Chloe turned her head to see the silver laptop sitting there.
“If you had come down today, you would have been told that I got all your Stanford classes changed to online courses. That laptop is yours, and you will find everything to complete your courses on it.”
Shock was her only response. He did that?
That was when she grasped just how long he planned to keep her here. Long enough for a semester, at least.
“So, you do plan to keep me here for a while, don’t you?”
“Yes.” He told her like it was.
“They’re go-going to know something h-happened to me,” she whispered.
Lucca shook his head. “Who? Your parents? Elle? You left them behind when you decided to leave early to California. As far as they know, you got on the plane. I saw to it.”
She was sure her parents were celebrating her leaving after she had left them a good-bye letter. They weren’t coming to find her, but …
“Elle. She will know something is wrong if I don’t talk to her.”
Reaching into his dark jeans pocket, he pulled out a cell phone and set it on the table. Her cell phone.
“I’ve been texting her for you.”
Her nails dug into her palms. No one would know the truth. No one would know that she wasn’t a million miles away in California, but instead she was right here, in Kansas City, trapped. Not my parents. Not my best friend, Elle. Not even …
“He keeps calling you.” Lucca’s eyes turned blue to match his cold tone. “What does Amo have to be sorry for?”
Chloe’s mouth dropped open, remembering the first tear that had fallen in years after breaking Amo’s heart just nights ago. She had killed their friendship after he had spilled his feelings for her, yet he was the one trying to apologize for something he had done years ago. Something she had never judged him for.
“H-He w-will … He will come for me.”
Lucca’s eyes got bluer, his tone colder. “No, he won’t, Chloe. I promise you that.”
Stumbling from the table, she ran as fast as her legs could take her up to her room. With each step she took, she was afraid he would snatch her up from behind until she slammed the door shut behind her.
The invisible tears fell from her eyes, crying for her lost friends, her freedom, and the life she desperately wanted that had been stolen from her grasp.
The darkness in him whispered, Run and catch her. Show her what a real prisoner of yours would be like.
Staring down at the phone, he put it up to his ear, listening to the voicemail.
“The moment I yelled “fucking freak” through the lunchroom, I regretted it, and I’ve done nothing but wish I could take those words back ever since.” Amo’s voice seemed to break toward the end before he steadied it once more. “If I scared you by telling you I love you, I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry for everything, Chloe.”
Lucca squeezed the phone in his hand, making the screen crack.
Seven
Hey, Darlin’
Seven months ago…
When a black BMW appeared on his surveillance camera, Lucca had to do a double take to see if he was imagining it. By the time he watched her walk into the house, he realized that she was very much here. It worked.
He had hoped Chloe might come to make sure Elle was okay after the attack. Something told him she would. It had been a long shot to get her here, and an even longer one to get a moment alone with her, but I had to try.
Lucca needed her to know he existed. He wanted to see her face when she looked at him for the first time. He constantly imagined how their first encounter would go, and now he was closer than ever to living it.
Taking advantage of the microphone placed on the cameras, he turned the volume up to eavesdrop. More importantly, to hear her voice, which he hadn’t heard since she had looked at the music box in the shop.
When she finally spoke, it was just how he remembered: soft and unsure.
Who the fuck did this to her?
Realizing she stuttered out of fear and not because of a speech impediment infuriated him. At the same time, it broke a piece inside of him to see someone had broken a piece of her.
He continued to watch her every move, having to switch between cameras when they went into a different room.
Seeing Chloe inside the house he grew up in only amplified his feelings for her. He began to lose track of time from just watching her. That scary part deep down inside of him seemed to be satiated simply by watching her.
Lost in an almost trance, he barely noticed her eyeing the back door over and over again. Something inside Lucca felt like this was it. Go.