Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“He can’t die, Theo. He can’t.”
“He won’t,” he says, trying to comfort me, but I know he can’t make that promise. The energy in the room shifts, and Tate fills the open doorway, his eyes on me.
My body stiffens at the sight of him. Theo turns, seeing why. “Excuse me,” he says and walks away, pushing Tate out the door with him.
“He’s been a wreck.”
“Great, I’ll be sure to send him a get-well-soon card.”
“Mindy, what happened? I thought you two—”
“I made a very wrong judgment call.” Her eyes are clouded with confusion and sadness. “Please don’t press this. I can’t right now. I want this to be over, and I want to go home.”
She nods, dropping it. “Of course. And I hate to break it to you, but I’m not backing down this time. You’re coming home with me, whether you like it or not.”
“Fay—”
“Don’t ‘Fay’ me. You’ve been missing for almost three damn days. Three whole days you’ve missed out on wedding planning. You owe me. Do you know how many wedding favors I still have to put together? Did you even start planning my bachelorette party before you got kidnapped? All this time lost…it’s unacceptable.”
Only my best friend would turn a traumatizing situation into a joke. Just one of the reasons I love her. “Did I at least get out of making bows? I hate bows. Phobia and all. Bowphobia—”
“Enough. I get it.” Her smile is the start of my healing. It reminds me how lucky I am. How things could have turned out so much different. “I would have postponed my wedding before ever taking that enjoyment away from you.”
I didn’t think it was possible, but I have to stifle a laugh. “I knew I should have drawn out my captivity longer. Bows are the devil.”
“Jorge wore a bow on Valentine’s Day that one year.” Dammit, busted. “And no matter where you were, I would have found you.”
And in my heart, I know she would have. Because that’s how we roll.
Theo reenters the room, looking less than pleased. “I never thought I would miss that scowl, boy toy.” His expression softens, and he walks up to my bed.
“Well, you’re going to see a lot of it if you don’t listen to me. My house, my rules.”
The side of my mouth curls. “Oh, please. Do tell.”
“First rule: no feeding my fiancée tequila.”
Fay chokes back her laugh as my lips break into a full smile. “Let me guess: never expose her to sunlight, never get her wet, and no food after midnight. Got it.”
Chapter twenty-eight
Mindy
Two weeks later…
What’s the saying? Time flies when you’re having fun? In my situation, it’s more like distraction makes it go by. I’m convinced Fay believes if she keeps us constantly busy, I won’t have time to think about what happened. Allow my mind to recall the chunk of time I was caged in a room and at the mercy of a psychopath. And sometimes, during the days, she succeeds.
The nights, though, torment me. When I close my eyes, the darkness consumes me, sucking me into ugly memories. A vision of Vince’s face haunts me every time I try to sleep. So, I don’t. I wish I could make it stop. Turn my mind off. I know it’s taking a toll on Fay. Theo’s worried about her, too. I can see the love and concern in his eyes. And after being here for two weeks, I know it’s time to go home.
It’s been hard trying to wrap my head around Vince—or Paul. His fixation got so out of control that he spent the last five years of his life consumed by my every move. It’s disturbing to see the lengths someone would go to get another person’s attention.
He wasn’t just a stalker. He was fully obsessed. A deranged psychopath who faked my attack to save me. Worked himself into my life to gain my trust. And why wouldn’t I trust him? He came off as a nice guy and showed me a normal side any girl would find reassuring. He wore a shiny mask to hide all the evil he had inside. He planned on taking me and keeping me until I magically fell in love with him. He wrote, ‘’Til death do us part’ on so many pictures he created of us. Too bad death came for him first.
After being questioned and released, I learned about Heather Mills. I told the police that Paul had admitted to doing this before, and since Paul seemed to have a knack for keeping treasures, they were able to link evidence found at the barn to Heather’s missing person’s report from over six years ago.
Sheldon Mitchell is still locked up and staying that way for at least five to ten. He made a deal to ruin my life for a measly two hundred dollars. That was all it took for him to agree to assault a woman. He got even less to drive a car over the state lines. We may never know why Paul coerced him to do that. Detective Rochel thinks it had been his plan to use Sheldon as a diversion. And it worked.