The dark figure. The sickly sweet smell. The needle in my neck.
I’d been kidnapped by my stalker and Alden had been knocked out.
I struggled against the restraints, but they only tightened. My breathing became erratic as I took in everything around me. I was in a large, dark warehouse type room made of cement and steel. There was what looked like broken machinery and conveyor belts all covered in a black like soot. I had no idea what this place used to be, but it was clear it hadn’t been used in a long time. Glancing down at myself, I saw I was tied to an old metal fold out chair that had been welded to the ground. Ropes wove around my ankles attaching my legs to the legs of the chair and my hands were pinned behind me with a rope wrapping around my waist.
There was no getting out of these without a knife and all hope left me in that instant.
“You see this place?” my stalker asked, waving his arm to the room around us.
Bringing my attention back to him, I stayed silent, watching as he took steady steps in a circle around me. His mask was firmly in place and he was dressed in the same all black as the night at the hospital.
“This is where it all began, you know?” he continued. “Where I thought my life had ended, but really, it was the night I was brought to you. Do you remember that night?”
I scowled. “How the fuck would I know what night you mean when I don’t even know who you are.”
The man stopped and studied me. “That’s a good point. I guess since we’re finally alone I can show you who I am. Maybe then you’ll see we were meant to be this whole time.”
I held my breath as he reached behind his head and grabbed the back of the mask. With a tug, he yanked the whole thing down and off his face, finally giving me a glimpse at the man who’d been tormenting me for the last few months.
And shockingly enough, I did remember him.
“Ah, you do know me,” he said cheerfully, the scars from burns that covered his face stretching as he grinned sadistically.
I didn’t really know him though. Not his name. Not any facts about him other than he had been a patient of mine. One Alice and I had joked about on many occasions. He was the one who always ate pancakes for every meal. The one who had asked me out on dates numerous times that I continually turned down. Now it all made sense. That sweet scent that I somehow knew but couldn’t put my finger on. How he knew my schedule and where I worked. How he knew anything about me at all.
I had treated his burns and thought nothing of him when he was finally healed and released. How could I have missed this?
“I know that you were burned, but I have to admit, I don’t remember your name.” It was probably stupid to admit that to him by the way he immediately frowned, but I didn’t care anymore. Normally I remembered my patients names, but he’d made me so uncomfortable when he was at the hospital, I was just happy to be rid of him.
He lashed out, slamming his fist into my face. My head snapped back and I felt the sickening crunch of my nose as it broke from the impact. Hot blood gushed down my face into my mouth and down my chin. The pain was excruciating, but instead of scaring me like it would a normal person, it only made me angry.
“You bitch. After we made such an intimate connection. I knew you couldn’t be with me while I was your patient. You said as much. But I thought afterward you would have still wanted me. You were so kind and gentle with me, not judging me on the scars that plague my face. How could you forget me like that? I love you!”
I spit the blood out of my mouth at his feet.
I was so fucking done with this guy.
“You don’t know what love is, you psycho! I will never want you. You tried to kill me. You burned my childhood home down. You tried to kill my best friend. You destroyed countless businesses and homes, and you beat the crap out of me. How the fuck could I ever love anyone like you?”
The veins in his head and neck bulged with clear anger as my words pierced through whatever delusion this guy had been living in.
“If I can’t have you, then no one can, whore.” He stomped over to a wall that had something covered with a large, dirty tarp. He ripped it off revealing dozens of propane tanks and a few five gallon gasoline canisters. My eyes widened as I realized what he was intending to do.
Without a word, he picked up one of the gasoline cans and began soaking every propane tank with it until it was empty. Then he grabbed another and started circling the room pouring it out as he went, the whole time grumbling nonsense under his breath. I strained against the ropes to watch what he was doing as he chucked the second can and went for the third.
To my horror, he came right at me with it and proceeded to tilt it over me. I closed my eyes tightly and held my breath. A few splashes hit me in my chest, on my lap, and across my back, stinging my skin. The smell was killer and caused me to gag. He went to tilt the can above my head to soak me even more, but before he could get more than a few droplets out, a voice shouted my name from across the room.
The man stopped and both of us turned toward the voice.
Tears of pure relief welled in my eyes at seeing one of the men I loved standing there like a guardian angel. Porter looked on the edge of losing his shit, his face contorted with rage as he stared from my blood stained face to the manic stalker standing beside me.
“How did you find us?” my stalker demanded, lowering the gasoline a bit.
“Easy. My SUV has GPS fuckwad,” Porter taunted.
“And what? You thought you could stop me? I’ve already won.”
Porter scoffed and took a couple steps closer. “I don’t think so. The police already know where we are and who you are, so there’s no getting away if you hurt her. So just let Sophia go and maybe you can get away before they get here.”
