Chapter 123
Jess was feeling delirious from lack of food or water. Voices from beyond the door sounded frantic and panicked. But that couldn’t be true. They were in control. If they were scared, something bad had to be going on. The voices got louder and more demanding.
“Emma,” Jess rasped. “Emma, wake up.” Emma had been out for a while. Jess did her best to wiggle her way over to her friend. “Em, please wake up.”
“Mmm,” Emma mumbled. Both girls were on the cold, hard, dirty floor. “Why?”
“Something’s wrong. Listen.”
They went silent as they listened to the upheaval outside. It was pandemonium. The world was ending just past the door, and they would be left behind.
“What happened?” Emma asked, her throat felt raw as though someone had forced her to swallow nails.
“I don’t know.”
The door flew open, and they were met with a frightening sight. In the doorway, bathed in darkness, but silhouetted by light was Grace. She stepped towards them, and Emma gasped.
“This is the dress I wore the day we got married,” she laughed. “Do you think he’ll still like it?”
Neither woman could answer. They were shocked into silence as terror overtook them. Grace was unhinged and there was telling what she would do to them now.
“I…,” Jess started to answer.
“Not you!” Grace shouted.
“Y-yes,” Emma stammered. “He’ll like it. You look… very pretty.”
“That’s sweet of you,” Grace said, her head tilted to the side. Her wide, unblinking eyes stared at them. “But I know you’re lying.”
“N-no. You do look pretty.”
Grace leapt on top of Emma and pinned her to the ground. The blood from Emma’s wounds stained the dress.
“Do you love him?” Grace asked, producing a gun from somewhere. She dragged the barrel across Emma’s face, like some sort of morbid caress.
“Please, Grace,” Emma pleaded, shaking from cold and horror.
“Answer me,” Grace demanded. Her voice was deadly still, filled with the deranged certainty that only someone with nothing left to lose could have.
“I…,” Emma had tried to push William Stewart out of her heart. She focused on all of the horrible things that had happened since he walked into her life. She thought of the contract, of how he used her. She thought of their epic fights. But all that brought to her mind was the epic way they made up. Her thoughts floated to the last time she saw him. It felt like eons ago. Had it only been a day? Thoughts of him, despite all they’d been through, made her happy. Even with everything that happened, she couldn’t regret their time together. It had given them Lizzie.
“I do love him,” Emma said, her voice thick with tears.
“I believe you,” Grace whispered. “Loving him is like an illness. It infects you and can destroy you. But you’re different. Maybe you can be strong enough to love him. But that doesn’t mean you love him more than I do.”
“What… what’s going on out there?” Jess said to pull some of Grace’s attention away from Emma.
“He didn’t follow the plan,” Grace laughed. “It was silly to believe he would stay on script. He’s always been unpredictable. But it makes things more complicated.”
“What does that mean for us?”
“They’ll probably kill you,” Grace smiled. “You two were the only he cards to had to play against Will. I’d say your time is up.”
“Just do it, then!” Emma screamed. “Stop playing with me and just do it already! I know that’s why you’re here.”
“No, it isn’t. I just needed to see what made you so special. I wanted to know why he picked you over me. But I see now. I underestimated him. It was my fault.”
“Let us go, Grace!” Jess begged. “Let us go. We’ll tell the police you helped us. Then they can get you the help you need. Please let us go!”
Grace looked at Jess and rushed over to her.
“Why? So, you all can just forget me and move on? So, Will can cast me aside and pretend that I never existed?” she yelled.
“You were the love of his life!” Emma sobbed. Grace turned and slapped Emma with her gun.
“I AM the love of his life!” she shouted. “I taught him what happiness was! He can’t have it without me! But don’t worry! I’ll take care of it.”
“Please don’t hurt him,” Emma cried.
“I would never hurt him,” Grace grabbed a rough handful of Emma’s hair. “I’ll make sure he never forgets me. Never. I’ll stay with him forever.” She threw Emma to the side. Emma groaned as her head thudded against the concrete floor. Grace walked out of the room but didn’t shut the door.
“Emma?” Jess’s voice quivered.
“I’m okay,” Emma whimpered. “The door is open. Do you think we can get out of here?”
“I can’t stand.” Desperation grabbed hold of her. The hubbub from earlier was gone, and it seemed that everyone had gone. “But I think we should try.”
“It’s so quiet now,” Emma noticed. “How are we going to get out? We can’t walk,” Emma said of the binding around their legs. As bad as she was, she knew Jess was worse. Emma abuse had only come from Grace. Jess had been beaten by several men. It wouldn’t be surprising if she had some internal injuries. She was so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep.
“We have to try,” Jess urged. “Come on. Drag yourself on the floor. If we can get close enough to a window, we can call for help.”
“Good idea,” Emma agreed. “Do you think… they’re looking for us?”
“Hey,” Jess tried to soothe her friend. “I know they are. They just need a little pull in the right direction. It’s almost over. Come on. There’s a window in that hallway, the one right outside the door.”
“Okay.”
The friends struggled and crawled their way out of their dark room. They flinched against the light, almost as if it burned their skin. Sunlight poured in from a large window. It was shut.
“These buildings often have those tempered glass windows,” Emma said, her hope dwindling.
“Not this one. These are outdated windowpanes, I can tell. My dad used them in some of his older builds. This window will break. Back up to me. I can free your hands. Pick something up, like a chair and just bash it against the glass. It’ll break and get attention from people in the street. We’re going to make it, Emma. We’re going to get out of here. We’re going to see our friends. You’re going to see your baby.”
“Right,” Emma felt emboldened. Her heart started pumping faster at the thought of holding her daughter. The weakness and pain in her body melted away. I need to take advantage of this. Adrenaline fueled her as Jess undid her bindings. “We’re going to get out! We’re going to get out!”
The rope around Emma’s wrist was finally loosened. She pushed herself up and wobbled around the room. There was no furniture save for a small table lamp discarded on the floor.
“Will this work?” Emma asked, picking it up.
“Yeah, but you have to throw it hard, okay? Really hard.”
“Okay,” Emma breathed.
“You can do it,” Jess encouraged her.
“I can do it,” Emma repeated. With every fiber of strength left in her body, she launched the lamp at the window. It crashed through the glass, and after a few seconds, they heard it land on the ground along with concerned screams from passersby. Emma collapsed to the floor, the last sounds she heard were Jess’s screams for help.
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