The ravioli gets hot enough to eat, and I dump it into a bowl, bringing one of the knives with me into the living room while I eat. There isn’t a television here, but the shelves are lined with all kinds of books.
All my favorite books, specifically, and then dozens of others from authors I like.
If only I could have a normal man this interested in me. A normal one who doesn’t inject me with sedatives and shoves me into a cabin to die. One who loves me and wants the best for me.
Ezra isn’t that man. He might think he is, but he’s keeping me back from everything important to me.
I’ve missed so much school. Too much to catch up if I don’t get out of this soon.
And then there’s my family. I have no doubt they’re tearing the city apart now trying to find me.
Which means that wherever he has me has to be out of the city.
I finish the ravioli and get up, looking around the cabin again for clues on who I might be dealing with.
Everything here seems to be tailored to me, though. He doesn’t have any clothing here. The bedroom is dark and moody.
The bathroom is stocked with all of my favorite supplies, and while most of the food seems to be shelf-stable, there are some of my favorites tossed in there too.
I sigh and wash my dishes, throwing out the trash into the can that’s nearly full.
It’s only when I turn around that I scream, jumping back and slamming into the counters.
Ezra smirks and drops a laptop and my schoolbooks onto the little dining table. “If I knew you were going to be this excited to see me, I might have been here sooner.”
“Fuck off.” I look at the books and the schoolwork, holding a hand to my racing heart. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to leave me to die.”
He shrugs, setting down a couple of bags of groceries on the counter. “Thought about it, but that would be too easy of a consequence after your actions, don’t you think?”
“I think you should let me go and just cut this weird obsession with me. I think you’re going to kill me sooner or later because people like you always lose control.”
Ezra gives me that crooked smile. It’s one that has me thinking that maybe he’s not as bad as he seems, even though I know heisthat bad. Probably worse. The man was keeping sedatives hidden in my apartment just in case he needed them.
There’s something about him leaving them there that doesn’t sit right with me.
How long ago did he do it?
Has he always been planning to get his hands on me? He must if he planned that far ahead.
This has very little to do with either of our families, the more I think about it.
In all the conversations I’ve had about Noah with my family, Ezra has never been mentioned, which makes me think that he isn’t that close to Noah.
And holding me captive isn’t a way to win his favor. Killing me, using me against my family, would be.
Ezra nods to the paperwork on the table. “You’re going back to school on Monday. We need to keep up appearances, after all, which means I need to get your family off my back.”
“They know you took me?”
“Nope.” He stuffs some of the groceries into the fridge. “They don’t have the slightest idea where you are. It’s driving them insane, really. Ellie seems to be the only one keeping a level head, but that’s not out of the realm of normal for your family anyway.”
“Don’t pretend you know anything about them!”
He finishes stocking the cupboards, folding the paper bags and putting them into the recycling. “Oh, but I do. You don’t think you were the only one I was watching, do you?”
A pit opens in the bottom of my stomach.
He’s been watching my entire life.
