She’s already halfway to the back room by the time she’s finished with the text.
“Abby,” I try to speak around the tie. “No.” I shake my head, terrified of what she’ll do to Logan.
“Wait here,” she says over her shoulder. Then she disappears into the darkness of the hallway.
My chest feels like it’s going to explode. Not knowing what to do, I start darting my eyes around the office searching for anything that might help me get off this chair. But I come up empty.
Several minutes pass when I hear footsteps coming from the back room. I hold my breath figuring it must be Abby returning. Instead, my heart sinks into my stomach when I see Logan. He’s relief and fear all rolled into one. I want to yell at him to leave but at the same time, I’m relieved he’s here.
“Logan.” I sigh, my shoulders relaxing.
He immediately starts moving toward me, but stops when Abby comes out from the hallway, cocking her gun. “Not so fast.”
Logan freezes and holds his hands up. He slowly turns around and tilts his head to the side. “Abby.”
“Yeah.” She nods. She keeps her gun pointed at Logan as she walks toward me, never breaking away from Logan. “Who did you think it was?”
Logan opens his mouth, but Abby stops him. She raises her finger to her mouth and glances up to the ceiling. “Oh, let me take a guess. Julian?”
She’s now standing in front of me as she was earlier, before Logan came into the room. She moves behind me, wrapping her arm around my chest. She leans down and brushes my hair aside. She still has the gun pointed at Logan. I can see the pain written all over his face.
His jaw tightens and his face flames red. He clenches his fists at his sides and his chest stills, as he struggles to take a breath. I maintain my focus on him, trying not to pay attention to Abby.
She brushes the hair from my cheek and leans down until her mouth is in front of my ear.
“Julian isn’t here. You’re safe with me.” She ghosts her mouth along my ear and chills prickle the back of my neck. A tear falls from my eye when she kisses the hollow of my ear. It’s a foreign feeling, one that terrifies me more than anything. It’s intimate and lingering as she keeps her mouth pressed against me for several seconds before finally deciding to pull away. She yanks on the tie around my mouth, pulling it down again. I inhale a deep breath, feeling the air fill my lungs.
“I don’t understand, Abby,” Logan says. He breaks her attention away from me. She doesn’t completely leave me alone, but she does move her mouth away from my ear. She stands behind me, placing her hand on my shoulder.
“Of course, you don’t, Logan. I didn’t expect you to.” Her voice is laced with anger and sarcasm. She keeps her gun pointed at Logan. “How about a little story time then, shall we?”
Logan nods once never breaking his eyes away from mine. I keep my focus on him as Abby pushes me closer to Logan. Our attention is alerted to Natalie when she starts to groan. She rolls her head, finally looking up. Her eyes spread in a panic, clearly not remembering where she is.
She frantically looks around the room and bucks against her chair. My heart sinks, knowing she’s just as trapped as I am.
“Logan?” she says once she spots him. He inches closer to her but Abby keeps him in check.
“Step any closer and I pull the trigger.”
“Okay.” Logan breathes out, holding his hands up once again.
She turns her attention to Natalie. “Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to join us for story time.”
Natalie doesn’t have a tie wrapped around her mouth and a part of me wonders why. Was Natalie special to Abby or did she not expect her to need one as I did? Logan and I always knew there was more to Natalie than what she had portrayed, and I guess now was the time when we would find out.
Either way, Natalie looks frightened as if she wasn’t expecting herself to be tied to a chair, staring down the barrel of a gun.
“Now,” Abby says. She backs away from me and walks toward the middle of the room. This time she allows Logan to walk toward me. She keeps her gun pointed at him and he keeps his hands held up. “Let’s start from the beginning.”
She paces the space between the three of us, never once lowering her arm. My eyes move from Natalie to Abby then Logan. He’s only standing three feet away from me but he still feels too far away. I want to wrap my arms around him and leave. I close my eyes briefly, picturing the shed in my back yard. I think back to the times I’ve spent back there. The sounds. The sunlight beaming through the windows. The bright green grass outside.
When I open my eyes again, tears pour down my face, realizing I’m nowhere near the safety of the shed.
“Lena was always meant to be mine.”
Twenty-Nine
Lena
Abby’s words hang in the air like a soaking wet piece of laundry hung out to dry. My head pounds as I narrow my eyes, unsure of her meaning.
Lena was always meant to be mine.
“What?” I ask her. My voice sounds hollow and empty. “What do you mean I was always yours?”
She narrows her eyes and grins. Her white teeth shine against her matte lipstick. “You were always meant to be mine.” Slowly, her smile fades, replaced with a frown. Her perfectly manicured eyebrows slant in anger. “But then that asshole, Julian showed up and ruined everything.” She swipes at
