To kill her?
There’s no way I’ll be able to protect him if he’s that stupid. I take a deep breath and tell myself to calm down. The only thing being worked up is going to achieve is pissing Jake off even more.
“Jake, we need to think about this. If you do something—”
“We,” Jake corrects, a trace of a smile on his thin lips. “You’re in this as much as I am, remember?”
“Then you need to listen to me,” I instruct. “There has to be another way to fix this. Let’s just sit down and think about this rationally, okay?” I plead with him. I take his hand and squeeze it, silently begging for him to listen to me. He glances at me, uncertainty in his eyes, like he’s not sure what to believe. I keep pushing, though. “Listen to me—”
“No, you listen to me, Clo,” Jake murmurs. “It’s too late to back out of this. Ineed you to stay here and keep an eye on her.” He runs his hand through his hair, his dark eyes wild. He looks agitated and unsure. “I've got to go and sort some things out and then I’ll be back.”
“What?” My heart pounds. “Sort what out? You can't leave me here with her—”
“For God's sake, Chloe, what’s she gonna do? She's tied up. All you have to do is sit here and watch her. You can handle that, right?”
“Fine.” Maybe with him gone for a little while, I can figure out what to do. “Just don't be long.”
Jake stalks from the room. I hear the front door close with a loud bang and then a few seconds later, the hum of his truck disappearing out into the wilderness. Turning back to Marissa, my heart pounds in my chest. I look away, bile rising up the back of my throat.
I never signed up for this.
I never wanted to hurt anyone. Well, anyone that didn't deserve it.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. It's been ringing all afternoon, but until now I've ignored it. I pull it out. Another missed call from Sam. There's about twenty of them in total, but I can't talk to him right now. Not while I have his wife tied up in a cabin and my homicidal brother has gone off to do God knows what.
Probably prepare her grave.
I let out a laugh and rub the back of my neck, trying to relieve some of the pressure in my mind. Fuck, this is such a mess.
I pace back and forth, nervously tugging at my hair while I try to figure a way out of this that doesn’t land Jake and I in prison. Marissa struggles again. Her cries are getting more frantic, and while I know that we're the only people for miles around, I'm worried that she's going to alert someone to our whereabouts sooner rather than later. I can't risk someone happening upon us while Jake isn't here, but he’s taking so long. Where the hell is he?
Marissa struggles again, her voice muffled against the tape gagging her mouth. It's like she's trying to tell me something. Probably how much I’m going to pay for doing this to her. I inch closer, tempted to pull off the tape covering her mouth so I can at least hear what she has to say. I hesitate, not sure what to do, but I know I have to do something. Without thinking, I step forward and ease the tape across her lips. She gasps in air, her chest heaving in and out, her cheeks flushed bright red.
“Please, Chloe. Help me.” Her voice is remarkably calm, given the situation she’s in. “Take off the blindfold so I can see. All I want to do is talk to you, I promise.”
“I'm not sure I should do that.” My voice trembles.
“Come on, Chloe, please,” she coaxes. “If I'm going to talk to you, I want to be able to look at you. I'm tied up. It's not like I can do anything, right? And out here, no one could hear me scream.”
I reach forward and tentatively remove the blindfold. Relief fills her tear-stained eyes as they meet mine. They’re wide with fear, like she’s terrified of what I might do, but I’m not the one she needs to be afraid of. Jake is the unpredictable one. He’s the one calling the shots here. I’m just stuck in the crossfires, fighting between right and wrong.
“Please, Chloe.” She’s crying now. “I have a daughter. Think about what this would do to her. This can be all over. I won't tell anyone—”
“You won't tell anyone?” I cut her off with a harsh laugh. “Spare me the bullshit, Marissa. When Jake gets back—”
“Jake?” She cuts me off, eyeing me strangely. “Jake's here?”
“Of course, he is. He's the one who took you,” I snarl. I shake my head, sick of her mind games. She’s trying to get in my head, so I doubt myself. “He's really angry at you for what you did, you know. He won’t even listen to me.”
“We can work this out. Just the three of us. You, me, and Jake. I'm sure we can.”
I bite my lower lip, unwilling to trust her. At least, not when it comes to Jake's wellbeing. She doesn’t understand how much I need him. I can’t lose him, even if it means doing something unthinkable. Turning away, I shake my head.
Come on, Jake. Get back here.
He'll know what to do. This is his plan, after all.
A sudden crack rings through the air, right before a heavy blow shoves me against the window. I knock my head against the glass and yelp out in pain. Touching my head, I wince as warm, thick liquid soaks my fingers. I blink, dazed, just in time to witness Marissa bolting out of the door, strings of rope around her hands and the chair knocked back onto the floor.