Surely, they’d have found it if they’d been searching the apartment.
Wait.There.
A tiny sliver of black peeks out from under the bed, and relief rushes through me knowing they hadn’t found it. I’m not sure how they could have missed it, but right now, I don’t care.
The only problem now is I have no idea how I’m going to get it.
Moving my attention back to Sebastian, the space between his brows creases as he stares at me.
“I swear I’m not working for anyone. Please… you’ll never see me again,” I plead, even though the thought of never seeing Sebastian again leaves me feeling ill.
“How long have you been following me?” It’s the first thing he’s said, and the deep timbre of his voice sends a shiver through me.
“This is a misunderstanding. It’s not what you think—”
“How long?” he cuts me off, voice sharpening slightly. His tone is the only crack in his otherwise unreadable expression.
Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I try to account for how long I’ve been here. The days and weeks all blend together. “A few months.”
“Why? If you aren’t working for someone, why else would you be following me?”
My heart kicks up, and my mind runs wild, looking for a response that doesn’t make me sound crazy as I start to feel more trapped in this already tiny apartment.
How did you explain stalking someone for months? He would never understand, and I’m running out of time. The longer I’m held up here, the more I worry about being able to get away and back to the station for my train.
Though, a part of me already knows I won’t be on that train.
Before I can come up with something, anything to get me out of this mess, Sebastian shakes his head and steals the air right out of my lungs with his next words.
“I’m calling the police. I’m done with this. We have enough to have you arrested for stalking and harassment.”
Easton whips his head around to Sebastian as if he wasn’t expecting him to say that.
The fear comes raging back, sinking in so deep I can hardly breathe as I lunge towards Sebastian. “What? No! You can’t!” But I don’t make it even one step before Easton slams me back into the wall, and I cry out as I land hard on my injured ankle. “You don’t understand. You can’t… If you just let me go, I… I’ll disappear and never come back, I swear.”
My hands are clammy as I push against Easton’s impenetrable hold to no avail.
“Sebastian, I can take care of this,” Easton grunts, fixing his friend with a hard stare.
Sebastian’s nostrils flare, and his eyes flick to me before returning to Easton, but with my brain in overdrive, I can’t decipher the look on his face.
“P-please don’t call the police.” My breathing comes in fast bursts. I should never have come back for the stupid journal.
I should never havebeenhere, in this city, to begin with.
I ruined my only chance at freedom, and for what?
There’s no doubt in my mind thathewill find me again if I’m arrested. I can’t—
I can’t do it again.
I choke on the cry that tries to escape my throat, but I swallow it down.
Sebastian pulls his phone out of his pocket, the decision made.
With my mind racing, I scramble to think of something to stop this, anything that would prevent him from making that call. And while the thought of Easton ‘taking care’ of me is alarming, compared to the alternative, it’s by far the lesser of two evils.
I can’t look away from Sebastian as he handles his phone, swiping his fingers across the screen, but my eyes slam shut when the chaos swirling in my head halts on the one thing that might get me out of here.
Taking a deep breath, I open my eyes, locking onto Sebastian’s cool blue stare. I restrain myself from reaching out to touch him and say the words that could very well seal my fate.
“I know who killed your parents.”