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“Don’t,” I state, but he grabs my face and kisses me, an open mouth kiss that has me shuddering in disgust.
“I’ll be right back,” he states as it started to drizzle again, making me colder as it coats my already wet clothes.
“Please don’t leave me here Harrison,” I plead but it simply made him smile as he brushed the hair from my face.
“When I get back, we’ll never be parted again, I promise my love,” he replies, and I’ve never felt like throwing up more in my life than in that moment. “You’ll always be with me, and you’ll see that everything I do is to protect you.”
I fought against the ropes as he headed towards the car on the far side of the bridge and nearly passed out when a hand slid over my mouth, keeping me from being able to say anything or utter any sounds.
“Shh, it’s just me baby,” Rafe says, and I turn my head, meeting his gaze as the tears flow down my cheeks again.
“How?” I asks as he lowered his hand from my mouth wiping them away.
“I needed to make sure you read that letter, so I turned around and headed back to the club. I got there as Sam and Tony were heading out and they said you’d left nearly an hour before that after reading the letter. I saw your car in the lot and called your phone. It rang and I knew whatever was going on wasn’t right. You wouldn’t have left it and your car there. I headed back this way thinking maybe you’d called Harrison to talk it over. It took me a bit to find this bridge and when I got close I turned the car off not wanting to upset you by acting like a crazy and demanding jealous fool,” he adds, and my heart swelled even more with love for him, but knowing what Harrison had planned for us, terrified me.
“You have to go…please,” I whisper giving him a pleading look. “Go to the house, get Maggie and leave. He’s crazy.”
“I heard him say he was going to burn down the club. I’ll call Sam and warn her as we’re heading home,” he assures me, trying to undo the ties on my arms.
“You don’t get it Rafe. HeforcedChad to jump. Chad did it to save me from him trying to make me do it if he wouldn’t, and now he’s going to make you do the same thing,” I explain, my heart breaking at the idea of him not being in the world. “Pleasejust go get Maggie and leave. Get as far from here as you can.”
“I’m not leaving you. I willneverleave you, baby,” he replies, brushing a soft kiss over my lips seeing the tears shining in my eyes. “I need to go get a knife to get these ropes off you. I’ll be right back baby, I promise.”
“Rafe no,” I try, but he’d already started creeping back down the bridge the opposite way that Harrison had taken. My heart stalled when I saw the lights on Harrison’s car flash on highlighting me in them. I turned my head trying to see if it’d shown Rafe, but I couldn’t see anything beyond the two brightspots. He backed around to head out of the area and I breathed a bit easier waiting for Rafe to return to me.
The minutes passed slowly, the cold wrapping around me, making me shiver as the fear increased exponentially. I heard steps rushing up behind me and turned my head finding Rafe there again.
“Please just go Rafe. Go get Maggie and keep her safe. I need you to be safe,” I urge him again, as he starts to cut the ropes holding me against the pillar.
“Not without you baby. I called Sam and warned her, along with the police. The sheriff might not like getting out of bed at this time of the night, but Harrison is not going to hurt you again. I won’t let him,” he states, so gently that I couldn’t stop from leaning my head against his shoulder as he continued to work on the ropes.
“Rafe…I…”
“Don’t, not yet,” he tells me, seeing the look on my face as I tried to tell him the truth of how I felt. “Not like this.”
“Rafe, please just go.”
“Not without you Ame, I love you baby. I can’t leave you here and risk losing you.”
“He won’t hurt me. If the police know then they’ll get here and keep me safe. You have to go get our girl. He says he’s going to the club but what if he decides to go after Maggie instead? She won’t know he’s there, Rafe.Pleasego get her,” I add, the panic at the thought of her being hurt was far more greater any fear I felt about myself being harmed.
I couldn’t let Maggie be hurt because of me. I had to protect her because Rafe was right; in my heart, she was my daughter.
“We’ll both be able to go get her in just a second,” he argues, and that’s when the sound of laughter chills me through entirely. I lifted my head and spotted Harrison stalking towards us.
“Well look at this,” he crows, as Rafe moved between us more, sliding the knife into my hands to continue using it to get free. “Seems I was right in coming back but you’ll never get her free…only I can do that. Stand up,” he orders, and Rafe stepped fully between us making me unable to see Harrison.
“Let her go,” Rafe returns, my heart racing at the deadly warning in his tone.
“I’m not going to hurt her—at least not once you’re taken care of, but if you don’t do what I say then I’ll hurt her because she’s mine. She’salwaysbeen mine and I’ll make sure she forgets about you, make her whole again.”
“You’re not going to touch her,” Rafe counters. “It’s over Harrison. You’ve lost.”
“No, the only one who’s lost is you. Now it time for you to choose…you or her,” he replies, pulling out a gun from behind his back. I see it glitter in the light from the moon as Rafe shifts slightly. “If I can’t have her then you can’t either.”
“Is this what you did to Chad? Pointed a gun at him—your own brother—and made him choose that he either jump or you’d kill Ame?” Rafe asks, the furiousness in his voice making me worry he’ll do something crazy and get hurt.
“He knew the right choice; the question is, do you? Chad was never going to be the one for her. I made sure of it. Every time he started to get over what happened I’d show him how much his life wouldn’t be the same, how much he’d be keeping from Amelia. The concerts he’d never be able to take her to and enjoy. The movies he couldn’t go with her to because he wouldn’t know what was going on in them. The simple fact that he’d never know when someone was there to hurt her…whenIwas there to take her from him the same way I’m going to take her from you.”
