“They’re in the wardrobe.”
I turn back to my room, confused. “What wardrobe?” Aside from the bed, the room is unfurnished.
“Come.” He leads me down the hallway to another bedroom. This one has a king bed, twin matching nightstands, and a large wardrobe along the far wall. “I unpacked everything for you.”
“What the hell?” I wait for a reasonable explanation, but he just stands at the door, grinning madly.
“I’m so relieved this is over. Aren’t you?” He comes closer, as if he wants to touch me.
“No.” I back away, further into the room. “It’s over, Neil. You promised. ”
“You can’t be serious!” Still that same smile. “You still want to leave, after all I did for you? I wanted to prove my love. Surely I’ve done that?”
“What about Allegra? I thought you were over me.”
“Allegra!” He angles his head, frowning slightly. “You mean Anne. I made that name up on the spot. She’s an intern. I paid her to blow me a kiss in the parking lot. Brie, for God’s sake! How do you not see? There’s no one else but you.”
I try to sayno, but I can barely make a sound.
He keeps talking.
“I’m not like Bradley. I’m not trying to sleep with a thousand women. Just you. I love you. I’ll always love you.”
He steps towards me. I can feel the wall at my back. I’ve nowhere to go.
“You’ve been through so much. Let me take care of you.”
Closer. He’s not going to let me leave him—ever. I see it now.
“No,” I say. “Please.”
But he doesn’t stop. When he grabs me, I try to push him away, but he’s too strong. I’m soon enveloped in a strange embrace, my arms pinned to my side.
“Don’t ever try to leave me again,” he whispers in my ear. “Or I’ll tell the police everything I know.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
After he tells me this, I return to my room, get into bed, and don’t get up for a week. Overwhelmed by Neil’s recurring threats, my body shuts down completely. The nightmares about Grace return. I keep seeing Bradley looming behind her with a rock. After he cracks open her skull, he holds out his hand to me, like a demon luring a victim to hell, and every time, I take it.
Whenever I wake, Neil is there, sitting in the corner of the room, waiting with a meal or a cup of tea, his brows knitted in concentration. I panic every time. Nightmares waking to nightmares. No escape.
Sometimes, he leaves the house. I’m free to go, but of course, I can’t really ever leave him. He’ll always be able to lure me back.
So I stay. A prisoner.
Soon,the panic attacks subside, and I begin to feel numb to it all. I wander around the house in a daze, spending my days watching reality TV or scrolling through videos on my phone.Despite the lack of exercise or stimulation, I sleep ten hours a night.
One day, I find the pills he’s giving me in his bedside drawers. Beta blockers and sleeping pills. I consider flushing them, but I’m scared to face reality.
Some days, I think about asking him to double the dose.
The dayafter Grace returns to the land of the living—front page news, of course—the police drop the investigation against me, and Neil goes back to work.
He brings home flowers that night, and the next, until I tell him to stop. But the romantic gestures keep coming. He brings me jewelry. At every opportunity, he tells me how much he loves me.
Soon, he begins to say how much hewantsme, too. He never forces it, but I soon feel his hands on my hips, my ass, my breasts. I tell him I’m not ready, but it’s clear I’m running out of time.
And then one day, I’m flipping through channels, and I see a news report about a boat found floating in the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles from shore. No one is on board, but there are liquor bottles everywhere. According to the news, the police concluded that the owner of the vessel, one Bradley Little, fell overboard when intoxicated.
