I try to stay calm. Griffin tracks my phone. He’ll come. He always comes for me.
Landon throws open the back of the van. Inside, there is a mattress, a portable toilet, and something that makes my bloodrun cold: heavy metal chains with cuffs. I try to hide my phone, but he snatches it and tosses it under a parked car. My lifeline is gone.
He throws me onto the mattress. I scramble away, but he aims the rifle at my chest.
“Don’t, Landon. You don’t want to do this.”
He doesn’t speak. He fires.
A searing, white-hot pain explodes in my shoulder. I scream, falling back.
“Say another word, Selena, and I’ll fill you with holes.”
The pain is blinding. I don’t care about the diamonds anymore; I’m terrified for the baby.
Landon grabs my injured arm and snaps a cuff around my wrist. He does the same to my other arm and my legs. I’m bleeding onto the mattress, the dark stain spreading fast. He swipes a finger over my skin, and I nearly retch. How did I ever think I loved this man?
He closes the doors, plunging me into total blackness. The van is a tomb. No windows. No light.
“I drove for days,” Landon says calmly from the driver’s seat. “As soon as your mom gave me the address, I came. Thought about you the whole way.”
“I almost married you,” he continues with a psychotic little laugh. “And you left me like I was trash.”
“You shot me, Landon,” I rasp. “I need a hospital.” I feel faint, my vision blurring at the edges.
“Veronica doesn’t mean anything to me. I’m going to marry her, but she isn’t you. You were everything.”
“I don’t feel well.” My voice is a whisper. I’m losing too much blood.
“You’re not that hurt,” he dismisses, pulling the van out of the garage.
I try to roll over to be sick, but the chains are too tight. My wrists and ankles are linked, making any real movement impossible.
The van bounces, and the rocking makes my shoulder scream. I puke on my camisole, the smell filling the small space. I need water.
I must have passed out. I wake to the sound of the back doors banging open.
“We’re gonna hunker down here... what the fuck, Selena?”
He’s hit with the smell of vomit. He leaves for a moment and returns with a water bottle. I salivate at the sight of it, but instead of letting me drink, he pours it over my face and shoulder. I try to catch the droplets in my mouth, but I just end up choking.
“Serves you right. Puking on yourself like a psycho.”
He isn’t the man I knew. That man is gone.
“Can I have a drink? Please,” I manage to ask.
He lifts my head, letting me take a small sip. His gaze softens slightly. “You always thought you were too good for me. Too smart. Too pretty. And that condescending tone... the way you pitied me. I wasn’t going to put up with that for my whole life.”
He pulls the bottle away and drinks the rest himself. He shucks off his shirt. I see his pale skin and sagging muscles, and I wonder when I ever found him attractive.
“Now I don’t have to earn you. I have you all to myself.” He twists my skin hard, and I flinch. “No one will ever see you again.”
“I loved you, Landon,” I whisper. “I never thought you were less. But you cheated. And you won't have me at all if I die back here.”
He runs a finger over my cheek.
“I’m gonna marry Veronica. We have it all planned. But you... I’ve got a special place for you. I built it myself. Underground. You shouldn’t have run, Selena. We would have had a good time in the Bahamas. I hear you’re already married—like the little slut I knew you were. But he’ll never find you where I’m going. You’ll be my little secret.”
