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Was he making them go away? So he could what? Keep me pure for him? I am going to be sick.
And now after all this, Aidan Stryker is going to be the one to deflower me? Oh no, Hell no. This is even worse than the idea of some old grizzled mob boss. This kid’s presence terrorized me every day. Do they not remember the nightmares I had? How I had to go through such extreme measures to make sure he didn’t follow me home?
I stand, and I am shaking with rage.
“I suggest you run because I will not be your sacrifice! I will not marry the guy that stalked me for years. He’s not right in the head!”
“He would find us. The Stryker empire is… it’s vast. The resources he now has command of… Believe me when I say he would find us.”
But I’m not listening, I leave the office and slam the door behind me. I have to get out of here, tonight. Fuck, I don’t even have a car. I’ll have to wait until Erica gets back. Erica. She’s probably worried sick that I died tonight.
Why do I feel like I did? Now I’m the one who feels like a ghost.
I’m fighting back the tears as I reach my room. There are two armed thugs standing outside my door. They nod at me.
“Miss Prescott.”
Aidan put guards in my house? Because I know my dad can no longer afford such a thing. We’re barely keeping the lights on right now while we wait for the house to sell.
I turn to run even though my phone charger is in my room and I need it, but my parents are coming up the hallway from the other direction. I’m blocked in. So I run into my room and lock the door behind me.
And then, because interior door locks are feeble courtesies instead of actual barriers to entry, I shove a chair under the doorknob.
I’ll just climb out the window. It won’t be the first time. But when I look up, there are actual bars on the outside of my window. How could he have had time to do this? I wasn’t even out that long tonight.
I pace back and forth while my parents knock on the door trying to get me to come out and talk and to “be reasonable.”
Be reasonable. There is absolutely nothing reasonable about any of this.
“Go away! You’ve done enough. You have ruined my life!”
I know I sound like a petulant teenager right now, but they really have. They have ruined me. They have forced me into the arms of my stalker, and I will never ever forgive them.
My phone rings then. I dig around in my bag and see Erica’s name lighting up the screen. Dammit, I forgot to call her again. I pull the phone out. There’s only 9% left on the battery. I plug it in to charge and answer.
“I thought you died for real,” she says by way of greeting.
I can’t stop the tears. Heaving sobs.
“Oh my god, Maddie, what happened?”
“Do you remember that kid, Aidan Stryker?” I ask.
“Your weirdo stalker? How could I forget?”
“Do you know what the Stryker corporation is?”
“Shut up… he’s THAT Stryker?”
I nod, and then realizing she can’t see me through the phone I say, “Yes.”
“I mean, okay…?”
I probably should have set this up better but my thoughts are not exactly organized right now.
“Apparently it’s a front for some kind of organized crime. Oh, fuck. Shit. Shit. He’s probably tapping my phone somehow. Oh god, he’s going to kill me for talking about it. I’m sure the police don’t know, unless he pays them off… Maybe he pays them off. You can’t say anything, Erica, okay? Promise me.”
I know I must sound like I’m completely out of my mind.