other women. You never really loved me so what did you expect?!”

I crawl to the phone. Bradley stops speaking, he is seeing me struggle. He walks over to the phone and squats down beside it. He pokes it with his gun before picking it up with his free hand. “You’re not going to call that fucking bastard. The guy you’ve been screwing all weekend.” he spits out.

Was he watching me all weekend? How much does he know? How long has he been stalking me? I should have listened to Jasper, taken more precaution, seen this coming. Especially after I realized he could see my location. I feel so exposed, bare in front him, in a way that scares me, terrifies me. It is the same shock and fear I felt when he busted my nose. Like I am mortal and weak. Like he has all the power.

I wish I had more power, more anger to drive me to fight back. But I don’t want to. Instead, I desire to collapse into a little ball and hide within myself, save myself from any more pain. When did I become like this?

He puts the phone into his pocket. “If I can’t have you, no one will.”

I shake my head, pushing myself up into a sitting position. I glance over at Lily and Josie, tears streaming down both their cheeks.

Bradley grabs my chin forcefully, touching the tender area from his last hit. “You’re coming home with me, baby. We’re going home, so we can be happy together.” He grins maniacally.

He releases me, almost as if throwing me away, and stands back up. He walks over to Lily and Josie, clutching Lily’s small arm. “Maybe we can be a big, happy family, the one you’ve always wanted,” he suggests, shaking Lily as he speaks. She squeals through the duct tape, closing her eyes.

Josie tries to lunge at him, but she falls forward, her restraints making it hard to do anything. He laughs and pulls Lily forward. “Yeah. I think we can be one happy family. Like the family you’ve been enjoying here. I can give it to you, Elena.”

He waves the gun at me, motioning for me to stand. “Get up. Get up!” he screams before giving me a chance to even attempt to stand. He tucks the gun in the back of his pants. He then clutches my arm and drags me to my feet. His grip is heavy and painful. I wince as he pulls me through the house and out the front door. I can only imagine the fear Lily is feeling. We hurriedly go down the drive way until we come to his black sports car at the curb. He opens the passenger door and throws me into the seat. I barely pull my feet in when he slams the door shut and walks to the driver side. I could just open the door and run, but my feet don’t listen to me. Plus, I can’t leave Lily with him. Instead, I remain still, my heart pounding in my ears, and everything else freezing in place.

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