I guess kidnapping victims don’t usually think back happily to their captivity. But this is different. Isn’t it? She fell in love.
She’s told me so.
Worry worms its way into my heart again as I wonder if Ihaveafter all conquered her resistance. If I’ll ever own her entirely. If she’ll ever obey me the way I want her to, at the drop of a hat.
I want all of her, and I’ll never be satisfied with less. I own her heart and body now, but I want her will, too. I’ll wait however long it takes. I can be patient… sometimes.
Patience is certainly needed as I stay in my car for hours on end, nearly forgetting about the upcoming danger as my thoughts wrap themselves around her.
I miss her. How fucking sappy is that?
Maybe I could have spent another day with her. My bones literally ache with her absence.
But no. I had to do it this way. I know Angel enough to understand their logic, because it’s like mine. The predator, watching his prey. Waiting him out.
Noel would have waited to see me before making his move. That’s why I went to the diner first thing in the morning. Now, he knows I reallyamhere, and he’s going to strike. But he’ll take his time. He’ll do it when he thinks we’re defenseless. When he believes we’re asleep.
His plan was to kill Seraphina. But he must realize I won’t leave her side, and that if he wants to get her he’ll have to get me too.
Plus, if he killed her and not me, he’d be a dead man.
Only he knows very well that I’m a much stronger predator than he is. The only way he can hope to win is by gunning me down in my sleep.
There’s no doubt about it in my mind: he’ll attack tonight.
Finally, it grows dark, and I slip out of the car and back into the house. Finding my way to the master bedroom, I put some bundled-up blankets under the covers, prodding them into the shape of sleeping bodies, before heading toward the closet. Then I settle in for a long night.
The hours tick by.Ten… eleven… twelve…
I hold perfectly still, convinced he’ll arrive sometime after midnight. If he knows me as well as I think he does, he’s aware I don’t sleep much. I often go to bed after midnight and wake up sometime around five. He’ll probably choose to enter the house at two or three o’clock in the morning.
But the hours pass and no one comes.
My alertness and focus slowly give way to rising panic. Why isn’t he coming? Did something in our plan go wrong?
I hesitate, unwilling to make any noise or to remove my gun from its cocked position. Maybe Noel is already on the premises, and realizes that I’m trying to set him up. Maybe he’ll barge in at some other time.
But deep down, I know that’s not the truth. He’s not that good. There’s no way he’ll attack at some other time. Whatever he’splanning to do, he’s going to do tonight.
So why the fuck isn’t he here? Where the fuck is he?
Anxiety squeezing at my chest, I quickly take my phone from my pocket and type a message to Logan and Everest.
Me:Wtf? He’s not here.
Logan:I know. We’re trying to figure it out. His car never showed up.
Me:You didn’t see him on the cams?!
Logan:Nope. And we set up a bunch of them all around the house. Plus more on the one road leading into the town. We would have caught him if he’d shown up.
Me:But he must have been in town, at least. Spoke to a waitress at the diner who said so.
Everest:Trust me, we would have seen the car.
Me:Couldn’t he have used another car?
Everest:No.
