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But the problem was that the voice was completely unrecognizable. I had no fucking clue who the guy was, and I doubted she knew him either because he said, “I’m sure you’re wondering who I am too and why am I doing this.”
More muffling sounds and what seemed to be struggling came from Lisa, but then the man said, “Look, I want to do this fairly, but you’re making it difficult for me. I’ll tell you that if you keep being stubborn about this, I’m going to not just kill you, I’m going to kill your daughter too.”
The hush that followed was almost throbbing with fear.
“I haven’t hurt her yet. And I don’t plan on it so far. But you just need to cooperate. Alright?”
I didn’t hear anything else as blood roared in my ears. I could just feel her terror, and I wanted to rip out his throat for that alone.But not yet, I said to myself. First, I needed to make sure I knew what his game plan was.
And luckily for me, it looked like the man was just about to spill the beans.
It seemed like he was a walking cliche…a repressed introvert turned villain who was obsessed with showing his victims how clever his plan was.
“Well, I’m going to be the first to admit that this isn’t personal,” he said. “Not against you anyway. But I do have a grudge against your fucking boyfriend.”
Alarm spiked. Robbie was right again. So this had something to do with me. I was starting to doubt it after this afternoon because none of my exes fit the bill to do something like this. But now…fuck, this was all my fault. She was in danger because of me.
If anything happened to her, I would never forgive myself.
“He thinks he can do whatever he wants, fuck over whoever he can,” the deranged coward continued. “Including…her. She’d already been hurt enough, but he had to just keep coming back and rubbing it in. He made her fall in love with him just so he could dump her. And he didn’t even care when she killed herself."
I tried to think of who he was talking about, but I wasn’t pulling up a name.
“He doesn’t know what it’s like to lose someone you love or watch your entire world fall to pieces before your eyes. He doesn’t know what it’s like to lose the only sunshine you have. But today, he will.”
“What’s her name?” The intruder must have taken his hand off her mouth because I heard her whisper, almost too soft for me to catch it. Despite everything, she had sympathy in her voice as she asked the question in a quiet tone that wouldn’t carry anywhere else in the house.
“Jayla,” the man answered, and the name triggered a recognition. Fuck, why hadn’t I thought about her before? Of course. The stalker on whom I’d gotten the restraining order. We’d slept together a few times, but it ended when she kept showing up at places I was at and keeping tabs on me. But even after I ended things with her, I started receiving phone calls at odd hours and strange gifts at work with messages implying I was leading her on and that she was heartbroken by our breakup.
The police traced it all back to Jayla, and that was when I filed the restraining order. I assumed the threat of jail time was what kept her away, not that she’d killed herself. Fuck.
I was guilty of more than I thought. Sometimes, I wondered if I would ever wash my conscience clean.
“I heard about her,” Lisa told him. “I’m so sorry.”
I frowned. I’d never told her about Jayla. Why was she lying?
And then I realized. She was trying to buy time until the guards’ sleeping pills wore off or until I came to get her.
She had faith in me.
Just hang in there, my love. I’ll save you.
“He spoke about her?” the intruder asked tentatively.
“Yes,” Lisa said. “She seemed like a sweet girl. I’m sad their relationship ended.”
“It wasn’t a relationship,” the man spat out. “He used her. Fucked her, then tossed her aside. That’s what it was.”
“I know,” Lisa said softly. “He did the same thing to me at first, and I know what it’s like to lose someone you love. To be used by them. But…this isn’t the answer. Killing me won’t bring her back, and she won’t be happy you did it.”
“She will,” he said firmly, his voice taut and angry. “She would want me to do this and take away that man’s happiness forever. I know her better than you.”
I heard her gasp, and that sound made my blood run cold. He was about to act. My blood pressure went up about a million degrees.
“She would want me to pay him back for what he did to her.”
“So shoot me.” I emerged from behind the wall and watched both their eyes widen in horror and shock. The man was smallish, standing around five feet five, and middle-aged, average in every way. I stared at him as he swung the knife at me, his hand shaking dangerously around the hilt as I quickly took a step back.
