Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
“I was round your mum’s. Explained everything. She told me where to find you.”
Mum hadn’t called to warn me. And Mum wasn’t home today. She was at the daycare.
Finger trembling, I pressed down the speaker button again. “I’m sorry, Peter. I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Why don’t I meet you at the Gloaming this evening at five o’clock with Fyfe?”
“We don’t have time for that, luv. We’re both in real fucking danger here.” I could hear the edge in his voice. “Please let me in to explain.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t.”
I released the speaker button and stepped back to stare at the door. There were frosted glass panels on either side, and I saw the shadow of his movement. I couldn’t hear anything over the rush of blood in my ears.
I think my body knew before my mind had even caught up.
I’d just turned in search of my phone when a noise blasted through the house. A shattering so loud, it startled Millie out of sleep. Her wails echoed off the walls.
Gasping in fright, I spun toward the front door and saw glass shards from one of the side panels shattered all over the floor. There were pieces at my feet and as my hair fell over my shoulder, I saw tiny shards glisten on the strands.
Pete knocked away bits of glass still stuck to the frame and then squeezed his tall body in through the gap. His once bland, unassuming expression was contorted with furious determination. His dark eyes gleamed with hunger as they dragged down my body and back up again.
“I’ve missed you, luv.”
Millie’s cries tugged me toward her, but as I took a step in her direction, Pete warned, “Go near that baby, and I’ll kill her.”
I froze in horror, gaping at him, trying to make sense of the bizarre turn of events. It was like I’d been drugged and was in the middle of a frightening hallucination. It didn’t seem real. “What’s going on?”
His expression switched so quickly, it was unnerving. Menace melted to pleading. “I tried to forget you, Eilidh. Once you were gone. I tried so hard that I was stupid enough not to remove the cameras.” He took a step toward me as sick realization dawned. “I loved watching you.” He spoke calmly, like he wasn’t admitting to violating my privacy. “I’ve loved watching you from the moment you walked into my life. For years, it was enough just to watch.”
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Limbs trembling, I took a shaky step back toward the kitchen.
For years, this man whom I’d only known as my landlord, whom I’d never suspected of creeping on me, had violated my privacy every day.
“We have to move quickly.” Still, he spoke as if we were talking of everyday things. “I’ve been watching for days, and I know this house is rigged with a security system that will have alerted the kid’s father. We need to leave now.”
“If you think I’m going anywhere with you, you sick fucking bastard, you have another thing coming.” Because something had flipped in him. Whatever had been holding him back before (probably the access to seeing me whenever he wanted), it no longer existed. And if I let him take me, I wouldn’t walk away from the situation.
I knew it deep in my bones.
He seemed shocked by my denial. “You belong to me. Even when you let those other men into your bed like a dirty little slut, you always belonged to me. I’m not waiting anymore.”
I glanced at Millie whose cries had decreased to whimpers. She needed me and this bastard was standing in my way. “I will never belong to you. Try to do what you want to me, but do it knowing you will never have me in any way that’s real. You spied on me! Violated me!”
“No.” He shook his head, a madness glinting in his eyes. “I did it because I loved you. I wanted to protect you. You … You don’t understand.” He scowled. “You don’t understand because no one has ever loved you properly until now.”
Rage simmered with my fear. “That’s where you’re wrong.”
Peter rushed me before I could react. He wasn’t overly built, but he was six foot and broad-shouldered. When he threw back his arm and swung it out, his fist clipping my cheek, I had no chance to react or block it.
Pain exploded across my face and knees. Ringing filled my ears, and it took a second for a sense of reality to return. Cheekbone and eye throbbing, I looked up from where I was now sprawled on the floor.
Peter glared down at me. “Now get the fuck up and leave with me.” He strode to Millie’s cot and I cried out, scrambling to my feet. The room spun a little as Pete stood over Fyfe’s daughter. “If you don’t agree to leave right now, I’ll squeeze the life out of the little girl.”