Page 137 of Ace My Heart

“You’re bleeding,” I explained. He leaned up onto one elbow and tried to hoist himself up. I slipped an arm under his and helped him prop himself up against the back of the lounge.

“Is he still here?” Joel asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. Oh Joel, you have no idea how relieved I am that you’re not …”

“Is Mum okay?” he interrupted. I nodded.

“I’m fine, sweetie, just glad you’re okay,” Sandra called from where she was still tied to the weights machine.

Joel sighed woozily and I held his face gently, taking a closer look at the wound. I thought he might be concussed.

“Mel,” he began, but I put a finger to his lips, pulling my phone out of my pocket.

“Shush. I’ll call the police and an ambulance.” I swiped to unlock my phone and dialled triple zero. My hands shook so much I could barely punch the number in.

“Mel,” Joel said again, more insistently. I looked up from my phone. He was squinting, trying to focus on a place somewhere above and behind me.

My brain screamed at me to not turn, to not look in the same direction, but my head started swivelling to the right, craning behind and up.

I didn’t even get a glimpse of what was there before he pounced.His hand snaked around my throat, gripping so tight that I couldn’t expel the air caught in my lungs.

He dragged me to my feet and spun me around, still choking me, and holding me against him. Something cold and pointy pressed against my neck.

“Well, what a surprise – you see, Joel, you see what you’ve done to her?” The voice was rumbly and rough, and something about it was horrifyingly familiar, but in my panic, I couldn’t place it.

One thing was certain: the voice did not belong to Brad.

“Leave her out of this,” Joel growled, managing to sound menacing. He struggled to his feet, swaying, and I saw just how much blood was in his hair and on his face. And on the floor. My stomach churned.

The knife dug deeper into the skin on the side of my neck.

“Don’t come any closer, or I swear I’ll do it!”

I stared wide-eyed at Joel, his eyebrows knitted together as he glared at the man behind me. I blinked, lightheaded as I struggled for enough air.

“Let her go – you came here for me, not her.”

“Oh, but don’t you see? Ididcome here for her. Everything has been for her.”

My attacker spun around, spinning me with him. I stumbled, felt the sting as the knife at my neck pressed deeper.

“Now I’m going to have to get rid of all three of you,” he sighed.

Sandra stared at me with resignation in her eyes.No! There was no way I was ready to die!

“Why are you doing this?” I wheezed.

“Mel, you should be thanking me! I’m doing this for you!Someonehas to protect you from the people who want to take advantage of you. From the mistakes you keep making.”

“Mel’s perfectly capable of looking after herself!” Joel grunted. My attacker swung us back around so that he could face Joel, who was holding onto the back of the lounge for support. He was deathly pale behind all the blood. How much had he lost? How much could a person lose before they were in serious danger?

“Is she?” my attacker growled back. “I’m not so sure about that. Well, it hardly matters anymore. It seems I can’t stop others from using her, so she’s better off dead.”

Something warm trickled down the side of my neck – the knife had pierced me.

Joel’s expression was horrified, furious … terrifying through all the blood. I really didn’t want that to be my last image of Joel before I died. I squeezed my eyes tight shut and pictured him naked, arms wrapped around me, our legs entwined. Had it only been earlier that day that I’d been in bed with him?

“Joel, I …” I grated, gagging before I could say the next words –“love you”– as the hand around my throat tightened again.

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