Page 17 of Now that I Found You
The man moves his hand, urging me to end the phone call. In doing so, he adjusts his knife pointing it at me as his eyes grow wide in warning.
“I gotta go,” I say matter-of-factly. “Um, I’ll call you when I get off work. Callum, I love you.”
The emotion and the fear of it being the last time I could ever say those words to him are like a ball of cotton lodged in my throat.
“I love you, too, baby. I’ll see you soon.”
He reaches forward, snapping the phone out of my hand pressing the end button and tosses it behind him, sending it crashing to the ground, sliding across the floor.
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself there, sweetness. I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon. Put your hands back up in the air.”
Bile rises in my throat, as I force my spine steel straight. I want to let the fear take over, pinning me down and holding me in place, but I don’t. I won’t submit to his intimidation. I’ve lived my whole life falling victim to the terrible things that’ve happened to me. I refuse to let someone come in here and threaten to take away the two things I love more than anything in this world. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I let that happen.
“I’m not doing anything, I swear.” I gulp, feeling a lump in my throat.
My watch flashes and I’m grateful my hands are still up in the air as a text message from Callum reading, “911” flashes on my screen. It’s the same message I sent to him the day Royal had taken me. Relief washes through me, knowing he picked up on my warning. He’s trying to tell me help is on the way.
Now all I have to do is just bide my time and stay calm, as the time slowly ticks.
“How much longer until Hudson should be back?”
“He normally takes short lunches, so it shouldn’t be too much longer.”
He starts to pace, walking up toward the front of the store, before pacing back to me. Stopping to glance out the window, he looks back to me before he resumes the same pace in front of the register counter. My arms have started to slouch from the pain of keeping them raised in the air.
“Keep your hands where I can see them. I’m not playing games with you.”
When he shifts to move, I catch for the first time the gun tucked into the back of his jeans.
I force myself to swallow. I’m scared if Hudson comes back here, something could happen to him. I don’t want to see anyone I love get hurt again.
“I will be honest with you. Hudson told me he was going to the bank during his break. I don’t know how much money he’s gonna have here.”
The loud smack ricochets around the room, as he uses his closed fist around the knife to hit me. Pain radiates through my jaw, feeling like it was split in two. My ears ring as tears fill my eyes, threatening to fall. I press my palm against my cheek.
“I don’t need your advice. I’ve got it from here. Quit talking!”
His eyes look wild, as sweat trickles down his face. He swipes it using the back of his hand, using his fist clutching the knife to cover his mouth while contemplating something.
I just hope and pray whatever he is thinking, he’s going to take it easy on me. Whatever it is he needs, I know if there is a way of me making it out of here alive and unharmed, I will have to appeal to what he wants. It’s clear he’s willing to go to extreme risks to get whatever money he needs.
“You can take anything you want, anything. I’ll give you all the money in the register, but please, just don’t hurt me.”
My voice trembles, fear and adrenaline taking over me.
“You really don’t know how to fuckin’ listen, do ya? You just keep that pretty little mouth shut before I find something to put in it.”
This all starts to feel like a bad dream. One I’ve relived every night I lay my head down and close my eyes. As every second ticks away, I just hold onto hope it’s one second closer to when Callum is in my arms again.
The tears that once filled my eyes now seep out of the corners. I’m realizing no matter how far I’ve run, how hard I’ve fought, I’m always going to be scarred by my past.
